有一個不識字的木匠告訴威廉˙詹姆斯(William James) ：「人之間沒有太大的不同，但是這些細微的相異處卻是非常重要的。」*我覺得這樣的認知很有趣。

我之所以認為你我之間沒有太大的不同，那是因為在大部分的時候我們彼此滿足對方的期待與想像。如果我拿我自己跟我的狗比較，我就不會期待牠與我有相同的刷牙次數或是相似的抓癢方式。但是如果你和我的狗跳脫了我的期待範圍而變成同樣的等級，不管是上升級數或是降低等級，我們之間不同的地方就會增加。

這位木匠先生建議一種如何面對「不同」的態度。當然我不會知道他是用哪些評量標準來確認什麼是重要或不重要的。但是如果一件事或一個人是重要的，我們必定會比較關心，甚至重視。他建議我們必須重視人之間的相異處，即使我們之間的不同的地方增加了。

我們到底是站在什麼樣的位置？我們到底要用什麼樣的態度來面對「不同」？或許我可以說我是消極的，因為我並不會期待別人和我之間有很多的相同處，我也不會覺得一個人和另外一個人（譬如說，你和他）之間如果有很大的不同會有天塌下來的危機，相反的，我認為這是再自然不過的事情。態度？我並不覺得我有必要用這個問題困擾我自己。這個跟有健康雙腿的人必須思考他如何進行走路這件事情一樣。如果當我要走路時，我必須思考如何抬起腿，彎曲我的膝蓋成三十度角，降低我的小腿到腳底板可以處碰到地面的高度，然後另一隻腿重覆同樣的動作，那我們可能要花一萬倍的時間才能知道山的形狀和海的深度。

A carpenter told William James: “There is very little difference between one man and another; but what little there is, is very important.”* I found this very interesting.

The reason that I think there is little difference between you and me is because we satisfy our expectation or imagination for each other most of the time. If I compare myself with my dog, I would not anticipate that we spend the same amount of time on brushing the teeth or scratching ourselves in the same way. However, if you and my dog leave out of my imaginative range, no matter you become better or worse, the difference between us would increase.

Mr. carpenter suggests an attitude how to face this issue of difference. Certainly I don’t know how he decides what is important and what is not. But if someone or something is important, we might concern it more. He suggests that we have to take the difference seriously, even though the difference might increase.

Where is our ground? How do we deal with the difference? Perhaps I may say that I am pessimistic, because I don’t expect that people are like me. I don’t think it is a big deal if one person is very different from another. On the contrary, I think it is normal. Attitude? I don’t think I even need to bother myself with this question. This would be as if someone who has healthy legs, and he has to think how to raise his right leg, bend it in 30 degree, lower the leg in order to let the foot touch the ground, and repeat the same actions on the other leg while walking. If so, we probably had spent 10,000 times of the time to know the shapes of mountains and the depth of the ocean.

*William James, The Will to Believe

**Picture Source: Le Petit Prince