瓦尔登湖:Higher Laws4
Who has not sometimes derived an inexpressible satisfaction from his food in which appetite had no share？ I have been thrilled to think that I owed a mental perception to the commonly gross sense of taste， that I have been inspired through the palate， that some berries which I had eaten on a hillside had fed my genius. "The soul not being mistress of herself，" says Thseng-tseu， "one looks，and one does not see； one listens， and one does not hear； one eats，and one does not know the savor of food." He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton； he who does not cannot be otherwise. A puritan may go to his brown-bread crust with as gross an appetite as ever an alderman to his turtle. Not that food which entereth into the mouth defileth a man， but the appetite with which it is eaten. It is neither the quality nor the quantity，but the devotion to sensual savors； when that which is eaten is not a viand to sustain our animal， or inspire our spiritual life， but food for the worms that possess us. If the hunter has a taste for mud-turtles， muskrats， and other such savage tidbits， the fine lady indulges a taste for jelly made of a calf's foot， or for sardines from over the sea， and they are even. He goes to the mill-pond， she to her preserve-pot. The wonder is how they， how you and I， can live this slimy， beastly life， eating and drinking.
Our whole life is startlingly moral. There is never an instant's truce between virtue and vice. Goodness is the 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. The harp is the travelling patterer for the Universe's Insurance Company， recommending its laws， and our little goodness is all the assessment that we pay. 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. Listen to every zephyr for some reproof， for it is surely there， and he is unfortunate who does not hear it. 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. The other day I picked up the lower jaw of a hog， with white and sound teeth and tusks， which suggested that there was an animal health and vigor distinct from the spiritual. This creature succeeded by other means than temperance and purity. "That in which men differ from brute beasts，" says Mencius， "is a thing very inconsiderable； the common herd lose it very soon； superior men preserve it carefully." Who knows what sort of life would result if we had attained to purity？
If I knew so wise a man as could teach me purity I would go to seek him forthwith. "A command over our passions， and over the external senses of the body， and good acts， are declared by the Ved to be indispensable in the mind's approximation to God." 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 such gods or demigods only as fauns and satyrs， the divine allied to beasts， the creatures of appetite， and that， to some extent， our very life is our disgrace.――
"How happy's he who hath due place assigned To his beasts and disafforested his mind！。 . . . . . . Can use this horse， goat， wolf， and ev'ry beast，And is not ass himself to all the rest！
Else man not only is the herd of swine，But he's those devils too which did incline Them to a headlong rage， and made them worse."
All sensuality is one， though it takes many forms； all purity is one. It is the same whether a man eat， or drink， or cohabit， or sleep sensually. They are but one appetite， and we only need to see a person do any one of these things to know how great a sensualist he is. The impure can neither stand nor sit with purity. When the reptile is attacked at one mouth of his burrow， he shows himself at another. 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. What avails it that you are Christian， if you are not purer than the heathen， if you deny yourself no more， if you are not more religious？ I know of many systems of religion esteemed heathenish whose precepts fill the reader with shame， and provoke him to new endeavors， though it be to the performance of rites merely.
I hesitate to say these things， but it is not because of the subject ―― I care not how obscene my words are ―― but because I cannot speak of them without betraying my impurity. 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， after a style purely his own， nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. 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.
John Farmer sat at his door one September evening， after a hard day's work， his mind still running on his labor more or less. Having bathed， he sat down to re-create his intellectual man. It was a rather cool evening， and some of his neighbors were apprehending a frost. He had not attended to the train of his thoughts long when he heard some one playing on a flute， and that sound harmonized with his mood. Still he thought of his work； but the burden of his thought was， that though this kept running in his head， and he found himself planning and contriving it against his will， yet it concerned him very little. It was no more than the scurf of his skin， which was constantly shuffled off. But the notes of the flute came home to his ears out of a different sphere from that he worked in， and suggested work for certain faculties which slumbered in him. They gently did away with the street， and the village， and the state in which he lived. A voice said to him ――Why do you stay here and live this mean moiling life， when a glorious existence is possible for you？ Those same stars twinkle over other fields than these. ―― But how to come out of this condition and actually migrate thither？ All that he could think of was to practise some new austerity， to let his mind descend into his body and redeem it， and treat himself with ever increasing respect.
