Chapter 68 Book IV The World as Will Revisited §68

Having digressed into the lips of oneness of pure love and sympathy, which is manifested by the phenomenon of crying when sympathy returns to its own individual, I now return to the thread of analyzing the ethical significance of the act, in order to point out How what I call the negation of the will to life comes from the same source as all goodness, benevolence, virtue, and generosity [etc.]. We have seen before that both hatred and malice are conditioned by selfishness, and that this egoism is based on a knowledge confined to the principle of individuation.As we have seen before, we have also regarded seeing through this principle of embodiment as the reason and essence of justice; and going a step further, that is, the reason and essence of love and generosity to the extreme; only seeing through this principle, because of this, cancel Only the distinction between the individual and the individual makes possible the whole goodness of the heart, right up to selfless love, until the most heroic self-sacrifice for others is explained [all this].

But if, seeing through the principle of individuation in this way, this immediate recognition of the identity of the will in all its appearances has reached a high degree of definiteness, then both immediately manifest a further influence on the will.That is, if the veil of Maya, the principle of individuation, is lifted so wide before a person's vision that the person no longer makes selfish distinctions between others and self, but is concerned with the suffering of other individuals, in to the same degree as his own suffering; thus he is not only helpful to others in the highest degree, but is ready to sacrifice his own individuality, if some other individuality can thereby be saved.Then such a man, who sees his innermost, true self in all things, will automatically regard the infinite pain of all living beings as his own pain, and must also regard the pain of the world as his own. All the [trauma].For him, there is no longer a pain that is irrelevant.All the pains and anguishes of others, [though] he sees and not often relieves; all pains, [though] he hears indirectly, or even only what he thinks possible, are the same as his own pains. affect his spirit.In his eyes, it is no longer the alternating ups and downs of pain and pleasure in himself, which is only the case for people confined to egoism; but he, because he sees through the principle of individualization, treats everything equally. concerns.He recognizes the totality of the whole, appreciates the essence of the whole and finds it in constant arising and passing away, in meaningless impulses, in inner contradictions and constant pain; wherever he looks, he sees It is to see the suffering human beings, the suffering animal kingdom, and a world that is passing away.But now he cares about all this, just as the egoist cares only about himself.Now that he has such an understanding of the world, how to teach him to affirm such and such a life with non-stop will activities, thereby binding himself more tightly to this life, and always clinging more tightly to it? What about this life?So, if a man is still confined to the principle of individuation, to egoism, and recognizes only individual things and their relation to himself, then these things become motives of his desires which are always renewed. ; then, on the contrary, the aforementioned knowledge of the General Assembly, of the essence of the thing-in-itself, becomes the tranquilizer of all desires, and of every desire.From then on the will turned its back on life: the enjoyment of life now made him shudder, and in these enjoyments he saw the affirmation of life. [At this time] the person has attained a state of automatic self-denial of desire and indifference to the world, a state of true inaction and complete willlessness. —if some of us, when we feel our own pain heavily, or see other people's pain vividly, sometimes come into contact with the emptiness of life, the poignant realization, and want to come to life with total, ever-resolute restraint To pull out the poisonous sting of greed, to block all the sources of pain, to purify and sanctify ourselves: [But] we are still people who are blinded by the veil of Mana, so the deception of appearance will still entangle you immediately We, the motives [in] the phenomenon, again move the will: we [still] cannot break free.The lure of hope [giving], the charm of [life] before us, the sweetness of enjoying [in], [and] the joy we share in the groans of a world of pain, at the mercy of chance and error [etc.] Drag us back into the deceit of phenomena and re-tighten the ropes that bind [our].So Jesus said: "It is easier for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for an anchor to go through the eye of a needle."

If we compare human life to a circular orbit of hot coals, on which there are several shady places, through which we must run without stopping; Reassure yourself by standing in the shade above or in front of you and continue running on the track.But he who sees through the principle of individuation, who recognizes the essence of the thing-in-itself [more] as a whole, no longer feels this consolation.He [resolutely] jumped out of the circle of the orbit seeing himself at all points of the orbit at the same time. —His will turns around and no longer affirms its own essence reflected in appearances; it denies it.The phenomenon that reveals this [transition] is the transition from virtue to asceticism.That is to say, the man is no longer content to love his neighbor as himself, to serve others as to himself [etc.], but develops in him [in his heart] a strong distaste for the essence of his own phenomena, for life Will, aversion is recognized as the core and essence of this world full of vexations488.He is thus denying the essence that manifests in him, already manifested by his body, and his action now punishes him for deceiving [man] by this phenomenon, breaking openly with it.Essentially nothing but a phenomenon of will, he has no desire for anything, he guards against attaching his will to anything, and he seeks to establish in himself a highest [state of indifference]. —The sexual impulse is expressed by his body—[this body] is healthy and strong—through the sexual organs, but he denies the will and punishes this body for deceiving [man]: under no circumstances does he want sexual Satisfied.Voluntary, total non-sexuality is the first step in abstinence or the denial of the will to life.Abstaining from prostitution denies the affirmation of the will beyond individual life by not being close to women, and thus indicates that the will will end with the life of the body, and this body is the manifestation of this will.Nature, ever truthful and naive, declares that if this precept should be generalized, the race of man would be extinct; and in the connection of all the phenomena of the will, as stated in the second book, I think it may be assumed that there will be a supreme will Phenomena[, man][extinction], those weaker reflections of the will, the animal kingdom will also disappear, just as the half-light will disappear with the [extinction] of full light, and with the completeness of "knowledge" Canceled, the rest of the world will naturally disappear into nothingness, because without a subject there can be no object.I would even draw here a passage from the Vedas, where it says: "As the hungry children of this world surround their mother, so all living things look to the holy sacrifice." (" Asian Studies Volume 8. Colebrooke: "On Veda" is excerpted from "Nephew Veda". And Colebrooke: "Miscellaneous Essays" Volume 1, p. 88.) Sacrifice basically means no desire , while the rest of nature has to be liberated from the hope in them of man, who is priest and sacrifice at the same time.It is true that here it deserves to be pointed out with the utmost attention that this idea has been expressed by the admirable and profound Angelus Silregius in the short poem entitled "Man gives all to God" It has been said in the poem, and the poem says:

"Man! everything loves you, how crowded around you: All things come to you to meet God [with you]. " But there was a still greater mystic: Maister Eckhart, whose marvelous writings had only recently [1857] been published by Franz Pfeifer, and had only finally become readable [ work].Eckhart says, on page 459, in exactly the sense here stated: "I affirm this after Christ, for he said: When I ascend from the earth, I will take all things with me (" John twelfth chapter thirty-second paragraph). So also should a good man present all things to God [at] their first birth. The masters testify this for us, saying that all created things are It is for man. What is true for all creatures is mutual use: as grass is for cattle, water is for fish, air is for birds, forests are for wild beasts. And so all creation is beneficial to the good man: a good man puts One thing after another to God." [Here] Eckhart is saying: Man, in order to be in himself and with himself, also frees animals; that is why he uses them in the world. . ——I even think that a difficult passage in the Bible, the twenty-first to twenty-fourth sentences of the eighth passage of "Letter to the Romans", can also be interpreted in this way.

