Give Part of Yourself Away
By DR.HAROLD TAYLOR
We are living in one of those periods in human history which are marked by recolutionary changes in sll of man's ideas and values. It is a time when every one of us must look within himself to find what ideas, what beliefs, and what ideals each of us will live by. And unless we fins these ideals,and unless we stand by them firmly, we have no power to overcome the crisis in which we in our world fins ourselves.
I believe in perople, in sheer, unadulterated humanity, I believe inlistening to what people have to say, in helping them to achieve the things which they want and the things which they need. Naturally,there are peop;e who behave like beasts, who kill,who cheat, who lie and who destroy. But without a belief in man and a faith in his possibilities for the future, there can be no hope for the future, but only bitterness that the past has gone. I believe we must, each of us, make a philosophy a philosophy by which we can live.
There are people who make a philosophy out of believing in nothing. They say there is no truth,that goodness is simply cleverness in disguising your own selfishness. They say that life is simply the short gap in between an unpleasant birth and an inevitable death. There are others who saythat man is born inti evil and sinfulness and that life is a process of purification through suffering and that death is the reward for having sufferes.There are others who say that man is a kind of machine which operates according to certain laws, and that if you can learn the laws and seize the power to manipulate the machine, you can make man behave autmatically to serve whatever ends you have in mind.
I believe these philosophies are false. The most important thing in life is the way it it lived,and there is no such thing as an abstract happiness,an abstract goodness or morality, or an abstract anything,except in terms of the person who believes and who acts. There is only the single human being who lives and who through every moment of his own personal living experience, is being happy or unhappy,noble or base, wise or unwise, or simply existing.
The question is: How can these individual moments of human experience be filled with the richness of a philosophy which can sustain the indicidual in his own life?Unless we give part of ourselves away,unless we can live with other people and understand them and help them,we are missing the most essential part of our own human lives. The fact that the native endowment of the young mind is one of liberalism and confidence in the powers of man for goos is the basis of my philosophy.And if only man can be given a free chance to use his powers, this philosophy will result in a boundless flow of vital energy and a willingness to try new things,combined with a faith in the future.
There are as many roads to the sttainment of wisdom and goodness as there are people who undertake to waik them.There are as many solid truths on which we can stand as there are people who can search them out and who will stand on them. There are as many ideas and ideals as there are men of good will who will hold them in their minds and act them in their lives.
参考译文
乐于奉献
哈罗德.泰勒博士
慷慨与对人类行善力量的信心是人类天生的美德，这便是我人生哲学的基础。如果人类能够有机会发挥自己的力量，那么这一人生哲学就能够使人充满活力，富有创新精神，对未来充满信心。
我们所生活的这个时代，是人类历史上思想与价值充满革命性变化的一个时代。在这样的时代背景中，我们必须从自身寻找生活所需的思想、信仰与理想。除非我们找到这些理想，并恪守它们，否则当面临世人都会遇到的危险时，我们根本无力抗争。
我信仰人类，信仰透明、纯粹的人性。倾听人们的心声，帮助他们达成所愿，得到需要的东西，这也是我的信仰。当然，有些人类的行为如同禽兽一般，他们杀戮、欺诈、哄骗、破坏。但是，如果不相信人类，不相信人类创造未来的可能，那我们就会对未来失去希望，只能苦叹往日已逝。我相信，我们每个人都必须树立自己的生活哲学。也有人以质疑一切为自己的生活哲学。他们说，世间没有真理，所谓的仁慈不过是对自己自私自利的伪装。他们认为，生活不过是痛苦出生与必然死去间的短暂瞬间。而其他人则认为，人性本恶，生命是历尽苦难的净化过程，而死亡则是一切苦难的解脱。还有人说，人就好比一台遵循一定规则运转的机器，如果你了解其中的规则，掌控了操纵权，就能够将他人掌控手中，让他们为满足你的意愿而服务。
我认为，这些所谓的哲学皆是谬论。人生最重要的事情就是以何种方式生活，除了人的信仰与将信仰付诸于行动之外，再没有任何抽象的幸福、善良或美德，也没有任何空泛的事物。唯有一个活着或仅仅存在着的人，亲身体验着生活中的每一刻，感受着快乐或悲伤、高尚或卑微、睿智或愚笨。
丰富的哲学是支撑生命的力量之源，但问题是，如何才能将这种哲学充分应用到人生经历的每一个瞬间呢？除非我们乐于奉献，除非我们能够与人们一起生活并帮助他们，否则我们的人生就失去了最重要的意义。慷慨与对人类行善力量的信心是人类天生的美德，这便是我人生哲学的基础。如果人类能够有机会发挥自己的力量，那么这一人生哲学就能够使人充满活力，富有创新精神，对未来充满信心。
世间有多少行路者，通往善良与智慧的途径就有多少。世间有多少真理，就有多少探索、坚持真理的人。有多少信念与理想，就有多少仁人志士在生活中奉行并实现它们。
