Lesson 11 How to grow old
Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it-so at least it seems to me----is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river--small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider , the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And it, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will be not unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do, and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.
一些老人困顿于死亡的恐惧。年轻人对这种感觉有一种正当解释。那些害怕在战斗中死去的年轻人无可非议地觉得痛苦，他们被生活提供的最好的事物蒙蔽。但是老年人，已知晓人世悲欢，已完成工作事务，对死亡的恐惧就是糟糕而卑微的。至少对我来说，最好的克服它的办法就是——让你的兴趣逐渐宽广而去个人化，直到一点点地自我意识的围墙倒塌，直到一点点的你的生命融合在宇宙生命之中。人类个体的存在应该像一条河，开始很窄，被两岸所辖，充满激情地冲刷卵石，跨过瀑布。逐渐地，河流变宽，两岸远去，水流地更安静，最后不见停歇，他们融入大海，毫无痛苦的告别了个体。那些能够以如此方式看待自己生命的人，将不会受苦于死亡的恐惧，因为他关心的事业仍然在继续。生命腐朽，困顿减少，余生不会变得那么叨扰。我应当死在工作上，知晓其他人将继续我未能继续的事业，满足于一切可能终将实现的念头。
如何老去（英译汉试译）
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