Wo aber Gefahr ist, wachst
Das Rettende auch
But where the danger is, grows
The saving power also
(Holderlin)
Because the essence of technology is nothing technological,
essential reflection upon technology and decisive confrontation with
it must happen in a realm that is, on the one hand, akin to the
essence of technology and, on the other, fundamentally different
from it.
Such a realm is art. But certainly only if reflection upon art, for
its part, does not shut its eyes to the constellation of truth, concerning
which we are "questioning".
Thus questioning, we bear witness to the crisis that in our sheer
preoccupation with technology we do not yet experience the essence
of technology, and that in our sheer aesthetic-mindedness we no longer
guard and preserve the essence of art. Yet the more questioningly we
ponder the essence of technology, the more mysterious the essence
of art becomes.
The closer we come to the danger, the more brightly do the ways
into the saving power begin to shine, and the more questioning we
become. For questioning is the compassion (Frommigkeit) of thought.
(Martin Heidegger)
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