Travellor's Space

http://issuu.com/scoutingireland/docs/outlook 

Page 11 Religion

Page 31 The Religion of the Backwoods 

Page 44 What is Scouting

本文摘錄自貝登堡在"The Scouter"(童軍服務員/童軍領袖)雜誌上，於1909~1941間的言論集"B-P's Outlook"(可稱之為B-P的遠見或B-P嘉言錄)。盡管我不願意擔任"非官方翻譯"，但是我還是將重點翻譯供參考，並附上原文摘錄與全本原稿檔案，要是有專業高手發現我的解讀有偏差，請隨時指教!

Religion 1912

VERY closely allied with education comes the important matter of religion. Though we hold no brief for any one form of belief over another, we see a way to helping all by carrying the same principle into practice as is now being employed in other branches of education, namely, to put the boys in touch with their objective, which in this case is to do their duty-to God through doing their duty to their neighbour. In helping others in doing daily good turns, and in rescuing those in danger, pluck, self-discipline, unselfishness, chivalry, become acquired, and quickly form part of their character. These attributes of character, coupled with the right study of Nature, must of necessity help to bring the young soul in closer touch spiritually with God.
Personally, I have my own views as to the relative value of the instruction of children in
Scripture history within the walls of the Sunday-school, and the value of Nature study and the practice of religion in the open air, but I will not impose my personal views upon others.
I prefer to be guided by collective opinions of experienced men, and here a remarkable
promise stands before us. Scouting has been described by various men and women of
thought and standing as "a new religion" -- three times I have read it this week. It is not, of course, a "new religion," it is merely the application to religious training of the principle now approved for secular training -- that of giving a definite objective and setting the child to learn and practise for himself -- and that, I think everybody's experiences will tell him, is the only training which really sticks by a man for good and ultimately forms part of his character.

以上他認為不應該認為有任何型式的信仰優於其他；對上蒼的責任應表現在幫助鄰人；盡管他不願表明"他認為研習自然並在戶外實踐宗教的教育價值，勝過在主日學的圍牆裡研讀經書"；有人稱童軍活動為"新宗教"，但是他認為這只是運用"宗教訓練的原則"，善用在非宗教訓練上。

The Religion of the Backwoods (偏遠、蠻荒的)  1918

THE man who has been knocking about the world, the man who has tasted danger and faced death, the man, in fact, who has seen life in the better sense of the phrase, is generally deeply religious. But his religion would not be recognised by some; it is unorthodox(非正統的，異教的) -- it has not been formulated by man, but is the natural outcome of his constant communing with Nature.
He probably could not define it himself, because it has no doctrine, no ritual.
He has come to appreciate the vastness approaching to infinity in Nature with
nevertheless a regular law underlying it all, and he has come to realise that even the small things, down to the microscopic germs, have each their part and responsibility in the working of the whole.
He has thus learnt his own comparative insignificance, and at the same time his own duty in life. He is conscious of progressive stages to higher things, to fuller happiness? from the seed to the flower, from the flower to the fruit; and that with man these stages are helped by his active effort towards progress as much as by his passive receptance of the inevitable.
He realises that happiness is gained by surmounting difficulties, but that life is barren and unsatisfactory where the effort is solely for self; that service for others brings the greatest reward.
When St. George overcame the dragon it was not merely for the triumph of defeating the beast that he strove, but for the greater satisfaction of helping the lady in distress.
Some may object that the religion of the Backwoods is also a religion of the backward;
and to some extent it is so. It is going back to the primitive, to the elemental, but at the same time it is to the common ground on which most forms of religion are based -- namely, the appreciation of God and service to one's neighbour.
But in many cases form has so overclothed the original simple faith of Nature that it is
hardly recognisable. We have come to judge a religion very much as we do a person -- if we are snobbish(勢利眼) -- by its dress. Anyone who does not wear the orthodox dress, and who reverts to the natural, is apt to be looked upon as indecent, or at the least eccentric, although he is, after all, merely displaying the form in which all are moulded by Nature -- by God.
Yet the natural form in religion is so simple that a child can understand it; a boy can
understand it, a Boy Scout can understand it. It comes from within, from conscience, from observation, from love, for use in all that he does. It is not a formality or a dogmatic dressing donned from outside, put on for Sunday wear. It is, therefore, a true part of his character, a development of soul, and not a veneer that may peel off.
Once the true body is there it can be dressed in the clothing best suited to it, but clothing without the body is a mere scarecrow -- camouflage.
I do not mean by this that we want to divert a boy from the faith of his fathers; far from
it. The aim is to give him the better foundation for that faith by encouraging in him
perceptions which are understandable by him.
Too often we forget when presenting religion to the boy that he sees it all from a very
different point of view from that of the grown-up. Nor can true religion be taught as a lesson to a class in school.
It is appalling to think what a vast proportion of our boys have turned out either prigs or
unbelievers through misconception of these points on the part of their teachers.

有經歷過世面及生死體驗的人，大都對生命的感受是深刻地聚"宗教性"，然而這種宗教是非正統的，是經由他與自然的互動所發展出來；蠻荒偏遠地區的宗教，的確是落伍、原始、基本的，但是他們卻具備所有宗教的共通點--感激上蒼並服務他人(我國童軍諾言第一條中"敬天樂群")，但是人們(指當時英國人)卻常常以歧視/勢利的眼光看待，就如同以穿著評斷人；宗教以自然的面貌展現最能讓孩童了解，而不是以華麗外表，只有衣著而沒有實體的人只是"稻草人"。

What is Scouting 1920

NOT one in a hundred of our own people knows this.
Scouting is not a thing that can be taught by wording it in public speeches, nor by
defining it in print. Its successful application depends entirely on the grasp of the Scout spirit by both trainer and trainee. What this spirit is can only be understood by outsiders when they see it ruling, as it already does to a vast extent, the thoughts and the actions of each member of our brotherhood.
Thus every Scoutmaster and every Commissioner will be an apostle to them, not merely through what he says but through what he imparts by impression and through what he does himself in his own personality.
For this he must, as a first point, be imbued with a real understanding knowledge of the
Scout ideals, the methods we use to gain them, and the reasons that underlie them.
Among them he realises, for instance: 

That the need is urgent of a great social rise out of the present slough of squalor;

That the State education system has its limitations for developing the character, the health, the technical skill, and the communal Christianity that are necessary;

That Scouting can help by attracting the boy or girl, or by helping him or her to acquire these qualities;

That this cannot be done by the imposition of artificial instruction from without but by
the encouragement of the natural impulses from within;

That this is imparted by personal leadership and example on the part of the Scoutmaster himself, and not by his mere instruction;

That the intelligent application of Nature lore and woodcraft largely supplies the means
and the incentive, while the Promise and the Scout Law give the direction;

That the growth of the Movement both at home and in every civilised foreign country is
phenomenal, not merely for its numbers but because it is entirely natural from within and has not been artificially forced from without;

That it is brotherhood -- scheme which, in practice, disregards differences of class, creed, country and colour, through the undefinable spirit that pervades it -- the spirit of God's gentleman.
Now these, you will say, are things that you know already, and don't need to be told. Yes, that is so. But what I want is that you should pass them on to those who don't know them.

正是這"兄弟手足"的體制，不分階級、教義、國家、膚色……