The world of silence

Author's name: Max Picard Publisher: Dar Al-Tanweer for Publishing and Distribution Year of publication: 2018 Literary classification: Philosophy and Thought Brief about the book: The Arab reader, despite the translation of Picard's works into most languages of the world, almost completely unaware of this important philosopher and theologian writer who was called "Europe's conscience," not to mention the complete absence of any translation of his books and studies into Arabic, and the total lack of any research or intellectual or literary follow-up of his ideas, which hold an important place in contemporary theology, and which made both novelist Hermann Hesse and poet Rilke among the most enthusiastic admirers of his writings. The importance of Picard's thought stems from the distinction of the topics he addressed and the sensitive issues he tackled in his books and articles, which he began in 1919. The main ideas in Picard's works are based on the human standing between two sides of a difficult equation, an inevitable responsibility and the possibility of choice. Based on that, Picard considered all the tragedies that befell humanity as a logical consequence of the imbalance between the two sides of this equation, and due to the lack of harmony, whether in the external world in which humans live or in their inner world. Therefore, in his view, modern humans live in a state of fragmentation and constant collective escape. He saw in wars, the rise of dictatorships, and the subsequent destruction and devastation that affected civilization and humanity—including the rise of Nazism to power in Germany—a vivid embodiment of this imbalance between the inner world of humans and their apparent world.