悠游度過一天的24小時(shí)：第七章 控制思緒

CHAPTER VII Controlling The Mind

第七章 控制思緒

People say: "One can't help one's thoughts." But one can. The control of the thinking machine is perfectly possible. And since nothing whatever happens to us outside our own brain; since nothing hurts us or gives us pleasure except within the brain, the supreme importance of being able to control what goes on in that mysterious brain is patent. This idea is one of the oldest platitudes, but it is a platitude whose profound truth and urgency most people live and die without realising. People complain of the lack of power to concentrate, not witting that they may acquire the power, if they choose.

有人說：“人無法左右自己的思緒?！笔聦?shí)絕非如此，控制這架思維機(jī)器是完全可能的。既然千思萬緒都來自我們的大腦，喜怒哀樂都源自我們的思維，顯然，控制這個(gè)神秘大腦中的思維是極其重要的。這雖是說過無數(shù)次的陳詞濫調(diào)，但大多數(shù)人一生都沒有意識(shí)到這種想法的深遠(yuǎn)含義和緊迫性。人們抱怨自己總是不能集中注意力，卻不知道如果他們?cè)敢猓悄軌颢@得這種能力的。

And without the power to concentrate—that is to say, without the power to dictate to the brain its task and to ensure obedience—true life is impossible. Mind control is the first element of a full existence.

不能集中注意力，即不能給大腦發(fā)號(hào)施令并使它服從，就沒有真正的生活。對(duì)意志的控制是我們作為一個(gè)完整的存在體的首要條件。

Hence, it seems to me, the first business of the day should be to put the mind through its paces. You look after your body, inside and out; you run grave danger in hacking hairs off your skin; you employ a whole army of individuals, from the milkman to the pig-killer, to enable you to bribe your stomach into decent behaviour. Why not devote a little attention to the far more delicate machinery of the mind, especially as you will require no extraneous aid? It is for this portion of the art and craft of living that I have reserved the time from the moment of quitting your door to the moment of arriving at your office.

因此，在我看來，一天的第一要?jiǎng)?wù)應(yīng)該是讓大腦步入正軌。你從內(nèi)到外照顧自己的身體；你冒著巨大風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，把皮膚上的毛發(fā)刮掉；你和一大群人打交道，從牛奶工到殺豬的屠夫，就為了讓你的胃運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)靈便。何不花一點(diǎn)工夫在“大腦”這部更為精密的機(jī)器上呢？尤其是你不需要任何外在幫助的時(shí)候。我為你保留了走出家門到抵達(dá)公司之前的這段時(shí)間來琢磨這部分生活的藝術(shù)和竅門。

What? I am to cultivate my mind in the street, on the platform, in the train, and in the crowded street again? Precisely. Nothing simpler! No tools required! Not even a book. Nevertheless, the affair is not easy.

“什么？我要在大街上、月臺(tái)上和列車內(nèi)鍛煉心智？然后從車站出來到擁擠的街道上繼續(xù)鍛煉？”正是。這最簡(jiǎn)單不過了，不需要任何工具，甚至一本書都不需要。然而，這事并不容易。

When you leave your house, concentrate your mind on a subject (no matter what, to begin with). You will not have gone ten yards before your mind has skipped away under your very eyes and is larking round the corner with another subject.

離開家門時(shí)，集中精神想某件事（開始無論想什么都無妨）?？赡茏吡瞬贿^十碼的距離，你的思緒就在你眼皮底下悄悄溜開，跑到其他事情上逗留去了。

Bring it back by the scruff of the neck. Ere you have reached the station you will have brought it back about forty times. Do not despair. Continue. Keep it up. You will succeed. You cannot by any chance fail if you persevere. It is idle to pretend that your mind is incapable of concentration. Do you not remember that morning when you received a disquieting letter which demanded a very carefully-worded answer? How you kept your mind steadily on the subject of the answer, without a second's intermission, until you reached your off ice; whereupon you instantly sat down and wrote the answer? That was a case in which you were roused by circumstances to such a degree of vitality that you were able to dominate your mind like a tyrant. You would have no trif ling. You insisted that its work should be done, and its work was done.

你要揪住它的脖子，把它領(lǐng)回來。這樣在你到車站前，你就會(huì)把它拽回來差不多四十次了。不要灰心，繼續(xù)，堅(jiān)持住，你會(huì)成功的。如果你堅(jiān)持，就絕不會(huì)失敗。借口自己精力無法集中，是懶惰的表現(xiàn)。你可記得有天早上收到一封令你忐忑不安的來信，你必須要字斟句酌地回復(fù)？到達(dá)辦公室之前，你一刻不停地琢磨那封信，一進(jìn)辦公室，就立即坐下寫了回函，你是怎樣做到的？這個(gè)例子說明，某些情形下，你精力非常集中，能像一位專制的君王完全把控自己的思緒，可以排除一切雜念。你堅(jiān)信能控制自己的思緒，結(jié)果就如愿以償了。

By the regular practice of concentration (as to which there is no secret—save the secret of perseverance) you can tyrannise over your mind (which is not the highest part of you) every hour of the day, and in no matter what place. The exercise is a very convenient one. If you got into your morning train with a pair of dumb-bells for your muscles or an encyclopaedia in ten volumes for your learning, you would probably excite remark. But as you walk in the street, or sit in the corner of the compartment behind a pipe, or "strap-hang" on the Subterranean, who is to know that you are engaged in the most important of daily acts? What asinine boor can laugh at you?

