上节课结束前 At the end of last class,
我引用了库尔特·冯内古特的一段话 I quoted some words from Kurt Vonnegut,
这段话类似临终祷告 a kind of deathbed prayer confession
取自他的一本小说 that he'd written in one of his novels
祷告的基本主旨 in which the basic gist of the prayer
是表达感激之情 is to express gratitude.
不管你生活的如何 Whatever the content of your life,
至少你曾经生活过 the fact that at least you've been able to live at all
就像他所说的 --As he put it,
并不是所有泥人都能坐起来 most mud isn't lucky enough to sit up.
他作为能坐起来的泥人感到幸运 He feels lucky to have been some of the sitting-up mud.
他热爱他所见到的一切 He loved everything he saw.
当我读这段话时 When I read that quote,
我并不知道库尔特·冯内古特 I did not know that Kurt Vonnegut
刚刚在前一晚去世 had died the night before.
就在课后 Immediately after the class ended,
有位听课者告诉了我这件事 a visitor to the class brought this fact to my attention.
所以 我很想对他的逝世说句话 So, I can't pass without commenting on that death,
我希望 and just remark that I hope that
库尔特·冯内古特 在他临终之时 to the very end, Kurt Vonnegut,
这位活到84岁的老人 who lived until he was 84,
能够为他成为 realized how lucky he was to be
坐起来的泥人而感到幸运 some of the sitting-up mud.
我们下面要探讨的问题是 The question I want to turn to now is this.
我们已经研究了很多 So, we've been going over the various facts
生命和死亡的本质 about the nature of life and death.
那么问题是 既然我们将会死去 And the question then is, how should we live,
我们应该如何生活 in light of the fact that we're going to die?
前面 我们讨论了 Previously, we've talked about
对待死亡应持何种态度 what emotional response we should have to that.
我论述了 And I've argued,
正如我刚刚提到的 as I just reminded us,
虽然面对死亡最常见的反应是 that although perhaps the most common reaction is
害怕或恐惧 one of fear or terror at death,
但事实上我们应该心存感激 it may in fact be that we should be grateful
应该把自己当成幸运儿 and consider ourselves lucky that
因为我们曾经生活过 we were able to have had life as well--life at all.
但是 因为我们必将死去 But how, then, should we live
我们又该如何生活呢 in light of the fact that we're going to die?
最直接的回答 And the immediate answer that comes to mind
听上去像是个玩笑 seems almost like a joke.
我想说 既然我们将会死去 I want to say, well, we should be careful,
所以我们应该多加小心 given that we can die, that we will die.
曾经有个电视节目 There used to be a TV show,
肥皂剧 叫做《希尔街警察》 a cop show called Hill Street Blues.
每天节目开始时都会有一个警官 The show began every day with the sergeant
将今天要发生的 going over the various crimes and investigations
案件及调查评点一遍 that were going to fill up the day's episode.
在结束时 他派出警员 And he'd always end, as he sent off his police, the cops.
并说 小心些 He'd end by saying, "Be careful"
或者 注意安全 Or "Be careful out there."
但我说的小心谨慎 But the particular kind of care that I have in mind
并不这么简单 isn't just this pure fact,
如果你不留神 that if you're not careful,
你可能没注意到路上来车 you won't notice that the car's coming down the street
可能会被撞身亡 and you'll hit by the car and that'll be the end.
我说的是 我们必有一死 The fact that we're going to die
要求我们加些特别的小心 intuitively seems to require a particular kind of care,
因为 这么说吧 because, as we might put it,
你只能活一次 对吧 you only go around once, right?
你不可能活第二次 You don't get to do it again.
因此 我们终有一死 And so, it seems as though the fact that we're mortal,
我们寿命有限 the fact that we've got a finite lifespan,
要求我们面对这种可能 requires us to face the fact that
我们会搞砸生活 intuitively we can blow it.
我们可能荒废一生 We could do it wrong.
严格来说 我想指出 Now, the nit-picky part of me wants to point out
并不是生命有限 that it can't be mortality, per se,
所以我们才可能虚度光阴 that has this implication.
即使我们是永生的 Even if we lived forever,
我们仍可能荒废生命 we could still do it wrong.
毕竟 不管你如何度过 After all, whatever it is you've filled your life with,
你漫长无限的一生 with an immortal infinite life,
你仍然需要生活在某种 there's still going to be the particular pattern of
行为和活动模式中 actions and activities that you engage in.
而这种生活模式仍然有可能 And that particular pattern could still be one
不是你可以拥有的最好的生活模式 that wasn't the best pattern that was available to you.
因此 搞砸生活 So, the possibility of having blown it,
虚度光阴 of having lived the wrong kind of life,
仍有可能发生 is a possibility that's going to be true of us,
不管我们的生命是否有限 whether or not we're mortal.
然而 尽管如此 And yet, for all that,
有限的生命增加了额外的风险 it seems as though mortality adds an extra risk,
搞砸生活的额外风险 an extra danger of blowing it.
假设我们可以永生 Look, suppose we lived forever
假设一个最简单的例子 and just have a kind of simplistic example.
比方说 有人用他无限的生命 You might say, imagine somebody who spends his eternity
数整数 一二三四五六 counting the integers--1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
这可能没有用无限的生命 Well, that might not be as valuable as
做其它事那么有价值 an eternity spent doing something else,
比方说 做更复杂的数学研究 let's say, doing more complicated math.
然而 But still,
如果你花了上万年 if you've spent a million years
或者上亿年数这些整数 or a billion years counting the integers
并最终意识到这是无意义的 and then realized that was sort of pointless,
你总是可以重新开始做更有趣的 you could always start over by doing more interesting,
更深入的 更有价值的数学研究 more deep, more worthwhile math.
永生给了你重新来过的机会 The immortality gives you a chance of starting over.
给了你从头再来的可能 It gives you the possibility of do-overs.
我们这时可能觉得 We might then worry that
死亡特别可恨 what's especially bad about death,
因为我们生命有限 the fact that we're mortal,
所以死亡夺走了我们重新开始的机会 is that it robs us of the chance of do-overs.
但是当然 这也不完全正确 But of course, that's not quite right either.
即使你无法永生 Even if you don't live forever,
你活了80岁或100岁 you live 80 years or 100 years,
你仍然可以在你20岁 30岁 you have the chance to reappraise your life
或50岁时 重新审视人生 at the age of 20 or 30 or 50
并换一种生活方式 and decide you need to change course.
