If you'd like to read Part One, Part Two, Part Three, or Part Four of this series, find the link and click.
Continuing on with "Joy Through Christ" by Elder Marion D. Hanks, we start in on an intriguing idea - the idea that, not only do we need God, but God needs us...?
Is that true? There's agreement on this idea through Martin Buber:
The Quote
"Martin Buber helps us:
“You know always in your heart
that you need God more than anything else.
But do you not know too that God needs you …
in the fullness of His eternity He needs you?”'
As usual, I have never in my life heard of Martin Buber, and turns out he was a pretty interesting guy - a Jewish intellectual who left Judaism to study secular philosophy. He went on to help the Zionist movement, and to become a leading Israeli philosopher. Nominated for both the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize several times - I mean, that's impressive.
Most of his writings are in German, so unless they were translated, that's going to be a challenge, but I want to read at least some of them
His most notable work seems to be the book, "I and Thou". This and his other works discuss communication in relationships. His theory of our potential relationship with God I find very interesting in particular. I want to follow up on that more closely.
The quote from the Conference talk was good. The quote from the primary source - his book I and Thou - is even better:
"You know always in your heart
that you need God more than everything ;
but do you not know too that God needs you —
in the fullness of His eternity needs you ?
How would man be, how would you be, if God did not need him,
did not need you?
You need God, in order to be —
and God needs you, for the very meaning of your life.
In instruction and in poems men are at pains to say more,
and they say too much —
what turgid and presumptuous talk that is about the
"God who becomes ” ;
but we know unshakably in our hearts that there is a becoming of the
God that is.
The world is not divine sport, it is divine destiny.
There is divine meaning in the life of the world, of man,
of human persons, of you and of me.
Creation happens to us, burns itself into us, recasts us in burning —
we tremble and are faint, we submit.
We take part in creation, meet the Creator,
reach out to Him, helpers and companions."
A lot of times in our faith, we talk about being the Lord's hands on Earth, that this is what He needs us for. So there's a reaching out to Him, and when we find Him, we are inspired to reach out and help our brothers and sisters on Earth, because that's what He wants.
That's what makes God happy. Once I felt His love for me, I wanted to make him happy too, and so we go on, co-creating together. Him creating me, I creating peace in others, thus creating them and me...it's a great cycle to be on.
I think Martin Buber was definitely onto something here. What a great find!
