And above all, we must feel and act as if an endless continuation of
our earthly life awaited us after death; and if it be that nothingness
is the fate that awaits us we must not, in the words of _Obermann_, so
act that it shall be a just fate.
And this leads us directly to the examination of the practical or
ethical aspect of our sole problem.
FOOTNOTES:
[47] _De natura deorum_, lib. i., cap. 41.
[48] _Op. cit._
[49] _Guia Espiritual que desembaraza al alma y la conduce por el
interior camino para alcanzar la perfecta contemplacion y el rico tesoro
de la paz interior_, book iii., chap. xviii., Sec. 185.
[50]
O land of Alvargonzalez,
In the heart of Spain,
Sad land, poor land,
So sad that it has a soul!
[51]
To living a life of blessed quiet here on earth,
Either matter or soul is a hindrance.
[52] Eso que llaman derecho penal, y que es todo menos derecho.
[53] _The Autocrat of the Breakfast-table._
XI
THE PRACTICAL PROBLEM
L'homme est perissable. II se peut; mais perissons en resistant,
et, si le neant nous est reserve, ne faisons pas que ce soit une
justice.--SENANCOUR: _Obermann_, lettre xc.
Several times in the devious course of these essays I have defined, in
spite of my horror of definitions, my own position with regard to the
problem that I have been examining; but I know there will always be some
dissatisfied reader, educated in some dogmatism or other, who will say:
"This man comes to no conclusion, he vacillates--now he seems to affirm
one thing and then its contrary--he is full of contradictions--I can't
label him.
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