January 2013 The Road to Daybreak A Spiritual Journey by Henri J M Nouwen

Continue from ...... Spirituality for our time A Plea for the Reflective Mind Freibury is the city of Martin Heidegger (1889-1976). Shortly after I arrived here, Franz Johna drove me past 47 Rotebuckweg, where Heidegger lived and wrote many of his philosophical works. There are few philosophers who have had as much influence in my thinking as Martin Heidegger. Though I never studied Heidegger directly, many of the philosophers, psychologists, and theologians who formed my thinking were deeply influenced by him. Walgrave, Binswanger, and Rahner cannot be fully understood apart from Heidegger's existentialism. Today I read a short address given in 1955 in Messkirch, his birthplace, in honour of the musician Conrad Kreutzer, who was also born there. The address is entitled Gelassenheit. Heidegger states that the greatest danger of our time is that the calculating way of thinking that is part of the technical revolution will become the dominating and exclusive way of thinking. Why is this so dangerous? Heidegger says, "Because then we would find, together with the highest and the most successful development of our thinking on the calculating level, an indifference towards reflection and a complete thoughtlessness ... then humanity would have renounced and thrown away what is most its own, its ability to reflect. What is at stake is to save the essence of humanity. What is at stake is to keep alive our reflective thinking (das Nachdenken.)" Heidegger calls for an attitude in which we say "yes" to the new techniques, insofar as they serve our daily lives, and "no" when they claim our whole being. He calls for a Gelassenheit zu Dingen (letting reality speak) and an openness to the mystery of things. This calmness and openness, Heidegger says, will give us a new rootedness, a new groundedness, a new sense of belonging. Thus we can remain reflective human beings and prevent ourselves from becoming victims of a "calculating" existence. It is clear how important Heidegger's thoughts remain today. We need to safeguard our reflective minds more than ever. Indirectly, Heidegger also touches on the need for a new spirituality, a new way of being in the world without being of it.

- To Be Continued - © Copyright Shalom 2013. All rights reserved.