Again, in most men’s lives there is an upper and an under side. Though the public career of statesmen, poets, artists may be dazzling, yet their faults or obliquities are probably well enough known to those who have seen them at close range. Obituaries2 are seldom truthful3. Sometimes, however, the reverse happens; men whose names are held up to public obloquy4 are not always as black as they are painted. Their worst side163 becomes known to the public, yet they sometimes possess wonderfully fine traits.
Very pathetic is the mourning for a baby, and its unfulfilled promise, or for a defective5 child, long a burden, yet strangely grieved for when its feeble little flame of life is extinguished.
The most poignant6 sorrow is that which cannot be communicated to others or shared by others, because the tie severed7 by bereavement, like that of husband and wife, is between two only. The loss by death of a beloved life companion is apt to lead to an inconsolable state of mind, because in this relation, when finely interpreted, the empirical and the spiritual appear almost to coincide. The ethical8 rule, Live in the life of another, live so as to enhance to the highest degree the possibilities of another, seems almost no longer a counsel of perfection but an actual experience. Hence the utter grief into which the sundering9 of the tie is apt to plunge10 the survivor11. On the other hand, Jonathan Edwards said on his deathbed to his wife: “Our relation has been spiritual, and therefore is eternal.” And there is indeed an element of eternality in marriage, only it is not the sex relation as such that is or can be conceived of as eternal. It is not man and woman in their empirical form to which this attribute belongs. Marriage is the sign; the spiritual relation that which is signified.48
164
It may be objected that marriage being a tie strictly13 between two, one can hardly think without repugnance14 of an equally intimate, nay15, far more intimate, relation with all spiritual beings whatsoever16. Yet the spiritual relation is one in which the ethical being is conceived to be in touch with each of the infinite beings that comprise the spiritual universe, pouring its essential life into them, and receiving theirs in return. Is not then the sign incompatible17 with and contradictory18 to the thing signified? But it is not of the multitude of mortal men and women surrounding us that we think when we speak of the eternal hosts. From this surrounding swarm19 of mortals, we retreat, taking refuge in the inmost privacy which we share with one other only. Yet this very inmost intimacy20, so far as it is pure, is the emblem21 of that pure intercourse22 of essential being with essential being in which we are related to all.49
Following up the subject of bereavement, we find the following consolations24 employed:
The first to be mentioned is,165 “Bow to the inevitable25.” I include this because frustration26 is inevitable, on account of the discrepancy27 between the finite and the infinite order, and because we are to use inevitable frustration for the purpose of experiencing the reality of the ideal. But without this use in mind, the inevitable presents itself as a mere28 blind necessity, in which we can see neither right nor reason, a hostile doom29 that simply crushes us. The psychological effect of the thought of an event as inevitable, it is true, is in any case calming, but the tranquillity30 thus induced is a heavy and hopeless one. And those who accept the inevitable in this stupefying manner often become meaner in their way of living. The light of life is for them extinguished. They put up perhaps with creature comforts, or with work that merely keeps the mind occupied, and prevents it from fretting31 the wound, thus allowing slow time to cicatrize it.
There is, however, a larger way in which a materialist32 may regard the inevitable. The world in his view being a vast machine, he may, as it were, identify himself with the machine, and thereby33 rise in thought superior to the injury it inflicts34 on him. But though we can imagine someone thus deadening his feelings when he himself is the victim, we cannot well conceive of the same remedy applying when a beloved person, say an only child, is being crushed under the Juggernaut car of the world-machine. The great test of one’s philosophy of life is whether it helps us in the case of those whom we love, rather than in the case of the sufferings we experience in our own person.
A second consolation23 is: Remember the universality of sorrow. Look around you, behold35 the vast multitude166 who are suffering like you; remember the countless36 generations who have suffered in the past, think of the generations to come that will suffer in like manner. Such are some of the consolations of the choruses in the Greek tragedies. Latent perhaps in this mournful view of the facts of existence is another aspect of the matter, namely, the uprising from frustration toward ideal realization37. And in so far as this other uplifting view is indeed latent or suggested, the thought of the universality of sorrow has an ennobling effect. On the other hand, without the explication of what may be regarded as implicit38 in them the consolations of the Greek choruses are inexpressibly saddening.
A third and active variant39 of the former consolation is: Seek to mitigate40 the sorrow and trouble of thy fellow-sufferers. Appease41 the passion of thine own grief by compassion42 and the works to which it leads. And by as much as activity of any kind is better than passivity, or mere feeling, by so much is this third kind of consolation better than the ones above mentioned. But at bottom the same criticism applies to it. It leaves still unanswered the question, To what end this suffering both of others and of oneself? Not Why? is the question, but To what end? How bereavement may be used so as to bring it into relation with the final end of life?
A fourth consolation is the popular belief in immortality43. This is a resort to supernaturalism, and the supernatural should ever be distinguished44 from the supersensible. Immortality as popularly held involves the continued existence in some empirical form of the essential, central entity45 in man. For the suggestion that new or167gans may replace the wornout terrestrial body does not alter the empirical character of the conception. The new organs are still conceived in some vague fashion as similar to those with which we are acquainted.
Finally, my own interpretation46 of consolation may be set forth47 in contrast to all these. Again I say that for the bereaved48, as for the sick, there is business in hand, there is a task to be performed, a work to be done. What is it? Let me endeavor to explain. The spiritual nature of man is incognizable, only the plan of the relations between spirit and spirit being given. Yet to think of a relation at all we must think of entities49 or objects between which it subsists50. Of the spiritual part of our fellow-beings, therefore, we are bound to fashion mentally a symbolic51 image, one that shall stand for the real object, the spiritual nature, though we are well aware that it does not adequately express it.
