The holy

I wonder whether we will recognize it once more?

Hölderlin’s poetry is a destiny for us. It is waiting for the moment when the mortals will respond to it.

What does Hölderlin’s poetry say? Its crucial word is: the holy.

This word speaks about the flight of the gods. It says that the gods, who have fled, are saving us until we are inclined and able to dwell near them. This site is the proper place of being at home. Therefore, it remains necessary to prepare for the sojourn in this nearness.  Thus we take the first step on the path that leads us there, where we respond properly to the destiny that is Hölderlin’s poetry. In this way we arrive only at the place of the poetic word [Wortort] in which ‘the god of gods’ perhaps appears.

For on its own, no human calculation and design [Machen] can bring forth a turning [Wende] in the world’s present condition. Especially not because human design is already formed by this very condition of the world and has fallen prey to it. How then could it still gain control over it?

Hölderlin’s poetry holds a destiny for us. It is waiting for the moment when we mortals will respond to it. The response leads the way towards a coming near the place of the gods, who have fled; that means into the place of light, which saves us.

Yet, how should we recognize and remember all this? By listening to Hölderlin’s poetry.

[…]

The first guiding word reads:

‘Everything is intimately interrelated [innig].’

This means: One is intimately appropriated [vereignet] to the other, but in such a way that each thereby remains in its own proper domain: gods and men, earth and heaven. Intimate interrelatedness [Innigkeit] does not mean a merging and effacing of differences. Intimate interrelatedness means the belonging together of the unfamiliar, the sway of strangeness, and the claim of reserve [Scheu].

The second guiding word is a question:

‘How do I render thanks?’

Thanking is the awe-inspiring, reverential, accepting remembrance [Andenken] of what was granted, and it is only a sign pointing towards the vicinity of the fleeing gods, who are saving us.

The third guiding word is:

‘It can be perceived by a deep testing.’

The testing must have been performed ‘on one’s knees’. Wilfulness has to humble itself and disappear. Only one thing is incumbent on thought and meditation: to think ahead of poetry in order to give way to it. By listening repeatedly, we become better at listening. […]

• Heidegger, letter, 1963, Zollikon Seminars: Protocols, Conversations, Letters (tr. Mayr and Askay)