A radiant obsctacle in the path of the obvious

From George Steiner's book on Heidegger:

"Martin Heidegger is the great master of astonishment, the man whose amazement before the blank fact that we are instead of not being has put a radiant obstacle in the path of the obvious. His is the thought which makes even momentary condescension toward the fact of existence unforgivable."

I think it is true for most great writing, not just Heidegger's philosophy. They all put radiant obstacles in the path of the obvious and make us rethink what we otherwise take for granted as commonsense or commonplace (including our own existence).

Another nice phrase I learned from the book : "Deken ist Danken" or "To Think is to thank".

It is an excellent introductory text. I will try to post some of my notes soon.