【正文】
and lose its protective shelter. We enter a progression of schools, then we leave our mothers and fathers and our childhood homes. We get married and have children and then have to let them go. We confront the death of our parents and our spouses. We face the gradual or not so gradual waning of our own strength. And ultimately, as the parable of the open and closed hand suggests, we must confront the inevitability of our own demise, losing ourselves, as it were, all that we were or dreamed to be.但是,為什么我們甘愿順從于這些生活的矛盾需求呢 ? 既然美轉(zhuǎn)眼就會消逝,那為什么我們還要去創(chuàng)造那些美的東西呢 ? 既然我們所愛的終歸要被奪走,為什么我們還要傾心相愛呢 ?But why should we be reconciled to life39。s contradictory demands? Why fashion things of beauty when beauty is evanescent? Why give our heart in love when those we love will ultimately be torn from our grasp?為了要解決這個矛盾,我們必須尋找一個較為廣闊的視角,透過通向永恒的窗口來觀看我們的生命。做到了這一點,我們會發(fā)覺,雖然我們的生命是有限的,但是我們在地球上的行為卻在編織著一個沒有時間限制的圖案。In order to resolve this paradox, we must seek a wider perspective, viewing our lives as through windows that open on eternity. Once we do that, we realize that though our lives are finite, our deeds on earth weave a timeless pattern.生命絕不只是存在。它是變動不止的,無情地流逝不息的。父母的生命在我們身上延續(xù),而我們的生命又將在我們的子女身上延續(xù)。我們建立的習俗制度會持續(xù)下去,而我們的生命就活在其中。我們創(chuàng)造的美好的東西不會因為我們的死亡而暗淡無光。我們的肉體會消亡,我們的雙手也會枯萎,但它們在真善美中所創(chuàng)造的一切將在日后長存 !Life is never just being. It is a