We Live as One Lives — By Martin Heidegger
We wake as one wakes.
We rise when one rises.
The day has already begun before we begin it.
The alarm rings.
The hand reaches out.
Not fully decided.
Already moving.
We check what one checks.
Messages.
News.
The small confirmations that the world continues.
We dress as one dresses.
Clothes chosen not entirely by us,
but by what is worn,
what is expected,
what passes without notice.
Outside, the world moves with familiar certainty.
People walk as one walks.
Faces pass without remaining.
Each step repeats steps already taken.
We speak as one speaks.
Phrases ready before thought arrives.
Opinions borrowed from the air around us.
Agreement arrives easily.
We laugh where one laughs.
We disapprove where one disapproves.
We nod before knowing why.
Work begins.
Tasks already waiting.
We do what one does to remain part of the day.
Questions rarely begin from silence.
They begin from what is already said.
Already decided.
Already accepted.
We scroll as one scrolls.
Images appear and vanish.
Attention shifts without choosing its direction.
Time moves quietly.
Not through decision,
but through continuation.
We rest when one rests.
Eat when one eats.
Pause when others pause.
Conversations repeat familiar paths.
Stories told before.
Jokes that do not need new laughter.
Even disagreement follows known shapes.
We argue in inherited voices.
We defend positions we barely formed.
Evening arrives almost unnoticed.
Fatigue appears without a clear beginning.
The day feels full yet indistinct.
We say we were busy.
We say nothing special happened.
We say the day was normal.
In rare moments,
a small distance appears.
A question interrupts:
Was this chosen?
Was this mine?
The room feels briefly unfamiliar.
Silence feels heavier than before.
The routine loosens its grip for a moment.
But comfort returns quickly.
Habit restores direction.
We return to what one does.
We relax as one relaxes.
Watch what is watched.
Think what is commonly thought.
Night approaches.
We prepare for sleep without reflection.
Tomorrow waits already shaped.
We sleep as one sleeps.
Dreams mix the familiar with the uncertain.
Morning will come as it always comes.
And again we will wake.
Again we will move.
Again we will live as one lives.
Philosophical rendering inspired by themes of everydayness and “the They” in Martin Heidegger’s thought.
This is an interpretive existential narrative, not a direct quotation.