什麼是智慧？如何擁有智慧？

什麼是智慧？如何擁有智慧？不同的人從不同的角度思考會得出不同的答案。我們來看一下美國知名博主Tim Urban在《Religion for the Nonreligious》中是怎麼思考這個問題的。Tim Urban是Wait But Why網站的創始人，在TED上做過演講，擅長寫高質量的長文，很多文章在全世界被病毒式傳播。

Religion for the Nonreligious

為不信教者的宗教

By Tim Urban

翻譯：張煥華

The mind…can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. ― John Milton

心靈，可以變地獄為天堂，變天堂為地獄。——約翰.彌爾頓

The mind is certainly its own cosmos. — Alan Lightman

心靈毫無疑問是自身的宇宙。——阿蘭.萊特曼

You go to school, study hard, get a degree, and you』re pleased with yourself. But are you wiser?

你去上學，努力學習，拿到學位，並為此自豪。但你變得更有智慧了嗎？

You get a job, achieve things at the job, gain responsibility, get paid more, move to a better company, gain even more responsibility, get paid even more, rent an apartment with a parking spot, stop doing your own laundry, and you buy one of those $9 juices where the stuff settles down to the bottom. But are you happier?

你得到一份工作，干出了點成績，有了一定的職位，獲得了更多的收入。然後你去了一家更好的公司，職位更高，掙得更多。你租了一套帶有停車位的公寓，也不再自己洗衣服。當事情安頓好後，你喝起了9美元的果汁。但你有更快樂嗎？

You do all kinds of life things—you buy groceries, read articles, get haircuts, chew things, take out the trash, buy a car, brush your teeth, shit, sneeze, shave, stretch, get drunk, put salt on things, have sex with someone, charge your laptop, jog, empty the dishwasher, walk the dog, buy a couch, close the curtains, button your shirt, wash your hands, zip your bag, set your alarm, fix your hair, order lunch, act friendly to someone, watch a movie, drink apple juice, and put a new paper towel roll on the thing.

你在生活里忙著各種事情——購物，閱讀，理髮，吃東西，拎垃圾，買車，刷牙，拉屎，打噴嚏，刮鬍子，伸懶腰，喝醉酒，撒鹽，做愛，給筆記本電腦充電，慢跑，清空洗碗機，遛狗，… …。

But as you do these things day after day and year after year, are you improving as a human in a meaningful way?

但當你日復一日，年復一年地做這些事情的時候，你提升了自己作為人的價值了嗎？

In the last post, I described the way my own path had led me to be an atheist—but how in my satisfaction with being proudly nonreligious, I never gave serious thought to an active approach to internal improvement—hindering my own evolution in the process.

在上篇文章里，我談了自己是怎樣成為無神論者的。除了自得於自己是個不信教者外，我並沒有認真地思考過提升個人內在的有效方法，這也阻礙了我自身在成為無神論者過程中的演進。

This wasn』t just my own naiveté at work. Society at large focuses on shallow things, so it doesn』t stress the need to take real growth seriously. The major institutions in the spiritual arena—religions—tend to focus on divinity over people, making salvation the end goal instead of self-improvement. The industries that do often focus on the human condition—philosophy, psychology, art, literature, self-help, etc.—lie more on the periphery, with their work often fragmented from each other. All of this sets up a world that makes it hard to treat internal growth as anything other than a hobby, an extra-curricular, icing on the life cake.

當然，這也不是說我做事不成熟，因為社會總是關注那些膚淺的東西，不去重視對真正成長的需要。操辦精神活動的主要機構——宗教——傾心於神，勝過關心於人，將救贖而不是自我提升作為最終目的。那些確實經常關注人的生存狀況的領域，像哲學、心理學、藝術、文學、自助會等，大多處於外圍地帶，其各自的研究工作彼此割裂。所有這些使得內在成長很難被重視，對待內在成長就像是一種業餘愛好，一種讓生活錦上添花的東西。

Considering that the human mind is an ocean of complexity that creates every part of our reality, working on what』s going on in there seems like it should be a more serious priority. In the same way a growing business relies on a clear mission with a well thought-out strategy and measurable metrics, a growing human needs a plan—if we want to meaningfully improve, we need to define a goal, understand how to get there, become aware of obstacles in the way, and have a strategy to get past them.

考慮到人類心靈是個複雜的海洋，其創建了我們生存於其中的每一塊現實，因此致力於了解心靈世界發生了什麼看起來會是一個更嚴肅的優先選擇。一家成長型的企業依賴於明確的目標，周密的戰略和可衡量的指標。同樣地，一個成長中的人需要一項計劃——如果我們想要有意義地提升自己，我們便需要定義一個目標，懂得如何到那，清楚障礙所在，並制定戰略去克服。

When I dove into this topic, I thought about my own situation and whether I was improving. The efforts were there—apparent in many of this blog』s post topics—but I had no growth model, no real plan, no clear mission. Just kind of haphazard attempts at self-improvement in one area or another, whenever I happened to feel like it. So I』ve attempted to consolidate my scattered efforts, philosophies, and strategies into a single framework—something solid I can hold onto in the future—and I』m gonna use this post to do a deep dive into it.

So settle in, grab some coffee, and get your brain out and onto the table in front of you—you』ll want to have it there to reference as we explore what a weird, complicated object it is.

當我深入這個話題時，我有想過我自身的情況以及我是否在改善它。我確實有做過努力，這點在我過去的幾篇博客文章里體現得很明顯。但我沒有發展模式，沒有實際計劃，沒有明確目標，只是在我恰好想到的時候，在這裡或那裡我覺得需要自我提高的地方做點隨意的思考。因此我現在打算將我以前分散的精力、策略和哲學思想整合到一個單一的框架里。這個框架要很牢靠，即便在將來也不出問題。——我將用這篇文章來做深入的分析。那麼就請坐好，端起咖啡，把你的腦子掏出放在跟前的桌子上，——等我們後面會發現大腦是多麼奇怪、複雜的一個東西時，你會想要參照一下它。

____________

The Goal

目標

Wisdom. More on that later.

智慧（稍後詳述）

How Do We Get to the Goal?

我們怎麼抵達目標？

By being aware of the truth. When I say 「the truth,」 I』m not being one of those annoying people who says the word truth to mean some amorphous, mystical thing—I』m just referring to the actual facts of reality. The truth is a combination of what we know and what we don』t know—and gaining and maintaining awareness of both sides of this reality is the key to being wise.

通過認清真相。當我說到「真相」時，我不想成為一個煩人的人，把真相跟模糊的、神秘的東西聯繫在一塊。我所說的真相其實就是指「現實的真實情況」。真相由「我們所知道的」和「我們所不知道的」這正反兩面構成，始終清醒地意識到現實的正反兩面是獲得智慧的關鍵。

Easy, right? We don』t have to know more than we know, we only have to be aware of what we know and what we don』t know. Truth is in plain sight, written on the whiteboard—we just have to look at the board and reflect upon it. There』s just this one thing—

很容易，對嗎？我們不需要知道更多的東西，我們僅需要清楚我們知道什麼和我們不知道什麼。真相一目了然，直接寫在黑板上——我們只需看著黑板並思考它。

What』s in Our Way?

會遇到什麼障礙？

The fog.

迷霧

To understand the fog, let』s first be clear that we』re not here:

為了理解迷霧，讓我們首先弄清楚我們並不處於這裡：

We』re here:

我們在這兒

And this isn』t the situation:

這不是真實情況：

This is:

這才是：

This is a really hard concept for humans to absorb, but it』s the starting place for growth. Declaring ourselves 「conscious」 allows us to call it a day and stop thinking about it. I like to think of it as a consciousness staircase:

這是讓人很難接受的一個觀點，但它也是成長的起點。宣稱我們自身是「有意識的」可以讓我們就此打住，不再想它。我喜歡把它看成是意識階梯：

An ant is more conscious than a bacterium, a chicken more than an ant, a monkey more than a chicken, and a human more than a monkey. But what』s above us?

一隻螞蟻的意識比一個細菌的強，雞的又比螞蟻的強，猴子的比雞的強，人的比猴子的強。然而在人之上的會是什麼呢？

A) Definitely something, and B) Nothing we can understand better than a monkey can understand our world and how we think.

A、絕對是很了不起的東西。B、我們搞明白那是怎麼回事的可能性不會高於猴子搞明白人類世界及人是如何思考的可能性。

There』s no reason to think the staircase doesn』t extend upwards forever. The red alien a few steps above us on the staircase would see human consciousness the same way we see that of an orangutan—they might think we』re pretty impressive for an animal, but that of course we don』t actually begin to understand anything. Our most brilliant scientist would be outmatched by one of their toddlers.

沒有理由認為階梯不會一直向上延伸。在我們之上幾步階梯的紅色外星人看待人類的意識就像我們看待猩猩的意識一樣，——他們或許認為人類是令人印象深刻的一種動物，但顯然人類在真正理解事物方面甚至連門檻都未邁入。我們最優秀的科學家還不如他們蹣跚學步的小孩。

To the green alien up there higher on the staircase, the red alien might seem as intelligent and conscious as a chicken seems to us. And when the green alien looks at us, it sees the simplest little pre-programmed ants.

