27Julyиюля · 27-е июля
Знание — орудие, а не цель.
Knowledge is an instrument, not an aim.
1. Люди мало знают оттого, что они стремятся познать или то, что не дано их пониманию, недоступно им: бог, вечность, дух; или то, о чем не стоит думать: о том, как мерзнет вода, о теории чисел, о том, какие бактерии в какой болезни и т. п.
Путь истинного знания один: знать нужно только то, как жить.
1. People know little because they strive to know either what is not given them to understand, what is beyond their reach: God, eternity, spirit; or what is not worth thinking about: how water freezes, the theory of numbers, which bacteria are found in which disease, and so on.
There is one way of true knowledge: what we need to know is only how to live.
2. Для того, чтобы вынуть занозившую ногу спицу, берут другую и с помощью ее вынимают занозу; когда же это сделано, бросают и ту и другую. Точно так же ум нужен только для того, чтобы устранить безумие, затемняющее зрение божественного я, но ум сам по себе не составляет достоинства. Он только орудие.
2. To draw out a thorn that has run into the foot, one takes another, and with its help draws out the splinter; and when this is done, one throws both away. In just the same way the mind is needed only to remove the folly that darkens the sight of the divine I, but the mind in itself has no merit. It is only an instrument.
From Râmakrishna: His Life and Sayings · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedThe close, that knowledge and ignorance, both “comprised truly under Nescience,” are left behind together, gives way to a sentence of Tolstoy’s own: “the mind in itself has no merit. It is only an instrument.”
In English · F. Max Müller (ed.), 1898332. When a sharp thorn finds its way into the sole of one's foot, one takes another thorn to get the former out, …
… and then casts both of them away. So relative knowledge alone can remove the relative ignorance which blinds the eye of the Self.
As both such knowledge and ignorance are comprised truly under Nescience, …
Source text: archive.orgTolstoy’s own version · Мысли мудрых людей на каждый деньДля того, чтобы вынуть занозившую ногу спицу, берут другую, чтобы извлечь ее; когда же это сделано, бросают и ту и другую. Точно так же ум нужен только для того, чтобы устранить безумие, затемняющее зрение божественного я, но, поистине, как ум, так и безумие не составляют истинного откровения.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Râmakrishna: His Life and Sayings (1898), Saying 332.
Ramakrishna's saying 332 in Max Müller's collection, its close rewritten. Müller: 'When a sharp thorn finds its way into the sole of one's foot, one takes another thorn to get the former out, and then casts both of them away. So relative knowledge alone can remove the relative ignorance which blinds the eye of the Self. As both such knowledge and ignorance are comprised truly under Nescience, the man who attains the highest Gnâna, or knowledge of the Absolute, does away with both knowledge and ignorance in the end, being himself free from all duality.' Tolstoy's 1903 version (Thoughts of Wise Men, 19 September), from the German of the Theosophischer Wegweiser (Jubilee vol. 40; not found online), already has «ум» and «безумие» (reason and unreason) for 'relative knowledge' and 'relative ignorance', and ends as Müller does, «как ум, так и безумие не составляют истинного откровения. Тот, кто достиг истинного откровения, того нельзя называть ни умным, ни безумным, потому что он освобождается от всякой двойственности» (both reason and unreason fall short of true revelation; he who has reached it is called neither wise nor foolish, being freed from all duality). For the Circle Tolstoy struck that ending and wrote «но ум сам по себе не составляет достоинства. Он только орудие» (but reason in itself is no merit; it is only a tool), fitting the day's theme, 'knowledge is a tool, not an end.' So Ramakrishna's point, that knowledge and ignorance are both left behind, becomes a point about reason as an instrument. The printed editions sign it «Браминская мудрость»; the 1903 book named Ramakrishna. The Bengali was not traced.
Translation note. «Спица» is any sharp spike; here it is a thorn. «Заноза», the word that follows, is a splinter.
3. — О, какой я несчастный! Мне хотелось заняться чтением прекрасной и полезнейшей книги, и вот, вместо того, изволь исполнять просьбы этого докучливого человека.
— А разве, — отвечу я тебе, — твоя обязанность в том и состоит, чтобы читать книги в то время, когда от тебя просят помощи? Тебе надо знать и помнить одно: что хочет бог, чтобы ты сделал теперь, и чего он не хочет. Недавно он устроил так, чтобы ты был в одиночестве, чтобы ты беседовал сам с собою, читал, писал, подготовлялся к добрым делам. А сегодня он послал к тебе людей, которые просят тебя помочь им делом. Этим самым бог как бы говорит:
«Выходи из своего одиночества и покажи на деле то, чему ты выучился, потому что пришло время и тебе и людям увидать пользу того, о чем ты читал и думал».
Не ударь же лицом в грязь; не сетуй на людей за то, что они прервали твое занятие: ведь если б не было людей, то кому бы ты служил и к чему было бы читать книжки о том, как лучше служить людям?
3. “Oh, how unhappy I am! I wanted to settle down to reading a fine and most useful book, and now, instead of that, I must see to the requests of this tiresome man.”
