Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

278fulfil roles and relationships in the realm of It-ness “with free heart in theuniversal bounds of fate.” 677However, in contrast to It-ness alone, in the realm of Thou-ness, Thou isallowed to be Thou 678 for this is the unfettered realm of relation. This is the realmin which “I” is absorbed up into Thou-ness, into one thinking essence with theEternal. 679This is the realm in which the Eternal is experienced in the Thou-ness ofthe other. Indeed, Buber variously refers to God in terms of Face. 680 This is therealm in which encounter with the Thou confirms meaning.This is the realm of the Spirit, where the I encounters the Thou, like theair we breathe, 681 uncontained, ever-present and energising, maintaining theessence of the encounter.Within this realm the I encounters the Thou through grace. This is not anact of seeking by the I. Indeed it is the Thou who meets the I amidst the act of theI’s being. 682 Through being met, the I encounters grace.This is the realm of revelation, of elemental human transformation, where“ever new provinces of the world and spirit are raised to form, summoned todivine form. Ever new spheres become regions of a theophany”. 683 This is amoment beyond experience; it is heightened reality; this is “the cradle of RealLife.” 684 And it is within this realm of revelation that the transcendent moment isrealized, as Buber describes in almost biblical imagery when he speaks of “... thegreat shudder, the holding of the breath in the dark, and the preparing silence.” 685For this is a moment not to be contained by words. Only silence can describe themoment.Furthermore, and of particular import to this extended reflection, thisrevelatory, transcendent realization of the I-Thou relationship is to be regarded interms of mutuality. There is a shared recognition of the Thou in the Face of theother: “Between you and it there is mutual giving: you say Thou to it and give677 ibid., 55.678 ibid., 112.679 ibid., 89.680 ibid., 53, 83, 118.681 ibid., 39.682 ibid., 11.683 ibid., 117.684 ibid., 9.685 ibid., 119.