“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.” – Martin Buber
The Legend of the Baal-Shem (1955),1995 edition, p. 36
About Martin Buber
Martin Buber (February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965) was an Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship. Born in Vienna, Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. In 1902, he became the editor of the weekly Die Welt, the central organ of the Zionist movement, although he later withdrew from organizational work in Zionism. In 1923, Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou), and in 1925, he began translating the Hebrew Bible into the German language.
He was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature ten times, and Nobel Peace prize seven times.
From 1906 until 1914, Buber published editions of Hasidic, mystical, and mythic texts from Jewish and world sources.
Buber is famous for his thesis of dialogical existence, as he described in the book I and Thou. However, his work dealt with a range of issues including religious consciousness, modernity, the concept of evil, ethics, education, and Biblical hermeneutics.
Buber rejected the label of “philosopher” or “theologian” claiming he was not interested in ideas, only personal experience, and could not discuss God but only relationships to God. Buber’s wife Paula died in 1958, and he died at his home in the Talbiya neighborhood of Jerusalem on June 13, 1965.
(Source – Wikipedia)