I'm beginning to realise that one of my main bones of contention with 'modern' orthodoxy and orthodoxy is the conviction of the individual as self-constitutive, as 'making oneself', the individual. I believe we are human only as a result of contact and conviviality with what is not human; our perception, our beliefs our theories. I believe there are other beings. I cringe at the words of The Rav about the 'dead matter' of the world, of the "making oneself" - that's awful lonely. and it explains a lot from someone who authored, reflecting on religion in the Now...the lonely man of faith. If faith is trust, and trust is established through relationship - how does that frame of mind make sense?