對於在階梯上更高位置的綠色外星人來說，紅色外星人在智力、意識上同他們的差距就好比雞同我們人類之間的差距。至於我們，在綠色外星人眼裡，只不過是最簡單的小預編程螞蟻。

We can』t conceive of what life higher on the staircase would be like, but absorbing the fact that higher stairs exist and trying to view ourselves from the perspective of one of those steps is the key mindset we need to be in for this exercise.

我們無法設想階梯上更高位置的生物會是什麼個樣子，但我們得明白一個事實：更高的階梯是存在的，我們需從更高的視角看待我們自身——這種思考方式很重要，貫穿於這整篇文章。

For now, let』s ignore those much higher steps and just focus on the step right above us—that light green step. A species on that step might think of us like we think of a three-year-old child—emerging into consciousness through a blur of simplicity and naiveté. Let』s imagine that a representative from that species was sent to observe humans and report back to his home planet about them—what would he think of the way we thought and behaved? What about us would impress him? What would make him cringe?

現在，讓我們忽略那些高得多的階梯，讓我們只專註僅比我們高一階的階梯，也即淺綠色的那一階。在那一階的物種看待我們可能就像我們看待三歲小孩一樣，也就是開始有了簡單、幼稚的意識。想像一下，這一物種的一個代表被派來觀察人類並回到他們的星球彙報，他會怎樣評價我們的思想和行為？什麼東西會給他留下印象？什麼東西會令他不安？

I think he』d very quickly see a conflict going on in the human mind. On one hand, all of those steps on the staircase below the human are where we grew from. Hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary adaptations geared toward animal survival in a rough world are very much rooted in our DNA, and the primitive impulses in us have birthed a bunch of low-grade qualities—fear, pettiness, jealousy, greed, instant-gratification, etc. Those qualities are the remnants of our animal past and still a prominent part of our brains, creating a zoo of small-minded emotions and motivations in our heads:

我想他會很快發現存在於人類心靈中的一種持續的衝突。一方面，人類是從比我們低級的物種發展而來的，億萬年來在殘酷的世界進行動物性的生存鬥爭所形成的進化適應已植根於我們的DNA，而且在我們身體內的原始衝動產生了一系列的低級品質——恐懼，狹隘，嫉妒，貪婪，及時行樂，等等。這些品質是以往動物性的殘留，現在仍是我們大腦的一個重要組成部分，這有如在我們的頭腦里創建了一個充滿狹隘情緒和動機的動物園。

But over the past six million years, our evolutionary line has experienced a rapid growth in consciousness and the incredible ability to reason in a way no other species on Earth can. We』ve taken a big step up the consciousness staircase, very quickly—let』s call this burgeoning element of higher consciousness our Higher Being.

然而在過去的600萬年里，我們的進化路線在意識方面和不可思議的邏輯推理方面經歷了地球上其他物種難以達到的快速發展，我們很快順著意識階梯往上跨了一大步——就讓我們把更高級意識里的這一新元素稱為我們的更高存在。

The Higher Being is brilliant, big-thinking, and totally rational. But on the grand timescale, he』s a very new resident in our heads, while the primal animal forces are ancient, and their coexistence in the human mind makes it a strange place:

更高存在燦爛、思考長遠、完全理性，然而從一個大的時間尺度來看，更高存在是我們頭腦里一個非常新的住民，相反，原始的動物本能卻很古老。兩者共存於人類心靈之中讓人類心靈變成了一個奇怪的地方。

So it』s not that a human is the Higher Being and the Higher Being is three years old—it』s that a human is the combination of the Higher Being and the low-level animals, and they blend into the three-year-old that we are. The Higher Being alone would be a more advanced species, and the animals alone would be one far more primitive, and it』s their particular coexistence that makes us distinctly human.

因此，並不是說人就等同於更高存在且更高存在只有3歲大，而是，人是更高存在與低級動物的結合體，兩者融合鑄成了三歲大的我們。更高存在單獨而言是個更先進的物種，動物單獨而言則原始得多，兩者這種獨特的共存使我們成了獨特的人類。

As humans evolved and the Higher Being began to wake up, he looked around your brain and found himself in an odd and unfamiliar jungle full of powerful primitive creatures that didn』t understand who or what he was. His mission was to give you clarity and high-level thought, but with animals tramping around his work environment, it wasn』t an easy job. And things were about to get much worse. Human evolution continued to make the Higher Being more and more sentient, until one day, he realized something shocking:

隨著人類進化，更高存在開始蘇醒，他環顧大腦四周，發現自身處在一個怪異的陌生叢林里。叢林裡布滿了強大的原始動物，這些原始動物並不清楚自己是誰或是什麼。更高存在的任務就是給人類提供清晰的視野和高級的思想，然而動物們卻在他的工作場所亂竄，嚴重影響了更高存在的工作。事情還要變得更糟。人類繼續進化，使得更高存在的知覺能力越來越強，直到有一天，他意識到了一件可怕的事情：

WE』RE GOING TO DIE

我們將會死去

It marked the first time any species on planet Earth was conscious enough to understand that fact, and it threw all of those animals in the brain—who were not built to handle that kind of information—into a complete frenzy, sending the whole ecosystem into chaos:

這標誌著第一次地球上有物種的意識發達到足以明白萬物必亡這個事實。大腦里的那些動物以前從未接收過這種信息，這下全都陷入了狂怒中，把整個生態系統攪得混亂不堪。

The animals had never experienced this kind of fear before, and their freakout about this—one that continues today—was the last thing the Higher Being needed as he was trying to grow and learn and make decisions for us.

動物們之前從未經歷過這種恐懼，它們一下全都瘋狂了，至今仍在繼續，——這是更高存在最不希望發生的事情，他一直都在努力學習，成長，以便為我們更好地決策。

The adrenaline-charged animals romping around our brain can take over our mind, clouding our thoughts, judgment, sense of self, and understanding of the world. The collective force of the animals is what I call 「the fog.」 The more the animals are running the show and making us deaf and blind to the thoughts and insights of the Higher Being, the thicker the fog is around our head, often so thick we can only see a few inches in front of our face:

被腎上腺驅使的動物們在我們大腦周圍嬉戲，得以佔領我們的心靈，蒙蔽我們的思想、判斷、自我感覺以及對世界的理解。動物們的這種集體力量就是我所說的「迷霧」。動物們越是霸佔舞台，使得我們難以了解更高存在的思想和洞察力，我們頭腦周圍的迷霧就越濃厚，甚至經常濃厚到我們只能看見眼前幾英寸的地方。

Let』s think back to our goal above and our path to it—being aware of the truth. The Higher Being can see the truth just fine in almost any situation. But when the fog is thick around us, blocking our eyes and ears and coating our brain, we have no access to the Higher Being or his insight. This is why being continually aware of the truth is so hard—we』re too lost in the fog to see it or think about it.

讓我們回想一下我們的目標和實現它的方法——認清真相。更高存在幾乎在任何情形下都能夠很好地看清真相，但是當我們周圍有濃厚的迷霧時，迷霧會遮住我們的眼睛，堵塞我們的耳朵，閉塞我們的大腦，讓我們無法接近更高存在或他的洞察力。這就是為什麼保持認清真相這麼難——我們如此迷失於迷霧中，以致於我們難以看清真相或思考真相。

And when the alien representative is finished observing us and heads back to his home planet, I think this would be his sum-up of our problems:

當外星人代表結束對我們人類的觀察並返回他的星球後，我想這會是他對我們人類所存在問題的總結：

The battle of the Higher Being against the animals—of trying to see through the fog to clarity—is the core internal human struggle.

更高存在為了撥除迷霧獲得清晰視野與動物們所展開的戰鬥是人的內部最核心的鬥爭。

This struggle in our heads takes place on many fronts. We』ve examined a few of them here: the Higher Being (in his role as the Rational Decision Maker) fighting the Instant Gratification Monkey; the Higher Being (in the role of the Authentic Voice) battling against the overwhelmingly scared Social Survival Mammoth; the Higher Being』s message that life is just a bunch of Todays getting lost in the blinding light of fog-based yearning for better tomorrows. Those are all part of the same core conflict between our primal past and our enlightened future.

我們頭腦里的這種鬥爭在許多方面展開，我們來看幾個例子：更高存在（作為理性決策者）與及時行樂的猴子之間的鬥爭；更高存在（作為真正的代言人）與被嚇壞了的社會中生存的猛獁象之間的鬥爭；更高存在認為生活就是一個又一個的「今天」，這一認識卻迷失在盲目渴望明天會更好的致盲之光下。這些是我們原始的過去與開明的未來之間最核心衝突的一部分。

The shittiest thing about the fog is that when you』re in the fog, it blocks your vision so you can』t see that you』re in the fog. It』s when the fog is thickest that you』re the least aware that it』s there at all—it makes you unconscious. Being aware that the fog exists and learning how to recognize it is the key first step to rising up in consciousness and becoming a wiser person.

