I and Thou

I read I and Thou a while ago, and might read it again, but this is what I remember from it:

In ordinary language, we say, "I love you", or "I see you", or "I hear you". But there's another kind of language, which is deeper than that. We might say "I see you", but really mean "I see it". We have a certain way of saying "I" in that deeper language that goes along with saying "It" of some person or thing, and another way of saying "I" when we say "You" in that deeper language.

We see people, and ourselves, as real personal beings, or as machines to be manipulated.

We worship idols in the "I-It" way, but we worship God in the "I-You" way. If we worship God in the I-It way, it's not God that we worship. Relating to God in the I-You way requires that we relate to humans and animals that way. Saying "You" of something comes from wholeness (a whole "I") and is of or to wholeness (a whole "You").