Monochrome photo of small concrete Buddha viewed from above. In the foreground the leaves of a maple tree are seen.

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 network (DMN) settles down, allowing an unmodified experience of the present moment to express itself. More on that here:

Meditation: what goes on between your ears?
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Ian Miller

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One response to “Gelassenheit!”

  1. goldenage Avatar
    goldenage

    @shojiwax.com

    Where I'd resist the equation

    The problem is threefold:

    First, Gelassenheit is not a state in the phenomenological sense. It's closer to an attitude or a disposition of openness, a letting-be that is not achieved by doing something (including quieting a brain network) but by releasing the will to achieve. DMN suppression is still a causal-mechanistic description; it presupposes the very subject-object, means-end structure that Gelassenheit is supposed to dissolve.

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