Among men of flesh and bone there have been typical examples of those
who possess this tragic sense of life. I recall now Marcus Aurelius, St.
Augustine, Pascal, Rousseau, _Rene, Obermann_, Thomson,[9] Leopardi,
Vigny, Lenau, Kleist, Amiel, Quental, Kierkegaard--men burdened with
wisdom rather than with knowledge.
And there are, I believe, peoples who possess this tragic sense of life
also.
It is to this that we must now turn our attention, beginning with this
matter of health and disease.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] "_Salto inmortal_." There is a play here upon the term _salto
mortal_, used to denote the dangerous aerial somersault of the acrobat,
which cannot be rendered in English.--J.E.C.F.
[6] "_Conciencia_." The same word is used in Spanish to denote both
consciousness and conscience. If the latter is specifically intended,
the qualifying adjective "_moral_" or "_religiosa_" is commonly
added.--J.E.C.F.
[7] San Juan de los Angeles.
[8] To be lacking in everything but intelligence is the necessary
qualification for thinking like you.
[9] James Thomson, author of _The City of Dreadful Night_.
II.
THE STARTING-POINT
To some, perhaps, the foregoing reflections may seem to possess a
certain morbid character. Morbid? But what is disease precisely? And
what is health?
May not disease itself possibly be the essential condition of that which
we call progress and progress itself a disease?
Who does not know the mythical tragedy of Paradise? Therein dwelt our
first parents in a state of perfect health and perfect innocence, and
Jahwe gave them to eat of the tree of life and created all things for
them; but he commanded them not to taste of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.
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