所以 丧失重新来过的机会 So, it's not exactly as though the possibility of do-overs disappears
并不仅仅因为死亡本身 by death itself,
不是死亡本身造成的 via death itself.
但是 死亡来临 Still, the thought that death comes
一切就都结束了 when it does
使我们更加意识到 seems to push us in the direction of thinking
我们要非常小心 因为 we've still got to be very careful because,
我们生命有限 of course, given that we're mortal,
我们仅有有限的时间 we have only a limited period of time
重新来过 in which to do the do-overs.
有两种错误 There are two kinds of mistakes,
我们需要避免 really, that we might catch ourselves in.
我们可能发现 We might discover,
一方面 on the one hand,
我们会做出错误的选择 that we made some bad choices
错误地设定了目标 in terms of what we were aiming for.
另一方面 And on the other hand,
即使我们 we might find even if we made
设定了正确的目标 the right choices in terms of our goals,
我们也可能无法完成 we flubbed it in terms of actually accomplishing
我们要达到的目标 what we were trying to accomplish.
因此我们只能重新来过 And so we literally have to start over again,
再试一遍 and try again.
所以 我们需要注意两方面的事情 So, there's two kinds of care that we have to take.
我们需要注意目标是否正确 We have to be careful in our aims
我们也要注意完成目标的方式是否正确 and we have to be careful in our execution of our aims,
因为 事实如此 because we have, as it were,
我们只有有限的时间重新来过 a rather limited amount of time to do it over.
再次 Now, again,
如果挑剔些 严格说来 the nitpicky part of me wants to say strictly speaking,
并不是因为我们生命有限 it's not the fact that we are mortal, per se,
所以我们必须特别谨慎 that all by itself means we have to be especially careful.
假如没有多少事值得去做 After all, suppose there just weren't all that many things worth doing.
假如做完它们不是特别复杂 And suppose they weren't all that complicated,
不是特别困难 all that difficult to do well.
假如只有五件事值得做 Suppose there were only five things worth doing.
即使每件事 And even if you couldn't necessarily
你都无法一次做好 do every single one of them right the first time out,
你也最多需要两到三次就能搞定 at most it would take two or three tries.
而且每次尝试也仅需一两个小时 And by a try I mean maybe an hour or two.
当然 这会是一个非常贫乏的世界 Well, that would be a pretty impoverished world
我们只能做这点事情 that could only offer us that much.
但如果世界就是这样 But after all, if that was the way the world worked
而我们有一百年的寿命 and we had a hundred years,
那我们就不需要特别在意 we wouldn't really have to worry all that much
是否要小心谨慎了 about being careful.
我们有足够的时间 We'd have plenty of time
致力于这五件值得做的事 to aim for each of the five things worth having
并且有足够的时间 and plenty of time to get
做完每件事 each one of the five things right.
一百年的时间太长了 A hundred years of life would be more than enough.
我们不需要小心什么 We wouldn't have to be careful.
因此 不是因为生命有限 So, it's not just the fact that we're mortal
所以我们才要小心谨慎 that requires us to be careful.
而是因为 It's the fact that
我们的生命相对有限 we have a relatively short span of life
相对于那些值得做的事情 relative to how much there is worth aiming for,
相对于完成那些事情 and how complicated and difficult it can be
需要克服的困难和障碍 to get those things and get them right.
因为我们有 It's because of the fact that
如此多的事情需要做 there's so much to do
而且需要做好 and doing it properly
所以我们需要非常谨慎 that we have to be careful.
我们没时间四处出击 We just don't have enough time to flail around,
试一试这事 试一试那事 try a little of this, try a little of that.
如此生活的人将发现 Somebody who lives like that may well find
他们做的事 that the things they aimed for
总也不是最佳选择 weren't really the best choices.
你不必去证明 You don't have to decide that
那些事是否值得做 these things weren't worth having at all,
我们时间相对有限 given the relatively short period of time we've got.
我们会有额外的负担去认定 We've got the extra burden of deciding
什么事最值得去做 what are the things most worth going after.
我们必须面对这样的可能 And we have to face the prospect, the chance,
当回首往事时 that we'll look back and
会发现我们没有做出最佳选择 discover that we didn't make the best choices there.
我们设定了错误的目标 We aimed for the wrong things,
并不一定是做了不值得做的事 not necessarily things that weren't worth having,
只是基于有限的时间 but given the limited number of things
我们能做的事情来说 we were going to be able to fill our lives with,
可能是个错误的选择 in that sense, the wrong choices.
我们也可能发现 And we may discover as well that
我们没有足够谨慎地 we were not sufficiently careful, attentive in
选择完成这些事情的方法 how we tried to achieve these things.
虽然我们的生活 Because it's not as though--although given the way life is,
允许我们重新来过 you've got the chance for do-overs,
但我们没有时间全部重新来过 you don't have time for a whole lot of do-overs.
因此 死亡迫使我们去做的 And so what death forces us to do is,
就是更加谨慎 to be careful.
举个例子 比如一位艺术家 An analogy that comes to mind here is an artist
一位音乐家 来到录音棚 who goes--a musician who goes into a recording studio.
他准备开始 And look, he can start trying to
灌制自己的唱盘 record his songs to cut an album.
或许他只需要唱几首歌 And he may only have a certain number of songs in his repertoire.
所以 如果他有足够长的时间 And so if he's got a long enough period of time,
在录音棚里呆一个月 a month in the recording studio,
他/她就有足够的时间 he's got plenty of time, or she's got plenty of time,
唱那几首歌 to sing a couple of songs.
也许这几次唱得都不是最好的 Maybe these wouldn't be the best things to record.
那我们接着试试看 Let's give it a try and we'll see.
第一次没录好 Didn't get it right the first take.
我们就再录一次 Let's record it again.
再录第三次 Let's try it a third time.
再录第四次 Let's try it a fourth time.
如果你有足够的时间 If you've got enough time,
那么在你开始之前或者录制过程中 it's less pressing to get clear before you start,
你就没有很大的压力 or as you're going along,
去考虑我要录制哪首歌 what are the songs I should try to record,
我第一遍能不能录好 and can I get it on one take,
最多录两遍行不行 or at most two?
但如果你在录音棚里不能呆一个月 But if instead of having a month in the recording studio,
你只能呆一周 you've got only a week in the studio,
或者一天 or a day in the studio,
突然间所有事情都急迫起来 suddenly everything's much more pressing.
时间变得宝贵了 Time is much more precious.
你必须尽早决定 You've got to decide early on
录哪首歌最好 just which are the songs that it makes sense to record?
