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给学校的信,1983年1月1日- 全心投入的承诺

少数人该如何对待多数人?

Discontent does not necessarily lead to intelligence. Most of us have some kind of dissatisfaction and are not satisfied with most things. We may have money, position and some kind of prestige in the world, but there is always this worm of discontent. The more you have the more you want. Satisfaction is never satisfied. Discontent is like a flame: however much you feed it, it absorbs more. It is curious how easily satisfaction finds its temporary fulfilment and one holds onto it, though it soon fades and the wanting more comes back again. It appears this is the constant swing from one object of satisfaction to another, physically as well as inwardly. The `more' is the root of discontent. The flame of measurement leads either to satiety, indifference and neglect, or to a wider and deeper enquiry.

不满并不一定会通向智慧。我们多数人都有一些不满,对多数的事情都不满。我们或许拥有金钱、地位,在世上拥有某种名望,但这个不满的小虫总是存在着。你拥有的越多,你想要的就越多。满足感永远不会被满足。不满就像一个火焰,无论你给它多少,它总是要吞噬更多。很奇怪,满足感是那么容易被暂时抚平,然后你抓住它不放,尽管它很快就会消逝,那个想要更多的感觉又回来了。这似乎是从一个对象到另一个对象的无休止的追逐,无论在生理上还是在心理上。“更多”是不满的根源。度量之火要么导致厌腻、冷漠和疏忽,要么导致一种更加广阔深入的探寻。

     In enquiry satisfaction is not the goal. Enquiry is its own source which is never emptied. It is like the spring well and it can never forget itself through any kind of satisfaction. This flame can never be smothered by any outward or inward activity of achievement. Most of us have this tiny flame which is generally smothered by some form of gain, but in order to allow this tiny flame to burn furiously, the measurement of the more must totally end. Then only the flame burns away all sense of gratification.

在探寻中,满足不是目标。探寻是它自身的源泉,它绝不会被扑灭,绝不会因为任何满足而忘记自己。这火焰永远不会被任何外在或内在的成就窒息。我们多数人都有一颗微弱的火焰,它通常会被某种形式的获得窒息,但是为了让这微弱的火焰热烈地燃烧,“更多”这个度量必须完全终止。只有在那时,这火焰才会烧掉所有的满足感。

As an educator I have been concerned with another problem. I cannot have a school all to myself. In a school I have many colleagues. Some are extremely bright I am not being patronizing. Others are of varying dullness, though all are what is called well-educated, having degrees and so on. perhaps one or two of us are trying to help the students to understand the nature of intelligence, but I feel that unless all of us are together cooperatively helping the student in this direction, those teachers who are not concerned with the cultivation of it will naturally act as an impediment. This is the problem of a few of us; this goes on most of the time in educational centres.

作为教育者,我还关心着另一个问题。我不可能拥有一所完全属于我自己的学校。我在学校里有很多同事,其中一些非常聪明——我并不是站在一个优越的立场在说,其他人则不同程度地有些迟钝,尽管他们都受过所谓的良好教育,拥有学位,等等。也许我们当中有一两个人在试图帮助学生理解智慧的本质,但是我觉得,除非我们所有人联合起来共同在这个方向上帮助学生,那些对此漠不关心的教师就会扮演妨碍者的角色。这是我们少数几个人的问题。在教育中心,这种情况多数时候都会存在。

So my problem is and again let me repeat this is not being said in any patronizing way how are we, the few, to deal with the many? What is our response to them? It is a challenge that must be met at all levels of our life. In all forms of government there is the division between the few and the many. The few may be concerned with the whole population and the many concerned with their own particular little interests. This happens all over the world and it is happening in the field of education. So how are we to establish a relationship with those of us who are not totally committed to the flowering of intelligence and goodness? Or is it all one problem to awaken the flame in the whole of the school?

因此我的问题是——让我重申一次,我并不是在以一种优越的态度在说——我们少数人该如何对待多数人?我们对他们的回应是什么?这是一个在我们生活的所有层面都必须面对的挑战。在所有形式的政府中,都会有少数和多数的分歧。少数可能关心全体人民,多数则关心他们自己特定的渺小利益。全世界都存在这样的事,它也发生在教育领域。因此,对于那些没有完全投入到智慧与善的绽放中的人,我们要如何同他们建立关系?还是说一切问题其实只是一个问题——唤醒学校里所有人内心的火焰?

     Of course the authoritarian attitude destroys all intelligence. The sense of obedience breeds only fear which in itself inevitably drives away the understanding of the true nature of intelligence. So what place has authority in a school? We have to study authority and not merely assert that there should be no authority but only freedom and so on. We have to study it as we study the atom. The structure of the atom is orderly. Obedience, following, accepting authority, whether it is blind or clear-eyed, must inevitably bring about disorder.
     What is the root of obedience which breeds authority? When one is in disorder, confusion, society becomes utterly chaotic; then that very disorder creates authority, as has happened so often historically. Is the root of accepting authority fear, being in oneself uncertain, without clarity? Then each human being helps to bring about the authority that will tell us what to do, as has happened in all religions, all sects and communities: the everlasting problem of the guru and the disciple, each destroying the other. The follower then becomes the leader. This cycle is forever repeating itself.

当然,专制的态度会毁掉所有的智慧。服从感觉只会引起恐惧,而恐惧必然会毁掉对智慧真正本质的理解。那么,权威在学校有什么位置呢?我们必须研究权威,而不仅仅是声称不要权威,只要自由。我们必须研究它,就像研究原子一样。原子的结构是有序的。服从、追随、接受权威,无论是盲目的还是清醒的,都必然会带来混乱。服从导致了权威,服从的根源是什么?当一个人处于混乱和困惑中的时候,社会就会变得彻底混乱,正是那个混乱创造了权威,就像历史上经常发生的那样。恐惧是接受权威的根源吗——因为内心的不确定、不清晰?那么每一个人都在促成权威的出现——让它告诉我们应该做什么,就像所有的宗教、派别和团体中发生的那样。这是古鲁和门徒永恒的问题,他们在相互毁灭。追随者变成了下一个领导者。这个循环一直都在重复着自己。

     We are studying together, in the real sense of the word, what is the causation of authority. If each one of us sees that it is fear, muddle-headedness, or some deeper factor, then the mutual study of it, verbal or non-verbal, has significance. In studying there may be an exchange of thought and the silent observation of the causation of authority. Then that very study uncovers the light of intelligence, for intelligence has no authority. It is not your intelligence or my intelligence. A few of us may see this deeply and really without any deception and it is our responsibility that this flame be spread wherever we are, either in school, at home or in bureaucratic government. Wherever you are, it has no abiding place.

我们正在共同研究,在真正的意义上,研究权威的根源是什么。如果我们每个人都看到,它就是恐惧、昏庸或某种更深的因素,那么在语言或非语言层面上共同研究它,就有了重要的意义。在研究当中,或许会有一种思想的交换,和对权威根源的无声观察。于是那个研究本身就开启了智慧之光,因为智慧没有权威。它不是你的智慧或我的智慧。我们少数人或许深刻地看到了这一点,没有任何幻觉。而我们的责任就是,无论我们在哪里——学校里,家里,或在官僚政府中——就让这火焰烧到哪里。它没有固定的住所,它总是与你同在。

                                                        绿草园翻译工作室

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