悠游度过一天的24小时：第八章 深思反省

CHAPTER VIII The Reflective Mood

第八章 深思反省

The exercise of concentrating the mind (to which at least half an hour a day should be given) is a mere preliminary, like scales on the piano. Having acquired power over that most unruly member of one's complex organism, one has naturally to put it to the yoke. Useless to possess an obedient mind unless one profits to the furthest possible degree by its obedience. A prolonged primary course of study is indicated.

练就全神贯注的能力（每天至少应该投入半小时）只是最基本的，就像刚开始学钢琴时的音阶练习。学会了掌控思绪，这有机体最难驾驭的部分，自然而然地就要驯服它。然而，除非被驯服的头脑能够最大限度地发挥作用，否则拥有它就毫无意义。因此，漫长的基础课程很有必要。

Now as to what this course of study should be there cannot be any question; there never has been any question. All the sensible people of all ages are agreed upon it. And it is not literature, nor is it any other art, nor is it history, nor is it any science. It is the study of one's self. Man, know thyself. These words are so hackneyed that verily I blush to write them. Yet they must be written, for they need to be written. (I take back my blush, being ashamed of it.) Man, know thyself. I say it out loud. The phrase is one of those phrases with which everyone is familiar, of which everyone acknowledges the value, and which only the most sagacious put into practice. I don't know why. I am entirely convinced that what is more than anything else lacking in the life of the average well-intentioned man of today is the reflective mood.

现在对这门课程的内容不应该有任何问题，从来都没有问题。所有具有判断力的人，不论老少都赞同这一点。这门课程不是文学，也不是任何其他艺术，既非历史也非科学，而是关于人自身的学问。人啊，去认识你自己吧。这些话已是老生常谈，令我羞于引用，但我必须写下来，因为有这必要（我收回“羞于引用”这几个字，并为此感到惭愧）。人啊，去认识你自己吧，我大声疾呼。这句格言人人皆知，其道理无人不晓，但不知为何只有最明达的人践行这句话。我十分确定今天普通良善的人们生活中最缺乏的就是深思反省。

We do not reflect. I mean that we do not reflect upon genuinely important things; upon the problem of our happiness, upon the main direction in which we are going, upon what life is giving to us, upon the share which reason has (or has not) in determining our actions, and upon the relation between our principles and our conduct.

我们不反思。我的意思是我们不细想那些真正重要的事情：我们的幸福、我们人生的主方向、生活赐予我们的一切、理智在多大程度上决定了（或是不能决定）我们的行动、以及我们的原则和行为之间的关系。

And yet you are in search of happiness, are you not? Have you discovered it?

然而你正在寻求幸福，不是吗？你找寻到了没有？

The chances are that you have not. The chances are that you have already come to believe that happiness is unattainable. But men have attained it. And they have attained it by realising that happiness does not spring from the procuring of physical or mental pleasure, but from the development of reason and the adjustment of conduct to principles.

也许你还未找到，也许你已经发觉幸福是无法企及的，但有的人确实得到了幸福。因为他们领悟到幸福并非源于肉体或精神上的享乐，而在于充实自己的理性思考，并采取符合自己原则的行为方式。

I suppose that you will not have the audacity to deny this. And if you admit it, and still devote no part of your day to the deliberate consideration of your reason, principles, and conduct, you admit also that while striving for a certain thing you are regularly leaving undone the one act which is necessary to the attainment of that thing.

我想你没有胆量否认这一点。假如你承认这一点，却仍然丝毫不花时间用心去认真思考自己的理性、原则与行为，那么你也要承认，在你努力想完成某事时，你总是没落实对实现你的目标很关键的行动。

Now, shall I blush, or will you?

此刻，是该我脸红，还是你啊？

Do not fear that I mean to thrust certain principles upon your attention. I care not (in this place) what your principles are. Your principles may induce you to believe in the righteousness of burglary. I don't mind. All I urge is that a life in which conduct does not fairly well accord with principles is a silly life; and that conduct can only be made to accord with principles by means of daily examination, reflection, and resolution. What leads to the permanent sorrowfulness of burglars is that their principles are contrary to burglary. If they genuinely believed in the moral excellence of burglary, penal servitude would simply mean so many happy years for them; all martyrs are happy, because their conduct and their principles agree.