虽然还有其它歌 And yeah, there are some other songs,
但这些歌看来是更好的选择 but these seem to be the better choices.
当你录制它们时 And when you record them,
你不能像以前那样 you can't be as careless and inattentive
漫不经心 随随便便了 as you try to get them down.
你必须尽量一次录好 You've got to try to get it right the first time,
最坏情况 两次也要录完 or at worst, the second time.
在我看来 这就是我们的处境 That's, it seems to me, the situation we find ourselves in,
并不仅仅是因为我们将会死去 not just given the fact that we die,
而是 我们会说 but, we might say,
这么活色生香的世界 given how incredibly rich the world is,
这么多姿多彩的生活 how many things it offers us,
无数值得追求的目标 how many choices we have in terms of what's worth going after.
但这些目标 But for many of these things,
大多难于实现 given how difficult they are to accomplish,
虽然我们有机会重头再来 although we've got the chance for do-overs,
不论我们调整努力的方向 both in terms of changing our mind about what we should be aiming at,
还是努力的方式 and trying again, for the things we have aimed at,
但我们都必须小心谨慎 we've got to be careful.
死亡提醒我们要留意 The fact about our death requires paying attention.
要小心 It requires care.
当然 说到这里 Well, having said that,
马上会碰到的问题是 好了 of course, the immediate question then, is all right,
我加小心了 so I'm paying attention.
我会谨慎的 I'm trying to be careful.
但我应该如何生活呢 What should I do with my life?
我应该怎样度过一生 How shall I--What should I fill it with?
在前面的课程中 We've, previously in the class,
我们讲过 活着本身 talked about the possibility that being alive, per se,
可能就有价值 may have some value.
但不论我们是否同意这个观点 But above and beyond whatever stand we take on that,
毋庸置疑的是 it's certainly also the case that
我们生命的价值同时体现在 part of what adds to the value of our lives
生活的内容上 are the contents of our lives.
所以我们要问 And so we need to ask, well,
我们的生活 what kinds of contents
应该包含什么内容呢 should we try to fill our lives with?
我不会回答这个问题 这个问题 Now, I won't try to answer that. To ask the question,
生活中真正要追求的是什么 what are the things really worth going after in life?
就相当于在问 is to come up to the edge of asking, well,
生活的意义何在 just what is the meaning of life?
什么是真正值得追求的 What's really worth going after?
虽然这是个很重要 And although that is indeed an important,
也许是最重要的问题 perhaps the important question,
但这个问题 it's the question,
我认为 是其它课程的话题 I think, for a different class.
所以 尽管已经触及了这个问题 And so having come close to the edge of that question,
我还是会到此为止 I'm going to now back away from it.
然而 But still,
我们也许可以说 it seems we might say,
从宏观角度 in broad strokes,
我们有两种策略可以选择 there are two different strategies that we could adopt.
大致思考一下 And it's worth at least pausing to
这两种策略还是值得的 think about these two strategies.
第一种策略认为 Strategy number one says
因为你只有 given that you've only got
有限的时间 实际上 a finite amount of time--Actually,
这两种策略的出发点是一样的 the basic underlying thought behind both strategies is just this.
我们没有太多的时间 We haven't got much time.
所以应该尽量充实生活 Pack as much as you can into life.
尽量去做所有想做的事 Pack as much as you can in.
但是有两种不同的策略 But there are two basic strategies about
来实现这一想法 how do you put that idea into practice.
第一种策略说的是 And strategy number one says
由于目标越高 失败的风险就越大 given the dangers of failure if you aim too ambitiously,
所以你应该瞄准一些 you should settle for the kinds of goals
你肯定能完成的目标 that you're virtually guaranteed that you'll accomplish.
享受美食 The pleasures of food,
伙伴 性 冰淇淋 company, sex, ice cream.
有个论文题目就是让你们 One of the paper topics asks you
从哲学上阐述 to reflect on the philosophy,
"吃喝玩乐 时不我待"这个观点 "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die."
这就是第一种策略 Well, that's one of the strategies.
我们可能活不到明天 We're going to be dead tomorrow.
所以趁我们还活着 And so while we're here,
就应该尽情享受人生 let's try to pack in as much as we can,
去追求那些 by going for the things that
有很大机会完成的事情 we've got a very high chance of actually accomplishing.
策略二认为 这样也许不错 Strategy number two says that's all well and good.
我们有很大机会完成些事情 You've got a pretty high chance of succeeding at that.
但策略一的问题在于 The trouble with strategy number one is
你获得的那些成就 the goods that you can achieve,
那些肯定能完成的事情都太小了 the sort of sure thing goods are small.
都是些不值一提的事情 They're rather small potatoes, as things go.
生活中最有价值的事情 Some of the most valuable goods in life
大多不会这样轻易得到 are things that don't come so readily,
不会这样如探囊取物一般 don't come with guarantees of achieving them.
你或许想写部小说 谱首交响乐 You might want to write a novel, compose a symphony,
或者结婚建立家庭 or for that matter raise--marry and raise a family.
这一类事情 Some of these things,
策略二的拥护者会说 strat--fans of strategy number two argue,
这才是生活中最有价值的事情 these things are the most valuable things that life can offer us.
生活中包含这些成就 So that a life filled with these larger goods
比包含那些不值一提的小事的生活 is a more valuable life than a life
更有价值 filled with the small potatoes goods.
我估计"吃喝玩乐"的支持者不喜欢 I suppose fans of the "Eat, drink, and be merry" Strategy don't like
把那些称为"不值一提"的小事 to call those "Small potatoes goods,"
但很可能 but that's the kind of language that might be
策略二的拥护者就会这样说 offered by fans of strategy number two.
在我看来 要说哪一种生活 And it seems to me that as a claim about which life,
如果你拥有的话 if only you had it,
如果你肯定能拥有的话 if you had a guarantee--
如果上帝说 If God were going to say,
看 你想要哪种生活 "Look, which life do you want?
我保证你能得到 I promise you'll get it.
是那种吃喝玩乐的生活 The life filled with food and drink
还是那种充满成就的生活 or the life filled with accomplishment?"
估计大多数人都会说 --perhaps most of us would say well,
充满成就的生活 it's the life filled with accomplishment
是更有价值的生活 that's the more valuable life.
但问题是 The trouble, of course, is,
拥有更大成就的生活 the life with the greater accomplishments,
追求更大成就的生活 the life aiming for greater accomplishments,
也是更容易失败的生活 is also a life with a greater chance of failure.
