In Dr. Carter Aikin’s Being Human course, students are given a major task as the course objective poses the question, “How does one discover the true meaning of life?” Throughout the semester, readings are given out and become the focus of a class discussion in the following session, all in hopes of piecing together an answer to the bigger question.
One of the authors students read is Martin Buber, a religious philosopher. In a selection titled “I and Thou” Buber states, “the world is twofold for man in accordance with his twofold attitude.” In Aikin”s words, “the only world you get is the one you perceive, there is not other world.” Buber believes that a person”s perspective and outlook occur in one of two ways. He argues that each person is constantly switching back and forth between an “I-It” and “I-You” perspective and that there is no in-between or third option.
The “I-It” has a focus on the qualities of people or things rather than the qualities in and of themselves. While the “I-It” tends to be centered around objects a majority of the time, it can also be internal or spiritual. The “It” can often be paired with the question, “How can this be useful to me?” whereas the “I-You” has a truer connection, deeper than just its use. In short, the difference can be thought of as a one-way street (I-It) versus a two-way street (I-You).
In Aikin’s class discussion, he proposed another question, “Do you think that this campus, or world, puts too much focus on the ‘I-It’ and not enough on the ‘I-You’?” Some students believed that the “I-It” is just as important as the “I-You” and did not see a problem, while others saw that the emphasis on the “Its” took away from more genuine connections and experiences.
Graphic design major Brittany Darr stated, “It was interesting learning about the ‘I-You’ because it enabled me to think about all of my situations and how they could potentially be ‘I-You’, so it was definitely eye-opening.”
While it is impossible for someone to completely avoid one of these perspectives, it is entirely possible for a person to miss the importance of one, especially when it comes to the “I-You.” The “You” is where real relationships and real connections come. Class discussion even debated the role of God in such connections. In a section of Buber’s readings, he emphasizes that people are able to find connections with God in everyday “I-You” connections and that the best way we know God is by knowing and understanding those connections. It is in those connections that one is able to “catch a breath of God,” in Aikin’s words. Aikin went on to suggest that when someone has a deep connection with someone or something, the reason it is so fulfilling is because that it is a connection with God.
Part of what makes the “I-You” so meaningful is that this is the perspective in which one uses their entire being. The experience is more than “How can this benefit me?” It is a whole body experience. Aikin suggests, “You must use your ‘I-You’ because that’s the only time you can use your whole being and you must use your whole being to know God.”
While “I-It” and “I-You” are individual and personal to each person, it is important to understand that the two perspectives do exist and they each serve their own and separate purposes in specific situations. While one cannot exist without the other, it is not the perspective but the connections that are most important.
*Jordan Wood is currently enrolled in the Being Human course