什麼使我胸懷寬廣勵志美文

編者按:

北美鳩清晨的鳴唱或黃昏時天空中沙丘鶴笛鳴般的長吟，是任何讚美詩都無法媲美的。柔和的春風中瀰漫著田野間矢車菊的芳香，讓我的靈魂也更加高尚，這是教堂中任何焚香都無法比擬的。

What Makes Me Feel Big

J. Frank Dobie

“My mind is big when I look at you and talk to you,” Chief Eagle of the Pawnees said to George Bird Grinnell when, after years of absence, that noble writer appeared at his friend’s tepee.

It is very difficult in drawing up a credo to be severely honest about one’s self, to avoid all traditional cant. We actually believe in what we value most. Outside of the realms of carnality and property, which men appearing in public generally pretend not to notice, I believe in and draw nourishment from whatever makes me feel big.

I believe in a Supreme Power, unknowable and impersonal, whose handiwork the soul-enlarging firmament declares. However, I believe in questionings, doubtings, searchings, skepticism, and I discredit credulity or blind faith. The progress of man is based on disbelief of the commonly accepted. The noblest minds and natures of human history have thought and sung, lived and died, trying to budge the status quo towards a larger and fuller status.

I am sustained by a belief in evolution—the increasing purpose of life in which the rational is, with geological slowness, evolving out of the irrational. To believe that goodness and wisdom and righteousness, in Garden of Eden perfection, lie somewhere far ahead instead of farther and farther behind, gives me hope and somewhat explains existence. This is a long view. I do not pretend that it is a view always present in me. It does raise me when I have it, however.

I feel no resentment so strongly as that against forces which make men and women afraid to speak out forthrightly. The noblest satisfaction I have is in witnessing the up movement of suppressed individuals and people. I make no pretense to having rid myself of all prejudices, but at times when I have discovered myself freed from certain prejudices, I have felt rare exhilaration.

For me, the beautiful resides in the physical, but it is spiritual. I have never heard a sermon as spiritual in either phrase or fact as, “Waters on a starry night are beautiful and free.” No hymn lifts my heart higher than the morning call of the bobwhite or the long fluting cry of sandhill cranes out of the sky at dusk. I have never smelled incense in a church as refining to the spirit as a spring breeze laden with aroma from a field of bluebonnets.

Not all hard truths are beautiful, but beauty is truth. It incorporates love and is incorporated by love. It is the goal of all great art. Its presence everywhere makes it free to all. It is not so abstract as justice, but beauty and intellectual freedom and justice, all incorporating truth and goodness, are constant sustainers to my mind and spirit.

什麼使我胸懷寬廣

J.弗蘭克.多比

並非所有堅定的真理都是美好的，但“美即是真”。所有偉大的藝術都追求這樣的目標，即美融合愛，也被愛所融合。它無處不在，唾手可得。

在離開朋友波尼族印第安人首領雄鷹的獸皮帳篷幾年後，作家喬治.伯德.格林又回到那裡。這位首領對他高尚的朋友說：“凝視著你，與你交談，讓我感到心胸寬廣。”

我們很難為自己擬出一個既能嚴格遵守又能避免傳統教條的信念。事實上，我們最為珍視的東西便是我們的信仰。除了人們在公共場合總會假裝視而不見的俗念與財產之外，所有能讓我胸懷寬廣的都是我的信仰，它們是我力量的源泉。

我相信有一種至高無上且無法控制的未知力量，它的創造，宣告了靈魂擁有無限伸展的空間。然而，我也相信詢問、質疑、探索與懷疑，但拒絕輕信或盲從的信仰。人類的進步是基於對普遍接受的質疑。人類歷史上，擁有最高尚思想的人們曾經思考過，歌唱過，生活過，最終離去，他們也曾努力擴充套件並充實現狀。我始終相信進化論，即生活目的在不斷增加，而其中從非理性到理性的進化時間就像地質變化一樣漫長。我相信，伊甸園中完美的善良、智慧與正義就在遙遠的前方，給予我希望，並或多或少地解釋了生存的意義。這是一個長遠的觀點。我不會假裝認為，自己始終擁有這樣的觀點。然而，當我擁有它時，我的靈魂的確得到了昇華。

使人不敢坦誠言論的勢力，是我最為憎恨的。當看到受壓迫的個人與民族奮起反抗時，我便會心生敬慕，感到滿足。我並不偽稱自己已經摒棄了所有的偏見，但有時當我發現自己擺脫了某些偏見時，我就會狂喜不已。

我認為，美雖然存在於肉體，但卻屬於精神。我從未聽說過，有哪句佈道詞能從言辭或事實上表現出這樣的精神美：

“夜晚繁星點點，湖水自由盪漾。”

北美鳩清晨的鳴唱或黃昏時天空中沙丘鶴笛鳴般的長吟，是任何讚美詩都無法媲美的。柔和的春風中瀰漫著田野間矢車菊的芳香，讓我的靈魂也更加高尚，這是教堂中任何焚香都無法比擬的。並非所有堅定的真理都是美好的`，但“美即是真”。所有偉大的藝術都追求這樣的目標，即美融合愛，也被愛所融合。它無處不在，唾手可得。它不像正義那樣抽象，但美、心智的自由及正義，都與真與善融合，這便是我思想與精神的永恆支柱。

本文選自《這，我相信》，該書共選取自述性散文七十二篇。原文作者用簡潔、樸實的文字講述自己如何在逆境中領悟到生活的真諦而最後獲得成功。原文短小精悍、語言平實，啟迪讀者心智。譯文忠實於原文的內容和風格，可讀性強。本書不僅是一本英漢對照的優秀勵志讀物，而且還是翻譯佳作，可供在校大學生、英語自學者和翻譯愛好者閱讀學習。

本書譯自美國暢銷書This I Believe。This I Believe起初是一個廣播節目，策劃於1949年，旨在幫助美國人克服看重物質享受而輕視精神情操的社會傾向。該節目每日播出，每位嘉賓講敘五分鐘，其講稿為一篇六百字的短文，每週在報紙上刊登。這些嘉賓或是社會名流，或是無名小卒，他們的膚色、職業、種族均不相同，但他們必須有一點共同之處——事業成功，應對生活成功。該節目獲得巨大的成功!每天約有三千九百萬美國人圍在收音機旁聆聽羅斯福總統夫人、海倫·凱勒、公司老闆、商人或計程車司機講述他們的信仰。

該廣播節目最後成為一種文化現象，共有用六種語言播出、八十五家主要報紙開闢專欄每週刊登此節目的文章。1952年經仔細挑選，選中一百人的一百篇短文彙集出版。書名是This I Believe，暢銷三十萬冊，是當年銷售量僅次於《聖經》的暢銷書。該書的阿拉伯譯本創下了三天內售出三萬冊的記錄。This I Believe至今仍然是美國全國性的媒體節目。它邀請各行各業的美國人撰文討論指導他們生活的哲學。聽眾每週可在兩個廣播節目中聽到這些人的自述，還可以在網上閱讀他們的短文。