帝寶豪宅

Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have. As if one were to wear any sort of coat which the tailor might cut out for him, or, gradually leaving off palm-leaf hat or cap of woodchuck skin, complain of hard times because he could not afford to buy him a crown! It is possible to invent a house still more convenient and luxurious than we have, which yet all would admit that man could not afford to pay for. Shall we always study to obtain more of these things, and not sometimes to be content with less? Shall the respectable citizen thus gravely teach, by precept and example, the necessity of the young man's providing a certain number of superfluous glow-shoes, and umbrellas, and empty guest chambers for empty guests, before he dies? Why should not our furniture be as simple as the Arab's or the Indian's? When I think of the benefactors of the race, whom we have apotheosized as messengers from heaven, bearers of divine gifts to man, I do not see in my mind any retinue at their heels, any carload of fashionable furniture. Or what if I were to allow — would it not be a singular allowance? — that our furniture should be more complex than the Arab's, in proportion as we are morally and intellectually his superiors! At present our houses are cluttered and defiled with it, and a good housewife would sweep out the greater part into the dust hole, and not leave her morning's work undone. Morning work! By the blushes of Aurora and the music of Memnon, what should be man's morning work in this world? I had three pieces of limestone on my desk, but I was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind was all undusted still, and threw them out the window in disgust. How, then, could I have a furnished house? I would rather sit in the open air, for no dust gathers on the grass, unless where man has broken ground.



日本三大隨筆之一的《徒然草》提到：

能持身簡樸，袪除奢欲，不務財富，不求世間名利的，方稱賢慧。自古富而賢者，為數極少。

許由身無長物，有人見他捧水而飲，乃贈以葫蘆。時或繫之樹上，風吹作響，許由頓覺厭煩，遂棄而不用，復以手掬水。真可謂清涼之心也！孫晨冬天沒有棉被，僅備乾草一束，夜來舖草而臥，醒來便將之收起。唐土之人，以此等人為高士，載之書冊以傳世；若生於日本，必湮沒無聞。


讀李永熾先生《從風土與場所看台灣族群》一文，說到台灣雖有獨特的風土，卻被來來往往的人刻意的漠視。我們只有過客，剝削者，外來政權，而沒有自己主體的台灣。因為風土與場所的不同，會產生不同的文化，所以許由及孫晨此等人物不為日本人所喜歡。而在美國，則有梭羅。

梭羅因為桌上的三塊石頭必須每天擦拭，而沒有時間擦拭內心的塵埃，頓生厭背之心，將之丟棄。較之必須每天清掃的帝寶豪宅內的高級沙發，他寧願選擇坐在露天的草地上。

梭羅說，我們是不是應該偶爾學著滿足於現況，而不是整天想著如何去獲得那些奢侈品，去告訴我們年輕的一代，在你們死之前，務必要擁有鉑金包，名錶，跑車，豪宅，否則你們就白活了？我們的監察院長在嘲笑大學生打工的不智時，只有人責怪他不懂民間疾苦，卻沒有人告訴他，求學問並不是為了將來可以賺更多的錢而已！難道將來在台灣的史冊上，就只會有王永慶，郭台銘這些人？如果是這樣，即便台灣建構成為完全屬於台灣人民的國家，也不會被其他世界的人所尊重的。