Hazel's discussion of the power of the "I am" question at our meeting earlier this week brought Martin Buber flooding back into my head. Among other things (jewish), Buber wrote extensively on the nature of human dialog.
His theory, in short summation, cut right to the individual word, each one, we say. He said that each of our words is either an i-you word or an i-it word. If our words are i-you (truely respecting and respectful of the other) then we can achieve dialog. If our words are i-it (seeing the other as an object not fully human) then dialog is not possible.
It strikes me that the "I am" question, put forth in the proper setting and with the correct motivation (that "cradle" for dialog that I mentioned in our meeting), is an "i-you" question.
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