“But is it really your duty,” I will answer you, “to read books at the very time when someone asks you for help?” You need to know and remember one thing: what God wants you to do now, and what he does not want. Not long ago he arranged things so that you were alone, so that you might converse with yourself, read, write, and prepare yourself for good deeds. And today he has sent you people who ask you to help them in deed. By this very thing God is, as it were, saying:
“Come out of your solitude and show in practice what you have learned, for the time has come for you and for people to see the use of what you have read and thought about.”
Do not disgrace yourself, then; do not grumble at people for interrupting your occupation: for if there were no people, whom would you serve, and what would be the point of reading books about how best to serve people?
From Discourses · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedThe interruption becomes a request for help: the complaint “I have no leisure for reading” is made by one kept from a useful book by “the requests of this tiresome man,” and God’s summons, “Come now to the contest, show us what you have learned, how you have practised the athletic art,” becomes “Come out of your solitude and show in practice what you have learned”; a closing paragraph on serving people is added. †
† An intermediate translation may have made this change.
Original · Ancient Greek… κακῶς μοί ἐστιν, οὐκ εὐσχολῶ ἀναγνῶναι;
… τί ἐμόν, τί οὐκ ἐμόν; τί μοι δίδοται; τί θέλει με ποιεῖν ὁ θεὸς νῦν, τί οὐ θέλει;
… πρὸ ὀλίγου χρόνου ἤθελέν σε σχολάζειν, σαυτῷ λαλεῖν, γράφειν περὶ τούτων, ἀναγιγνώσκειν, ἀκούειν, παρασκευάζεσθαι· ἔσχες εἰς τοῦτο ἱκανὸν χρόνον.
… νῦν σοι λέγει ἐλθὲ ἤδη ἐπὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα, δεῖξον ἡμῖν, τί ἔμαθες, πῶς ἤθλησας.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · George Long, 1877… what is the difference between saying, I am unhappy, I have nothing to do, but I am bound to my books as a corpse; or saying, I am unhappy, I have no leisure for reading?
Do you only bear in mind the general rules: what is mine, what is not mine; what is given (permitted) to me; what does God will that I should do now? what does he not will?
A little before he willed you to be at leisure, to talk with yourself, to write about these things, to read, to hear, to prepare yourself. You had sufficient time for this.
Now he says to you: Come now to the contest, show us what you have learned, how you have practised the athletic art.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comTolstoy’s own version · Мысли мудрых людей на каждый деньТы так зачитываешься полезными книжками, что жалеешь, когда люди отрывают тебя от этого занятия. Ты смеешься над человеком суетным, который веселится праздными забавами, и думаешь, что читать полезную книгу никогда не суетно. Посмейся лучше над собой, потому что читать полезную книгу так, только для одного себя, как ты ее читаешь, так же праздно и суетно: страдания и недовольство у обоих вас будут одинаковы.
О, какой я несчастный! Мне хотелось заняться чтением прекрасной и полезнейшей книги, и вот, вместо того, изволь исполнять просьбы этого докучливого человека!
Выходи из своего одиночества и покажи на деле то, чему ты выучился, потому что пришло время и тебе и людям увидать пользу того, о чем ты читал и думал.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Discourses, IV.4.2, 29–30.
From Thoughts of Wise Men (1903), March 22, word for word but for punctuation («одно: что хочет бог» for «одно, чтó хочет бог»; God's words set as a quotation), and without the 1903 opening, which reproaches the reader who reads useful books "only for himself" and so is as idle as the man of empty amusements (after IV.4.1–4 and 19–21: the desire of leisure and of books makes a man a slave like the desire of power; whoever laughs at the one should laugh at himself; and such a man cannot say with Socrates, "If so it pleases God, so let it be"). The source of the 1903 Epictetus was V. G. Chertkov's «Римский мудрец Эпиктет. Его жизнь и учение» (Посредник, first ed. 1889; Jubilee vol. 40 commentary), not seen. Epictetus, Discourses IV.4 ("To those who are desirous of passing life in tranquillity"), changed in its setting. His complaint, "I am unhappy, I have no leisure for reading" (IV.4.2), becomes «Мне хотелось заняться чтением прекрасной и полезнейшей книги, и вот, вместо того, изволь исполнять просьбы этого докучливого человека» (I wanted to read a fine and most useful book, and instead I must do what this tiresome man asks); in Epictetus the interruption is a summons to public business and the "tumult" of crowds (IV.4.5, 24–28), and nobody asks for help. The general rule, "what does God will that I should do now? what does he not will?" (IV.4.29), and "A little before he willed you to be at leisure, to talk with yourself, to write ..., to read, to hear, to prepare yourself" (IV.4.30) are kept close; the people sent to ask for help are added. God's words, "Come now to the contest, show us what you have learned, how you have practised the athletic art", become «Выходи из своего одиночества и покажи на деле то, чему ты выучился, потому что пришло время и тебе и людям увидать пользу того, о чем ты читал и думал» (come out of your solitude and show in deed what you have learned, for the time has come for you and for people to see the use of what you read and thought): the athlete and the contest are dropped. The last paragraph (do not disgrace yourself or blame people for interrupting you: without people, whom would you serve, and why read books on how better to serve people?) has no counterpart in IV.4.
