And yet, mark me! That man will not have been an hour on his feet on this difficult earth before the machine has unmistakably gone wrong: the machine which was designed to do this work of living, which is capable of doing it thoroughly7 well, but which has not been put into order! What is the use of consulting the map of life and tracing the itinerary8, and getting the machine out of the shed, and making a start, if half the nuts are loose, or the steering9 pillar is twisted, or there is no petrol in the tank? (Having asked this question, I will drop the mechanico-vehicular comparison, which is too rough and crude for the delicacy10 of the subject.) Where has the human machine gone wrong? It has gone wrong in the brain. What, is he 'wrong in the head'? Most assuredly, most strictly11. He knows—none better—that when his wife employs a particular tone containing ten grains of asperity12, and he replies in a particular tone containing eleven grains, the consequences will be explosive. He knows, on the other hand, that if he replies in a tone containing only one little drop of honey, the consequences may not be unworthy of two reasonable beings. He knows this. His brain is fully13 instructed. And lo! his brain, while arguing that women are really too absurd (as if that was the point), is sending down orders to the muscles of the throat and mouth which result in at least eleven grains of asperity, and conjugal14 relations are endangered for the day. He didn't want to do it. His desire was not to do it. He despises himself for doing it. But his brain was not in working order. His brain ran away—'raced'—on its own account, against reason, against desire, against morning resolves—and there he is!
That is just one example, of the simplest and slightest. Examples can be multiplied. The man may be a young man whose immediate15 future depends on his passing an examination—an examination which he is capable of passing 'on his head,' which nothing can prevent him from passing if only his brain will not be so absurd as to give orders to his legs to walk out of the house towards the tennis court instead of sending them upstairs to the study; if only, having once safely lodged16 him in the study, his brain will devote itself to the pages of books instead of dwelling17 on the image of a nice girl—not at all like other girls. Or the man may be an old man who will live in perfect comfort if only his brain will not interminably run round and round in a circle of grievances18, apprehensions19, and fears which no amount of contemplation can destroy or even ameliorate.
The brain, the brain—that is the seat of trouble! 'Well,' you say, 'of course it is. We all know that!' We don't act as if we did, anyway. 'Give us more brains, Lord!' ejaculated a great writer. Personally, I think he would have been wiser if he had asked first for the power to keep in order such brains as we have. We indubitably possess quite enough brains, quite as much as we can handle. The supreme20 muddlers of living are often people of quite remarkable21 intellectual faculty22, with a quite remarkable gift of being wise for others. The pity is that our brains have a way of 'wandering,' as it is politely called. Brain-wandering is indeed now recognised as a specific disease. I wonder what you, O business man with an office in Ludgate Circus, would say to your office-boy, whom you had dispatched on an urgent message to Westminster, and whom you found larking23 around Euston Station when you rushed to catch your week-end train. 'Please, sir, I started to go to Westminster, but there's something funny in my limbs that makes me go up all manner of streets. I can't help it, sir!' 'Can't you?' you would say. 'Well, you had better go and be somebody else's office-boy.' Your brain is something worse than that office-boy, something more insidiously24 potent25 for evil.
I conceive the brain of the average well-intentioned man as possessing the tricks and manners of one of those gentlemen-at-large who, having nothing very urgent to do, stroll along and offer their services gratis26 to some shorthanded work of philanthropy. They will commonly demoralise and disorganise the business conduct of an affair in about a fortnight. They come when they like; they go when they like. Sometimes they are exceedingly industrious27 and obedient, but then there is an even chance that they will shirk and follow their own sweet will. And they mustn't be spoken to, or pulled up—for have they not kindly28 volunteered, and are they not giving their days for naught29! These persons are the bane of the enterprises in which they condescend30 to meddle31. Now, there is a vast deal too much of the gentleman-at-large about one's brain. One's brain has no right whatever to behave as a gentleman-at-large: but it in fact does. It forgets; it flatly ignores orders; at the critical moment when pressure is highest, it simply lights a cigarette and goes out for a walk. And we meekly32 sit down under this behaviour! 'I didn't feel like stewing,' says the young man who, against his wish, will fail in his examination. 'The words were out of my mouth before I knew it,' says the husband whose wife is a woman. 'I couldn't get any inspiration to-day,' says the artist. 'I can't resist Stilton,' says the fellow who is dying of greed. 'One can't help one's thoughts,' says the old worrier. And this last really voices the secret excuse of all five.
And you all say to me: 'My brain is myself. How can I alter myself? I was born like that.' In the first place you were not born 'like that,' you have lapsed33 to that. And in the second place your brain is not yourself. It is only a part of yourself, and not the highest seat of authority. Do you love your mother, wife, or children with your brain? Do you desire with your brain? Do you, in a word, ultimately and essentially34 live with your brain? No. Your brain is an instrument. The proof that it is an instrument lies in the fact that, when extreme necessity urges, you can command your brain to do certain things, and it does them. The first of the two great principles which underlie35 the efficiency of the human machine is this: The brain is a servant, exterior36 to the central force of the Ego37. If it is out of control the reason is not that it is uncontrollable, but merely that its discipline has been neglected. The brain can be trained, as the hand and eye can be trained; it can be made as obedient as a sporting dog, and by similar methods. In the meantime the indispensable preparation for brain discipline is to form the habit of regarding one's brain as an instrument exterior to one's self, like a tongue or a foot.
点击收听单词发音
1 hampered | |
妨碍,束缚,限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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3 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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4 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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5 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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6 junctures | |
n.时刻,关键时刻( juncture的名词复数 );接合点 | |
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7 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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8 itinerary | |
n.行程表,旅行路线;旅行计划 | |
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9 steering | |
n.操舵装置 | |
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10 delicacy | |
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
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11 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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12 asperity | |
n.粗鲁,艰苦 | |
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13 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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14 conjugal | |
adj.婚姻的,婚姻性的 | |
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15 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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16 lodged | |
v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 );暂住;埋入;(权利、权威等)归属 | |
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17 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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18 grievances | |
n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 );苦衷;不满;牢骚 | |
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19 apprehensions | |
疑惧 | |
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20 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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21 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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22 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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23 larking | |
v.百灵科鸟(尤指云雀)( lark的现在分词 );一大早就起床;鸡鸣即起;(因太费力而不想干时说)算了 | |
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24 insidiously | |
潜在地,隐伏地,阴险地 | |
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25 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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26 gratis | |
adj.免费的 | |
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27 industrious | |
adj.勤劳的,刻苦的,奋发的 | |
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28 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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29 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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30 condescend | |
v.俯就,屈尊;堕落,丢丑 | |
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31 meddle | |
v.干预,干涉,插手 | |
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32 meekly | |
adv.温顺地,逆来顺受地 | |
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33 lapsed | |
adj.流失的,堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 );陷入;倒退;丧失 | |
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34 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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35 underlie | |
v.位于...之下,成为...的基础 | |
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36 exterior | |
adj.外部的,外在的;表面的 | |
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37 ego | |
n.自我,自己,自尊 | |
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