原文

有自己才有別人，也有別人才有自己。人人都懂這個道理，可是許多人不能行這個道理。本來自己以外都是別人，可是有相干的，有不相干的。可以說是“我的”那些，如我的父母妻子，我的朋友等，是相干的別人，其余的是不相干的別人。相干的別人和自己合成家族親友；不相干的別人和自己合成社會國家。自己也許愿意只顧自己，但是自己和別人是相對的存在，離開別人就無所謂自己，所以他得顧到家族親友，而社會國家更要他顧到那些不相干的別人。所以“自了漢”不是好漢，“自顧自”不是好話，“自私自利”，“不顧別人死活”，“只知有己，不知有人”的，更都不是好人。所以孔子之道只是個忠恕：忠是己之所欲，以施于人，恕是“己所不欲，勿施于人”。這是一件事的兩面，所以說“一以貫之”。孔子之道，只是教人為別人著想。

可是儒家有“親親之殺”的話，為別人著想也有個層次。家族第一，親戚第二，朋友第三，不相干的別人挨邊兒。幾千年來顧家族是義務，顧別人多多少少只是義氣；義務是分內，義氣是分外。可是義務似乎太重了，別人壓住了自己。這才來了五四時代。這是個自我解放的時代，個人從家族的壓迫下掙出來，開始獨立在社會上。于是乎自己第一，高于一切，對于別人，幾乎什么義務也沒有了似的。可是又都要改造社會，改造國家，甚至于改造世界，說這些是自己的責任。雖然是責任，卻是無限的責任，愛盡不盡，愛盡多少盡多少；反正社會國家世界都可以只是些抽象名詞，不像一家老小在張著嘴等著你。所以自己顧自己，在實際上第一，兼顧社會國家世界，在名義上第一。這算是義務。顧到別人，無論相干的不相干的，都只是義氣，而且是客氣。這些解放了的，以及生得晚沒有趕上那種壓迫的人，既然自己高于一切，別人自當不在眼下，而居然顧到別人，自當算是客氣。其實在這些天子驕子各自的眼里，別人都似乎為自己活著，都得來供養自己才是道理。“我愛我”成為風氣，處處為自己著想，說是“真”；為別人著想倒說是“假”，是“虛偽”。可是這兒“假”倒有些可愛，“真”倒有些可怕似的。

為別人著想其實也只是從自己推到別人，或將自己當作別人，和為自己著想并無根本的差異。不過推己及人，設身處地，確需要相當的勉強，不像“我愛我”那樣出于自然。所謂“假”和“真”大概是這種意思。這種“真”未必就好，這種“假”也未必就是不好。讀小說看戲，往往會為書中人戲中人捏一把汗，掉眼淚，所謂替古人擔憂。這也是推己及人，設身處地；可是因為人和地只在書中戲中，并非實有，沒有利害可計較，失去相干的和不相干的那分別，所以“推”“設”起來，也覺自然而然。作小說的演戲的就不能如此，得觀察、揣摩，體貼別人的口氣、身份，心理，才能達到“逼真”的地步。特別是演戲，若不能忘記自己，那非糟不可。這個得勉強自己，訓練自己；訓練越好，越“逼真”，越美，越能感染讀者和觀眾。如果“真”是“自然”，小說的讀者，戲劇的觀眾那樣為別人著想，似乎不能說是“假”。小說的作者，戲劇的演員的觀察、揣摩、體貼，似乎“假”，可是他們能以達到“逼真”的地步，所求的還是“真”。在文藝里為別人著想是“真”，在實生活里卻說是“假”、“虛偽”，似乎是利害的計較使然；利害的計較是骨子，“真”、“假”、“虛偽”只是好看的門面罷了。計較利害過了分，真是像法朗士說的“關閉在自己的牢獄里”；老那么關閉著，非死不可。這些人幸而還能讀小說看戲，該仔細吟味，從那里學習學習怎樣為別人著想。

五四以來，集團生活發展。這個那個集團和家族一樣是具體的，不像社會國家有時可以只是些抽象名詞。集團生活將原不相干的別人變成相干的別人，要求你也訓練你顧到別人，至少是那廣大的相干的別人。集團的約束力似乎一直在增強中，自己不得不為別人著想。那自己第一，自己高于一切的信念似乎漸漸低下頭去了。可是來了抗戰的大時代。抗戰的力量無疑的出于二十年來集團生活的發展。可是抗戰以來，集團生活發展的太快了，這兒那兒不免有多少還不能夠得著均衡的地方。個人就又出了頭，自己就又可以高于一切；現在卻不說什么“真”和“假”了，只憑著神圣的抗戰的名字做那些自私自利的事，名義上是顧別人，實際上只顧自己。自己高于一切，自己的集團或機關也就高于一切；自己肥，自己機關肥，別人瘦，別人機關瘦，樂自己的，管不著！——瘦癟了，餓死了，活該！相信最后的勝利到來的時候，別人總會壓下那些猖獗的卑污的自己的。這些年自己實在太猖獗了，總盼望壓下它的頭去。自然，一個勁兒顧別人也不一定好。仗義忘身，急人之急，確是英雄好漢，但是難得見。常見的不是敷衍妥協的鄉愿，就是卑屈甚至諂媚的可憐蟲，這些人只是將自己丟進了垃圾堆里！可是，有人說得好，人生是個比例問題。目下自己正在張牙舞爪的，且頭痛醫頭，腳痛醫腳，先來多想想別人罷！

英譯

We create others, and others create us as well. This principle is accepted by all, but wisely observed by very few people. Besides us there are others; some are relevant to us, while some are irrelevant to us. We can call other people as“my-”, such as my parents, wife, children and friends, etc. They are the people in relation to us, and the rest have nothing to do with us. Combined with the related others, we form family, kith and kin; with uncorrelated others, we create social state. Maybe we.d like to think about ourselves only, however, we ourselves and others exist relatively. So leave others alone, we can not live either; in this way, we must take after family, kith and kin. Moreover, social state demands us to consider the people that are irrelevant to us. Therefore, “the man who cares for nobody”is not a great man; “caring only for oneself”is not nice words. The phrases“Self-interest”, “leaving others to sink or swim”as well as“only concern for oneself and ignoring others”describe the people that are not so good. So, Confucian ways are the doctrine of loyalty and consideration：loyalty demands people“to do unto others as you would be done”, consideration demands people“never to do unto others as you would not be done”. It addresses both sides of an issue, so we say“one principle runs through it all”. However, Confucian ways tell us to consider others.

