這篇愛因斯坦的文章，值得背下來每個字（中英對照）

阿爾伯特 · 愛因斯坦（1879—1955），猶太裔理論物理學家，創立了現代物理學的兩大支柱之一的「相對論」，質能方程E = mc2的發現者；因「光電效應定律」，於1921年榮獲諾貝爾物理學獎。愛因斯坦被譽為「現代物理學之父」及20世紀最重要科學家之一，他的科學成就和原創性使得「愛因斯坦」一詞成為「天才」同義詞。

1930年夏天，愛因斯坦在卡普思航海和反思期間，試圖把他關於自己「人生信仰」的想法清楚地表達出來。於是，他寫下了以下文字：

我們這些總有一死的人的命運是多麼奇特呀！我們每個人在這個世界上都只作一個短暫的逗留；目的何在，卻無所知，儘管有時自以為對此若有所感。但是，不必深思，只要從日常生活就可以明白：人是為別人而生存的——首先是為那樣一些人，他們的喜悅和健康關係著我們自己的全部幸福；然後是為許多我們所不認識的人，他們的命運通過同情的紐帶同我們密切結合在一起。我每天上百次地提醒自己：我的精神生活和物質生活都依靠著別人（包括生者和死者）的勞動，我必須儘力以同樣的分量來報償我所領受了的和至今還在領受著的東西。我強烈地嚮往著儉樸的生活，並且時常為發覺自己佔用了同胞的過多勞動而難以忍受。我認為階級的區分是不合理的，它最後所憑藉的是以暴力為根據。我也相信，簡單淳樸的生活，無論在身體上還是在精神上，對每個人都是有益的。

14歲時的愛因斯坦，攝於1893年

我完全不相信人類會有那種在哲學意義上的自由。每一個人的行為，不僅受著外界的強迫，而且還要適應內心的必然。叔本華說：「人雖然能夠做他所想做的，但不能要他所想要的。」這句話從我青年時代起，就對我是一個真正的啟示；在我自己和別人生活面臨困難的時候，它總是使我們得到安慰，並且永遠是寬容的源泉。這種體會可以寬大為懷地減輕那種使人氣餒的責任感，也可以防止我們過於嚴肅地對待自己和別人；它還導致一種特別給幽默以應有地位的人生觀。

愛因斯坦與第一任妻子米列娃，攝於1912年

要追究一個人自己或一切生物生存的意義或目的，從客觀的觀點看來，我總覺得是愚蠢可笑的。可是每個人都有一定的理想，這種理想決定著他的努力和判斷的方向。就在這個意義上，我從來不把安逸和享樂看作是生活目的本身——這種倫理基礎，我叫它豬欄的理想。照亮我的道路，並且不斷地給我新的勇氣去愉快地正視生活的理想，是真、善和美。要是沒有志同道合者之間的親切感情，要不是全神貫注於客觀世界——那個在藝術和科學工作領域裡永遠達不到的對象，那麼在我看來，生活就會是空虛的。人們所努力追求的庸俗的目標——財產、虛榮、奢侈的生活——我總覺得都是可鄙的。

授課中的愛因斯坦

我對社會正義和社會責任的強烈感覺，同我顯然的對別人和社會直接接觸的淡漠，兩者總是形成古怪的對照。我實在是一個「孤獨的旅客」，我未曾全心全意地屬於我的國家，我的家庭，我的朋友，甚至我最接近的親人；在所有這些關係面前，我總是感覺到有一定距離並且需要保持孤獨——而這種感受正與年俱增。人們會清楚地發覺，同別人的相互了解和協調一致是有限度的，但這不足惋惜。這樣的人無疑有點失去他的天真無邪和無憂無慮的心境；但另一方面，他卻能夠在很大程度上不為別人的意見、習慣和判斷所左右，並且能夠不受誘惑要去把他的內心平衡在這樣一些不可靠的基礎之上。

1927年第五屆索爾維會議合影，愛因斯坦位於前排正中

我的政治理想是民主主義。讓每一個人都作為個人而受到尊重，而不讓任何人成為崇拜的偶像。我自己受到了人們過分的讚揚和尊敬，這不是由於我自己的過錯，也不是由於我自己的功勞，而實在是一種命運的嘲弄。其原因大概在於人們有一種願望，想理解我以自己的微薄綿力通過不斷的鬥爭所獲得的少數幾個觀念，而這種願望有很多人卻未能實現。我完全明白，一個組織要實現它的目的，就必須有一個人去思考，去指揮，並且全面負擔起責任來。但是被領導的人不應當受到壓迫，他們必須有可能來選擇自己的領袖。在我看來，強迫的專制制度很快就會腐化墮落。因為暴力所招引來的總是一些品德低劣的人，而且我相信，天才的暴君總是由無賴來繼承，這是一條千古不易的規律。就是這個緣故，我總是強烈地反對今天我們在義大利和俄國所見到的那種制度。像歐洲今天所存在的情況，使得民主形勢受到了懷疑，這不能歸咎於民主原則本身，而是由於政府的不穩定和選舉制度中與個人無關的特徵。我相信美國在這方面已經找到了正確的道路。他們選出了一個任期足夠長的總統，他有充分的權利來真正履行他的職責。另一方面，在德國的政治制度中，我所重視的是，它為救濟患病或貧困的人作出了比較廣泛的規定。在人生的豐富多彩的表演中，我覺得真正可貴的，不是政治上的國家，而是有創造性的、有感情的個人，是人格；只有個人才能創造出高尚的和卓越的東西，而群眾本身在思想上總是遲鈍的，在感覺上也總是遲鈍的。

