I and Thou

There's this guy named Martin Buber. Funny name, I know, but he's the author of this philosophy that says that we can explain reality by looking at the way we communicate with the world around us, with one another, and even with God. It's all about relationships. Check it out.

What makes a whole ton of sense to me is his idea of the I-It relationship, which means that often, we talk to other people like they're "its," or objects, rather than people. What we're supposed to do is have "I-Thou" relationships, meaning we're supposed to talk to people like they're people, not just objects there to serve our needs. He says that when we analyze people and God as "its," then we cease to have genuine, mutual, give-and-take relationships with them.

Kind of interesting because we do this with God a lot. We study and talk about him so much (more than we talk to him), that he becomes more of an object to us than a person. Maybe we should start letting God have a say in the matter. Maybe we should start letting God speak for himself.