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第9部分(第1页)

Perhaps the greatest threat to productivity in both work and play is the fear of doing things badly or wrong。 This article offers some fort。 Williams points out that there are many things worth doing badly; and that our lives are enriched and our personalities enhanced by these activities。 Two central examples; sports and music; are valuable to most people in proportion to how enthusiastically they do them; rather than how well。

Charles Lamb wrote a series of essays upon popular fallacies。 I do not; at the moment; carry them very clearly in my memory; but; unless that treacherous servant misleads me more even than she usually does; he did not write of one piece of proverbial so…called wisdom that has always seemed to me to be peculiarly pernicious。 And this saw; this scrap of specious advice; this untruth masquerading as logic; is one that I remember to have had hurled at my head at frequent intervals from my earliest youth right up to my present advanced age。 How many times have I not been told that “If a thing is worth doing at all; it is worth doing well”?

Never was there a more untruthful word spoken in earnest。 For the world is full of things that are worth doing; but certainly not worth doing well。 Was it not so great a sage as Herbert Spencer who said to the young man who had just beaten him at billiards; “Moderate skill; sir; is the sign of a good eye and a steady hand; but skill such as yours argues a youth misspent?” Is any game worth playing supremely well; at the price of constant practice and application?

Against the professional player I say nothing; he is a public entertainer; like any other; and by his skill in his particular sport he at least fulfills the first social duty of man—that of supporting himself and his family by his own legitimate exertions。 But what is to be said of the crack amateur? To me he seems one of the most contemptible of mankind。 He earns no money; but devotes himself; for the mere selfish pleasure of the thing; to some game; which he plays day in day out; he breaks down the salutary distinction between the amateur and the professional; eventually his skill deserts him; and he leaves behind him nothing that is of service to his fellow men—not a brick laid; not an acre ploughed; not a line written; not even a family supported and educated by his labor。书 包 网 txt小说上传分享

草草行事的重要性(4)

It is true that he has provided entertainment for a certain number of persons; but he has never had the pluck to submit himself to the test by which we demand that every entertainer should justify his choice of a calling—the demonstration of the fact that the public is willing to pay him for his entertainment。 And; when his day is over; what is left; not even to the world; but to himself? Nothing but a name that is at once forgotten; or is remembered by stout gentlemen in clubs。

The playing of games; certainly; is a thing which is not worth doing well。

But that does not prove that it is not worth doing at all; as the proverb would; by implication; persuade us。 There is nothing more agreeable and salutary than playing a game which one likes; and the circumstance of doing it badly interferes with the pleasure of no real devotee of any pastime。 The man who minds whether or not he wins is no true sportsman—which observation is trite; but the rule it implies is seldom observed; and paratively few people really play games for the sheer enjoyment of the playing。 Is this not proved by the prevalence and popularity of handicaps? Why should we expect to be given points unless it be that we wish to win by means other than our own skill?

“Ah! but;” my reader may say; “the weaker player wants to receive points in order that he may give the stronger one a better game。” Really; I do not believe that that is so。 Possible; sometimes; a strong and vainglorious player may wish to give points; in order that his victory may be the more notable。 But I do not think that even this is the true explanation。 That; I suspect; was given to me the other day by the secretary of a lawn…tennis tournament; in which I played。 “Why all this nonsense of handicaps? Why not let us be squarely beaten; and done with it?” I asked him。 “Because;” He replied; “if we did not give handicaps; none of the less good players would enter。” Is that not a confession that the majority of us have both realized the true value doing a trivial thing badly; for its own sake; and must needs have our minds buoyed and cheated into a false sense of excellence?

Moreover it is not only such intrinsically trivial things as games that are worth doing badly。 This is a truth which; oddly enough; we accept freely of some things—but not of others—and as a thing which we are quite content to do will let me instance acting。 Acting; at its best; can be a great art; a thing worth doing supremely well; though its worth; like that of all interpretative arts; is lessened by its evanescence。 For it works in the impermanent medium of human flesh and blood; and the thing that the actor create—for what we call an interpretative artist is really a creative artist working in a perishable medium—is an impression upon; an emotion or a thought aroused in; the minds of an audience; and is incapable of record。 txt小说上传分享

草草行事的重要性(5)

Acting; then; let me postulate—though I have only sketched ever so briefly the proof of my belief—can be a great art。 But is anyone ever deterred from taking part in amateur theatricals by the consideration that he cannot act well? Not a bit of it! And quite rightly not; for acting is one of the things about which I am writing this essay—the things that are worth doing badly。

Another such thing is music; but here the proverbial fallacy again exerts its power; as it does not; for some obscure and unreasoning discrimination; in acting。 Most people seem to think that if they cannot sing; or play the piano; fiddle; or sackbut; admirably well; they must not do any of these things at all。 That they should not indiscriminately force their inferior performances upon the public; or even upon their acquaintances; I admit。 But that there is no place “in the home” for inferior musical performances; is an untruth that I flatly deny。

