Theology is really not my thing, is what I'm coming around to. I and Thou is one of the masterpieces of 20th century philosophy, written in the aftermath of the modernist slaughter of World War I, and gaining new relevance in decades since. In looping elliptical sentences masterfully translated by Walter Kaufman, Buber describes a transition between an I-It view of the world, one of finite systems and ends, towards an infinite I-Thou conversation with the divine spirit.

It's a gorgeous book, and mostly reinforces my take that you either get spirituality, or you don't. And a lot of people who claim to do, probably don't. It's not really something you can put into words. Buber got it.

I'll close with a story. My grandmother was working at the American Jewish Committee in New York when Martin Buber made his first visit to the United States in 1951. Every single one of the rabbinical students was desperate to be his secretary for the visit, which is why the director gave it to my grandmother (22 years old, definitely not going to be rabbi, carried herself as a bit of ditz). All of the boys were furious. And as for the great Jewish theologian, well as my grandmother put, "I never felt like more of an 'it' than when I worked for Martin Buber."