在这个八集的系列中 In this eight part series
我讨论了哲学和宗教上常见的问题 I discuss problems common to the philosophy and to religion
我现在重点讨论 人类与虚无主义作斗争 My focus is now our struggle with nihilism
恐惧我们的生命和世界本身或许是没有意义的 The fear that our lives and world itself may be meaningless
第六部分讲述的是 This sixth part addresses
人类精神史上 the third of three major orientations
三个主要导向的第三方面 in the spiritual history of humanity
叫做与世界作斗争 called the struggle with the world
这个方面的中心思想是 Its central idea is that
一系列的自我转型和社会转型 a series of self-transformations and of transformations of society
会增加我们赋有的神性的属性成分 can increase our share in the attributes that we ascribe to the divine
给予我们更广阔的生活 and gives us a larger life
这个信仰或许会 也或许不会涵括在 This belief may or may not be included
上帝和人类更漫长的交易故事中 within a larger narrative of transaction between God and mankind
与世界的斗争有两个方面的呼声 The struggle with the world has spoken in two voices
一个是神性的 另一个是世俗的 one sacred, the other profane
神性呼声是闪族宗教的拯救 Its sacred voice is the voice of Semitic religion of salvation
犹太教 基督教和伊斯兰教 Judaism, Christianity and Islam
世俗的呼声是关于解放的长期进程 Its profane voice is the voice of the secular projects of liberation
民主主义 自由主义和社会主义的政治规划 The political programs of democracy, liberalism and socialism
和随着民主主义兴起的 and the worldwide popular romantic culture
世界流行的浪漫主义文化 which arise with democracy
传达着这样的信息 convey the message
每个普通的男人和女人都接近神性 that every ordinary man and woman is Godlike
与世界作斗争 The struggle with the world is
是当今世界上最有权威性的理念 now the most authoritative set of ideas in the world
在长达两个世纪里 For over two centuries
它促使全部人类激动不已 it has help set all of humanity on fire
如果说在这之前 这个理念无比的强大 By if it is incomparably strong
现在 它就显得出奇的脆弱了 it is also now strangely weak
它的疆界再不能引导它下一步的去向 Its boundaries no longer know what its next step should be
它迷失了 It is lost
这种与世界作斗争的 The differences between the sacred and the profane versions
介乎神性和世俗之间的区别很重要 of the struggle with the world matter
它们对信息内容 they matter to the content of the message
对我们生命的导向 to the orientation of our lives
和权威性的定位很重要 and to the allocation of authority
我们应该抵抗诱惑 We should resist the attempt
在信与不信之间进行妥协 to split the difference between believing and not believing
当代文化的一个强有力的倾向是 A powerful tendency in contemporary culture
把与世界作斗争的神圣形式 would treat the sacred form of the struggle with the world
当作我们世俗和人道主义理念的 as the mythological or allegorical expression
神话或讽喻的表现 of our secular and humanistic ideas
这种信仰的折中办法显露出了混淆和自欺欺人 This half way house of belief betrays confusion and self-deception
一成不变的站在为我们的传统偏见 and invariably stands in the service of an effort
做糖衣炮弹的努力上 to sugar coat our conventional prejudice
然而 这个世界不需要帮助它复制自身 The world however needs no help to reproduce itself
尽管与世界作斗争的 Despite the real differences
神性和世俗形式之间有所不同 between the sacred and profane forms of the struggle with the world
它们之间还是有很大程度上的共同的信仰 There is a significant ground of shared belief between them
我把这些评论分成两部分 I divide these remarks into two parts
第一部分 我探索了这种共同信仰的核心 In the first part, I explore this core of shared belief
人类的概念 the conception of humanity
现实性的愿景和存在主义的导向 the vision of reality and existential orientation
在第二部分 我问了三个问题 In the second part, I ask three sets of questions
关于与世界作斗争和这种斗争的未来 about the struggle with the world and its future
我们怎样才能恢复它的力量 How can it regain its force
推动它的发展呢 its forward movement?
什么是它的限制 尤其是在 What are its limitations especially as revealed by the way in
它和虚无主义中的威胁 which it deals
进行斡旋时表现出的限制是什么 with the threat in nihilism?
