第一百三十三章 第四卷 从原则角度谈修道院
第四卷 从原则角度谈修道院
人们相聚而居。依据什么权利？
依据结社权利。
他们把自己关在屋里。依据什么权利？
依据每个人有权开门或关门的权利。
他们足不出户。依据什么权利？
依据来去自由的权利，其中包括居家不出的权利。
在屋里，他们做什么？
他们低声细语，低垂眼帘，辛勤劳作。他们放弃世俗、城市、感官享受、欢乐、虚荣、骄傲、利益。他们穿着粗糙的毛料或亚麻布衣。没有一个人拥有任何私有财产。进入这里时，每个富有的人都让自己变得贫穷。他所拥有的，都给予众人。那些曾被称为贵族、绅士、老爷的人，与曾为农夫的人地位平等。所有人的房间都一样。都要剃同样的发式，穿同样的僧袍，吃同样的黑面包，睡同样的草铺，死后葬于同样的灰烬中。背上同样的布袋，腰间系着同样的绳索。若决定赤足行走，所有人都赤足。他们中可能有位王子，但那王子和其余人一样是影子。没有头衔。连姓氏都消失了。只有名字。在洗礼名的平等之下，所有人都俯首。他们瓦解了血亲家庭，在团体中建立了一个精神家庭。除了所有人以外，他们没有其他亲属。他们救济穷人，照顾病人。他们选举出服从的对象。他们互称"我的兄弟"。
您打断我，喊道："但这不就是理想的修道院吗！"
只要这可能是存在的修道院，我就应当注意到它。
正因为如此，在前一卷中，我以敬重的语气谈论了一个修道院。抛开中世纪，抛开亚洲，暂不讨论历史和政治问题，从纯粹哲学的角度看，在好战政策的要求之外，只要修道院完全是自愿的，只接纳自愿者，我将始终以某种专注的、在某些方面恭敬严肃的态度看待封闭的团体。
有团体之处就有公社，有公社之处就有权利。修道院是公式"平等、博爱"的产物。啊！自由何其伟大！何等灿烂的升华！自由足以将修道院转变为共和国。
让我们继续。
但这些男人或女人，这些四壁之内的人们。他们穿着粗糙的毛料衣服，他们平等相待，互称兄弟，这很好；但他们还做别的事吗？
是的。
做什么？
他们凝视黑暗，屈膝跪下，双手合十。
这意味着什么？
Men unite themselves and dwell in communities. By virtue of what right?
By virtue of the right of association.
They shut themselves up at home. By virtue of what right? By virtue of
the right which every man has to open or shut his door.
They do not come forth. By virtue of what right? By virtue of the right
to go and come, which implies the right to remain at home.
There, at home, what do they do?
They speak in low tones; they drop their eyes; they toil. They renounce
the world, towns, sensualities, pleasures, vanities, pride, interests.
They are clothed in coarse woollen or coarse linen. Not one of them
possesses in his own right anything whatever. On entering there, each
one who was rich makes himself poor. What he has, he gives to all. He
who was what is called noble, a gentleman and a lord, is the equal of
him who was a peasant. The cell is identical for all. All undergo the
same tonsure, wear the same frock, eat the same black bread, sleep on
the same straw, die on the same ashes. The same sack on their backs,
the same rope around their loins. If the decision has been to go
barefoot, all go barefoot. There may be a prince among them; that
prince is the same shadow as the rest. No titles. Even family names
have disappeared. They bear only first names. All are bowed beneath the
equality of baptismal names. They have dissolved the carnal family, and
constituted in their community a spiritual family. They have no other
relatives than all men. They succor the poor, they care for the sick.
They elect those whom they obey. They call each other “my brother.”
You stop me and exclaim, “But that is the ideal convent!”
It is sufficient that it may be the possible convent, that I should
take notice of it.
Thence it results that, in the preceding book, I have spoken of a
convent with respectful accents. The Middle Ages cast aside, Asia cast
aside, the historical and political question held in reserve, from the
purely philosophical point of view, outside the requirements of
militant policy, on condition that the monastery shall be absolutely a
voluntary matter and shall contain only consenting parties, I shall
always consider a cloistered community with a certain attentive, and,
in some respects, a deferential gravity.
Wherever there is a community, there is a commune; where there is a
commune, there is right. The monastery is the product of the formula:
Equality, Fraternity. Oh! how grand is liberty! And what a splendid
transfiguration! Liberty suffices to transform the monastery into a
republic.
Let us continue.
But these men, or these women who are behind these four walls. They
dress themselves in coarse woollen, they are equals, they call each
other brothers, that is well; but they do something else?
Yes.
What?
They gaze on the darkness, they kneel, and they clasp their hands.
What does this signify?
