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.