原文
The unexamined life is not worth living.
翻译
未经审视的人生,不值得过。
出处
《申辩篇(Apology)》,柏拉图(Plato,公元前429年~前347年),著名的古希腊哲学家,雅典人,是苏格拉底的学生,是亚里斯多德的老师,他们三人被广泛认为是西方哲学的奠基者,史称“西方三圣贤”或“希腊三哲”。
这句话是在法庭上,苏格拉底被判处有罪后所说的话,据记载,苏格拉底最后被雅典法庭以侮辱雅典神、引进新神论和腐蚀雅典青年思想之罪名判处死刑。
解读
这是一句非常流行的话,流行到值得我们好好读读原著。
先说说题外话,看完《申辩篇》后,我严重怀疑苏格拉底之所以被雅典公民公投判处死刑,是因为雅典公民厌烦了他那滔滔不绝且逻辑严密的说教。
当然事实并非如此,他之所以被判处死刑,其实是因为他在遵从神意去检验众人智慧的时候,非常直接的揭露了人们的无知,激起了很多人的怒火。另一方面也是因为他无惧死亡,相信灵魂不灭。
我听到很多人喜欢讲这句话,他们想表达的意思大概就是:我们需要好好审视自己的生活,想清楚自己为什么而活,想要什么,不想要什么,可不能随波逐流、糊里糊涂就过完了这一辈子。
如此一来,这句话岂不是又变成了毫无营养的心灵鸡汤?一方面,这些大道理又有谁不知道呢?另一方面,真正能彻底活清楚的又有多少呢?
知易而行难,真正重要的问题,并不在于我们需要思考人生,而是在于我们应该如何思考自己的人生。
很大程度上,人的天性就是竭尽全力地逃避思考,而对于很多事情的思考,我们也只是浅尝辄止就已经心满意足。一个人真正快乐的时候,往往就是他放弃思考的时候。
这不由得让我想起了罗丹的雕塑作品「地狱之门」,我一直都有一个疑惑,为什么这个作品正中间放着的是著名的「思想者」,而不是什么地狱恶魔之类的东西。到现在我才明白,深入思考,其实就是对于自己灵魂的拷问,是一个极其痛苦的过程。
这个作品简直是一个绝佳的隐喻,一旦人类开始思考,就如同打开了地狱的大门。也如同《圣经·创世纪》中,亚当与夏娃偷吃了智慧果,有了思考与辨别的能力之后,便被逐出了代表幸福与美好的伊甸园。就连苏格拉底自己,也是因为自己的思想的锐利,而被判处死刑。
在雅典城,苏格拉底追问一切,他通过不断深入的对话,一层一层拨开人们自以为清晰明了的概念,不厌其烦地用严密的逻辑,去拷问每一个自称拥有智慧的人。我相信,他也是用同样的方法拷问自己的灵魂,最终发觉到自己的「无知」。
如果说我们的思考强度,只是隔靴搔痒;那么苏格拉底的思考强度,就是贴身肉搏。
未经审视的人生,或者未经拷问的人生,只是充满了各种共同幻象的人生,如梦幻泡影,如露亦如电。而只有当我们下定决心,毫不留情地重新审视内心的一切,戳破一个又一个美丽的幻象后,才能活出真实的生命。
如苏格拉底一般,强大、坚硬、无所畏惧的生命。
总结
真正的审视,是对自我的熔炼。
拓展阅读
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
我步入丛林,因为我希望有意识地生活,只面对生活的基本事实,看看我是否学得到它的教导,以免当我生命终结,才发现自己从没有活过。
《瓦尔登湖(Walden)》亨利·戴维·梭罗(Henry David Thoreau)
I know that I know nothing.
我知道自己什么都不知道。
柏拉图(Plato)
Someone will say: And are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life which is likely to bring you to an untimely end?
To him I may fairly answer: There you are mistaken: a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong – acting the part of a good man or of a bad.
也许有人会问:苏格拉底呀, 你不觉得可耻吗?过着这样一种很可能会不得善终的生活。
对这些人我可以坚定地说:你错了, 任何一个有一点价值的人不应该总是计较生死,他做一件事的时候应该考虑的是他自己做得对还是错,是作为一个正直的人还是邪恶的人。
《申辩篇(Apology)》
For the truth is that no man who goes to war with you or any other multitude, honestly struggling against the commission of unrighteousness and wrong in the state, will save his life; he who will really fight for the right, if he would live even for a little while, must have a private station and not a public one.
事实就是:不管是在你们中间,还是在其他任何群体中间,一个诚实的反对国家政治中间的邪恶和不公的人,肯定都是不得好死的。从事政治的人要是真的想为正义而战斗,他如果想多活一会儿,就只能活在他私有的国家里面在共和国是不可能活下去的。
《申辩篇(Apology)》
I cared not a straw for death, and that my only fear was the fear of doing an unrighteous or unholy thing.
我害怕作恶胜过害怕死亡。
《申辩篇(Apology)》
I did not go where I could do no good to you or to myself; but where I could do the greatest good privately to everyone of you, thither I went, and sought to persuade every man among you that he must look to himself, and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private interests, and look to the state before he looks to the interests of the state; and that this should be the order which he observes in all his actions.
我不去追求那些我不会让任何人得益的方向,我选择了我对每一个人最有益处的生活方式,我走这条路直到今天,我试图说服你们所有人让关注自己的生存,追求美德和智慧优先于追求其他任何东西,并且在看到城邦的利益之前先想到城邦,并且在你们做任何事情的时候遵循这些原则。
《申辩篇(Apology)》
Nor do I now repent of the manner of my defence, and I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live.
我宁愿按我自己的方式说话而被处死, 也不想用你们的方式说话而继续活着。
《申辩篇(Apology)》
The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways – I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.
分别的时刻来到了,我去死,你们去活,到底谁走向美好的地方,除了神,我们谁都不知道。
《申辩篇(Apology)》
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction.
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.我在神面前,并在将来审判活人死人的基督耶稣面前,凭着他的显现和他的国度嘱咐你:
《圣经(The Bible)》提摩太后书(Timothy) 4:1~4:8
务要传道!无论得时不得时,总要专心,并用百般的忍耐,各样的教训,责备人,警戒人,劝勉人。
因为时候要到,人必厌烦纯正的道理,耳朵发痒,就随从自己的情欲,增添好些师傅;
并且掩耳不听真道,偏向荒渺的言语。
你却要凡事谨慎,忍受苦难,作传道的工夫,尽你的职分。
我现在被浇奠,我离世的时候到了。
那美好的仗我已经打过了;当跑的路我已经跑尽了;所信的道我已经守住了。
从此以后,有公义的冠冕为我存留,就是按着公义审判的主到了那日要赐给我的;不但赐给我,也赐给凡爱慕他显现的人。
How can you see the wave, when you’re the water?
如果自己就是潮水的一部分,怎么能看见潮流的方向?
《黑客与画家(Hackers and Painters)》保罗·格雷厄姆(Paul Graham)