The other day three pious egoists came to see me. The first was a sannyasi, a man who had renounced the world; the second was an orientalist and a great believer in brotherhood; and the third was a confirmed worker for a marvellous Utopia. Each of the three was strenuous in his own work and looked down on the others’ attitudes and activities, and each was strengthened by his own conviction. Each was ardently attached to his particular form of belief, and all were in a strange way ruthless.
前几天，三个虔诚的自我主义者来见我。 第一个是苦行僧，一个弃绝了世俗的人； 第二个是东方学者，一个博爱主义的坚定信仰者； 第三个是为一个美妙乌托邦而献身的坚定工作者。 三人各在自己工作上奋力精进， 都瞧不起其他人的态度和活动， 每个人都因自己的信念而更加坚定。 每个人都热切地执着于自己特定形式的信仰， 而且都带着一种奇怪的冷酷。
They told me, especially the Utopian, that they were ready to deny or sacrifice themselves and their friends for what they believed. They appeared meek and gentle, particularly the man of brotherhood, but there was a hardness of heart and that peculiar intolerance which is characteristic of the superior. They were the chosen, the interpreters; they knew and were certain.
他们告诉我，尤其是那位乌托邦主义者， 他们准备为自己所信仰的东西无视或牺牲自己和朋友。 他们显得温顺和善，尤其是那位博爱主义者， 但内心却有一种刚硬， 以及那种优越者所特有的零容忍。 他们是天选之人、是真理的阐释者；他们知道而且确信。
The sannyasi said, in the course of a serious talk, that he was preparing himself for his next life. This life, he declared, had very little to offer him, for he had seen through all the illusions of worldliness and had forsaken worldly ways. He had some personal weaknesses and certain difficulties in concentration, he added, but in his next life he would be the ideal which he had set for himself.
在一场严肃的谈话中，苦行僧说， 他正在为他的下一世做准备。 他宣称，这一世能给他的东西很少， 因为他已经看透了世俗的所有幻象，并已放弃了世俗之道。 他补充说，他有某些个人的弱点和专注方面的困难， 但在他的下一世，他将成为他为自己设定的理想人物。
His whole interest and vitality lay in his conviction that he was to be something in his next life. We talked at some length, and his emphasis was always on the tomorrow, on the future. The past existed, he said, but always in relation to the future; the present was merely a passage to the future, and today was interesting only because of tomorrow. If there were no tomorrow, he asked, then why make an effort? One might just as well vegetate or be like the pacific cow.
他的全部兴趣和活力都在于他的信念： 他要在下一世成为什么。 我们谈了很久，他的重点总是在明天、在未来。 他说，过去存在，但总是与未来相关； 当下只是通向未来的通道， 今天之所以有趣，只是因为明天。 如果没有明天，他问道，那为什么要努力呢？ 一个人还不如像植物一样活着，或者像和平的母牛一样。
The whole of life was one continuous movement from the past through the momentary present to the future. We should use the present, he said, to be something in the future: to be wise, to be strong, to be compassionate. Both the present and the future were transient, but tomorrow ripened the fruit. He insisted that today is but a steppingstone, and that we should not be too anxious or too particular about it; we should keep clear the ideal of tomorrow and make the journey successfully. Altogether, he was impatient of the present.
整个生命是一个连续的运动， 从过去，经由短暂的当下，到未来。 他说，我们应该利用当下，去成就未来： 变得智慧、坚强、慈悲。 当下和未来都是短暂的，但明天会结出果实。 他坚持认为今天只是一块垫脚石， 我们不应该对它过于焦虑或过于讲究； 我们应该时刻铭记明天的理想，并成功抵达征程。 总而言之，他对当下不耐烦。
The man of brotherhood was more learned, and his language more poetic; he was expert in handling words, and was altogether suave and convincing. He too had carved a divine niche for himself in the future. He was to be something. This idea filled his heart, and he had gathered his disciples for that future. Death, he said, was a beautiful thing, for it brought one nearer to that divine niche which was making it possible for him to live in this sorrowful and ugly world.
博爱主义者更有学问，他的语言更具诗意； 他善于遣词造句，而且温文尔雅，很有说服力。 他也为自己在未来雕刻了一个神圣的位置。 他将要成为什么。 这个想法充满他的内心，他为那个未来聚集他的门徒。 他说，死亡是一件美好的事情， 因为它使人更接近那个神圣的位置， 那个位置使他能够生活在这个悲伤而丑陋的世界里。
He was all for changing and beautifying the world, and was working ardently for the brotherhood of man. He considered that ambition, with its attendant cruelties and corruption, was inevitable in a world where you had to get things done; and unfortunately, if you wanted certain organizational activities carried on, you had to be a little bit on the hard side. The work was important because it was helping mankind, and anyone who opposed it had to be put aside – gently, of course. The organization for that work was of the utmost value and must not be hindered. “Others have their paths,” he said, “but ours is essential, and anyone who interferes is not one of us.”