你想写一部伟大的美国小说 You aim for writing the great American novel
十年过去了 你还没写完 and ten years later, you still haven't finished it.
二十年过去了 Twenty years later,
你发现你命中注定 you decide you don't have it in you
写不出来美国最伟大的小说 to write the great American novel.
你尝试经商 但是破产了 You try to produce a business and it goes under.
所以 正确的策略应该是什么 So, what's the right strategy to take?
我估计很多人会说 I suppose many of us would be inclined to say,
还有第三种策略 well, the third strategy.
第三种策略指出 There's a third strategy that's
明显正确的做法是 the obviously right thing to do,
要适当多元化 which is, get the right mixture.
追求一些 怎么说呢 Aim for a certain number of--what should we call them?
高层次的目标 Large potatoes.
追求一些高层次的成就 Aim for a certain number of the large accomplishments,
因为如果你实现了这些目标 because if you do manage to get them,
你的生命将很有价值 your life will have more value.
但同时也要掺杂一些 But also throw in a certain sprinkling of
低层次目标 the smaller things,
这样 你至少保证 where you're at least assured of
你的生活获得了一些成就 having gotten something out of life.
这样的生活确实不错 Well, that's all well and good as well,
但这又引起了下一个问题 but it just now brings us to the next question.
到底多大的比例是合适的 What is the right mixture, after all?
这个问题我仍然不会回答 Well, I'm not going to try to answer that one either.
但是 那些选择 But again, those of you who choose the topic,
"吃喝玩乐"这个题目的同学 the "Eat, drink, and be merry" Question,
我希望你们 basically I'm inviting you,
在论文中仔细探讨一下这个问题 in that topic, to reflect on that question.
还有另外一种想法 Here's a different thought.
如我所说 两个策略的背后 The entire, as I said, the underlying thought behind the
追求大目标 go-for-the-big-things,
追求小享受 都是得到某些东西 go-for-the-small-things, was pack it all in.
它们的潜台词是 The underlying thoughts seem to be,
看 只要你的生活 look, as long as you've got a life
含有有价值的内容 that's got valuable contents,
价值越多 就越好 the more, the better.
这两种策略都有同样的内在逻辑 You might say here's common ground between the two strategies--
越多越好 the more, the better.
前面的课程里 Now previously,
我论证过永生 we've--I've argued that immortality
实际上不是件好事 would not actually be a good thing.
尽管世界丰富多彩 Eventually rich and incredible as the world is,
但最终 生活不再有新内容 eventually, the goods of life would run out
永生就是可怕的 and immortality would be dreadful.
但这样说 But having said that,
并不意味着 that's not to suggest that
我们大多数人能望其项背 we--most of us--come remotely close to that condition.
对大多数人来说 For most of us, it's certainly true that
30岁去世 你失去了 dying at 30 deprives you of goods
如果你能活到40岁 that would have come to you,
可以得到的美好事物 if only you'd lived to 40.
40岁去世 你失去了 And dying at 40 deprives you of goods
如果你能活到50 60或者80岁 that would have come to you
能得到的美好事物 if only you'd lived to 50 or 60 or 80.
所以 我们比较认可的是 So, one thing that we're inclined to agree is,
当其它条件相同 other things being equal,
活得越长越好 the longer your life, the better.
现在 这是一个50岁的人生 So here's a life, 50 years long.
假设你一生 And suppose you live it
以一定的生活品质生活 with a certain amount of value in your life,
100个价值点 100 value points,
不论单位是什么 whatever that is,
用我们衡量幸福的单位 whatever the--however our units of measuring just how good a life is.
我们会说 看 同样的得分 We'd say, look, better to have a life at that value,
活100岁比活50岁要好 instead of going through 50 years, went for 100 years.
很有道理 我们会说 Fair enough. We might say,
我们都同意 是吧 we all agree, don't we,
生命的数量是件好事 that quantity of life's a good thing.
这看起来很有道理 And that does seem plausible.
但我们又要说 But at the same time we'll want to immediately say
尽管生命的数量很重要 quantity of life may matter,
但它不是唯一重要的事情 but it's not the only thing that matters.
生命的质量也很重要 Quality of life matters as well.
这同样简单明了 And again, that point's fairly uncontroversial.
如果你要选择 If you had to choose between your life
50年100分的生活 of 50 years at 100 value points
还是50年 or 50 years
比如说 at whatever that is,
130分的生活 130 value points,
你当然会选第二个生活 you'd rather have the second life.
生命的长度不是我们唯一考虑的事情 The length of life isn't the only thing we care about.
生命的整体质量 The overall quality of your life
也是我们考虑的事情 is something we care about as well.
这同样是我们之前 And this, of course, is another topic
谈过的一个话题 that we've talked about previously.
是什么使得 Just what is it that goes into
一种生活好于另一种生活 making a life better than another?
所以 我们现在看到 So, we now see,
把它们综合起来 summing it up, yeah,
注意质量 got to pay attention to quality,
同时注意数量 got to pay attention to quantity
或者说持续时间 or duration.
我刚才换了种说法 Of course, the reason I just corrected myself
是因为 你看 is because you might say,
如果我们从数学上考虑 if you want to think about it mathematically,
所有问题都是数量问题 it all is just a matter of quantity.
所以当我们计算数量时 As long as when we measure quantity,
我们不仅要考虑生命的长度 we bear in mind we need to measure not just the length of the life,
还要考虑生命的质量 but the height of the box.
所以这个方形面积是 So, the area of the box here
50乘100个单位 is 50 x 100 units,
所以是5000个单位 so whatever that is, that's 5,000.
我又要吹毛求疵了 I'm going to get another giggle here, right.
想一下这个单位 Imagine our little units.
它是质量单位 It's a quality,
一年里的生活品质 one unit of quantity--one unit of quality for a year.
所以 这个单位是每年的质量 So, it's a quality year unit,
反正是5000个单位 whatever it is, 5,000 units.
这里是6500个单位 Here 6,500.
你可能会说 看 You might say, look,
我们可以综合 we can capture the thought that
生命长度的重要性 the duration of your life matters,
和生命质量的重要性 the quality of your life matters,
把它们乘起来就行了 by multiplying the two together.
不用对这些数字斤斤计较 And without getting hung up on the numbers,
它们不是精确的度量 as though there was any kind of precision here,
但它们的内在逻辑很清楚 the underlying thought's fairly clear.
这个方形面积代表了 The area of the box represents
全部的生命质量 the overall quality--
全部的数量 the overall quantity
它代表了你这50年可能获得的 that you managed to cram into your life
全部收获 in your 50 years.
