佚名/Anonymous
A philosopher found a statue of Double-faced God in the ruins of Rome. As it was the first time he had seen such an image he asked curiously,“What god are you? Why do you have double faces?”
The god answered,“I am Double-faced God. I look back to the past with one face to learn lessons and look forward to the future with another full of hope.”
The philosopher asked again,“What about the present —the most significant present? Have you paid any attention to it?”
“The present!”the god was taken aback,“How could I spare a minute to it since I am so busy with the past and the future?”
“The past is gone,”said the philosopher,“while the future is yet to come. What we can grasp is the present; if you ignore the present, your knowledge about the past and future will be meaningless however great it is!”
The god, suddenly awakened to the truth, burst out crying,“How correct your comment is! It was precisely because I didn't grasp the present that the ancient city of Rome was turned into a page of history while I myself was thrown into the ruins.”
在古羅馬的廢墟裏，哲學家發現了一尊雙麵神像。因為從未見過這樣的神像，所以哲學家就好奇地問：“你是什麽神啊，為什麽有兩張麵孔？”
神像回答道：“我是雙麵神。我一麵可以回顧過去，吸取教訓；一麵可以展望未來，充滿希望。”
哲學家又問：“那現在呢？你注意到無比重要的現在了嗎？”
“現在！”神像愣住了，“我忙於追溯過去和展望未來，怎麽會有時間去管現在？”
哲學家說：“過去已經逝去，將來還未到來，現在才是我們唯一能夠把握的。如果你忽視了現在，你對過去和未來的認識也就沒有任何意義了。所以，不管怎麽說，現在都是重要的。”
雙麵神恍然大悟，痛哭起來：“你說得太對了！古羅馬之所以成為曆史，我之所以被埋在廢墟裏，都是因為我沒有把握住現在。”