关于谦逊
    拥有高尚的品德是如何？我想说的是，想要变的高尚，就是要努力的变得更好，超越原先所预期的,去做那些被普遍认为是骑士该做的。不顾及个人所付出的代价。要变的高尚，是努力做到身为一名骑士所应有的风范.
     这不是做为一个特殊的个体，也不一定是任何一个人。要努力去拥有一骑士风范，那要将效益和付出的计算置之度外，去倾听人内心所敲响的真理的钟声。
许多人都说，骄傲存在在于我们失败的错误之处，人类的行为是高尚的，但骄傲与内心原有的谦逊恰恰相反。也就是说，骄傲是使人低俗的源头。但我以为，骄傲同时也提升了人们去超越自身。如果缺乏骄傲,缺乏寻求进步的想法,我们会维持在如野人、野兽般的没有一丝责任感的生活。骄傲,是臻求卓越、美德与进步的动力。


骄傲的问题点在于，使自身得着益处的骄傲与导致浮夸的虚荣间没有明显的界线。虚荣，作为高傲的兄弟，是身为一名骑士或一位高尚的人所必须面对的强大敌人。虚荣几乎不可能被消灭，它的攻击，受害者往往看不到，但有一点却很明显那些被虚荣包围的人们，经常吝啬于给予他人的帮助。虚荣是种让人盲目的困境，悄悄的勾引人们以合理化来蒙蔽自己的双眼。这些被蒙蔽了双眼的人实际上只为自己的利益而行，对内心诉与令人欢愉的谎言，而否决真实与理性。尽管这些是假的，但这种令人舒畅的幻想确实更容易让人接受。这是因为我们作为人类，总希望他人认为自己是正确的的本性。
   因为我们都是人类，为了我们的生活，我们时常在自欺欺人与虚荣心中挣扎着。所以说作为常人，我们需要一些工具抵御来自虚荣的攻击，我们称它们为：正直，诚信，谦卑。
   正直是一种个人荣誉，显现在个人生活细节中所表露出的珍贵质量上
   诚信是一种对于理想正直的信念，即便在缺乏支持时，依旧能赋予自身力量。
   最后，谦卑,因为谦卑并非浮华的表面，相较于英勇、忠诚、慷慨、忠贞，它更难为我们赢的尊重。但这些美德中，没有一项是如谦卑在与那自我们的道德所映照出虚荣对抗时那般的有力。尽管虚荣无法被消灭，但可以藉着真诚的谦卑所带出的举动使其远离。藉着真诚，谦卑可以让你更易看清自己。拒绝那些令人飘然的赞美，使你仔细聆听心中那宁静的真理之钟所发出的声响，来做为衡量行为的尺度。


   真诚是达到谦卑的关键，虚伪做作的谦卑是没有用处的，就算你自己注视着自己故作谦卑。事实上，这样的谦卑会成为虚荣的武器，而不是与虚荣做争斗的工具了。要找到真诚的谦卑，那会是一项沉重的责任：凝视自己内心的光明和黑暗处，你的善与恶，你的美德和你的恶习。去接受这些事实，是一件艰巨的事情，也是件使自己高尚的任务。一旦你看见了真理，作为骑士，我们有更深远的责任去寻求增添这些我们所缺失的美德。我认为，我们都认同为达理想而不断努力的过程，造就了我们成为骑士。永远不会有人达到完美,因完美本身是不可能达到的,但即便如此其精神依旧是可贵的。
     真诚的谦卑使我们保持对于高尚品德的警醒、诫慎与守望。要使虚荣心远离的唯一方法就是随时保持警惕。一名高尚的人首先必须自我省察，并请求周围的人给予他与虚荣心交战过程的线索。
    避免那些令人飘然的赞美。身为一名拥有高尚品德的人，你应当借着生活上美好的道德品行使别人得以看见,从而赢得荣誉与赞美。此外,你也应当避免在为了赢得赞美而摆上过多的比重。即便以虚伪的行为来赚的公正的赞赏看似是种聪明的行为。此外，情绪与情感间的区别很容易混淆。
    当你对于你自己已身为一个高尚的人，拥有良好的品德与正直的行为的同时，你也如同那充满魅力如宝玉般的虚荣之心一般的脆弱。