在未来人类精神经验中它超越了什么 And what lies beyond it in the future spiritual experience of mankind
人类的概念 The conception of humanity
处于与世界作斗争的中心位置 at the center of the struggle with the world
传达了人类与世界的关系 的观点 lies a view of our relation to the world
人类在其中找到了自我 in which we find ourselves
人类化身为日趋走向死亡的生物体 We are incarnate in dying organisms
我们是安全的 and we are shaped
由我们建立和居住的社会文化世界加以塑造 by the social and cultural world that we build and inhabit
然而 在我们的每个个体中远不止这些 Nevertheless, there is always more enough in each of us individually
在我们所有的人类种族中也一样 and in all of us collectively the human race
超过了现在和以前的社会和文化环境 than there is or ever can be in this social and cultural context
对于我们来说 它们是有限的 They are finite with regard to us
对于它们来说 我们是无限的 We are infinite with respect to them
用古老的神学词汇来表达 in the old theological vocabulary
我们是孕育于有限之中的无限 we are the infinite in precinct within the finite
环境和超越之间的辩证关系 This dialectic between context and transcendence
发生在人类经验的每个领域 recurs in every domain of our experience
它显示出了它自己 It manifests itself
比如说 在思维的特性中 for example, in the character of the mind
思维有两个方面 The mind has two aspects
一方面 它就像一台机器 In one aspect, it is like a machine
它是模块化的和公式化的 It's modular and formulaic
然而 另一方面 思维是空的机器 In another aspect however, the mind is an empty machine
它既不模块化也不公式化 It is not modular, It is not formulaic
它显露出了一种无限递归能力 It displays a power of recursive infinity
用不确定数量的方式 to combine everything with everything else
把一切和其他一切结合起来 in indefinite numbers of ways
它享有诗人们称之为否定能力的力量 and it enjoys the power that the poet called negative capability
超越了它本身的假设和限制 to reach beyond its own presupposition and limits
思维的第二方面被我们称作想象力 This second aspect of the mind is what we called imagination
思维这两方面的关系 The relation between these two aspects of the mind
机器式和非机器式的两方面 the machine like aspect and the anti-machine like aspect
不是由大脑的物理构造预先决定的 is not predetermined by the physical constitution of the brain
社会和文化可以很有组织性 Society and culture can be so organized
它们既不增加也不减少 that they either increase or diminish
想象力的运动空间 the space for the movement of the imagination
从这种意义上来说 and in this sense
政治史是人类思维史的内在形式 the history of politics is internal to the history of the mind
尽管 我们人类的这种观点 Although, this view of our humanity
是在环境和超越的辩证关系上组织起来的 organized around the dialectic between context and transcendences
处于人类文明的非常核心位置 stand at the very center of our civilization
几乎人类文化的典型智力成果 Almost all the characteristic intellectual achievement of our culture
都无法完全表达出这种观点 fail completely to express it
就拿经典的社会理论来说 Take for example classical social theory
它的中心思想之一是 One of its central ideas was the idea that
社会和文化的结构是人造的 the structures of society and culture are artifacts
它们是人类的产物 they are our creations
我们制造了它们 正因为如此 We made them and because we made them
我们可以很好的理解它们 并改变它们 we can understand them and we can change them
然而 这种革命性见解 This revolutionary insight has nevertheless
几乎总是受限于 almost always been circumscribed
一系列历史决定论的让步 by a series of concessions to historical determinism
剥夺了它本身很多力量 that rob it of much of its force
这种见解也几乎发生在思想的每一个角落 and so it happens in almost every department of thought
我刚才提到的人类的观点 是这样发展起来的 The view of humanity that I have just outlined
在现实性的愿景 develops against the background of a vision of reality
和我们置身于其中的背景下 and our place in it
与世界作斗争还有一个很基本的元素 That is also an essential element of the struggle with the world
只存在一个真实的世界 There is only one real world
关于这个世界最重要的事情是 The most important thing about the world is
它就是它自己 不是别的东西 it is what it is and not something else
时间是真实的 Time is real
随着时间的发展 没有什么能够逃离时间 and goes all the way down nothing is exempt from time
历史是开放的 History is open
