I can say to myself when I arise in the morning: 'I am master of my brain. No one can get in there and rage about like a bull in a china shop. If my companions on the planet's crust choose to rage about they cannot affect me! I will not let them. I have power to maintain my own calm, and I will. No earthly being can force me to be false to my principles, or to be blind to the beauty of the universe, or to be gloomy, or to be irritable13, or to complain against my lot. For these things depend on the brain; cheerfulness, kindliness14, and honest thinking are all within the department of the brain. The disciplined brain can accomplish them. And my brain is disciplined, and I will discipline it more and more as the days pass. I am, therefore, independent of hazard, and I will back myself to conduct all intercourse as becomes a rational creature.' ... I can say this. I can ram15 this argument by force of will into my brain, and by dint16 of repeating it often enough I shall assuredly arrive at the supreme17 virtues18 of reason. I should assuredly conquer—the brain being such a machine of habit—even if I did not take the trouble to consider in the slightest degree what manner of things my fellow-men are—by acting5 merely in my own interests. But the way of perfection (I speak relatively) will be immensely shortened and smoothed if I do consider, dispassionately, the case of the other human machines. Thus:—
The truth is that my attitude towards my fellows is fundamentally and totally wrong, and that it entails19 on my thinking machine a strain which is quite unnecessary, though I may have arranged the machine so as to withstand the strain successfully. The secret of smooth living is a calm cheerfulness which will leave me always in full possession of my reasoning faculty—in order that I may live by reason instead of by instinct and momentary20 passion. The secret of calm cheerfulness is kindliness; no person can be consistently cheerful and calm who does not consistently think kind thoughts. But how can I be kindly21 when I pass the major portion of my time in blaming the people who surround me—who are part of my environment? If I, blaming, achieve some approach to kindliness, it is only by a great and exhausting effort of self-mastery. The inmost secret, then, lies in not blaming, in not judging and emitting verdicts. Oh! I do not blame by word of mouth! I am far too advanced for such a puerility22. I keep the blame in my own breast, where it festers. I am always privately23 forgiving, which is bad for me. Because, you know, there is nothing to forgive. I do not have to forgive bad weather; nor, if I found myself in an earthquake, should I have to forgive the earthquake.
All blame, uttered or unexpressed, is wrong. I do not blame myself. I can explain myself to myself. I can invariably explain myself. If I forged a friend's name on a cheque I should explain the affair quite satisfactorily to myself. And instead of blaming myself I should sympathise with myself for having been driven into such an excessively awkward corner. Let me examine honestly my mental processes, and I must admit that my attitude towards others is entirely24 different from my attitude towards myself. I must admit that in the seclusion25 of my mind, though I say not a word, I am constantly blaming others because I am not happy. Whenever I bump up against an opposing personality and my smooth progress is impeded26, I secretly blame the opposer. I act as though I had shouted to the world: 'Clear out of the way, every one, for I am coming!' Every one does not clear out of the way. I did not really expect every one to clear out of the way. But I act, within, as though I had so expected. I blame. Hence kindliness, hence cheerfulness, is rendered vastly more difficult for me.
What I ought to do is this! I ought to reflect again and again, and yet again, that the beings among whom I have to steer27, the living environment out of which I have to manufacture my happiness, are just as inevitable28 in the scheme of evolution as I am myself; have just as much right to be themselves as I have to be myself; are precisely29 my equals in the face of Nature; are capable of being explained as I am capable of being explained; are entitled to the same latitude30 as I am entitled to, and are no more responsible for their composition and their environment than I for mine. I ought to reflect again and again, and yet again, that they all deserve from me as much sympathy as I give to myself. Why not? Having thus reflected in a general manner, I ought to take one by one the individuals with whom I am brought into frequent contact, and seek, by a deliberate effort of the imagination and the reason, to understand them, to understand why they act thus and thus, what their difficulties are, what their 'explanation' is, and how friction31 can be avoided. So I ought to reflect, morning after morning, until my brain is saturated32 with the cases of these individuals. Here is a course of discipline. If I follow it I shall gradually lose the preposterous33 habit of blaming, and I shall have laid the foundations of that quiet, unshakable self-possession which is the indispensable preliminary of conduct according to reason, of thorough efficiency in the machine of happiness. But something in me, something distinctly base, says: 'Yes. The put-yourself-in-his-place business over again! The do-unto-others business over again!' Just so! Something in me is ashamed of being 'moral.' (You all know the feeling!) Well, morals are naught34 but another name for reasonable conduct; a higher and more practical form of egotism—an egotism which, while freeing others, frees myself. I have tried the lower form of egotism. And it has failed. If I am afraid of being moral, if I prefer to cut off my nose to spite my face, well, I must accept the consequences. But truth will prevail.
点击收听单词发音
1 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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2 sentimental | |
adj.多愁善感的,感伤的 | |
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3 positively | |
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实 | |
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4 fluctuations | |
波动,涨落,起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
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5 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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6 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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7 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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8 insinuating | |
adj.曲意巴结的,暗示的v.暗示( insinuate的现在分词 );巧妙或迂回地潜入;(使)缓慢进入;慢慢伸入 | |
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9 verities | |
n.真实( verity的名词复数 );事实;真理;真实的陈述 | |
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10 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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11 verity | |
n.真实性 | |
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12 engraving | |
n.版画;雕刻(作品);雕刻艺术;镌版术v.在(硬物)上雕刻(字,画等)( engrave的现在分词 );将某事物深深印在(记忆或头脑中) | |
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13 irritable | |
adj.急躁的;过敏的;易怒的 | |
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14 kindliness | |
n.厚道,亲切,友好的行为 | |
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15 ram | |
(random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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16 dint | |
n.由于,靠;凹坑 | |
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17 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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18 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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19 entails | |
使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 ); 需要; 限定继承; 使必需 | |
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20 momentary | |
adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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21 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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22 puerility | |
n.幼稚,愚蠢;幼稚、愚蠢的行为、想法等 | |
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23 privately | |
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地 | |
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24 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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25 seclusion | |
n.隐遁,隔离 | |
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26 impeded | |
阻碍,妨碍,阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27 steer | |
vt.驾驶,为…操舵;引导;vi.驾驶 | |
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28 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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29 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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30 latitude | |
n.纬度,行动或言论的自由(范围),(pl.)地区 | |
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31 friction | |
n.摩擦,摩擦力 | |
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32 saturated | |
a.饱和的,充满的 | |
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33 preposterous | |
adj.荒谬的,可笑的 | |
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34 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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