Epilog. Living with the perplexities of our being-in-the-world with others: the paradox of Bildung

One of the most powerful challenges of being in the world with Others is learning when to be aff ected by power beyond our wanting and doing. The hermeneutic experience of art highlights the power of letting things show themselves to us and provoke cathartic transformation. The message of the Gospel teaches us the need for sensitivity to divine inspiration and radical openness to Revelation. The power of philosophical thinking can humble us to wonder at the paradoxes and fi nitude of human wisdom. A close reading of Heraclitus in conversation with Aristotle, Heidegger, and Gadamer faces us with the power of the contradictions and “unstable equilibrium” of the cosmos in which we must ever learn to play with fire. The hermeneutics of power between art, poetry, theology, and philosophy brings into relief the transformation that is called for in the formation (Bildung) of human beings and which exposes the indivisibility and unpredictability of education and life. Th e groundbreaking insight of the hermeneutic dialectic of power is rediscovering the capacity to let oneself be led, let oneself learn, and let oneself be overpowered and empowered in the inspired and inspiring sway of being between other humans and the divine.