ABSTRACT
Being open necessarily involves a partial breaking of boundary between self and world. Whether one is captured by the magic of a sunset or the atmosphere of a cliff top or responding to the depths of another’s feelings, there is to some extent a porosity between oneself and this other person or event or thing. Some current arguments about methods in psychology involve debates about the manner in which the scientist should relate to the phenomena in question. By and large, psychology has adopted an onlooker methodology, one that has been deeply problematic for it. A spectatorial account of social knowing has been central to the Western intellectual tradition influencing how psychologists believe they should come to know their ‘subjects’. There are many reasons for the occurrence of I-Thou moments, among them perhaps shared ground and trusted spaces for engagement.