關於迷霧最狗屎的是，當你身處迷霧時，迷霧擋住你的視野，把你變成弱智，讓你不知道自己在迷霧當中。當迷霧最濃的時候也是你根本意識不到迷霧存在的時候，你成了個無知者。意識到迷霧存在並且學會識別迷霧，對於促使意識崛起以及成為更有智慧的人，這是重要的第一步。

So we』ve established that our goal is wisdom, that to get there we need to become as aware as possible of the truth, and that the main thing standing in our way is the fog. Let』s zoom in on the battlefield to look at why 「being aware of the truth」 is so important and how we can overcome the fog to get there:

因此我們已經明確了：我們的目標是智慧，為了實現目標我們需要儘可能地認清真相，以及我們的主要障礙是迷霧。現在就讓我們鎖定戰場，去看一下為什麼認清真相那麼重要，以及我們如何衝破迷霧來達到這點。

The Battlefield

戰場

No matter how hard we tried, it would be impossible for humans to access that light green step one above us on the consciousness staircase. Our advanced capability—the Higher Being—just isn』t there yet. Maybe in a million years or two. For now, the only place this battle can happen is on the one step where we live, so that』s where we』re going to zoom in. We need to focus on the mini spectrum of consciousness within our step, which we can do by breaking our step down into four substeps:

無論我們怎樣努力，人類都不可能躍上在我們之上的淺綠色意識階梯，我們具有高級能力的更高存在還無法滿足我們這一願望，也許100萬年或200萬年後可以做到。現在，戰鬥會發生的唯一地方就是我們所生存的這一階梯，這也是我們要鎖定的地方。我們必須聚焦於我們所在階梯上的迷你意識光譜，我們可以通過把該階梯進一步分解成4個子階梯來達到目的。

Climbing this mini consciousness staircase is the road to truth, the way to wisdom, my personal mission for growth, and a bunch of other cliché statements I never thought I』d hear myself say. We just have to understand the game and work hard to get good at it.

攀爬這個迷你意識階梯是通往真相、智慧以及我個人成長目標的途徑——我以前從沒想過我會聽到自己說出一堆別的什麼老套的聲明。不提這個了，我們僅需要理解這個遊戲並努力做好它就行了。

Let』s look at each step to try to understand the challenges we』re dealing with and how we can make progress:

現在，讓我們把目光轉向每個階梯，去努力了解我們所面對的挑戰，以及如何能夠取得進展：

Step 1: Our Lives in the Fog

第1階梯：我們活在迷霧中

Step 1 is the lowest step, the foggiest step, and unfortunately, for most of us it』s our default level of existence. On Step 1, the fog is all up in our shit, thick and close and clogging our senses, leaving us going through life unconscious. Down here, the thoughts, values, and priorities of the Higher Being are completely lost in the blinding fog and the deafening roaring, tweeting, honking, howling, and squawking of the animals in our heads. This makes us 1) small-minded, 2) short-sighted, and 3) stupid. Let』s discuss each of these:

第1階梯是最低的階梯，迷霧最濃的階梯，而且很不幸地，也是大多數人生活的默認選項。在該階梯，迷霧濃厚、緊密，堵塞我們的感官，讓我們過著無知的生活。在這裡，更高存在的思想、價值觀和優先事項完全淹沒在致盲的迷霧裡，淹沒在震耳欲聾的喧鬧、啁啾、鳴放、嚎叫里，淹沒在我們頭腦中的動物們的嘶吼里。這就使得我們1）狹隘，2）短視，3）愚蠢。下面就讓我們來逐一討論：

1）On Step 1, you』re terribly small-minded because the animals are running the show.

1）處在第1階梯，你會極其狹隘，因為動物們佔據了舞台。

When I look at the wide range of motivating emotions that humans experience, I don』t see them as a scattered range, but rather falling into two distinct bins: the high-minded, love-based, advanced emotions of the Higher Being, and the small-minded, fear-based, primitive emotions of our brain animals.

當我審視人類所經歷的各種動機性情感時，我發現這些情感並非各不相干，而是可以被歸入相反的兩類：更高存在高尚的、基於愛的、高級的情感，和我們大腦中動物們狹隘的、基於恐懼的、原始的情感。

And on Step 1, we』re completely intoxicated by the animal emotions as they roar at us through the dense fog.

在第1階梯，我們完全被動物情感給控制，這是由於動物情感通過濃霧向我們咆哮。

This is what makes us petty and jealous and what makes us so thoroughly enjoy the misfortune of others. It』s what makes us scared, anxious, and insecure. It』s why we』re self-absorbed and narcissistic; vain and greedy; narrow-minded and judgmental; cold, callous, and even cruel. And only on Step 1 do we feel that primitive 「us versus them」 tribalism that makes us hate people different than us.

正是動物情感使得我們狹隘、妒忌以及對別人的不倖幸災樂禍，使得我們害怕、焦慮和不安。也正是動物情感使我們變得自私、自戀、自負、貪婪、偏執、冷漠、無情，甚至殘忍。唯有在第1階梯，我們才會感受到原始的「我們對抗他們」的部落主義，部落主義使我們憎恨與我們不同的人。

You can find most of these same emotions in a clan of capuchin monkeys—and that makes sense, because at their core, these emotions can be boiled down to the two keys of animal survival: self-preservation and the need to reproduce.

你可以在卷尾猴族群里發現大部分的這些相同的情感——這對它們具有意義，因為在它們的核心中，這些情感可以歸結為動物生存的兩個關鍵：自我保護和繁殖。

Step 1 emotions are brutish and powerful and grab you by the collar, and when they』re upon you, the Higher Being and his high-minded, love-based emotions are shoved into the sewer.

第1階梯的情感是野蠻、強大的，能夠將你一把抓牢。當這些情感控制你時，更高存在及其高尚的、基於愛的情感就被擠到了下水道里。

2）On Step 1, you』re short-sighted, because the fog is six inches in front of your face, preventing you from seeing the big picture.

2）處在第1階梯，你會短視，因為迷霧就在你眼前6英寸的地方，阻止你看到大的圖景。

The fog explains all kinds of totally illogical and embarrassingly short-sighted human behavior.

迷霧解釋了人類各種完全不合邏輯的和極其短視的行為。

Why else would anyone ever take a grandparent or parent for granted while they』re around, seeing them only occasionally, opening up to them only rarely, and asking them barely any questions—even though after they die, you can only think about how amazing they were and how you can』t believe you didn』t relish the opportunity to enjoy your relationship with them and get to know them better when they were around?

不然怎麼解釋，每個人在父母或爺爺奶奶還活著時總是不把他們當回事，只是偶爾去看望他們，很少向他們敞開胸懷，也很少向他們徵求意見——即使在他們去世後，你可能只想到他們曾經是多麼地了不起，你真不能相信自己未能珍惜與他們相處的機會，以及在他們活著時未能更好地了解他們？

Why else would people brag so much, even though if they could see the big picture, it would be obvious that everyone finds out about the good things in your life eventually either way—and that you always serve yourself way more by being modest?

不然怎麼解釋，人們總愛自吹自擂，即使很顯然地他們將最終無論以何種方式都會發現自己生活中那些真正有益的東西，並且明白謙虛對自己更好，如果他們能明白大局的話？

Why else would someone do the bare minimum at work, cut corners on work projects, and be dishonest about their efforts—when anyone looking at the big picture would know that in a work environment, the truth about someone』s work habits eventually becomes completely apparent to both bosses and colleagues, and you』re never really fooling anyone? Why would someone insist on making sure everyone knows when they did something valuable for the company—when it should be obvious that acting that way is transparent and makes it seem like you』re working hard just for the credit, while just doing things well and having one of those things happen to be noticed does much more for your long term reputation and level of respect at the company?

不然怎麼解釋，當從大局出發的人都知道，在一個工作場所中，某個人工作習慣的真實情況最終都會被老闆和同事了解清楚，你不可能糊弄所有的人時，會有人在工作上不願付出，總愛投機取巧？不然為什麼很顯然地當只是一心想把工作干好並真正干出點令人側目的成績，這對於你在公司的長期聲譽和受尊重程度很有幫助時，會有人堅持讓每個人都知道他們為公司做出了貢獻——這樣做清楚地表明你努力工作僅是為了得到表揚？

If not for thick fog, why would anyone ever pinch pennies over a restaurant bill or keep an unpleasantly-rigid scorecard of who paid for what on a trip, when everyone reading this could right now give each of their friends a quick and accurate 1-10 rating on the cheap-to-generous (or selfish-to-considerate) scale, and the few hundred bucks you save over time by being on the cheap end of the scale is hardly worth it considering how much more likable and respectable it is to be generous?

如果不是因為濃霧，又為什麼會有人為了吃飯買單的事斤斤計較，或者記下旅途中每項消費誰掏的錢這種令人生厭的細賬，即使當讀到這的每個人都能馬上準確說出他們隨便一個朋友的大方（小氣）程度時，即使當你因小氣因而一段時間下來為自己節省了幾百美元而實際卻得不償失，鑒於大方總是討人喜歡和受人尊敬時？

What other explanation is there for the utterly inexplicabledecision by so many famous men in positions of power to bring down the career and marriage they spent their lives building by having an affair?

