Heidegger's Being and Time can be understood in terms of an effort to think consistently in relation to what Korner describes as "the metaphysical moment".Korner could be understood as referring to what,for many people,are those infrequent moments when one is challenged by the fact of one,s existence,not as something which one takes for granted,but as a fact that one is acutely aware of,even if only for a short time.

It is true,as Heidegger observes,that human beings are always aware of their existence,but reflecting on its implications is something else,and an activity which the sheer pressure of living,as an adult and the multitude of sensations,and physical and mental activities that constitute human social life,in particular and also the private life of the individual make difficult to arrive at,and even when recognised,to pursue consistently.

This kind of sensitivity,a sensitivity to the fundamental fact of one's existence,as prior in time and its importance to whatever interpretation of that existence human beings relate it to,could be seen as central to both philosophy,religion,to some degree,myth,and to many other pursuits of human beings that have been understood by people to be different in their orientation from the daily round of existence but as relevant for that accustomed daily progression,as these emerge in the arts and other disciplines.

The foreword and a good part of the introduction to Being and Time is centred in evoking the fundamental significance of the human beings sensitivity to the fact of existence in general and of their existence in particular.Heidegger employs two major techniques in the pursuit of this goal.The first technique,to me,is his style of expression-his choice of diction and his methods or organising these words into phrase and sentences and his occasional invocation of inter-textual references by using quotations different from the language in which he is writing-German-which he would then translate into German in the body of the text.In that manner he succeeds in embodying what Paul would describe as a cloud of witnesses,placing/situating his own work within the tissue of conversation on the subjects he is addressing,as this conversation extends from the ancient Greeks,to the 19th century France of Pascal,the Germany of Hegel and contemporary Germany of his time of Edmund Hussserl.Like many if not most Western philosophers,but unlike some like Schopenhaaur,he did not see him,self as needing to demonstrate any awareness of the addressing if related questions/similar conversations outside the relative homogeneity of mainstream Western culture,with the exception of the work of the century African philosopher Augustine of Hippo,whose work has been central not only to the Christian thought,but to autobiography,sociology and philosophy.The relationship of his work to the non mainstream but currently increasingly visible tradition esoteric Western esotericism thought also does not emerge.Heidegger's later development demonstrates an awareness of kinship between his work and Asian thought,and a marked effort to demonstrate this recognition.

The second technique he employs isd that of developing a logical argument.He does this through a determined effort to organise his text in a coherent manner through an outline that specifies the chapters and their subsections.He also develops a logical argument through an effort to think through the subject by a sequential,logical presentation of propositions,premises and judgements.Perhaps a major tension in this work,and which has led to significantly contrastive interpretations of the quality and significance of the work and to judgement of the work as being difficult,is the tension between the evocative,almost incantatory direction/character of his style and his effort to build the entire work as a logical argument.Suggestive The use of other thinkers