On Freedom

And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."

And he answered:

At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,

Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.

Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.

And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,

But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.

And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?

If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.

You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.

And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.

For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?

And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.

And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.

Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.

These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.

And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.

And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.

自由

　　一位演说家说，请给我们讲讲自由。

　　他答道：

　　在城门边，在炉火旁，我曾看到你们五体投地，膜拜自己的自由，

　　就像奴隶在暴君面前卑躬屈膝，尽管他们倍受他的戕害。

　　唉，在庙宇的丛林中，在城堡的阴影下。我曾看到你们中最自由者披枷戴铐般穿戴着自己的自由。

　　我的心在胸中滴血；因为只有当你们感到寻求自由的愿望也是一种束缚，只有当你们不再称自由是目标是成就时，你们才是自由的。

　　当你们的白昼并非无忧无虑，你们的夜晚并非没有希望和悲伤，你们是自由的，

　　不过，当这些事物羁绊你们的生命，而你们超脱它们，赤裸而无拘无束，你们更是自由的。

　　你们在自己知识的黎明锁住了你们的正午，若不砸碎这锁链，你们如何能超越自己的昼夜？

　　实际上，你们所谓的自由正是最坚固的锁链，虽然它的链环在阳光下闪耀，迷惑了你们的眼睛。

　　你们想要丢弃以换取自由的，难道不正是你们自身的一部分？

　　如果那是一个你们想要废除的法律，这法律正是由你们的手写在你们的额头上的。

　　你们无法将它抹去，即使你们焚毁律典或倾大海之水来冲洗法官的额头。

　　如果那是一个你们想要废黜的暴君，先看看他竖立在你们心中的宝座是否已被摧毁。

　　因为如果他们的自由里没有专制，他们的尊严中没有耻辱，暴君怎能统治自由尊严的人？

　　如果那是你们想要摆脱的焦虑，这焦虑并非强加于你们，而是你们的选择。

　　如果那是你们想要驱散的恐惧，这恐惧是根植在你们的心里，而非恐惧对象的手中。

　　的确，期望与恐惧，厌恶与珍惜，追求与逃避，所有这一切始终相拥相伴在你们体内运行，恰似光与影彼此紧紧相依相随。

　　当阴影消逝，驻留的光将成为另一道光的阴影。

　　因此，当你们的自由摆脱桎梏，它本身将会成为更大自由的桎梏。

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