There are also many sayings about this issue in Buddhism. For example, when the World Honored One was still the prince of Vati Satuohua, in order to prepare the horse for the last time to escape from his father's bedroom and go to the wilderness, he said this verse to the horse, "You In life and death, there is no end to [the calamity]. Since today, I will no longer carry and drag me. Only this time, Kanda Kannaxi, carry me out of this place. If I realize the Tao (when I become a Buddha), I will not Forget Ru [merit and virtue]." ("Buddha Kingdom Records", translated by Abel Remusha, p. 233.)

Furthermore, asceticism manifests itself in voluntary, deliberate misery; this misery is not accidental, because [here] property is dissipated for the relief of others.Poverty is itself an end here, and it serves to constantly suppress the will, so as not to satisfy the desire, and the sweetness of life excites the will, [because] self-knowledge already harbors a deep hatred for this will.A person who has reached this point, as a living body, as a concrete phenomenon of will, always feels that there are roots of various desires; but he deliberately suppresses this root, so he forces himself not to do what he wants. Very often all that the 490 wants to do, he does what he does not want to do, even though these things serve no purpose other than to inhibit the will.Since he himself denies the will manifested in himself, he does not object to others doing so [to his own will], that is to say, he does not object to others doing injustice [to him].He will therefore welcome any external pain inflicted upon him, either by accident or by the malice of another; Opportunity to prove that he is willing to take sides with any hostile aspect of the phenomenon of the will—that is, himself.Thus, he bears these humiliations and pains with infinite patience and meekness, he repays kindness without affectation, and he rekindles neither the fire of anger nor the fire of greed. —He suppresses the visibility of the will, the objectivity of the will, that is, his body, as well as the will itself.He maintains this body very meagerly, and does not allow it to grow and develop to its fullness, lest it reactivate the will and agitate it more strongly; [for] the body is the mere expression of this will, the reflection of it. Mirror.Therefore, he has to take measures of fasting and hunger strikes, and even self-flagellation, in order to gradually subdue and annihilate the will with constant meager living and pain; It was what he hated. —[Before death,] the essence of the will, by voluntary denial of itself, is dead, save for the feeble remnant which appears as the vitality of the body.If death at last dissolves this phenomenon of the will, then death, as the longed-for release, is most welcome and embraced.Here, as elsewhere, with death it is not only the appearance that ends, but the essence itself is annulled. [Before death] Essence in this phenomenon, and because of this phenomenon, still had a mere tenuous existence; now [when death comes] this last, decayed bond is also torn.For those who end in this way, the world ends at the same time.

I am not good at rhetoric here, and what I describe is only in a general way of expression. It is not a philosophical fairy tale invented by myself, nor is it unique today.No, this is the enviable life of so many saints and noble hearts.There are such people among Christians, more among Hindus and Buddhists, and not without it among other sects.So different were the dogmas instilled into their reason, yet that inward, immediate intuitive perception from which only all virtue and sanctity can be derived is expressed in the same way by [their] life-deeds.It turns out that here, too, comes the great difference between intuitive and abstract cognition, which is so important and permeates throughout our investigation, [only] so little attention has been paid to it before.There is a gap between the two understandings, and in terms of understanding the nature of the world, only philosophy can bridge this gap [the bridge].From the intuitive side, that is, from the concrete side, everyone is aware of all philosophical truths; but it is the philosopher's business to incorporate these truths into abstract knowledge, into reflective thinking. No matter what you do, you can't do anything more.

Perhaps here, then, for the first time, abstractly and without mythology, the essence of holiness, self-denial, the annihilation of the obstinate will, asceticism, etc. The essence of the mind, which comes after this knowledge has again become a tranquilizer of the will.On the contrary, all saints and ascetics know this directly and show it by action.Inwardly they are all alike, but each speaks a very different language according to the creeds they originally received in their reason.According to these creeds, the Hindu, Christian, and Lamaist saints must each have their own reasons to explain their behavior, but in the matter itself, these are completely irrelevant.A saint can be full of the most absurd superstitions, or, on the contrary, a philosopher: both have exactly the same effect.Only his actions show that he is a saint, because his actions, morally speaking, arise not from abstract but from intuitive understanding of the world and its essence directly, and only for the satisfaction of his reason. It is up to him to explain it with some kind of dogma.Therefore, a saint need not be a philosopher, and a philosopher need not be a saint; this is the same thing as it is not necessary for a perfectly handsome man to be a great sculptor, and for a great sculptor to be a handsome man. reason.To ask a moral preacher to recommend no virtues other than his own is a curious one at all.To restate the whole essence of the world abstractly, generally, and explicitly in terms of concepts, and to fix this essence as a reflected reflection for reason in unchanging, always spare concepts; this is philosophy; Anything else is philosophy.We may recall the period in which Bacon was quoted in the first article.

