德不孤，必有鄰。

Any prospect of awakening or coming to life to a dead man makes indifferent all times and places. The place where that may occur is always the same, and indescribably pleasant to all our senses. For the most part we allow only outlying and transient circumstances to make our occasions. They are, in fact, the cause of our distraction. Nearest to all things is that power which fashions their being. Next to us the grandest laws are continually being executed. Next to us is not the workman whom we have hired, with whom we love so well to talk, but the workman whose work we are.

"How vast and profound is the influence of the subtile powers of Heaven and of Earth!"

"We seek to perceive them, and we do not see them; we seek to hear them, and we do not hear them; identified with the substance of things, they cannot be separated from them."

"They cause that in all the universe men purify and sanctify their hearts, and clothe themselves in their holiday garments to offer sacrifices and oblations to their ancestors. It is an ocean of subtile intelligences. They are everywhere, above us, on our left, on our right; they environ us on all sides."

We are the subjects of an experiment which is not a little interesting to me. Can we not do without the society of our gossips a little while under these circumstances — have our own thoughts to cheer us? Confucius says truly, "Virtue does not remain as an abandoned orphan; it must of necessity have neighbors."

中庸第十六章

子曰：「鬼神之為德，其盛矣乎！視之而弗見，聽之而弗聞，體物而不可遺。使天下之人，齊明盛服，以承祭祀，洋洋乎如在其上，如在其左右。」

梭羅在此所引的中庸十六章尚有一小段，即孔子引詩經《大雅．抑》：詩曰：『神之格思，不可度思，矧可射思。』，然後孔子作結道：「夫微之顯，誠之不可揜如此夫！」而詩經《大雅．抑》主要是衛武公自責自勵之詩；在這裡衛武公告訴自己，「人在做，天在看。不能說這裡很隱密，人家看不到，就去作有愧良心的事。要知道神的來到，是無法預期的，所以隨時要謹慎，不放縱自己的言行。」孔子作結說：鬼神的事本來就是隱微的，卻又如此顯著，所以真實無妄的心不能掩藏就是這道理啊！

這「夫微之顯」的鬼神，因為近代科學思想的昌明而黯淡不明，其實人們心中明明知道，卻怕被冠上迷信不科學的帽子，而且告訴自己，這只是一種過時的錯誤想法，於是在沒人看見的地方，就幹起見不得人的勾當。

12/17,18二日去花東參加千里苦行時，第二日中午在花蓮光復糖廠休息，點了杯手工舞鶴咖啡，鄰座有鄭麗君和她的友人，室外棚下有林義雄夫婦，讓我有一刻時間脫離台灣那專扯八卦的社會，讓我的思想來款待我自己。我只能想到這句話：德不孤，必有鄰。