Kim Stanley and Martin Buber: Constant Discovery

Kim Stanley and Jack Lord in Horton Foote's The Traveling Lady (1954).

Kim Stanley encouraged me to read the works of Martin Buber, a philosopher who helped her to understand living and acting. "Had I found him sooner," she told me, "I would have been a saner, better actress."

I asked her once for a quote by Buber that meant something to her. She gave me several. The following was her favorite:

"I do not accept any absolute formulas for living. No preconceived code can see ahead to everything that can happen in a man's life. As we live, we grow and our beliefs change. They must change. So I think we should live with this constant discovery. We should be open to this adventure in heightened awareness of living. We should stake our whole existence on our willingness to explore and experience. " 
— Martin Buber

"Acting is constant discovery," Kim told me, "and it requires an acute awareness, but it also requires a foundation that is bigger than we are, and Buber drew me toward that foundation."

A good introduction to the works of Martin Buber can be found here:

http://www.iep.utm.edu/buber/

© 2014 James Grissom