True and False Simplicity

 

真假纯朴

Simplicity is an uprightness of soul that has no reference to self;it is different from sincerity, and it is a still higher virtue.

纯朴是无私的灵魂中一种正直的品质；它不同于真诚，并高于真诚。

We see many people who are sincere,without being simple;

许多人真诚，但绝不纯朴；

they only wish to pass for what they are,and they are unwilling to appear what they are not;

他们只是想以本来面目示人，并不想虚假；

they are always thinking of themselves,measuring their words, recalling their thoughts,and reviewing their actions,from the fear that they have done too much or too little.

他们总是思量过多，字斟句酌，反省所思，瞻前顾后，唯恐有过之或有不及。

These persons are sincere, but they are not simple;

这些人很真诚，却不纯朴；

they are not at ease with others,and others are not at ease with them;

与人相处时，他们总是难以放松，别人对他们也十分拘谨；

they are not free, ingenuous, natural;

他们不随意、不率真、不自然；

we prefer people who are less correct, less perfect,and who are less artificial.

我们更喜欢偶尔犯点错误、不那么完美、不那么做作的人们。

This is the decision of man,and it is the judgment of God,who would not have us so occupied with ourselves,and thus, as it were,always arranging our features in a mirror.

这是人的天性使然，也是神的旨意所归；上帝不愿我们如此深陷于自我，如同整日对着镜子搔首弄姿。

To be wholly occupied with others, never to look within,is the state of blindness of those who are entirely engrossed by what is present and addressed to their sense; this is the very reverse of simplicity.

完全集中注意他人而不自省，是某些人的又是一种盲目状态；这些人全神贯注于眼前事物以及感官感受到的一切；这恰好是纯朴的反面。

To be absorbed in self and in whatever engages us,whether we are laboring for our fellow being or for God-to-be wise in our own eyes reserved,and full of ourselves,troubled at the least thing that disturbs our self-complacency,is the opposite extreme.

另一种人是，不管为同类还是为上帝效力，均全然忘我地投入-自以为聪明含蓄，心中充满自我，只要自满的情绪受到丝毫干扰便心烦意乱，是另一种极端。

This is false wisdom, which, with all its glory,is but little less absurd than that folly,which pursues only pleasure.

这是虚假的聪明；表面上堂而皇之，实际上与纯为追求享乐的愚蠢同样荒唐。

Simplicity consists in a just medium,in which we are neither too much excited,nor too composed.

纯朴是一种适度的中庸。纯朴的人既不会兴奋过度，也不会过于镇静。

The soul is not carried away by outward things,so that it cannot make all necessary reflections;neither does it make those continual references to self,that a jealous sense of its own excellence multiplies to infinity.

灵魂不会受外物牵引以致无力做必要的内省；也不会时刻以自我为中心，以致对自己所谓的美好品质无穷无尽的患得患失。

That freedom of the soul,which looks straight onward in its path,losing no time to reason upon its steps,to study them,or to contemplate those that it has already taken,is true simplicity.

真正的纯朴，是一种灵魂的自由，它直视前方的道路，不会浪费时间仔细权衡或研究自己的脚步，也不会去沉思已经走过的道路。