Mysteries unutterable. Unamuno, Life 3.11
Life
includes things that elude explanation, always. Every frame of
reference we can bring to bear as humans will hide something from us,
and that something might eventually appear dreadfully important. The
ultimate reasons for all things lie beyond our grasp as rational
beings. Unamuno cannot speak or hear any sensible speech about the
beginning of beginning, the end of end, or the reason for reason.
Y
¿quién eres tú?, me preguntas, y con Obermann te contesto: ¡para
el universo nada, para mí todo! ¿Orgullo? ¿Orgullo querer ser
inmortal? ¡Pobres hombres! Trágico hado, sin duda, el de tener que
cimentar en la movediza y deleznable piedra del deseo de inmortalidad
la afirmación de ésta; pero torpeza grande condenar el anhelo por
creer probado, sin probarlo, que no sea conseguidero. ¿Que sueño...?
Dejadme soñar, si ese sueño es mi vida, no me despertéis de él.
Creo en el inmortal origen de este anhelo de inmortalidad, que es la
sustancia misma de mi alma. ¿Pero de veras creo en ello...? ¿Y para
qué quieres ser inmortal?, me preguntas, ¿para qué? No entiendo la
pregunta francamente, porque es preguntar la razón de la razón, el
fin del fin, el principio del principio.
Pero
de estas cosas no se puede hablar.
"Who
are you, then?" you ask me, and I answer you with Obermann: "To
the universe, I am nothing; to myself, everything!" Is this
pride? Is it pride to wish for immortality? Poor humans! Ours is a
tragic fate, without doubt: having to found our affirmation of
immortality upon the shifting and unstable stone that is our desire
for it. But it would be excessively lazy to condemn this desire
hastily, untried, believing without proof that it is unattainable. Am
I dreaming? Let me dream! If this dream is my life, do not wake me
from it. I believe in the immortal origin of this our desire for
immortality, which is the very substance of my soul. But do I really
believe in it? "Why do you want to be immortal?" you ask
me. "What for?" I do not understand the question, to be
frank, for it seeks after the reason for reason, the purpose of
purpose, the beginning of beginning.
About
these things we cannot speak.