Man is Here for the Sake of Other Men
人是為了別人而活著
by Albert Einstein 阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦
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.
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 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.
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 judgement. 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 suffucient only for a herd of cattle.
人類在這個世界上的處境真是奇怪。我們每個人都是來做一次短暫的訪問，不知道自己為何而來，然而有時候卻似乎推測出一種目的。
但是從日常生活的觀點來看，有一件事情我們是肯定知道的，那就是人在這個世界上是為了別人而活著——尤其為了那些因為同情之感而使我們同他們的命運聯(lián)系起來的人們。每天都有很多次，我覺察到自己的肉體生活和精神生活是如何建立在別人——包括生者和死者——的勞動之上，以及自己必須如何奮發(fā)努力，從而使我從別人那里取得多少東西，我也可以把同等數(shù)量的東西給予別人，以此作為報答。我時常懷著一種憂郁的心情，覺得自己從別人的工作中承襲太多，因而心里惴惴不安。
沒完沒了地沉思著自己生存的理由或人生的意義，從客觀的觀點來看，我覺得是近乎愚蠢的行為?？墒?，每個人都有一些理想作為他的抱負(fù)和判斷的指南針。經(jīng)常在我的眼前閃耀發(fā)光，并使我充滿了快樂的理想的，就是真、善、美。我從來沒有以追求舒適和幸福作為生活的目標(biāo)，建立在這個基礎(chǔ)上的一套倫理觀念，只能滿足一群牲畜的需要。
人是為了別人而活著
by Albert Einstein 阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦
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.
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 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.
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 judgement. 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 suffucient only for a herd of cattle.
人類在這個世界上的處境真是奇怪。我們每個人都是來做一次短暫的訪問，不知道自己為何而來，然而有時候卻似乎推測出一種目的。
但是從日常生活的觀點來看，有一件事情我們是肯定知道的，那就是人在這個世界上是為了別人而活著——尤其為了那些因為同情之感而使我們同他們的命運聯(lián)系起來的人們。每天都有很多次，我覺察到自己的肉體生活和精神生活是如何建立在別人——包括生者和死者——的勞動之上，以及自己必須如何奮發(fā)努力，從而使我從別人那里取得多少東西，我也可以把同等數(shù)量的東西給予別人，以此作為報答。我時常懷著一種憂郁的心情，覺得自己從別人的工作中承襲太多，因而心里惴惴不安。
沒完沒了地沉思著自己生存的理由或人生的意義，從客觀的觀點來看，我覺得是近乎愚蠢的行為?？墒?，每個人都有一些理想作為他的抱負(fù)和判斷的指南針。經(jīng)常在我的眼前閃耀發(fā)光，并使我充滿了快樂的理想的，就是真、善、美。我從來沒有以追求舒適和幸福作為生活的目標(biāo)，建立在這個基礎(chǔ)上的一套倫理觀念，只能滿足一群牲畜的需要。