The reasonable man says in his head,
"There is no other life after this," but only the wicked says it in his
heart. But since the wicked man is possibly only a man who has been
driven to despair, will a human God condemn him because of his despair?
His despair alone is misfortune enough.
But in any event let us adopt the Calderonian formula in _La Vida es
Sueno_:
_Que estoy sonando y que quiero
obrar hacer bien, pues no se pierde
el hacer bien aun en suenos_[54]
But are good deeds really not lost? Did Calderon know? And he added:
_Acudamos a lo eterno
que es la fama vividora
donde ni duermen las dichas
no las grandezas reposan_[55]
Is it really so? Did Calderon know?
Calderon had faith, robust Catholic faith; but for him who lacks faith,
for him who cannot believe in what Don Pedro Calderon de la Barca
believed, there always remains the attitude of _Obermann_.
If it is nothingness that awaits us, let us make an injustice of it; let
us fight against destiny, even though without hope of victory; let us
fight against it quixotically.
And not only do we fight against destiny in longing for what is
irrational, but in acting in such a way that we make ourselves
irreplaceable, in impressing our seal and mark upon others, in acting
upon our neighbours in order to dominate them, in giving ourselves to
them in order that we may eternalize ourselves so far as we can.
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