Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

2767.2 Towards a Liberating Conceptualisation of MutualityIn the previous chapter the concept of a mutuality of care was identifiedas a strong thread evident in the pastoral narratives. This pastoral concept wasdescribed in shared, reciprocal terms whereby both the person with intellectualdisability and the chaplain bring to the relationship an identity, qualities andresources that the other needs. At the same time I regard the other person and I aswhole, relational, human beings created in the image of God. It is this identitythat is nurtured and sustained in the context of the pastoral relationship thatdevelops between the other person and I. A relationship of healthy, lovingdependence emerges. Whether it is explicitly or implicitly understood we needeach other to more fully be the people we were created to be.With the detailing of an appropriate pastoral model being the principalaim of this chapter, such a model, no matter its eventual shape, requires a soundfoundation upon which it can be based. The foundation concerns a suitablyformulatedconceptualisation of a mutuality of care as outlined above. However,for the concept to be appropriately understood more detail is required than hasthus far been tendered, either through the strong narrative threads or through thedetailing of relevant pastoral models. It is particularly necessary to detail aconceptualisation that is undergirded by a relevant and thorough understanding ofliberation from a pastoral theological perspective. This is necessary because it isthose people with intellectual disability who live in institutions who require apastoral model that offers a theologically-derived sense of liberation from theiroppressive circumstances.7.2.1 Mutuality Expressed as Immanent Thou-ness: “I and Thou”In 1923, writing from a Jewish, mystical perspective, Austrian-bornphilosopher and religious existentialist Martin Buber wrote I and Thou, a seminalessay on the nature of human existence. It is an essay which is most instructivefor this extended reflection in terms of developing a pastoral model with anauthentic, liberatory foundation described in terms of mutuality.In this work, Buber, from a human orientation, details a two-foldperspective of the world, namely ‘I-Thou’ and ‘I-It.’ The former term isexpressive of one’s whole being, the world of relation in its pure, universal form,