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PASCAL SAID: "LE SILENCE ÉTERNEL DES ces espaces infinis m'effraye." Such is the existential anguish, the Angst, which accompanies human life, created by the experience of the world as uncanny and by the knowledge that this experience must be confronted. What helps to overcome the uncanny? The great religions offer refuge from the overpowering through belief in God, but they also command that people Love one another. Love is the highest and most positive form of contact with the Other and thus with reality, broadening the closed (and thus isolating) circle of our daily experience. It may provide those with strong convictions and beliefs with a means of reaching outside themselves, and thus with the ability to develop a sense of the Universal.
To encounter a person fully is to be in touch with his inner-most self, his spiritual essence, in a way that is more fundamental than a rational understanding of "dynamics" and "conflicts." One may have a genuine encounter with another person and be moved deeply by it, without feeling the need—or possessing the ability—to articulate the bond in logical and consciously chosen terms. Such a contact creates the conditions for mutual understanding and a feeling of enrichment. This directly opposes the isolation and alienation of the self-absorbed person who can see the world only in relation to narrow, personal goals and concerns.
The infant develops the ability to make nonverbal contact with the Other in large part through emotional encounter with his parents. Participation and communication within the family at an early age imply the curiosity which helps to form an outgoing attitude rather than one of dependent expectation. It is only through this exposure to the unexpected—from behind the protective