现在我们可以开始衡量不同的人生 And we could start measuring different kinds of lives.
你可能开始考虑 看 We might start worrying about well, look,
假如我可以活50岁 每年130分 suppose I could live 50 years at 130
或者活100岁 or I could live, whatever it is, 100 years
质量数字稍小一点 at some other number that's a little bit less.
我们会说 We might say,
质量低一点 但时间长一点 oh, less quality, but longer quantity,
持续时间更长 longer duration,
后面这个生活里 more valuable life
包括更多有价值的内容 filled in that last box.
它的原理就是这样 We see how it goes.
但我们要问 But the question we need to ask is--so,
如果我们扩展数量概念的内涵 if we've got this more rich sense of quantity,
把生命长度和 where we multiply the duration of the life times
生命质量的乘积作为对象 the how good a life you're having while you've got it,
这样就能衡量 does that give adequate place
生命的价值了吗 to what we think is valuable?
这样就能描述生活的品质了吗 Does that give adequate place to quality in life?
让我再画几个不同的生活 Let me draw some different boxes,
让我们从中选择 some different possible lives to choose between.
假设这是个快乐长寿的人生 Suppose you had a nice long life,
150岁 150 years.
为了使例子更形象 Again, just for the sake of concreteness,
假设生活质量是50分 we assign 50 quality points.
那么这个面积是7500 So, the area is 7,500.
假设 Let's suppose,
为了让你们有些概念 so you can get a feel for this,
假设到目前为止 最好的人生 let's suppose that the best life lived on earth so far
也就能打10分 was worth a 10.
那么50分是个不可思议的生活 So this is an incredible life, to be a 50.
而且你活了150岁 And you get it for 150 years.
非常幸福的一生 A very nice life.
现在 把它和这种生活比较 Now, compare it with this life.
假设这种生活 Suppose that this life
在各个时期都 isn't really all that good in terms of
没那么好 how well off you are at any given time.
都是正1 It's plus one.
零的意思是这种生活不值得过 Zero would be a life not worth having,
尽管没比不存在更差 though no worse than nonexistence.
负数的意思是 过这种生活 Negative numbers would be lives presumably
你还不如死了好 that would be you're better off dead.
这个生活仅仅是值得过下去 This life is just barely worth having.
它是正1 It's plus one.
但这是个很长很长的生命 But it's a very, very, very long life,
长到我画不下来 so long that I couldn't draw it to scale.
所以我在中间用省略号代替 That's why we've got the "..." In the middle.
假设它持续了3万年 Suppose it goes on for 30,000 years.
数学计算很简单 Well, the math here is pretty easy.
面积是 3万乘1是三万 30,000 times one is 30,000 in terms of the area.
好的 Okay.
所以 你可以在两种生活中挑选 So, trying to choose between these two lives.
选择A还是B Life A or Life B?
从数量的角度看 In terms of quantity,
广义的数量概念 our enriched notion of quantity,
就是用生命长度 where you measure the length of the life
乘以生命质量 times the height of the box,
生活B得到的数量更大 Life B's got more quantity of what matters--
3万比7500 30,000 versus 7,500.
但是 大多数人 And yet, most of us,
当我们选择的时候 when we think about this choice,
不会认为B do not find B
是一个更好的生活 to be a preferable life,
尽管(它有更多的)数量 even though the quantity of value--
不妨假设我们可以计算出 Just suppose we could measure
价值的数量 quantity of whatever the goods are
我们生活中包含了多少价值 that we've got crammed into our life.
但是 这样非常非常小的数量 Well, this has very, very, very small amounts
延伸非常长的时间 stretched over a very long time.
数量确实大了 The quantity's larger,
但A更吸引人 but Life A seems preferable.
当然不是所有人都认同这点 Now, for any--at least, this may not be true for everybody,
但是对那些认同这点的同学来讲 but for those of us who share that thought,
你会说数量不说明全部问题 you might say quantity isn't all it's about.
或者说当我们考虑生活质量以后 Or when we try to take quality into account,
问题不在于我们无法度量它 it wasn't so much that we couldn't measure it,
而在于 it's that
如果我们降低质量的重要性 if you reduce the importance of quality
只把它折算成数量 into, fold it into quantity,
那么我们得到的 so that what it's all about is
只是一个总体数量 the total amount that you're getting,
B的总体数量比A大 well the total amount's bigger in B than A.
但如果你不认可B是更好的生活 If you don't think B's a better life,
这就是说 总体数量不说明全部问题 that suggests that totals aren't what it's all about.
那么我们在A和B之间 Well, what else might we then
还有什么其它可选择的 choose between with regard to A and B?
一个很合理的回答是说 Well, the natural response is to say,
即使A的时间较短 even though Life A is shorter,
但它达到过峰值 it attains a kind of peak,
它达到的高度 a kind of height that
在B里没有任何时候达到过 isn't approached anyplace in Life B.
或许 And perhaps, then,
在评价各种生活 in evaluating lives
和在不同生活间选择时 and choosing between rival lives,
我们不能只关注价值的数量 we can't just look for the quantity of good,
我们也要关注它的峰值 we have to look at the peaks.
要关注它达到的高度 We have to look at the heights.
在不同生活间选择的时 In choosing between lives,
不光要考虑 it's important to think not just about
你总共得到了多少东西 how much did you pack in, total,
而且要考虑你获得或者完成的 but what were the greatest goods
最大的成就是什么 that you had or accomplished in your life?
也许我们能推论出 And perhaps, then, we should conclude,
质量胜过数量 quality can trump quantity.
如果有质量上的明显差别 Perhaps with the right quality in place,
数量的重要性就退居二线了 quantity becomes of secondary importance.
当然 如果我们有更长的生命 Yeah, it might be that if we could have a longer life
而且我们获得了很大的成就 where we achieved great things,
比起较短的获得很大成就的生命 rather than a shorter life where we achieved great things,
更长的生命更好 better to have the longer life.
所以数量也重要 Quantity might matter, too,
只要我们认可质量是最重要的 as long as we think the quality's what matters the most.
但这种理论更彻底的版本指出 But a more radical version of the theory would say,
实际上 质量是唯一重要的 actually, quality's all that matters.
人生的峰值是唯一重要的 The peaks are all that matter.
荷尔德林在他的诗歌 That, at any rate, is the position that gets expressed by Hlderlin
《致命运三女神》里表达了这一观点 in the poem "To the Parcae," to the fates.