晚年愛因斯坦

講到這裡，我想起了群眾生活中最壞的一種表現，那就是使我厭惡的軍事制度。一個人能夠洋洋得意地隨著軍樂隊在四列縱隊里行進，單憑這一點就足以使我對他輕視。他所以長了一個大腦，只是出於誤會；單單一根脊髓就可滿足他的全部需要了。文明國家的這種罪惡的淵藪，應當儘快加以消滅。由命令而產生的勇敢行為，毫無意義的暴行，以及在愛國主義名義下一切可惡的胡鬧，所有這些都使我深惡痛絕！在我看來，戰爭是多麼卑鄙、下流！我寧願被千刀萬剮，也不願參預這種可憎的勾當。儘管如此，我對人類的評價還是十分高的，我相信，要是人民的健康感情沒有被那些通過學校和報紙而起作用的商業利益和政治利益蓄意進行敗壞，那麼戰爭這個妖魔早就該絕跡了。

我們所能有的最美好的經驗是奧秘的經驗。它是堅守在真正藝術和真正科學發源地上的基本感情。誰要是體驗不到它，誰要是不再有好奇心也不再有驚訝的感覺，他就無異於行屍走肉，他的眼睛是迷糊不清的。就是這樣奧秘的經驗——雖然摻雜著恐怖——產生了宗教。我們認識到有某種為我們所不能洞察的東西存在，感覺到那種只能以其最原始的形式為我們感受到的最深奧的理性和最燦爛的美——正是這種認識和這種情感構成了真正的宗教感情；在這個意義上，而且也只是在這個意義上，我才一個具有深摯的宗教感情的人。我無法想象一個會對自己的創造物加以賞罰的上帝，也無法想象它會有像在我們自己身上所體驗到的那樣一種意志。我不能也不願去想象一個人在肉體死亡以後還會繼續活著；讓那些脆弱的靈魂，由於恐懼或者由於可笑的唯我論，去拿這種思想當寶貝吧！我自己只求滿足於生命永恆的奧秘，滿足於覺察現實世界的神奇的結構，窺見它的一鱗半爪，並且以誠摯的努力去領悟在自然界中顯示出來的那個理性的一部分，即使只是其極小的一部分，我也就心滿意足了。

（此文最初發表在1930年出版的《論壇和世紀》（Forum and century）84卷，193-194頁。當時用的標題是「我的信仰」（What I believe）。這裡譯自《思想和見解》8-11頁和《我的世界觀》英譯本237-242頁，許良英、趙中立、張宜三編譯，選自商務印書館《愛因斯坦文集第三卷》。）

英文原版

The World As I See It

Albert Einstein

How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose be knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people-first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men,living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and am often oppressively aware that I am engrossing an undue amount of the labor of my fellow-men. I regard class distinctions as unjustified and, in the last resort, based on force. I also believe that a simple and unassuming life is good for everybody, physically and mentally.

I do not at all believe in human freedom in the philosophical sense. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Schopenhauer's saying, "A man can do what he wants,but not want what he wants," has been a very real inspiration to me since my youth; it has been a continual consolation in the face of life's hardships, my own and others', and an unfailing well-spring of tolerance. This realization mercifully mitigates the easily paralyzing sense of responsibility and prevents us from taking ourselves and other people all too seriously; it is conducive to a view of life which, in particular, gives humor its due.

To inquire after the meaning or object of one's own existence or that of all creatures has always seemed to me absurd from an objective point of view. And yet everybody has certain ideals which determine the direction of his endeavors and his judgments. In this sense I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves-this ethical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world,the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed to me empty. The trite objects of human efforts-possessions,outward success, luxury-have always seemed to me contemptible.

My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a "lone traveler" and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friend, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude-feelings which increase with the years. One becomes sharply aware, but without regret,of the limits of mutual understanding and consonance with other people. No doubt, such a person loses some of his innocence and unconcern; on the other hand, he is largely independent, of the opinions, habits, and judgments of his fellows and avoids the temptation to build his inner equilibrium upon such insecure foundations.

My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-being, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that it is necessary for the achievement of the objective of an organization that one man should do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader. An autocratic system of coercion, in my opinion, soon degenerates. For force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels, For this reason I have always been passionately opposed to systems such as we see in Italy and Russia today. The thing that has brought discredit upon the form of democracy as it exists in Europe today is not to be laid to the door of the democratic principle as such, but to the lack of stability of governments and to the impersonal character of the electoral system. I believe that in this respect the United States of America have found the right way. They have a President powers really to exercise his responsibility. What I value, on the other hand, in the German political system is the more extensive provision that it makes for the individual in case of illness or need. The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.

This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system,which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in fours to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given his big brain by mistake; unprotected spinal marrow was all he needed. This plaguespot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them! How vile and despicable seems war to me! I would rather be hacked in pieces than take part in such an abominable business. My opinion of the human race is high enough that I believe this bogey would have disappeared long ago, had the sound sense of the peoples not been systematically corrupted by commercial and political interests acting through the schools and the Press.

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science . Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear - that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man. I can not conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.