Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

282the eternal Thou into It, into some thing – making God into a thing.” 699Elsewhere, he similarly speaks of the inevitable disintegration of ‘the Word,’God’s truth. 700 This should not be considered to mean that relationship with Godis no more, on account of the passing of the transcendent moment. Relationship ismore than the impermanence of encounter. 701However, under the understanding of Thou-ness thus described, trueregard for the one with whom relationship is sought can only be momentary. Theinevitable call to come down the mountain requires the passing of the momentand for our relationship with the Thou to be reconceived in terms of It-ness. Wewill return to the top of the mountain time and again, but the returns remainmomentary. The God encountered atop Mount Sinai remains detached from theminutiae of everyday life and relationships where so much of life must be lived.In terms of developing the type of pastoral relationship that showsongoing commitment to people with intellectual disability amidst, and not farremoved, from the reality of their day-to-day lives, it is at this point that Buber’sThou-ness proves unsustainable. For Buber, true, unadulterated mutuality ofrelationship is realized atop the mountain. For the purposes of this extendedreflection a form of mutuality is required that can be grounded and remaineffective amidst the living of everyday life, amidst the medicalised routine ofinstitutional living. The pastoral call for people with intellectual disability to livetheir whole lives with dignity requires nothing less.People living with intellectual disability in the institutional context requirea mutual model of care that is not momentary but remains sustainable andliberating (i.e. from the oppressive tendencies of It-ness) in all circumstances.What is required is a pastoral conceptualisation of mutuality that is not‘either/or’, atop the mountain or not at all, but is comfortable with ambiguity,with transcendence and immanence, and that honours Thou-ness in all places.699 ibid., 112.700 ibid., 119.701 In a wider discussion of Buber this point is made in,Pembroke, Neil. The Art of Listening: Dialogue, Shame, and Pastoral Care. London & NewYork: T & T Clark/Handsell Press, 2002, 39. Here the author asserts that Buber has regardfor a sense of permanency through the primary concept of relation. There has to be anongoing relation or relationship of some form before any encounter can occur.