Goals of Religion 2

 Martin Buber

The future of Religion is:

1) intensive focus on the individual religious life, aimed at reducing the long time required for the freeing of the individual men and women,

and

2) a beginning on the communal religious life, aimed at understanding what is required for human communal freedom, and the beginning of spiritual practices to attain such freedoms.

Firstly, please observe that it is not sufficient that there be a goodly number of fine, upstanding citizens scattered around. We have many godly people today living as individuals, but even these, when gathered into groups for common goals - especially political goals - are condemned to degenerate into obnoxious and toxic "crowds".

Secondly, to me it is apparent that this is a defining moment, and the ferment of our age will lead to a "new wine", and it will take on the face I just described. I agree with Arnold Toynbee in his basic premise that it is the Forms of Religious Life that carry the seeds of civilization from one civilization in its death throes to a new civilization coming into being.

The early steps of this process were reflected in Martin Buber's Ich und Du - I and you (singular), which described the process from the individual to the group of two. It will continue as Ich und Ihr - I and you (plural).
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