这种新的特性 真实的新特性是有可能的 The new, the really new is possible
因为它不是简单的像幽灵一样在世界晃荡 because the possible is not simply a ghost stalking the world
等待它来到现实的舞台 and waiting for its cue to come on to stage of actuality
自身有它的不定性 如果无限不够深的话 The self has indefinite if not infinite depth
在广泛的寻常事物中有更多潜在性 and there is more potential in the common place in the ordinary
在平常百姓中比在贵族和精英中更多 in the vulgar than in the noble and the elevated
这种人类的观点和现实性的愿景 This conception of humanity and this vision of reality
向世界告知了一种导向 inform an orientation to the world
这种导向的焦点之一 One of the focal points of this orientation
与自身和结构的关系有关 has to do with the relation between self and structure
为了自由 为了提高我们的生活和自我意识 To be free, to develop our lives and our consciousness
我们必须参与社会和文化世界中的某一部分 we must engage in a particular social and cultural world
参与是自我建构的条件之一 Engagement is one of the conditions of self-construction
但是参与某一特定世界威胁我们 but every engagement in a particular world threatened us
用征服和人格丧失而失去自我 with the lost of self with subjugation and depersonalization
在一定程度上来说 We would be freer and greater
我们可以变得更自由更伟大 to the extent that
如果我们能够参与某一特定世界而不屈服于它 we could engage in a particular world without surrendering to it
把最后的主动权掌握在我们手中 keeping the last word for ourselves
因此我们需要避免两个相反的方面 There are two opposing areas that we must therefore avoid
理解自我和结构之间的关系 In understanding the relation between self and structure
据其来定位我们的生活方向 and orienting our live accordingly
根据其中一个方面 According to one area
思想和社会生活的确定结构 there is a definitive structure of thought and of social life
使我们有理由去重视的所有经验 that accommodates all the experience that we have reason to value
而这种结构 所有结构中的结构 And this structure, the structure of all structures
思想和生活的确定性秩序 This definitive ordering of thought and of life is
慢慢的在历史进程中体现出来了 gradually revealed in the course of history
在这个世界中 There is no such structure
我们所拥有或可能拥有的结构中 all we have or can ever have in the world
不存在有限而迷惑人的结构 are finite and fraud settings
所以 我们永远不要希望能够 So, we can never hope to be fully
在这个世界中感到完全自在 at home in the world
每一次试图描绘的确定性结构 Every attempt to describe a definitive structure
或是向它在历史中 or to salute its eminent emergence in history
以邪神崇拜的形式出现而进行的膜拜 represents the form of idolatry
都是一种奴役的威胁 and thus a threat of enslavement
根据另一方面 According to the opposing area
浪漫主义特性的那方面 the error characteristic of romanticism
例如 我们不曾希望 for example, we cannot hope
改变结构和精神之间的基础关系 ever to change the basic relation between structure and spirit
借助精神 If by spirit
我们指派力量去藐视和超越结构 we designate our power to defy and to transcend structure
结构就是结构 Structures are structures
根据这种观点 它们是麦得斯之手 according to the view they are the hands of Midas
凝滞和扼杀我们的人道 Freezing and killing are humanity
它们是不可或缺的或是不可避免的 They are indispensable or unavoidable
但是 我们只是愚昧的人类 but we are folly human only
那些我们振撼它们力量的叛乱中的小插曲 in those interludes of rebellion in which we sake their power
浪漫的爱情与婚姻套路相对抗 romantic love against the routines of marriage
街上的群众抵抗国家机关的安排 the crowd in the streets against the arrangements of the state
这个方面是一种绝望 也是一种幻灭 This area is a form of despair it is also a form of illusion
真理是我们可以改变这种特性 The truth is that we can change the character
以及我们结构的内容 as well as the content of our structures
创造可以自我修正的结构 Creating structures that invite their own revision
因此允许我们更全面地 and thus allow us more fully
分开外界和内在的区别 to split the difference between being insiders and outsiders
我们可以在社会中和思想上进行安排 We can create arrangements in society and in thought
减少安排在框架内进行的 that diminish the distance between the ordinary moves
日常活动 that we take within a frame work of arrangements
与我们保留不改变的设想 and assumptions that we leave unchallenged and unchanged