難道還有什麼能更好地解釋，為什麼有那麼多有權勢的名人要為婚外情不惜毀掉自己苦心建立起來的事業和婚姻？

And why would anyone bend and loosen their integrity for tiny insignificant gains when integrity affects your long-term self-esteem and tiny insignificant gains affect nothing in the long term?

又是為什麼人會為了蠅頭小利放棄正直，明明正直會為你贏得長期的自尊而蠅頭小利從長遠來說沒有絲毫意義？

How else could you explain the decision by so many people to let the fear of what others might think dictate the way they live, when if they could see clearly they』d realize that A) that』s a terrible reason to do or not do something, and B) no one』s really thinking about you anyway—they』re buried in their own lives.

不然怎麼解釋，有那麼多人會讓「別人會怎麼想」的恐懼心理來支配自己的生活方式，即使，如果他們能看得清楚便會意識到A）這種恐懼心理是做或不做某件事的一個可怕原因，B）沒有人真正在意你那些屁事——他們自己的生活都忙不過來？

And then there are all the times when someone』s opaque blinders keep them in the wrong relationship, job, city, apartment, friendship, etc. for years, sometimes decades, only for them to finally make a change and say 「I can』t believe I didn』t do this earlier,」 or 「I can』t believe I couldn』t see how wrong that was for me.」 They should absolutely believe it, because that』s the power of the fog.

自然每次都會有某個人的不透明眼罩使得他們處於錯誤的關係、工作、城市、住所、友誼等之中，一般幾年，有時幾十年，直到他們最終做出改變並說道：「我不能相信我居然沒有更早這樣做」，或者「我不能相信我竟錯得如此離譜」。他們當然要相信發生在自己身上的事，因為是迷霧的威力讓他們變成過去那樣！

3）On Step 1, you』re very, very stupid.

3）處在第1階梯，你會非常非常愚蠢。

One way this stupidity shows up is in us making the same obvious mistakes over and over and over again.1

愚蠢的一個方式是，一遍遍地重複犯相同的顯而易見的錯誤。

The most glaring example is the way the fog convinces us, time after time after time, that certain things will make us happy that in reality absolutely don』t. The fog lines up a row of carrots, tells us that they』re the key to happiness, and tells us to forget today』s happiness in favor of directing all of our hope to all the happiness the future will hold because we』re gonna get those carrots.

最明顯的例子就是，迷霧讓我們一次次地相信，會有某樣東西讓我們一直快樂，而實際上根本不存在這種東西。迷霧擺出了一個又一個的誘惑，告訴我們，這些是獲得快樂的鑰匙，並且讓我們忘掉今天的快樂，將希望寄託於未來，因為未來有那些好東西等著我們。

And even though the fog has proven again and again that it has no idea how human happiness works—even though we』ve had so many experiences finally getting a carrot and feeling a ton of temporary happiness, only to watch that happiness fade right back down to our default level a few days later—we continue to fall for the trick.

即使迷霧已經一再證明它並不知道人類的快樂是如何運作的——儘管我們有過很多次得到某樣東西後感受到短暫的巨大的快樂，但沒幾天便又恢復回原樣的經歷——我們仍繼續落入這個圈套里。

It』s like hiring a nutritionist to help you with your exhaustion, and they tell you that the key is to drink an espresso shot anytime you』re tired. So you』d try it and think the nutritionist was a genius until an hour later when it dropped you like an anvil back into exhaustion. You go back to the nutritionist, who gives you the same advice, so you try it again and the same thing happens. That would probably be it right? You』d fire the nutritionist. Right? So why are we so gullible when it comes to the fog』s advice on happiness and fulfillment?

這就像雇一名營養師來幫你解決疲勞問題。他們告訴你，任何時候你累了就喝特濃的咖啡。你聽從了營養師的話並想他真是個天才，直到一個小時後你又變得筋疲力盡。你回頭找營養師，他還是給你相同的建議，因此你又試了一次，接下來同樣的事情再次發生。這種方法有可能正確嗎？你會炒了營養師，對吧？所以問題來了，為什麼迷霧給你關於快樂和滿足的類似建議，你會輕易地相信呢？

The fog is also much more harmful than the nutritionist because not only does it give us terrible advice—butthe fog itself is the source of unhappiness. The only real solution to exhaustion is to sleep, and the only real way to improve happiness in a lasting way is to make progress in the battle against the fog.

迷霧比營養師有害得多，因為迷霧不僅給我們可怕的建議，而且它本身就是不快樂的根源。疲勞唯一真正有效的解決辦法就是睡覺，而持久提高快樂的唯一真正有效的辦法就是在與迷霧的鬥爭中取得進步。

There』s a concept in psychology called The Hedonic Treadmill, which suggests that humans have a stagnant default happiness level and when something good or bad happens, after an initial change in happiness, we always return to that default level. And on Step 1, this is completely true of course, given that trying to become permanently happier while in the fog is like trying to dry your body off while standing under the shower with the water running.

心理學上有個概念叫享樂跑步機，它的意思是說，人具有一個始終不變的默認的快樂水平，當好事或壞事發生時，起初快樂會發生變化，但最終會恢復到那個默認的水平上。在第1階梯上，這當然完全符合實情，考慮到呆在迷霧中卻想要永久地變得更快樂，這很像是站在嘩嘩流水的淋浴頭下卻想把身體弄乾。

But I refuse to believe the same species that builds skyscrapers, writes symphonies, flies to the moon, and understands what a Higgs boson is is incapable of getting off the treadmill and actually improving in a meaningful way.

但我拒絕相信，一個能夠建摩天大樓、寫出交響樂、登上月球以及理解希格斯玻色子是什麼的物種不能離開享樂跑步機並以更有意義的方式改善自身。

I think the way to do it is by learning to climb this consciousness staircase to spend more of our time on Steps 2, 3, and 4, and less of it mired unconsciously in the fog.

我想，這種改善的方式就是通過學會攀爬意識階梯，將時間更多地花在第2，3，4階梯上，而更少無意識地陷在迷霧裡。

Step 2: Thinning the Fog to Reveal Context

第2階梯：減少迷霧以揭示背景

Humans can do something amazing that no other creature on Earth can do—they can imagine. If you show an animal a tree, they see a tree. Only a human can imagine the acorn that sunk into the ground 40 years earlier, the small flimsy stalk it was at three years old, how stark the tree must look when it』s winter, and the eventual dead tree lying horizontally in that same place.

This is the magic of the Higher Being in our heads.

人類能做地球上其他生物所無法做的了不起的事情——想像。如果你給動物展示一顆樹，它們便看到一棵樹。只有人類能夠想像，40年前一顆橡子沉入土壤中，過了3年後變成了小而脆弱的梗，如今要是在冬天裡這棵樹看起來肯定是光禿禿的，而將來它最終會在原地橫倒死去。

On the other hand, the animals in your head, like their real world relatives, can only see a tree, and when they see one, they react instantly to it based on their primitive needs. When you』re on Step 1, your unconscious animal-run state doesn』t even remember that the Higher Being exists, and his genius abilities go to waste.

另一方面，在你頭腦中的動物就像真實世界裡的動物一樣只能看到樹。當它們看見一棵樹時，它們會基於原始的需要做出直接的反應。當你處於第1階梯時，你那由動物驅使的無意識狀態甚至讓你忘記了還有更高存在，更高存在天賦之能力被白白浪費了。

Step 2 is all about thinning out the fog enough to bring the Higher Being』s thoughts and abilities into your consciousness, allowing you to see behind and around the things that happen in life. Step 2 is about bringing context into your awareness, which reveals a far deeper and more nuanced version of the truth.

第2階梯整個都是關於怎樣充分減少迷霧以引導更高存在的思想和能力進入你的意識里，使你能夠看到你生活中所發生事情的周圍和背後的情況。在第2階梯會將「背景」帶入你的意識，這樣就能夠揭示一個更加深刻和微妙的真相。

There are plenty of activities or undertakings that can help thin out your fog. To name three:

有大量的活動或事務可以幫助我們減少迷霧。下面說說三種方式：

1）Learning more about the world through education, travel, and life experience—as your perspective broadens, you can see a clearer and more accurate version of the truth.

1）通過教育、旅遊和生活體驗對世界有更多的了解——隨著視野的擴大，你能夠看到一個更清晰和準確的真相。

2) Active reflection. This is what a journal can help with, or therapy, which is basically examining your own brain with the help of a fog expert. Sometimes a hypothetical question can be used as 「fog goggles,」 allowing you to see something clearly through the fog—questions like, 「What would I do if money were no object?」 or 「How would I advise someone else on this?」 or 「Will I regret not having done this when I』m 80?」 These questions are a way to ask your Higher Being』s opinion on something without the animals realizing what』s going on, so they』ll stay calm and the Higher Being can actually talk—like when parents spell out a word in front of their four-year-old when they don』t want him to know what they』re saying.2

2）積極反思。這跟寫日記所起的作用一樣，或者說這是一種治療，是在迷霧專家的幫助下對你自己的大腦做基本檢查。有時一個假設的問題可以被用作「防霧鏡」，讓你得以透過迷霧看清某個事物——問題可以類似於，「如果金錢並非目標，我該怎麼辦？」或「關於這個我該如何向他人建議？」或「等到80歲時我會後悔沒去做這個嗎？」這些問題是在沒有動物意識到發生了什麼的情況下去徵詢你的更高存在關於某事物意見的一種方法，因此動物們將會保持安靜，更高存在便可以確實地交談了——這很像父母不想讓他們4歲的孩子知道他們在說什麼便將單詞一個字母一個字母地拼讀出來。

3) Meditation, exercise, yoga, etc.—activities that help quiet the brain』s unconscious chatter, i.e. allowing the fog to settle.