    聆听你心中不谐和的声音。真诚的谦卑能使你聆听到那驻留在心中宁静的真理之钟所发出的声响。有时候,那钟声会很明亮，令人感到藉慰与满足。但有时也会想起不谐和的声音，在这个时候，更加仔细的去聆听它。因为这是提醒你虚荣心正在试图越界的警钟。如果你完全无法听见这来自心中不谐和的声音时，那你无疑的有危险了。
    当这样的一个不谐和产生后，会引导你去发现一些错误的承诺(可能来自良好动机或是疏忽)。这时身为一名高尚的人，有责任去寻求改正方法将错误。因承认错误是人类本能的一部分，以一个骑士般的姿态寻求改正来达到理想。对我而言最熟悉不过的改正就是这样的。若高贵变的更加崇高的话，则须为了缺点而接受责任，摒弃对于他人碰到困难深陷泥潭而感到的愉快，下决心纠正它。适当的交流和表达总是必要的；当他们愿意谦卑，发自内心的说出“我错了”或“我很抱歉”，那其中蕴含着一股强大的力量。在这么做的同时，也将你的软弱化为强大。

    最终，谦卑，在协会中诸多可敬的女士们中,被视为拥有优雅高贵的品德中，最为重要的一项。谦卑是一种蕴含了温柔的美德,独立于力量,英勇.忠诚或其它的美德。事实上,借着乘载其周围的事物,并将其调合,在不自我吹嘘与沉稳的卓越间得比对,来使其更加的成长。
   Siobhan女士，您长久以来一直是位高贵的女士，凭借着那些不显于外的方式所赢得的荣耀更加添你的成就。您已经完成了许多,众多成员都十分的尊敬您。因为您已经挣得了许多，而您的名声亦会因着您伟大的作为而更加地显着。但此时,会更加的难以发现虚荣心悄然的接近。
    今晚我想引导你去仔细思考两件事：一是你所拥有的成就与它们的所带来的功绩；二是你自身所用有的缺点,与如何用你自己的力量去改变它们。总而言之,你已经十分成功地使你自己成为一名拥有优雅、卓越、高尚品德的模范，这是身为一名高贵的女士所应设法达到的典范。我想对你提出一个尝试,尝试给自己设立一个目标，当你对于错误的事情感到心中有愧时，请三省己心.将失败转变为通往成功的阶石。
                                    --完--

接下来是英文原文

                  An Open Letter to Siobhan Medhbh O'Roarke
                            On Humility
                           Brian R. Price
                          April 30, 1997
                            Introduction
    Within the West kingdom of the SCA, Siobhan Medhbh O'Roarke was to be elevated into the Order of the Laurel on May 3, 1997.
As part of the ceremony, she asked certain knights and other gentles to speak on some of the chivalric virtues at her vigil, to be held the evening prior. As I have had the pleasure of knowing Mistress Siobhan for many years, I readily agreed.
    The ceremony was suitably beautiful, her recognition for cooking and for her gracious tenacity in seeking the best in herself and in Society balanced by her humble self-criticism that goes far to give all nobles the most important quality they can possess--grace.
    Below you will find the words I spoke to her on the occasion of her elevation; I must at once thank her for the opportunity to speak and the rest of the Laurel council for recognizing her longtime contributions to the Society and the World, service only mirrored by her steadfast service to that most important of units--her family.


    what is it to be noble? I would say that to be noble is to strive to be better than what is expected, to do what is commonly regarded as knight? regardless of personal expense. To be noble is to strive towards the   knighthood? not the personal one, nor necessarily of the common one. To strive for an knighthood? that is beyond cost/benefit calculation, to listen to the chime of truth that resides in the human heart.
    Many have said that that pride, that opposite resident to humility, is at fault for our failure as human beings to act nobly. It is said that pride brings men low. But I submit that pride also raises men above themselves; without pride, striving to be superior to what we were, we would remain savage beasts with no sense of responsibility, of duty. Pride can beget excellence, quality, prowess.


