「 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。
第五章「THE THOUGHT-FACTOR IN ACHIEVEMENT-1」です。原文と日本語解説もつけています。
The Though-Factor in Achievement-1 (Modernized Version)
① All that a person achieves or fails to achieve comes from their own thoughts. In a fair universe, where losing balance means total destruction, each person must take full responsibility. Their weakness or strength, purity or impurity, comes from themselves, not from anyone else. They are the only one who can change it. Their life is their own. Their pain and happiness come from inside. They are what they think. If they keep thinking like that, they stay the same.
② A strong person can’t help a weak person unless the weak person wants to be helped. Even then, the weak person must grow stronger by their own effort. They need to develop the same strength they admire in others. No one else can change their situation—only they can.
③ People have thought and said for a long time, “Many are slaves because there is an oppressor. So let’s hate the oppressor.” But nowadays, some people have begun to say the reverse: “One is an oppressor because there are many slaves. So let’s look down on the slaves.”
④ They are unconsciously cooperating. They seem to hurt each other, but actually, they hurt themselves. Perfect knowledge is based on the truth that rules the universe. It sees that the law of cause and effect is working the same way in the weakness of oppressed people and in the wrong use of power by oppressors. Perfect love sees pain on both sides through that law. Therefore, it does not blame either one. Perfect compassion fully accepts both the oppressor and the oppressed.
⑤ A person who gets over weakness and stops selfish thinking is not an oppressor or a oppressed. That person is free.
⑥ A person can rise, win, and reach their goals only by lifting their thoughts. They can stay weak, low, and unhappy only by refusing to lift their thoughts.
⑦ Whether someone seeks success in daily life or spiritual growth, they must first raise their thoughts above animal-like selfish desires. They don’t have to give up all of them, but they must sacrifice something. People who live only for pleasure without making any effort can’t think clearly or plan with purpose. They won’t discover their hidden strength, and whatever they do ends in failure. If they haven’t begun to take control of their thoughts, they’re not ready to manage their life or face real responsibility. They’re not yet able to live on their own. But the only thing limiting them is the way they choose to think.
The Though-Factor in Achievement-1 (Original text)
(Based on As a Man Thinketh by James Allen)
① All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute. A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man’s; they are brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself, never by another. His condition is also his own, and not another man’s. His suffering and his happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.
equipoise（均衡） destruction（破壊） responsibility（責任） purity（純粋） impurity（不純） evolve（発展する）
② A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.
willing（〜する気がある） develop（発達させる） admire（称賛する） alter（変える）
③ It has been usual for men to think and to say, “Many men are slaves because one is an oppressor; let us hate the oppressor.” Now, however, there is amongst an increasing few a tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say, “One man is an oppressor because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves.”
oppressor（抑圧者） amongst（〜の間で） despise（軽蔑する） tendency（傾向）
④ The truth is that oppressor and slave are co-operators in ignorance, and, while seeming to afflict each other, are in reality afflicting themselves. A perfect Knowledge perceives the action of law in the weakness of the oppressed and the misapplied power of the oppressor; a perfect Love, seeing the suffering, which both states entail, condemns neither; a perfect Compassion embraces both oppressor and oppressed.
co-operator（協力者） ignorance（無知） afflict（苦しめる） perceive（知覚する） misapplied（誤って使われた） condemn（非難する） compassion（思いやり）entail（伴う） embrace（受け入れる） oppressed（抑圧される人）
⑤ He who has conquered weakness, and has put away all selfish thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free.
conquer（打ち勝つ） put away（捨てる） selfish（利己的な）
⑥ A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts.
abject（惨めな） miserable（不幸な） lift up（高める）
⑦ Before a man can achieve anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above slavish animal indulgence. He may not, in order to succeed, give up all animality and selfishness, by any means; but a portion of it must, at least, be sacrificed. A man whose first thought is bestial indulgence could neither think clearly nor plan methodically; he could not find and develop his latent resources, and would fail in any undertaking. Not having commenced to manfully control his thoughts, he is not in a position to control affairs and to adopt serious responsibilities. He is not fit to act independently and stand alone. But he is limited only by the thoughts, which he chooses.
indulgence（ふけること、耽溺） slavish（奴隷のような、盲従的な） animality（動物的欲望） selfishness（利己心） portion（一部） sacrifice（犠牲にする） bestial（獣のような） methodically（計画的に） latent（潜在的な） resource（資質、能力） undertaking（事業、取り組み） commence（始める） manfully（男らしく、力強く） be limited（制限されている）
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。
思いが人生を形づくる
人が成功するのも、失敗するのも、すべては自らの思いの結果です。
宇宙の真理に基づくならば、各人が自分の責任を完全に担うよう定められているのです。
力の有無も、清さも穢れも、他人のせいではなく、自分自身の思いがもたらすものです。
真の自由は自らの中にある
強い者は、弱い者が助けを求めない限り、手を差し伸べることはできません。
たとえ助けが与えられても、弱い者自身が自らの力で強くならなければならないのです。
抑圧する者とされる者は、無自覚のうちに共に苦しみ合う同志です。
真に自由な人とは、自らの弱さと欲を克服した者であり、もはや抑圧する側にも、される側にも属しません。
思いを高めることからすべてが始まる
人が高められ、何かを勝ち取り、成し遂げるためには、まずその思いを低俗な欲から切り離さねばなりません。あるいは、少なくとも何かを犠牲にする覚悟は必要です。
欲望に従って生きる人は、物事を明晰に考えることも、計画的に動くこともできず、内に秘められた力に気づくこともないまま、あらゆる試みに失敗します。
自らの思いを力強く導くことができない者に、大きな責任は担えません。
人を本当に縛っているものは、ただ自らが選び取った思いだけなのです。
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。
5-2に続きます。
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