Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

289This incident appears to contain elements of Buber’s transcendentalencounter. It has a momentary feel to it in which there is that which seems toapproximate Buber’s description of a heightened sense of reality, that momentwhich he describes as “... the heaven of Thou ... spread out over me ...” 718It is an incident that generates a moment when that which occurs evokes awordless reaction 719 which, although partly born of a sense of utter surprise, alsoseems to contain an element of awe at the occurrence of something beyond easy,rational understanding. Indeed, it could be described as an awe-filled moment inwhich there is a fleeting sense of life focused purely in the present, when past orfuture considerations seem non-existent. 720 It is in such a moment that Jim, in amost evocative sense, assumes a sense of the Thou. It is as if, in a moment ofbeing, I am seeing Buber’s ‘Face’ in a most extraordinary manner. God isrevealed to me through Jim in a form that suggests that I need ailing Jim at leastas much as he needs me. Thus, mutuality of relationship is realized.There is also the presence of grace expressed through the loving offeringof a blessing no matter the extent to which such a gesture was merited.Finally, the incident certainly contains a time very soon afterwards inwhich the realm of It-ness begins to resume effect in terms of quickly seeking torationalise what has just happened. This is a time in which that which may haveapproximated a momentary realization of the Thou begins to disintegrate. 721However, it is in such extraordinary moments that, rather thanexperiencing the sense of immanently waiting, as expressed earlier in this chapter,there is more a sense of being grasped or confronted with a reality no matterone’s state of preparedness.Having said this I cannot categorically claim such an incident to fullyequate with Buber’s understanding of the I-Thou realm. However, it is assertedthat such a brief incident does contain something of the transcendental characterto which he refers, and there is a sense in which God is revealed as the Thou in amost extraordinary manner.718 ibid., 9.719 ibid., 39, 104.720 ibid., 13.721 ibid., 119.