Being Amidst Infinite Possibilities

by Tara Alberto

20 November 2012
Discussed Text: Levinas, "Heidegger," Ethics and Infinity

One of the things Dr. Garcia discussed in class earlier that especially caught my attention was how Heidegger claimed that we are ‘thrown’ into the world, that our Being-in-the-world is a ‘thrownness’. According to Heidegger, human beings were thrown into this world deprived of any other option or any prior knowledge. In a simple and at the same time fascinatingly intricate way, we are here in this world. We exist.

We are thrown into this world in the midst of our possibilities. Heidegger stresses that these possibilities are not merely in front of us, unlike things that we can decide on; they are not things that we have. It is not a question of having, but instead a question of actually being these very real possibilities.

Heidegger saw the human being as a project – a work-in-progress. We are thrown into the world and in Being-in-the-world, there is an experience of transcending – of going beyond. If we were to go beyond to embrace the capabilities within us and explore the multitude of our possibilities, we may be able to make a difference. That said, isn’t that among the few things truly important in life, making a positive difference?

In desiring to make a difference, we must be firm in our pursuit of the fundamental possibilities. Nowadays, people tend to forget the question of being and thus get involved with or fixated in other things like money, sex, or power, forcing them to be stuck on just the secondary possibilities, failing to be authentic. In failing to be authentic, these beings then become inauthentic, and that is where ‘fallenness’ comes in. ‘Fallenness’ is slipping away and the forgetfulness of being in the present society, in one’s fundamental situation. In order to move from inauthenticity back to authenticity, one needs to climb back up to being, feeling the urgency towards authenticity – to really live according to being as being instead of simply being entrenched in inauthenticity.

The ideas of ‘thrownness’ and the many possibilities of our being in this world reminded me of a particular move that I was required to watch for one of my classes during my sophomore year. The movie is aptly entitled “Life in a Day”. Basically, people from all over the world submitted snippets of a day in their life, hence the title.

The movie, which is an uninterrupted compilation of all the submitted video clips ranging from the typical to the extraordinary, somehow led me to realize how all of us are thrown into this world, into a particular setting or situation, none of which are due to our choosing. Seeing glimpses of how such diverse people live in different parts of the earth despite how little they have or how difficult their condition is was truly inspiring. It goes to show how minute our own problems can be, and that a being can truly be, no matter the external factors, because it is only a matter of transcending your current situation. Making a difference is possible no matter who or where one is thrown into this world.We human beings have an innate potential to be so much more than what we are now. That being is not just static being – it’s a becoming – becoming more of what we have to be. That we are a project, a possibility, a work-in-progress – that our fundamental task is to keep on transcending because we have the possibility of doing such.
As Dr. Garcia said, we must give the best of what we can everyday. “Walang awang pagtiyatiyaga” – the ceaseless desire to be, the ceaseless effort to exist.