钟为你而鸣 — 读约翰•多恩的《病危时刻的祈祷文：沉思17》

李毅

约翰 .多恩 (John Donne 1572-1631), 英国玄学派诗人，伦敦圣保罗大教堂主持牧师（1621-1631）。多恩是一个具有多方面才能的天才人物，以情诗、宗教诗、祈祷文以及布道文闻名于世。

中国读者中熟悉多恩的人可能不多，但是很多人都知道他的一段话：“没有人是一座孤岛，能够自成一体……无须问丧钟为谁而鸣，它为你而鸣。” 这段话之所以广为人知，是因为美国作家海明威把自己的一部小说冠之以《钟为谁鸣》的书名，而此语出自于约翰多恩的《病危时刻的祈祷文》第十七篇第一部分 “沉思”。

伦敦圣保罗大教堂前的多恩塑像

《病危时刻的祈祷文》写作于四百年前的冬天（1623年）。当时多恩得了重病，疾病一次次发作，他以为自己快要死了。在这绝望的时刻，他反复思考死亡的问题。当疾病渐渐痊愈之时，他开始动笔写《病危时刻的祈祷文》。他一共写了二十三篇，每一篇包括三个部分：一 沉思（Meditation），二 向上帝进言（Expostulation) , 三 祈祷 （Prayers)。 这些文章一经写成就结集出版，并且很快成为了畅销书。

在 “沉思17” 中，作者讲述自己在病床上听到附近教堂传出的丧钟，由此想到了他目前的疾病和随时可能面临的死亡，进而联想到世间其他人的生死。尽管这篇文章包含宗教主题，但是它传达的信息具有普遍的意义：人类生命彼此休戚与共，是命运共同体，共同组成了一本大书，每个人都是其中的章节；人类共同构成了广袤的大陆，每个人都是其中的一块。任何一个人的离去都会造成人类整体的残缺。因此，当丧钟为他人敲响的时候，它也是为我们每个人敲响。

伦敦圣保罗大教堂前的多恩塑像

每一个生命的内心都有一个愿望，那就是自己不再是单纯的个体， 而是成为某个整体的一部分。在分担整体中其他部分的痛苦和孤独的同时，个体生命也从整体中汲取希望和爱的力量，摆脱自己的痛苦和孤独。这正如朱丽叶对罗密欧所说：“我给予你越多，我拥有就越多”（The more I give to thee, the more I have）。多恩因此鼓励读者借助他人的痛苦发展自己的同情心，促进心灵的成长，学习如何更好地生活。

同时，多恩的话也是植根于基督教的深厚传统的。保罗在《新约》中的相关看法对基督教传统对痛苦的理解有着最深刻的影响。保罗认为上帝使人痛苦是有目的的：痛苦是为了唤起人们对罪的认识，让人们去寻找神的拯救，他把这种痛苦称为 “虔诚的忧愁” （godly sorrow）；而另一种痛苦他称为 “世俗的忧愁” (“worldly sorrow”)，怀着这种忧愁的人因为追逐名利地位金钱而烦恼，不去寻找上帝的恩典：“上帝善用忧愁改变人心，使人得救，这是用不着后悔的！可是世俗的忧愁会让人死亡”(《哥林多后书》7:10)。多恩把他人的苦痛视为自己受赠的财富，这财富促使自己的心灵向上帝开启，进而寻求获得上帝的拯救。这显然是与“虔诚的忧愁”相关的。

译文

也许这钟声是为另一人敲响，而他可能病得很重，并不知道钟为他而鸣。而我自认为身体还不算太糟，而实际情况也许并非如此，因为那些围绕在我病床周围的人，看到我的病况，可能会为我敲响丧钟，但我却并不知道钟是为我而鸣。教会是无处不在的，普世的，教会所做的一切也是如此，与所有人息息相关。教会为一个孩子施洗，这个事与我有关；因为教会是所有人的头，那个孩子与这个头相连，我也与这个头相连；教会是所有会众构成的身体，那个孩子融入了这个身体，而我也是这身体的一部分。教会安葬一个人，这个事也与我相关。全人类都出自一个造物主，我们共同构成了一卷书，各为其中不同的章节。一个人去世后，书中专属他的一章不会从书上撕掉，而是被转换成了一种更高级的文字；每一章都必须如此转换。上帝雇用了几位文字转换者: 有些章节是由“年龄”转换成其他文字的，有些章节是由“疾病”转换的，有些是由“战争”转换的，有些是“正义”转换的。惟有神的手运作于每一个转换文本中，他的手会把我们这些所有散页重新装订起来，排列在那座图书馆中。在那里，每一本书都要向彼此敞开。因此，布道的钟声不仅召唤传道人，而且召唤即将到来的会众；这钟声召唤着我们所有人，更是在召唤我：我身患重病，已经被带到了门口。

不同宗教团体之间曾发生过一项争议，这争议甚至发展成法庭纠纷（其中虔诚和尊严，宗教和自尊这些因素交织在一起），其争议的焦点是哪个教派应该在早上首先鸣钟进行晨祷；最后争论的结果是：谁先起床就谁先鸣钟晨祷。如果我们正确地领悟晚祷钟声所蕴含的庄严，我们就会乐意早早起身，把其他教派晨祷的钟声也视为我们自己的钟声。 钟声响起之时，如果任何人认为它是为自己响起的，那就是为他响起的。虽然钟声中断，但是从那一刻起，这种情况发生在他身上，他就与上帝同在。当太阳升起时，谁不抬头注视太阳？当彗星爆发时，谁会把眼睛从彗星上移开呢？钟声在任何场合响起，谁不侧耳聆听呢？谁能掩耳拒听那钟声呢？毕竟它把听者自己的一部分带离了这个世界。

没有人是一座孤岛，能够自成一体；每个人都是构成大陆的一块，都是整体的一部分；如果海水冲走一块土，欧洲就减少一块，这就如同海岬失掉一角，如同你朋友的庄园或你自己的庄园失去一块。任何人的死亡都是我自己的损失，因为我是人类中的一分子，因此无须问丧钟为谁而鸣，它为你而鸣。

我们并非自寻烦恼，或挪用他人的苦难，好像我们活得不够悲惨，还得求助于隔壁邻居，让他们把自己的愁苦加诸在我们身上。如果我们这样做了，那确实是出自于一种可以理解的渴望：因为苦难是财富，而我们经历过的痛苦还远远不够。人不经受足够的苦难就不会成熟，就不会符合上帝的期望。 如果一个人携带金条或金锭，而没有把它们铸成金币，那么他在旅行中就没法使用他的财富。 苦难在本质是一种财富，但它不是可以供我们花销的货币，其唯一的用处是让我们越来越接近天堂的家园。另一个人也可能病了，而且病入膏肓，这病痛可能在他的腹腔里发作，藏在那里像矿井里的金子一样，但对他却毫无用处；然而钟声向我传达了病人的痛苦，就是将这金子馈赠于我。如果从这种角度来思考他人所经历的苦痛，我会由此思考我自己面临的苦难，进而寻求上帝的庇护。唯有信靠上帝，我们才得以心安。（李毅 译）

Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

Meditation 17

PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he knows not it tolls for him. And perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingraffed into that body, whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me; all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that library where every book shall lie open to one another; as therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come; so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.

There was a contention as far as a suit (in which, piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell, that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours, by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is. The bell doth toll for him, that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute, that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God. Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? But who takes off his eye from a comet, when that breaks out? who bends not his ear to any bell, which upon any occasion rings? But who can remove it from that bell, which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbors. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough, that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current moneys, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell that tells me of his affliction, digs out, and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger, I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.