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Extended, the lines of relationship intersect in the eternal You.

Until Buber opens the third part of the book with his statement, his work looks like a more of a theory of psychology and sociology than of religion. In this claim, however, Buber ties his psychological and sociological observations to the notion of God. Most encounters, he tells us, are fleeting; they last for only a moment and then fade, leaving us unfulfilled. In these fleeting encounters, and in the sense of disappointment that we suffer as they fade, we glimpse the fact that there is a higher sort of encounter, one that will not be fleeting, and will fulfill our inner yearning for relation. This is the absolute relation, the encounter with the eternal You, or God. Every encounter then, leads us toward encounter with God, because every encounter shows us that there is something higher for which we are yearning.

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