【１】私の好きな言葉に、「内心にひそむ確信を語れば、それは普遍に通ずる」という名言がある。アメリカの哲学者エマソンが『自己信頼』というエッセイで述べたもので、ものを考えたり書いたりする際、いつも私の脳裏にあるのはこのエマソンの言葉である。【２】自分自身の考えを信じ、自分にとって真理であることはすべての人にとっても真理であると信じること、それが天才というものであって、人間にとってもっとも肝心なことは、自分自身を信じることである、とエマソンは言う。
　【３】なにかすばらしいアイデアが浮かぶことがある。一瞬、こんなすばらしいアイデアを思いついた自分は天才かもしれないと思ったりする。しかし同時に、いやいや、これは錯覚にすぎない、それに、こんなことなどだれでも考えつくことだと思いなおす。【４】こうして、われわれは、すばらしい考えを捨て去るが、一方、天才と言われる人間は、自分のアイデアに自信を持ち、これを心のなかでじっくりと育て、すばらしいものを生み出す――エマソンはこんなふうに考える。
　【５】たしかに、天才うんぬんは別にして、だれでも、時にはすばらしいアイデアを思いつくことはある。問題は、それが本当にすばらしいアイデアなのかどうか自分では容易にきめかねることである。【６】私自身も、哲学者や芸術家の思想や生涯を研究しながら、ときには、いままでだれも思いつかなかったのではないかと思えるようなすばらしい見方や分析を発見したと感じることがある。【７】そこには、誇張して言えば、大発見にともなう感動と陶酔がある。そういう感動と陶酔こそ、ものを考え、それを文章に書きあらわすうえでもっとも強い動力となることを私は実感する。【８】ただし、そういうとき、いつも頭をよぎるのは、私にはすばらしいと思えるこのアイデアが、はたして他の人びとにはわかってもらえるだろうか。あるいは、これはまるで見当はずれの考えなのではあるまいか……という懸念である。【９】自分の考えの正しさを確信することはなかなか容易なことではないのだ。天才に通ずる道だとエマソンが言う自己確信は、うぬぼれや誇大妄想へと到る危険もはらんでいる。
　【０】たしかに、なにごとかを確信して、自分の考えと呼べるようなものを獲得するのはたいへんむずかしいことではある。しかし、私∵自身の体験から、本当に自分で確信したことは、必ず他の人びとにわかってもらえ、少なからざる感動あるいは共感を得られる、と保証することができる。ただし、その際、いちばん肝心なことは、自分ひとりで徹底的に考え抜くということである。本当にこれは私自身の考えだ、と言うことができれば、それはエマソンの言うように、普遍に通ずるはずである。自分自身も驚くようなすばらしい自分の考えのみが、他の人びとをも驚かせ、納得させることができる。他の人がびっくりする前に、自分自身がびっくりするような自分の考えこそ、内心の確信に通ずるものである。

（「孤独の研究」（木原武一）による。）

A few years ago, I was asked to answer this question on a radio program: ”What is the biggest lesson you have ever learned?”
That was easy: the biggest thing I have ever learned is the importance of what we think. Tell me what you think, and I will know what you are. Our thoughts make us what we are. How can we be anything else?
I am sure that the biggest lesson you and I have to learn - in fact, almost the only lesson we have to learn - is choosing the right thoughts. If we can do that, we will be on the highway to solving a11 our worries. One of the greatest thinkers, Marcus Aurelius, said it in eight words - eight words that can decide your life: ”Our life is what we think of it.”
Yes, if we think happy thoughts, we will be happy. If we think sad thoughts, we will be sad. If we think right thoughts, we will not be wrong. If we think unhealthy thoughts, we will be ill.
As I grow older, I know well how great the power of thought is. As a result of thirty-five years spent in teaching, I know men and women can send away worry, fear, and various kinds of illnesses, and change their lives by changing thoughts.
For example, one of these unbelievable changes which showed the power of thought happened to one of my students. He had a heavy illness. This student told me, ”I worried about everything: I worried because I was too short; because I thought I was losing my hair; because I feared I was losing the gir1 I wanted to marry; because I felt I was not living a good life. I could no longer work; I gave up my job. The pressure got so strong that something had to happen - and it did.
”My illness was so bad that I couldn't talk even to my own family. I had no control over my thoughts. I was filled with emptiness. Every day was one of sadness. I wanted to jump into the river and end it all.
”But I decided to take a trip to Florida. I hoped that a change of air would help me. When I got on the train, my father handed me a letter and told me not to open it until I reached Florida. I arrived in Florida during the summer season. Because I couldn't get in a hotel, I rented a sleeping room in a garage. I tried to get a job, but couldn't. I spent my time near the sea. I was more unhappy in Florida than at home; so I opened the letter from Dad. His note said, 'Son, you are 1,500 miles from home, and you don't feel any different, do you? I knew you wouldn't, because you took with you the one thing that makes you unhappy; that is, yourself. There is nothing wrong with either your body or your mind. It is not the things that you have met but what you think of these things. ”As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” When you understand that, son, come home. Then you will be fine.'
”Dad's letter made me angry. I was looking for some kind words, not teaching. I was very angry, so I thought then and there that I would never go home. That night when I was walking down one of the side streets of Miami, I came to a church in which services were going on. As I had no place to go, I went in and listened to a sermon on the text:‘He who controls his mind is stronger than he who takes a city.' I sat in the house of God and heard the same thoughts from Dad's 1etter - and then all my worries left me. I was able to think clearly for the first time in my life. I said to myself,‘What a fool I have been!' I was surprised to see myself in my true light: here I wanted to change the whole world and everyone in it - what the only thing that needed changing was the direction of the lens of the camera which was my mind.”