3）冥想、鍛煉、瑜伽，等等——這些活動能夠促使大腦里無意識的聒噪安靜下來，也即讓迷霧沉落消散。

But the easiest and most effective way to thin out the fog is simply to be aware of it. By knowing that fog exists, understanding what it is and the different forms it takes, and learning to recognize when you』re in it, you hinder its ability to run your life. You can』t get to Step 2 if you don』t know when you』re on Step 1.

然而減少迷霧最簡單有效的方法就是注意到它。通過知道迷霧存在著，並理解它是什麼，以哪些不同的形式存在，以及學會識別什麼時候我們處在迷霧中，你就可以阻礙它操控你的生活。如果你處在第1階梯時你都不知道，那麼你就不可能上到第2階梯。

The way to move onto Step 2 is by remembering to stay aware of the context behind and around what you see, what you come across, and the decisions you make. That』s it—remaining cognizant of the fog and remembering to look at the whole context keeps you conscious, aware of reality, and as you』ll see, makes you a much better version of yourself than you are on Step 1. Some examples——

上到第2階梯的方法是，記住要對你所看到的東西、你所經歷的事情、你所做的決定始終清楚它們之後的背景。始終注意到迷霧且記得去了解事情的整個背景，這會讓你認清現實，並且你以後會明白，比起在第1階梯，你會成為更好得多的自己。舉些例子——

Here』s what a rude cashier looks like on Step 1 vs. Step 2:下面是一個粗魯的收銀員在我處於第1階梯和第2階梯時看上去的不同樣子：

Here』s what gratitude looks like:

下面是不同的感激的樣子：

Something good happening:

好事發生時：

Something bad happening:

壞事發生時：

That phenomenon where everything suddenly seems horrible late at night in bed:

深夜在床上一切似乎很可怕時：

A flat tire:

一個漏氣輪胎：

Long-term consequences:

長期結果：

Looking at context makes us aware how much we actually know about most situations (as well as what we don』t know, like what the cashier』s day was like so far), and it reminds us of the complexity and nuance of people, life, and situations. When we』re on Step 2, this broader scope and increased clarity makes us feel calmer and less fearful of things that aren』t actually scary, and the animals—who gain their strength from fear and thrive off of unconsciousness—suddenly just look kind of ridiculous:

審視背景可以讓我們清楚，我們對形勢真正了解了多少（包括什麼是我們所不知道的，像那位收銀員到目前為止所表現的），並且可以讓我們注意到人、生活和情況的複雜性及其中的細微差別。當我們處於第2階梯時，更寬的視角和增強的清晰度使我們內心更加平靜也更少擔心那些原本並不真正可怕的事情；而且習慣從恐懼中攫取力量及從無意識中茁壯成長的動物們突然顯得有點可笑。

When the small-minded animal emotions are less in our face, the more advanced emotions of the Higher Being—love, compassion, humility, empathy, etc.—begin to light up.

當狹隘的動物情感在我們臉上更少顯露時，更高級的更高存在的情感——愛、同情、謙卑、共鳴——就開始燃起。

The good news is there』s no learning required to be on Step 2—your Higher Being already knows the context around all of these life situations. It doesn』t take hard work, and no additional information or expertise is needed—you only have to consciously think about being on Step 2 instead of Step 1 and you』re there. You』re probably there right now just by reading this.

好消息是，想要登上第2階梯並不需要你再去學更多的東西——你的更高存在已經知道了所有生活境遇的背景，無需努力摸索，無需額外信息，無需專業技能——你只需有意識地去想你已經處於第2階梯上而不是在第1階梯上，那麼你就會到達那裡。讀到這些，你可能現在就已經在第2階梯了。

The bad news is that it』s extremely hard to stay on Step 2 for long. The Catch-22 here is that it』s not easy to stay conscious of the fog because the fog makes you unconscious.

壞消息是，想要長久地呆在第2階梯非常難。這裡的第22條軍規是，始終對迷霧保持警惕是很不容易做到的，因為迷霧會讓你意識不到它的存在。

That』s the first challenge at hand. You can』t get rid of the fog, and you can』t always keep it thin, but you can get better at noticing when it』s thick and develop effective strategies for thinning it out whenever you consciously focus on it. If you』re evolving successfully, as you get older, you should be spending more and more time on Step 2 and less and less on Step 1.

這是手頭的第一個挑戰。你無法消除迷霧，也無法讓迷霧一直保持稀薄。但你能夠在迷霧濃厚時通過留心它讓自己變得更好，而且每當你有意關注它時，你可以採取策略減少其濃度。如果你成功地做到一直在提升自己，那麼隨著年齡增長，你會花越來越多的時間呆在第2階梯，越來越少的時間在第1階梯。

Step 3: Shocking Reality

第3階梯：令人震撼的現實

I . . . a universe of atoms . . . an atom in the universe. —Richard Feynman

我，一個由原子構成的宇宙，宇宙中的一個原子。——理查德.費曼

Step 3 is when things start to get weird. Even on the more enlightened Step 2, we kind of think we』re here:

在第3階梯事情開始變得不可思議。甚至還在更開明的第2階梯時，我們就大概以為我們的生活是下面這個樣子：

As delightful as that is, it』s a complete delusion. We live our days as if we』re just here on this green and brown land with our blue sky and our chipmunks and our caterpillars. But this is actually what』s happening:

這一切令人愉快，然而卻完全是個錯覺。我們似乎純粹生活在這個擁有藍天、花栗鼠和毛毛蟲的綠色與褐色的土地上，但實際情況是這樣的：

But even more actually, this is happening:

更真實的情況是這樣的：

We also tend to kind of think this is the situation:

我們還傾向於認為這是實情：

When really, it』s this:

而真實情況卻是這樣的：

You might even think you』re a thing. Do you?

你甚至可能認為你是一個實體，對嗎？

No you』re a ton of these:

不，你僅是一團的這些個原子：

This is the next iteration of truth on our little staircase, and our brains can』t really handle it. Asking a human to internalize the vastness of space or the eternity of time or the tininess of atoms is like asking a dog to stand up on its hind legs—you can do it if you focus, but it』s a strain and you can』t hold it for very long.3

這是在我們小階梯上的真相的下一個迭代，我們的大腦實際上處理不了它。要求一個人內心感受空間的廣袤、時間的永恆或原子的微小就像要求一條狗後腿立起——如果你夠專註你可以做到，但難度很大，而且你也堅持不了多久。

You can think about the facts anytime—The Big Bang was 13.8 billion years ago, which is about 130,000 times longer than humans have existed; if the sun were a ping pong ball in New York, the closest star to us would be a ping pong ball in Atlanta; the Milky Way is so big that if you made a scale model of it that was the size of the US, you would still need a microscope to see the sun; atoms are so small that there are about as many atoms in one grain of salt as there are grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. But once in a while, when you deeply reflect on one of these facts, or when you』re in the right late night conversation with the right person, or when you』re staring at the stars, or when you think too hard about what death actually means—you have a Whoa moment.

你隨時都可以想想以下事實——大爆炸發生在138億年前，這比人類存在時間的13萬倍還要長。如果太陽是在紐約那麼大的地方里的一個乒乓球，那麼離我們最近的恆星則是在亞特蘭大里的一個乒乓球。銀河系是如此之大，以致如果你把它做成美國那麼大的模型，那麼將需要一個顯微鏡才能看見太陽。而原子則極其微小，一小粒鹽里的原子數量大概相當於地球上所有沙灘上的沙粒數量總和。當你深入思考這其中的一個事實時，或者當你深夜與合適的人交談時，或者當你凝視群星時，或者當你嚴肅地思索死亡實際意味著什麼時，偶爾你會擁有一個驚嘆時刻。

A true Whoa moment is hard to come by and even harder to maintain for very long, like our dog』s standing difficulties. Thinking about this level of reality is like looking at an amazing photo of the Grand Canyon; a Whoa moment is like beingat the Grand Canyon—the two experiences are similar but somehow vastly different. Facts can be fascinating, but only in a Whoa moment does your brain actually wrap itself around true reality. In a Whoa moment, your brain for a second transcends what it』s been built to do and offers you a brief glimpse into the astonishing truth of our existence. And a Whoa moment is how you get to Step 3.

