第 9 节
作者:寻找山吹      更新:2021-02-18 23:57      字数:9322
  nevertheless; wherever we hear of men who have emerged from a state
  of savagery; we find this science。  And all of a sudden it appears
  that the men of our day have decided that this same science; which
  has hitherto served as the guiding thread of all human knowledge; is
  the very thing which hinders every thing。  Men erect buildings; and
  one architect has made one estimate of cost; a second has made
  another; and a third yet another。  The estimates differ somewhat;
  but they are correct; so that any one can see; that; if the whole is
  carried out in accordance with the calculations; the building will
  be erected。  Along come people; and assert that the chief point lies
  in having no estimates; and that it should be built thusby the
  eye。  And this 〃thus;〃 men call the most accurate of scientific
  science。  Men repudiate every science; the very substance of
  science;the definition of the destiny and the welfare of men;and
  this repudiation they designate as science。
  Ever since men have existed; great minds have been born into their
  midst; which; in the conflict with reason and conscience; have put
  to themselves questions as to 〃what constitutes welfare;the
  destiny and welfare; not of myself alone; but of every man?〃  What
  does that power which has created and which leads me; demand of me
  and of every man?  And what is it necessary for me to do; in order
  to comply with the requirements imposed upon me by the demands of
  individual and universal welfare?  They have asked themselves:  〃I
  am a whole; and also a part of something infinite; eternal; what;
  then; are my relations to other parts similar to myself; to men and
  to the wholeto the world?〃
  And from the voices of conscience and of reason; and from a
  comparison of what their contemporaries and men who had lived before
  them; and who had propounded to themselves the same questions; had
  said; these great teachers have deduced their doctrines; which were
  simple; clear; intelligible to all men; and always such as were
  susceptible of fulfilment。  Such men have existed of the first;
  second; third; and lowest ranks。  The world is full of such men。
  Every living man propounds the question to himself; how to reconcile
  the demands of welfare; and of his personal existence; with
  conscience and reason; and from this universal labor; slowly but
  uninterruptedly; new forms of life; which are more in accord with
  the requirements of reason and of conscience; are worked out。
  All at once; a new caste of people makes its appearance; and they
  say; 〃All this is nonsense; all this must be abandoned。〃  This is
  the deductive method of ratiocination (wherein lies the difference
  between the deductive and the inductive method; no one can
  understand); these are the dogmas of the technological and
  metaphysical period。  Every thing that these men discover by inward
  experience; and which they communicate to one another; concerning
  their knowledge of the law of their existence (of their functional
  activity; according to their own jargon); every thing that the
  grandest minds of mankind have accomplished in this direction; since
  the beginning of the world;all this is nonsense; and has no weight
  whatever。  According to this new doctrine; it appears that you are
  cells:  and that you; as a cell; have a very definite functional
  activity; which you not only fulfil; but which you infallibly feel
  within you; and that you are a thinking; talking; understanding
  cell; and that you; for this reason; can ask another similar talking
  cell whether it is just the same; and in this way verify your own
  experience; that you can take advantage of the fact that speaking
  cells; which have lived before you; have written on the same
  subject; and that you have millions of cells which confirm your
  observations by their agreement with the cells which have written
  down their thoughts;all this signifies nothing; all this is an
  evil and an erroneous method。
  The true scientific method is this:  If you wish to know in what the
  destiny and the welfare of all mankind and of all the world
  consists; you must; first of all; cease to listen to the voices of
  your conscience and of your reason; which present themselves in you
  and in others like you; you must cease to believe all that the great
  teachers of mankind have said with regard to your conscience and
  reason; and you must consider all this as nonsense; and begin all
  over again。  And; in order to understand every thing from the
  beginning; you must look through microscopes at the movements of
  amoebae; and cells in worms; or; with still greater composure;
  believe in every thing that men with a diploma of infallibility
  shall say to you about them。  And as you gaze at the movements of
  these cells; or read about what others have seen; you must attribute
  to these cells your own human sensations and calculations as to what
  they desire; whither they are directing themselves; how they compare
  and discuss; and to what they have become accustomed; and from these
  observations (in which there is not a word about an error of thought
  or of expression) you must deduce a conclusion by analogy as to what
  you are; what is your destiny; wherein lies the welfare of yourself
  and of other cells like you。  In order to understand yourself; you
  must study not only the worms which you see; but microscopic
  creatures which you can barely see; and transformations from one set
  of creatures into others; which no one has ever beheld; and which
  you; most assuredly; will never behold。  And the same with art。
  Where there has been true science; art has always been its exponent。
  Ever since men have been in existence; they have been in the habit
  of deducing; from all pursuits; the expressions of various branches
  of learning concerning the destiny and the welfare of man; and the
  expression of this knowledge has been art in the strict sense of the
  word。
  Ever since men have existed; there have been those who were
  peculiarly sensitive and responsive to the doctrine regarding the
  destiny and welfare of man; who have given expression to their own
  and the popular conflict; to the delusions which lead them astray
  from their destinies; their sufferings in this conflict; their hopes
  in the triumph of good; them despair over the triumph of evil; and
  their raptures in the consciousness of the approaching bliss of man;
  on viol and tabret; in images and words。  Always; down to the most
  recent times; art has served science and life;only then was it
  what has been so highly esteemed of men。  But art; in its capacity
  of an important human activity; disappeared simultaneously with the
  substitution for the genuine science of destiny and welfare; of the
  science of any thing you choose to fancy。  Art has existed among all
  peoples; and will exist until that which among us is scornfully
  called religion has come to be considered the only science。
  In our European world; so long as there existed a Church; as the
  doctrine of destiny and welfare; and so long as the Church was
  regarded as the only true science; art served the Church; and
  remained true art:  but as soon as art abandoned the Church; and
  began to serve science; while science served whatever came to hand;
  art lost its significance。  And notwithstanding the rights claimed
  on the score of ancient memories; and of the clumsy assertion which
  only proves its loss of its calling; that art serves art; it has
  become a trade; providing men with something agreeable; and as such;
  it inevitably comes into the category of choreographic; culinary;
  hair…dressing; and cosmetic arts; whose practitioners designate
  themselves as artists; with the same right as the poets; printers;
  and musicians of our day。
  Glance backward into the past; and you will see that in the course
  of thousands of years; out of milliards of people; only half a score
  of Confucius'; Buddhas; Solomons; Socrates; Solons; and Homers have
  been produced。  Evidently; they are rarely met with among men; in
  spite of the fact that these men have not been selected from a
  single caste; but from mankind at large。  Evidently; these true
  teachers and artists and learned men; the purveyors of spiritual
  nourishment; are rare。  And it is not without reason that mankind
  has valued and still values them so highly。
  But it now appears; that all these great factors in the science and
  art of the past are no longer of use to us。  Nowadays; scientific
  and artistic authorities can; in accordance with the law of division
  of labor; be turned out by factory methods; and; in one decade; more
  great men have been manufactured in art and science; than have ever
  been born of such among all nations; since the foundation of the
  world。  Nowadays there is a guild of learned men and artists; and
  they prepare; by perfected methods; all that spiritual food which
  man requires。  And they have prepared so much of it; that it is no
  longer necessary to refer to the elder authorities; who have
  preceded them;not only to the ancients; but to those much nearer
  to us。  All that was the activity of the theological and
  metaphysical period;all that must be wiped out:  but the true; the
  rational activity began; say; fifty years ago; and in the course of
  those fifty yea