人生的清单On Peace of Mind（1/2）

First listen and then ahe questions.

1. What’s the ost iporta of all a to the wise elder?

2. Why is it the ost iporta?

Once, as a young an full of exuberant fancy, I uook to draw up a catalogue of the aowledged“goods”of life. As other n sotis tabute lists of properties they own or would like to own, I set down y ventory of earthly desirables: health, love, beauty, talent, power, riches, and fa.

When y ventory leted I proudly showed it to a wise elder who had beeor and spiritual odel of y youth. Perhaps I was tryg to ipress hi with y precio wisdo. Anyway, I handed hi the list.“This”, I told hi ly,“is the su of ortal goods. Could

a an possess the all, he would be as a god.”

At the rners of y friend’s old eyes, I saw wrkles of aent gatherga patient .“An excellent list,”he said, p it thoughtfully.”Well digesteded a downnot-unreasonable order. But it appears, y young friend, that you have oitted the ost iporta of all. You have fotten the one gredient, ckg which each possession bees a hideo tornt.”

“And what,”I asked, pepperg y voice with truce,“is that issg gredient ?”

With a pencil stub he crossed out y entire schedule. Then, havg deolished y adolest drea structure at a sgle stroke, he wrote down three sylbles: peace of d.“This is the gift that God reserves for His special protégés,”he said.

“Talent ay he gives to any. Wealth is onpce, fa not rare. But peace of d—that is His fal guerdon of approval, the fo signia of His love. He bestows it charily. Most n are never blessed with it; others wait all their lives—yes, far to advanced age—for this gift to desd upon the.”

曾经，当我是一个充满了丰富幻想的年经人时，着手起草了一份被公认为人生“幸福”的目录。就像别人有时会将他们所拥有或想要拥有的财产列成表一样，我将世人希求之物列成表：健康、爱情、美丽、才智、权力、财富和名誉。

当我完成清单后，我自豪地将它交给一位睿智的长者，他曾是我少年时代的良师和精神楷模。或许我是想以此来加深他对我早熟智慧的印象。无论如何，我把单子递给了他。我充满自信地对他说：“这是人类幸福的总和。一个人若能拥有这些，就和神差不多了。”

在我的朋友老迈的眼角处，我看到了感兴趣的皱纹，汇聚成一张耐心的网。他深思熟虑后说：“是一张出色的表单，内容整理详细，记录顺序也合理。但是，我的年轻朋友，好像你忽略了最重要的一个要素。你忘了那个要素，如果缺少了它，每项财产都会变成可怕的折磨。”我立即暴躁地逼问：“那么，我遗漏的这个要素是什么?”

他用一小段铅笔划掉我的整张表格。在一拳击碎我的少年美梦之后，他写下三个单词：心之静，“这是上帝为他特别的子民保留的礼物。”他说道。

“他赐予许多人才能和美丽。财富是平凡的，名望也不稀有，但心灵的宁静才是他允诺的最终赏赐，是他爱的最佳象征。他施予它的时候很谨慎。多数人从未享受过，有些人则等待了一生——是的，一直到高龄，才等到赏赐降临他们身上。

为了寻求心灵的宁静，人们采取了各种各样的方式，有的醉心于琴棋书画，有的退隐山野卧居，有的皈依宗教，有的整日静坐冥思。殊不知，真正的宁静在于心灵的宁静，无论退到什么地方，采用什么方式都不如进入到心灵的宁静之中。其实宁静就在我们自己的心中，我们只要去把它找到。

Acethe Hole

Keywords and expressions

本章未完，点击下一页继续阅读。