On Crime & Punishment

Then one of the judges of the city stood forth and said, "Speak to us of Crime and Punishment."

And he answered saying:

It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind,

That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto others and therefore unto yourself.

And for that wrong committed must you knock and wait a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed.

Like the ocean is your god-self;

It remains for ever undefiled.

And like the ether it lifts but the winged.

Even like the sun is your god-self;

It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent.

But your god-self does not dwell alone in your being.

Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man,

But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist searching for its own awakening.

And of the man in you would I now speak.

For it is he and not your god-self nor the pigmy in the mist, that knows crime and the punishment of crime.

Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.

But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,

So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.

And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,

So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.

Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self.

You are the way and the wayfarers.

And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.

Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone.

And this also, though the word lie heavy upon your hearts:

The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,

And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed.

The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked,

And the white-handed is not clean in the doings of the felon.

Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured,

And still more often the condemned is the burden-bearer for the guiltless and unblamed.

You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked;

For they stand together before the face of the sun even as the black thread and the white are woven together.

And when the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.

If any of you would bring judgment the unfaithful wife,

Let him also weight the heart of her husband in scales, and measure his soul with measurements.

And let him who would lash the offender look unto the spirit of the offended.

And if any of you would punish in the name of righteousness and lay the ax unto the evil tree, let him see to its roots;

And verily he will find the roots of the good and the bad, the fruitful and the fruitless, all entwined together in the silent heart of the earth.

And you judges who would be just,

What judgment pronounce you upon him who though honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit?

What penalty lay you upon him who slays in the flesh yet is himself slain in the spirit?

And how prosecute you him who in action is a deceiver and an oppressor,

Yet who also is aggrieved and outraged?

And how shall you punish those whose remorse is already greater than their misdeeds?

Is not remorse the justice which is administered by that very law which you would fain serve?

Yet you cannot lay remorse upon the innocent nor lift it from the heart of the guilty.

Unbidden shall it call in the night, that men may wake and gaze upon themselves.

And you who would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light?

Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen are but one man standing in twilight between the night of his pigmy-self and the day of his god-self,

And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation.

罪与罚

　　城中的一位法官趋前言道，请给我们讲讲罪与罚。

　　他回答说：

　　当你们的灵魂随风飘荡时，

　　你们孤独而无心地锚待了别人，从而也错待了自己。

　　由于所犯下的过错，你们必须去叩击那受福者的门，且会在片刻恭候中受到冷落。

　　你们的神性自我像大海；

　　永远不会被玷污。

　　又像天空，它仅仅举拓展翼者。

　　你们的神性自我甚至像太阳；

　　它不诸熟鼠辈的路径，也不寻迹虫蛇的洞穴。

　　然而你们的身上并非只有神性存在。

　　你们身上大部分属于人性，但也有许多不属人性，

　　而是一个未成形的侏儒，梦游于雾中，寻找着自己的觉醒。

　　我现在的话都是为你们身上的人性而说。

　　因为只有它，而不是你们的神性或雾中的侏儒，才能了解罪与

　　罚。

　　我常听你们指斥某人犯了错误，仿佛他不是你们中的一员，倒是

　　你们中的一个陌生者，你们世界的一个闯入者。

　　但我要说，即使是圣人大德，也不可能高过你们每个人内中的至尊，

　　同样，即使是恶人弱小，也不可能低于你们内中的至卑。

　　就像一片孤叶，不会未经整个大树的默许就枯黄，

　　作恶者胡作非为的背后并非没有你们大家隐匿的允诺。

　　你们如同队列向你们的神性前进，

　　你们是道路，也是行路者。

　　当你们中的一个人跌倒，他是为后面的人失足，使他们小心避开绊脚的石头。

　　噢，他也是为了前面的人失足，因为他们步履虽然轻捷坚定，然而却没有挪开绊脚石。

　　还有，这话尽管让你们心情沉重：

　　被杀者对其被杀并非全无责任，

　　被劫者对其被劫并非无可责难。

　　行善守法者在恶人恶行中并非纯洁无邪。

　　在作恶多端者犯下的罪行中，双手无染者也未必清白。

　　的确，被判有罪者往往是罹难者的受害人，

　　更常见的是被判刑的人为未获罪名和免于责罚的人承担重负。

　　你们不能把公正与不公。善良与邪恶分开；

　　因为它们并立于阳光下，就像黑线与白线被编织在一起。

　　当黑线断开，织工就应审视整块织物，他也应检查机杼。

　　如果你们把一位不忠的妻子送上法庭，请你们也用天平称量她丈夫的心，用同样的标准去衡量他的灵魂。

　　让鞭笞犯罪者的人也审视那受害者的灵魂。

　　如果你们以公正的名义施行惩罚，加斧于罪恶之树，请你们也观察一下那树的根茎；

　　实际上，你们将发现善根与恶根、不育的根与丰产的根彼此交织在大地沉默的心中。

　　而你们这些力图主持公平的法官，

　　对于那躯体忠实而精神上是一个窃贼的人将如何判处？

　　对于那伤害他人肢体但实际自己在精神上受害的人，又将给予何种惩罚？

　　你们如何起诉一个有欺诈或压迫行为，但又是受到侵害和虐待的人呢？

　　你们又如何惩罚那些沉痛悔恨，所受折磨已超过所犯过错的人？

　　难道悔恨不正是你们所侍奉的法律实施的公正？

　　你们无法将悔恨加于无事者身上，也无法使罪人免受悔恨的折磨。

　　它不邀自来，在午夜发出呼唤，人们会醒来，审视自己。

　　至于你们这些力图了解公正的人，如果你们不在至彻的光明中审视一切行为，又怎能了解公正呢？

　　只在那时你们才能明白，那升起的与沉落的不过是立于其侏儒黑夜与神性白昼之晨昏衰微中的同一个人。

　　而殿宇的隅石并不高于那最底层的基石。

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