Heidegger's Mindfulness: How can we escape the 'lack of mindfulness' in today's world of information overload?

In Heidegger's Mindfulness, the path to escaping the "lack of mindfulness" in our information-saturated world involves a fundamental shift from calculative thinking to a more inceptual, being-historical mode of questioning that is rooted in the truth of Being. Heidegger argues that the modern world, characterized by the "completion of modernity," is dominated by metaphysics, which reduces beings to objects of representation and control, leading to a forgetfulness of Being. Overcoming this requires a "dissociating exposition" of history, moving beyond mere 'historical' refutation to engage with the ownmost essence of philosophy.

Heidegger suggests that the "lack of mindfulness" is evident in various relationships to philosophy, including 'historical' adoption, calculation, rejection, and indifference. This planetary lack of mindfulness cannot be overcome through political or religious assumptions but demands a deeper questioning of philosophy's ownmost necessity. He writes, "In all these 'relationships' to philosophy there prevails nowhere a mindfulness of the ownmost of philosophy in such a manner that that which philosophy has to think would be put into question and taken over in its entire question-worthiness without prop and protection, without evasion, but with the single most willingness to encounter philosophy’s own necessity, which arises out of the uniqueness of philosophy’s ownmost."

To cultivate mindfulness, Heidegger emphasizes the importance of "knowing-awareness" of our epoch and abandoning the metaphysical domination of Being. This involves a "leap" into the hidden history of Being, grasping history more foundationally than any kind of 'history'. Furthermore, Heidegger stresses the need to differentiate between Historie and Geschichte, where Historie is the scientific recording of past events, while Geschichte is the gatheredness of the still swaying 'on-coming' past. By engaging with Geschichte, we can move beyond the superficiality of information overload and connect with the deeper, more meaningful aspects of existence. Ultimately, escaping the "lack of mindfulness" requires a transformation in our thinking, a shift towards a more profound engagement with Being and its truth.