於是本城的法官中，有一個走上前來說，請給我們談罪與罰。
他回答說：
當你的靈性隨風飄蕩的時候，
你孤零而失慎地對別人也就是對自己犯了過錯。
為著所犯的過錯，你必須去叩那受福者之門，要被怠慢地等待片刻。
你們的「神性」像海洋；
他永遠純潔不染，
又像以太，他只幫助有翼者上升。
他們的「神性」也像太陽；
他不知道田鼠的徑路，也不尋找蛇虺的洞穴。
但是你們的「神性」，不是獨居在你們裡面。
在你們裡面，有些仍是「人性」，有些還不成「人性」。
只是一個未成形的侏儒，睡夢中在煙霧裡蹣跚，自求覺醒。
我現在所要說的，就是你們的「人性」。
因為那知道罪與罪的刑罰的，是他，而不是你的「神性」，也不是煙霧中的侏儒。
我常聽見你們論議到一個犯了過失的人，彷彿他不是你們的同人，只像是個外人，是個你們的世界中的闖入者。
我卻要說，連那聖潔和正直的，也不能高於你們每人心中的至善。
所以那奸邪的懦弱的，也不能低於你們心中的極惡。
如同一片樹葉，除非得到全樹的默許，不能獨自變黃。
所以那作惡者，若沒有你們大家無形中的慫恿，也不會作惡。
如同一個隊伍，你們一同向著你們的「神性」前進。
你們是道，也是行道的人。
當你們中間有人跌倒的時候，他是為了他後面的人而跌倒，是一塊絆腳石的警告。
是的，他也為他前面的人而跌倒，因為他們的步履雖然又快又穩，卻沒有把那絆腳石挪開。
還有這個，雖然這些話會重壓你的心：
被殺者對於自己的被殺不能不負疚，被劫者對於自己的被劫不能不受責。
正直的人，對於惡人的行為，也不能算無辜。
清白的人，對於罪人的過犯，也不能算不染。
是的，罪犯往往是被害者的犧牲品，
刑徒更往往為那些無罪無過的人肩負罪擔。
你們不能把至公與不公，至善與不善分開；因為他們一齊站在太陽面前，如同織在一起的黑線和白線，
黑線斷了的時候，織工就要視察整塊的布，也要察看那機杼。
你們中如有人要審判一個不忠誠的妻子，
讓他也拿天平來稱一稱她丈夫的心，拿尺來量一量他的靈魂。
讓鞭撻「擾人者」的人，先察一察那「被擾者」的靈性。
你們如有人要以正義之名，砍伐一棵惡樹，讓他先察看樹根；
他一定能看出那好的與壞的，能結實與不能結實的樹根，都在大地的沉默的心中，糾結在一處。
你們這些願持公正的法官，
你們將怎樣裁判那忠誠其外而盜竊其中的人？
你們又將怎樣刑罰一個受戮肉體，而在他自己是心靈遭滅的人？
你們又將怎樣控告那行為上刁猾、暴戾，
而事實上也是被威逼、被虐待的人呢？
你們又將怎樣責罰那悔心已經大於過失的人？
懺悔不就是你們所喜歡奉行的法定的公道麼？
然而你們卻不能將懺悔放在無辜者的身上，也不能將它從罪人心中取出。
不期然地它要在夜中呼喚，使人們醒起，反躬自省。
你們這些願意瞭解公道的人，若不在大光明中視察一切的行為，你們怎能瞭解呢？
■ 和你一同笑過的人，你可能把他忘掉；但是和你一同哭過的人，你卻永遠不忘。
■ 願除了尋求心靈的加深之外，友誼沒有別的目的。
只在那時，你們才知道那直立與跌倒的，只是一個站在侏儒性的黑夜與神性的白日的黃昏中的人，也要知道那大殿的角石，也不高於那最低的基石。
12
On Crime & Punishment
Then one of the judges of the city stood forth and said, "Speak to us of Crime and Punishment."
And he answered saying:
It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind.
That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto others and therefore unto yourself.
And for that wrong committed must you knock and wait a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed.
Like the ocean is your god-self;
It remains for ever undefiled.
And like the ether it lifts but the winged.
Even like the sun is your god-self;
It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent.
But your god-self does not dwell alone in your being.
Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man,
But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist searching for its own awakening.
And of the man in you would I now speak.
For it is he and not your god-self nor the pigmy in the mist, that knows crime and the punishment of crime.
Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.
But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,
So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.
And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,
So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.
Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self.
You are the way and the wayfarers.
And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.
Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone.
And this also, though the word lie heavy upon your hearts:
The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,
And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed.
The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked,
And the white-handed is not clean in the doings of the felon.
Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured,
And still more often the condemned is the burden-bearer for the guiltless and unblamed.
You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked;
For they stand together before the face of the sun even as the black thread and the white are woven together.
And when the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.
If any of you would bring judgment the unfaithful wife,
Let him also weight the heart of her husband in scales, and measure his soul with measurements.
And let him who would lash the offender look unto the spirit of the offended.
And if any of you would punish in the name of righteousness and lay the ax unto the evil tree, let him see to its roots;
And verily he will find the roots of the good and the bad, the fruitful and the fruitless, all entwined together in the silent heart of the earth.
And you judges who would be just,
What judgment pronounce you upon him who though honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit?
What penalty lay you upon him who slays in the flesh yet is himself slain in the spirit?
And how prosecute you him who in action is a deceiver and an oppressor,
Yet who also is aggrieved and outraged?
And how shall you punish those whose remorse is already greater than their misdeeds?
Is not remorse the justice which is administered by that very law which you would fain serve?
Yet you cannot lay remorse upon the innocent nor lift it from the heart of the guilty.
Unbidden shall it call in the night, that men may wake and gaze upon themselves.
And you who would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light?
Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen are but one man standing in twilight between the night of his pigmy-self and the day of his god-self,
And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation.
