Genuine Dialogue Essay, Research Paper

Living life in relation to God and to others has profoundly influenced anyone who is interested in interpersonal encounters. But really, how does one relate to God? How does on relate to other people and to nature? Much of the basis of studying these encounters as a quality of human interaction, as genuine dialogue, has its foundation with the philosophy of Genuine Dialogue, which we attribute to Martin Buber.

In seeking to understand the essence of interpersonal encounters, we must first establish two fundamentally different relations: the I object relation and the genuine dialogue or interhuman relation. An I Object relation is the normal everyday relation of a human being towards nature and the things surrounding him. Man can also consider his fellows as an object and that is what he does most of the time, he views the other from a distance, like a thing, a part of the environment, forged into chains of cause and effect relationships. Radically different from this is genuine dialogue or interhuman relation. The human being enters into this encounter with his innermost and whole being, in a meeting; in a real dialogue this is what both of the partners do. There exists a definite relationship between the physical body and the I of both individuals engaged in genuine dialogue.

The I Object relationship is seemingly non interpersonal. This type of relationship is characterized by the objectification and control of nature and people. The “I” in this relationship seeks to acquire and possess as much as it can and perceives itself as being an individual, who is set over against the subjects of its perception. But this “I” pays a price for such selfishness and will to dominate because it is isolated and alienated from the source of life. It is personified in acts like seeming, speechifying and imposition. It proceeds from how one wishes to appear and is concerned with the impression, which one s appearance produces in the other. It is not really talking to an Other but only one s imagined concept of the Other. What also characterizes this non interpersonal relationship is that it is embedded in space and time and determined by cause and effect. This relationship includes ordinary acts such as mass consumption, industrial production, and societal organization.

A more authentic way or a deeper way of relating to world is concretized by means of genuine dialogue or interhuman encounters. This is the event wherein people come together and encounter one other on the deepest level possible. When you relate to another person, you are sharing the mystery of your being. You are responding with the totality of self to the Other who is addressing you. It is clearly observed in being, personal making present and unfolding in contrast with seeming, speechifying and imposition. The true difference is that genuine dialogue proceeds from what really is spontaneously and without reserve. In the act, one becomes aware of his personhood. In short, you become a person (as opposed to an alienated and isolated individual) when you enter an interpersonal relation with people.

To enter an interpersonal relationship is to perceive reality from a new and higher vantage point. I am, in relation, able to liberate myself from the closed world of I object relationships. I see that I am a free person, possessing a unique destiny. In the presence of an Other, I am able to make a decision, out of the depths of my being, a decision which permits me to discern my destiny, the “grand will” guiding my life. My life becomes a perpetual series of decisions where I consciously choose to live out that which has been predestined by God. Through my relationships, in which I give of myself, I become real and alive. I am able to turn my being towards the center of reality.