I-It & I-Thou

Alexa Botha

9/24/14

Essay Two

            Everything in life is often times categorized, all things always needing a way in which they can be defined. This concept applies to how people or humans see and view the world around them.  With the help of Martin Buber these different mindsets are categorized into the I-It and the I-Thou. These two dimensions can look at and approach the same creature, tree, and moment, what ever it may be, but experience it in completely contrasting ways with regards to emotion and thought processes on the subject or event. It is this difference that creates somewhat of a divide when it comes to sacred landscapes and their safeguard.

            The I-It and the I-Thou (I-You) are discussed by Martin Buber in that the latter is a greater absorption and comprehensiveness while the I-it is the experience and utilization of a place or object. Almost all people of the modern world are practicing the mode of I-it. There is a constant flux of data whether it is from Facebook or the news that is collected and then analyzed; there is a clear separateness that can be felt from this view. This mode of living is observing all things occurring at the moment instead of being present and able to experience them. The structure of society in the modern day is largely based off of the I-It concept, with different levels of political positions and pressures to climb an imaginary ladder. This is our community, but this word is often times misinterpreted. Community is thought to be a term of coming together and being one, this instead would be a communitas. A communitas is the concept of sharing a common experience; there is an overall equality within each individual. There are no secular individuals, instead everyone is sacred in their own position and moment; there is a compete feeling of togetherness. By focusing on ones self there is often times unhappiness in the soul, if the You is centered on and projected into the world one feels more at peace and does not fear being alone or meaningless because that is impossible when You are all and all is You.

            Devils Tower located in Wyoming is an extremely sacred site to over twenty different Native American tribes. This sacred site has also turned into a tourism hot-spot, with rock climbers coming from all corners of the world. The tribes still worship and have rights of passage at Devils Tower (Gulliford). The sacredness of devils tower is within the sphere of I-You for the Native Americans. For rock climbers scuffing and hammering and picking at the rock it is merely a beautiful piece of the landscape that will satisfy their temporary want or in other words the I-It. It is here that conflict arises, if Native American tribes were to go dance in the National Arlington Cemetery or climb the Vatican there would surely be hysterics and uproar. So why is it that people can climb their sacred site?  In Landscapes of the Sacred, Lane states, “The site is not revered because of what it is in itself. In itself it is just a location. (Lane 32). This is true about Devils Rock, Devils rock is just a formation of the earth whose uniqueness captivates the eyes of many, this is also the I-It mindset, in a way beauty is in the eye of the beholder because if one cannot connect with that sacred I-You wave and flux that inhabits this rock then they will merely see a place and not a sacred place.

If the majority of people could perceive this concept as well as practice it, there would most likely be a lot less depression and anxiety because the comparison and the pressure in today’s society would disappear.  Instead a thankfulness and gratefulness could replace those worries and the I-You could be each persons project.  “Encountering the sacred, as poets and prophets insist, frequently involves the undermining of the certainties by which we live” (Lane 60). If this fear of uncertainty can be released from a person’s being then they will be open to accept the sacredness of all beings and things around them.

Gulliford, Andrew.  (2000) Sacred Objects and Sacred Places: Preserving Tribal Traditions. Niwot, CO: U of Colorado. Print

Benson, B. E., & Wirzba, N. (Eds.). (2005). The phenomenology of prayer. Fordham Univ Press.

Lane, B. C. (2002). Landscapes of the sacred: Geography and narrative in American spirituality. JHU Press.