以及一次次非凡举措之间的距离 and the extraordinary moves by which from time to time
通常在危机的挑衅下 usually under the provocation of crisis
我们挑战和改变这个框架的某部分 we challenge and change pieces of this framework
这样 我们变得更自由更伟大 and to that extent, we become freer and greater
我们创造这样的结构的兴趣在于 Our interest in the creation of such structures
它允许我们参与其中 而不需臣服于它们 that allow us to participate in them without surrendering to them is
私下和我们最基本的物质 intimately related to our most fundamental material
和道德兴趣相关联 and moral interest
我们的兴趣在于 To our material interest in the development
发展我们实际的生产能力 of our practical powers of production
我们的兴趣还在于弱化 and to our moral interest in the weakening
并最终克服社会分类 and eventual overcoming of entrench schemes of social divisions
和等级的桎梏 and hierarchy
比如阶级社会的结构 such as the structures of a class society
19世纪的自由主义者和社会主义者 The liberals and the socialist of the 19th century
相信这些物质和道德兴趣之间 believed in a pre-establish harmony or natural convergence
已确立的和谐性或自然融合性 between these material and moral interest
他们提倡根据它们的不同导向 and they proposed according to their different orientations
他们希望一个特别的机构程序 a particular institutional program that they hope
能推动物质和道德兴趣共同发展 to promote both the material and the moral interest
他们犯了错 但是我们也会 they were mistaken but we would be mistaken
如果我们用介于我们的道德和物质兴趣之间 if we replace their dogmatism
不可协调的矛盾悲剧教条 by the tragic dogma of an insoluble contradiction
替代他们的教条主义 between our moral and material interest
我们的任务是寻找 Our task is to find the zone of material intersection
制度性要求之间的物质交集的空间 between the institutional requirements
适用于我们的实际权力的发展 for the development of our practical powers
和制度性环境 and the institutional conditions
适用于克服社会分类和等级的桎梏 for the overcoming of entrenched social division and hierarchy
这共同元素恰恰取决于 The common element lies precisely
安排和信息的创造中 in the creation of the arrangements and the message
而不是表现他们自己 that rather than presenting themselves
作为宇宙的未来 促进它们自身的转型 as part of future of the universe facilitate their own transformation
第二个焦点 A second focal point
在与世界作斗争的延伸导向中 in the extensile orientation of the struggle with the world
与自我和他人之间的关系有关 has to do with the relation between the self and others
在几乎所有伟大历史文明中 In the dominant moral beliefs
占支配地位的道德信仰 of almost all the great historical civilizations
利他主义已经成为 Altruism has been taken
道德生活的组织原则 to be the organizing principle of the moral life
根据这个观点 According to this view
首要问题是 the overriding problem is
利己和自私的牵制 the containment of self-regard and selfishness
说服文明我们每个人都不是世界的中心 to convince us that each of us is not the center of the world
在世界史上的这些主要信仰 For these dominant beliefs in world history
团结的最高形式是 the highest form of solidarity is
人类赋予的超然仁善 a detached benevolence given from mankind
私下和我们通过参与非人性化的上帝的属性 Intimately related to the serenity that we achieve
获得的内心宁静相关联 by participating in the attributes of an impersonal god
与世界作斗争 The struggle with the world
已经对我们的道德信仰发动了一场革命 has produced a revolution in our moral beliefs
这场革命的结果宣称 The consequence of this revolution is to assert
从远方获得的这种超然仁善 that the detached benevolence offered from a distance
低于而不高于同等物的个人所好 is lower and not higher than personal love among equals
以隐性的两败俱伤的代价来获得 Achieved at a price of hidden reciprocal vulnerability
自我建构有一些要求的概念 There is conception of the requirements of self-construction
基于这种观点之上 that stands at the basis of this view
根据这种概念 According to this conception
为了自由 我们必须连接 to be free, we must connect
我们必须从认知 We must connect cognitively
情感和实用性上来连接 emotionally and practically
可是 每种连接形式威胁着我们 And yet, every form of connection threatens us
我们会失去我们的个体性 with the loss of our individuality
自由 更伟大的生活 更高级的存在 freedom, our greater life, a higher being
我们成功协调的结果 Results from our success in reconciling
