“The days that make us happy make us wise.”----John Masefield
when I first read this line by England’s Poet Laureate, it startled me. What did Masefield mean? Without thinking about it much, I had always assumed that the opposite was true. But his sober assurance was arresting. I could not forget it.
Finally, I seemed to grasp his meaning and realized that here was a profound observation. The wisdom that happiness makes possible lies in clear perception, not fogged by anxiety nor dimmed by despair and boredom, and without the blind spots caused by fear.
Active happiness---not mere satisfaction or contentment ---often comes suddenly, like an April shower or the unfolding of a bud. Then you discover what kind of wisdom has accompanied it. The grass is greener; bird songs are sweeter; the shortcomings of your friends are more understandable and more forgivable. Happiness is like a pair of eyeglasses correcting your spiritual vision.
Nor are the insights of happiness limited to what is near around you. Unhappy, with your thoughts turned in upon your emotional woes, your vision is cut short as though by a wall. Happy, the wall crumbles.
The long vista is there for the seeing. The ground at your feet, the world about you----people, thoughts, emotions, pressures---are now fitted into the larger scene. Everything assumes a fairer proportion. And here is the beginning of wisdom.
快樂的日子使人睿智----約翰。瑪斯菲爾德
第壹次讀到英國詩人勞倫特的這行詩，讓我著實感到吃驚。瑪斯菲爾德此言究竟有著怎樣的深意呢？長期以來，因為沒有多加考慮，我對此不以為然。然而我又被他的冷靜，自信所吸引，對此無法忘懷。
最後，我似乎領略了其中之意。我意識到這是經過壹番深刻觀察的。快樂賦予人的智慧存在於敏銳的感覺中，它不受憂慮所擾，亦不會在絕望與厭倦之中黯淡模糊，更不會因恐懼而產生茫然。
積極的快樂，遠遠不止是滿意或滿足，它常常不期而至，宛如四月的陣雨，又如蓓蕾的悄然綻放。此時，妳就會發現隨之而來的智慧。草兒更綠，鳥鳴更婉轉，甚至於妳更能理解朋友的缺點，變得愈加寬容。快樂恰如壹幅眼鏡，不斷校正我們對心靈之景的誤讀。
對快樂的洞察決不僅限於妳周圍的事物。不快樂時，妳的思緒轉入悲哀之中，似乎有座高墻截斷了妳的視線。而快樂時，這座墻便轟然倒塌。
妳快樂的視野並不限於妳周圍的風景。妳腳下的地面，妳周圍的世界---人們，思維，情感，壓力---似乎都融入了更為廣闊的風景之中。天地萬物都呈現出壹片和諧。這正是智慧的開始。