不要担心我想强迫你将注意力转向某些原则。我不介意（就目前的立场）你的原则是什么。按你的原则，也许你认为入室行窃是正当之举，我不在乎。我强调的只是行为与原则相互违背的人生是毫无意义的；只有通过日复一日的审视、自省和决心，才能让行为符合原则。令窃贼终生痛悔的是他们偷盗的行为和他们的原则是背道而驰的。如果他们坚信入室行窃是高尚义举，劳役拘禁之年将是他们的快乐年华；而所有烈士都是幸福的，因为他们的行为和原则相互吻合。

As for reason (which makes conduct, and is not unconnected with the making of principles), it plays a far smaller part in our lives than we fancy. We are supposed to be reasonable but we are much more instinctive than reasonable. And the less we reflect, the less reasonable we shall be. The next time you get cross with the waiter because your steak is over-cooked, ask reason to step into the cabinet-room of your mind, and consult her. She will probably tell you that the waiter did not cook the steak, and had no control over the cooking of the steak; and that even if he alone was to blame, you accomplished nothing good by getting cross; you merely lost your dignity, looked a fool in the eyes of sensible men, and soured the waiter, while producing no effect whatever on the steak.

至于理性（理性产生行动，且与原则的建立也不无关系），它在我们生活中所起的作用比我们想象的小得多。我们应该通情达理，可我们更多地依循本能，而不是理性。我们反省得越少，理性就丧失得越多。下次你因牛排过熟对服务员大动肝火时，请把理智换入大脑的密室，咨询一番。她很可能会告诉你牛排不是服务员煎的，他不管这档事，即便整件事都是他造成的，你跟他生气也于事无补，那只会降低你的人格，在智者眼里你就像个傻子，让服务员很沮丧，而对牛排却产生不了任何作用。

The result of this consultation with reason (for which she makes no charge) will be that when once more your steak is over-cooked you will treat the waiter as a fellow-creature, remain quite calm in a kindly spirit, and politely insist on having a fresh steak. The gain will be obvious and solid.

向理性咨询的结果（她不索求咨询费）将是：下次再遇到牛排煎得过熟时，你应把服务员视如同侪，和颜悦色，礼貌地坚持要求换一盘。这样一来，收获是明显而实在的。

In the formation or modification of principles, and the practice of conduct, much help can be derived from printed books (issued at sixpence each and upwards). I mentioned in my last chapter Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. Certain even more widely known works will occur at once to the memory. I may also mention Pascal1, La Bruyere2, and Emerson3. For myself, you do not catch me travelling without my Marcus Aurelius. Yes, books are valuable. But not reading of books will take the place of a daily, candid, honest examination of what one has recently done, and what one is about to do—of a steady looking at one's self in the face (disconcerting though the sight may be).

建立或修正原则并将原则付诸实践时，可以从书本上获得很多帮助（每本需6便士或更贵一些）。我在上一章提到了马可.奥勒利乌斯和爱比克泰德。即刻我还想起了一些更有名的书籍，如帕斯卡、拉布吕耶尔和爱默生的著作。至于我，旅行时马可.奥勒利乌斯的作品是必备的。是的，书籍是宝贵的。但阅读不能取代每日坦然而诚实地审视自己最近做过以及即将要做的事情——直面正视自己（虽然这目光可能令人有些不安）。

When shall this important business be accomplished? The solitude of the evening journey home appears to me to be suitable for it. A reflective mood naturally follows the exertion of having earned the day's living. Of course if, instead of attending to an elementary and profoundly important duty, you prefer to read the paper (which you might just as well read while waiting for your dinner) I have nothing to say. But attend to it at some time of the day you must. I now come to the evening hours.

这项重要的工作应该在什么时候做呢？我认为傍晚独自回家时就适合做这件事。为生计忙碌一天后，人们自然会回顾当天的作为。当然，如果你执意不完成这一基本且相当重要的任务，而宁愿看报（其实最好在等晚餐时看），我也无话可说。但一天中你务必得抽时间反省。接下来我就谈谈晚上的时间。

(1)帕斯卡（1623—1662），法国数学家、物理学家、哲学家。

(2)拉布吕耶尔（1645—1696），法国散文家、小说家。

(3)爱默生（1803—1882)，美国散文作家、诗人、哲学家。