wise and socially beneficial to think of ourselves as being, every one of us, sinners. This seems,

把我們每個人都看作是罪人，這是明智的，也是有益於社會的。這似乎..,

at first glance, both patently untrue – and deeply unhelpful. The vast majority of us

乍一看，既明顯不符合事實--又深感無益。我們中的絕大多數人

have committed no particularly egregious crime and might feel understandably targeted and

沒有犯下特別嚴重的罪行，可能會覺得自己是目標，而且可以理解。

shamed to have to carry such a dark and archaic title. Furthermore, a burden of non-specific

恥於揹負這樣一個黑暗和陳舊的標題。此外，一個不具體的負擔

guilt seems like a sure route to damaged morale and a hounded personality. But the counter-argument

內疚感似乎是導致士氣受損和被人追捧的必經之路。但反駁的理由是

runs like this. Simply stated: the only people who can count as good are those who are modestly

這樣運行。簡單的說：只有那些謙虛的人，才能算得上是好人。

and openly prepared to acknowledge their potential, and active tendencies, to be less than perfect.

並公開準備承認他們的潛力和積極的傾向，不那麼完美。

And the truly bad and dangerous among us are those who have never suspected they might

而我們當中真正的壞人和危險人物 是那些從來沒有懷疑過他們可能的人

such things. It is, in other words, a sense of innocence and purity that renders people

諸如此類的事情。換句話說，就是一種純真和純潔的感覺，使人們能夠

properly unpleasant and dangerous, for it removes their capacity for introspection,

適當的不愉快和危險，因為它消除了他們的檢討能力。

moderation, guilt and atonement, the ingredients upon which true goodness is founded. Nice

節制、內疚和贖罪，是真正的善的基礎。好的

people aren't without flaws; they're just unusually aware of them, and unusually committed

人不是沒有缺點的，只是他們異常的清楚，異常的執著而已

to overcoming them. Only with an ongoing degree of self-doubt and self-reflection can we check

到克服它們。只有不斷地進行自我懷疑和自我檢討，才能檢查出

our myriad tendencies to native arrogance and cruelty.

我們的各種傾向於本土的傲慢和殘忍。

We need to accept with grace that we're geniuses at fixating on the wrongs

我們需要優雅地接受我們是天才，專注於錯誤。

of others and at eliding evidence of our own less than ideal natures. We can see the lies

我們可以看到別人的謊言，也可以看到我們自己不理想的本性的證據。我們可以看到謊言

of others so clearly; our own mendacity is frankly always a very real surprise. The aggression,

清楚地知道別人的想法；我們自己的頑固不化，坦率地說，總是讓人感到非常驚訝。的委屈。

stupidity and sheer evil exhibited by them – the target group of our anger – renders

他們所表現出的愚蠢和純粹的邪惡--我們憤怒的目標群體--使我們的生活變得更美好。

us immediately incensed and impassioned. But that we have been less than perfect in another

我們立刻怒火中燒，慷慨激昂。但是，我們在另一個方面還不夠完美。

area, this remains truly puzzling and unfamiliar news. The cardinal sin here is a feeling of

領域，這仍然是真正令人費解和陌生的消息。在這裡，最主要的罪過是一種感覺。

righteousness. Being right and being righteous are painfully different concepts. When we

義。正確和正義是令人痛苦的不同概念。當我們

are right, we are so within a specific context, on one occasion, but we have no guarantee

是正確的，我們在特定的環境下，在一個場合下是這樣，但我們沒有保證。

of being so again. The moment of rightness has to be earned, never assumed. However,

的又是如此。正確的時刻必須要爭取，絕不能假設。然而，

when we are righteous, we feel ourselves to be right not only on this occasion – but

當我們義的時候，我們覺得自己不僅在這個場合是正確的--而是

on all others too. We trust ourselves to be above being evil – and therefore become

對所有其他人也是如此。我們相信自己是超越邪惡的--是以成為。

so with particular insidiousness. A sense of purity is a particular error of the adolescent

所以具有特別的隱蔽性。純潔感是青少年的一種特殊錯誤

(and the adolescentally-minded) because they are as yet more likely not to have sinned

(和有青少年思想的人)，因為他們更可能還沒有犯罪

yet – or only in ways that are hidden, incipient and tentative. They look only at the evidence

然而--或者只是以隱蔽的、萌芽的和試探性的方式。他們只看證據

of the sins of their elders and superiors. How normal to conclude then, that they must

他們的長輩和上級的罪過。那麼，得出這樣的結論是多麼正常啊，他們一定是。

be good in and of themselves – and that it is the rest of the world that will always

是好的，而且是世界上其他地方的人，將永遠是好的。

be corrupt and wicked. It is no coincidence that in revolutionary armies, it has traditionally

是腐敗的、邪惡的。在革命軍隊中，歷來都是以

been the youngest soldiers, that is, the soldiers most convinced of their own purity, who have

是最年輕的阿兵哥，也就是最相信自己的純潔性的阿兵哥，他們已經。

shown the greatest ruthlessness to the enemy. A good community isn't one where there is

對敵人表現出最大的無情。一個好的社會不是一個有...

a feeling that everyone can one day be pure, but rather one with a sense of how close everyone

感覺到每個人都能有一天變得純潔，而是感覺到每個人都是多麼的接近於...

is to being bad, which breeds a group commitment to increasing the amount of self-observation,

是對壞的，這就孕育發生了團體承諾，增加自我觀察的量。

confession, productive guilt, tolerance, understanding, and kindness in circulation. Good people know

懺悔、生產性愧疚、寬容、理解、善意的流通。善良的人知道

never to allow the rightness of a specific cause they're involved with to function

決不允許自己所從事的具體事業的正確性發揮作用。

as an excuse to abandon manners, tolerance and modesty. People who think they are good

作為放棄禮貌、寬容和謙遜的藉口。自以為是的人

are no so such thing: they just lack imagination and self-knowledge. The evidence would be

是沒有這樣的事情：他們只是缺乏想象力和自知之明。證據是

there if there eyes were open enough to see it. Far from demeaning us, the idea that we

如果有足夠的眼睛去看它。遠遠沒有貶低我們， 我們的想法，我們

are all sinners is the surest guarantee of virtue.

都是罪人是美德最可靠的保證。

Did you know we also have an app to help you meet people with whome you can have deeper more meaningful conversations?

你知道嗎，我們還有一個應用程序，可以幫助你認識一些人，你可以和他們進行更深入更有意義的對話。

Click the link on your screen now to download it.

現在就點擊螢幕上的鏈接下載吧。