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The other day I found a quote that’s attributed to Heidegger in a book I’m reading:

Imagine an awareness that sees to the heart of suffering with no urge to fix anything. Imagine this awareness is the opposite of indifference.

I tried to find the English reference in order to dig up the German original, because I’m curious about the native wording and its translation into English.

However, I wasn’t able to find either. Can somebody point me into a direction, or shed some light on this quote?

Thank you!

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  • Attempting to shed some light, it's about Gelassenheit, e.g. like in Taoism: "The Tâo in its regular course does nothing (for the sake of doing it), and so there is nothing which it does not do." Tao te Ching, ch. 37.
    – Chris Degnen
    Commented Jun 12 at 6:04

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The OP's quote apparently comes from the transcript here: Fluidity Of Life by Doug Kraft

Quoting slightly more context .?.?.

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In Mindfulness (Besinnung, 1940/39) a similar phrase to the OP's quote can be read

§ 33. Be-ing and 'Letting-be' *

One is of the opinion that 'letting a being be' as how and what it is, is to be simply achieved by being indifferent to beings, by undertaking nothing about them and by taking nothing away from them.

But, on the contrary, 'letting be' presupposes the utmost inabiding the truth of the sway of be-ing.

. . .

* See the 1930 lecture on truth, "Vom Wesen der Wahrheit", to appear in Vortr?ge, GA80.

The Hull & Crick translation of Vom Wesen der Wahrheit can be found here as 'On the Essence of Truth', page 317.

The main thrust of 'letting-be' (Gelassenheit) is an absence of instrumental thinking which would colour the received reality with an intentional perspective, rather like bias.

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    Would perhaps be good to point out that Heidegger borrowed this term from German late medieval mysticism - Jakob Böhme and Meister Eckhart, like: "Der Mensch soll so gelassen sein, dass er nichts will und nichts weiß und nichts hat." ("Man should be detached that he doesn't want anything, doesn't know anything and doesn't have anything.") There also seems an aspect of "amor fati" to it.
    – mudskipper
    Commented Jun 12 at 13:21
  • In this context the term "Wesen" (essence) also (re)acquires a very strong verbal connotation: emerging, coming-into-being or abiding-in-its-being.
    – mudskipper
    Commented Jun 12 at 13:45
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    @mudskipper I recently found this book extract, ‘Let it Be’: Heidegger and Eckhart on Gelassenheit, but haven't finished reading it yet.
    – Chris Degnen
    Commented Jun 12 at 13:46

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