对生活的评注 3-15

ALONG THE TOP of the long, wide bend in the river was the town, very holy and very dirty. The river made a big sweep here, and its main force struck the edge of the town, often washing away the steps leading down to the water, and some of the old houses. But whatever damage it did in its fury, the river still remained holy and beautiful. It was particularly beautiful that evening, with the sun setting below the dark town, and behind the single minaret, which seemed to be the reaching up of the whole town towards the heavens. The clouds were golden-red, aflame with the brilliance of a sun that had travelled over a land of intense beauty and sadness. And as the brilliance faded, there, over the dark town was the new moon, tender and delicate. From the opposite shore, some distance down the river, the whole enchanting sight seemed magical, yet perfectly natural, without a touch of artificiality. Slowly the young moon went down behind the dark mass of the town, and lights began to appear; but the river still held the light of the evening sky, a golden splendour of incredible softness. On this light, which was the river, there were hundreds of small fishing boats. All afternoon thin, dark men with long poles had been laboriously poling their way upstream against the current, in single file close to the bank; starting at the fishing village below the town, each man in his boat, sometimes with a child or two had pushed slowly up the river past the long, heavy bridge, and now they were coming down by the hundreds, carried by the strong current. They would be flashing all night, catching big, heavy fish, ten to fifteen inches long, which would afterwards be dumped, some of them still writhing, into larger boats tied up along the bank, to be sold the next day.

在长而宽阔的河湾顶端，是一个城镇，它非常神圣，非常肮脏。这条河在这儿绕了一个大弯，水流冲击着城镇的边缘，经常冲走河边的阶梯和某些老房子。但是，无论它在愤怒中造成了什么破坏，这条河仍然保持着圣洁和美丽。那天晚上特别美，太阳向黑暗的城镇下降，落在一座尖塔的背后，它似乎是整个城镇伸向天空的大门。云层是金红色的，燃烧着太阳的光芒，太阳在一片充满美丽和悲伤的土地上旅行。随着光芒的消逝，黑暗的城镇上空露出一弯新月，温柔而精美。从对岸看，离河有一段距离，整个迷人的景色很奇妙，却又非常自然，没有一丝的造作。慢慢地，年轻的月亮下落在城镇的黑影之后，月光开始出现；但河水依然承载着傍晚天空的光芒，一练金色的辉光无比柔和。在这光上，也就是那条河，有数百艘小渔船。整个下午，瘦弱的、撑着长杆的黝黑的人们使劲地撑出一条路逆流而上，排成一行，靠近河岸；从城镇下游的渔村出发，船上的每个人，有的时候带着一两个孩子，慢慢地沿河而上，穿过了长而沉重的桥，现在，他们正被顺流而下，有上百只船，被强劲的水流载着。它们会整夜闪烁，捕捉到十到十五英寸长的又大又沉的鱼，这些鱼会被倒出，其中一些仍然在扭动，被装进停靠在岸边的更大的船上，等到下一天被卖掉。

The streets of the town were crowded with bullock carts, buses, cycles, and pedestrians, with here and there a cow or two. Narrow lanes, lined with dimly-lit shops and winding endlessly in and out, were muddy with the recent rains, and filthy with the dirt of man and beast. One of the lanes led to the wide steps which descended to the very edge of the river, and on these steps everything was going on. Some people were sitting close to the water, with eyes shut, in silent meditation; next to them a man was chanting in front of an enthusiastic crowd, which extended far up the steps; further on, a leprous beggar held out his withered hand, while a man with ashes on his forehead and matted hair was instructing the people. Nearby a sannyasi, clean of face and skin, with newly – washed robes, sat motionless, his eyes closed his mind intent with long and easy practice. A man with cupped hand was silently begging the heavens to fill it; and a mother, her left breast bare, was suckling her baby, oblivious of everything. Further down the river, dead bodies, brought from the neighboring villages and from the sprawling, dirty town, were being burnt in great, roaring fires. Here everything was going on, for this was the most holy and sacred of towns. But the beauty of the still-flowing river seemed to wipe away all the chaos of man, while the heavens above him looked down with love and wonder.