这种自我主张的存在矛盾 this conflicting requirements of self-assertion
在个人所好的经验中 And it is in the experience of personal love
我们进行全面调解 that we reconcile them most fully
和其他人连接不会对我们的存在构成威胁 Connecting with the other not as a threat to our being
但是 作为存在经验的更深层次的重申 but as a deepening and reaffirmation of the experience of existence
这两个伟大主题之间有什么关系 What is the relation between these two great themes
即超越结构的主题 the theme of the transcendence of a structure
和道德经验体制中 and the theme of the primacy of love
爱的首要主题 in the organization of moral experience
正是在爱中 我们充分认识彼此 It is in love that we most fully recognize one another
作为环境超越的代理者 as the context transcending agents
作为我们都知道自己的本源体 as the originals that we all know ourselves to be
在一个我们永远面对虚无主义威胁的世界里 In a world in which we face forever the threat of nihilism
从必死性角度来讲的无根据性 of groundlessness in the perspective of mortality
爱在这个世界中 love supplies a ground and assurance of an unconditional place
提供了一种有根据保障的无条件位置 in the world
那是自我作为精神 That's the connection between the idea of the self as spirit
和爱的首要理念之间的连接 and the idea of the primacy of love
然而 这产生了一个问题 There is however a problem
问题在于 我们还不是全面的 The problem is that we are not yet fully these beings
能够抵抗和超越环境的存在体 who are able to resist and transcend context
想要构造出一个例外 And to imagine an except one another
来作为环境超越代理体 as context transcending agents
我们必须把自己变成这样的存在体 We must make ourselves into these beings
为了把我们自己变成那样的存在体 And to make ourselves into them
我们必须重新塑造社会 we must reshape society
从这个见解来看 在与世界作斗争的 From this insight, arrives a fundamental connection
存在导向和政绩工程之间 between the existential orientation and the political projects
达成了一种基本的连接 of the struggle with the world
当前社会的结构 The structure of the contemporary societies is
以多种决定性方式抵触这些抱负 in many decisive ways inimical to this aspirations
首先 In the first place
它对它们的敌意原因在于它继续否定 it is hostile to them because it continues to deny
大多数普通人类 to most of ordinary humanity
自我建构的经济和教育性的装备 the economic and educational equipment for self-construction
所有当代社会中都保留着阶级社会 All the contemporary societies remain class societies
在阶级社会中 And in all of them
所有男人和女人从经济角度都被判定为 most men and women are condemned to
依赖的工薪劳动者 被要求工作 economically dependent wage labor and required to work
好像他们是机器一样 而他们却不是 as if they were the machines that they are not
其次 In the second place
当代社会将 the contemporary societies slice the vital connection
自我建构和团结之间的重要连接分离 between self-construction and solidarity
它们不能够确保社会团结的现实根据 They fail to ensure a practical basis for social solidarity
除了补偿性再分配的实际外 other than the practices of compensatory redistribution
通过国家组织的税收和转让 by tax and transfer organized through the state
对于社会团结来说 最充分的根据 The only sufficient basis for social solidarity
应该是在家庭自私的疆界之外 would be our direct engagement with other people
我们和其他人的直接接合 outside the boundaries of family selfishness
再次 In the third place
当代社会否定这些抱负 the contemporary societies deny these aspirations
因为它们继续被组织着 because they continue to be organized
尤其是在政治生活中 especially in their political life
以变革仍然依赖于危机之上的形式继续组织着 in such a form that change remains dependent on crisis
没有创伤 没有转型是政治体制的规则 No trauma, no transformation is the rule of the political regimes
因此 我们不得不继续 And thus we continue
在参与和孤立之间做选择 to have to choose between engagement and isolation
参与只是付出了屈服的代价 Engaging only at the cost of surrender
与世界作斗争的 This exploration of common ground
神性的和世俗形式之间的 between the sacred and the profane forms
这种共同基础的探索 of the struggle with the world
为这个问题提供了一个答案 suggest the answer to the question
这个导向怎样才能恢复力量 How can this orientation regain its force
在实际中变得强大 and become in practice as strong
