The World as I See It.doc

The World as I See It Albert Einstein How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other peoplefirst of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and am often oppressively aware that I am engrossing an undue amount of the labor of my fellowmen. I regard class distinctions as unjustified and, in the last resort, based on force. I also believe that a simple and unassuming life is good for everybody, physically and mentally. I do not at all believe in human freedom in the philosophical sense. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Schopenhauers saying, “A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants,” has been a very real inspiration to me since my youth; it has been a continual consolation in the face of lifeshard ships, my own and others, and an unfailing wellspring of tolerance. This realization mercifully mitigates the easily paralyzing sense of responsibility and prevents us from taking ourselves and other people all too seriously; it is conducive to a view of life which, in particular, gives humor its due. To inquire after the meaning or object of ones own existence or that of all creatures has always seemed to me absurd from an objective point of view. And yet everybody has certain ideals which determine the direction of his endeavors and his judgments. In this sense I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselvesthis ethical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed to me empty.The trite objects of human effortspossessions, outward success, luxuryhave always seemed to me contemptible. My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a “lone traveler” and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friend, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude-feelings which increase with the years.One becomes sharply aware, but without regret, of the limits of mutual understanding and consonance with other people. No doubt, such a person loses some of his innocence and unconcern; on the other hand, he is largely independent, of the opinions, habits, and judgments of his fellows and avoids the temptation to build his inner equilibrium upon such insecure foundations. The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mysteryeven if mixed with fearthat engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our mindsit is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man. I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world,together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature. 我的世界观 阿尔伯特.爱因斯坦 我们这些肉体凡胎是多么奇怪啊！每个人来到这个世上都只作短暂停留，究竟为了什么目的却无从知晓，虽然有时觉得自己好像有所感悟。但是，无需深入思考，仅从日常生活就可明白，人是为他人而存在的首先是为这样一些人：他们的欢笑、健康和福祉与我们的幸福息息相关；其次是为那些为数众多的陌生人，因为同情他们，使得我们与他们的命运联系在了一起。每一天，我都上百次地提醒自己，我的精神和物质生活都是建立在他人(包括生者和死者)的劳动基础上，对于我已经得到和正在得到的一切，我必须尽力给以相同程度的回报。我深深向往一种俭朴的生活，由于经常意识到自己占用了同胞太多的劳动而心有不安。我认为阶级区分是不正当的，其最终的达成方式常常诉诸暴力。我还认为，无论是在身体上还是心理上，过一种简单而不铺张浪费的生活对每个人都有好处。 我完全不相信哲学意义上的人的自由。每个人的行为不仅受外在力量的约束，还要与内在需求协调一致。叔本华说：“人可以任意而为，却不能心想事成。”这句话从我年轻时起就一直深深地启发着我。在面对生活的艰辛时无论是我自己还是他人的艰辛，这句话总能不断地给我安慰，成为永不枯竭的忍耐的源泉。这一认识能够仁慈地缓和那份令人几欲崩溃的责任感，并防止我们太把自己或者他人当回事，还有助于形成一种尤其幽默的人生观。 客观地说，探求自己或者其他所有生命存在的意义或者目标，我一直都认为是荒唐之举。然而，每个人多少都有自己的理想，决定着他的奋斗目标和他对事情的看法。从这个意义上说，我从来都不会把安逸和幸福看作终极目标我将这种伦理道德的基础称之为“猪圈理想”。一直以来，是对真、善、美的追求照亮了我的道路，一次又一次给我以新的勇气，让我愉快地面对生活。如果没有对志同道合者的那种亲近感，如果没有对客观世界那个艺术和科学研究永远也无法穷极的世界的孜孜以求，生命对我来说就是一场空。那些向来为世人竞相追求的目标财产、奢华和外在的成功我对此不屑一顾。 一方面，我有着强烈的社会正义感和社会责任感，另一方面，我的内心又明显没有与他人和社会直接接触的需求，二者形成了一个奇怪的对比。我确实是一个“孤独的旅者”，我的心从未完全地属于过我的祖国、我的