双语短文 · 接受这世界，你会快乐

Accept the World and You Will Be Happy　接受这世界，你会快乐

◎ Leo Babauta


There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. —William Shakespeare, “Hamlet”
One of the greatest sources of unhappiness, in my experience, is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are.
Without judgment, without wishing for otherwise.
When we see something we don’t like, we wish it could be different—we cry out for something better. That may be human nature, or perhaps it’s something that’s ingrained in our culture.
The root of the unhappiness isn’t necessarily that we want things to be different, however: it’s that we decided we didn’t like it in the first place. We’ve judged it as bad, rather than saying, “It’s not bad or good, it just is”.
An example: In my recent post, A Beautiful Method to Find Peace of Mind, quite a few commenters thought my outlook was negative, pessimistic, or fatalistic...because I said you should expect people to mess up, expect things to go differently than you planned, and that you should embrace that.
It’s too negative to expect things to go wrong, they said. However, it’s only negative if you see it as negative. If you judge it as bad.
Instead, you could accept it as the way the world works—as the way things actually are. And try to understand why that is, and embrace it. As it is.
This can be applied to whatever you do: whether it be how other people act at work, how politics works and how depressing the news media can be. Accept these things as they are, and try to understand why they’re that way.
It’ll save you a lot of grief, because you’ll no longer say, “Oh, I wish things didn’t suck!”
Does it mean you can never change things? Not at all. But change things not because you can’t accept things as they are, but because you enjoy the process of change, of learning and growing.
Can we make this world a better place? Again, that’s assuming that it’s a bad place right now. But instead, you could say the world is just what it is—and that’s neither good nor bad. You can say that you’ll continue to try to do things to help others, to grow as a person, to make a difference in this world—not because you’re such a bad person now, or the world sucks, but because that’s the path you choose to take, because you enjoy that path.
As you catch yourself judging, and wishing for different—and we all do it—try a different approach: accept, and understand. It might lead to some interesting results.
Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.



世间本无善恶，端看个人想法。
——威廉·莎士比亚，《哈姆雷特》

经验告诉我，使人不快乐最主要的原因，是我们很难接受事物的本来面目。
不要臆断，不要期望所有事物都会按照我们喜欢的样子发展。
当我们遇到不喜欢的事物时，我们希望它们能够变成我们所希望的样子。这可能是人的天性，也可能是一种在文化中已经根深蒂固的习惯。
不幸的根源并不是上面提到的那个思维定式，而是我们在不喜欢某个事物时，就认为它是坏的，而不会说“它本来就是这个样子的”。
例如，我最近的一篇《心如静水，从容生活》的文章，很多人都认为我对未来的看法太消极，太悲观，太宿命论……因为我说人们应该预料到不顺利，期望事情不会按照自己的计划发展，并且还要接纳它们。
很多朋友说，希望事情出错这种想法很悲观。然而，只是在你认为悲观的时候，事情才会是悲观的，原因就是你觉得它不好。
反之，人们要接受这个世界的运转方式，接受事物的本来面貌。试着去了解它们为什么会是这个样子，并且接受它们。
这应该适用于所有的一切：无论是别人的工作方式、政治活动，还是令人悲伤、沉闷的新闻媒体。接受这些事情的真相，并试着了解它们为什么会这样。
这样你就会减少很多悲伤，因为你不会再说：“哦，真希望事情并没有这么糟糕！”
可是这是否代表你不能改变事物？当然不是。当你试着改变事物的时候，不是因为你不能接受这种状态，而是因为你喜欢这种改变的过程，并能从中学到很多，让自己成长。
我们能让世界变得更美好吗？同样，这本身就已经假设了现在的世界不好。反过来说，我们应该觉得世界就是这样——既不好也不坏。你可以说你会继续努力帮助别人，提升自己，创造新的事物。不是你现在不好，也不是世界太糟糕，而是因为你选择了这样的道路，因为你喜欢这样的道路。
当你发现你能够控制自己的判断，从另一个角度看：接受并试着理解，这会产生一个有趣的结果。
对自己所拥有的一切感到满足，对事物的本质表示欣赏。当你领悟到其实我们什么也不缺乏，整个世界都将属于你。