PATHMARKS


"in the midst of ..." refers neither to a cropping up among other beings, nor even to a specific self- directedness toward this particular being in comporting oneself toward it. Rather, this being in the midst of ... belongs to transcendence. That which surpasses, in passing over and beyond and thus elevating itself, must find itself [sich befinden] as such among beings. As finding itself, Dasein is absorbed by beings in such a way that, in its belonging to beings, it is thoroughly attuned by them. Transcendence means projection of world [62] in such a way that those beings that are surpassed also already pervade and attune that which projects. With this absorption by beings that belongs to transcendence, Dasein has taken up a basis within beings, gained "ground." This "second" form of grounding does not arise after the "first," but is "simultaneous" with it. This does not mean to say that the two are present at hand within the same "now"; rather, projection of world and absorption by beings, as ways of grounding, belong in each case to a single temporality insofar as they co-constitute its temporalizing. Yet just as the future precedes "in" time, yet temporalizes only insofar as having-been and present also - as intrinsic to time — temporalize in the specific unity of time, so too those ways of grounding that spring from transcendence display this connection. Such correspondence is to be found, however, because transcendence is rooted in the essence of time, i.e., in its ecstatic-horizonal constitution.67

Dasein would be unable to be pervasively attuned by beings as the being that it is,68 and thus would be unable, for example, to be embraced, captivated, or permeated by them; it would be altogether deprived of any leeway for this, were it not for the fact that an irruption of world, and be it only a glimmer of world, accompanies such being absorbed by beings. In this, the world that is unveiled may be scarcely or not at all transparent conceptually; world may even be interpreted as one particular being among others; any explicit knowledge of Dasein's transcending may be absent; the freedom of Dasein that brings along with it the projection of world may be barely awake — and yet only as being-in-the-world is Dasein absorbed by beings. Dasein grounds (establishes) world only as grounding itself in the midst of beings.

This grounding that establishes, as the projection of possibilities of itself,69 entails, however, that in this process Dasein in each case [63] exceeds itself. In accordance with its essence, the projection of possibilities is in each case richer than the possession of them by the one projecting. The ready possession of possibilities belongs to Dasein, however, because, as projective, it finds itself in the midst of beings. Cenain other possibilities are thereby already withdrawn from Dasein, and indeed merely through its own facticity. Yet precisely this withdrawal of certain possibilities pertaining to


a First edition, The essence of this answer: The relation of beyng, as beyng, to the human essence. The extent to which the proper thinking of beyng is not a questioning.


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Martin Heidegger (GA 9) On the Essence of Ground