However, my description of the denial of the will to life above, or the deeds of a noble mind, a saint who is humble and self-repentant, happens to be abstract, general, and therefore calm.Since the knowledge from which the negation of the will proceeds is intuitive and not abstract, it cannot find its complete expression in abstract concepts, but only in actions and deeds.Therefore, in order to understand more fully what we call the denial of the will to life in philosophy, one has to be familiar with some examples from experience and practice.One cannot, of course, come across such examples in everyday experience, as Spinoza well said: "For everything excellent is both difficult and rare," and one would only I can satisfy myself with the biographies of such characters.As we have seen in the few [scriptures] that have hitherto been known only in translation, Indian literature contains many accounts of the lives of saints, penitents; ", "Hindu penitents" and so on.Madame de Pollier's famous, but in no way commendable, Indian Mythology contains many remarkable examples of this kind (especially in Book II, Chapter thirteen).Examples are also given among Christians for the illustrations which are here intended.One can read biographies of people who are now called "the hearts of saints," now "the pious," "puritans," "pious religious visionaries," and so on. [However] most of these biographies are poorly written.This kind of biography has also been published in different eras, such as Ter Stegen's "Biography of the Sacred Heart"."Anecdote of the Reborn" by Leitz.In our time there are some biographies collected by Canny, most of which are badly written, but there are also some good ones, especially the "Biada Sturmin" which I think is good [ one article]. The Life of St. Francis von Assisi belongs here entirely, the true personification of asceticism, the model of all dervishes.His younger contemporaries and well-known scholastic figures, St. Bonnaventura, once wrote a biography of him. This biography has recently been reprinted. It is called "The Life of St. Francis Xavier: St. Pulling" (Suest edition, 1847).Not long ago a detailed biography was published in France by Chauvin de Marin, which was carefully compiled and made use of all relevant materials: "Saint Francis von; Biography of Assisi".Parallel to these monastic texts is a companion work on the Far East, a very readable book by Spence Hardy: Oriental Monasticism, Narratives of the Dervishes Founded by Jay Tamfo (1850).This book shows us the same thing under another cloak.People can also see that in the matter of "abstinence of the saints" itself, there is no difference whether you start from a theistic religion or an atheistic religion.But as the most outstanding biography, I can introduce Madame de Gurong's autobiography.For the concepts I have defined, this book furnishes especially suitable and most exhaustive illustrations, and is a statement of fact.Every time I remember this noble and great mind, my heart is always full of respect.To recognize this soul and do justice to her spiritual virtues, while at the same time pardoning geographical superstitions, must be the pleasure of any good man.This happens to be the same reason that people with despicable thoughts, that is, most people, always think there is a problem when reading this book, because [the benevolent sees benevolence, the wise sees wisdom,] anyone can only appreciate those who are different from him no matter where he is. Things that he agrees with, at least he has to be a little bit [similar] to these things. [This truth] can be said in the field of knowledge, and it can also be said in the field of ethics.To a certain extent one can even regard the famous French biography of Spinoza as [another] example belonging here, if one takes Spinoza's very imperfect treatise "The Correction of Intellect" Beginning with that remarkable text as the key to reading this biography [, that's all the better].As far as I know, I can present this text as the most effective antidote to the raging passions.Finally, there is the great Goethe, who, Greek as he was, did not think that showing the noblest side of human nature in the mirror of his literature and art, which illuminates things, has anything to do with him. Where the temperament does not match.Therefore, in "Confessions of a Beautiful Mind", he described the life of Miss Klödenberg for us in an idealized way; later in his autobiography, he provided historical information on this matter.In addition, he told us twice about the life of the saint Filippo Neri. —It is true that world history always and must keep silent about these persons, whose deeds are the best and only sufficient explanation for this most important point in our investigation, because of the The subject matter is a completely different set, the opposite set, that is, not the negation and abandonment of the will to life, but the affirmation of this will and the manifestation of this will in countless individuals.In this manifestation, the split between the will and itself appears with full clarity at the highest peak of the objectification of the will; so that we are presented now with the individual superior to another by his cunning, and with the crowd with their cunning. Violence due to the quantity of human beings, sometimes chance personified as the authority after fate, but often it is the futility and emptiness of all these struggles.But we, because we are not pursuing the clues of phenomena in time, but as philosophers, we are discussing the ethical significance of behavior, and we use this as the only criterion to measure what we think is meaningful and important , so that we will not be held back by the fear that the vulgar and the commonplace are always the majority [human attributes] but simply admit that the greatest, most important, and most meaningful phenomena that can occur in the world are not world-conquering A man is a man who is out of the world—in fact nothing but [the latter] such a man is silent.An unnoticed life story.Such a man is enlightened by the knowledge [above mentioned], by which he relinquishes, denies the will to live that fills everything, moves and struggles in everything.Only here does this freedom of the will appear in him, so that his own actions are precisely the opposite of actions in general.Therefore, for philosophers, saints, those biographies of people who deny themselves, however badly written, even mixed with superstition and absurdity, because of the significance of the subject matter, they are still better than Pludal. C. and Livius are much more important and educationally richer.

