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(ài)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(lèi)在這個(gè)世界上的處境真是奇怪。我們每個(gè)人都是來(lái)做一次短暫的訪(fǎng)問(wèn)，不知道自己為何而來(lái)，然而有時(shí)候卻似乎推測(cè)出一種目的。
但是從日常生活的觀點(diǎn)來(lái)看，有一件事情我們是肯定知道的，那就是人在這個(gè)世界上是為了別人而活著——尤其為了那些因?yàn)橥橹卸刮覀兺麄兊拿\(yùn)聯(lián)系起來(lái)的人們。每天都有很多次，我覺(jué)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(dòng)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(bào)答。我時(shí)常懷著一種憂(yōu)郁的心情，覺(jué)得自己從別人的工作中承襲太多，因而心里惴惴不安。
沒(méi)完沒(méi)了地沉思著自己生存的理由或人生的意義，從客觀的觀點(diǎn)來(lái)看，我覺(jué)得是近乎愚蠢的行為?？墒牵總€(gè)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(mǎn)了快樂(lè)的理想的，就是真、善、美。我從來(lái)沒(méi)有以追求舒適和幸福作為生活的目標(biāo)，建立在這個(gè)基礎(chǔ)上的一套倫理觀念，只能滿(mǎn)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(ài)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(lèi)在這個(gè)世界上的處境真是奇怪。我們每個(gè)人都是來(lái)做一次短暫的訪(fǎng)問(wèn)，不知道自己為何而來(lái)，然而有時(shí)候卻似乎推測(cè)出一種目的。
但是從日常生活的觀點(diǎn)來(lái)看，有一件事情我們是肯定知道的，那就是人在這個(gè)世界上是為了別人而活著——尤其為了那些因?yàn)橥橹卸刮覀兺麄兊拿\(yùn)聯(lián)系起來(lái)的人們。每天都有很多次，我覺(jué)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(dòng)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(bào)答。我時(shí)常懷著一種憂(yōu)郁的心情，覺(jué)得自己從別人的工作中承襲太多，因而心里惴惴不安。
沒(méi)完沒(méi)了地沉思著自己生存的理由或人生的意義，從客觀的觀點(diǎn)來(lái)看，我覺(jué)得是近乎愚蠢的行為?？墒牵總€(gè)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(mǎn)了快樂(lè)的理想的，就是真、善、美。我從來(lái)沒(méi)有以追求舒適和幸福作為生活的目標(biāo)，建立在這個(gè)基礎(chǔ)上的一套倫理觀念，只能滿(mǎn)足一群牲畜的需要。