一個真正的驚嘆時刻是很難擁有的，更難的是長久維持，就像狗要站立起來很困難一樣。思考這一層次的現實像是欣賞一張令人驚異的科羅拉多大峽谷照片，而一個驚嘆時刻則像身處科羅拉多大峽谷——兩種體驗很相似但某種程度上來說又極其不同。事實也許很有趣，但只有在驚嘆時刻你的大腦才實際上對真正的現實具有深刻印象。在驚嘆時刻，你的大腦瞬間超越了它的普通狀態，你從而得以瞥見我們存在的驚人真相。——你上到第3階梯的過程會是一個驚嘆時刻。

I love Whoa moments. They make me feel some intense combination of awe, elation, sadness, and wonder. More than anything, they make me feel ridiculously, profoundly humble—and that level of humility does weird things to a person. In those moments, all those words religious people use—awe, worship, miracle, eternal connection—make perfect sense. I want to get on my knees and surrender.This is when I feel spiritual.

我愛那些驚嘆時刻，它們讓我感受到敬畏、崇拜、悲傷和驚奇的某種強烈結合。更重要的是，它們讓我感受到了一種既可笑又深刻的謙卑——那種層面的謙卑行徑怪異。在那些驚嘆時刻里，所有那些宗教人士所使用的詞語——敬畏、崇拜、奇蹟、永恆連接——便有了十足的意義。我想要跪下雙膝，頂禮膜拜。這是我的宗教時刻。

And in those fleeting moments, there is no fog—my Higher Being is in full flow and can see everything in perfect clarity. The normally-complicated world of morality is suddenly crystal clear, because the only fathomable emotions on Step 3 are the most high-level. Any form of pettiness or hatred is a laughable concept up on Step 3—with no fog to obscure things, the animals are completely naked, exposed for the sad little creatures that they are.

在那些稍縱即逝的時刻，沒有了迷霧——更高存在暢行無阻，能夠極清晰地看清事物。通常複雜的道德世界突然變得清清楚楚，因為在第3階梯僅有的可測情感皆達到了最高級。上到第3階梯，任何形式的卑鄙或仇恨都是可笑的——沒有了迷霧的遮擋，動物們全都赤身裸體，暴露出它們是不幸的小動物的原本模樣。

On Step 1, I snap back at the rude cashier, who had the nerve to be a dick to me. On Step 2, the rudeness doesn』t faze me because I know it』s about him, not me, and that I have no idea what his day or life has been like. On Step 3, I see myself as a miraculous arrangement of atoms in vast space that for a split second in endless eternity has come together to form a moment of consciousness that is my life…and I see that cashier as another moment of consciousness that happens to exist on the same speck of time and space that I do. And the only possible emotion I could have for him on Step 3 is love.

在第1階梯，我反擊了膽敢跟混球一樣對待我的粗魯的收銀員。在第2階梯，對方的粗魯並未影響到我，因為我知道是他粗魯而不是我粗魯，我還知道我並不清楚他的日子或生活過得怎樣。在第3階梯，我把自己看成是廣袤空間里的一團神奇的原子組合，是原子在無盡永恆中的一個瞬間彙集在一塊形成的片刻意識，這就是我的生命；我把那個收銀員看成是與我同在一個時空交匯點上的另一個片刻意識。在第3階梯，我對他唯一可能有的感情是愛。

In a Whoa moment』s transcendent level of consciousness, I see every interaction, every motivation, every news headline in unusual clarity—and difficult life decisions are much more obvious. I feel wise.

在驚嘆時刻的意識的超越層面中，我不同尋常地看清了每一次互動，每一個動機，每一條新聞頭條——原本艱難的人生決定也變得一目了然。我感覺到自己變得睿智了。

Of course, if this were my normal state, I』d be teaching monks somewhere on a mountain in Myanmar, and I』m not teaching any monks anywhere because it』s not my normal state. Whoa moments are rare and very soon after one, I』m back down here being a human again. But the emotions and the clarity of Step 3 are so powerful, that even after you topple off the step, some of it sticks around. Each time you humiliate the animals, a little bit of their future power over you is diminished. And that』s why Step 3 is so important—even though no one that I know can live permanently on Step 3, regular visits help you dramatically in the ongoing Step 1 vs Step 2 battle, which makes you a better and happier person.

當然，如果這是我的正常狀態，我會到緬甸某座山上的某個地方去教導僧侶。然而我並沒有這樣做，因為那不是我的正常狀態。驚嘆時刻非常罕見，而且即便出現，我會很快地又恢復成普通人一個。但是第3階梯的情感和清晰性是如此強大，因而即使你從第3階梯落下，其部分情感和清晰性仍會保留。每次你使動物出醜時，它們未來的力量就會減少一點。這就是為什麼第3階梯如此重要——即使我知道還沒人能一直呆在第3階梯，但定期訪問它能夠讓你在第2階梯對抗第1階梯的戰鬥中獲得極大的幫助，這也能夠讓你變成一個更好的及更快樂的人。

Step 3 is also the answer to anyone who accuses atheists of being amoral or cynical or nihilistic, or wonders how atheists find any meaning in life without the hope and incentive of an afterlife. That』s a Step 1 way to view an atheist, where life on Earth is taken for granted and it』s assumed that any positive impulse or emotion must be due to circumstances outside of life. On Step 3, I feel immensely lucky to be alive and can』t believe how cool it is that I』m a group of atoms that can think about atoms—on Step 3, life itself is more than enough to make me excited, hopeful, loving, and kind. But Step 3 is only possible because science has cleared the way there, which is why Carl Sagan said that 「science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.」 In this way, science is the 「prophet」 of this framework—the one who reveals new truth to us and gives us an opportunity to alter ourselves by accessing it.

第3階梯也是對指責無神論者不道德、憤世嫉俗、虛無主義的人的回答，是對想知道無神論者沒了來世的希望和激勵後如何找到生命的意義的人的回答。那是第1階梯看待無神論者的方式——在第1階梯，地球上的生命被視為理所當然，任何積極的情感或衝動都被認為是出於生命之外的環境原因。在第3階梯，我感到非常幸運能活著，我簡直難以相信自己是能思考原子的一團原子，這真是太酷了——在第3階梯，生命本身就足夠我激動、充滿希望、去愛和變得友善。然而，第3 階梯之所以成為可能，是因為科學掃清了道路，這就是為什麼卡爾.薩根會說「科學不僅與靈性相容，而且科學還是靈性的深層來源」。這樣，科學便成了這個框架的「先知」——其向我們揭示了新的真相，給我們通過獲取它來轉變自己的機會。

So to recap so far—on Step 1, you』re in a delusional bubble that Step 2 pops. On Step 2, there』s much more clarity about life, but it』s within a much bigger delusional bubble, one that Step 3 pops. But Step 3 is supposed to be total, fog-free clarity on truth—so how could there be another step?

來概括一下之前的內容吧。在第1階梯，你陷入一個妄想的泡沫里，要等第2階梯致其破裂。在第2 階梯，生活清晰得多，但卻置於一個更大的妄想的泡沫里，要等第3階梯致其破裂。第3階梯按說沒有了迷霧，真相完全清楚——因此，怎麼還會有另一個階梯呢？

Step 4: The Great Unknown

第4階梯：巨大的未知

If we ever reach the point where we think we thoroughly understand who we are and where we came from, we will have failed. —Carl Sagan

如果我們發展到了這種地步，即自以為徹底理解了我們是誰，我們來自哪裡，那將是我們的失敗。——卡爾.薩根

The game so far has for the most part been clearing out fog to become as conscious as possible of what we as people and as a species know about truth:

到目前為止的遊戲大部分都是關於消除迷霧以儘可能弄清楚我們作為人和一個物種關於真相知道什麼：

On Step 4, we』re reminded of the complete truth—which is this:

在第4階梯，我們被提醒要注意完整的真相——就是下面所指的：

The fact is, any discussion of our full reality—of the truth of the universe or our existence—is a complete delusion without acknowledging that big purple blob that makes up almost all of that reality.

事實是，任何關於我們的整個現實的討論——關於宇宙或我們存在的真相——是在不承認那個幾乎構成了整個現實的大紫色塊的情況下的十足的謬見。（註：紫色塊是指人類的未知領域）

But you know humans—they don』t like that purple blob one bit. Never have. The blob frightens and humiliates humans, and we have a rich history of denying its existence entirely, which is like living on the beach and pretending the ocean isn』t there. Instead, we just stamp our foot and claim that now we』ve finally figured it all out. On the religious side, we invent myths and proclaim them as truth—and even a devout religious believer reading this who stands by the truth of their particular book would agree with me about the fabrication of the other few thousand books out there. On the science front, we』ve managed to be consistently gullible in believing that 「realizing you』ve been horribly wrong about reality」 is a phenomenon only of the past.