Moreover, in order to gain a more detailed and fuller understanding of what is called the negation of the will-to-live in the abstract and generality of our discourse, let us again examine the meaning which has been defined in this sense by men imbued with this spirit. The ethical lessons [also] are of great help.These admonitions will also point out to us how ancient [this] insight, though so new in its purely philosophical appearance, is [in reality].The nearest to us is Christianity, whose ethics lie within the scope of the above-mentioned spirit, and lead not only to the highest degree of fraternity, but also to the renunciation of desires.Finally, the aspect [to deny the will] is clearly germinated in the writings of the disciples of Jesus, but it is not fully developed until later, and it is not clearly stated.We see the admonition of the apostles [already so]: love your neighbor as yourself; do good, return evil with kindness, and evil with love; , the diet should be meager to restrain the sensuality, the sexual impulse should be resisted, and if possible, abstinence from pornography [etc.].Here we have seen the first steps of asceticism or the true denial of the will.The word denying the will means exactly what the Gospels say about denying oneself and taking up the cross. (The 24th and 25th paragraphs of Chapter 16 of Matthew; the 34th and 35th paragraphs of Chapter 8 of Mark; the 23rd and 2nd paragraphs of Chapter 9 of Luke Paragraphs 4 and 2. Chapter 14, Paragraphs 26, 27, 33, and 3.) This tendency soon developed and became the cause of penitents, hermits, and monks.This is pure and holy, but it is for this reason that it is completely unsuitable for the majority of people. and terrible infamy.This is because "abusing the best is the worst".It was only in later established Christianity that we see the germs of asceticism develop into flourishing flowers in the writings of Christian saints and mystics.The sermons of these people, in addition to pure love, also emphasize complete asceticism, voluntary complete poverty, true peace and contentment, complete indifference to everything in the world; , completely forgetting about himself and sinking into the intuition of God [etc.].Regarding all this, one can find a complete account in Fenelon's "Explanation of the Inner Standards of Life of the Saints".But the Christian spirit has, so to speak, nowhere more developed in its direction than in the works of the German mystics, that is, in Meister Eckhart's justly famous "German Theology", and A better and more powerful explanation.In his preface to this book, Luther said that apart from the Bible and Augustine, he could not understand God, Christ, and man better from any book than from this book. — We did not have this unaltered original until 1851 from Pfeffer's revised Stottinger edition.The norms and precepts recorded in this book are the most complete analysis of the denial of the will to life that I have dealt with, arising from inner faith.Therefore, people should take this book and study it carefully before they make negative judgments based on the self-confidence of Judaism and Protestantism.Written in the same spirit of excellence, but which cannot be judged in exactly the same way as this book, are Tawler's Imitation of Christ's Poverty Life in Hereafter and The Essence of Life.I think the teachings of these sincere Christian mystics are to the New Testament as alcohol is to wine.Or to put it this way: whatever we see in the New Testament as through a veil or mist, in the writings of the mystics is laid out to us with full clarity and distinctness. At present, and finally, one can still regard the New Testament as the first ecstasy, and mysticism as the second ecstasy—"little mysteries and great mysteries."

