Beyond Philosophy

Rational proofs of God, for Unamuno, require concepts of reason that will not really do, as they render reason irrational. Here, the proof of universal agreement is really just an appeal to consensus, which is not strictly rational. In the end, Unamuno believes, we must have faith irrationally, beyond and even against reason, which is necessarily mortal in ways that our life instinctively rejects. Queda la otra famosa prueba, la del consentimiento, supuesto unánime, de los pueblos todos en creer en un Dios. Pero esta prueba no es en rigor racional ni a favor del Dios racional que explica el Universo, sino del Dios cordial que nos hace vivir. Sólo podríamos llamarla racional en el caso de que creyésemos que la razón es el consentimiento, más o menos unánime, de los pueblos, el sufragio universal, en el caso de que hiciésemos razón a la vox populi que se dice ser vox Dei . Así lo creía aquel trágico y ardiente Lamennais, el que dijo que la vida y la verdad no son sino una sola y misma ...

Seneca argues that good human character commands awe and worship in the same way that great works of nature do. Whenever we refuse to act hastily in ways that reflect fear or lust or jealousy, our action partakes in the beauty of the gods. Si tibi occurrerit vetustis arboribus et solitam altitudinem egressis frequens lucus et conspectum caeli ramorum aliorum alios protegentium summovens obtentu ( † ) , illa proceritas silvae et secretum loci et admiratio umbrae in aperto tam densae atque continuae fidem tibi numinis faciet. Si quis specus saxis penitus exesis montem suspenderit, non manu factus, sed naturalibus causis in tantam laxitatem excavatus, animum tuum quadam religionis suspicione percutiet. Magnorum fluminum capita veneramur; subita ex abdito vasti amnis eruptio aras habet; coluntur aquarum calentium fontes, et stagna quaedam vel opacitas vel immensa altitudo sacravit. Si hominem videris interritum periculis, intactum cupiditatibus, inter adversa felicem, in mediis tempestatib...

It is important to know how to avoid doing what is none of our business. Especially in today's world, when events conspire to make us know more than we can or should. Ἐγὼ τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ καθῆκον ποιῶ, τὰ ἄλλα με οὐ περισπᾷ· ἤτοι γὰρ ἄψυχα ἢ ἄλογα ἢ πεπλανημένα καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀγνοοῦντα. I do my duty, the work that belongs properly to me. Other matters do not draw me aside, for they are either lifeless or witless nonentities to me, or else they are far removed from my path, which they know not.

For Unamuno, reason and will are at odds. One is about setting mortal limits; the other transgresses these limits. The character of God is conceived historically as comprehending both traits, somehow, in a universal form that is at once uniformly rational and personally willing. But that perfect union is not actually conceivable, in rational terms as humans know them. To posit it seriously is ultimately to choose one or the other: to opt either for a Stoic universe in which gods are rationally fated, or for a more primitively Christian or pagan universe in which personal deity wills things in ways that trangress, transcend, or traduce reason (as we know it). Pregúntase, por otra parte, si una cosa cualquiera imaginada pero no existente, no existe porque Dios no lo quiere, o no lo quiere Dios porque no existe, y respecto a lo imposible, si es que no puede ser porque Dios así lo quiere, o no lo quiere Dios porque ello en sí y por su absurdo mismo no puede ser. Dios tiene que someterse a ...

Seneca advises Lucilius to heed the inner deity that is his own personal conscience, or genius. Being a good person, by Seneca's interpretation of ancient lore here, requires each of us to heed an inner voice that keeps our good and bad deeds in memory, finding in both the motivation that we need to pursue the greatest deeds of which we are uniquely capable. Facis rem optimam et tibi salutarem si, ut scribis, perseveras ire ad bonam mentem, quam stultum est optare cum possis a te impetrare. Non sunt ad caelum elevandae manus nec exorandus aedituus ut nos ad aurem simulacri, quasi magis exaudiri possimus, admittat: prope est a te deus, tecum est, intus est.  Ita dico, Lucili: sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, malorum bonorumque nostrorum observator et custos; hic prout a nobis tractatus est, ita nos ipse tractat. Bonus vero vir sine deo nemo est: an potest aliquis supra fortunam nisi ab illo adiutus exsurgere? Ille dat consilia magnifica et erecta. In unoquoque v irorum bonorum  ...

The Stoic view of harm: nothing injures us unless it damages our moral character, which is impervious to any material accident, being broken only by our failure to want, will, and choose the good. A healthy character loves truth, seeks after it, accepts with gratitude every correction the world offers to our endless quest for it.  Εἴ τίς με ἐλέγξαι καὶ παραστῆσαί μοι, ὅτι οὐκ ὀρθῶς ὑπολαμβάνω ἢ πράσσω, δύναται, χαίρων μεταθήσομαι· ζητῶ γὰρ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὑφ’ ἧς οὐδεὶς πώποτε ἐβλάβη, βλάπτεται δὲ ὁ ἐπιμένων ἐπὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀπάτης καὶ ἀγνοίας. If anyone is capable of articulating a case against me and proving to my satisfaction that my action or understanding is incorrect, I will gratefully yield to him. For I seek the truth, by which no one was ever harmed; harm arises only as we rest upon self-deception and ignorance.