十月文藝出版社雙語版《先知》，英文部分完整地看了，中文部分看了一些，這里細(xì)細(xì)碎碎地記錄一點(diǎn)感想。
整體的感受是清透流麗，包括語言和詩的意象。這樣的英文是易讀易品的，流暢明晰的文字，鋪開一些雋美的比興，說理于是如此娓娓地深入你心。輕盈的文字引導(dǎo)你輕松愉悅地隨著他的思路去思索、辯證、認(rèn)同或反駁。帶一點(diǎn)古風(fēng)的問答形式和類比句式，簡(jiǎn)潔古樸中孕育出一種行云流水的美。摘錄一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)感受一下：
關(guān)于靈魂：
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.（這句好美）
關(guān)于痛苦：
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
關(guān)于時(shí)間
Of Time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch is flowing.
關(guān)于愛與關(guān)系（很喜歡這段闡述）：
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.
紀(jì)伯倫在書中透過先知之口，討論了生命的方方面面，核心的思想大略是善與美，以及萬物歸一的理念。這當(dāng)中雖然彌漫著比較濃重的宗教色彩，但似乎又超越了任何一種特定的宗教。很多看法在我們今天看來不失現(xiàn)代甚至是前衛(wèi)的。比如《飲食》篇中談到，就如同我們屠食動(dòng)物蔬果一樣，我們自身也終將被屠食，途經(jīng)食物與我們，生命完成循環(huán)的歌唱。"By the same power that slays you, I too am slain; and I too shall be consumed. For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand." 每個(gè)人對(duì)這個(gè)“法則”的理解或許不同，也許是生物化學(xué)的角度，也許是神學(xué)的角度，但重要的是，自然地去遵循這一法則并心懷感恩。比如《孩子》篇中談到，你的孩子和你在一起，但他們并不屬于你；你能給他們愛，卻不能給他們思想；你可以盡力去仿效他們，但不要試圖讓他們像你一樣。又比如《愛》篇中對(duì)于愛的理解和闡述：去愛，哪怕它翼中利劍把你傷害；哪怕它既能給你加冕，也能送你上十字架。"Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love." 而對(duì)于愛的本質(zhì)和目的，紀(jì)伯倫是這樣回答的："All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart."
《先知》中對(duì)很多議題的討論充滿了思辨哲理。比如關(guān)于施與受、悲與喜、罪與罰、善與惡、理性與激情等。不是既定的對(duì)立，而是相存相生、相容相化。這里面似乎更多地體現(xiàn)了一些東方哲學(xué)思想的影響。比如關(guān)于善惡："For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?" 惡是什么呢？不就是善被自己的饑渴折磨而成？關(guān)于死亡：“If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one." 如果你們真想瞻仰死亡之魂，就對(duì)生命之體敞開心懷吧！因?yàn)樯辣疽惑w，猶如江河與大海本為一體一樣。關(guān)于自由："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." 萬物總是互抱著，于你內(nèi)在運(yùn)行：欲望與恐懼， 厭惡與喜愛，追尋與躲避。
貫穿于所有篇章中的，是一種泛博愛的宗教觀：萬物出于神亦歸于神，神性和人性同時(shí)存在于每一個(gè)人的身上。例如《祈禱》一文中："Our God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth. It is thy desire in us that desireth. It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights, which are thine, into days which are thine also."神啊，你就是長(zhǎng)了羽翼的我們。是你在我們心中的意念，在意念。是你在我們心中的欲望，在欲望。是你在我們心中的沖動(dòng)，將我們的黑夜—也就是你的黑夜，變成白晝—那也是你的白晝。 -又例如《理性與激情》一篇的結(jié)尾："And since you are a breath in God's sphere, and a leaf in God's forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion."既然你是上帝天體中的一息，上帝森林中的一葉，你也該在理性中安息，在激情中前行。對(duì)于有宗教信仰特別是基督教信仰的讀者來說自然很容易認(rèn)同這樣的思想體系，而對(duì)于無神論者來說，我覺得可以把它理解為萬物的一體性。宇宙的奧義存在于每一個(gè)哪怕微小至極的事物當(dāng)中。即便一滴水，也包含著千萬年演化的信息。世間萬物由分子原子組成，而每一個(gè)分子原子的運(yùn)行，無不遵循著宇宙的法則。
