Howard

祈祷

纪伯伦

随后一位女祭司说，请给我们谈谈祈祷。

他回答道：

你们在痛苦或需要时祈祷；
希望你们在快乐的满足中、在富足的日子里也会祈祷。

因为你们的祈祷不就是你们的自我向生命的太空的延伸么？

倘若将你们的黑暗抛洒向空中能使你们得到安慰，
那么将你们的曙光倾注入空中也就能使你们愉悦。

倘若你们的灵魂召唤你们祈祷时，你们只能哭泣，
那么她会在哭泣中一直鞭策你们，直到你们破涕为笑。

在祈祷时，你们将飞入云天，从而遇到一同祈祷的人，
那些人，你们不祈祷时永不会相见。

因此让你们对冥冥圣殿的造访，成为纯粹的欣喜和甜美的交流。

因为你们若只为企求而造访圣殿，你们将一无所获；

若为贬抑自己而来，你们也不会被提升；

甚或你们是为他人祈福而来，你们也不会被垂听。

你们只要进入冥冥圣殿，这就足够了。

我无法教给你们用言语祈祷。

上帝不会聆听你们的话语，除非他自己借你们之口讲话。

我也无法教给你们海洋、森林和山峦的祈祷。

但你们，生于山峦、森林和海洋的你们，可以在你们的心中觅得它们的祈祷。

倘若你们在夜的静谧中倾听，就会听到它们在寂静中说：

“我们的上帝，我们拥有羽翼的自我啊，
你的意愿就是我们的意愿。你的欲望就是我们的欲望。

你的鞭策使属于你我的黑夜变成大家的白昼。

我们不能向你索求什么，因为早在我们开口要求前，你就早已洞悉。

你就是我们的需要；
你不仅把自己赐予我们，你把一切都恩赐给我们了。”

 

On Prayer

 Kahlil Gibran

Then a priestess said, Speak to us of Prayer.

And he answered, saying:

You pray in your distress and in your need;
would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy
and in your days of abundance.

For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether?
And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space,
it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.
And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer,
she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping,
until you shall come laughing.
When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour,
and whom save in prayer you may not meet.
Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught
but ecstasy and sweet communion.
For if you should enter the temple for no other purpose
than asking you shall not receive;
And if you should enter into it to humble yourself you shall not be lifted;
Or even if you should enter into it to beg for the good of others
you shall not be heard.
It is enough that you enter the temple invisible.

I cannot teach you how to pray in words.
God listens not to your words save when He Himself
utters them through your lips.
And I cannot teach you the prayer of
the seas and the forests and the mountains.
But you who are born of the mountains and the forests and the seas
can find their prayer in your heart,
And if you but listen in the stillness of the night you shall hear them saying in silence,
“Our God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth.
It is thy desire in us that desireth.
It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights,
which are thine, into days which are thine also.
We cannot ask thee for aught,
for thou knowest our needs before they are born in us:
Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all.”

宗教

纪伯伦

一位年迈的祭司说，请给我们谈谈宗教。

　　他说道：

　　难道我今天所讲的不都是么？

　　难道宗教不是一切的行为和所有的反映，

以及那些既非行为又非见解，

而是双手凿石或抚弄织机时涌入心田的一个奇迹和惊诧？

　　谁能够将他的理念与行为分开，或将他的信仰与职责分开？

　　谁能够将他的时间摆在面前说：
这份是上帝的，而那份是我的；这份属于我的心灵，而那份属于我的肉体？

　　你们所有的时光都是从自我飞向自我的征程中振动的羽翼。

　　将道德视作最好的衣服穿在身上的人，不如赤裸着。

　　风和阳光不会撕裂他们的肌肤。

　　以伦理规范自己行为的人，是将自己歌唱的鸟囚禁笼中。

　　最自由的歌不可能从锁链和铁栅中传出。

对于这样的人，尊崇敬拜是一扇时开时闭的窗户，

他尚未造访他的心灵之家——

此屋的窗户从黎明到黎明永远敞开。

 你们的日常生活就是你们的圣殿和你们的宗教。
 无论何时，只要你们进去，都应带上你们的一切。
 带着犁耙和炼炉，木槌和琴瑟。

带着你们因需要或喜爱而制出的常用之物。

因为在虔敬中，你们不可能升腾得比你们的成就更高，
也不可能跌落得比你们的失败更低。

　　带着所有人前往。

因为在崇拜中，你们不可能飞得比他们的希望更高，

也不可能因自我菲薄而降得比他们的失望还低。

　　
如果你们想认识上帝，那就不要去做解谜者。

环顾四周，你们会发现他在与你们的孩子玩耍。

仰望天空，你们会看到他在云端漫步，在闪电中伸臂，在雨水中降临。

你们会看到他在花丛中微笑，又在树上挥手。

On Religion

 Kahlil Gibran

And an old priest said, Speak to us of Religion.

And he said:

Have I spoken this day of aught else?
Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
And that which is neither deed nor reflection,
but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul,
even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying,
"This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?"
All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.
He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.
The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.
And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.
The freest song comes not through bars and wires.
And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut,
has not yet visited the house of his soul
whose windows are open from dawn to dawn.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.
Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,
The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.
For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements
nor fall lower than your failures.
And take with you all men:
For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes
nor humble yourself lower than their despair.

And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.
Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.
And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud,
outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.
You shall see Him smiling in flowers,
then rising and waving His hands in trees.

幸福是灵魂的香味
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