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Unamuno, Miguel de, 1864-1936

"Tragic Sense Of Life"

It is the furious longing to give finality to the Universe, to
make it conscious and personal, that has brought us to believe in God,
to wish that God may exist, to create God, in a word. To create Him,
yes! This saying ought not to scandalize even the most devout theist.
For to believe in God is, in a certain sense, to create Him, although He
first creates us.[37] It is He who in us is continually creating
Himself.
We have created God in order to save the Universe from nothingness, for
all that is not consciousness and eternal consciousness, conscious of
its eternity and eternally conscious, is nothing more than appearance.
There is nothing truly real save that which feels, suffers, pities,
loves, and desires, save consciousness; there is nothing substantial but
consciousness. And we need God in order to save consciousness; not in
order to think existence, but in order to live it; not in order to know
the why and how of it, but in order to feel the wherefore of it. Love is
a contradiction if there is no God.
Let us now consider this idea of God, of the logical God or the Supreme
Reason, and of the vital God or the God of the heart--that is, Supreme
Love.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] _Todo lo humaniza, y aun lo humana_.
[37] In the translation it is impossible to retain the play upon the
verbs _crear_, to create, and _creer_, to believe: _"Porque creer en
Dios es en cierto modo crearle, aunque El nos cree antes.


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