shed some light on the essence of the Λόγος ? Must not the steering vision be πάντων [352] κεχωρισμένον, i.e., the presencing region that approaches all, surrounds all, and advises all, and from out of which all directions and paths open themselves and, in this opening, grant pathways? It would initially remain an overt arbitrariness simply to equate the steering γνώμη with the Λόγος. However, because γνώμη is only suited to the divine and is related to the conjoining of the whole of beings, and because thereby the originary forgathering that prepares comes-forth from within γνώμη, we should not simply turn away from the apparently daring step of equating γνώμη θεία with the Λόγος. If we consider them both in relation to beings as a whole, and if we at the same time think the still-veiled truth of being in a Greek manner from out of ἀλήθεια and φύσις, then both γνώμη θεία and the Λόγος can tell us something essential about the essence of presence—something essential, to be sure, although perhaps not what is most fundamental, if we are even able to consider thinking toward it. However, taking the step of equating the Λόγος with γνώμη θεία becomes inescapable when we consider that the Λόγος and γνώμη, in the same way, are both called ἓν τὸ σοφόν : the One, i.e., the sole to-be-known. According to fragment 41, this knowledge consists of ἐπίστασθαι—“standing before”; now we are able to grasp this in a more originary and proper way, and not only in the later sense of ἐπιστήμη and τέχνη as being well-informed about something. To stand before means: to reside before and in the presence of the originary forgathering. γνώμη and the Λόγος are what is to be known, and, indeed, as the uniting One: the visional, advisory presence of the originary sheltering forgathering. This, however, cannot be separated and cut-off from the whole. On the contrary, it is the region that approaches all and surrounds it, dispensing all paths and directions, steering all things. The Λόγος is πάντων κεχωρισμένον. ὁμολογεῖν is the residing within the presence of the originary forgathering, a residing which is the human relation to the Λόγος.
The following question was posed in an earlier section:2 how are we to prepare in advance the authentic relation of human λόγος to the Λόγος (i.e., ὁμολογεῖν)? The preliminary answer was that it is first necessary to know the relation of human
2 See German page 329.
264 Logic: Heraclitus’s Doctrine of the Logos