I and Thou: Philosopher Martin Buber on the Art of Relationship and What Makes Us Real to One Another - Deepstash

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RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Relationship is the fundamental truth of this world of appearance.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

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468 reads

Philosophy of dialogue: Relationship

Philosophy of dialogue: Relationship

Relationship is what makes a forest a forest and an ocean an ocean

To meet the world on its own terms and respect the reality of another as an expression of that world as fundamental and inalienable as your own reality is an art immensely rewarding yet immensely difficult.

How to master the orientation of heart, mind, and spirit essential for the art of sincere and honorable relationship is what philosopher Martin Buber explores in his 1923 classic I and Thou — the foundation of Buber’s influential existentialist philosophy of dialogue.

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238 reads

MARTIN BUBER

To the man the world is twofold, in accordance with his twofold attitude. 

The attitude of man is twofold, in accordance with the twofold nature of the primary words which he speaks. 

The primary words are not isolated words, but combined words. 

The one primary word is the combination I–Thou

The other primary word is the combination I–It; wherein, without a change in the primary word, one of the words He and She can replace It

Hence the of man is also twofold. For the I of the primary word I–Thou is a different I from that of the primary word I–It.

MARTIN BUBER

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171 reads

I - Thou. I - It.

I - Thou. I - It.

 I–It establishes the world of experience and sensation.

I–Thou establishes the world of relationship, which asks of each person a participatory intimacy. Thou addresses another not as an object but as a presence.

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210 reads

JAPANESE ARTIST KOMAKO SAKAI

“Real isn’t how you are made… It’s a thing that happens to you.”

JAPANESE ARTIST KOMAKO SAKAI

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263 reads

All real living is meeting

All real living is meeting

To address another as Thou, Buber suggests, requires a certain self-surrender that springs from inhabiting one’s own presence while at the same time stepping outside one’s self.

Only then does the other cease to be a means to one’s own ends and becomes real. 

The primary word I–Thou can be spoken only with the whole being.

Concentration and fusion into the whole being can never take place through my agency, nor can it ever take place without me.

I become through my relation to the Thou; as I become I, I say Thou.

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133 reads

IDEAS CURATED BY

adelinaoane

Present… here… now

CURATOR'S NOTE

Another perspective to look into relationship: the fundamental truth of this world of appearance.

Ade Oane's ideas are part of this journey:

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