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“我们邀请了像您这样的十几位作家，思考他们偷窃的物品、这种行为的动机和后果，并与我们的读者分享他们的见解。”
好吧，我承认，我被抓住了。现在我罪名成立。起初，那份邀请看起来没什么大不了的： 《抛物线》（Parabola）杂志正计划出一期关于“盗窃”的特刊：“我们邀请像您这样的十几位作家，反思自己偷窃过的东西，思考这种行为的动机和后果，并与我们的读者分享他们的见解。”听起来不错。我瞥了一眼截稿日期，看了看日历，小心翼翼地避开了堆积如山的未回复邮件，然后决定接受邀请。写关于自己的东西通常不会吸引我。感觉就像一场心理上的脱衣舞表演。然而，作为一个从未在“盗贼画廊”上被公开羞辱过的僧侣，我发现这个挑战很有吸引力。
记忆开始涌现。起初是童年的记忆。山坡上的榛树丛。我曾向我的神秘导师发誓，只可远观，绝不可触碰，那时我才五岁，比我大一岁。然后是那个鸟巢。一枚蛋。世间再无比那枚知更鸟蛋的蓝色更令人着迷。它至今仍令我记忆犹新。再次前往那里，我又一次违背了庄严的誓言——绝不独自前往那个秘密之地。黄昏时分，我偷偷溜了回去。我从未想过要偷走那件神奇的物品。但我却被它迷住了。轻轻一碰，蛋壳便在我食指和拇指之间凹陷下去。就在那一瞬间，母鸟从枝头飞过。她的尖叫声至今仍刺痛着我的骨头，我忍不住一遍又一遍地擦拭着沾满蛋液的手指。
战时的偷窃要务实得多。动机和后果都很明确。你偷东西是因为饿了。运气好的话能逃脱惩罚；运气不好的话会被枪毙。一切都泾渭分明，但有时也颇具幽默感。回想起来，我和哥哥从仓库偷来的那一百磅面粉，比当时更容易让人发笑。我们扛着赃物穿过空荡荡的街道回家时，脑海中浮现出怎样的画面啊！我们仿佛都能闻到一百磅面粉能烤出多少面包的香味。当我们发现面粉竟然是洗衣淀粉时，我们又迸发出了怎样的烹饪创意！但无论烤、炖、煮、煎还是炸，淀粉终究还是淀粉。
当我歌唱时，我便会想起，想起。那场恐怖事件并非我所造成，但我却从中获利。
偷书这件事与偷书截然不同。它的动机不同，后果也不同。这也是一段战时的记忆。炸弹摧毁了维也纳。我去查看朋友的公寓，发现它已被夷为平地，便穿过墙上的一个洞，去探索隔壁的废墟。炸弹把房子炸成了两半。曾经是一位音乐老师珍藏的藏书如今已成一片废墟。石膏和碎玻璃半掩埋着书架。一块砖头落在了曼陀林的琴身里。我开始掸去书脊上的灰尘，阅读书名。我拿走了我最喜欢的那本书。我不知道书的主人是否在那场轰炸中幸存下来。但三十八年后，这本书仍然陪伴着我，如今它被放在离我偷书的地方七千英里远的一位隐士的房间里。这么多年来，我希望自己已经学会了“不要拿走不属于自己的东西”。但是，对于那些无法归还的赃物，你又该如何处理呢？这是一本歌集。就在前几天晚上，我还唱起了那首歌。当我歌唱时，我便会想起，想起。我并非那场恐怖事件的始作俑者，但我却从中获利。我对美和音乐的热爱，恰恰印证了这一点。因此，我知道自己与那位集中营的负责人有着某种联系，他常常在下班后，坐在三角钢琴前弹奏贝多芬的奏鸣曲。
我确信，这些关于我偷窃的记忆会是很好的素材。我感到很安心，因为这一切都已成为遥远的过去。至少我是这么认为的，直到我签下帕拉波拉公司的录取通知书的那一刻。就在那时，我被抓住了，而且是咎由自取。
为了解释发生了什么，我必须先说明，我对橡皮图章产生了浓厚的兴趣。如今，有车的人都用保险杠贴纸来表达自己的信念——从“耶稣拯救世人”到“我宁愿裸泳”，什么都有。事实上，我们修道院团体在缅因州安顿下来的时候，还“借用”了一位国会候选人的口号。在“僧侣先生”落选之后，我们才开始使用他那句恰如其分的“缅因州僧侣”的保险杠贴纸。从那时起，我发现橡皮图章对我们这些没有机动车的人来说就足够了。开车的人可抢不走我们这些行人。把标语印在信封上，就能把美国邮政变成一个公共论坛，就像保险杠贴纸把美国高速公路系统变成公共论坛一样。再说，橡皮图章比汽车便宜多了。于是，我舔了舔写给《抛物线》杂志的信，然后像往常一样，把价值3.5美元的橡皮图章盖在了信上。但我当时对盗窃这个话题很感兴趣，所以突然间，我仿佛从未见过这句两行标语一样，立刻读了起来：
用于武器的资金
是从穷人那里偷来的
他们的身影浮现在我的记忆中。孩子们肚子鼓胀，四肢瘦弱，双眼燃烧着饥饿的黑暗之火。成千上万双眼睛。一些几乎被遗忘的统计数据涌上心头：每天有41000人饿死。我们十几个州的首府人口远少于这个数字。仿佛每天都有一座比马里兰州安纳波利斯、蒙大拿州海伦娜或密苏里州杰斐逊城更大的城市被饥饿从地图上抹去。然而，世界两周的军费开支就足以让地球上的每个人，无论男女老幼，都能吃饱一整年。我们只需要在五十二周中的两周内暂停这场疯狂的军备竞赛。我橡皮图章上的标语引用了教皇保罗六世的话。艾森豪威尔总统几十年前也说过：“从归根结底，每一艘下水的军舰，每一枚发射的导弹，都是对穷人的掠夺。”
如果我们当中有足够多的人觉醒，我们就能共同面对这个问题，并共同找到创造性的方法，而不仅仅是治疗症状。
大多数饿死的人都是孩子。他们母亲的哭声比母鸟的啼鸣还要凄厉。我亲眼目睹过，如果另一种选择是饿死，那么有人会毫不犹豫地冒着被偷窃致死的风险。整个国家都可能遭受饥荒的蹂躏，而那些剥削者深知这一点。这就是为什么我们生活在一个富裕国家武装对抗贫穷国家的世界。我们或许并非这场灾难的始作俑者，但我们北半球的所有人都在从中获利，不是吗？
请原谅我。如果这个“盗贼画廊”的目的是为了博君一笑，那么我的自我反省或许会破坏这份乐趣。我深表歉意。但请注意！或许有一天，你自己的车贴也会触动你，让你幡然醒悟。也许，新的希望就此萌芽。如果我们当中有足够多的人觉醒，我们就能共同面对问题，共同寻找创造性的方法，而不仅仅是治标不治本。我们必须从根源上解决问题。整个体系都需要彻底改革。首先，我们甚至可以尝试让我们的民主制度真正民主。那些我们习以为常的制度或许需要改变。再次致歉。但我无法逃避那些被我偷窃食物的孩子们的目光。我认罪。
摘自《沙漠呼唤》，灵性生活研究所期刊， 1985 年夏秋季刊。
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Several thousands are employed in the defense sector throughout the world. They will all go jobless and starve if arms sales is curbed. It is absurd but true.
Today's powerful Daily Good brought to mind/heart both a paragraph from an open letter and a poem we shared some years ago with the BAY-Peace youth in their efforts to stop military recruitment and foster peace recruitment:
If you really work for liberation, stop paying for war.
Disobey with Great Love, be informed and do it beautifully.
If you are tired of violence, stop fueling it.
Watch your mind and be the change harmoniously.
If you are sick of cowardice, start healing the soul.
Embrace with courage the fearless community.
