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托马斯·马尔萨斯:人口论·摘录 129
托马斯·马尔萨斯《人口论》· An Essay on the Principle of Population · 投资
The powers of selection, combination, and transmutation, which every seed shews, are truly miraculous. Who can imagine that these wonderful faculties are contained in these little bits of matter? To me it appears much more philosophical to suppose that the mighty God of nature is present in full energy in all these operations. To this all powerful Being, it would be equally easy to raise an oak without an acorn as with one. The preparatory process of putting seeds into the ground is merely ordained for the use of man, as one among the various other excitements necessary to awaken matter into mind. It is an idea that will be found consistent, equally with the natural phenomena around us, with the various events of human life, and with the successive revelations of God to man, to suppose that the world is a mighty process for the creation and formation of mind. Many vessels will necessarily come out of this great furnace in wrong shapes. These will be broken and thrown aside as useless; while those vessels whose forms are full of truth, grace, and loveliness, will be wafted into happier situations, nearer the presence of the mighty maker.
出处:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4239
定位:Excerpt 129 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录
白话
每颗种子都展现选择、组合和转化的能力,马尔萨斯觉得这近乎奇迹,很难想象如此奇妙的能力藏在微小物质里。他更愿意相信上帝全程在场、直接运作:对全能者来说,有橡子或没橡子都能长出橡树;把种子埋进土里只是为人设的预备过程,是唤醒物质成为心智的众多刺激之一。他把世界看成一个锻造心智的大过程:许多“容器”会变形报废,而充满真、恩典与美的会被送到更幸福的境地。核心是:用过程视角看世界,把自然现象和人的命运都理解为心智形成的一部分。
上下文
马尔萨斯在《人口论》后段转向神学目的论,用种子比喻说明世界是塑造心智的过程。
今日一问
我是否能把眼前的挫折看作塑造心智的过程,而不是只盯着结果成败?
公版作品;原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg,仅摘录段落并附全书链接。
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