这篇文章我让你们看过 That was in one of the essays that I had you read.
但我现在再读一遍 But let me read that now.
致命运三女神 "To the Parcae."
万能的女神们 请假我一个夏季 A single summer grant me, great powers,
[此诗译文摘自互联网 感谢译者] and a single autumn for fully ripened song
一个秋季 让我的诗歌成熟 that, sated with the sweetness of my playing,
那么 我的心儿 满足于 my heart may more willingly die.
这甘美的游戏 就乐愿死去 The soul that, living, did not attain its
这颗心灵 在生时不能获得它那 divine right cannot repose in the nether world.
高贵的权利 死后也不会安宁 But once what I am bent on, what is holy,
可是 有一天 这神圣的事业 my poetry is accomplished:
深藏在我心中的诗歌获得完成 Be welcome then, stillness of the shadows' world!
那么 冥府的沉寂 欢迎你来吧 I shall be satisfied though my lyre will not
我将会满足 即使我的乐器 accompany me down there.
没有伴我同住 Once I lived like the gods,
我只要有一天过着神的生活 and more is not needed.
我就更无他求 Hlderlin is saying he doesn't care about quantity at all.
荷尔德林说的是 他根本不关心数量 If he can accomplish something great,
如果他能实现一些伟大的成就 if he can ascend to the heights
如果他能攀上顶峰 and do something great with his poetry,
写出伟大的诗作 that's enough.
那就足够了 Once he's lived like the gods,
只要有一天他过着神的生活 more is not needed.
他就更无他求 So, in thinking about what we want to do with our lives,
所以 当我们思考如何度过一生时 it's not enough to have the kind of theory
只有我们前面几周探讨过的 that we've begun to sketch in previous weeks,
那些理论是不够的 where we think about what are
那时我们探讨了 the various things worth having in a life?
生活中值得拥有的是什么 we also have to address this question
同样 我们也要解决 of quality versus quantity.
质量和数量的问题 Is quality only important insofar as
质量只是在折算成 it gets folded into producing greater quantity?
更多的价值数量时才重要 Or does quality matter in its own right
还是质量本身就重要 as something that's worth going for,
本身就值得追求 even when it means a smaller quantity?
即使这时价值数量较少 And if quality does matter,
而且 如果质量很重要 does quantity matter as well?
那么数量重要吗 Or is, indeed, quality all that matters?
还是质量是唯一重要的 Is Hlderlin right when he says
是像荷尔德林说的 once I've lived like the gods,
只要他过一天神的生活 more is not needed?
就别无所求吗 Now, Hlderlin, I imagine, in thinking about
我估计荷尔德林之所以认为 why that kind of life is the best kind of life he could aspire to,
那种生活是他渴望的最好生活 is thinking, in part,
是因为 部分是因为 about the lasting contribution that his poetry makes.
他诗作产生的持久影响 There's a sense in which,
当我们想到 when we think about having done things like that,
完成了这样一些事情时 we feel that we
我们会发现 attain a kind of immortality.
我们借此获得某种意义上的永生 We live on through our works.
我们通过自己的作品活着 And so the next question I want to turn to
所以我们要探讨的下一个问题是 in thinking about strategies of how to live in light of the fact of,
在那些因为我们寿命有限 in terms of facing our mortality is, well,
所以我们该如何生活的策略当中 maybe a kind of immortality is worth going after.
某种意义上的永生是不是一种策略 Or maybe, at the very least,
或者 至少 we can take a kind of comfort in thinking that
某种意义上的永生 we have or can attain a kind of immortality.
能否使我们得到些安慰 I emphasize the word "Kind," Of course,
我一直在强调"某种意义上" because strictly speaking,
因为严格来说 if you live on through your works,
如果你通过你的作品活着 it's not as though you are literally living on.
你并不是真的活着 It's semi-immortality or quasi-immortality.
这是一种准永生 类永生 I suppose people who don't believe in it
不相信这种永生的人 would prefer to call it pseudo-immortality.
可以把它叫成伪永生 Actually, this reminds me of a joke.
实际上 这让我想到了个笑话 Here's a Woody Allen joke.
是伍迪·艾伦说的 "I don't want to be immortal through my work;
我不想通过我的作品活着 I want to be immortal through not dying."
我想通过不死活着 Well, as you know,
那么 如你们所知 previously I've argued that genuine immortality,
前面我论证过真正的永生 unending life, would not be a good thing.
没完没了的生命 不是件好事 But still, many of us aspire to
但是 很多人仍然期望 this kind of semi-immortality.
这种准永生 And actually, it can take,
实际上 我认为 I think again, two broad forms.
这也可以分成两种粗略的形式 Sometimes people want to say there's a sense in which,
有时人们会说 although it's not as though you're literally living on,
尽管你不是真的活了下来 there's something like that going on,
但有些近似的东西 insofar as a part of you continues.
比如你的一部分活了下来 If I have children,
如果我有孩子 then literally some of my--in my case,
那么就会有一些 以我来讲 there's a male--one of my cells continues.
是个男性 我的一些基因流传下去 And then their cells continue in their children
然后他们的基因传给他们的孩子 and their cells continue in their children.
然后他们的基因传给他们的孩子 If you think of an amoeba splitting and splitting,
如果你想象一只变形虫分裂又分裂 and splitting and splitting again,
分裂又分裂 part of the original amoeba could be there for
原始变形虫的某些部分会延续 many, many, many generations.
很多很多代 Some people take comfort in the thought that,
有些人从这种想法中获得安慰 literally speaking, a part of them will continue,
不管怎么说 他们的一部分活了下来 if not through cells through my offspring,
如果不是通过子女遗传 perhaps at least my atoms get recycled, get used again.
至少我身上的原子循环再利用了 And so I get absorbed into the universe,
尽管我消散在宇宙里 but I never disappear.
但我从未消失 Some people take comfort in that thought.
有些人从这一想法中得到安慰 The German philosopher Schopenhauer
德国哲学家叔本华 thought that this should
认为这种想法 reduce somewhat the sting of death.
可以减轻死亡的煎熬 He said, "But it will be asked,
他说 有人可能会问 how is the permanence of mere dust,
怎么能把微不足道的尘土 of crude matter, to be regarded as
天然粗糙的顽石 当做是 a continuance of our true inner nature?'
我们万物之灵的延续 " And he answers,
他回答说 Oh! Do you know this dust then?
哦 你认识这些灰尘吗 Do you know what it is and what it can do?
你知道它是什么 它能做什么吗 Learn to know it before you despise it.
