Parvis Emad & Kenneth Maly: BESINNUNG

How we translate the words Selbstbesinnung, Reflexion  , and Selbstreflexion depends largely on how we bring the word Besinnung   into English. By paying close attention to what Heidegger says about Besinnung — for example, with regard to self, history, the first beginning, and science — we can come upon an interpretation   of Besinnung which will guide us in translating this word. Here is what Heidegger says about Besinnung and self:

[Besinnung] is … so originary that it above all asks how the self is to be grounded. . . . Thus it is questionable whether through reflection [Reflexion] on "ourselves" we ever find our self …

We come upon this same characterization of Besinnung in the context of the first beginning, history, and science. It turns out that Besinnung is (a) originary, (b) concerns matters whose treatment through reflection is inadequate, and © is not   the same as reflection. This means that, regardless of whether Besinnung concerns the self or any other being-historical theme, it is an originary way of awareness that is always exposed to the threat of a crushing reflection. In order to bring into English this originary awareness, we translated Besinnung with mindfulness-except in those cases where the word Besinnung indicates normal German usage; then we translate Besinnung as "consideration" or "’deliberation." Mindfulness comes from mindful, which carries the connotations of open, attentive, aware, heedful, care-ful.

Translating Besinnung with "reflection" or "meditation" does not bring into English the originary awareness that is Besinnung. The word reflection is inadequate to this task because the activity to which this word refers and the assumptions that go along with it constantly bypass the awareness which is Besinnung. When reflection sets in, there begins a process of continual rebounding and recoiling that is bent on nothing other than refinement of the reflection itself. The rebounding and recoiling, as well as the ensuing refinement, easily bypass Besinnung as an awareness that cannot be achieved through refinement of reflection. Given the Cartesian background of the word meditation, this word also proved inadequate to this task because it maintains a close proximity to reflection. But the awareness that is Besinnung, as mindfulness, is unobtrusive and as such is at the service of what Contributions calls "sheltering."

Rendering Besinnung with mindfulness opens the way for translating Selbstbesinnung with self mindfulness. Reflexion with reflection, and Selbst  -reflexion with self reflection. Translating Besinnung as "reflection" would have offered no possibility at all for differentiating Selbstreflexion from Selbstbesinnung, because both words would be translated as "selfreflection." By contrast, mindfulness presents the possibility of differentiating Selbstreflexion from Selbstbesinnung with the word self-mindfulness.