镇上的街道挤满了牛车、公共汽车、自行车和行人，这里和那里有一两头牛。狭窄的巷道蜿蜒曲折，两旁排列着昏暗的商店，泥泞的路面，混合着最近的雨水和人兽的污秽。其中一条小路通向宽阔的台阶，这些台阶下降到河边，台阶上，一切都在发生：有人坐在靠近水边的地方，闭着眼睛，默默地冥想；在他们旁边，一个男人在热情的人群面前吟唱，人群延伸到台阶上很远的地方；再往前走，一个麻风病的乞丐伸出他干枯的手，而一个额头上有灰、头发缠结的男人正在指导人们。旁边是一个桑雅生，脸部和皮肤都很干净 —— 穿着新洗的长袍，一动不动地坐着，眼睛闭着，头脑专注在漫长而轻松的训练中。一个手捧成杯状的人，默默地乞求上天来填满它；一位母亲，左乳裸露，正在给她的孩子喂奶，忘记了一切。在河的下游，来自邻近村庄的和庞大而肮脏的城镇的尸体在巨大的熊熊烈焰中被烧毁。这里，一切都在发生，因为这是最神圣和最庄严的城镇。但是，灵静流淌的河流的美，似乎抹去了人类所有的混乱，而他头顶的天空则带着爱与惊奇俯看着。

There were several of us, two women and four men. One of the women, with a good head and sharp eyes, had been very well educated at home and abroad; the other was more modest with a sorrowful, begging look. One of the men, an ex-Communist who had left the party several years ago, was forceful and demanding; another was an artist, shy and retiring, but bold enough to assert himself when the occasion demanded; the third was an official in the governmental bureaucracy; and the fourth was a teacher, very gentle, with a swift smile, and eager to learn.

我们有几个人，两个女人和四个男人。其中一位妇女，头脑清醒，眼神敏锐，在国内外受过很好的教育。另一个则比较谦虚，带着悲伤的乞求的眼神。其中一个男人是几年前离党的前共产党员，他强硬而苛刻；另一位是艺术家，害羞而内向，在场合需要时，却足够大胆地坚持主张；第三个是政府机构的官员；第四位是老师，很温柔，笑容敏捷，渴望学习。

Everyone was silent for a while, and presently the former Communist spoke. “Why is there so much deterioration in every department of life? I can understand how power, even in the name of the people, is essentially evil and corrupting, as you have pointed out. One sees this fact demonstrated in history. The seed of evil and corruption is inherent in all political and religious organizations, as has been shown in the church through the centuries, and in modern Communism, which promised so much but which has itself become corrupt and tyrannical. Why does everything have to deteriorate in this way?”

大家都沉默了一会儿，现在这位前共产党人开口了。 “为什么生活中的每个部门都有如此多的腐败？我能理解，正如你所指出的，权力，即使是以人民的名义，本质上也是邪恶和腐败的。人看到这个事实在历史上得到了证明。邪恶和腐败的种子，是所有政治和宗教组织所固有的，正如几个世纪以来在教会和现代的共产主义中所表明的那样，承诺如此之多，但它本身已经变得腐败和专制。为什么一切都要以这种方式恶化？

“We know so much about so many things,” added the well educated lady, “but knowledge does not seem to arrest the dry-rot that is in man. I write a little, and have had a book or two published, but I see how easily the mind can go to pieces when once it has caught the knack of a thing. Learn the technique of good expression, dig up a few interesting or exciting themes, get into the habit of writing, and you are set for life; you become popular, and you are done for. I am not saying this out of any malice or bitterness because I am a failure, or only an indifferent success, but because I see this process operating in others and in myself. We don’t seem to get away from the corrosion of routine and capacity. To get something started demands energy and initiative, but once started the seed of corruption is inherent in it. Can one ever escape from this corruptive process?”

“我们对很多事情都了如指掌，” 受过良好教育的女士补充道， “但知识似乎并不能阻止人类内心的枯朽。我写了一些东西，并出版了一两本书，但我看到一旦头脑抓住了一个诀窍，它就很容易破裂。学习良好的表达技巧，挖掘一些有趣或令人兴奋的主题，养成写作的习惯，你就为生活做好了准备；你变得受欢迎，你做到了。我不是站在一个失败者或冷漠的成功者的角度，出于任何恶意或痛苦而这么说，而是因为我看到这个过程，在别人和自己身上运作。我们似乎没有摆脱习惯和能力的腐蚀。开始做事情的时候，需要能量和主动性，可一旦开始，腐败的种子就在其中生根了。一个人能从这个腐败的过程中逃脱吗？”

“I too,” said the bureaucrat, “am caught in the routine of decay. We plan for the future of five or ten years from now, we build dams and encourage new industries, all of which is good and necessary; but even though the dams may be beautifully built and perfectly maintained, and the machines made to function with a minimum of inefficiency, our thinking, on the other hand, becomes more and more inefficient, stupid and lazy. The computers and other complex electronic gadgets outdo man at every turn, yet without man they could not exist. The plain fact is, a few brains are active, creative and the rest of us live on them, rotting and often rejoicing in our rot.”