谁个没有吃得津津有味过，而胃囊却一无所获？我曾经欣然想到，由于一般的所谓知味，我有了一种精神上的感悟，通过味觉受到后发。坐在小山上吃的浆果营养了我的天性。“心不在焉，”曾子说过，“视而不见，听而不闻，食而不知其味。”能知道食份的真味的人决不可能成为饕餮，不这样的人才是饕餮。一个清教徒可能狂吞他的面包皮屑，正如一个议员大嚼甲鱼。食物入口并不足以玷辱一个人，但他吃这种食物的胃口却足以玷辱他。问题不在量，不在质，而在口腹的贪嗜上，如果吃东西不是为了养活我们的生命，也不是为了激励我们的精神生活，而是为了在肚皮里缠住我们的蛔虫。一个猎者爱吃乌龟、麝鼠或其他野蛮的食物，一个漂亮太太爱吃小牛蹄做的冻肉，或海外的沙丁鱼，他们是一样的，他到他的湖边去，她拿她的肉冻罐。使人惊奇的是他们，你，我，怎么能过如此卑劣的禽兽生活，只是吃吃喝喝。
我们的整个生命是惊人地精神性的。善恶之间，从无一瞬休战。善是唯一的授予，永不失败。在全世界为之振鸣的竖琴音乐中，善的主题给我们以欣喜。这竖琴好比宇宙保险公司里的旅行推销员，宣传它的条例，我们的小小善行是我们所付的保险费。虽然年轻人最后总要冷淡下去，宇宙的规律却是不会冷淡的，而是永远和敏感的人站在一边。
从西风中听一听谴责之辞吧，一定有的，听不到的人是不幸的。我们每弹拨一根弦，每移动一个音栓的时候，可爱的寓意渗透了我们的心灵。许多讨厌的声音，传得很远，听来却像音乐，对于我们卑贱的生活，这真是一个傲然的可爱的讽刺。
我们知道我们身体里面，有一只野兽，当我们的更高的天性沉沉欲睡时，它就醒过来了。这是官能的，像一条毒蛇一样，也许难于整个驱除掉；也像一些虫子，甚至在我们生活着并且活得很健康的时候，它们寄生在我们的体内。我们也许能躲开它，却永远改变不了它的天性。恐怕它自身也有一定的健壮，我们可以很健康，却永远不能是纯净的。那一天我拣到了一只野猪的下腭骨，有雪白的完整的牙齿和长牙，还有一种和精神上的不同的动物性的康健和精力。这是用节欲和纯洁以外的方法得到的。“人之所以异于禽兽者几希，”孟子说，“庶民去之，君子存之。”如果我们谨守着纯洁，谁知道将会得到何等样的生命？如果我知道有这样一个聪明人，他能教给我洁身自好的方法，我一定要去找他。“能够控制我们的情欲和身体的外在官能，并做好事的话，照吠陀经典的说法，是在心灵上接近神的不可缺少的条件。”然而精神是能够一时之间渗透并控制身体上的每一个官能和每一个部分，而把外表上最粗俗的淫荡转化为内心的纯洁与虔诚的。放纵了生殖的精力将使我们荒淫而不洁；克制了它则使我们精力洋溢而得到鼓舞。
贞洁是人的花朵；创造力、英雄主义、神圣等等只不过是它的各种果实。当纯洁的海峡畅通了，人便立刻奔流到上帝那里。我们一忽儿为纯洁所鼓舞，一忽儿因不洁而沮丧。
自知身体之内的兽性在一天天地消失，而神性一天天地生长的人是有福的，当人和劣等的兽性结合时，便只有羞辱。我担心我们只是农牧之神和森林之神那样的神或半神与兽结合的妖怪，饕餮好色的动物。我担心，在一定程度上，我们的一生就是我们的耻辱。
――“这人何等快乐，斩除了脑中的林莽，把内心的群兽驱逐到适当的地方。
……
能利用他的马、羊、狼和一切野兽，而自己和其他动物相比，不算蠢驴。
