Abstract:
The I-Thou relationship is the relationship between man and God. It is real existence among human beings, Buber refers to the relationship between man and God because he wants to redefine the word God and the expression Being Godlike in Judaism and Christianity, so that the new concepts will help solve problems of religious crises in the present time. That is they will save those who have faith in God from deserting. God because they have become skeptical, and also those who, being so much engrossed in God, forget their present life. The purpose of this thesis is to answer these questions: Does the I-Thou relationship which is real existence take freedom from man? What do the words I and thou mean? What is meant by Bubers concept of freedom? From the findings it can be concluded that Buber gives a twofold meaning of the word God : the Personal God or you and the Ultimate God or the eternal you. Bubers Personal God does not mean Superhuman Being or Supernatural Being, which can command the world but just a human being who is godlike and has potential power and is able to actualize his power. Thus, t-he Personal God exists in the world. Man can become Personal God. As for the Ultimate God, for Buber this is not much different from God in Judaism and Christianity. The difference is only that He is not in heaven all the time but may be with man on earth, and that man need not wait to meet Him in the next world, but can meet Him in this real world. Buber intends to emphasize that God does not have influence over man in all aspects, but serves as the center of all the relationships in the world and participates in all human activities in order to bring progress to the world. Man is related to the. Personal God through his using the words I,thou which raises man from being normally a thing without action to being Personal God or you. Through this he can have a relationship with the Ultimate God or the eternal you. The relationship between man and the Ultimate God starts from mans dialogue with God through his prayers and his encounter with him through his whole being. Through this only, the Ultimate God is close to man and cooperates with man, Man therefore can meet God even when he is still in this world. The relationship between man and the Personal God lessens mans freedom but at the same time promotes his freedom because both sides have influence on and counter-action toward each other. The relationship between man and the Ultimate God is the same as that between man and the Personal God. All the relationships are intertwined. This is what is meant by the existence of God in this world. Thus, freedom according to Buber is limited to the relationship between man and man and between man and God.