Kinship has different degrees of closeness in Confucius, so when considering others, we should take different degrees of closeness into account. Family comes first, relative second, friends third, and irrelevant others go by the wayside. For thousands of years, it.s a obligation to have consideration for family while it.s more or less personal loyalty to think about others. Obligation means the matter within one.s duties while personal loyalty doesn.t belong to one.s own work. However, our obligation seems too heavy and we have been pressured by others so much. Then there came the time of the May 4th Movement. It was a time of self-liberation. People struggled to shake off the pressure from family and became independent in society. In consequence, we stood in the first place, higher than everything else. For others, it seemed that we had almost no duties at all. However, society remaking, nation remodeling even world changing turned out to be our own duties. Though it was duty, it was unlimited duty. Therefore you could perform or not perform, perform more or less, it all depended on you; anyhow society, nation and world are all abstract nouns. It is different from the situation that whole family are waiting at home for you to earn the bread. So, in fact everyone for himself comes first while giving consideration to society, nation and world are the most important only in name, which is our duty. Caring for others relevant or irrelevant is personal loyalty and courtesy. For those liberated people and the people who are born late and avoid the oppression, they are above everything else and others are out of their sight. So, it is really a charity for them to take others into account. Actually, in the eyes of those god.s favored ones, others seem to live for them and fend for them.“I love myself”becomes an ethos, and everyone think about himself. If someone cares for others, then he will be regarded hypocritical. But in my opinion, “hypocrisy”here looks more lovely while“I love myself”seems a little horrible.

In fact, there are no fundamental differences between thinking about others and thinking about yourself. Thinking about others, in fact, you are just putting yourself in others.position, or regarding yourself as others. However, we are quite unwilling to stand in others.shoes. At least, it looks not so natural than“I love myself”. This explains“hypocrisy”mentioned above and the“truth (I love myself)”in some degree. The“truth”isn.t necessarily good while“hypocrisy”isn.t necessarily bad either. When reading a novel or watching a drama, we usually break into a cold sweat or shed tears for the characters. We show concern for ancients. It also shows that we put ourselves in the place of others. As the characters only exist in the book and drama, there is no interests for us to fuss about and no need for us to consider its relevance or irrelevance. Therefore, it.s more natural for us to put ourselves into others.shoes. We are in different mood with writers and actors. Because they need to observe, conjecture and consider others.tone, identity and mind in order to achieve“verisimilitude”. Especially for acting, if we aren.t able to forget who we are for the time being, the performance can be very terrible. So we have to force ourselves and do some practice. The more we practice, the more vivid and more beautiful our performance will be, and it will be easier for us to attract readers.and audiences.interest. If“truth”means“nature”, the reaction of readers and audiences seems not“affectation”. It seems that authors.and actors.observation, conjecture and supposition are spurious. However they can reach the state of“verisimilitude”.“Picturesqueness”is still their pursuit. In the literature and art, we regard it as“verisimilitude”when authors and actors forget themselves and conjecture the artistic images. While in real life, when people think about others, we see it as“hypocrisy”. It.s probably the matter of interests. It is interests that matter, while“truth”and“hypocrisy”are just some good-looking facades. If you haggle over interests too much, you.ll be prisoned by yourself, said Anatole France. If you keep yourself prisoned for a long time, you will die. Fortunately, we can appreciate the available novels or dramas and learn to consider others.

Group life got developed since the May 4th Movement. Group, like Family was a concrete noun and different from social state, which sometimes was just an abstract noun. Group life turned the originally irrelevant others into relevant, and demanded and taught us to care for others, at least the broadly relevant others. The constraining force of Group got stronger, then we had to think about others. The belief of we ourselves coming first, higher than everything else seemed to lower its head gradually. However, the important time of Anti-Japanese War came. The strength we gathered for Anti-Japanese War was from the twenty-year development of Group life. Since the war of resistance Group life promoted too fast, inevitably, there existed some unbalanced aspects in development. Then we emerged again, and became higher than everything else. Now we don.t pay attention to“truth”or“hypocrisy”. We start to do selfish things in the name of sacred war-resistance; in name, we are considerate while in fact, we only care for ourselves. If we are higher than everything else, then our own groups or organs will be above all; we are rich, then our own organs will be rich. Others are poor, then their organs will be poor. We just need to take care of ourselves, others have nothing with us! If you are too poor to die, then you just deserve it! I believe that final victory will come, at that time, others will defeat the rampant and dirty selves. Over these years, we are honestly rampant, so others would like to press down our own head. Naturally, it.s not so good to think about others all the time. The person who is gallant and selfless and always worries what others are worrying about is indeed a hero, but such person is rare now. For us, the most common are perfunctory and compromising hypocrites as well as servile even flattering wretches. These people all throw themselves to the garbage heap! However, it has been wisely said that life is a matter of proportionality. At the moment, we are making threatening gestures like a beast of prey. So we can start with stopgap measures and think more about others first!