时间：2022-09-20 05:03:51
Peter MacLean age 16
彼得・麦克林 16岁
IT WAS A COLD NIGHT and I was breathing heavily as we climbed above the tree line towards the top of the mountain.
When we reached the summit, we sat down and looked towards the canopy of stars that glittered above us.Every star held in place by the laws of nature, each kept on its course by principles that even the greatest mathematician and the most powerful computer could not calculate.
Newton had tried;he had discovered the laws of gravity. Einstein and Schroedinger had tried.Yet still the universe held its secrets; still its laws were not understood.
Yet as we sat there, looking towards the sky we were sure that there were laws that governed the motion of the starry heavens above, as surely as there were laws that governed the action and interaction of atoms and molecules.
I am a Scout.I was at Glen kin, camping with my friends of the 4th Port Glasgow troop.As we made our way back down the mountain I was thinking about what we had seen.Living in town we don't normally see the stars very clearly, but out here in the wilderness of mountains and locks the whole sky seemed ablaze with tiny pricks of light. "The starry heavens above, and the moral order within"(Kant).
I don't know what put these words in my thoughts, but somehow they struck home and my friends and I began to talk about the Scout law and promise, and wondered whether they were like the efforts of physicists to unlock the laws of the universe.
What if the Scout law and promise was an effort to unlock the laws that govern human society. "Put some force here and the effect will be seen over there." In science cause and effect are direct, often predictable.We wondered whether society worked like that: "Act kindly here and the effect will be seen somewhere else." Or even, "Do an unkind thing here and the effect will be seen in suffering somewhere else."
Sometimes ideas float in and out of my mind without leaving any footprint, but this idea wouldn't go away.When I became a Scout I made a promise:
On my honour I promise that I will do
my best to do my duty to God and to
the Queen, to help other people and to
keep the Scout Law.
I remember having thought how important it was to be making a promise that would be the basis of decisions I would make, possibly for the rest of my life.
Not all Scouts have a Queen, but they still promise to fulfill their duty to the nation and to God and to live in obedience to the Scout Law.Sometimes Scouts find the principles hard to keep, but the promise is "to do my best." Even if a Scout fails, if he has done his best he has done enough.
"The starry heavens above and the moral within." Unlike the laws of the universe, this law of life lives not in the stars, but in me.I am bound to the promise, because I chose to be.The promise refers to Scout Law and this sets out seven standards by which each Scout is able to judge his success or failure as a Scout. Maybe these also set a standard by which everybody can judge their success or failure as human beings.
A Scout is to be trusted--A Scout is loyal--A Scout is friendly and considerate --A Scout belongs to the worldwide family of Scouts--A Scout has courage in all difficulties--A Scout makes good use of time and is careful of possessions and property--A Scout has self respect and respect for others.
I threw myself around in my sleeping bag, unable to sleep. Still these words went through my mind,"The starry heavens above and the moral order within." I got to thinking about the laws in the Bible.The Ten Commandments are respected by Christians, Jews and Muslims as the laws given by God.
It is as if God had done two things: He had placed a knowledge of what is right in the centre of everybody, and then He had given a law that is outside each of us so that we could judge how well we understood what it ought to be like to be completely human, completely in touch with the "moral order within."
Back at home, I flicked through the encyclopedia and found that some Hindus also believed in a God-given law.They call it the Law of Manu, and it shares much of the Ten Commandments, even including a rule "to honour your father and mother so that your days in the land may be long."
My mind again raced back to the hillside and I remembered the Scout promise "to do my duty..."
那是一个寒冷的夜晚，我们已爬过树带，不停地喘着粗气继续往山顶攀登。
到了山顶之后，我们坐下来，仰望头顶的闪烁星空，只见每一颗星星都按照自然法则有序地排列着，并遵循一定的规律运行，而这些规律是无法推算的，数学家和最先进的计算机也无能为力。
牛顿曾努力过，他发现了万有引力定律；爱因斯坦和舒诺丁杰也曾努力过，但是宇宙的奥妙依然未能揭开，人们也就无从了解它的规律。
可是，我们坐在那里，朝着深邃的天空望去的时候，不自觉地会相信有什么规律控制着闪烁星空的运行，就像我们相信有规律控制着原子和分子的作用力与反作用力一样。
我是一名童子军，格伦血统，野营时与格拉斯哥港第四小组的朋友们在一起。在我们从山上返回的途中，我老是琢磨亲眼所见的一切。住在城里，通常是看不清星星的，可是，在这山中，在这片旷野上，整个天空就像万点灯火一样，闪闪发光。“头上灿烂的星空，内心崇高的道德”（康德）。
我不知道为什么会想起这几句话，但我们都为之所动，我和朋友们便开始谈论童子军章程以及宣誓的事，也想搞清楚这些东西是否跟物理学家所付出的辛苦一样，能揭示宇宙的规律。
如果童子军章程以及宣誓能够揭开人类社会的规律，那又如何呢？“此处用力，别处受影响。”科学上，因果关系是很直观的，往往可以预测得到。我们想知道社会是否也是如此，即：“在这里做点好事，其影响力也会波及到别的地方。”或者说：“在这里干坏事，别处必将受苦。”
有时，这些想法在脑海里时隐时现，却无论如何也摆脱不掉。我入童子军时，立下这样的誓言：
我发誓坚决听从上帝和女王的旨意，全力做
好一切，竭力帮助别人，严守童子军章程。
我始终记着自己有过这种想法，认为发这样的誓非常重要，因为无论做任何决定，都可以以誓言为依据，来指导自己今后的生活。
并非所有的童子军都有女王，但他们仍然为完成国家和上帝所赋予的责任而宣誓，严守童子军章程。有时，童子军们会觉得要一贯做到遵守章程是很难的，但誓言上说：“要尽力而为。”即使某个童子军未能做到哪一条，只要他尽了力，也就足够了。
“头上灿烂的星空，内心崇高的道德。”这条“人生法则”留存在我的内心，而宇宙的规律则是存在于星际间的。我严守自己的誓言，因为我由衷地想这样做。誓言就是童子军章程，它规定了七条标准，以此来评判每个童子军的成功与否。也许这些条款也为每个人规定了一个标准，以此来评判自己做人的成功与否。
童子军会让人信任――童子军忠诚可靠――童子军友好且善解人意――每个童子军都是整个童子军大家庭中的一员――童子军有勇气克服一切困难――童子军能很好地利用时间，珍惜一切财物――童子军有自尊并能尊重他人。
我一头扎进睡袋，却睡不着。这些话语一直在我的脑海里回响，“头上灿烂的星空，内心崇高的道德。”我开始想到《圣经》戒律，《十诫》作为上帝颁布的戒律受到基督教、犹太教和伊斯兰教教徒们的重视。
上帝似乎做了两件事情：一是将对正确事物的悟性置于每个人的心中；二是在每个人身外设置了戒律，这样我们就可以评判完全人性化的、完全符合我们“内心道德准则”的东西是什么，我们理解得透彻与否。
回到家以后，我翻开百科全书，发现一些信奉印度教的人也信仰上帝的戒律。他们称其为《摩奴法典》，与《十诫》有许多共同之处，甚至“孝顺父母才能长寿”也是“法典”的内容之一。
我的思绪又一次回到山坡，想起了童子军宣言“要尽职尽责……”