哈里·A.奧弗斯特里特

Ever since Socrates was introduced to my adolescent mind he has been one chief master of my thinking. What he believed still seems to me to be indispensable for carrying on an intelligent and responsible life. He believed that he did not know. For myself， I have come to change his negative into a positive. I know that there is far more in this universe for me to know than I now know.

I recently had a dramatic illustration of this. My wife and I， driving through Arizona， stopped at a “collectors shop” in Tucson， where stones and minerals of many kinds were on display. In the course of the visit， we were taken into a small room where rocks were laid out on shelves. They were quite ordinary-looking rocks. Had I seen them on some hillside， I would not have given them a second thought. Then the man closed the door so that the room was in total darkness and turned on an ultraviolet lamp.

Instantly， the prosaic rocks leaped into a kind of glory. Brilliant colors of an indescribable beauty were there before our eyes.

A very simple thing—and yet a very tremendous thing—had happened. A certain power had been snapped on; and a hidden world leaped into life.

As I look at my universe and walk among my fellow humans， I have the deep belief that hidden realities are all around us. These hidden realities are there in the physical world; and they are there， also， in the human world. If I am foolish enough to think that I see all there is to be seen in front of my eyes， I simply miss the glory.

I believe， then， that my chief job in life—and my astonishing privilege—is to snap on an extra power so that I can see what my naked eyes—or my naked mind—cannot now see. I believe that I have to do this particularly with my human fellows. My ordinary eyes tend to stop short at those opaque envelopes we call human bodies. But we have learned that by turning on a certain power we can penetrate to the inside of these envelopes.

We call this extra power “imagination”. At its highest， we call it “empathy”， the power to see through and to feel through to the inner life of other human beings. It is a kind of ultraviolet lamp of our psychic life. When we turn on this lamp of imaginative sensitivity， we make the prosaic human beings around us come excitingly alive. Zona Gale once set down as the first article of her creed， “I believe in expanding the areas of my awareness.” Id do the same. If I expand the areas of my awareness， I move understandingly into realities beyond me. When I move into them understandingly， I know what I can do and what I should do. If I dont move in understandingly， if I stay in ignorance on the outside， then， in all likelihood， I will do mistaken things.

The great principle of love depends on this. He who loves another tries truly to understand the other. We can reverse this： he who tries truly to understand another is not likely to hate that other.

Socrates gave no finished catalogue of the “truths” of the world. He gave， rather， the impulse to search. This is far better， I feel， than dogmatic certainty. When we are aware that there are glories of life still hidden from us， we walk humbly before the Great Unknown. But we do more than this： we try manfully to increase our powers of seeing and feeling so that we can turn what is still unknown into what is warmly and understandingly known… This， I believe， is our great human adventure.

少年時(shí)代我接觸到了蘇格拉底的思想，從此，他便成了我的思想導(dǎo)師。在我看來，蘇格拉底的信仰在明智而負(fù)責(zé)的生活中始終不可或缺。蘇格拉底相信自己無知，而我將他的消極變?yōu)榱朔e極。我知道，除了我現(xiàn)有的知識(shí)，宇宙中尚有無窮多的知識(shí)等待我去學(xué)習(xí)。

最近，我經(jīng)歷了一個(gè)生動(dòng)的例證。我和妻子開車穿過亞利桑那州時(shí)，停車參觀了圖森市一家陳列著各種各樣的石頭與礦物的收藏店。在參觀過程中，我們被帶到了一個(gè)架子上擺滿石頭的小房間里?？雌饋恚@些石頭沒什么特別。如果在山邊看到它們，恐怕我都不想再看第二眼了。店員關(guān)上了門，房間里頓時(shí)一片漆黑，然后他打開了一盞紫外線照射燈。

剎那間，這些普通的石頭立刻變得光彩奪目。一種難以形容的燦爛與美麗出現(xiàn)在我們眼前。

一件非常平凡卻又無比奇妙的事情就這樣發(fā)生了。突然間，出現(xiàn)了某種力量，一個(gè)隱秘的世界驟然出現(xiàn)在生活中。

當(dāng)我凝視著眼前的世界，或穿梭在茫茫人海之中，我深信我們周圍存在著一個(gè)隱秘的現(xiàn)實(shí)。它們存在于物質(zhì)世界之中，也存在于人類世界中。如果我愚笨地只認(rèn)為眼前的一切就是我應(yīng)看到的所有事物，那我就錯(cuò)過了輝煌。

我相信，為了能夠看到我肉眼所無法看到的一切，或是我知識(shí)貧乏的大腦所無法理解的東西，就必須抓住一種非凡的力量，這是我一生中的首要任務(wù)，也是我的神奇優(yōu)勢(shì)。我堅(jiān)信，我應(yīng)當(dāng)去做，尤其是與他人一起去做。我的凡眼只能看到人的軀體，但我們已經(jīng)知道，通過開啟某種力量，能穿透軀體看到人的內(nèi)在。

我們稱這種非凡的力量為“想象”。想象力的最高級(jí)別，即是我們所說的“移情作用”，這種力量能夠透過表面，看到或感受到他人的內(nèi)心世界。它就像是我們精神生活中的紫外線照射燈。當(dāng)我們將這盞想象的燈打開，就能使周圍平凡的人們充滿活力?！拔蚁嘈牛瑧?yīng)當(dāng)擴(kuò)展我的認(rèn)知領(lǐng)域。”這是佐納·蓋爾曾經(jīng)寫下的第一條信仰。我也要這么做。如果我的認(rèn)知領(lǐng)域能夠得到擴(kuò)展，那我就能夠理解那些我無法領(lǐng)悟的現(xiàn)實(shí)。如果我理解了這些現(xiàn)實(shí)，就可以明白自己能做什么，應(yīng)該做什么。如果我無法理解，而是無知地在門外徘徊，那么我很可能會(huì)做錯(cuò)事。

愛的偉大原則也是來源于此。愛人者，會(huì)真正地理解他人。反過來也可以說，一個(gè)真正理解他人的人，自然不可能憎恨他人。

蘇格拉底并沒有將世界“真理”的目錄完全列出，而是給予我們探索的動(dòng)力。我認(rèn)為，這樣的好處遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于教條式的理論。當(dāng)我們認(rèn)識(shí)到，周圍依然隱秘著生命的奇跡時(shí)，在上帝面前我們就會(huì)謙卑而行。但我們要做的還有更多：我們要勇于努力提高我們觀察與感受的能力，以便將未知的世界轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槲覀兡軌蛏钋蓄I(lǐng)悟的已知世界……我相信，這就是，我們?nèi)祟惖膫ゴ筇诫U(xiǎn)。

Word Study

indispensable /'?nd?'spens?bl/ adj. 不可或缺的;必不可少的

tremendous /tr?'mend?s/ adj. 極好的;精彩的;了不起的

dogmatic /d?g'm?t?k/ adj. 自以為是的;教條的;武斷的

humbly /'h?mbl?/ adv. 謙遜地;虛心地