“The ego does not participate in any actuality nor does he gain any. He sets himself apart from everything else and tries to possess as much as possible by means of experience and use. That is his dynamics: setting himself apart and taking possession–and the object is always It, that which is not actual. He knows himself as a subject, but this subject can appropriate as much as it wants to, it will never gain any substance: it remains like a point, functional, that which experiences, that which uses, nothing more.” (114)
This is, in my opinion, the single quote that best sums up Buber's point about subjects versus objects. Maybe it's because I'm a shameless hippie, but during discussions about Buber's work my mind always goes back to our use of nonhuman animals for things like food, clothing, and entertainment, and to our dependence on non-renewable sources of energy. I suppose in my view, when I read Buber, I read "ego" as being the ego of mankind as a whole. Mankind thinks of itself as a subject (and even some human beings as being more object than subject), and everything else - animals, the environment, etc. - as objects to be used. This mindset has fostered an unsustainable and destructive use of our resources as well as very poor stewardship of the planet. I firmly believe that the changes necessary to mend the damage to the environment and to the other species with which we share this earth will begin when we as humans start seeing the other inhabitants of this world as fellow subjects, and not objects. When we stop looking at other species (both plant and animal) and asking ourselves "what can X do for me?" and instead ask "what unique things do they bring to the earth? what niche do they fill?" it will only make sense to try and make a world that can sustain all of us, and true technological and spiritual innovation will cause a revolution of sorts.
“I require a You to become; becoming I, I say You. All actual life is encounter.” (62)
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