Nurturing a subject-subject relationship as a measure of maturation in a person’s humanity. Within the circle of thought of Gabriel Marceland Rev. Tadeusz Dajczer

Abstract

The technicised contemporaneity that is focused on consumption and pleasure is not conducive to the moral maturation of a human person or to reflection on one’s own humanity. It creates a superficial person whose relationships with others are also far from profound. An instrumental, pragmatic relationship (“I” – ”it”) dominates over an authentic encounter, over a subject-subject relationship (“I” – ”Thou”) in the understanding of the philosophers of dialogue. The Christian exis-tentialist Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973) emphasises that a person must first “create” him/herself and that he/she is called to “maturation in his/her humanity”. This is a path of moral efforts from a banal existence to an authentic one, where – as can be deduced from Marcel’s writings – the concept of two types of effort is funda-mental: (1) The effort of deep reflection upon the mystery of human existence and life, and on the Mystery of the Divine “Thou”; and (2) The effort of development in interpersonal relationships towards the fullness of a subject-subject relationship and being “disponible” to others. Reverend Tadeusz Dajczer (1931–2009), an outstand-ing scholar of religion and sought-after spiritual director found in the relational nature of a human person described by Gabriel Marcel the anthropological base for leading the souls entrusted to him to God. In his writings, he carried out an original, phenomenological analysis of the subject-subject relationship on the path towards God. He saw union with God as the peak of the “I” – ”You” relationship. The thoughts of both Authors demonstrate that the nurturing of a subject-subject relationship is the measure of maturation in humanity.