How many sons and daughters have not; with a very small talent; given their parents—and even the less fondly prejudiced ears of their friends—great pleasure with the singing of simple songs? Then one day there es to the singer the serpent of dissatisfaction; singing lessons are taken; and—if the pupil is of moderate talent and modest disposition—limitations are discovered。 And then; in nine cases out of ten; the singing is dropped; like a hot penny。 How many fathers have not banished music from their homes by encouraging their daughters to take singing lessons? Yet a home may be the fresher for singing that would deserve brickbats at a parish concert。

I may pause here to notice the curious exception that people who cannot on any account be persuaded to sing in the drawing…room; or even in the bath; will without hesitation uplift their tuneless voices at religious meetings or in church。 There is a perfectly good and honorable explanation of this; I believe; but it belongs to the realm of metaphysics and is beyond my present scope。

This cursed belief; that if a thing is worth doing at all; it is worth doing well; is the cause of a great impoverishment in our private life; and also; to some extent; of the lowering of standards in our public life。 For this tenet of proverbial faith has two effects on small talents: it leads modest persons not to exercise them at all; and immodest persons to attempt to do so too much and to force themselves upon the public。 It leads to the decay of letter…writing and of the keeping of diaries; and; as surely; it leads to the publication of memoirs and diaries that should remain locked in the writers’ desks。

It leads Mr。 Blank not to write verses at all—which he might very well do; for the sake of his own happiness; and for the amusement of his friends—and it leads Miss Dash to pester the overworked editors of various journals with her unsuccessful imitations of Mr。 de la Mare; Mr。 Yeats; and Dr。 : A wider amateur practice of the arts; and a higher; more exclusive; professional standard。 Until these are achieved we shall not get the best out of our souls。

The truth is; I conceive; that there is for most of us only one thing—beyond; of course; our duties of citizenship and our personal duties as sons; or husbands; or fathers; daughters; or wives; or mothers—that is worth doing well—that is to say; with all our energy。 That one thing may be writing; or it may be making steam…engines; or laying bricks。 But after that there are hundreds of things that are worth doing badly; with only part of our energy; for the sake of the relaxation they bring us; and for the contacts which they give us with our minds。 And the sooner England realizes this; as once she did; the happier; the more contented; the more gracious; will our land be。

There are even; I maintain; things that are in themselves better done badly than well。 Consider fishing; where one’s whole pleasure is often spoiled by having to kill a fish。 Now; if one could contrive always to try to catch a fish; and never to do so; one might—but that is another story。

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世界源于你的思想(1)

詹姆斯?艾伦

你的内心世界如何,决定着你生活的好坏。宇宙中的一切事物都源于你的内心体验。外界的影响微乎其微,因为这完全是你内心意识的一种反应。

你的思想影响着所有错综复杂的关系,因为外界的事物会如实、具体地反映着你的内心世界。

同样的道理,你所掌握的知识都是从以前的经历中得来。你每一点知识的积累,一定要经历时间的验证,最终才造就了如今的你。

你的世界是由你自己的思想、愿望和热情塑造的,对你来说,这个世界是环境优美,到处欢声笑语、祝福不断,还是丑陋破旧,周围唉声叹气、痛苦不堪。这些早已印刻在你的思想中了。

你可以用自己的思想改变或毁灭你的生活,你的世界,甚至你的宇宙。正是因为你用自己的思想塑造了自我,你周围的生活与环境也会相应地变化。

在无法阻挡的自然规律下,无论如何,你的内心深处都要坚持梦想,那么总有一天你会美梦成真。

动机不纯、肮脏、自私的灵魂一直与不幸和灾难藕断丝连;而真诚、无私、高贵的灵魂则与幸福和美好息息相关。

每个人的灵魂都是与众不同的,没有什么其他的灵魂能够与之为伍。

创造也好,毁灭也罢,个人内心世界的品质和力量决定了人生所经历的每一件事情。每个人的灵魂都是个人的经验积累与思想的复杂结合体。我们的身体仅仅是为实现思想而时刻准备着的工具而已。

所以你心中的所思所想,才是一个真实的自我。无论是一片欣欣向荣,还是郁郁寡欢,你周围的世界都是穿着你思想的外衣。

一个人懦弱还是英勇,愚蠢还是聪明,烦躁还是平静,内心决定了他的精神状态,与外界没有丝毫关联。现在我似乎听见很多人提出异议:“可是,你真的是想说外部的环境不会影响你的内心世界吗?”我绝对没有这个意思,我所强调的是客观存在的真理,环境对你的影响取决于你对环境的控制程度。

你的心情由于环境的变化而摇摆不定,那是因为你没有正确地理解思想的本性、用途和力量。

你相信周围的环境拥有成就或毁坏你生活的力量(这简单的词汇决定了你的快乐与悲伤),那样的话,你便会屈服于环境的支配;那样的话,你便会承认自己是环境的奴隶,你成了绝对服从的人;那样的话,你便赋予了环境原本不属于它的权利。实际上,你不仅屈从了环境,更重要的是放弃了自己思想的出发点,放弃了

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