THERE IS A tree by the river and we have been watching it day after day for several weeks when the sun is about to rise. As the sun rises slowly over the horizon, over the trees, this particular tree becomes all of a sudden golden. All the leaves are bright with life and as you watch it as the hours pass by, that tree whose name does not matter - what matters is that beautiful tree - an extraordinary quality seems to spread all over the land, over the river. And as the sun rises a little higher the leaves begin to flutter, to dance. And each hour seems to give to that tree a different quality. Before the sun rises it has a sombre feeling, quiet, far away, full of dignity. And as the day begins, the leaves with the light on them dance and give it that peculiar feeling that one has of great beauty. By midday its shadow has deepened and you can sit there protected from the sun, never feeling lonely, with the tree as your companion. As you sit there, there is a relationship of deep abiding security and a freedom that only trees can know. Towards the evening when the western skies are lit up by the setting sun, the tree gradually becomes sombre, dark, closing in on itself. The sky has become red, yellow, green, but the tree remains quiet, hidden, and is resting for the night.

河边有一棵树，当太阳升起时，我们观察它，日复一日地持续了好几周。 当太阳缓慢从地平线上升起，爬到树上，这棵树刹那间变得通体金黄。 所有的叶片都散发出生命之光。你观察着它，几个小时过去了，那棵树的名字并不重要 —— 重要是那美丽的树 —— 一种非凡的品质似乎遍布于整个大地、河流之上。 太阳升得更高了，叶片开始摆动、跳舞。 每过一个小时，似乎都赋予了那棵树一种不同的品质。 在太阳升起前，它有一种静穆的感觉，安静、遥远、充满了庄严。 接着，天亮了，披着光的叶片们跳起了舞，赋予它带一种别样的感觉，一种巨大的美。 到了中午，它的阴影渐深，你可以坐在那儿遮阳，永远不会感到孤独，这棵树就是你的同伴。 当你坐在那儿，就有一种关系，这关系中，具有深而持久的安全和一种只有树才知道的自由。 日渐黄昏，西边的天空被夕阳点燃， 这棵树渐渐地变得阴沉，黯淡，关上了门，进入了它自己的里面。 天空已经变红、黄、绿，但是这棵树依然安静、隐匿，歇息着准备睡觉。

If you establish a relationship with it then you have relationship with mankind. You are responsible then for that tree and for the trees of the world. But if you have no relationship with the living things on this earth you may lose whatever relationship you have with humanity, with human beings. We never look deeply into the quality of a tree; we never really touch it, feel its solidity, its rough bark, and hear the sound that is part of the tree. Not the sound of wind through the leaves, not the breeze of a morning that flutters the leaves, but its own sound, the sound of the trunk and the silent sound of the roots. You must be extraordinarily sensitive to hear the sound. This sound is not the noise of the world, not the noise of the chattering of the mind, not the vulgarity of human quarrels and human warfare but sound as part of the universe.

如果你与它建立了关系，那么你就与人类有了关系。 那样，你会对那棵树，对世界上所有的树负责。 但是，如果你与这片大地的生灵没有关系， 你可能失去了与人性，与人类的一切关系。 我们从未洞察一棵树的这个品质， 我们从未真实地触摸它，感受它的坚硬、它粗糙的树皮，听这棵树的声音。 这声音并不是穿过叶片的风声，不是早晨摇摆树叶的微风， 而是它自己的声音、树干的声音、树根的寂静之声。 要听到这声音，你必须非凡地敏感。 这声音，不是这个世界的噪声，不是头脑喋喋不休的杂音， 不是人类争吵和战争的粗鄙，而是作为宇宙的一部分的声音。

It is odd that we have so little relationship with nature, with the insects and the leaping frog and the owl that hoots among the hills calling for its mate. We never seem to have a feeling for all living things on the earth. If we could establish a deep abiding relationship with nature we would never kill an animal for our appetite, we would never harm, vivisect, a monkey, a dog, a guinea pig for our benefit. We would find other ways to heal our wounds, heal our bodies. But the healing of the mind is something totally different. That healing gradually takes place if you are with nature, with that orange on the tree, and the blade of grass that pushes through the cement, and the hills covered, hidden, by the clouds.

很奇怪，我们与自然、 与昆虫、与跳跃的青蛙、与在山间呼唤同伴的猫头鹰之间有如此稀少的关系。 我们似乎对地球上的一切生物没有一丝感情。 如果我们能够与自然建立一种深而持久的关系，我们绝不会杀死动物来满足我们的食欲， 我们绝不会伤害、解剖一只猴子、一只狗或一只小白鼠来获取我们的好处。 我们会找到别的方法来治疗我们的伤口，健康我们的身体。 而这个头脑的健康是一件完全不同的事。 那种健康会逐渐地发生，如果你与自然作伴、 与树上的那个橙子、与穿破水泥的草叶、与隐于层云之下的山峦作伴。

This is not sentiment or romantic imagination but a reality of a relationship with everything that lives and moves on the earth. Man has killed millions of whales and is still killing them. All that we derive from their slaughter can be had through other means. But apparently man loves to kill things, the fleeting deer, the marvellous gazelle and the great elephant. We love to kill each other. This killing of other human beings has never stopped throughout the history of man's life on this earth. If we could, and we must, establish a deep long abiding relationship with nature, with the actual trees, the bushes, the flowers, the grass and the fast moving clouds, then we would never slaughter another human being for any reason whatsoever. Organized murder is war, and though we demonstrate against a particular war, the nuclear, or any other kind of war, we have never demonstrated against war. We have never said that to kill another human being is the greatest sin on earth.

这并非情绪或浪漫的想象， 而是一种真实的关系，与地球上每一个活的、能动的东西之间的关系。 人捕杀了数以百万计的鲸鱼，而且还在继续残杀他们。 从屠杀他们而获取的那些东西，能够通过别的途径获得。 但是，显然人喜爱杀生，敏捷的鹿、漂亮的瞪羚和大象。 我们喜爱互相残杀。 自从人类在地球上生存，这场对他人的杀戮就从来没有停止。 如果我们可以，我们必须与自然， 与真实的树、灌木丛、花、草、以及迅速飘动的云，建立一种深长而持久的关系。 那么，我们就会拒绝杀戮另一个人，不论有多少理由。 有组织的谋杀是战争，尽管我们游行示威，反对一场战争、核战争或其他战争， 但是我们从未反对战争。 我们从未说过：杀人是地球上最严重的罪。