Buber and Bailey...Will we ever learn our lesson?

"...love does not cling to an I, as if You were merely its "content" or object; it is between I and You" (Buber, 1970, p. 66)

Bailey (2003) describes in his novel "Slowing down to the speed of love: How to create a deeper, more fulfilling relationship in a hurried world" that love cannot truly exist without first existing within ones self. The author argues it is only, essentially, upon accepting ones self that one can begin to be loved by others.

Both Buber and Bailey focus on the interaction between two. Though they each take a distinct approach to the conversation of love and others, both advocate strongly that it is a difficult process to achieve a true connection. Furthermore, each places extensive emphasis on the need to maintain focus on creating relationships. It is only upon making a relationship a priority can that relationship, whether with a lover, a friend, a tree, or a stranger, thrive.

Even in slower times, Buber found himself often reflecting on his need to slow down and actively engage in pursuing the I-Thou. I find it interesting that such a seemingly simple task, focus on, and actively engage in relationships, has yet to be fully understood. This is perhaps where I fall short with both Bailey and Buber. How can it be that we have failed to make forward strives in achieving the I-Thou? How can it be that between Buber forever advocating, and Bailey reiterating, not to mention those hundreds of scholars in-between, humans have yet to master the art of the highest level of relationships? Perhaps it is my own hurried pace, and my hurried attempts to understand each man, but I find myself both congratulating myself on achieving the I-Thou, and simultaneously feeling haggard and run down because I continuously fail to achieve functional relationships.