Suffering Is Self-Manufactured
?利昂·J.索尔博士 / Dr. Leon J. Saul
I believe the immediate purpose of life is to live, to survive. All known forms of life go through life cycles. The basic plan is: birth—maturing—mating—reproducing—death.
Thus the immediate purpose of human life is for each individual to fulfill his life cycle. This involves proper maturing into the fully developed adult of the species.
The pine tree grows straight unless harmful influences warp it. So does the human being. It is a finding of the greatest significance that the mature man and woman have the nature and characteristics of the good spouse and parent and the ability to enjoy responsible working and loving.
If the world consisted primarily of mature person—loving, responsible, productive, toward family, friends and the world—most of our human problems would be resolved.
But most people have suffered in childhood from influences which have warped their development. Hence, as adults they have not realized their full and proper nature. They feel something is wrong without knowing what it is. They feel inferior, frustrated, insecure, and anxious. And they react to these inner feelings just as any animal reacts to any hurt or threat: by readiness to fight or to flee. Flight carries them into alcoholism and other mental disorders. Fight impels them to crime, cruelty, war.
This readiness to violence, this inhumanity of man to man, is the basic problem of human life—for, in the form of war, it now threatens to extinguish us.
Without the fight-flight reaction, man would never have survived the cave and the jungle. But now, through social living, man has made himself relatively safe from the elements and wild beasts. He is even learning to protect himself against disease. He can produce adequate food, clothing and shelter for the present population of the earth. Barring a possible astronomical accident, he now faces no serious threat to his existence, except one—the fight-flight reaction within himself. This jungle readiness to hurt and to kill is now a vestigial hangover like the appendix, which interferes with the new and more powerful means of coping with nature through civilization. Trying to solve every problem by fighting or fleeing is the primitive method, still central for the immature child. The later method, understanding and co-operation, requires the mature capacities of the adult. In an infantile world, fighting may be forced upon one. Then it is more effective if handled maturely for mature goals. Probably war will cease only when enough people are mature.
The basic problem is social adaptation and biologic survival. The basic solution is for people to understand the nature of their own biological emotional maturity, to work toward it, to help the children in their development toward it.
Human suffering is mostly made by man himself. It is primarily the result of the failure of adults, because of improper child-rearing, to mature emotionally. Hence instead of enjoying their capacities for responsible work and love, they are grasping, egocentric, insecure, frustrated, anxious and hostile.
Maturity is the path from madness and murder to inner peace and satisfying living for each individual and for the human species.
This I believe on the evidence of science and through personal observation and experience.
我相信，生命最直接的目的便是生活——活着。所有已知的生命形式都经历着生命的兴衰周期，即出生、成熟、交配、繁衍、最终死亡。
因此，人生的首要目的是完成每个个体的生命周期，包括从茁壮成长发展为完全成熟的个体。
除非不良的因素使它长弯，否则松树生来便是笔直而挺拔的。人也是一样。一个最重要也最具意义的发现——成熟男女拥有成为最佳伴侣与父母的天性与特质：乐于尽责地工作，并献出自己的爱。
假如世上所有人都是对家庭、朋友及世界充满爱心，负有责任，并多作贡献的成熟个体，那我们人类的多数问题都将迎刃而解。
但是，多数人由于儿时的不良影响，导致他们扭曲地成长。因此，成年后，这些人就无法认识到自己完整而正确的人格。他们意识到有些地方不对劲，却不知问题出在哪里。他们自卑、灰心、焦虑且没有安全感。在内心情感的折磨下，他们如同受到伤害或威胁的野兽，随时准备争斗或逃避。逃避会使他们沉醉于酒精的麻痹，甚至精神错乱。而选择争斗往往会使他们变得残暴，走向犯罪，甚至挑起战争。
人类社会中最基本的问题就是，一触即发的暴力以及人类之间的相互残杀。这是因为暴力与残杀引发的战争，使得全人类的生存都受到了威胁。
如果没有争斗与逃避，远古时代的人类就无法在洞穴与丛林中幸存下来。如今，随着社会的发展，恶劣的自然环境与凶残的野兽对人类的威胁已不足为惧。人类甚至学会了战胜疾病，并且拥有对地球现有人口衣食住房的充足供给。除非宇宙出现什么意外，否则人类唯一要面对的生存威胁便是来自自己内心深处的争斗与逃避。现在看来，这种随时准备与伤害或威胁斗争的丛林法则，就像人体器官中的阑尾，是退化的落后。它对人类与自然文明相处这一更有效的新方式造成了干扰。用争斗与逃避来解决问题，是最原始粗糙的办法，只有无知的孩童才会这么做。而随后出现的新方法，即理解与合作，就需要成年人拥有成熟的心智。在孩子的世界中，争斗也许是被迫的。而达到成熟目标的有效方法就是运用成熟的方法来解决。也许只有当多数人成熟起来，战争才会结束。
我们人类面临的最基本问题，是适应社会并确保生存。而让人们认识到自己身心成熟的天性，努力朝其发展，并帮助孩子们成熟起来，这才是最基本的解决方法。
人类所遭受的苦难绝大多数来源于我们自身，主要是由于成年人在孩童时代的成长之路的扭曲影响了情感的成熟。因此，他们无法尽责地工作及关爱他人，相反，他们变得贪婪自私，缺乏安全感，灰心丧气，焦虑且充满敌意。
个人，乃至世界，若想从疯狂与杀戮中走向内心的和平与满足，成熟是唯一的途径。
我相信这些，因为它们是我在科学的实证观察与亲身经历中体会出来的。
1. Thus the immediate_______of human life is for_______individual to fulfill his life cycle. This involves_______maturing into the fully developed adult_______the species.
2. This readiness_______violence, this inhumanity of man to_______ , is the basic problem of human life—for, in the_______of war, it now threatens to extinguish us.
3. Maturity is the_______from madness and murder to inner peace and satisfying_____for each individual and for the_______species.
1. 我相信，生命最直接的目的便是生活——活着。
2. 假如世上所有人都是对家庭、朋友及世界充满爱心，负有责任，并多作贡献的成熟个体，那我们人类的多数问题都将迎刃而解。
3. 他们意识到有些地方不对劲，却不知问题出在哪里。
1. And they react to these inner feelings just as any animal reacts to any hurt or threat: by readiness to fight or to flee.
react to：对……起反应
2. He is even learning to protect himself against disease.
protect against：反对……以保护