Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to Acceptance

66. Discerning Truth: Heidegger, Spengler, Buber, Russell, Ahura Mazda

             Buber also discusses a common prejudice toward God stemming from His apparent lack of concern for His people. Just because God does not respond to the immediate needs of believers does not negate His existence or imply a callous indifference on His part. Buber emphasizes that spiritual growth begins within the purity of one's heart, not in external events. The true test of one's faith commences in his patience and inner peace among the trials and vicissitudes of life (18). According to the author, "We must go deeper in this sentence. The question had drawn from the fact that things go ill with Israel the conclusion that therefore God is not good to Israel. But only one who is not pure in heart draws such a conclusion. One who is pure in heart, one who becomes pure in heart, cannot draw any such conclusion. For he experiences that God is good to him. But this does not mean that God rewards him with his goodness. It means, rather, that God's goodness is revealed to him who is pure of heart: he experiences this goodness. In so far as Israel is pure in heart, becomes pure in heart, it experiences God's greatness" (34). Thus, to recognize and accept God's goodness even from the depths of our suffering is truly to know God. It does not mean that God blesses us because of our so-called goodness, but that we recognize His goodness apart from His blessings. In such case, awareness emerges from suffering and loss. Spiritual growth derives from the condition of the heart, as God blesses us from within, not necessarily from without (35). Buber calls this condition of the heart "a secret happiness hidden by the hands of life itself, which balances and outbalances all unhappiness" (53). Such an inner peace transcends all ethical attempts at self satisfaction and can "be understood only from a man's intercourse with God" (55).

              Another important irony concerns the closeness of the believer to God, particularly in times of tragedy and loss. During these periods of doubt and despair, the man struggling with his creator "is near Him even when he imagines that he is driven far from God" (41). Buber uses the life and perils of Job to illustrate this condition. Again, the nearness of God depends upon the purity of the believer's heart. The person who turns to Him even from the throes of distress can count on being heard. As Buber says, "He who draws near with a pure heart to the divine mystery learns that he is continually with God." The key word in this case is continually. "Here he receives the revelation of the continually." This closeness transcends human understanding because "from man's side there is no continuity, only from God's side" (41). Buber calls this miracle a revelation. Although a person may feel estranged from God, if he continually calls upon Him, God's promises to be continually with him. Thus, Buber denies "God's guiding counsel" as "simply the divine Presence communicating itself direct to the pure in heart" (43). When viewed from this perspective, the believer perceives this underlying presence "in the changing situations of his life differently" from those suffering from isolation and despair. There is a new confidence and assurance springing from a faith in the unseen. In essence, God's guiding counsel is present, but not dominating. Even as God's presence abides in him, man still retains self-will and self-determination, for evil or for good.

            Buber explains the relationship between the wicked, the sinner, and the believer in a linear fashion, based upon the subject's spiritual distance from God. This analogy places all three spiritual conditions in a uniquely similar array, much like distinct points along the same path. In this manner, the nonbeliever chooses the greater distance; however, the wicked are no longer contrasted with the good; they merely have the greater distance to travel. According to the author, "The good, says the Psalmist, is 'to draw near to God.' He does not say that those near to God are good. But he does call the bad 'those who are far from God'" (49). This linear approach places all three condition s on a similar plane and removes much of the tendency to condemn. The principal word that Buber uses in this regard is direction. It is the wicked who "continue on their own way and refuse to go" God's way; and it is the sinner who repeatedly misses the right way. Buber says, "The real struggle of the direction is therefore with the wicked," because God again and again guides sinners along the proper path by "helping them find the way back" (52).