    The difficulty with pride is that there is no obvious barrier between constructive pride yielding excellence, and destructive vainglory yielding boastfulness. Vainglory, the older sibling to pride, is the most puissant enemy a knight or noble will ever face. Vainglory cannot be killed; it strikes unseen by the victim, but is obvious to those around them who are often powerless to lend any assistance. Vainglory is a plight that blinds, quietly seducing men to cover their own eyes with blinders of woven rationalization. These blinders are indeed works of art in their own right; for the individual strands are truths, woven together with logic such that the finished whole whispers pleasant falsehoods directly to the innermost self. And though it is false, this comfortable fantasy finds ready acceptance because it is what we has human beings want to hear that we are right.
    Because we are human, most of us struggle against the specter of vainglory, of self-deception, for our entire lives. But also being human, we are provided with tools used in defense of the soul against such assaults, namely: integrity, faith, humility.
   Integrity is personal honor, consistence in applying your personal values to every action.
    Faith is the belief in the ideal rightness? that gives you the strength even with a complete absence of evidence.
    And finally humility, humiliates. Because humility is not flashy, it gains less respect as a weapon of virtue than do courage, loyalty, largesse or fidelity. But none of these other virtues are of any assistance when it comes to combat with vainglory, with the mirrored ghosts of our own righteousness. Although vainglory cannot be killed, it can be held at bay if the gentle wields humility with sincerity. For used sincerely, humility makes the invisible specter more plain to see, refuses the comfort of praise, keeps you listening to the quiet ring of truth in your own heart, and confers a measure of grace. 

    Sincerity is the key to humility. Humility that is play-acted, even if you yourself are the audience, is powerless; indeed it becomes a weapon of vainglory rather than being used against it. To seek sincerity requires the onerous duty of peering inside yourself to see both the light and the dark, the good and the bad, the excellent and the poor. To accept these things as truths is a daunting, yet ennobling task. Once the truth is seen, the knight has the further duty to seek to improve those virtues in which he is lacking. I think we agree that it is the traveling towards the ideal that makes the knight; there will never be one who reaches the ideal, and yet all may be ennobled even though the ideal itself remains unreachable.
    Sincere humility keeps the noble alert; observant; on guard. The only way to keep vainglory distanced is by vigilance. The noble man must look first within himself, then to those around him for clues as to how the battle progresses.
    How is all of this done?
   Avoid the comfort of praise. Should you strive to behave as a noblewoman, you will in due course earn honor and praise from those who see you as virtuous. And yet, you must avoid placing too much weight on this praise, even if it is purchased on the authority of your own integrity vainglory is too clever for that; it can easily short-circuit perceptions both sensory and emotive. As soon as you are comfortable that you are a virtuous person, that you have acted with righteousness, you are as vulnerable as a baby to vainglory jade charms.  


    Listen for the ring of discord in your own heart. This quality of sincere humility enables you to hear rings from that quiet bell of truth that resides within your own conscience. Sometimes the bell rings with a brightness ?that is at once comforting and fulfilling, but there should be other times when it rings with discord; listen most carefully at these times, because this is an alarm against which vainglory may have transgressed. If you hear no discord at all then you are certainly in danger.
   When such a discord is discovered, some wrong committed in the service of a good cause or through neglect, it is the duty of a nobleman to seek to right the wrong by making an amend. Such an amend is, most familiar to me, a   knightly gesture ?that demonstrates continued service to the ideals even as it acknowledges the error as being part of human nature. The noble goes further, accepting responsibility for the flaw and, spurning the comfort of pinning the difficulty on someone else, determines to make it right. Some kind of communication and gesture is always required; but there is great power in this, in the humility to say, "I was wrong" or "I am sorry," provided they are spoken with sincerity. In so doing you turn a weakness into a strength. 

    Finally, humility confers what has been called by many respected ladies of the gallery the most important virtue a noble can possess grace. Humility is a virtue that confers a gentleness that does not denude from strength, courage, loyalty or any virtue of the noble. Indeed it enhances them by harmonizing the bearer with those around them and striking a contrast between the lack of boasts and the quiet excellence that resides within them.
   Mistress Siobhan, you have been a noblewoman for a long time, earning accolades in pale measure to your accomplishments. You have accomplished much; many folk respect you. Therefore because you have earned much, and will soon have your renown increased more owing to this great service, it will be even more difficult to see the vainglorious spirit as it stalks you.
    I would charge you this evening to consider two things; your accomplishments and their merits and your foibles, and how you might combat them. On balance you have largely succeeded in making yourself an example of grace and excellence that a noblewoman should strive for an accepting this token, I would counsel you to set for yourself the task of finding three times when your heart rings with discord over some misdeed, turning these small defeats to victories. 

真是辛苦了，整理的非常有条理，值得学习

辛苦了啊。