Gelassenheit!

Small concrete buddha statue in my back garden.Camera: Fujifilm XT5 with TTArtisan 35mm lens. Nope, not what you offer up when someone sneezes. Gelassenheit is one of the central (later) ideas of the philosopher Martin Heidegger. It describes a state of calm composure and (spiritual) surrender rather than our usual state of mind-wandering, ruminating, worrying and self-storytelling. In his work “Conversation on a Country Path about Thinking” (1944-45) he unpacks the concept of Gelassenheit as having two complementary components: Releasement toward things (Gelassenheit zu den Dingen): Allowing entities to show themselves as they are, without forcing them into our categories or utility frameworks. Openness to the mystery (Offenheit für das Geheimnis): Remaining receptive to that which withdraws from complete conceptual grasp—the hidden dimension of Being that cannot be fully objectified or mastered. Neurophenomenomically speaking, Gelassenheit is a state where your brain’s default mode…