Geworfenheit (G) = throwness
Our tour guide announced his religion;
“I am a Muslim,” he said.
“I am a Muslim because I was born in Istanbul.
If I had been born in Rome
I would be a Catholic.
If I had been born in New Delhi
I would be a Hindu.
If I had been born Bangkok
I would be a Buddhist.
If I had been born in Jerusalem
I would be a Jew.
But I was born in Istanbul
so I am a Muslim.”
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Geworfenheit = G. ‘throwness’
This German word is used by the existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger in Being and Time
to name the reality that we arrive in our world without choice as if we were hurled into being.