英語勵志美文精華 72 The Thread of Permanence 永恒之脈
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The Thread of Permanence
By William Zorach
It is strange how certain things make a great impression on us in childhood. I remember these verses by Longfellow:
"Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the graves is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul."
And again:
"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time."
Of course, my generation was much more sentimental than today's youth but whether this was great poetry, it communicated in simple language a message, and made a lasting impression on a small boy.
When I was fifteen I had an imaginary guardian angel and when I went to the country to sketch on Sundays, I asked for guidance, praying that someday I would be a fine artist and paint nature as beautiful as she really is. What this little ceremony brought me was faith in the world and a belief in myself.
My faiths and beliefs have been badly strained. The Atomic Age has caught us in a web of fear. Our lives seem so impermanent and uncertain. There is such a waste of human potential, of things worth while in people which never find expression. I sometimes think it's a miracle that anything survives. Yet I believe that a thread of permanence runs through everything from the beginning of time, and the most valuable residue will survive.
I believe everybody has an urge to somehow spin his own life into a thread of permanence. It is the impulse of life. Some would call it the drive to immortality. Whatever it is, I think it is good because it gives purpose to existence. But purpose is not enough. Artists are supposed to be notoriously impractical, but for myself, I found I had to make decisions and plans if I were to try to create anything. I realized that I must approach life not only with a sensitivity, a perception of beauty, but with a feeling of humility and reverence.
My creed as an artist is to love life and liberty and the world of people. A man who works and loves his work is often a man dreaming, and the spirit of his dreams will find forms and symbols to express that dream. It is a wonderful feeling to create something. But today, I think there is a lack of power of communication. If people, not just artists, but all kinds of people, could only open their hearts and express their sorrow, their happiness, their fears and hopes, they would discover they had an identity with the main stream of life which they never saw before.
sometimes fear and cynicism so grip our minds that we lose heart. Then I try to remember how the great artists of the ages had the power of expressiveness. Theirs was the power to communicate, to exalt, to move the observer to joy or tears, to strike terror and awe in the hearts of men; not just to decorate or merely entertain.
If we can expand the boundaries of men's thoughts and beliefs, we will discover we all have creative possibilities - talents to make ourselves real identities as individuals, with a hold on the thread of immortality. If we can awaken ourselves to it, I am convinced we shall find that this is an alive and exciting age of adventure and experimentation from which a new beauty and a finer world will emerge.
永恒之脈
威廉•佐拉奇
說來也怪，兒時的某些事情常會給我們留下極深刻的印象，像我就一直記得浪費羅的這幾首詩：
“人生皆真實！人生非虛無！
最終的歸宿絕不是荒墳。
你本是塵土，必歸于塵土，
這是指軀殼，不是指靈魂。”
詩中還說：
“偉人的生平提醒我們：
我們能讓生活很高尚，
也能在告別人世的時候，
留下腳印在時間沙灘上。”
誠然，我們這代人遠比現在的年輕人詩情洋溢，但不管這首詩是不是佳作，它都用樸實的語言傳達了一個道理，在一個小小少年心中刻下了永久的印記。
我十五歲時心中有位假想的守護天使。每當我周日去鄉(xiāng)間寫生時，都會請其為我指引方向，祈求自己有朝一日能成為一名偉大的藝術家，用畫筆傳神逼真地描繪出大自然的美景。這一次次的祈禱賦予我對世界的信念和對自己的信心。
但我的信念和信心卻面臨著嚴峻的挑戰(zhàn)。核武時代使我們陷入恐慌，我們的生命幾近朝不保夕。人類的潛力、人性的華彩無彰顯之機，這無異于浪費。我有時候想，萬物能存活簡直是奇跡。即使如此，我仍然相信天地萬物間存在一種一脈相傳的永恒，最有價值的遺產將亙古不滅。
我想每個人都渴望以某種方式讓自己的生命也匯入這永恒之脈。這就是生命的沖動，有人稱之為永生的動力。不管是什么，我都認為它是一種積極的想法，賦予我們生存的目的。但只有目的是不夠的。
人們常認為藝術家一點也不實際，但就我自己而言，在進行任何藝術創(chuàng)造之前，我一定要作出決定和計劃。我認識到面對生活，我不僅要敏感，能感知美好的事物，還有有一顆謙和恭敬的心。
作為一名藝術家，我熱愛生活、熱愛自由、熱愛世界人民——這就是我的人生信條。一個熱愛自己工作的人往往是一個有夢想的人，而他的夢想也總會通過某種方式和某些符號傳達出來。創(chuàng)作的感覺是非常美妙的，但現在我覺得人與人之間缺乏溝通的能力。如果所有人，不只是藝術家，都能敞開胸懷，表達自己的憂愁與快樂、恐懼與希望，就一定會發(fā)現他們已融入生活的主流，這是他們從前看不到的。
有時候，恐懼與嘲諷也會讓人心灰意冷。這是我就會努力回想那些古往今來偉大的藝術家如何擁有表現力。他們的表現力不僅僅是為了裝點生活或是供人消遣，而是一種與人溝通、提升人的品格的力量，是讓觀者產生或悲或喜或懼或敬的共鳴的力量。
如果我們能擴大視野、拓寬思路，就會發(fā)現每個人身上都有創(chuàng)在的天分。正是這種創(chuàng)造力讓每個生命的個體獨具個性，在永恒之脈上有一席之地。如果我們能認識到這一點，我相信我會發(fā)現自己生活在一個激情澎湃、充滿奇遇與革新的時代，它將帶領我們走向一個更美更好的世界。
威廉•佐拉奇
在在立陶宛出生，在美國長大，是一位著名的雕塑家。他最著名的作品在紐約大都會博物館內的《母與子》和西棕櫚海灘諾頓博物館中的雕塑《青春》。
他一年中有一半時間住在緬因州一所陳舊的船長房子里，另一半時間則呆在布魯克林他那間由馬車車庫改建的工作室。他很強壯，頭發(fā)蓬松，長著一雙綠色的眼睛，工作時常穿工裝褲和伐木工人的襯衫，直接在石頭上雕出那些強健的人物。
佐拉奇在紐約藝術學生聯合會執(zhí)教已有二十年之久，他還寫了一本書，名叫《佐拉奇論雕刻》。佐拉奇的夫人是一位畫家，他們的女兒達洛夫•伊普卡也是一位著名的畫家。
