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VII. The event and the human being [192–193]

The event is the inaugural “between”—the beginning of the clearing and hence is the abyss of the in-between, the consignment as Da-sein.


200. The event and the human being


The appropriating event consigns the essence of the human being to solicitousness for the truth of beyng.

This consignment raises humanity to what is most proper of its essence and fits it for courage [Mut], i.e., for the knowledgeable (as knowledge of beyng) preparedness for the truth of beyng. The appropriating event is the inceptual vouchsafing [Zu-mutung] of courage. The appropriating event vouchsafes courage to the human being and is itself grace [Anmut]. As this grace, it is the favor of the beginning but also harbors the danger of disgrace and presumption [Übermut].

The inceptual, event-related courage of thinking, the courage that disposes toward steadfastness as thinking, is the nobility of the indigence [Armut] in the simplicity of the departure. The indigence experiences the favor and grace of the beginning.


201. The event and the human being


When we think of the relation between beyng and the human being, we are thinking of them from the standpoint of the latter: how the human being would relate to beyng and in general would surmise and find beyng. Or is this thinking an illusion, inasmuch as it already thinks on the basis of beyng and specifically such that “being” is not simply the “point of departure” but rather such that beyng is the truth of itself, of the human being, and of the relation? As this truth, beyng has already, by way of differentiating, appropriated the whole of what is in question here. And the experience of this event is the inceptual experience and thus also the first one.

This experience gives rise to the necessity of asking about the essence of the human being not under the guideline of the what-question, but by thinking of the who.

Who? This question already supposes that the human being is a self. Selfhood is marked by self-arrogation, which, however, is grounded in a consignment. The latter nevertheless concerns the proper domain of steadfastness in Da-seyn, i.e., consignment into


Martin Heidegger (GA 71) The Event