Emergence, Buber, and I and Thou
“By virtue of this privilege [of pure relation] formative power belongs to the world of Thou: spirit can penetrate and transform the world of It.” (Martin Buber, I and Thou, p 100) Something emerges from relation: power which forms persons. It is this meeting which gives us the magic and non-magic of emergence. I use Meeting in a precise way: to mean that meeting of which Buber speaks: being to being, I to Thou. Intimacy is involved. Therefore, action is involved: at least acting upon each other: neither is left unchanged. But perhaps the action is upon the world: and the world is met. The world is seen as the whole of being (“the unbroken world of Thou…a life of world solidarity” Buber, same page).
Emergence then looks like magic to the world of It; but to the world of Thou it is not magic because it is what space is made for when relational space is opened.
:- Doug.
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