Translation note. «Не ударь лицом в грязь», literally “do not fall face down in the mud,” means “do not disgrace yourself.”
4. Наука должна быть употребляема на утверждение религии, а не на приобретение богатства.
4. Learning should be used to establish religion, and not to acquire wealth.
From Gulistan, ch. VIII · close to the original .
What Tolstoy read · The Sacred AnthologyScience is to be used for the preservation of religion, and not for the acquisition of wealth.
Source text: archive.orgIn English · Francis Gladwin, 1806Science is to be used for the preservation of religion, and not for the acquisition of wealth.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Gulistan, ch. VIII (On the rules of conduct in life), ch. VIII, maxim 4 (Ganjoor); Gladwin (1865), ch. VIII, No. IV, p. 338; Conway (1874), no. CCIV, Use of Knowledge, p. 128.
The first sentence of Conway's 'Use of Knowledge', Gladwin's English: 'Science is to be used for the preservation of religion, and not for the acquisition of wealth.' Tolstoy is close, with «утверждение» (establishing) for 'preservation'; his «Наука» is Gladwin's 'Science', the Persian ʿilm (knowledge, learning). The Persian: 'Knowledge is for nurturing religion, not for feeding on the world.' Tolstoy leaves out the sentence that follows in Gladwin and Conway, 'Whosoever prostituted his abstinence, reputation, and learning for gain, formed a granary and then consumed it entirely.' The next entry, 7-27.5, comes from the section before it in Conway. Not in Thoughts of Wise Men (1903).
Translation note. «Наука» is learning in general here; the same word is the Russian for “science.”
5. Кто приобретает знания, но не пользуется ими, подобен тому, кто пашет, но не сеет.
5. Whoever acquires knowledge but does not use it is like one who plows but does not sow.
From Gulistan, ch. VIII · close to the original .
What Tolstoy read · The Sacred AnthologyWhosoever acquired knowledge, and did not prac tise it, resembleth him who ploughed, but did not sow.
Source text: archive.orgOriginal · Persianهر که علم خواند و عمل نکرد بدان ماند که گاو راند و تخم نیفشاند.
Source text: api.ganjoor.netIn English · Francis Gladwin, 1806Whosoever acquired knowledge, and did not practise it, resembleth him who ploughed, but did not sow.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Gulistan, ch. VIII (On the rules of conduct in life), ch. VIII, maxim 38 (Ganjoor); Gladwin (1865), ch. VIII, No. XL, p. 352; Conway (1874), no. CCIII, Fruitless Toil, p. 128.
Gladwin's English through Conway, close: 'Whosoever acquired knowledge, and did not practise it, resembleth him who ploughed, but did not sow.' The Persian: 'Whoever studied knowledge and did not act on it is like one who drove the ox and did not scatter the seed.' The printed editions left the thought unsigned; the Jubilee editors signed it «Гулистан» Саади (vol. 42, list of corrected signatures), rightly. Tolstoy took this thought and 7-27.4 from consecutive sections of Conway, CCIII and CCIV, in reverse order. July 22's thought signed «Восточная мудрость» (7-22.4), «Человек, знающий закон, но не исполняющий его, подобен человеку, который пашет, но не сеет», has the same image. Not in Thoughts of Wise Men (1903).
6. Люди, думающие, что главное дело в жизни — в знании, подобны тем бабочкам, которые летят на свечи — сами погибают и затемняют свет.
6. People who think that the chief thing in life lies in knowledge are like those moths that fly into candles — they perish themselves and darken the light.
7. В слове ученый заключается только понятие о том, что кто-то много чему-то учился, но это еще не значит, что он научился чему-нибудь.
7. The word learned holds only the notion that someone has studied a great deal of something or other, but this does not yet mean that he has learned anything.
From Vermischte Schriften, vol. I · shortened by Tolstoy .
Original · GermanIm Wort Gelehrter ſteckt nur der Begriff, daß einem vieles gelehrt iſt, aber nicht, daß man auch etwas gelernt hat; …
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Vermischte Schriften, vol. I (1800), Bemerkungen vermischten Inhalts, 7: Sprachbemerkungen, Vermischte Schriften I (Göttingen, 1800), pp. 275–276.
The first half of Lichtenberg's sentence, closely: in the word “Gelehrter” (a learned man, literally one taught) lies only the notion that much has been taught to someone, not that he has also learned something. Tolstoy writes «что кто-то много чему-то учился» (that someone studied much) for “daß einem vieles gelehrt ist” (that much has been taught to one), and carries Lichtenberg's play on gelehrt and gelernt into «ученый», «учился», and «научился». Left out: the rest of the sentence, that the French therefore say, wittily, not “les enseignés” but “les savans”, and the English not “the taught ones” but “the learned”. The first edition stands in for Tolstoy's Ausgewählte Schriften (1879), as in earlier months. No public-domain English was found.
Цель жизни — исполнение закона бога, а не приобретение знаний.
The aim of life is the fulfillment of the law of God, and not the acquisition of knowledge.
Translation note. The Russian italic is broken only at the dash and the comma; it is set here as one span.
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