I-It & I-Thou

Hanna Hatfield

RSTD 236

Essay #2

              

               A good majority of the people on Earth have simply I-It relationships rather than I-Thou relationships; they merely tread through a place without really entering into it. After reading and fully understanding the four axioms Lane suggests and the concepts of I-It and I-Thou from Martin Buber, I realize that I am part of that good majority. Except, unlike some, I have one place that is special to me personally, that I have entered rather than tread upon and established an I-Thou relationship with. The place I am referring to is the slightly hidden creek by the lake in my community that I had discovered in 7^th grade.
               The very first time I found this place during the winter of my 7^th grade year, it was the farthest thing from what I would have considered “sacred”. Martin Buber states: “Those who experience do not participate in the world. For the experience is ‘in them’ and not between them and the world” (56).  Looking back on my first encounter with it, it wasn’t really an encounter, it was merely an experience, there was no interaction between the world and myself. Buber suggests that: “Experience is remoteness from you” (60). I had not let the creek present all of its potential; I considered it to be another ordinary place and merely walked down it without taking in everything around me; I tread through it without really entering it. The next time I returned was in the spring of that same year, though with this second visit, I felt an incredible connection with the place. I noticed how all the trees were lively and green; how the water flowed and trickled over the rocks unlike it had in the winter; it was like the creek itself had taken on an entirely new identity. It wasn’t just a dull, lifeless place anymore; it was a place full of different life, each with its own project. Buber’s statement “All actual life is an encounter” deems true in this example.
               This creek was an ordinary place that I had made extraordinary. As I grew older and continued to visit periodically, it became more of a sacred place to me and me alone. Each and every time I return I notice little changes within itself; a missing tree, a new tree, a path overgrown with life, the place continues to change whether I am there or not. It works within its own project just as I work within mine. Buber states: “Relation is reciprocity” (58). I act on the creek and the creek acts on me. It holds memories from my adolescent years and secrets between myself and my closest friends during that time. It holds my happiness and sadness, my spiritual revelations, and my place of solitude. The creek will continue to change as I continue to grow older but its importance and meaning will always stay true. As I continue to return even to this day, I am overwhelmed with an indescribable feeling that I have never once experienced in any other place. My bond with the creek and the nature around it is truly I-Thou.