What happens while you listen?
Is there someone in my life whom I see mainly through their role, their behaviour or the idea I have formed of them?
Tra pagine e legami
I and Thou – When the other person stops being a thing and becomes someone again
Martin Buber · I and Thou
Client. User. Follower. Contact. Audience.
These are words we use all the time to help us organise the world.
But what happens when, in our eyes, a person becomes nothing more than the function they perform?
Martin Buber, in I and Thou, leads us towards a distinction that seems simple but is profoundly important: we can encounter what is before us as an It, something we observe, use or classify, or we can enter into a relationship with a Thou, someone we can never entirely reduce to what we know about them.
In the age of profiles, algorithms and screen-mediated relationships, this question becomes even more urgent.
Because we can know a great deal about someone without ever having truly encountered them.
In this episode of Tra pagine e legami we therefore pause to consider a very simple question:
when I look at someone else, who do I really see?
Take something with you
A thought to take away
Not every relationship can be deeply meaningful all the time.
We need roles, functions, organisation and categories.
The problem begins when a category takes the place of the person.
When a colleague becomes merely someone who has to do something for us.
When a client becomes an invoice.
When a follower becomes a number.
When even someone we love becomes little more than the idea we have formed of them.
One small gesture
Today, choose someone you see often.
For a few minutes, try setting aside what you think you already know about them.
Do not prepare your reply.
Do not interpret.
Do not label them.
Ask a genuine question and simply try to listen to what they say.
You may discover that behind someone you thought you knew, there is still a person waiting to be met.
Go beyond the episode
The conversation does not end here
Behind the profile, there is a Thou
What happens when the tools we use every day train us to see people as profiles, data, categories and behaviours?
This deeper exploration begins with Buber and brings his thought into our everyday digital lives and relationships.