My experience with Heidegger
3 min readSep 11, 2024
“Why do we say that time passes away, when we do not say with just as much emphasis that it arises?”
― Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
It was a typical overcast day in London as I headed to King’s College library for another reading session. This time in my hands I had a copy of Heidegger’s Being and Time, ready to begin my devouring of it once I found a suitable spot inside.
Before beginning, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, since I read that Heidegger employed many neologisms in this work, with some being critical of this and the book overall, while others lauding it as a masterpiece. It definitely seemed to me then, and now, that Heidegger is one of those individuals, thinkers or philosophers that you either love or hate, a person whose thinking is either in accord with yours or not. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that he is popular among people who prefer the Continental school of philosophy, and is unpopular in the Analytic school of philosophy.So, returning to my experience. All that remains now, from that time, is just a memory, and the recollection of it, as being one of my most engrossing reads to date. I distinctly remember reaching such a profound state of flow and focus that time itself flew by, and reading the book was not a chore in the slightest sense. Many passages or sentences were brilliant thought-twisters, as I…