如同在人类的精神宗教中变得强大 as it is in spiritual religions of humanity
它能够再次前进的唯一方法是 The only way in which it can regain its forward movement is
通过认识 by recognizing
其信息与我们已建立的信仰和安排之间的 the full range of contradictions
整个范围内的矛盾 between its message and our established beliefs and arrangements
它的革命潜能性远远不止这些 Its revolutionary potential is far from exhausted
然而 想要充分利用这种潜能 To take advantage of this potential however
我们必须拒绝信与不信之间的折中办法 we must repudiate the halfway house between belief and unbelief
把世界作斗争的学说转变成 The conversion of the doctrines of the struggle with the world
我们常规进步理念的糖衣炮弹 into the sugar coating of our conventional progressive ideas
与世界作斗争的限制是什么 What are the limitations of the struggle with the world
这些限制很清晰的表现在 They are revealed most clearly
它处理虚无主义的威胁的方式中 in the way in which it deals with the threat of nihilism
从两个恭维的角度来考虑这些限制 Consider these limitations from two complimentary perspectives
第一个角度 From one angle
与世界作斗争是一种冒险 the struggle with the world is an adventure
因为它要求我们 because it requires us
进入到积累变革的途径上 to enter into a pathway of accumulative change
而任何的冒险都可能失败 And any adventure may fail
我们可以从失败的风险中寻求保障 We can seek an insurance against this risk of failure
通过神性的介入提供的保障 through the guarantee that will be given by an intervening deity
这样 我们的投注双倍增加了 And this way we double our bets
但是这种双倍增加的投注 But the doubling of the bet
通过呼吁强大超群的上帝干预介入 through the appeal to the intervention of a transcendent god
在人类历史上也无法解决这个问题 in human history fails to solve the problem
我们关于神性的理念还是很困惑 Our ideas about the divine remain confused
认为上帝是人的概念 the conception of god as a person remains
仍然带着神人同形同性论色彩 an anthropomorphic projection
认为上帝是非人性化的存在体的概念 the conception of god as an impersonal being
把神性从我们的即时经验和 removes the divine from the range of our immediate
关注范围内消除 experience and concerns
人类是如何被驱使到第三种 And that's where we are driven to
形体残存却智力空虚的位置中 the third residual but intellectually empty position
上帝是存在的 但不是以人体存在 of god as non-being and non-person
我们的质疑并不安分 And our doubts are not quieted
教皇他们在临死时哀求着他们的母亲 The Popes themselves cry for their mothers on their deathbeds
对于这个问题唯一充分的解决方案是 The only adequate solution to this problem is
理解未来的生命 to understand that living for the future
这种变革冒险的未来 For the future of this transformative adventure
必须以存在体的形式来生存 must be a way of a living in a present as a being
不是由已建立的其存在情形来决定的 not determined by the established circumstances of his existence
我们现在的生活体现出 It is our present life that represents
我们可以全面控制的唯一好处 the only good we can ever fully possess
从另一个角度来考虑这个问题 Consider the same problem from another perspective
与世界作斗争把注意力引到了 The struggle with the world draws attention to the divergence
历史和传记时间的分歧上 between historical and biographical time
它允诺的拯救 世俗和神性 The salvation, secular or sacred that it promises
只存在于物种的历史时代 takes place only in the historical times of the species
然而 我们不是活在历史时间里 We do not however live in historical time
我们活在传记时间里 we live in biographical time
要把这种拯救允诺变成 To covert this promise of salvation into
某些真正的并让我们易于接近的东西 something real and accessible to us
我们必须在我们自己的经验同等物中寻找 we must find in our own experience a counterpart
对于社会和文化结构的转变 to the transformation of social and cultural structures
该转变只能发生在历史时间里 that can take place only in historical time
有这样一种同等物 There is such a counterpart
它依赖于我们和自我本身特性的关系 It relies in our relations to our own characters
它自身的僵化形式 The rigidified form of itself
希腊人称这种特性是命运 The Greek said that the character is destiny
但是它像木乃伊一样 But character is a mummy that
开始在我们每个人周围形成 begins to form around each of us
我们必须从内部把这种木乃伊分开 We must wake this mummy up from within
以这样的方式生存 我们只能死一次 And live in such a way that we die only once
