Higher Laws
佚名 / Anonymous
Our whole life is startlingly moral. There is never an instant’s truce between virtue and vice. Goodness is only investment that never fails. In the music of the harp which trembles round the world it is the insisting on this which thrills us. Though the youth at last grows indifferent, the laws of the universe are not indifferent, but are forever on the side of the most sensitive. We cannot touch a string or move a stop but the charming moral transfixes us. Many an irksome noise, go a long way off, is heard as music, a proud, sweet satire on the meanness of our lives.
We are conscious of an animal in us, which awakens in proportion as our higher nature slumbers. It is reptile and sensual, and perhaps cannot be wholly expelled; like the worms which, even in life and health, occupy our bodies. Possibly we may withdraw from it, but never change its nature. I fear that it may enjoy a certain health of its own; that we may be well, yet not pure.
If I knew so wise a man as could teach me purity I would go to seek him forthwith. Yet the spirit can for the time pervade and control every member and function of the body, and transmute what in form is the grossest sensuality into purity and devotion. The generative energy, which, when we are loose, dissipates and makes us unclean, when we are continent invigorates and inspires us. Chastity is the flowering of man; and what are called Genius, Heroism, Holiness, and the like, are but various fruits which succeed it. Man flows at once to God when the channel of purity is open. By turns our purity inspires and our impurity casts us down. He is blessed who is assured that the animal is dying out in him day by day, and the divine being established. Perhaps there is none but has cause for shame on account of the inferior and brutish nature to which he is allied. I fear that we are the divine allied to beasts, and that, to some extent, our very life is our disgrace.
All sensuality is one, though it takes many forms; all purity is one. The impure can neither stand nor sit with purity. If you would be chaste, you must be temperate. What is chastity? How shall a man know if he is chaste? He shall not know it. We have heard of this virtue, but we know not what it is. We speak conformably to the rumor which we have heard. From exertion come wisdom and purity; from sloth ignorance and sensuality. In the student sensuality is a sluggish habit of mind. An unclean person is universally a slothful one, one who sits by a stove, whom the sun shines on prostrate, who reposes without being fatigued. If you would avoid uncleanness, and all the sins, work earnestly, though it be at cleaning a stable. Nature is hard to be overcome, but she must be overcome.
We discourse freely without shame of one form of sensuality, and are silent about another. We are so degraded that we cannot speak simply of the necessary functions of human nature. In earlier ages, in some countries, every function was reverently spoken of and regulated by law. Nothing was too trivial for the Hindoo lawgiver, however offensive it may be to modern taste. He teaches how to eat, drink, cohabit, void excrement and urine, and the like, elevating what is mean, and does not falsely excuse himself by calling these things trifles.
Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man’s features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them.
我们的整个人生都是充满感性的。美德与邪恶之间的战争一刻也没有停止过。只有善良才是万无一失的投资。在全世界奏响的竖琴乐曲中，善良的主题激励着我们。尽管到了最后，年轻人对此可能会逐渐淡漠，但是宇宙中的规律是永远不会改变的，永远与最敏锐的人同在。我们拨动一下琴弦，调整一下音调，动人的旋律就会使我们陶醉。许多令人厌恶的噪音，传得很远之后，听起来反而像一种音乐，这是对我们生活中卑劣行径的一个绝妙讽刺。
我们能够意识到灵魂中野兽的存在，当我们较崇高的本性变得渐渐麻木时，野兽就开始慢慢苏醒。它卑鄙，贪图感官享乐，并且有可能是无法彻底清除的。就像蠕虫一样，即使是在我们活着和健康的时候，也要寄存在身体里。也许，我们能够回避它，却永远也改变不了它的本性。我担心它的健康状况很好，以至于会使我们原本健康的身体变得不再纯洁。
如果我知道有一位英明的人，能够教给我洁身之道，我一定会毫不犹豫地去找他。然而，精神能够在一个特定的时间渗透，并控制身体的各个器官和功能，然后将最粗俗的贪欲改变成纯净和虔诚。我们旺盛的精力一旦被放纵，就会散布开来，使我们变得不再纯洁；如果稍加节制，就能给予我们鼓舞与启迪。纯洁是人性的花朵，而所谓的天才、英勇、神圣等只不过是它成功的果实。打开通往纯净灵魂的渠道，人类就能立刻到达上帝的面前。纯洁的灵魂使我们欢欣鼓舞，不洁的灵魂使我们消沉沮丧。确保自己心中的野兽日渐消亡的人，是被人们祝福的人，神圣的本质也将在他的灵魂中存在。也许只有卑劣与粗野的习性才会使人蒙羞。我害怕，我们是神与兽的结合，如果是这样的话，我们的生命恰恰就是我们的耻辱。
尽管贪欲形式多样，但终归还是一回事，所有的纯洁本质上都是相同的。纯洁与不纯洁始终势不两立。如果你想变得贞节，那么你就必须节制自己。什么是贞节？人们如何知道自己是否贞节？无从得知。我们听说过美德，但是我们不知道什么是美德。听到谣传，我们便人云亦云。努力可以创造智慧与纯洁，懒惰却只能得到无知与贪欲。学生的贪欲是心智堕落的表现。不纯净的人通常都是懒惰的，他整天坐在火炉旁，不去享受外面的阳光；他整天都躺在床上，不管疲倦与否。如果想要避免不纯洁，避免所有的罪恶，那么就认真地工作吧，即使你的工作是清理马厩。尽管本性难移，但是本性一定要移。
我们毫无顾忌又恬不知耻地谈论着色欲，却对其他贪欲缄口不提。我们如此堕落，以至于不能简单地谈论人性的必要作用。在古代的一些国家里，人性的每个机能都如实地被认知，都受到法律的规范。对于印度的立法者来说，再琐碎的事物都是应该的。然而对于现代人的品味来说，就有些令人厌烦了。他教人们如何吃、喝、拉、撒、睡等，并提升这些最卑微的事情的意义，而不视它们为烦琐之事，对其避而不谈。
每个人都是神殿的建造者，而他们所崇拜的上帝正是他们自身。我们都是雕刻家和画家，我们进行创作的材料就是自身的肉体、鲜血和骨骼。任何高尚的品质都能使人类的特征得以提升，而卑鄙或贪欲只会使人堕落。
1. Though the youth at_________grows indifferent, the _________of the universe are not indifferent, but are forever on the side of the most sensitive. We cannot touch a string or move a_________but the charming moral transfixes us.
2. If you would be chaste, you _________be temperate. What is chastity? How_________a man know if he is chaste? He shall not_________it. We have heard of this virtue, but we _________not what it is. We speak conformably to the rumor _________we have heard.
3. Every _________ is the builder of a temple,_________ his body, to the god he worships. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our _________flesh and blood and bones.
1. 我们的整个人生都是充满感性的。
2. 我们能够意识到灵魂中野兽的存在。
3. 如果你想变得贞节，那么你就必须节制自己。
1. ...but are forever on the side of the most sensitive.
on the side of：拥护……；站在……一边；赞助
2. He is blessed who is assured that the animal is dying out in him day by day, and the divine being established.
day by day：逐日；一天天