A Reporter Quotes His Sources
It’s rather difficult in these noisy, confusing, nerve-racking days to achieve the peace of mind in which to pause for a moment to reflect on what you believe in. There’s so little time and opportunity to give it much thought—though it is the thing we live by; and without it, without beliefs, human existence today would hardly be bearable.
My own view of life, like everyone else’s, is conditioned by personal experience. In my own case, there were two experiences, in particular, which helped to shape my beliefs: years of life and work under a totalitarian regime, and a glimpse of war.
Living in a totalitarian land taught me to value highly—and fiercely—the very things the dictators denied: tolerance, respect for others and, above all, the freedom of the human spirit.
A glimpse of war filled me with wonder not only at man’s courage and capacity for self-sacrifice, but at his stubborn, marvelous will to preserve, to endure, to prevail—amidst the most incredible savagery and suffering. When you saw people—civilians—who where bombed out, or who, worse, had been hounded in the concentration camps or worked to a frazzle in the slave-labor gangs—when you saw them come out of these ordeals of horror and torture, still intact as human beings, with a will to go on, with a faith still in themselves, in their fellow man, and in God, you realized that man was indestructible. You appreciated, too, that despite the corruption and cruelty of life, man somehow managed to retain great virtues: love, honor, courage, self-sacrifice, compassion.
It filled you with a certain pride just to be a member of the human race. It renewed your belief in your fellow men.
Of course, there are many days (in this Age of Anxiety) when a human being feels awfully low and discouraged. I myself find consolation at such moments by two means: trying to develop a sense of history, and renewing the quest for inner life.
I go back, for example, to reading Plutarch. He reminds you that even in the golden days of Greece and Rome, from which so much that is splendid in our own civilization derives, there was a great deal of what we find so loathsome in life today: war, strife, corruption, treason, double-crossing, intolerance, tyranny, rabble-rousing. Reading history thus gives you perspective. It enables you to see your troubles relatively. You don’t take them so seriously then.
Finally, I find that most true happiness comes from one’s inner life; from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation. And self-discipline. One must be honest with oneself, and that’s not easy. (You have to have patience and understanding. And, when you can, seek God.)
But the reward of having an inner life, which no outside storm or evil turn of fortune can touch, is, it seems to me, a very great one.
我的人生信仰
威廉.L.夏伊勒
在這個喧嘩紛亂、人的精神處于極度緊張的年代，能夠靜下心來，休息片刻，思考一下自己的人生信仰是極不容易的。因為人們既沒有時間也沒有機會好好考慮這個問題——盡管信仰乃是生活之基準，沒有它，沒有信仰，人類社會將讓人不堪忍受。
人的人生觀取決于個人經歷，我的也是如此。就我而言，有兩種經歷對我信仰的形成極為關鍵：一是多年在極權統治下生活和工作，一是有戰爭的短暫經歷。
生活在極權統治的國家，得不到寬容，受不到尊重，尤其是人的精神自由都被獨、裁者剝奪，這使我倍覺它們的可貴。
戰爭的短暫經歷讓我對紛飛戰火中人民奮起抗爭、勇于犧牲的精神驚嘆不已；更讓我欽佩的則是人民在野蠻暴政之下和水深火熱之中頑強的求生意志和必勝的信心。如果你目睹人民——那些平民——由于戰火而流離失所，甚至于在集中營備受摧殘或是在勞工營疲憊不堪，如果你目睹他們在經歷這些恐怖與磨難后仍然未失去人類的尊嚴，未失去生活的勇氣，未失去對自己、對同胞、對上帝的信念，你就會明白人類是堅不可摧的。你也會贊嘆，生活中盡管有墮落與暴行，人類仍能以某種方式保留這些美德——充滿愛心、滿懷榮耀、仁慈英勇、敢于犧牲。
你會因身為人類的一員而感到一種榮耀，也會對自己的同胞重拾信心！
當然，生活在這樣一個“焦慮的年代”，我們常常也會情緒低落、意志消沉。此時，我會試著從史書中尋求慰藉，或是踏上新的精神之旅。
例如，我重讀普盧塔克的《希臘羅馬名人比較列傳》，從中可以看出，戰亂動蕩、暴君苛政并非當世之災，背信棄義、危言惑世亦非時人之弊；即使在我們輝煌文明之源的古希臘古羅馬黃金時代，這些災禍也無法避免。讀史可以開闊視野，使我們不會孤立地看待世間紛擾，不必終日惶惶不安。
我終于意識到真正的幸福來自人的精神世界，來自人的心智與靈魂。誠然，在這個紛擾喧囂的時世，想擁有寧靜祥和的內心世界并非易事，這需要我們時常反省、冥思，還要自律。坦然直面自己實屬不易。（你得有耐心，能體諒，只要可能，尋求上帝的幫助。）而一旦你的精神世界能真正遠離暴風驟雨和陰風邪氣的侵犯，你必將獲得無比豐厚的回報。
附注：
威廉·夏伊勒：是一名駐外記者、廣播評論員。
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