对于回应与世界作斗争的 The common element in the response to
两个弱点的共同元素即 these two weaknesses of the struggle with the world
对生命力的肯定 is the affirmation of life of vitality
此时此刻最完美的掌控着一切 possessed right now in the present moment as the supreme good
超越与世界作斗争的是 What lies beyond the struggle with the world
一定程度上来说 To the extent
它不能够被重新解释或是重新构建 that it cannot be reinterpreted or reconstructed
它怎样才能被代替 how should it be replaced
在人类的精神史上 In the spiritual history of mankind
与世界进行斗争 the struggle with the world
形成了被称作轴心时代的一种宗教改革 forms one of the religious revolutions of the so-called Axial Age
它共享了某些基本的倾向 It shares certain basic inclinations
和世界的人类化 with the humanization of the world
以及对世界的征服 and with the overcoming of the world
另外两个精神方面 The two other spiritual approaches
我在这个系列的早期中探讨过的 that I have explored in the earlier parts of this series
第一 它形成了迫切性 First, it organizes a dialectic between imminence
和超越之间的辩证关系 and transcendence
世界中神性的迫切性 The imminence of the divine in the world
和逾越世界的超越性 and its transcendence over the world
第二 它否定了 Second, it denies
人类所有分类之间的 the ultimate reality and authority
终极现实性和权威性 of all the divisions within the mankind
第三 它攻击了 Third, it attacks
傲慢的勇敢和复仇的英雄式军事伦理 the heroic martial ethic of pride valor and vengeance
赞同普通大众感受的伦理 in favor of ethic of universal fellow feeling
第四 它提供给我们一张两面的票据 And forth, it provides us with a two-sided ticket
其中一面是逃离这个世界的通行证 Which on one side is a license to escape the world
而另外一面是改变这个世界的邀约函 But on the other side is an invitation to change it
对于宗教改革的轴心时代 To these four shared characteristics
这四方面共享的特性 of the religious revolutions of the Axial Age
我们可以添加第五个 we can add the fifth
第五个是它们全部寻求否定 The fifth is that they all seek to deny
人类存在的根深蒂固的缺陷 the ineradicable flaws in human existence
来否定它们或是补偿它们 to deny them or to compensate for them
我们的必死性 无根据性 Our mortality, our groundlessness
不知足和我们知足 our insatiability and our satiability
相信它 to believe in it
从它的神性和世俗两方面 In both its sacred and its secular forms
在与世界作斗争在全部人类中兴起了 the struggle with the world has aroused in all of humanity
接近更伟大的生活的抱负 the aspiration of raising up to a greater life
变得更接近神 of becoming more godlike
这是它对世界产生的革命性影响 This is its revolutionary effect on the world
人类处境的第四个缺陷是 The fourth of the flaws in human condition are
我们对贬抑的敏感性 satiability to belittlement
不同于其他三个缺陷 Differs from the other three
我们的必死性 无根据性和不知足 our mortality, our groundlessness and our insatiability
它与其他三个不同在于我们可以改变它 it differs from them because it is something that we can change
从这个角度上来说 它不是根深蒂固的 And in this sense it is not ineradicable
人类未来精神生活的转变 There lies the basis for transformation in the future
是有根据的 spiritual life of humanity
超越与世界作斗争之外的是什么 What lies beyond the struggle with the world
要么是它的再构建 要么是它的替代 either as its reconstruction or as its replacement
是一种社会和精神生活的形式 is a form of social and spiritual life
把它当做程序之一 引领我们的存在向 that takes as its program to raise our existence to a higher level
更高水平的经验 能力 强度 活力提高 of experience, of capability, of intensity , of vitality
我们可以用一个说法来描述这种结果 we can describe this outcome in one vocabulary
既我们提高神性属性成分 as the increase of our share in the attributes of divinity
用另一个词汇 and in another vocabulary
既只允许我们死一次的条件产物 as the creation of the conditions that enable us to die only once
当我们拥有生活时 我们要全面的掌控 possessing life fully while we have it
如果我们不能永恒地掌控的话 if we cannot posses it eternally
我们必须问自己一个问题 The question we must ask ourselves is
我们是否可以达到这种上升 whether we can achieve this ascent
而不屈服于对 without succumbing to a mendacious
缺陷的 虚假无情的人道主义的否定 and heartless denial of our flawed humanity
人类不能够 we cannot achieve a larger life
通过自己变成自己的偶像来实现更广阔的生命 by turning ourselves into our own idols