`I and Thou` and Relationships, Commitment, and Marriage

Martin Buber 's I and Thou

We all human beings are born social animals and owe our existence in a certain bond of relationship to each other and to God . This is an essence of our life . Generally , our perception towards the world is towards the materialistic objectification of each existence and has set certain parameters in relation to each other . Martin Buber deepens our thoughts on the relationships and bindings that we feel toward each other and with our God . In 1923 , he made us understand the Thou and I ' relationship

we all are bound into

Martin Buber was a Jewish philosopher who in 1923 replicated the relationships in relation to our own existence . We involve in relationships or relationships involve within us through two pivotal words , I-IT I-Thou . The I-IT relationship makes us an entity in ourselves , creating a certain division between each other . There is a mechanism of treating humans as `object humans ' and we try to exert our control on nature and people . `I ' in this type of relationship is self-interested and is possessive and acquire according to its own needs . `I ' here is an individual who tries to set standard and cultivate the world according to his own perceptions . There is a smell of selfishness around the perceived `I . It would try to dominate others as it has made himself segregated and isolated from the real source of life . This relationship is confined in the particular space and destroys with time . It includes our involvement in relation to others in the activities like industrial production , technical mechanization and scientific involvement

Here Buber is not saying that I_IT is evil rather than it makes us feel belonging to this world . It is very difficult for us to live unless we manipulate the things and nature surrounding us according to our needs and aspirations . But the problem lies in the proportion . But as analyzed by John Barich , If we allow the `I-It ' way of viewing the world to dominate our thinking and

actions , we will be spiritually emaciated and pauperized , and live lives of `quiet desperation ' 1

When Buber said the word `I , he meant it in context to identify the human beings in solidarity with each other . It is related to the meaning of the Hebrew word shibboleth . Hebrew considered Shibboleth as a test word and used it to understand the difference between orthodox teaching and practice from unorthodox teaching and practice . The word I creates a bond of solidarity with the species known as humans but for Buber , the word implies in relation to I-IT and I-Thou . In other words I am responsible if I say the word `I ' and the way I speak the word `It makes me fix my position in the world and it holds true when there is a meeting with the other person . 2 We look at other things around the people and us by their role and activities . For e .g . Doctors look at us as we are organisms...