“我也陷入了腐朽的例行公事中，”官僚说。 “我们计划从现在起的五年或十年后的未来，建造水坝并鼓励新的产业，所有这些都是好的和必要的；但是，即使大坝可能建造得很漂亮，维护得完美无缺，机器以最少的无效性运行，我们的思考，在另一方面，变得越来越低效、愚蠢和懒惰。计算机和其他复杂的电子设备在每一个转折点上都超过人类，但没有人类，它们就不可能存在。显而易见的事实是，有些大脑是活跃的、有创造力的，而我们其余的人靠他们而生活，腐烂，并经常为我们的腐烂而欢喜。”

“I am only a teacher but I am interested in a different kind of education – an education which will prevent the setting-in of this dry-rot of the mind. At present we ‘educate’ a living human being to become some stupid bureaucrat – forgive me – with a big job and a handsome salary, or with a clerk’s pay and a still more miserable existence. I know what I am talking about, because I am caught in it. But apparently this is the kind of education the governments want, for they are pouring money into it, and every so-called educator, including myself, is aiding and abetting this rapid deterioration of man. Will a better method or technique put an end to this deterioration? please believe me, sir, I am very serious in asking this question, I am not asking it just for the sake of talking. I have read recent books on education, and invariably they deal with some method or other; and since hearing you, I have begun to question the whole thing.”

“我只是一名教师，但我对一种不同的教育感兴趣 —— 一种将阻止这种枯朽的头脑的教育。目前，我们“教育”一个活生生的人成为一些愚蠢的官员 —— 请原谅我 —— 有一份大工作和丰厚的薪水，或者有一份文员的薪水和更悲惨的生活。我知道我在说什么，因为我深陷其中。但显然，这是政府想要的那种教育，因为他们正在向其中投入资金，而每个所谓的教育者，包括我自己，都在帮助和教唆人类迅速的恶化。更好的方法或技术会结束这种恶化吗？请相信我，先生，我非常认真地问这个问题，我不是为了聊天而问它。我最近读过关于教育的书，它们总是涉及某种方法或其他方法；自从听到你的话，我开始怀疑这一切。”

“I am an artist of sorts, and one or two museums have bought my things. Unfortunately, I shall have to be personal which I hope the others won’t mind, for their problem is also mine. I may paint for a time, then turn to pottery, and then do some sculpturing. It is the same urge expressing itself in different ways. Genius is this force, this extraordinary feeling that must be given form, not the man or the medium through which it expresses itself. I may not be putting it properly, but you know what I mean. It is this creative power that has to be kept alive potent, under tremendous pressure, like steam in a boiler. There are periods when one feels this power; and having once tasted it, nothing on earth can prevent one from wanting to recapture it. From then on, one is in torture, ever dissatisfied, because that flame is never constant, never there completely. Therefore it has to be fed, nourished; and every feeding makes it more feeble, less and less complete. So the flame gradually dies, though the flair and technique carry on, and one may become famous. The gesture remains, but love has gone the heart is dead; and so deterioration sets in.”

“我是一个艺术家，有一两个博物馆买了我的东西。不幸的是，我必须有个性，我希望其他人不会介意，因为他们的问题也是我的。我可能会绘画一段时间，然后转向陶器，接着做一些雕塑。这是一种同样的冲动，以不同的方式表达自己。天赋就是这种力量，这种非凡的感觉必须被赋予形式，而不是去展示表达它的人或媒介。我可能说得不怎么好，但你知道我的意思。正是这种创造力必须在巨大的压力下保持强大，就像锅炉中的蒸汽一样。有的时候，人会感受到这种力量；一旦尝过它，地球上没有什么能阻止人想要重新夺回它。从那时起，一个人就处于折磨之中，永远不满足，因为那火焰永远不会持续不断，从来不会完全存在。因此，它必须得到喂养、滋养；而每次喂养都使它变得更加虚弱，越来越不完整。因此，火焰逐渐消失，尽管天赋和技术仍在继续，人可能会出名。形式仍然存在，但爱已经消失了，心已经死了；于是，情况就这样恶化了。”

Deterioration is the central factor – is it not? – whatever may be the way of our life. The artist may feel it in one way, and the teacher in another; but if we are at all aware of others, and of our own mental processes, it is fairly obvious with the old and with the young, that deterioration of the mind does take place. Deterioration seems to be inherent in the very activities of the mind itself. As a machine wears itself out through use, so the mind seems to worsen through its own action.

