给学校的信，1981年12月15日 - 效率
效率本身不是一个目标A school is a place of learning and so it is sacred. The temples, churches and mosques are not sacred for they have stopped learning. They believe; they have faith and that denies entirely the great art of learning, whereas a school like those to which this letter is sent, must be entirely devoted to learning, not only about the world around us, but essentially about what we human beings are, why we behave the way we do, and the complexity of thought.
学校是一个学习的场所，因而它是神圣的。寺庙、教堂和清真寺不是神圣的，因为它们已经停止了学习。它们相信，它们拥有信仰，而那完全否定了学习这门伟大的艺术。学校，就像这些信件所写给的这些学校，必须完全致力于学习，不仅要了解我们身边的世界，最主要地，还要了解我们人类是什么，我们为什么会有这样的行为和复杂的思想。
Learning has been the ancient tradition of man, not only from books, but about the nature and structure of the psychology of a human being. As we have neglected this entirely, there is disorder in the world, terror, violence and all the cruel things that are taking place. We have put the world`s affairs first and not the inner. The inner, if it is not understood, educated and transformed, will always overcome the outer, however well organized it may be politically, economically and socially. This is a truth which many seem to forget. We are trying politically, legally and socially to bring order in the outer world in which we are living, and inwardly we are confused, uncertain, anxious and in conflict. Without inward order there will always be danger to human life.
学习是人类的古老传统，不仅是学习书本，也学习人类精神的本质和结构。因为我们忽视了这点，于是世界变得混乱，恐怖、暴力和所有残忍的事情都在发生。我们把世界上的事看成首要的，而不是我们的内在。如果内在不被了解、教育和改变，它就会一直战胜外在，无论外在的政治、经济和社会方面组织得多么好。这是一个被很多人遗忘的事实。我们总是试图在政治、法律和社会等方面为我们所处的外在世界带来秩序，而内在我们是困惑的、不确定的、焦虑的和冲突的。没有内在的秩序，对人类生活的威胁就会一直存在。
What do we mean by order? The universe in the supreme sense has known no disorder. Nature, however terrifying to man, is always in order. It becomes disordered only when human beings interfere with it and it is only man who seems to be from the beginning of time in constant struggle and conflict. The universe has its own movement of time. Only when man has ordered his life, will he realize the eternal order.
我们所说的秩序是什么意思？在最高的意义上，宇宙并不存在混乱。大自然，无论对人类来说有多可怕，总是有秩序的。只有在受到人类干预的时候，它才会变得混乱。似乎只有人类自有史以来就处于不断的斗争和冲突之中。宇宙有它自身的时间运动。只有当人让自己的生活变得有秩序时，他才会了解永恒的秩序。
Why has man accepted and tolerated disorder? Why does whatever he touches decay, become corrupt and confused? Why has man turned from the order of nature, the clouds, the winds, the animals and the rivers? We must learn what is disorder and what is order. Disorder is essentially conflict, self-contradiction and division between becoming and being. Order is a state in which disorder has never existed.
为什么人类会接受和容忍混乱？为什么无论人类一旦碰触什么，那里就会变得腐朽、堕落和混乱？为什么人类会拒绝自然的秩序，风、云、动物与河流？我们必须了解什么是混乱，什么是秩序？混乱本质上是冲突、自相矛盾，以及“成为”和“存在”之间的分裂。秩序是一种从未存在混乱的状态。
Disorder is the bondage to time. Time to us is very important. We live in the past, in past memories, past hurts and pleasures. Our thought is the past. It is always modifying itself as a reaction to the present, projecting itself into the future, but the deep-rooted past is always with us and this is the binding quality of time. We must observe this fact in ourselves and be aware of its limiting process. That which is limited must be ever in conflict.
混乱是被时间束缚的。时间对我们来说非常重要。我们活在过去里面，活在过去的记忆，过去的伤害和满足中。我们的思想就是过去，它总是在修正自己，作为对现在的一种反应，然后把自己投射到未来，但是根深蒂固的过去总是伴随着我们。这是时间的约束性品质。我们必须在内心观察这个事实，并且意识到它的限制作用。受限的东西必定总是处于冲突中。
The past is knowledge derived from experience, action and psychological responses. This knowledge, of which one may be conscious or not aware, is the very nature of man's existence. So the past becomes all-important, whether it be tradition, experience or remembrance with its many images. But all knowledge, whether in the future or the past, is limited. There can be no complete knowledge. Knowledge and ignorance go together.
过去是来自于经验、行为和心理反应的知识。这种知识，你也许意识到了，也许没意识到，正是人类生活的本质。因此过去变得极为重要，无论是传统，经验，还是伴随着很多形象的记忆。但是所有的知识，不管是将来的还是过去的，都是有限的。不可能存在完整的知识，知识和无知是并存的。
In learning about this, that very learning is order. Order is not something planned and adhered to. In a school, routine is necessary but this is not order. A machine that is well put together functions effectively. The efficient organization of a school is absolutely necessary but this efficiency is not an end in itself to be confused with the freedom from conflict which is order.
在学习这些的过程中，这种学习本身就是秩序。秩序不是某种计划好的和要去遵循的东西。在一所学校中，规则是必要的，但这不是秩序。一台装配良好的机器可以有效率地运转。对学校来说，有效率的组织机构是完全必要的，但是这种效率本身不是一个目标，它与从冲突中解脱出来（也就是秩序）是两回事。
How will an educator, if he has deeply learned all this, convey to the student the nature of order? If his own inward life is in disorder and he talks about order, he will not only be a hypocrite, which in itself is a conflict, but the student will realize this is double talk and so will not pay the least attention to what is being said. When the educator is immovable in his understanding, that very quality the student will grasp. When one is completely honest, that very honesty is transmitted to another.
如果一个教育者深入地学习了所有这些，他将如何向学生传达秩序的本质呢？如果他的内在生活是混乱的，他却谈论秩序，那么他就是一个伪善的人，这本质上是一个冲突。不仅如此，学生也会认识到，他说的那些话根本不知所云，因而完全不会予以重视。而当教育者对他的理解毫不动摇时，学生就会捕捉到那种品质。如果一个人是完全诚实的，那个诚实本身就会被传递给另一个人。
绿草园翻译工作室
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