3.1 Attitude
3.1 態度

Attitude is the principal thing in life. It is not the conditions in life which change life for us, but mostly it is our attitude toward life and its conditions upon which depends our happiness or unhappiness. With a sympathetic attitude one is able to sympathize with those who deserve sympathy and even with those who do not deserve sympathy; it is not the deserving or undeserving persons, but mostly it is the attitude with which they are seen. A person who is impressed by wrong, to him there is much wrong in the world and less right. The more he looks at life with this attitude the more wrong he sees; in the end to him everything becomes wrong.

態度是人生中最重要的事。改變我們人生的，並不是人生的境遇，而主要是我們面對人生及其境遇的態度；我們幸福或不幸福，也取決於這種態度。懷著同理的態度，我們不僅能同理那些值得同理的人，也能同理那些似乎並不值得的人；關鍵往往不在對方是否值得，而在於我們以什麼態度看待他們。一個總被不對之處所影響的人，會覺得世上錯的很多，對的很少。他越以這種態度看待人生，看見的錯誤就越多；到最後，在他眼中一切都變得不對。

It is a kind of mental agitation against one thing a person met with in life which was wrong, which makes him see wrong in everything. A person who has once burnt his lips drinking hot milk blows the buttermilk to cool it before he drinks. The human mind is like a compass; if it is once made to point out wrong, whatever way you may take it, it will seek its own point all the time. So it is with the doubting person. A person who begins to doubt his enemy next doubts his friend, then he comes to doubt his nearest and dearest friends in life, he cannot make his mind trust anybody in the world. With the best motive one may approach him, in every way one may show him sympathy, he will still think, “perhaps in this sympathy there is hidden an enmity.” It is generally the case with human beings that their attitude becomes fixed; it is not a rare thing, seldom met with. But the one who trusts will trust everyone and under all conditions, and who idealizes and sees good will see good in, and will idealize, even undeserving ones.

當我們在人生中遇到一件不對的事，頭腦可能因而產生一種激動與抗拒，使我們往後處處都看見不對。曾經喝熱牛奶燙傷嘴唇的人，連喝冰鮮奶之前也要先吹涼它。人的頭腦就像指南針；一旦被定向去尋找不對之處，無論把它轉向哪裡，它始終會尋回自己的方向。懷疑的人也是如此。一個人起初懷疑敵人，接著懷疑朋友，最後連人生中最親近、最摯愛的朋友也開始懷疑，他的心便再也無法信任世上任何人。即使有人懷著最好的用心接近他，以種種方式向他表達同理，他仍會想：「也許這份同理背後藏著敵意。」一般來說，我們的態度很容易固定下來，這並不是少見的情形。然而，信任的人會在各種境遇中信任每一個人；而習於理想化、看見善的人，即使對方並不值得，也會在他身上看見善，並將他理想化。

No doubt a better attitude fixed is preferable to the bad one, but the most desirable thing is to have the attitude unfixed, moveable. One must be free to form an opinion about a person and to adopt a method of working under certain conditions, without having to subject one’s attitude to some preconceived ideas one has in the subconscious mind; to be able to approve or disapprove, to be able to like or dislike, to be able to choose or give up. Goodness is better than wickedness, but freedom is higher than goodness. By freedom is meant not only freedom from outer influences but freedom from certain inner influences which obsess one’s life, often making it wretched and miserable through all conditions.

當然，固定在較好的態度上，總勝過固定在不好的態度上；但最可取的，是讓態度不僵固，而能隨情況轉變。我們必須能自由地對一個人形成看法，也能依不同的情況採取相應的方法，而不必讓自己的態度受制於潛意識中某些先入為主的觀念；我們應當能贊同，也能不贊同；能喜歡，也能不喜歡；能選擇，也能放棄。善良勝過邪惡，但自由高於善良。這裡所說的自由，不只是免於外在影響的自由，也是免於某些內在影響的束縛；這些影響可能盤據我們的人生，使我們在各種境遇中都陷於悲苦與不幸。

The attitude becomes high and broad when one looks at life from a higher point of view. When the point of view is not high the range of man’s sight becomes limited; man becomes narrow in his outlook on life, and in his feelings, thought, speech and action the same is expressed. Why is God pointed out on high, toward the sky? Why not toward the earth, for God is everywhere? The reason is that within the range of God’s sight the whole universe stands as a little grain of corn, as to one who flies in the balloon and looks down from high the whole city comes within the range of his sight, when he stands on earth he sees no further than the four walls which keep the whole world covered from his sight.

當我們從更高的立足點看待人生，態度也會變得高遠而寬廣。若立足點不高，我們的視野便會受到限制；看待人生的眼光也會變得狹窄，而這份狹窄同樣會表現在感受、思想、言語與行動之中。為什麼我們提到神時，總指向高處、指向天空？既然神無所不在，為什麼不指向大地呢？因為在神的視野裡，整個宇宙就像一粒小小的穀粒。正如一個人乘著氣球升到高空，向下望時，整座城市都收入他的視野；而當他站在地面上時，所見不過四面牆內的範圍，這四面牆把整個世界都遮在他的視線之外。

What does it mean to become spiritual, or godly? It means to have a higher view of life, to look at life from a higher point of view. It is the high point of view in life which ennobles the soul, it is by a broad outlook on life that spiritual aristocracy is realized.

所謂變得具有靈性、趨近神性，是什麼意思？就是對人生有更高遠的眼光，從更高的立足點觀看人生。使靈魂變得高貴的，正是這種看待人生的高遠眼光；而靈性的高貴，則在寬廣的人生視野中得以實現。

---