However, in the ancient Sanskrit writings, we can see that the so-called negation of the will to life has been further developed, and there are more aspects and more vivid descriptions, [these] are beyond the reach of Christianity and the Western world .As for the further development and firmer expression of this important ethical viewpoint of life in India, the main reason may be that there is no limitation of foreign factors here, unlike Judaism and Christianity.The sublime founders of Christianity were obliged, consciously or unconsciously, to adapt to Judaism in order to bring the new teachings into line with the old; and so Christianity had two very different parts, of which, I think, the purely ethical one Part of it should first be a Christian factor, and it is a Christian-specific factor, and I want to distinguish Christianity from the original Jewish teachings.If there have been many fears in the past, especially in this day and age, that this great and benevolent religion will one day be completely on the verge of collapse, I think there can be some reason for this fear. , but this religion is not composed of a single factor, but is composed of two factors that come from different sources and are brought together by the changes of the world.The disintegration of Christianity may be inevitable due to the different relationship between these two components to the spirit of the age that is pressing on them and their different reactions.After the dissolution, however, the purely ethical part of Christianity remained intact, because it was the part which could not be destroyed. —Although the literature we know is still very insufficient, we have now seen in the Vedas, in the Purana, in poetry, myths, anecdotes of saints, sayings and precepts of life A powerful expression of Hindu ethics in many ways.In this kind of ethics, we see such admonitions: to completely deny all self-love and to love neighbors; compassion is not limited to human beings, but includes all sentient beings; All those who insult me ​​must have boundless tolerance, no matter how bad the other party is, they must avenge their hatred with kindness and virtue; they are willing to endure all humiliation; all kinds of meat are forbidden.Those who pursue the holy way should absolutely abstain from sex and prohibit all lustful pleasures. They must disperse all property and abandon any residences and relatives. They must live in absolute deep loneliness and spend this life in silent contemplation; And the horrible, chronic self-abnegation that completely overwhelms the will [blah blah blah].This kind of self-suffering can finally lead to hunger strike, being buried in the belly of a crocodile, falling off a cliff from a holy peak in the Himalayas, being buried alive, and throwing yourself under a giant bullock cart surrounded by actors, dancers, dancers and cheers, and carrying statues of Bodhisattvas in parade [etc. Willing to die for the sake of means.These admonitions have been sourced for more than four thousand years, and until now, even though the [Indian] nation has been divided, they still abide by them, and individual people still carry them out to the extreme.To demand the heaviest sacrifices and yet to retain practical utility for such a long time in a nation of tens of