“It is not enough,” wrote Unamuno, “to cure the plague; we must learn to weep for it.”

The Philosophy of Death 
Miguel de Unamuno was a man of contradictions. He saw tragedy and death in life, and that was why he loved it.

By Stefany Anne Golberg

"Marcus Aurelius, St. Augustine, Pascal, Rousseau, Rene, Obermann, Thomson, Leopardi, Vigny, Lenau, Kleist, Amiel, Quental, Kierkegaard — these are just a few men of flesh and bone who had a bad case of the disease, wrote Unamuno, men “burdened with wisdom rather than with knowledge.” These diseased men are Unamuno’s kindred spirits, men for whom the tragic was a constant companion. They are individuals who chose to embrace the great horrible Doubt that lurks at the heart of modern existence rather than profess a cure. “It is not enough,” wrote Unamuno, “to cure the plague; we must learn to weep for it.”

It all sounds a little morbid, Unamuno admitted. But it is nearly always through disease that we pay attention to our health. (And whoever proved, asked Unamuno, that man is either healthy or cheerful by nature?) From the darkness of anguish we emerge into the light, just like when Dante came up from the depths of Hell to see the stars again. It is precisely through the disease of consciousness, the conflict and tragedy of life, that Miguel de Unamuno was able to find his soul. And this, for Unamuno, was worth a million good ideas."