學會擺脫自負 Learning to Get Out of the Way(2)
主禱文教導我們要乞求上帝保佑，不被誘惑引入歧途，原因非常清楚，如果誘惑太大或延續(xù)太久，大多數人就會屈服。也許我們無力設計一種完美的社會秩序，但我相信我們完全可以將危險的誘惑減少到遠遠低于目前可忍受的程度。
A society so arranged that there shall be a minimum of dangerous temptations--this is the end towards which,as a citizen,I have to strive.In my efforts to that end,I can make use of a great variety of means.Do good ends justify the use of intrinsically bad means?
On the level of theory,the point can be argued indefinitely.In practice,meanwhile,I find that the means employed invariably determine the nature of the end achieved.Indeed,as Mahatma Gandhi was never tired of insisting,the means are the end in its preliminary stages.
構建一個能將危險的誘惑最小化的社會是我作為一個公民奮斗的目標。在為之奮斗的過程中，我可以采用各種方式，然而目標正確就可以采用實質上不正當的手段開脫嗎?
在理論層面上，這一點可以廣泛討論;在實踐中，我同時發(fā)現，采用的手段決定目標的性質，無一例外。確實正如馬哈特瑪·甘地不厭其煩地堅持的那樣，手段是目標的初始階段。
Men have put forth enoumous efforts to make their world a better place to live in;but except in regard to gadgets,plumbing and hygiene,their sussess has been pathetically small."hell,"as the proverb has it,"is paved with good intentions."And so long as we go on trying to realize our ideals by bad or merely inappropriate means,our good intentions will come to the same bad ends.In this consists the tragedy and the irony of history.
Can I,as an individual,do anything to make future history a little less tragic and less ironic than history past and present?
I believe I can.As a citizen,I can use all my intelligence and all my good will to develop political means that shall be of the same kind and quality as the ideal ends which I am trying to achieve.And as a person,as a psychophysical roganism,I can learn how to get out of the way,so that the divine source of my life and consciousness can come out of eclipse and shine through me.
人們千方百計將這個世界建成更美好的家園，但除了小器械，管道安裝和衛(wèi)生之外，他們的成就少得可憐。“地獄”正如一句諺語所說“是由善意鋪就的”。只要我們繼續(xù)試圖以卑劣或僅僅不當的手段實現理想，我們的善意將同樣釀出惡果，構成歷史的悲劇和諷刺。
作為個人，我能盡全力使未來不像過去和現在那么富有悲劇和諷刺意味嗎?
我相信，我能。作為公民，我能以我全部的智慧和全部的善意，運用與我為之奮斗的理想同種同質的政治手段。作為一個人，一種具備身心的有機體，我能學會如何擺脫自負，這樣賦予我生命和意識的神的光芒就能驅散陰影，照亮我全身。