你了解人類，他們一點都不喜歡那個紫色快，從未喜歡過。紫色塊嚇著、羞辱了人類，我們有著完全否認其存在的豐富歷史，這很像生活在海灘上卻假裝海洋並不存在。相反，我們只是跺跺腳便宣稱我們現在最終把這一切都搞明白了。在宗教方面，我們創造了神話並宣布它們為真相——然而甚至一個虔誠的宗教徒，他相信自家宗教的故事是真的，卻同意我認為其它宗教的故事都是虛構的。在科學前沿方面，我們總是讓自己輕信「意識到自己對現實的認識錯得離譜，這只是過去才會發生的現象」這樣的觀點。

Having our understanding of reality overturned by a new groundbreaking discovery is like a shocking twist in this epic mystery novel humanity is reading, and scientific progress is regularly dotted with these twists—the Earth being round, the solar system being heliocentric, not geocentric, the discovery of subatomic particles or galaxies other than our own, and evolutionary theory, to name a few. So how is it possible, with the knowledge of all those breakthroughs, that Lord Kelvin, one of history』s greatest scientists, said in the year 1900, 「There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement」4—i.e. this time, all the twists actually are finished.

我們對現實的理解被一個新的突破性發現給推翻，這就像是人類正在讀的這本史詩性神秘小說，其故事情節發生了令人震驚的轉折。在科學發展歷程中經常上演這種轉折——地球是圓的，太陽系以太陽而不是以地球為中心，亞原子或其它星系的發現，進化論，僅舉這幾例。因此很難想像，在有如此多重大科學突破的情況下，勞德.開爾文，歷史上最偉大的科學家之一，在1900年說道，「現在，物理學不會再有新的發現了，剩下的事無非越來越精確的測量」——也就是說，這一次所有的轉折實際上全都結束了。

Of course, Kelvin was as wrong as every other arrogant scientist in history—the theory of general relativity and then the theory of quantum mechanics would both topple science on its face over the next century.

當然，開爾文犯了跟歷史上其他每一個傲慢的科學家一樣的錯誤——在下一個世紀，廣義相對論和後來的量子力學理論共同顛覆了原先的科學體系。

Even if we acknowledge today that there will be more twists in the future, we』re probably kind of inclined to think we』ve figured out most of the major things and have a far closer-to-complete picture of reality than the people who thought the Earth was flat. Which, to me, sounds like this:

即使我們今天承認未來會有更多的轉折，我們仍可能傾向於認為：我們已經搞明白了大部分的重要事情，而且相對於過去以為地球是平的人們，我們現在擁有了關於現實的更接近於完成的正確圖景。對我來說，這聽起來就像是這樣的：

The fact is, let』s remember that we don』t know what the universe is. Is it everything? Is it one tiny bubble in a multiverse frothing with bubbles? Is it not a bubble at all but an optical illusion hologram? And we know about the Big Bang, but was that the beginning of everything? Did something arise from nothing, or was it just the latest in a long series of expansion/collapse cycles? We have no clue what dark matter is, only that there』s a shit-ton of it in the universe, and when we discussed The Fermi Paradox, it became entirely clear that science has no idea about whether there』s other life out there or how advanced it might be. How about String Theory, which claims to be the secret to unifying the two grand but seemingly-unrelated theories of the physical world, general relativity and quantum mechanics? It』s either the grandest theory we』ve ever come up with or totally false, and there are great scientists on both sides of this debate. And as laypeople, all we need to do is take a look at those two well-accepted theories to realize how vastly different reality can be from how it seems: like general relativity telling us that if you flew to a black hole and circled around it a few times in intense gravity and then returned to Earth a few hours after you left, decades would have passed on Earth while you were gone. And that』s like an ice cream cone compared to the insane shit quantum mechanics tells us—like two particles across the universe from one another being mysteriously linked to each other』s behavior, or a cat that』s both alive and dead at the same time, until you look at it.

讓我們記住，事實是，我們並不知道宇宙到底是什麼。我們所知的這個宇宙就是一切嗎？或它只不過是多元宇宙製造的泡泡中的一個微小泡泡？還是說它連泡泡都不是，而只不過是一個視錯覺全息圖？我們都知道宇宙大爆炸的理論，然而那是萬物的開端嗎？宇宙是無中生有而來的嗎，還是說這只是長期的膨脹/收縮周期的最新一輪？我們也根本不知道暗物質是什麼，只知道它們在宇宙中大量存在。當我們談論費米悖論時，有一點很清楚，即科學也無法證實是否有外星人或它們到底有多先進。弦理論又是怎麼回事？其號稱能統一物理世界兩種宏偉而又看似不相關的理論：廣義相對論和量子力學。弦理論要麼是我們曾提出的最宏偉的理論要麼就是完全錯誤的理論，爭辯的雙方都得到了傑出科學家的支持。作為外行，我們需要做的僅是去了解一下這兩種公認的理論，且會意識到現實的實際情況和我們通常認為的樣子具有著非常大的不同：像廣義相對論告訴我們，如果你飛向黑洞並在強大的重力下環繞黑洞幾次，幾個小時後你返回地球，你會發現在地球上已過了幾十年。然而這會像是冰激凌甜筒，若是比起量子力學告訴我們的那些瘋狂的狗屎（事情）來——在宇宙空間中分隔兩處的兩個粒子具有幽靈般的詭異關聯，或者是一隻貓在觀察它之前既是活的又是死的。

And the thing is, everything I just mentioned is still within the realm of our understanding. As we established earlier, compared to a more evolved level of consciousness, we might be like a three-year-old, a monkey, or an ant—so why would we assume that we』re even capable of understanding everything in that purple blob? A monkey can』t understand that the Earth is a round planet, let alone that the solar system, galaxy, or universe exists. You could try to explain it to a monkey for years and it wouldn』t be possible. So what are we completely incapable of grasping even if a more intelligent species tried its hardest to explain it to us? Probably almost everything.

問題是，上面我剛剛說的這些東西仍然處在我們人類的理解範圍之內，而我們更早之前曾建立起這樣的觀點，即相較於進化水平發達得多的意識，我們也許像是三歲的小孩，或是一隻猴子，或是一隻螞蟻——因此我們有什麼理由認為我們能夠理解處於紫色塊中的事物呢？一隻猴子無法理解地球是圓的行星，更遑論太陽系、銀河系或宇宙的存在。你可以試著花幾年時間向一隻猴子解釋這些，不過你肯定不會成功。

There are really two options when thinking about the big, big picture: be humble or be absurd.

面對如此宏大的圖景，實際上有兩種選擇：變得謙卑或變得荒謬。

The nonsensical thing about humans feigning certainty because we』re scared is that in the old days, when it seemed on the surface that we were the center of all creation, uncertainty was frightening because it made our reality seem so much bleaker than we had thought—but now, with so much more uncovered, things look highly bleak for us as people and as a species, so our fear should welcome uncertainty. Given my default outlook that I have a small handful of decades left and then an eternity of nonexistence, the fact that we might be totally wrong sounds tremendously hopeful to me.

人類因恐懼而假裝一切都是確定的，這其中很荒謬的事便是，在人類表面上似乎是萬物之中心的過去日子裡，不確定性是可怕的，因為它會讓我們的現實顯得比預想的要暗淡得多——但現在，隨著比過去多得多的事物被了解，對於作為人類和一個物種的我們來說，事情看起來變得極其暗淡，因此我們的恐懼將反過來讓我們去歡迎不確定性。鑒於我的默定前景，即我還有短短的幾十年可活，然後便要墜入永恆的虛無之中， 那麼我們可能完全是錯的這個事實於我而言聽起來便充滿了無窮的希望。

Ironically, when my thinking reaches the top of this rooted-in-atheism staircase, the notion that something that seems divine to us might exist doesn』t seem so ridiculous anymore. I』m still totally atheist when it comes to all human-created conceptions of a divine higher force—which all, in my opinion, proclaim far too much certainty. But could a super-advanced force exist? It seems more than likely. Could we have been created by something/someone bigger than us or be living as part of a simulation without realizing it? Sure—I』m a three-year-old, remember, so who am I to say no?

諷刺的是，當我的思想到達了這個植根於無神論的階梯頂端時，神性事物可能存在的觀念好像不再那麼荒唐可笑了。說到人類鼓搗出來的關於神的更高力量的所有那些構想，我仍會是一個完全的無神論者——那些構想，在我看來，太過於確定。然而可能存在一種超先進的力量嗎？這看起來很有可能。我們有可能是被比我們強大的什麼人或什麼東西創造出來的嗎？或者我們只是活在模擬的世界裡卻沒有意識到？當然可能——記住，我只有3歲，因此我憑什麼說不？

To me, complete rational logic tells me to be atheist about all of the Earth』s religions and utterly agnostic about the nature of our existence or the possible existence of a higher being. I don』t arrive there via any form of faith, just by logic.

對我來說，完全理性的邏輯告訴我，對於地球上的任何一個宗教都不要相信，要做個無神論者；對於我們存在的本質或可能存在一個更高存在的觀點，要做個完全的不可知論者。我是通過邏輯而非任何形式的信仰形成這些觀念的。

I find Step 4 mentally mind-blowing but I』m not sure I』m ever quite able to access it in a spiritual way like I sometimes can with Step 3—Step 4 Whoa moments might be reserved for Einstein-level thinkers—but even if I can』t get my feet up on Step 4, I can know it』s there, what it means, and I can remind myself of its existence. So what does that do for me as a human?

