忏悔录 Confessions | BookⅣ Chapter9 迷人的东西

BookⅣ Chapter9

迷人的东西

Turn us, O God of Hosts, show us Thy countenance, and we shall be whole. For whither so ever the soul of man turns itself, unless toward Thee, it is riveted upon sorrows, yea though it is riveted on things beautiful. And yet they, out of Thee, and out of the soul, were not, unless they were from Thee. They rise, and set; and by rising, they begin as it were to be; they grow, that they may be perfected; and perfected, they wax old and wither; and all grow not old, but all wither. So then when they rise and tend to be, the more quickly they grow that they may be, so much the more they haste not to be. This is the law of them. Thus much has Thou allotted them, because they are portions of things, which exist not all at once, but by passing away and succeeding, they together complete that universe, where of they are portions. And even thus is our speech completed by signs giving forth a sound: but this again is not perfected unless one word pass away when it hath sounded its part, that another may succeed.

全能的上帝，“求你使我们转向你，请显示你的圣容，我们便能得救”。[14]一人的灵魂不论转向哪一面，除非投入你的怀抱，否则即使倾心于你以外和身外美丽的事物，也只能陷入痛苦之中，而这些美好的事物，如不来自你，便不存在。它们有生有灭，由生而长，由长而灭，接着便趋向衰老而入于死亡；而且还有中途夭折的，但一切不免于死亡。或者生后便欣欣向荣，滋长愈快，毁灭也愈迅速。这是一切事物的规律。因为你仅仅使它们成为一个整体的部分，事物的此生彼灭，此起彼仆，形成了整个宇宙。譬如我们的谈话，也有同样的过程：一篇谈话是通过一连串的声音，如果一个声音完成任务后不让另一个声音起而代之，便不会有整篇谈话了。

Out of all these things let my soul praise Thee, O God, Creator of all; yet let not my soul be riveted unto these things with the glue of love, through the senses of the body. For they go whither they were to go, that they might not be; and they rend her with pestilent longings, because she longs to be, yet loves to repose in what she loves. But in these things is no place of repose; they abide not, they flee; and who can follow them with the senses of the flesh? Yea, who can grasp them, when they are hard by? For the sense of the flesh is slow, because it is the sense of the flesh; and thereby is it bounded. It sufficeth for that it was made for; but it sufficeth not to stay things running their course from their appointed starting-place to the end appointed. For in Thy Word, by which they are created, they hear their decree, "hence and hitherto."

上帝，万有的创造者，使我的灵魂从这一切赞颂你，但不要让它通过肉体的官感而陷溺于对这些美好的爱恋之中。这些事物弃向虚无，它们用传染性的欲望来撕裂我们的灵魂，因为灵魂愿意存在，欢喜安息于所爱的事物群中，可是在这些事物中，并无可以安息的地方，因为它们不停留，它们是在飞奔疾驰，谁能用肉体的感觉追赶得上？即使是近在目前，谁又能抓住它们？肉体的感觉，正因为是肉体的感觉，所以非常迟钝，这是它的特性。它所以造成的目的，是为了另一种事物，为这些事物已经绰有余裕；但对于从规定的开端直到规定的终点，飞驰而过的事物，感觉便无法挽留。因为在你创造它们的“言语”之中，事物听到这样的决定：“由此起，于此止！”

Be not foolish, O my soul, nor become deaf in the ear of thine heart with the tumult of thy folly. Hearken thou too. The Word itself calleth thee to return: and there is the place of rest imperturbable, where love is not forsaken, if itself forsaketh not. Behold, these things pass away, that others may replace them, and so this lower universe be completed by all his parts. But do I depart any whither, saith the Word of God. There fix thy dwelling, trust there what so ever thou hast thence, O my soul, at least now thou art tired out with vanities. Entrust Truth, whatsoever thou hast from the Truth, and thou shalt lose nothing; and thy decay shall bloom again, and all thy diseases be healed, and thy mortal parts be reformed and renewed, and bound around thee: nor shall they lay thee whither themselves descend; but they shall stand fast with thee, and abide forever before God, Who abideth and standeth fast forever.

我的灵魂啊，不要移情于浮华，不要让你的耳朵为浮华的喧嚷所蒙蔽；你也倾听着。上帝的“道”[15]在向你呼喊，叫你回来，在他那里才是永无纷扰的安乐宫，那里谁不自动抛弃爱，爱决不会遭到遗弃。瞧，事物在川流不息地此去彼来，为了使各部分能形成一个整体，不管整体是若何微小。上帝之“道”在说：“我能离此而他去吗？”我的灵魂，至少你对欺骗也已感到厌倦了，你应该定居在那里，把你所得自他的托付给他；把得自真理的一切，托付于真理，你便不会有所丧失；你的腐朽能重新繁荣，你的疾病会获得痊愈，你的败坏的部分，会得到改造、刷新，会和你紧密团结，不会再拖你堕落，将和你一起坚定不移地站在永恒不变的上帝身边。

Why then be perverted and follow thy flesh? Be it converted and follow thee. Whatever by her thou hast sense of, is in part; and the whole, where of these are parts, thou knowest not; and yet they delight thee. But had the sense of thy flesh a capacity for comprehending the whole, and not itself also, for thy punishment, been justly restricted to a part of the whole, thou wouldest, that what so ever existeth at this present, should pass away, that so the whole might better please thee. For what we speak also, by the same sense of the flesh thou hearest; yet wouldest not thou have the syllables stay, but fly away, that others may come, and thou hear the whole. And so ever, when any one thing is made up of many, all of which do not exist together, all collectively would please more than they do severally, could all be perceived collectively. But far better than these is He who made all; and He is our God, nor doth He pass away, for neither doth aught succeed Him.

你为何脱离了正路而跟随你的肉体？你应改变方向，使肉体跟随你。你通过肉体而感觉的一切，不过是部分，而部分所组成的整体，你看不到，你所欢喜的也就是这些部分。如果你肉体的官感能包罗全体，如果不是由于你所受的惩罚，官感不限制于局部，那末你一定希望目前的一切都过去，以便能欣赏全体。譬如我们说的话，你是通过肉体的器官听到的，你一定不愿每一字停留着，相反，你愿意声音此去彼来，这样才能听到整篇谈话。同样，构成一个整体的各部分并不同时存在，如果能感觉到整体，那末整体比部分更能吸引人。但万有的创造者当然更加优于这一切。他就是我们的上帝，他不会过去，因为没有承替他的东西。