school of philosophy, but rather questions posed by the essential need of Dasein itself, if indeed it is a matter of Dasein first becoming transparent to itself again and thus allowing itself to be touched by something different. At the same time this is to say that the whole problematic, insofar as it emerges from this fundamental attunement, is directed toward a dimension of questioning which is already indicated through this fundamental attunement itself. Our claim is that the fundamental attunement of boredom is rooted in the temporality of Dasein. The temporality of Dasein and thus the essence of time itself is the root of these three questions which in themselves, in their own peculiar unity and connection, express the fundamental question of metaphysics. This is what we have called the question concerning being: Being and Time.
§40. The way in which the three questions are to be asked.
It thus seems as if we know what it is we now have to ask about in our questioning. Yet precisely if we were to cling rigidly to this knowledge we should easily forget what is of equal urgency here, namely clarity concerning how these three questions are to be asked, how we must orient ourselves toward the possible answers, and how alone we should interpret such answers.
By answering these questions we do not intend to erect a worldview as an edifice in which one is invited to dwell. Perhaps contemporary man is not even really, i.e., responsibly prepared for what is specifically described as a worldview. Nor will we be tempted to believe that these questions and the answers we give to them will eliminate the need of contemporary Dasein. Such need will at best merely be rendered more acute, more acute in the sole possible sense that this questioning will bring us to the brink of possibility, the possibility of restoring to Dasein its actuality, that is, its existence. Yet between this uttermost brink of possibility and the actuality of Dasein there lies a very fine line. This is a line which one can never merely glide across, but one which man can only leap over in dislodging his Dasein. Only individual action itself can dislodge us from this brink of possibility into actuality, and this is the moment of vision. Philosophizing, on the other hand, can only lead us to the brink and always remains something penultimate in this respect. Yet it can only ever lead us this far if it actually runs ahead into this penultimate domain and thus grasps its entirely precursory character and finitude. This means comprehending that it must not abandon itself in a gullible and vacuous fashion to a host of different and possibly legitimate investigations, while leaving whatever remains to chance and God alike. For what remains here is the essential, and this consists in actually leading us to the brink of our possibilities and preparing in advance the possibility of such leadership and the specific path for it to take.