millions cannot be an arbitrarily thought-out eccentricity, but must be something inherent in the nature of human nature. its basis.But there is also the fact that, when one reads the biographies of a Christian and an Hindu penitent or saint, one is still struck by the astonishment at the coincidence of the two.While each has fundamentally different creeds, customs, and environments, their pursuits and inner lives are exactly the same.The admonitions are the same on both sides, as Tawler says of utter poverty: one should seek poverty of one's own self, and the way is to utterly deprive oneself of all that gives any consolation or earthly satisfaction.Evidently this is because all these things always provide new nourishment to the will, which the object here is to die completely.On the Hindu side we find a parallel to this in the Buddha's precepts, which forbid the penitent to have a dwelling and possessions of any kind, and finally forbid frequent roosting under the same tree, lest there be any further affection for it. or a sense of love.Christian mystics and Vedanta preachers have one other thing in common. They both believe that all external good deeds and religious work are superfluous for a person who has already completed his meritorious deeds. —The fact that times and peoples are so different, and that there are so many similarities, proves in fact that what is shown here is not, as optimistic vulgarity likes to insist, merely a kind of intellectual eccentricity or insanity, but an aspect of the essence of human nature that is rare because of its excellence. So far I have indicated the data from which the phenomena which express the negation of the will can be recognized directly from life as a source.To a certain extent, this is the most important point in our entire investigation.Still, I speak only in general terms, because it is better to point out those who speak from their own experience [, and ask people to do it themselves] than to uselessly restate what they have said without needlessly inflating it. The length of the book is much better. I just want to add a few more words to give a general indication of the [psychological] state of these people.We have seen before that the wicked man, from the intensity of his desire, suffers from constant, self-injurious inner pain; The opposite, then, is the man who has realized the negation of the will to live; although outwardly he is so poor, so unhappy, always lacking in this and that, yet his [psychological] condition is full of inwardness. the joy and tranquility of true bliss.It was not the restless impulse of life, the cheering joy.Joy is based on intense pain before and after the event, such as the kind of joy that constitutes the life of people who are greedy for life; [here is not joy] but an unshakable stability, a deep peace and inner joy .If this state appeared before our eyes or in our imagination, we could not help looking at it with the greatest yearning; for we immediately regard it as the only true thing, which surpasses all infinite things, because Our conscience [often] beckons us there with the resounding slogan, "Conquer yourself and act rationally."We then find it true that [the following analogy] is true, that any satisfaction our desires can win in the world is no more than a facility [that is given to a beggar] [only] to keep him alive today so that he will be alive again tomorrow. Re-starve.而清心寡欲则相反，就好比是继承了的田产，使这田产的主人永远免除了[生活上的]一切忧虑。 从第三篇里我们还记得这一点，即是说对于美的美感，那种怕悦，大部分是由于我们进入了纯观赏状态[而来的]。