If you really work for liberation, stop paying for war.
Disobey with Great Love, be informed and do it beautifully.
If you spread generosity, stop playing with greed.
Serve all with no strings attached and move away from wage slavery.
If you strive for freedom, stop putting people in power.
Put power in people, be just and celebrate equality.
If you really work for liberation, stop paying for war.
Disobey with Great Love, be informed and do it beautifully.
If you plant justice, recognize that all wars are civil wars.
Be the total (R)evolution of the human spirt, share your inner and outer stars.
There’s no other, there’s no enemy, not even the 1%
the only enemy, is our cooperation and lack of descent.
If you really work for liberation, stop paying for war.
Disobey with Great Love, be informed and do it beautifully.
[Paragraph of open letter: "If you really work for liberation, stop paying for war, stop receiving titles from irresponsible institutions, stop praising your shiny chains and shackles. Lose fear of the prisons of the Empire. Love your opponents, you don’t need to like them. Disobey with Great Love. Be informed and do it beautifully."]
[Hide Full Comment]okay this is ripe with problems as capitalism is based on taking without permission! So based on who is making the laws and what the intentions -not on the surface, not the propaganda spewed during the marketing , nor the bullying agreement that power extracts- but under the agenda- the core itself is about taking via the "right" of cultural fable. I, for one, must launch an argument that should discomfit everyone working in the mainstream that enables any "ones" claim to extract from an ecosystem that belongs to all of life on this planet (more?) But because we have been educated into accepting the laws that were made to allow for this special kind of stealing! We have been duped into having trust because we thought we were "good" people. I think we are still good people and so as knowledge has changed, as good people so too must we. It is time for multi disciplined forums to come together and hash out some new healthier ways of organizing. What too hard..not so. We are amazing as well as silly! Accepting the old Takers ways via rules and laws that look like economic porn can no longer be disguised under the classic ruse of what?-Opportunity? The right to profit? The right to tax and control large populations? I mean really we are no longer that immature of a species..we have the tech and the tools to take the leap from this really ignoble, deadly viewpoint and put our "selves" to worthier actions and thoughs. Thank you!
[Hide Full Comment]Thank you for these very profound soul searching words. I was drawn to reading this article and then resistance came up! What about all the times I have taken what was not mine! This was followed by shame, regret... Mercifully this was followed by the realisation that rather than staying caught in these uncomfortable emotions of shame & regret, I can accept this part of me that takes, yes it still continues to take as this beautifully insightful article helps me to see, what is not mine. Through acceptance and integration, I am nearer regaining my wholeness and more likely to wake up to how may I serve in this lifetime.