在你鄙视它之前先去了解它吧 This matter, now lying there as dust and ashes,
看似不起眼的尘土 灰尘 will soon form into crystals when dissolved in water.
溶于水就会结晶 It will shine as metal;
它将像金属般闪耀 it will then emit electric sparks?
发射出电子火花 It will, indeed, of its own accord,
它会自己选择 form itself into plant and animal;
成为植物或者动物 and from its mysterious womb
在它神秘的子宫中 it will develop that life,
孕育出新的生命 about the loss of which you in your narrowness of mind
你自己那点斤斤计较 相比之下 are so nervous and anxious.
太神经质 太焦虑了 Well, that's a very moving passage,
这是段很动人的文字 but I have to say, I don't buy it.
但我必须说 我并不认可 I don't find any comfort at all
我没获得任何安慰 in the thought that my atoms will still be around
当想到我的原子还会活下去 getting reused into something else.
还在其它地方接着起作用 So, this first kind of semi-immortality,
所以 第一种类型的准永生 where you take comfort in the thought that
想到你的一部分会继续存在 literally there are parts of you that will continue,
你由此获得安慰 this strikes me as a kind of desperate striving,
在我看来是种绝望的挣扎 desperate reaching for straws.
最后的一根救命稻草 Perhaps in Schopenhauer's case,
也许叔本华可以 leading him to delude himself into thinking,
自欺欺人地认为 "Oh, it's not so bad that I'm going to die
哦 我死去也没那么糟糕 and going to die soon.
很快死去也没什么大不了 At least my atoms will still be around."
至少我的原子还将存在 It doesn't work for me.
这个想法我不认可 There's a second sort of approach, though,
还有第二种思路 where it's not so much that you're supposed to be comforted by
虽然想象你的一部分 the thought that your parts will continue to last after you,
在你死后延续下来 不能给你安慰 but that your accomplishments
但你的成就 will continue to last after you.
在你死后会延续下来 Hlderlin writes poetry,
荷尔德林写的诗 which we're still reading some 200 years later.
我们在二百年后还在读 You can write a novel which can be read
你可以写一部小说 for 20 or 50 or 100 or more years.
20 50 100年后还有人读 You might make some contribution
你可以在 to math or philosophy or science,
数学 哲学或者科学上作出贡献 and 50 or 100 years later,
50或者100年以后 people could still be talking about
人们仍然在谈论 that philosophical argument or that mathematical result.
那些哲学观点或者数学成就 You might have other kinds of accomplishments.
你还可能获得其它成就 You might build a building
你建筑的房屋 that will last after you.
在你死后依然矗立 Stone cutters,
石匠 I've read interviews with stone cutters
我读过一篇采访石匠的文章 who take a kind of pride and comfort in the thought
他们很自豪也很宽慰 当想到 that long after they're gone,
他们死后很长时间内 the buildings that they helped build will still be there.
他们建起的房屋依然会在那里 You might try to build a company
你可能会创建一家公司 that will last after you die.
在你死后仍然存在 Or, for that matter,
或者说 you might take pleasure and comfort
你可能建立一个家庭 in the accomplishment of having raised a family.
由此感到幸福和安心 Here, not so much the thought that
这里的想法不是 some of your cells are in your offspring,
你的一些基因会传给你的后代 but rather the thought that
而是 to have raised another decent human being
你培养了一位正直的公民 is a nontrivial accomplishment,
是件了不起的成就 something worth having done with your life.
你生活中值得做的事情 And that accomplishment continues after you're gone.
这份成就在你死后仍然存在 Well, what should we think about this second group
那么 我们该如何看待这第二种 of approaches to attaining semi-immortality?
获得准永生的方法 I've got to say that I'm of two minds when I think about them.
当我想到这点时 我有些左右为难 Unlike the dust and the atoms stuff,
和那些尘土或者原子的说法不同 where I just think you're deluding yourself,
那些说法只是自欺欺人 I find myself drawn to
我发现我比较认可 this second set of thoughts.
第二种想法 I find myself tempted by the thought that
我发现自己被这种想法吸引 there's something worth doing
有些值得去做的事 about producing something that continues for a while.
就是去创造能持续一段时间的东西 That it's significant.
创造意义重大的东西 And even if my life here on earth is a short one,
即使我在地球上的生命短暂 if something that I've accomplished continues,
如果我的成就能流传下去 my life is the better for it.
我的生命也会因此更有价值 That's Hlderlin's thought, I suppose.
我估计这就是荷尔德林的想法 And it's a view that appeals to me.
这个想法吸引我 I suppose it explains, in part,
我想它部分解释了 why I write philosophy,
为什么我要著书立说 in the hopes that the things I write
我希望我写的东西 might still be read 20 years after I die,
在我死后20年还会有人读 or 50 years or,
或者50年 if I'm so lucky,
或者要是我幸运的话 100 years after I die.
我死后100年还会有人读 Well, in certain moods,
在一般情况下 perhaps in most moods,
或许在大部分情况下 I'm drawn by that thought.
我认可这种想法 But in other moods,
但在另一些情况下 I've got to confess,
我必须承认 I'm skeptical of it.
我对它也有质疑 I remind myself of Schopenhauer writing his little passage,
我又想起了叔本华的那段话 his Ode To Dust,
他对尘土的颂歌 and I find myself saying,
我发现 just like Schopenhauer was so desperate
就像叔本华在绝望之时 that he deludes himself into thinking,
自欺欺人地想 "Oh, it doesn't matter that I'm about to turn into dust.
我就是变成灰尘也没什么 Dust is really, really important,"
尘土非常非常重要 I'm just deluding myself as well,
我难道不也在自欺欺人地想象 when I think there's something grander,
想象那些伟大 something significant,
辉煌的事情 something valuable about having made an accomplishment,
想象那些充满价值的成就 having achieved something that continues beyond me.
想象在我死后仍然存在的成就 So in certain moods, at least,
所以 至少在一些时候 I find myself thinking that I've just deluded myself.
我觉得自己也不过是在自欺欺人 But that's only certain moods.
但那只是一些时候 And at least most of the time,
大多数时候 I find myself in agreement with Hlderlin.
我认可荷尔德林的想法 Not necessarily in thinking
并不是说非要认为 quantity doesn't matter at all.
数量一点也不重要 To have written one great work is all you need
写一部伟大的著作就是你需要的全部 and more great works doesn't add anything--
其它伟大著作都是多余的 that strikes me as going too far.
