Torin Fenser describes Buber’s philosophy in [[Reference Notes/A Second Classroom]]. The It / Thou divide seems to correspond to McGilchrist’s Left Hemisphere / Right Hemisphere distinction. The notion of "silent patience in the undivided word that precedes the formed and vocal response" brings to mind [[Focusing]]. > Buber would say that the It realm of life has to do with experiencing, using, sustaining life, and having the equipment we need to function. It is all about utilization, technology. However at a certain point all this can become an obstacle to further growth. > Spirit in its human manifestation is a response of man to his Thou. Man speaks with many tongues, tongues of language, of art, of action; but the spirit is one, the response to the Thou which appears and addresses him out of the mystery. Spirit is the word. And just as talk in a language may well first take the form of words in the brain of the man, and then sound in his throat, and yet both are merely refractions of the true event, for in actuality speech does not abide in man, but man takes his stand in speech and talks from there; so with every word and every spirit. Spirit is not in the I, but between I and Thou. It is not like the blood that circulates in you, but like the air in which you breathe. Man lives in the spirit, if he is able to respond to his Thou. He is able to, if he enters into relation with his whole being. Only in virtue of his power to enter into relation is he able to live in the spirit. > > But the destiny of the relational event is here set forth in the most powerful way. The stronger the response the more strongly does it bind up the Thou and banish it to be an object. Only silence before the Thou–silence of all tongues, silent patience in the undivided word that precedes the formed and vocal response–leaves the Thou free, and permits man to take his stand with it in the reserve where the spirit is not manifest, but is. > > One can understand the Quaker “meeting” with these eloquent words: the silence of all tongues, the “silent patience in the undivided word that precedes the formed and vocal response.” How can we practice this in the parent–teacher relationship, indeed in all relationships? > We need to move our organizations from an identity that rests on place and things (It) toward activity centers that find their life through human interaction (Thou).