通過每日不斷地訓(xùn)練自己集中精力（這并無訣竅，除了持之以恒），你就可以時(shí)時(shí)刻刻、隨時(shí)隨地隨意統(tǒng)治自己的思緒（它并不是你最高、最權(quán)威的部分）。這種訓(xùn)練很方便。如果你早上上車時(shí)，為鍛煉肌肉帶著一對(duì)啞鈴或?yàn)閷W(xué)習(xí)帶著十卷本的百科全書，很可能會(huì)引人議論。但當(dāng)你走在街上，坐在地鐵車廂某個(gè)管道后面的角落里，或站在地鐵里抓著吊環(huán)，誰知道你在進(jìn)行一天最重要的活動(dòng)？哪個(gè)蠢蛋會(huì)嘲笑你？

I do not care what you concentrate on, so long as you concentrate. It is the mere disciplining of the thinking machine that counts. But still, you may as well kill two birds with one stone, and concentrate on something useful. I suggest—it is only a suggestion—a little chapter of Marcus Aurelius1 or Epictetus2.

我不在意你集中精力想什么，只要你集中精力就夠了；關(guān)鍵在于約束那個(gè)思維機(jī)器。盡管如此，你最好還是一箭雙雕，全神貫注于有用的事情。我建議凝神思索馬可.奧勒利烏斯或愛比克泰德作品里的某些章節(jié)，當(dāng)然這只是個(gè)建議。

Do not, I beg, shy at their names. For myself, I know nothing more "actual," more bursting with plain common-sense, applicable to the daily life of plain persons like you and me (who hate airs, pose, and nonsense) than Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus. Read a chapter—and so short they are, the chapters!—in the evening and concentrate on it the next morning. You will see.

我請(qǐng)求你千萬不要聽到他們的名字就避而遠(yuǎn)之。就我知道的而言，除了馬可.奧勒利烏斯或愛比克泰德之外，沒有誰的作品是如此“實(shí)際”，充滿常識(shí)、適合你我這樣的凡人（我們都討厭裝模作樣、故弄玄虛和廢話連篇）。晚間讀一章——每章篇幅如此之短，讀數(shù)章！——翌日早上集中思考所讀的內(nèi)容，你就會(huì)贊同我所說的了。

Yes, my friend, it is useless for you to try to disguise the fact. I can hear your brain like a telephone at my ear. You are saying to yourself: "This fellow was doing pretty well up to his seventh chapter. He had begun to interest me faintly. But what he says about thinking in trains, and concentration, and so on, is not for me. It may be well enough for some folks, but it isn't in my line."

是的，我的朋友，想掩飾真相是毫無用處的。我能聽到你腦子里的想法，就像在我耳邊響起的電話鈴聲一樣清晰，你在對(duì)自己說：“這家伙一直講到第七章都還有道理，我剛開始有點(diǎn)興趣，但他所說的在火車上思考、集中精力之類的話，不是講給我聽的。可能對(duì)有些人來說還有用，但我可無法辦到?！?

It is for you, I passionately repeat; it is for you. Indeed, you are the very man I am aiming at.

那是講給你聽的，我熱切地重申一遍；事實(shí)上，我就是特別針對(duì)你講的。

Throw away the suggestion, and you throw away the most precious suggestion that was ever offered to you. It is not my suggestion. It is the suggestion of the most sensible, practical, hard-headed men who have walked the earth. I only give it you at second-hand. Try it. Get your mind in hand. And see how the process cures half the evils of life—especially worry, that miserable, avoidable, shameful disease—worry!

如果拒絕這條建議，你就拒絕了曾聽到過的最寶貴的建議。這不是我的建議，是最明智、最務(wù)實(shí)、最冷靜的世人早就提出的建議。我只是轉(zhuǎn)述而已，嘗試一下，控制自己的思緒。看看這個(gè)方法如何去除你生命中一半的災(zāi)禍，特別是憂慮，這可悲的、無恥的但可避免的惡疾——憂慮！

(1)馬可?奧勒利烏斯（121—180），在161—180年間統(tǒng)治羅馬帝國，是羅馬帝國五賢帝時(shí)代最后一個(gè)皇帝，也被認(rèn)為是一位新斯多葛學(xué)派哲學(xué)家。

(2)愛比克泰德（約55—約135），古羅馬新斯多葛學(xué)派哲學(xué)家。