否则，人不单单放牧一群猪猡，而且也是这样那样的鬼怪妖魔，使它们狂妄失性，使他们越来越坏。
一切的淫欲，虽然有许多形态，却只是一个东西，纯洁的一切也只是一个东西。一个人大吃大喝，男女同居，或淫荡地睡觉，只是一回事。这属于同一胃口，我们只要看到一个人在于其中的一件事，就能够知道他是怎样的一个好色之徒。不洁和纯洁是不能一起站立，一起就座的。我们只要在穴洞的一头打一下蛇，它就会在另一头出现。如果你想要贞洁，你必须节制。什么是贞洁呢？一个人怎么知道他是贞洁的呢？他不能知道。
我们只听说过，但不知道它是怎样的。我们依照我们听到过的传说来说明它。智慧和纯洁来之于力行，从懒惰中却出现了无知和淫欲。对一个学生来说，淫欲是他心智懒惰的结果，一个不洁的人往往是一个懒惰的人：他坐在炉边烤火，他在阳光照耀下躺着，他没有疲倦，就要休息。如果要避免不洁和一切罪恶，你就热忱地工作吧，即使是打扫马厩也行。天性难于克制，但必须克制。如果你不比异教徒纯洁，如果你不比异教徒更能克制自己，如果你不比异教徒更虔敬，那你就算是基督徒又怎么样呢？我知道有很多被认为是异教的宗教制度，它们的教律使读者感到羞愧，并且要他作新的努力，虽然要努力的只不过是奉行仪式而已。
我不愿意说这些话，但并不是由于主题，一我也不管我的用字是何等亵猥，――而是因为说这些话，就泄露出我自己的不洁。对于一种淫欲的形式，我们常常可以无所忌惮地畅谈，对于另一种却又闭口无言。我们已经太堕落了。所以不能简单地谈人类天性的必要活动。在稍早一些的几个时代，在某些国内，每一样活动都可以正经谈论，并且也都由法律控制。印度的立法者是丝毫不嫌其琐碎的，尽管近代人不以为然。他教人如何饮，食，同居，如何解大小便等等，把卑贱的提高了，而不把它们作为琐碎之事，避而不谈。
每一个人都是一座圣庙的建筑师。他的身体是他的圣殿，在里面，他用完全是自己的方式来崇敬他的神，他即使另外去琢凿大理石，他还是有自己的圣殿与尊神的。我们都是雕刻家与画家，用我们的血，肉，骨骼做材料。任何崇高的品质，一开始就使一个人的形态有所改善，任何卑俗或淫欲立刻使他变成禽兽。
在一个九月的黄昏，约翰。发尔末做完一天艰苦的工作之后，坐在他的门口，他的心事多少还奔驰在他的工作上。洗澡之后，他坐下来给他的理性一点儿休息。这是一个相当寒冷的黄昏，他的一些邻人担心会降霜。他沉思不久，便听到了笛声，跟他的心情十分协调。他还在想他的工作，虽然他尽想尽想着，还在不由自主地计划着、设计着，可是他对这些事已不大关心了。这大不了是皮屑，随时可以去掉的。而笛子的乐音，是从不同于他那个工作的环境中吹出来的，催他沉睡着的官能起来工作。柔和的乐音吹走了街道、村子和他居住的国家。有一个声音对他说，――在可能过光荣的生活的时候，为什么你留在这里，过这种卑贱的苦役的生活呢？同样的星星照耀着那边的大地，而不是这边的，――可是如何从这种境况中跳出来，真正迁移到那里去呢？他所能够想到的只是实践一种新的刻苦生活，让他的心智降入他的肉体中去解救它，然后以日益增长的敬意来对待他自己。
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