在这瞬间，一切欲求，也就是一切愿望和忧虑都消除了，就好象是我们已摆脱了自己，已不是那为了自己的不断欲求而在认识着的个体了，已不是和个别事物相对应的东西了；而客体成为动机就是对这种对应物而言的。[在这瞬间，]我们已是不带意志的认识的永恒主体，是理念的对应物了。我们也知道这些瞬间，由于我们这时已摆脱了狠心的意志冲动，好比是已从沉重的烟雾中冒出来了似的，是我们所能知道的一切幸福的瞬间中最幸福的[一瞬]。由此我们就可以想象，要是一个人的意志不只是在一些瞬间，如美感的享受，而是永远平静下来了，甚至完全寂灭，只剩下最后一点闪烁的微光维持着这躯壳并且还要和这躯壳同归于尽，这个人的一生必然是如何的幸福。一个这样的人，在和他自己的本性作过许多艰苦的斗争之后终于完全胜利了，他所剩下的就只是一个纯认识着的东西了，就只是反映这世界的一面镜子了。再没有什么能使他恐惧，能激动他了；因为他已把“欲求”的千百条捆索，亦即将我们紧缚在这人世间的捆索，作为贪心、恐惧、嫉妒、盛怒，在不断的痛苦中来回簸弄我们的捆索，通通都割断了。他现在是宁静地微笑着在回顾这世间的幻影。这些幻影过去也能够激动他的心情，能够使他的心情痛苦，但现在却是毫无所谓地出现在他眼前，好比棋局已终之后的棋子似的；又好象是人们在狂欢节穿戴以捉弄我们，骚扰我们，而在翌晨脱下来了的假面具和古怪服装似的。生活和生活中的形形色色只好象是飘忽的景象在他眼前摇晃着，犹如拂晓的轻梦之于一个半醒的人，这时现实已曦微地从梦中透出而梦也不能再骗人了。正是和这梦一样，生活的形形色色也终于幻灭，并无须越过什么巨大的障碍。从这些考察中我们可以学会理解顾蓉夫人在她那部传记的末尾是在什么意味之下要屡屡他说：“我觉得一切都无所谓，不相干，我不能再对什么有所欲求；我每每不知道我自己的有无。”——为了说明如何在意志寂灭之后，肉体的死亡（肉体只是意志的显现，故随意志的取消而失去一切意义）已不能再有什么苦的意味，而是很受欢迎的，请再容许我把这位神圣的仟悔者自己的话引在这里，尽管这些话是没经修饰过的[，她说]：“光荣的高峰如日中天；是一个再没有黑夜继之而起的白昼，是即令在死亡中也不怕任何死的一生；因这一死已战胜了那一死，又因为谁已经历了第一个死，就不再品味到第二个死了。”（《德·顾蓉夫人传》第二卷第13页） 这时我们可不能以为生命意志的否定，一旦由于那已成为清静剂的认识而出现了就不会再动摇，人们就可在这上面，犹如在经营得来的财产上一样高枕无忧了。应该说，生命意志的否定是必须以不断的斗争时时重新来争取的。这是因为身体既是意志本身，不过是在客体性的形式中，或只是作为表象世界中的现象而已；那么，这身体要是一天还活着，整个的生命意志就其可能性说也必然还存在，并且还在不断挣扎着要再进入现实性而以其全部的炽热又重新燃烧起来。因此，我们认为在那些神圣人物的传记中描写过的宁静和极乐只是从不断克服意志[这种努力] 产生出来的花朵，而同生命意志作不断的斗争则是这些花朵所由孳生的土壤：因为世界上本没有一个人能够有持久的宁静。因此，我们看到圣者们的内心生活史都充满心灵的斗争，充满从天惠方面来的责难和遗弃，而天惠就是使一切动机失去作用的认识方式，作为总的清静剂而镇住一切欲求，给人最深的安宁敞开那条自由之门的认识方式。所以我们看到那些一度达成了意志之否定的人们，还是以一切的努力把自己维持在这条路上，拿从自己身上逼出来的各种克制，拿忏悔的严酷生活方式和故意找些使自己不快的事，拿这一切来抑制不断再要拾头的意志。最后，因为他们已认识到解脱的可贵，所以他们为了已争取到手的福田还有那种戒慎恐惧的心情，在任何无伤大雅的享受时或他们的虚荣心有任何微弱的激动时还有那种良心上的顾虑。[再说] 虚荣心在这里也是最后才死去的，在人的一切嗜欲中，也是最活跃，最难消灭，最愚蠢的一种。——在我已多次用过的禁欲这一词里，从狭义说，我所理解的就是这种故意的摧毁意志，以摒弃好受的和寻找不好受的来摧毁意志；是自己选定的，用以经常压制意志的那种仟悔生活和自苦。 我们如果看到那些已达成意志之否定的人们实行[上述]这些办法以保持自己在这种状态[不退步]，那么，忍受痛苦，有如命运所加于人的痛苦，根本就是达到这种状态的第二条道路（第二条最好的途径）。是的，我们可以认定大多数人都是在这一条道路上达到意志之否定的；还可认定把彻底的清心寡欲带给人的，最常见的是本人感到的痛苦而不是单纯被认识了的痛苦，[并且]往往是临近将死的时候。这是因为只能在少数人那里，单纯的认识，——因看穿个体化原理而后产生心意上的至善和普泛的博爱，最后让这些人认识到人间一切痛苦即是他们自己的痛苦——，就足以导致意志的否定。即令是在那些接近着这一点的人们，他本人的舒适情况，刹那间的诱惑，希望的招引，和经常是一再要自荐的意志之满足，亦即快乐，几乎都是否定意志的经常障碍，都是重新肯定意志的经常诱惑。因此，人们在这方面的意义上[特地] 把所有这些诱惑都当作魔鬼人格化了。所以大多数人都必须先由本人的最大痛苦把意志压服了，然后才能出现意志的自我否定。这样，所以我们看到人们在激烈的挣扎抗拒中经过了苦难继续增长的一切阶段，而陷于绝望的边缘之后，才突然转向自己的内心，认识了自己和这世界；他这整个的人都变了样，他已超乎自己和一切痛苦之上，并且好象是由于这些痛苦而纯洁化，圣化了似的。他在不可剥夺的宁静，极乐和超然物外[的心境]中甘愿抛弃他前此极激烈地追求过的一切而欣然接受死亡。这是在痛苦起着纯化作用的炉火中突然出现了否定生命意志的纹银，亦即出现了解脱。即令是过去很坏的人，间或我们也看到他们通过最深刻的创痛也纯化到这种程度：他们成为另一个人了，完全转变了。因此，以往的恶行现在也不再使他的良心不安了；不过他们还是情愿以死来赎这些恶行；并且[也]乐于看到[自己]那意志现象消灭，现在这意志对于他们已是陌生的和可厌恶的了。关于这种由于大不幸，由于一切解救都已绝望所带来的意志之否定，伟大的歌德在他不朽的杰作《浮士德》里格勒特小姑娘的痛苦史中，给我们作了明确的形象化了的描写，这样的描写是我平日在文艺里还没看到过的。这是从第二条道路达到意志之否定的标准范例；它和第一条道路不一样，不单是由于认识到全世界的痛苦，自愿承担这痛苦，而是由于自己感到本人过度的痛苦。很多悲剧在最后虽然也是把剧中有着强烈欲愿的主人公引到完全清心寡欲的这一点；[但]到了这一点之后，一般就是生命意志及其现象的同归于尽。就我所知道的说，象上述《浮士德》中的描写使我们这样明确而不带任何杂质地看到这种转变中最本质的东西，那是没有的。 在实际生活中，我们[还]看到一些不幸的人们，因为他们在一切希望都被剥夺之后，还要神智完全清醒地走向断头台上不光荣，不自然，经常充满痛苦的暴死，所以他们是必须尝尽最大限痛苦的人们，他们也常是在这[第二条]道路上转变的。我们虽然不能认为在这些人的性格和大多数人的性格之间有着很大的区别，犹如他们的命运所显示的区别那么大，命运上的区别绝大部分要归之于环境[的不同]；但是他们仍然是有罪的，在相当大的程度上也是恶人。不过我们现在看到他们之中的好多人，在完全绝望已成事实之后，还是在上述方式之下转变了。他们现在表现着心意上真正的善良和纯洁，表现真正痛恨做出了任何有些微恶意或不仁的行为；他们宽恕了自己的仇敌，即令是使他们无辜而受罪的仇敌。他们不只是在口头上这样做，不是害怕阴间的判官而假意这样做，而是在实际行动上，出于内心的严肃这样做，并且绝对不想报仇。Yes.他们终于欢迎自己的痛苦和死亡，因为生命意志的否定已经出现了。他们每每拒绝人家提供的救援而欣然地、宁静地、无上幸福地死去。在过份的痛苦中，生命的最后秘密自行向他们透露出来了，即是说受害与为恶、忍痛和仇恨、折磨人的人和被折磨的人，在服从根据律的认识里尽管是那么不同，在本体上却是一回事，是同一个生命意志的显现。生命意志[只是]借个体化原理而使它的自相矛盾客体化：他们已充分认识到为恶与受害的双方，而当他们终于体会了双方的同一性时，他们现在就把双方拒绝于自身之外，就否定了生命意志。至于他们用那种神话或信条来对他们的理性说明这种直观的、直接的认识和他们的转变，如已说过，那是完全无关宏旨的。 当马迪亚斯·克劳第乌斯写下那篇大可注意的文章时，无疑的他是这种心灵变化的见证人。那篇文章刊在《范德斯白克的使者》（第一卷第115页）中，题目是《××的皈依史》。文章有着如下的结束语：“一个人的想法可以从圆周上的这一点转移到正对面的一点，又可再回到原先的那一点，如果情况给这人指出[来]去的那段弧线的话。在人，这些变化并不一定就是些什么大事或有趣的事。