In Martin Buber’s book, I and Thou, he provides an analytical approach to the topic of the way in which we as humans interact with the world.. His ultimate goal is to convince us to recognize that we have been ignoring one of two modes in which we are able to engage with the world. He encourages the reader to open himself up to the method of encounter.
Buber divides the two modes into the “I-it” and the “I-You” mentalities. The “I-it” approach is that of experience. This is the most common mode that man dwells in each day, a particular moment in time and space that can be utilized and put to use. Buber explains that as it-dwellers, we divide up our lives into two separate sections that we feel belong together but hold separate, as the it section and the I section. The it, relates to institutions within our lives such as school and work. The I division is that which is inside of us, our thoughts and feelings. Buber explains that the state of experience results in an individual being an objective observer instead of an active participant.
According to Buber, “What has to be given up is not the I but that false drive for self-affirmation, which impels man to flee from the unreliable, unsolid, unlasting, unpredictable and dangerous world of relation into the having of things.” The second mode of an I-You mentality is that of encounter. Within this mode, we encounter a thing or person and are somehow changed by this interaction. This is not a particular point in space and time, but rather a part of the larger picture. Buber states that we are able to encounter any of the objects that we experience in the I-it mode. The author presents that argument that our entire society is built upon the “I-it” mentality. By viewing each human being as an it, we affect multiple areas of our lives including politics, economics, public institutions, and our personal relations. Humans feel alienated from the world and other humans because of this complex. Buber presents the solution that we should build a society based on relation to I-You rather than experience by opening ourselves up to the encounter mode.
In his final section of the book, Buber states that encounters eventually fall back to experience situations over time. Therefore, we constantly strive for something more fulfilling and lasting, God. He says that we must focus our separate I-experience and I-encounter in our souls on our relationship with God. After reaching this point, we will begin to view everything and everyone in our lives as a you. Affection and loving responsibility for the course of the world will follow. Buber labels this transformation as a Divine Revelation. By looking at the world through the You-mentality, man loses the sense of alienation and the feeling of living a meaningless life. He will then strive to help others reach this state of being as well.
The perspective of thinking that Buber presents, represents a solution to the way we as humans approach conflict. By losing the selfish I-it mentality, we are able to change our perspective and view a situation in a new light.