恶化是核心因素 —— 不是吗？ —— 无论我们生活的道路如何。艺术家可能以一种方式感受到它，而老师可能以另一种方式感受它；但是，如果我们意识到他人和我们自己的心理过程，那么对于老年人和年轻人来说，头脑的恶化确实会发生了，那是相当明显的。恶化似乎是头脑自身的活动所固有的。如同一台机器因使用而磨损一样，头脑似乎也会因自身的行动而恶化。

“We all know this,” said the educated lady. “The fire the creative force fades away after one or two spurts, but the capacity remains, and this ersatz creativity becomes in time a substitute for the real thing. We know this only too well. My question is, how can that creative something remain without losing its beauty and force?”

“我们都知道这一点，” 这位受过教育的女士说。 “创造力的火焰在一两次喷射后，逐渐地消失，但能力仍然存在，这种创造力的仿制品及时地变成了真实的替代品。我们非常清楚这一点。我的问题是，那种创造性的，如何在不失其美和力量的情况下保留下来？”

What are the factors of deterioration? If one knew them, perhaps it might be possible to put an end to them. “Are there any specific factors clearly to be pointed out?” asked the former party member. “Deterioration may be inherent in the very nature of the mind.”

恶化的因素有哪些？如果一个人知道它们，也许有可能结束它们。 “有什么具体的因素需要明确指出吗？” 这位前党员问道。 “恶化可能是头脑本性所固有的。”

The mind is a product of the society, of the culture in which it has been brought up; and as society is always in a state of corruption, always destroying itself from within, a mind that continues to be influenced by society must also be in a state of corruption or deterioration. Isn’t that so?

头脑是社会的产物，在文化中成长；由于社会总是处于腐败状态，总是在内部摧残自己，一个持续受到社会影响的头脑，也必定处于一种腐败或恶化的状态。难道不是那样吗？

“Of course; and it is because we perceived this fact,” explained the ex-Communist, “that some of us worked hard and rather brutally, I’m afraid, to create a new and rigid pattern according to which we felt society should function. Unfortunately a few corrupt individuals seized power, and we all know the result.”

“当然；正是因为我们认识到了这个事实，” 这位前共产党人解释说， “我们中的一些人艰苦地工作，而且相当残酷地，恐怕，去创造一种新的、僵化的模式，我们认为社会应该根据这种模式来运转。不幸的是，一些腐败的人们夺取了权力，我们都知道这个结果。”

May it not be, sir, that deterioration is inevitable when a pattern is created for the individual and collective life of man? By what authority, other than the cunning authority of power, has any individual or group the right to create the all-knowing pattern for man? The church has done it, by the power of fear, flattery and promise, and has made a prisoner of man.

先生，当为个人和集体的生活创造出一种模式时，恶化难道不是必然的吗？除了基于权力而建立的狡诈的权威外，还有哪一个人或集体拥有这种权力，给人创造这种全知全能的生活模式？教会凭借着恐惧、奉承和应许的权力做到了这一点，并把人变成了囚徒。

“I thought I knew, as the priest thinks he knows, what is the right manner of life for man; but now, along with many others, I see what stupid arrogance that is. The fact remains, however that deterioration is our lot; and can anyone escape from it?” “Can we not educate the young,” asked the teacher, “to be so aware of the factors of corruption and deterioration, that they will instinctively avoid them, as they would avoid the plague?”

“我以为我知道，正如牧师以为他知道：人类的正确生活方式是什么；但是现在，如同许多其他人一样，我看到了那是多么愚蠢的傲慢。然而，我们还在这么做，恶化是我们的宿命；有人能逃离它吗？” “难道我们不能教育年轻人，” 老师问道， “清醒地意识到腐败和恶化的因素，那样他们会本能地避开它们，就像他们避免瘟疫一样？”

Aren’t we going round and round the subject without getting at it? Let us consider it together. We know that our minds deteriorate in different ways, according to our individual temperaments. Now, can one put an end to this process? And what do we mean by the word ‘deterioration’? Let us go slowly into it. Is deterioration a state of mind that’s known through comparison with an incorruptible state which the mind has momentarily experienced and is now living in the memory of, hoping by some means to revive it? Is it the state of a mind that is frustrated in its desire for success, self-fulfilment, and so on? Has the mind tried and failed to become something, and does it therefore feel itself to be deteriorating?