他完全赞成改变和美化世界， 并热切地为人类的博爱而工作。 他认为，雄心及其伴随的残酷和腐败， 在一个你必须把事情做成的世界里是不可避免的； 不幸的是，如果你想让某些组织活动得以进行， 你就必须有点强硬。 这项工作很重要，因为它有助于人类， 任何反对它的人都必须被放在一边 —— 当然，要温和地。 这项工作的组织具有最高价值，绝不能受到阻碍。 “别人有他们的道路，”他说， “但我们的道路是必不可少的，任何来干涉的人都不是我们的一员。”
The Utopian was a strange mixture of the idealist and the practical man. His Bible was not the old but the new. He believed in the new implicitly. He knew the outcome of the future, for the new book foretold what it was to be. His plan was to confuse, organize and carry out. The present, he said, was corrupt, it must be destroyed, and out of this destruction the new would be built. The present was to be sacrificed for the future. The future man was all-important, not the present man.
乌托邦主义者是理想主义者和实践者的奇怪混合体。 他的圣经不是旧的，而是新的。他完全相信新的。 他知道未来的结果，因为那本新书预言了它会是什么。 他的计划是暴动、组织和执行。 他说，当下是腐朽的，必须被摧毁， 从这种毁灭中，将建立起新的。 为了未来，就得牺牲当下。 未来的人才是最重要的，而不是当下的人。
“We know how to create that future man,” he said, “we can shape his mind and heart; but we must get into power to do any good. We will sacrifice ourselves and others to bring about a new state. Anyone who stands in the way we will kill, for the means is of no consequence; the end justifies any means.’,
“我们知道如何创造那个未来的人，”他说， “我们可以塑造他的思想和心灵；但我们必须掌权才能行善。 我们将牺牲自己和他人，以带来一种新的状态。 任何挡路的人，我们都会杀掉， 因为手段无关紧要；目的证明任何手段都是正当的。”
For ultimate peace, any form of violence could be used; for ultimate individual freedom, tyranny in the present was inevitable. “When we have the power in our hands,” he declared, “we will use every form of compulsion to bring about a new world without class distinctions, without priests. From our central thesis we will never move; we are fixed there, but our strategy and tactics will vary depending upon changing circumstances. We plan, organize and act to destroy the present man for the future man.”
为了最终的和平，任何形式的暴力都可以使用； 为了最终的个人自由，当下的暴政是不可避免的。 “当我们把权力握在手中时，”他宣称， “我们将使用各种形式的强制， 来建立一个没有阶级区别、没有牧师的新世界。 我们永远不会背离我们的核心理论；我们永不动摇， 但我们的战略和战术将根据情况的变化而变化。 我们计划、组织并行动，为了未来的人而摧毁当下的人。”
The sannyasi, the man of brotherhood and the Utopian all live for tomorrow, for the future. They are not ambitious in the worldly sense, they do not want high honours, wealth or recognition; but they are ambitious in a much more subtle way. The Utopian has identified himself with a group which he thinks will have the power to reorient the world; the man of brotherhood aspires to be exalted, and the sannyasi to attain his goal. All are consumed with their own becoming, with their own achievement and expansion. They do not see that this desire denies peace, brotherhood and supreme happiness.
苦行僧、博爱主义者和乌托邦主义者都为明天、为未来而活。 他们并非世俗意义上的雄心， 他们不想要高官厚禄、财富或认可； 但他们的雄心隐藏于更微妙的方式中。 乌托邦主义者把自己认同于一个团体， 他认为这个团体将有能力重新引导世界； 博爱主义者渴望被提升，苦行僧渴望达到他的目标。 所有人都被自己的“成为”、自己的成就和扩张所吞噬。 他们没有看到这种欲望拒绝了和平、博爱和至高的至乐。
Ambition in any form – for the group, for individual salvation, or for spiritual achievement – is action postponed. Desire is ever of the future; the desire to become is inaction in the present. The now has greater significance than the tomorrow. In the now is all time, and to understand the now is to be free of time. Becoming is the continuation of time, of sorrow. Becoming does not contain being. Being is always in the present, and being is the highest form of transformation. Becoming is merely modified continuity, and there is radical transformation only in the present, in being.
任何形式的雄心 —— 为团体、为个人救赎或为灵性成就 —— 都是对行动的拖延。 欲望永远属于未来；“成为”的欲望就是当下的不作为。 当下比明天更有意义。 一切时间都在当下之中，理解当下即是摆脱时间。 “成为”是时间、是悲伤的延续。 “成为”不包含存在。 存在总是在当下，存在是最高形式的转变。 “成为”只是调整之后的延续， 而彻底的转变唯有在当下，存在之中。