QUOTATION MARKS - Martin Buber - A Necessary Iconoclasm

'Time after time, the images must be broken, the iconoclasts must have their way. For the iconoclast is the soul in us which rebels against having an image that we can no longer believe in, elevated above our heads as a thing that demands to be worshipped. In longing for a god, we try again and again to set up a greater, a more just image, which is intended to be more glorious than the last and only proves the more unsatisfactory. The commandment,"Though shalt not make unto thee an image," doesn't, of course, refer merely to sculptured or painted images, but to our fantasy, to all the power of our imagination as well. But we are forced time and again to make images, and forced to destroy them when we realise that we have not succeeded. The images topple, but the voice speaks in the guise of everything that happens, in the guise of all world events; it speaks to all generations, makes demands upon us, and summons us to accept responsibility.......It is of the utmost importance not to lose one's openess. But to be open means not to shut out the voice - call it what you will. It doesn't matter what you call it. All that matters is that you hear it.'

Martin Buber - taken from The Way of Response, Ed. N N,Glazer, Published by Schocken Books 1971.