When the beloved person is no longer visibly present, the work we do upon the symbolic image of him is not to cease. We are to review, to summarize the whole existence of a departed friend, as we have probably never done while he was with us. We are to get the total perspective of his life, to see the fine qualities standing52 out more distinctly; to seize the net result of his existence so far as those character traits are concerned which in him were most analogous53 to spiritual traits. This image we can now ideally contemplate54 with the advantage that none of the actual infirmities of his nature can mar12 it, and that no future events can henceforth alter our impression. The work of clarifying the image of our friend goes on unimpeded. And our own ac168tivity in the process of purifying his image of all that was merely fallible in him benefits us in return. The effect of this activity of ours on the datum55 of his life is our permanent gain. Thus both what he was and what he was not is stimulative56. While he lived we performed the function of elimination57 and concentration with a view of producing progress in him and in ourselves jointly58. Progress, induced by us, so far as he is concerned, for all we know is at an end. Progress so far as we are concerned is assured by the activity we continue to expend59 as long as we live on his memory. And the memory, or the image, stands for the beloved person. There is real mental intercourse wherever there is a movement of one mind towards the outgoings of another, even though the retroactive relation be suspended. The beloved person benefits me, though I no longer benefit him, except indirectly60 so far as in my own life I possibly expiate61 his shortcomings and in so far as I bestow62 on other living persons the advantage I receive from my mental intercourse with him.50
What, then, is the business in hand? What is the work to be done? Plainly to tie anew the threads that were broken, to bring it about that the loss, infinitely63 painful though it be, shall lead to gain, to substitute for the mixed relation of touch and sight the purely64 spiritual relation.
169
One more remark must be made in connection with the above. There is at present a tendency to dishonor the past in comparison with the future. Interest seems to lie in what lies ahead. Hence a breathless, forward-urging mood. One consequence of this is that the dead are less honored than of old. Within a single generation, for instance, I have seen not a few eminent65 persons in the city of New York pass away who up to the time of their death and in their obituaries were greatly and justly praised. I have hardly ever seen their names publicly mentioned since. Already they seem practically forgotten. In our national history likewise only a few of the most eminent are remembered. In like manner in families, the names even of father and mother are seldom mentioned by their surviving adult children, and ancestors at second remove are barely remembered. Now excessive reverence66 for the past, as in China, is a mark of stationariness. A retrospective point of view is inconsistent with progress. Our face must necessarily be turned toward the future. And yet forgetfulness of those human beings whom we have known, and who represented to us while they lived much of the best that life had to give, seems inhuman67 and incredible. It is true that I have drawn68 a sharp distinction between the empirical selves and those spiritual selves which the former for a time enshrined. The empirical selves have now disappeared. The gleam of love in the eye, the luster69 of beauty, whether of form or of expression, that touched for a season the sacred features, have vanished. On the other hand, the spiritual self as a member of the spiritual universe is confessedly past knowing and past imagining. On what object then shall memory dwell? It may dwell on the empirical self in so far as it was the170 sign of the thing signified, in so far as the being we knew and loved was to us convincing of the reality of that spiritual world which itself is incognizable by sense or mind. The greatest boon70 any human being can confer on another is to serve him in attaining71 the end for which he exists; and the supreme72 end for us all is the realization of our interrelation with the infinite community of spirits. The woman whom we say we loved, we loved precisely73 because she revealed to us that spiritual galaxy—because she was a Beatrice, ascending74 with us, and opening to our sight the eternal expanses.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
bereavement
|
|
| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
obituaries
|
|
| 讣告，讣闻( obituary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
truthful
|
|
| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
obloquy
|
|
| n.斥责，大骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
defective
|
|
| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
poignant
|
|
| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
severed
|
|
| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ethical
|
|
| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
sundering
|
|
| v.隔开，分开( sunder的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
plunge
|
|
| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
survivor
|
|
| n.生存者，残存者，幸存者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
mar
|
|
| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
strictly
|
|
| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
repugnance
|
|
| n.嫌恶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
whatsoever
|
|
| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
incompatible
|
|
| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
contradictory
|
|
| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
swarm
|
|
| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
intimacy
|
|
| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
emblem
|
|
| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
consolation
|
|
| n.安慰，慰问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
consolations
|
|
| n.安慰，慰问( consolation的名词复数 )；起安慰作用的人（或事物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
frustration
|
|
| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
discrepancy
|
|
| n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
doom
|
|
| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
tranquillity
|
|
| n. 平静, 安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
fretting
|
|
| n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
materialist
|
|
| n. 唯物主义者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
thereby
|
|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
inflicts
|
|
| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
countless
|
|
| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
realization
|
|
| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
implicit
|
|
| a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
variant
|
|
| adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
mitigate
|
|
| vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
appease
|
|
| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
compassion
|
|
| n.同情，怜悯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
immortality
|
|
| n.不死，不朽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
entity
|
|
| n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
interpretation
|
|
| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
bereaved
|
|
| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
entities
|
|
| 实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
subsists
|
|
| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
symbolic
|
|
| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
analogous
|
|
| adj.相似的；类似的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
contemplate
|
|
| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
datum
|
|
| n.资料；数据；已知数 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
stimulative
|
|
| n.刺激，促进因素adj.刺激的，激励的，促进的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
elimination
|
|
| n.排除，消除，消灭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
jointly
|
|
| ad.联合地，共同地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
expend
|
|
| vt.花费，消费，消耗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
indirectly
|
|
| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
expiate
|
|
| v.抵补，赎罪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
bestow
|
|
| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
infinitely
|
|
| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
eminent
|
|
| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
reverence
|
|
| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
inhuman
|
|
| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
luster
|
|
| n.光辉；光泽，光亮；荣誉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
boon
|
|
| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
attaining
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
ascending
|
|
| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |