人的生活也就是心灵的生活，这种力量形成人的事业人品，与生而俱来，由生活中之遭遇而显示其形态。正如苏东坡在潮州韩文公庙碑中所说：“浩然之气，不依形而立，不恃力而行，不待生而存，不随死而亡矣。故在天为星辰，在地为河狱，幽则为鬼神，而明则复为人。此理之常，无足怪者。”
在读《苏东坡传》时 我们一直在追随观察一个具有伟大思想、伟大心灵的伟人生活，这种思想与心灵，不过在这个人间世上偶然成形，昙花一现而已。苏东坡已死，他的名字只是一个记忆，但是他留给我们的，是他那心灵的喜悦，是他那思想的快乐，这才是万古不朽的。
Human life is no more than the life of a spirit , a force that governs oone's career and personality, given at birth and taking form in action only by the accidents and circumstances of oone's life. As Su Tongpo describes it, this "vital spirit has an existence independent of the body, and moves without dependence upon material force. It was there before one was born, and does not vanish after one's death. Therefore this vital spirit appears as? heavenly bodies above, and as mountains and rivers below. In the ocult world, it appears as spirits and ghosts, and in our conscious life, as men and women. This is a common truth and we need not wonder at it."
In reading the life of Su Tongpo,we have been following and observing the life of a great human mind and spirit, as they took temporary shape on this earth. Su Tongpo died and his name is only a memory, but he has left behind for all of us the joys of his spirit and the pleasures of his mind, and these are imperistable.
