To grasp the philosophical significance of Martin Heidegger's Mindfulness, one must avoid a purely historical reading and instead engage with the text's unique syntax and being-historical stance. Heidegger cautions against treating his lecture courses and writings as mere historical presentations, warning that such an approach misses the core of his philosophical project. As he states, "Whoever without hesitation reads the lecture-courses only as a ‘historical’ presentation of some work… he has not grasped anything at all" (Mindfulness, 360). This suggests that Mindfulness should not be approached as a historical artifact to be dissected and compared with existing views, but as an active engagement with the question of being.
The editors of the English translation emphasize that Mindfulness originates from the "‘non-representational apophantic’ character of be-ing-historical thinking," emerging from and returning to that which shows itself as it is (Mindfulness, VI). This implies that the work's philosophical statements arise from a direct encounter with being, rather than a representational or theoretical framework. The text's unusual syntax, marked by hyphenations and neologisms, is not a deficiency but a reflection of its referential dependence on the "fulfillment" of being.
Furthermore, Mindfulness should be read in light of Heidegger's broader project, particularly his Contributions to Philosophy (From Enowning). The thematic proximity of the two works, especially the concept of the "leap," indicates that Mindfulness elaborates on the historically self-showing and transforming allotments of being. The goal is not to translate Heidegger's language into a more intelligible one, but to dwell within his language of thinking, allowing it to come alive once again. This requires a willingness to grapple with the text's complexities and to resist the temptation to reduce it to a set of historical claims or biographical details.