愛因斯坦哲理散文:人是爲了別人而活着大綱

Man Is Here For The Sake of Other Men　人是爲了別人而活着
　　　
Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.
　　
我們在這個世界上的處境是奇怪的：每個人，都是來做一次短暫的訪問，不知道是爲了什麼。不過有時似乎也會覺察到有某種目的。

From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know that man is here for the sake of other men --- above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. My peace of mind is often troubled by the depressing sense that I have borrowed too heavily from the work of other men.
　　　
但是從平日的生活來看，有一件事情我們是很清楚的：我們是爲別人而活，最重要的是爲了這些人活：他們的笑容和幸福構成了我們快樂的源泉。同時，我們活着還爲了另外無數個不相識的生命，憐憫之心，將我們同他們的命運聯繫起來。每天，很多次，我都會意識到我的肉體生活和精神生活很大程度上是建立在那些活着的，和死去的人們的工作之上的，意識到我必須誠摯地、竭盡全力地努力去回報我所得到的東西。我經常心緒不寧，感覺自己從別人的工作裏承襲了太多，這種感覺讓我惴惴不安。
　　
To ponder interminably over the reason for one’s own existence or the meaning of life in general seems to me, from an objective point of view, to be sheer folly. And yet everyone holds certain ideals by which he guides his aspiration and his judgment. The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort and happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.
　　
總體上在我看來，從客觀的角度，沒完沒了地思考自己爲什麼會存在，或者是生命有什麼意義，是非常愚蠢的行爲。不過，每個人都有一些理想，來指引着自己的抱負和辨別是非。始終在我面前閃耀着光芒，並且讓我充滿活着的喜悅的理想，是善、美和真理。對我來說，以舒適和享樂爲目標的生活從來沒有吸引力。　以這些目標爲基礎建立起來的一套倫理觀點只能滿足一羣牲畜的需要。

阿爾伯特.愛因斯坦 (著)