在没有抓到它的情况下，我们不是在绕圈子吗？让我们一起考虑它。我们知道：我们的头脑以不同的方式恶化，根据我们的个人气质而定。现在，人能结束这个过程吗？我们所说的‘恶化’是什么意思？让我们慢慢地走进去看。恶化是头脑所知道的一种状态吗？ —— 它通过与曾经的、短暂经历过的、不朽的状态进行比较，而活在那段回忆中，希望通过某种手段来再现它？它是头脑在渴望成功、自我实现等方面的过程中，受到挫折的一种状态吗？头脑在经过了尝试，却发现没有成为某个人物，因此，它就觉得自己正在恶化吗？

“It’s all of that,” said the educated lady. “At least, I seem to be in one, if not all, of the states you have just described.”

“就是这样，” 这位受过教育的女士说。 “至少，我似乎处于你刚刚描述的一个状态，如果不是全部的话。”

When did that flame of which you were speaking earlier come into being? “It came unexpectedly, without my seeking it, and when it went away, I was unable to get it back. Why do you ask?”

你刚才所说的那团火焰是什么时候形成的？ “它出乎意料地来了，没有我去寻找它，当它消失时，我无法把它拿回来。你为什么这么问？”

It came when you were not seeking it; it came neither through your desire for success, nor through the longing for that intoxicating sense of elation. Now that it has gone, you are pursuing it, because it gave momentary meaning to a life that otherwise had no meaning; and as you cannot recapture it, you feel that deterioration has set in. Isn’t that so?

当你没有寻找它的时候，它来了。它既不是你通过对成功的渴望，也不是通过对那种令人陶醉的欣喜之情的渴望而来的。现在它已经消失了，你正在追求它，因为它给一个本来就没有意义的生命赋予了短暂的意义。由于您无法再次捉住它，因此您觉得恶化已经开始。难道不是那样吗？

“I think it is – not only with me, but with most of us. The clever ones build a philosophy round the memory of that experience, and thereby catch innocent people in their net.”

“我想是那样的 —— 不仅是我，而且我们大多数人都是。聪明的人围绕着对那段经历的记忆，建立了一种哲学，并用他们建立的蜘蛛网捕捉无辜的人们。”

Doesn’t all this point to something which may be the central and dominant factor of deterioration? “Do you mean ambition?”

难道这一切不都指向了一个东西吗？它可能是恶化的核心和主导因素。“你是说野心吗？”

That’s only one facet of the accumulating core: this purposive, self-centred focus of energy which is the ‘me’ the ego, the censor, the experiencer who judges the experience. May it not be that this is the central the only factor of deterioration?

那只是累积核心的一个方面：这种有目的的，以自我为中心的能量的焦点，也就是‘我’，自我，审查者，判断体验的体验者。难道这不是恶化的核心因素吗？

“Is it a self-centred, egotistic activity,” asked the artist, “to realize what one’s life is without that creative intoxication? I can hardly believe it.”

“它是一种以自我为中心、自负的活动吗？” 艺术家问道， “去实现自己的生命，就要忘却那种创造性的陶醉？我简直不敢相信。”

It’s not a matter of credulity or belief. Let’s consider it further. That creative state came into being without your invitation, it was there without your seeking it. Now that it has faded away and become a thing remembered, you want to revive it, which you have tried to do through various forms of stimulation. You may occasionally have touched the hem of it, the outer edges of it, but that’s not enough, and you are ever hungering after it, Now, is not all craving, even for the highest, an activity of the self? Is it not self-concern?

它不是一件轻信或信仰的事情。让我们进一步考虑它。这种创造性的状态，是在没有你的邀请的情况下形成的，没有你的寻求，它却在那里。现在它已经消失了，变成了一个被记住的东西，你想让它重现，而你已经通过各种形式的刺激来这么做了。你可能偶尔会摸到它的裙摆，它的外缘，但这还不够，你总是在追逐它而感到饥渴，现在，所有的渴望，即使是最高的，难道不是一种自我的活动吗？它不是对自我的关心吗？

“It seems so, when you put it that way,” conceded the artist. “But it is craving in one form or another that motivates us all, from the austere saint to the lowly peasant.” “Do you mean,” asked the teacher, “that all self-improvement is egotistic? Is every effort to improve society a self-centred activity? Is not education a matter of self-expansive improvement, of making progress in the right direction? Is it selfish to conform to a better pattern of society?”

