The problematic nature of Spain as a nation is not unique to today. It is a historical phenomenon. Its recurrence over centuries has been a source of concern and action for countless generations. For Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936), a leading figure in the intellectual sphere of the last century, reflecting on the distressing situation of our homeland during his lifetime mirrored one of the most agonizing dramas of his innermost self. This personal unease drove him to a desire for reform, and so, with the means at his disposal, he sought to revitalize the values ​​that historically gave substance to the essence of Spanishness.

In the investigation of the traits of this national spirit, alongside the analysis of Quixotism embodied in the knight of La Mancha, the study of the mystics played a key role. They represented another hallmark of Hispanic culture—spiritualism—and the rector of the University of Salamanca felt a professed affinity for them. This combination of interests led him to undertake a serious reading of their writings, particularly those dedicated to Saint Teresa of Ávila, to whom references are abundant in Unamuno’s work, especially in three of his major books: *  En torno al casticismo*, *Vida de Don Quijote y Sancho*  , and *  Del sentimiento trágico de la vida* .

These texts argue that the Spanish soul has historically been embodied in two types of knight-errantry: the human and the divine. Both sought immortality: one in fame, the other in God. Like the knights-errant, the Castilian mystics fought for the divine (“chivalric zeal and courage are what led such lofty souls to seek holiness in Spain, and a life of mortification was a chivalric undertaking”). Thus, the Doctor of the Church, along with Don Quixote, would be a living symbol or archetype of this soul (“a lady-errant of love that, being so profoundly human, transcends all that is human”).

Like him, she was fond of reading chivalric romances in her youth, and her life would therefore be marked by heroic and extreme actions. According to Unamuno, “through the earthly realm of love, [the Carmelite nun from Ávila] journeyed to substantial love and yearned for eternal glory and to be absorbed in Jesus, the ideal of humankind. And she succumbed to heroic madness and even said to her confessor: ‘I beg your grace that we all be mad, for the love of Him who was called mad for us.’” Moreover, in both Don Quixote and Saint Teresa, that quest for immortality entailed an agonizing struggle, a struggle born of the tragic sense of life.

In a sonnet dedicated to the Barefoot Foundress, the passionate Basque poet, after calling her a “divine Quixote,” says of her that “she established/ our immortal Spain, whose undertaking is:/ ‘only the eternal exists; God or nothing!'” According to his interpretation, this design is fostered by a tragic sense of life (“that life above/ is the true life; /…/ that I die because I do not die”) thanks to which “humanity gives birth to the living God.” This feeling moves the individual to stir spirits and instill in them strong longings, like those sung by Teresa of Ávila: “Take me from this death,/ my God, and give me life;/ do not keep me bound/ in this strong snare;/ see that I die to see you/ and I cannot live without you.”

These are the actions and the temperament that, in Unamuno’s vision, would make Saint Teresa and Don Quixote the national and universal embodiment of the archetypes of Spanish culture. However, without even considering the truth or falsehood of this assertion, there is no doubt that, today, these prototypes do not represent us at all. Today, in our country, we can find tall, thin, and even serious-looking men like Cervantes’s hero, or restless, cultured, and active women like Teresa de Ahumada, but those who, in addition to these physical attributes, possess the essence of their character are few and far between. Where can we find someone who puts their ideals before their own convenience and acts selflessly and with commitment in defense of causes they consider just?

Pedro Paricio. Give me three minutes