I And Thou

to surround it with the arms of our spirit, our hands will
meet hands that grip them.

I know nothing of a " world " and a " life in the
world " that might separate a man from God. What
is thus described is actually life with an alienated
world of 7^, which experiences and uses. He who truly
goes out to meet the world goes out also to God. Con-
centration and outgoing are necessary, both in truth, at
once the one and the other, which is the One.

God comprises, but is not, the universe. So, too, God
comprises, but is not, my Self. In view of the
inadequacy of any language about this fact, I can say
Thou in my language as each man can in his, in view
of this I and Thou live, and dialogue and spirit and
language (spirit's primal act), and the Word in eternity.

Man's religious situation, his being there in the Pres-
ence, is characterised by its essential and indissoluble
antinomy. The nature of its being .determines that
this antinomy is indissoluble. He who accepts the
thesis and rejects the antithesis does injury to the
significance of the situation. He who tries to think out a
synthesis destroys the significance of the situation. He
who strives to make the antinomy into a relative
matter abolishes the significance of the situation. He who
wishes to carry through the conflict of the antinomy other
than with his life transgresses the significance of the
situation. The significance of the situation is that it is
lived, and nothing but lived, continually, ever anew,
without foresight, without forethought, without pre-
scription, in the totality of its antinomy.