“当你这样说的时候，似乎就是这样，” 艺术家承认。 “但是，正是这种或那种形式的渴望激励着我们所有人，从朴素的圣人到卑微的农民。” “你的意思是，” 这位老师问， “所有的自我进步都是自负吗？改善社会的每一项努力都是以自我为中心的活动吗？教育难道不是一种自我提升、朝着正确方向进步的事情吗？顺应更好的社会模式是自私吗？”

Society is always in a state of degeneration. There is no perfect society. The perfect society may exist in theory, but not in actuality. Society is based on human relationship motivated by greed, envy, acquisitiveness, fleeting joy, the pursuit of power, and so on. You can’t improve envy; envy has to cease. To put a civilized coating on violence through the double talk of ideals, is not to bring violence to an end. To educate a student to conform to society is only to encourage in him the deteriorating urge to be secure. Climbing the ladder of success, becoming somebody gaining recognition – this is the very substance of our degenerating social structure and to be part of it is to deteriorate.

社会总是处于退化状态。没有完美的社会。完美的社会可能存在于理论上，但并不在现实中。社会是建立在以贪婪、嫉妒、猎取、稍纵即逝的欢乐、追求权力等等为动机的人际关系之上的。你不能改善嫉妒；嫉妒必须停下。通过对理想的双标言论，就是给暴力披上文明的外衣，而不是终结暴力。教育一个学生顺从社会，只是在怂恿他为了安全而不断恶化的冲动。攀登成功的阶梯，成为获得认可的人 —— 这就是我们堕落的社会结构的本质，而成为其中的一分子，就是恶化。

“Are you suggesting,” inquired the teacher rather anxiously, “that one must renounce the world and become a hermit, a sannyasi?”

“你是在建议，” 这位老师相当焦急地问道， “一个人必须放弃这个世界，成为一个隐士，一个桑雅生？”

It’s comparatively easy, and in its way profitable, to renounce the outward world of home, family, name, property; but it’s quite another matter to put an end – without any motive, without the promise of a happy future – to the inner world of ambition, power, achievement, and really to be as nothing. Man begins at the wrong end with things, and so ever remains in confusion. Begin at the right end; start near to go far.

放弃家庭、家人、姓名、财产的外在世界是相对容易的，并且是一种有利可图的方式；然而，结束是相当不同的另一回事 —— 没有任何动机，没有对快乐的未来的期盼 —— 结束充满野心、权力、成就的内心世界，真正地处于一无所有。人从错误的结论开始，所以总是处于困惑之中。从正确的结束开始；从脚下出发，以走向远方。

“Must not a definite practice be adopted to put an end to this deterioration, this inefficiency and laziness of the mind?” asked the government official.”

“难道不能采取一种明确的实践来结束这种恶化，这种低效率和懒惰的头脑吗？” 政府官员问道。

Practice or discipline implies an incentive, the gaining of an end; and isn’t this a self-centred activity? Becoming virtuous is a process of self-interest, leading to respectability. When you cultivate in yourself a state of non-violence, you are still violent under a different name. Besides all this, there is another degenerating factor: effort, in all its subtle forms. This doesn’t mean that one is advocating laziness.

实践或纪律意味着一种激励，一种目标的收获；它难道不是一个以自我为中心的活动吗？变得有美德，是一个自我渔利的、通往尊贵的过程。当你在自己身上培养一种非暴力的状态时，你依然是暴力的，只是用不同的名称遮盖着。除此之外，还有另一个退化的因素：努力，以其它所有的微妙的形式。这并不意味着一个人在提倡懒惰。

“Good heavens, sir, you are certainly taking everything away from us!” exclaimed the official. “And when you take everything away, what’s left of us? Nothing!”

“天哪，先生，你肯定把一切都从我们身边夺走了！” 官员喊道。“当你拿走一切时，我们还剩下什么？什么都没了！”

Creativeness is not a process of becoming or achieving, but a state of being in which self-seeking effort is totally absent. When the self makes an effort to be absent, the self is present. All effort on the part of this complex thing called the mind must cease, without any motive or inducement. “That means death doesn’t it?”

创造性不是一种‘成为’或‘实现’的过程，而是一种完全没有自我追求的努力的存在状态。当自我的努力缺席时，自我即是现在。在没有任何动机或诱因的情况下，这个被称之为‘头脑’的复合体的所有努力都必须停下。 “这意味着死亡，不是吗？”