The unconscious functions of the I—it and I—thou realms.

Abstract

Martin Buber (1958b) presented two ways of interacting with the world, I-It and I-Thou. The distinctions of these ways of engaging the world with their respective unconscious functions are delineated in an attempt to fulfill the promise made in the Healing Between (1993) to clarify the dialogical perspective of our unconscious functions. It is the dialogical psychotherapist's contention that the source of the client's existential healing is not found within the client's psyche but in an ontological reality that is generated by grace between the client and the therapist in their I-Thou relating. An awareness of this offers the clinician a view of the client's ontology that cannot be found in the client's psyche.

Feelings from a dialogical perspective: Ontology and clinical applications.

“…We are immersed in an incomprehensible experience that is contaminated when we attempt to grasp it in our cognition. Our ontology is such, cognitively speaking, that we are unable to comprehend the wholeness of our own being (Heard, 1995). To grasp our total being necessarily involves removing that part of ourselves that comprehends experiences, thus shattering the consolidation of our wholeness.…”

“…In the I-It realm, our emotions involve only the physical and psychical parts of ourselves and do not permeate our total being. They do not encompass that part of our wholeness that is beyond phenomenological manifestation, that part of our potential that awaits actualization (Heard, 1995). The emotions appear in our response to the characteristics or traits of the other.…”

“…The emotions appear in our response to the characteristics or traits of the other. We are not always able to comprehend their exact cause or control their appearance, for those aspects of the other that arouse our emotions are influenced by the consistent themes of our relational history that have been pre-reflectively stored in our psyche, as well as our current inclinations (Heard, 1995; Atwood & Stolorow, 1984, p.36). Many of our clients seem to live most of their lives trapped in such emotions.…”

“…We encounter our will in this realm and experience ourself as the initiator and observer of our actions. We are agent (Heard, 1995, p.253).…”

“…In this realm our will is under the dominion of the between—a reality generated by grace between us and the other in our relating. We do not experience ourself as agent but act as a result of being acted upon by the reality of the between (Heard, 1995, p.253).…”