「 As a Man Thinketh 」を現代の米国英語で、中学3年生レベルの語彙と文法をコンセプトに英訳を作成しています。
第二章「EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON CIRCUMSTANCES-1」です。原文と日本語解説もつけています。
Effect of Thought on Circumstances-1 (Modernized Version)
① A man’s mind is like a garden. It can be taken care of in a smart way, or it can be left alone to grow without control. But either way, it will grow something. If good seeds are not planted, then many useless weeds will grow instead and keep spreading.
② Just like a gardener takes care of his garden by removing weeds and growing the flowers and fruits he wants, a person can take care of their mind. They can remove bad, useless, and negative thoughts and grow good, helpful, and positive ones. By doing this, a person will eventually realize that they are in control of their own mind and life. They will also start to understand how their thoughts shape their personality, their life situations, and their future.
③ Thoughts and character are closely connected. A person’s character can only show and grow through their surroundings and life situations. This means that the outside world is always connected to their inner thoughts. However, this doesn’t mean that someone’s current situation shows everything about their character. It just means that their situation is closely linked to some important thoughts inside them, and for now, it is necessary for their personal growth.
④ Every person is where they are because of their own thoughts and choices. The thoughts they have put into their character have led them to their current situation. There is no such thing as luck in how life is arranged—everything happens because of a rule that never makes mistakes. This is true for both people who feel uncomfortable in their environment and those who are happy with it.
⑤ People are always growing and improving. They are in their current situation to learn and become better. Once they learn the important lessons from their situation, it will go away and be replaced by new experiences.
⑥ A person is controlled by their life situations as long as they believe that outside things decide everything. But when they understand that they have the power to shape their own life and control the thoughts and feelings that create their situations, they become the true master of their life.
⑦ Everyone who has practiced self-control and tried to improve themselves for a long time knows that their thoughts create their life situations. They have seen that when their way of thinking changes, their life also changes in the same way. This is so true that when someone works hard to fix their weaknesses and makes quick and clear progress, they go through many life changes one after another.
⑧ A person’s soul attracts what it secretly thinks about—both what it loves and what it fears. It reaches the goals it truly cares about, but it also falls to the level of its uncontrolled desires. Life situations help the soul get what it deserves.
Effect of Thought on Circumstances-1(Original text)
(Based on As a Man Thinketh by James Allen)
①Man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.
run wild（野放しになる、制御されずに成長する） bring forth（生み出す、生じさせる） abundance（豊富さ、多量） therein（そこに、その中に） kind（種類、同類）
②Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life. He also reveals, within himself, the laws of thought, and understands, with ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces and mind elements operate in the shaping of his character, circumstances, and destiny.
plot（土地、区画） tend（世話をする、手入れをする） pursue（進める、取り組む） accuracy（正確さ、精度）
③Thought and character are one, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state. This does not mean that a man’s circumstances at any given time are an indication of his entire character, but that those circumstances are so intimately connected with some vital thought-element within himself that, for the time being, they are indispensable to his development.
manifest and discover（表れると気づく） harmoniously（調和して、うまく一致して） at any given time（どの時点でも、その時々の） indication（兆し、しるし） intimately（深く密接に） indispensable（欠かせない、必要不可欠な）
④Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the result of a law which cannot err. This is just as true of those who feel “out of harmony” with their surroundings as of those who are contented with them.
surroundings（環境、周囲の状況） contented（満足している）
⑤As a progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives place to other circumstances.
progressive and evolving being（成長し続ける存在） passes away and gives place（消えて新しいものに変わる）
⑥Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself.
so long as（〜する限り） buffeted（振り回される、翻弄される） command（支配する、コントロールする）
⑦That circumstances grow out of thought every man knows who has for any length of time practised self-control and self-purification, for he will have noticed that the alteration in his circumstances has been in exact ratio with his altered mental condition. So true is this that out of thought every man knows who has for any length of time practised self-control and self-purification, for he will have noticed that the alteration in his circumstances has been in exact ratio with his altered mental condition. So true is this that when a man earnestly applies himself to remedy the defects in his character, and makes swift and marked progress, he passes rapidly through a succession of vicissitudes. a man earnestly applies himself to remedy the defects in his character, and makes swift and marked progress, he passes rapidly through a succession of vicissitudes.
out of（～から生じる） length（期間、時間の長さ） purification（浄化、清め） alteration（変化、変更） exact（正確な、ぴったりの） altered（変わった、修正された） earnestly（真剣に、熱心に） remedy（改善する、直す） defects（欠点、欠陥） rapidly（急速に、素早く） succession（連続、次々に起こること） vicissitudes（変化、浮き沈み）
⑧The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours; that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its unchastened desires,—and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.
attract（引き寄せる） harbour＝harbor（心に抱く、秘める） cherish（大切にする、心に抱く） aspiration（願望、目標） unchastened（抑えられていない、制御されていない）
和訳の要約
現代英語版は、中学レベルの英語ですが、分かりにくい部分があるかもしれません。
ここでアウトラインを掴んでおくとスッと頭に入るはずです！
これは名言と思える箇所は太字にしておきます。
人間の心は「庭」と同じ
人間の心は「庭」と同じようなものです。心を美しく保つためには、悪い思いを取り除き、正しくて純粋な思考の種をまくことが大切です。
もし放置すれば、雑草が生い茂り、不純な思いや誤った考えが広がります。
心の中の思考がそのまま人生に反映されるのです。
環境はあなたの「人格」を映す鏡
あなたの周りの環境は、まさにあなたの「人格」を映し出す鏡です。
すべての出来事には意味があり、偶然はありません。すべてはひとつの法則に従って動いています。
あなたの思考が変われば、環境もまた思い通りに変わることができるのです。
あなたは創造の力そのものであり、その力を育むのは他でもなく、あなた自身なのです。
思考を変え、現実を変える
自分の思考が現実を形作ると理解することで、状況を改善し、より良い方向へと進むことが可能です。
自分の心の中の考えに気をつけ、日々の行動や思考を変えていけば、人生の結果も自然に変わっていきます。
すべてはあなたの手の中にあります。
まとめ
本ブログのポイントは、原文を読みやすい現代英語でリライトした英訳版です。
現代英語版は英語勉強に最適です。覚えるぐらい繰り返し読んで欲しいです。
これをしっかり読み込めば自己啓発の根本である「思考は現実化する」「人は考えた通りの人になる」が理解できるようになります。
2-2に続きます。
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