tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810864952186236836.post1290155130460791097..comments2010-04-26T21:42:24.201-07:00Comments on Evolution & Revolution: Absolute Relation with the AbsoluteDoctor Jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13189506916480012553noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810864952186236836.post-17335478393522395772010-04-11T15:05:35.197-07:002010-04-11T15:05:35.197-07:00I don't know anything about Buber, but I have ...I don't know anything about Buber, but I have a simple (and hopefully correct) explanation of the part you say you are having trouble with. In the ethical realm, we are still participating in a relationship with God; for the ethical laws we follow are based on God's commandments. However, because we aren't receiving these ethical laws directly from God the relationship is mediated.<br /><br />When God contacts us directly on the other hand, as he did with Abraham, and explicitly offers a command, the mediator is out of the picture. A commandment is moving directly from God to us. Thus, we are in an unmediated relationship with God. The first absolute in the phrase, "an absolute relation to the absolute," means something like "pure" or "unmediated."ZackWalkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04572033309967464871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810864952186236836.post-15300662903885344182010-04-06T21:45:27.080-07:002010-04-06T21:45:27.080-07:00From what I know of Buber, I believe he says that ...From what I know of Buber, I believe he says that the I-Thou relationship is most natural to us. We see it with an infant in its mother's womb. The fetus is physically encountering this immediate relationship and does not differentiate itself as an I. When it enters the world, it searches for this same connection, trying to filling the physical gap with a spiritual connection. As the child develops, he learns to view things as objects and develops a sense of self (the I emerges from this relationship). So essentially, the I-Thou is natural to our being, we just loose sight of it as we grow into I's and distance ourselves from beings around us, at which point we turn towards the I-It as a reflex.Michelle Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953777916335033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810864952186236836.post-67962956530288884522010-04-06T21:38:34.998-07:002010-04-06T21:38:34.998-07:00I really like your comparison with Buber, because ...I really like your comparison with Buber, because the teleological suspension of the ethical does seem to mirror the I-Thou relationship. My main concern with the Buber's whole analysis is how there is a distinction made between the it and the thou. When something is observed is this a conscious activity to perceive things as an it or a thou, or is it natural? If its natural, how is something like this determined? The answers to these may alter how we can compare these two different perceptions.C Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12494721575408184121noreply@blogger.com