Looking past the sphinx. Unamuno, Life 8.26
Unamuno thinks that reason is not enough to show us the feelings we need for a good life. These feelings or sentiments⸺hope, faith, charity, beauty, purpose, kindness—originate necessarily from our apprehension of something more than any rational plan or system is sufficient to show. We cannot know rationally that these feelings are warranted, that they occur objectively in a universe beyond our being. They are not demanded from us, nor enforced upon us, but if we find and choose to nurture them, they can grow within us to form a revelation of the divine mystery that is Life (including but not limited to our own momentary existence, as rational mortals). It is our love and longing for life that shows us the face of God, Unamuno thinks, a face that no rational calculation can ever reveal. Y ahora viene de nuevo la pregunta racional, esfíngica—la Esfinge, en efecto, es la razón—de: ¿existe Dios? Esa persona eterna y eternizadora que da sentido—y no añadiré humano, porque no hay otro— al