这对我来说太极端了 But at least to have done something significant that abides,
但至少完成一些有意义的事情 that does seem to me to add to
在我看来 增加了我 the value and significance of my life.
生活的意义和价值 Well, let me mention an entire different approach.
下面我讲一种完全不同的思想 I'm going to give very,
我会非常简单的 very short shrift to this last approach,
阐述一下这个思想 but it's probably worth mentioning as well.
但它也是值得关注的 The entire assumption of all the lines of thought
今天课上我们讲的所有想法 that I've been discussing so far today
它们的整体思路 have in common the underlying belief
它们共同的出发点都是 that the way to deal with the fact that we live
由于我们必有一死 and then we're dead
我们应如何生活 is to try to make the life that you've got as good as possible,
我们应该尽量让生活过得更好 as valuable as possible,
过得更有价值 to pack as much into it as you can,
尽量充实自己的生活 even though there's room for disagreement about
尽管我们有空间探讨 what's the best strategy for doing that.
最佳策略应该是什么 The picture is one in which we say
这一思路说的是 we can't do anything about the loss of life,
我们对失去生命无能为力 so the right response is to
所以正确的做法是 make the life that we've got as valuable as it can be,
让我们的生活尽量有价值 to see it as valuable as it can be.
尽可能看到它的价值 But there's a rather different approach.
但这里还有一种完全不同的思想 That alternative approach says,
这一思想说的是 yes, we're going to lose life and that's horrible.
是的 我们会失去生命而且这很可怕 But it's only horrible insofar as you think of life as something
但只有当你认为失去生命是坏事时 that it's bad to lose.
它才可怕 After all, if we were to decide that
如果 我们认为 life wasn't really a valuable gift,
生命不是有价值的东西 if it wasn't really something worth embracing,
不是件值得留恋的东西 and something that we could turn into something full of value,
不是我们获得最大价值的媒介 then its loss wouldn't actually be a loss.
那么失去生命就不是什么损失 That's a point we've seen before, right?
这个观点我们以前见过 对吧 The central badness of death is
死亡的主要坏处在于 explained in the depravation account.
根据剥夺理论的解释 You are deprived of the fact that
我们失去了 you could have had more life
我们本来可以拥有的 that would have been worth having overall.
有价值的生活 But if life isn't worth having overall,
但如果生命总体来讲不值得拥有 then its loss is not a bad thing,
那么失去它就不是件坏事 but a good thing.
而是件好事 The trick, then, isn't to
所以关键不在于 make life as valuable as it could be,
尽量活得有价值 but rather to come to recognize that on balance,
而在于认识到 总的来讲 life isn't positive, but negative.
生命不是好事而是坏事 I know that what I'm about to say
我知道我下面要讲的 has a kind of Classics Illustrated simplicity to it,
类似"经典重读"里的简单描写 and it's a bit of an over-exaggeration,
[Classics Illustrated 是一个世界名著改写本丛书的名称] but in gross terms,
而且有些过于夸张 we might say the first general outlook--
但粗略来讲 that life is good and so the loss of it is bad
我们说第一种观点 and so the answer is make as much of it as we can while we've got it--
生命是美好的所以失去它是件坏事 you might say that is,
所以趁我们还活着要尽量充实它 in broad strokes,
我们可以叫它 the western outlook.
粗略地讲 And in broad strokes,
西方观点 the notion that life isn't really
而且粗略地讲 as good as we take it to be,
那种认为人生并不像 but is, in fact, bad overall,
我们认为的那样美好 perhaps it's oversimplification to call it the eastern outlook,
而是 总体来讲很差 but at least it's an outlook that gets more expression
也许把它叫成东方观点太武断了 typically in eastern thought than in western thought.
但至少这个观点在 Foremost example of this second outlook is,
东方思想里出现的比在西方思想里更多 I suppose, Buddhism.
第二种观点最好的实例是 Four noble truths in Buddhism.
我认为是佛教 The first noble truth is that life is suffering.
佛教教义是"四谛" Buddhists believe if you think hard
第一谛说的是 人生是受苦 about the underlying nature of life,
佛教徒相信如果你仔细思考 you'll see that everyplace there is loss.
生命的本质 There is suffering.
你会发现人生处处都是失落 There is disease.
都是怨憎 There is death.
都是疾病 There is pain.
都是死亡 Sure, there are things that we want and,
都是痛苦 if we're lucky,
当然 有些我们希望得到的东西 we get them.
如果我们幸运 But then we lose them
我们会得到它们 and that just adds to
但过后又失去它们 the suffering and the pain and the misery.
这仅仅增加了 On balance, life isn't good.
我们的痛苦 怨憎和不满 First noble truth,
总的来讲 生命不是好事 life is suffering.
这是第一谛 And so, armed with this estimation,
人生是痛苦的 what Buddhists try to do is to
那么 基于这个判断 free you from attachment to these goods,
佛教希望 so that when you lose them,
把你从这些束缚中解脱出来 the loss is minimized.
那么当你失去它们时 And indeed,
你的损失最小 Buddhists try to free you from
实际上 what they take to be the illusion of there being a self.
佛教希望把你从 There is no me to lose anything.
自我幻象中解放出来 Death is terrifying insofar as
其实没有一个"我"失去任何事情 I worry about it being the dissolution of myself.
死亡之所以可怕是因为 If there is no self,
你担心"自我"的消散 there's nothing to dissolve.
但如果本来无我 It all makes sense--
就没有东西可以消散 and I have tremendous respect for Buddhism--
这都很合理 it all makes sense,
我对佛教非常尊重 given the thought that life is suffering.
它说的都很合理 But for better or for worse,
只要认可生命是痛苦的 I'm a child of the west.
但不管怎么说 I'm a child of the Book of Genesis,
我在西方文化中长大 where God looks on the world and says,
我读着《创世纪》长大 "It's good."
上帝俯视世界然后说 For me, at least,
真美呀 the strategy of minimize your loss
对我来讲 至少 by viewing the world as negative,
通过消极厌世 is not one that I can be at rest with.
来减少自己损失的做法 For me, life can be good.
不是我愿意接受的 And so the choices for me,
对我来讲 生活可以是美好的 and I suppose for most of us,
所以我的选择是 remain among the strategies with which I began.
而且我估计大多数同学也都会 How is it that we can
选择我们开始时探讨的那些策略 most make our lives valuable?
我们应该如何 What is it that we can do that will allow us,
度过最有价值的一生 with Hlderlin, to say,
我们能作出什么成就 "once we lived like the gods"?
让我们能和荷尔德林一样说
当我过着神一样的生活