但是那大可注意的、罗马正教的、超绝的转变，[由于]这时那整个的圆周已无可挽回的被扯断以至心理学的一切规律都空洞无用了，[由于]这时已发生了脱胎涣骨的变化，至少也是发生了洗心革面的变化，以致人们好象眼睛里去掉了翳障似的，却是这种[人生]的大事，即是说任何人只要他一息尚存，如果他能对于这种事情听到一点什么确实可靠的东西或有所经历，他就离父别母[而去]了。” 此外，就这种由痛苦而来的纯化说，死的迫近和绝望[心情] 并不是绝对必要的。没有这些，[单]是由于大不幸和创痛，对于生命意志自相矛盾的认识也会不可阻拦地涌上心头，而一切挣扎的虚无性也就会被理解了。因此，我们常看到一些人在激情的冲动中过着非常波动的生活，如帝王、英雄、追求幸福的冒险者[等] 突然地变了样，转向清心寡欲和忏悔，成为隐士和僧侣。属于这类型的是一切道地的皈依史，例如莱孟德·陆卢斯的皈依史就是[其中之一]。他追求已久的一个美妇人终于允许他到闺房去幽会，这时他眼看自己的愿望就要得到满足了；可是正在这时，那妇人解脱了自己的护胸带，露出她那惨遭癌毒糜烂的乳房给他看了。从这一瞬间起，他好象是看过了地狱似的，纠正了自己，悔改了；他离开了麻约迦国王的朝廷而到沙漠里忏悔去了。与此很相似的是朗赛神父的皈依史，这是我在[本书]第二卷第四八章中简述过了的。如果我们详察这两人[悔改]的契机都是从人生的欢乐过渡到人生的惨痛，这就给我们解释了一个很突出的事实，解释了何以欧洲一个最富于生命之欢，最开朗愉快，最肉感最轻浮的民族，——法国民族——，反而产生了一个宗教组织，比一切宣誓守戒的僧侣组织还要严格得多的组织，即特拉波斯会。这个组织一度崩坏之后，又由朗赛恢复旧规，并且尽管有过那些革命，那些教会的改革和风行一时的不信神道，这个组织直到今天还保持着它的纯洁性和可怕的严格[戒律]。 上述这种关于人生性质的认识仍然又可随同[获得这认识的]契机一同消逝，而生命意志和以前的性格又相偕卷土重来。我们看到激情的彭维吕多·捷林尼一次在监狱里，又一次在重病中，本已由于痛苦而改邪归正了，但在痛苦消逝之后，他仍然故态复萌。从痛苦中产生意志之否定根本没有从因生果那种必然性，意志仍然是自由的。原来这唯一的一点就正是意志的自由直接出现于现象中的地方，这也就是阿斯穆斯所以要对“超绝的转变”强烈地表示惊异[的原因]。随着每一痛苦都可设想还有一种在激烈程度上超过痛苦，因而更不受拘束的意志。这就是柏拉图所以在《费桐》中讲述那种人，直到行刑之前的顷刻还在大吃大喝，还在享受性的快感，至死还在肯定生命。莎士比亚在波福主教[的形象]中给我们看到一个肆无忌惮的坏蛋的可怕结局，看到他因为任何痛苦和死亡都未能压服那凶顽到了极度的意志而死于无可奈何的绝望之中。 意志愈是激烈，则意志自相矛盾的现象愈是明显触目，而痛苦也愈大。如果有一个世界和现有的这世界相比，是激烈得无法相比的生命意志之显现，那么这一世界就会相应地产出更多的痛苦，就会是一个[人间]地狱。 因为一切痛苦，[对于意志]既是压服作用，又是导致清心寡欲的促进作用，从可能性上说[还]有着一种圣化的力量；所以由此就可说明何以大不幸，深创巨痛本身就可引起别人的某种敬重之心。但是这个忍受痛苦的人若要真正是我们所敬重的，那就必须是这样：即是说在他把他的生平当作一连串的痛苦来回顾时，或是在为一个巨大的治不好的创痛而哀伤时，他所看到的并不只是这恰好陷他一生于悲苦的一系列情况，并不止于他所遭遇到的个别的大不幸；——因为着还只是这样看时，则他的认识还是服从根据律的，还是胶着在个别现象上的，他还是一贯的要活命，不过是不想在轮到他的这些条件下活命而已——，而是他的眼光已从个别上升到一般，他已把自己的痛苦看作整个痛苦的一个特例，而是当他在伦理方面成为天才时已把自己的痛苦只算作千百种痛苦中的一个情况，因而这人生的全部既被理解为本质上的痛苦，已使他达到无欲无求[的境界]；这样，他在我们面前才真正是值得敬重的。因此，歌德所著《妥尔瓜脱·塔索》一剧中的公主，在她诉说自己和亲人们的一生是如何伤感寡欢时，她自己却完全只朝普遍一般看，也就值得敬重。 我们想，一种极高超的人物性格总带有几份沉默伤感的色彩，而这种伤感决不是什么对于日常不如意的事常有的厌恶之心（这会是一种不高尚的气质，甚至还令人担心是否存心不良），而是从认识中产生的一种意识，意识着一切身外之物的空虚，意识着一切生命的痛苦，不只是意识着自己的痛苦。但是，必须由于自己本人经历的痛苦，尤其是一次巨大的痛苦，才能唤起这种认识，例如彼得拉克就是那么一次没有满足的愿望竟使他对于整个一生抱着那种无欲无求的伤感[态度]。他的著作透露这种哀伤，非常动人，原来他所追求的达芙妮不得不摆脱他的追求以便为他留下诗人不朽的月桂冠来代替她自己。如果意志由于这样重大不可挽回的损失而被命运伤到一定的程度，那么，在别的方面几乎就不会再有什么欲求了；而这人物的性格也就现为柔和、哀怨、高尚、清心寡欲了。最后如果那股怨忿之气再没有固定的对象了，而是泛及于生命的全部，那么，这怨气在一定范围内就可说是一种“反转向内”，是一种回缩，是意志的逐渐消逝；还甚至于是不声不响地，却是在最内在的深处伤害着意志的可见性，亦即伤害着身体。人在这时就觉得绑着自己的捆索松了一些，轻微地预觉到宣告身体和意志同时解体的死亡，于是这股怨忿之气又是有一种隐蔽的喜悦之情随伴着的。这种喜悦，我相信，即一切民族中最忧郁的那民族[英国民族]叫做“哀怨之乐”的东西。然而也正是在这里横亘着感伤性这一暗礁，在生活本身中有之，在文艺的生活描述中亦有之；即是说人们老是哀伤，老是怨诉，却不自振作，不上进于清心寡欲，这就把天上人间一同都丧失了，而剩留下来的就只是淡而无味的多愁善感。痛苦，唯有在进入了纯粹认识的形式，而这认识作为意志的清静剂又带来真正的清心寡欲时，才是[达到]解脱的途径，才因而是值得敬重的。就这一点说，我们在看到任何一个大不幸的人物时，可总要感到几分敬意，和美德高风令人起敬相仿佛；同时，我们对于自己的幸福状态也觉得有点儿惭愧似的。我们不免要把每一痛苦，不管是自己感受的或别人的，至少是当作可能接近美德和神圣性[的阶梯]看；相反，对于享受和人间的满足则要看作与此相去愈远。甚至还可以进一步这样看，即是说每一个在肉体上或精神上担负着巨大沉重痛苦的人，乃至任何一个人，在完成一项最费劲的体力劳动之后，汗流满面，显然已精疲力竭，却耐心地忍受着这一切而无怨言；我说，每一个这样的人，如果我们仔细观察他，我们就觉得他活象一个病人在接受一种痛苦的治疗似的，他甘愿甚至是满心欢喜地忍受着由治疗引起的痛苦，因为他知道所忍受的痛苦愈大，则致病的因素被消灭的也愈多，因此眼前痛苦[的大小]就是衡量他病愈的尺度。 根据前此[所说]的一切，生命意志之否定，亦即人们称为彻底的清心寡欲或神圣性的东西，经常总是从意志的清静剂中产生的；而这清静剂就是对于意志的内在矛盾及其本质上的虚无性的认识。[至于]这种矛盾和虚无，则是在一切有生之物的痛苦中表现出来的。我们论述过的两条道路的区别就在于唤起这种认识的[原因]究竟只是纯粹被认识到的痛苦，借看穿个体化原理而自愿以之为自己的痛苦，还是自己本人直接感受到的痛苦。没有彻底的意志之否定，真正的得救，解脱生命和痛苦，都是不能想象的。在真正解脱之前，任何人都不是别的，而是这意志自身。这意志的现象却是一种在幻灭中的存在，是一种永远空无所有，永不遂意的挣扎努力，是上述充满痛苦的世界；而所有一切人都无可挽回地以同一方式属于这一世界。这是因为我们在上面已看到，生命总是生命意志所保有的，而生命仅有的，真正的形式则是“现在”。这一形式，[因]现象中既然还有生和死起支配作用，[所以] 是上述一切人永远摆脱不了的。印度神话是用这么一句话来表示这一点的，神话说：“众生皆[入轮回]转生”。性格在伦理上的巨大区别有着这样的意义，即是说：坏人要达到意志之否定所由产的那种认识，还有无限远的距离；所以在生活中有可能出现的一切痛苦，他却在事实上真正的面临这些痛苦了；因为他本人眼前的什么幸福状况也只是一个借助于个体化原理而有的现象，只是摩那的幻术，只是那乞丐的黄粱梦。他在他意志冲动激烈而凶猛时所加于别人的痛苦就是衡量[他自己]那些痛苦的尺度，而这些痛苦的经验并不能压服他的意志，也不能导致最后的否定[意志]。一切真正的、纯洁的仁爱，甚至于一切自发的公道则相反，都是从看穿个体化原理而产生的。个体化原理的看穿如果发挥充分的力量就会导致完整的神圣性和解脱；而神圣和解脱的现象就是上述清心寡欲无企无求的境界，是和清心寡欲相随伴而不可动摇的安宁，是寂灭中的极乐。