我發現第4階梯讓人心靈震撼，但我不能確定我是否能夠從心靈上進入第4階梯，就像我能夠偶爾設法上到第3階梯那樣——第4階梯的驚嘆時刻可能只為愛因斯坦級別的思想家準備——但即便我不能踏足第4階梯，我還是能夠知道它存在著且知道它意味什麼，而且我可以提醒自己它的存在。然而，這些對於作為單個人的我又有什麼幫助呢？

Well remember that powerful humility I mentioned in Step 3? It multiplies that by 100. For reasons I just discussed, it makes me feel more hopeful. And it leaves me feeling pleasantly resigned to the fact that I will never understand what』s going on, which makes me feel like I can take my hand off the wheel, sit back, relax, and just enjoy the ride. In this way, I think Step 4 can make us live more in the present—if I』m just a molecule floating around an ocean I can』t understand, I might as well just enjoy it.

好吧，還記得我在第3階梯所提到的那種巨大的謙卑嗎？在第4階梯感受到的謙卑會是第3階梯的100倍。根據我之前才討論過的理由，巨大的謙卑反而會讓我充滿希望，它會讓我很愉快地接受這個事實，即我永遠不會明白到底發生了什麼事情，這使我覺得自己可以鬆開方向盤，靠後坐好，放鬆，然而純粹享受駕車的快樂。按這種方式，我想第4階梯可以促使我們更多地活在當下——如果我只是一個在一片我不能理解的海洋中漂浮的分子，我可能只需好好去享受這一切。

The way Step 4 can serve humanity is by helping to crush the notion of certainty. Certainty is primitive, leads to 「us versus them」 tribalism, and starts wars. We should be united in our uncertainty, not divided over fabricated certainty. And the more humans turn around and look at that big purple blob, the better off we』ll be.

第4階梯得以幫助人類的方式就是通過幫助粉碎確定性的觀念。確定性是落後的，導致我們走向「我們對抗他們」的部落主義，導致發動戰爭。我們應該團結在不確定性下，而不是被虛構的確定性給分裂。有越多的人轉過身來看那個大紫色塊，我們的境況就會越好。

Why Wisdom is the Goal

為什麼智慧會是我們的目標

Nothing clears fog like a deathbed, which is why it』s then that people can always see with more clarity what they should have done differently—I wish I had spent less time working; I wish I had communicated with my wife more; I wish I had traveled more; etc. The goal of personal growth should be to gain that deathbed clarity while your life is still happening so you can actually do something about it.

沒有什麼比在臨終前更能清除迷霧了，這也就是為什麼臨終前人們總是能夠更加清楚地明白，他們本應該以另一種方式去做哪些事——我真希望自己當時能少花點時間在工作上；我真希望自己和妻子有更多的交流；我真希望自己能多去旅行一下，等等。個人成長目標應該是在你還活著時便獲得臨終前的清醒，因此你對此實際上可以做點什麼。

The way you do that is by developing as much wisdom as possible, as early as possible. To me, wisdom is the most important thing to work towards as a human. It』s the big objective—the umbrella goal under which all other goals fall into place. I believe I have one and only one chance to live, and I want to do it in the most fulfilled and meaningful way possible—that』s the best outcome for me, and I do a lot more good for the world that way. Wisdom gives people the insight to know what 「fulfilled and meaningful」 actually means and the courage to make the choices that will get them there.

你可以採取這種方式來達到目的，即發展出儘可能多的智慧，越早越好。對我來說，智慧是作為一個人要努力去實現的最重要的事情。智慧是個大目標——一個傘形目標，在其之下所有其它目標將落到實處。我相信我只能活一回，我想儘可能以最充實和最有意義的方式度過這一生——這對我自身是最好的結果，同時我還能夠通過這種方式為世界多做點有益的事。智慧給人以洞察力去明白「充實的和有意義的」實際上意味著什麼，同時給人以勇氣去做出能夠實現目標的選擇。

And while life experience can contribute to wisdom, I think wisdom is mostly already in all of our heads—it』s everything the Higher Being knows. When we』re not wise, it』s because we don』t have access to the Higher Being』s wisdom because it』s buried in fog. The fog is anti-wisdom, and when you move up the staircase into a clearer place, wisdom is simply a by-product of that increased consciousness.

雖然生活經驗有助於智慧，但我認為智慧已多半存在我們的頭腦中——智慧的一切東西都是更高存在所知道的。當我們缺乏智慧時，那是因為我們陷在迷霧中，無法利用更高存在的智慧。迷霧是反智慧的，當你邁上階梯站在了視野更清晰的位置，智慧無非是加強的意識的一個副產品。

One thing I learned at some point is that growing old or growing tall is not the same as growing up. Being a grownup is about your level of wisdom and the size of your mind』s scope—and it turns out that it doesn』t especially correlate with age. After a certain age, growing up is about overcoming your fog, and that』s about the person, not the age. I know some supremely wise older people, but there are also a lot of people my age who seem much wiser than their parents about a lot of things. Someone on a growth path whose fog thins as they age will become wiser with age, but I find the reverse happens with people who don』t actively grow—the fog hardens around them and they actually become even less conscious, and even more certain about everything, with age.

我在某個時刻學到的一件事是，長大（指年齡上）或長高與成長不是一回事。成為一個成人，這與你的智慧水平及思想寬度有關——然而這也證明它與一個人的年齡相關不大。一個人過了某個年齡後，成長就變成了怎樣去戰勝迷霧，這要靠自身去解決，年齡不起作用。我認識許多很有智慧的年長者，但也有很多和我同齡的年輕人在好多事情上比他們的父母顯得更有智慧。一個隨著年齡增長迷霧變少，正處於成長階段的人，將會隨著年齡的增長變得更有智慧。但我也在那些不能夠積極成長的人身上發現相反的情況——他們周圍的迷霧變得更加濃厚，他們實際上變得更不清醒，並且隨著年齡增長變得更加固執。

When I think about people I know, I realize that my level of respect and admiration for a person is almost entirely in line with how wise and conscious a person I think they are. The people I hold in the highest regard are the grownups in my life—and their ages completely vary.

當我想到我認識的人時，我意識到我對他們的尊重和欽佩程度與我認為他們具有的智慧和清醒程度幾乎完全成正比。那些得到我最高尊重的人都是在我生活中的成年人，他們的年齡完全不一樣。

Another Look at Religion in Light of this Framework:

根據這個框架，重新看看宗教

This discussion helps clarify my issues with traditional organized religion. There are plenty of good people, good ideas, good values, and good wisdom in the religious world, but to me that seems like something happening in spite of religion and not because of it. Using religion for growth requires an innovative take on things, since at a fundamental level, most religions seem to treat people like children instead of pushing them to grow. Many of today』s religions play to people』s fog with 「believe in this or else…」 fear-mongering and books that are often a rallying cry for 『us vs. them』 divisiveness. They tell people to look to ancient scripture for answers instead of the depths of the mind, and their stubborn certainty when it comes to right and wrong often leaves them at the back of the pack when it comes to the evolution of social issues. Their certainty when it comes to history ends up actively pushing their followers away from truth—as evidenced by the 42% of Americans who have been deprived of knowing the truth about evolution. (An even worse staircase criminal is the loathsome world of American politics, with a culture that lives on Step 1 and where politicians appeal directly to people』s animals, deliberately avoiding anything on Steps 2-4.)

這個討論有助於澄清我對有組織的傳統宗教的看法。在宗教世界裡存在很多的好人、好思想、好的價值觀和好的智慧，但在我看來，這些似乎並非是出於宗教原因而產生的。利用宗教來幫助成長需要對事物有一個創新的理解，因為基本上大部分的宗教似乎並未推動大眾成長，只不過是將他們當作小孩一樣對待。當今的許多宗教，通過「要麼信仰這個要麼其他」的恐慌傳播，以及藉助叫囂「我們對抗他們」的此種分裂口號的經書，激起了大眾的迷霧。他們告訴大眾到古代經文里去尋找答案，而不告訴到心靈深處。他們在是非問題上頑固的確定性觀念讓他們困在了社會問題演變的漩渦里。他們在歷史方面的確定性觀念最終積極推動了他們的追隨者遠離真相——42%的美國人被剝奪了解進化的真相便是證明。（更惡劣的是「階梯罪」，這發生在令人作嘔的美國政治領域，其文化建居於第1階梯，政客們直接訴求民眾的動物性，刻意不讓第2至4階梯的事情發生。）

So What Am I?

那麼，我是什麼？

Yes, I』m an atheist, but atheism isn』t a growth model any more than 「I don』t like rollerblading」 is a workout strategy.

是的，我是個無神論者，但正像「我不喜歡滑旱冰」不是一種鍛煉策略一樣，無神論並不是一種成長模式。

So I』m making up a term for what I am—I』m a Truthist. In my framework, truth is what I』m always looking for, truth is what I worship, and learning to see truth more easily and more often is what leads to growth.

因此我構造了一個詞來回答「我是什麼」——我是一個真相主義者。在我的框架中，真相是我一直尋找的東西，真相是我尊崇的東西，學會更經常且更容易地了解真相是促進成長的關鍵。

In Truthism, the goal is to grow wiser over time, and wisdom falls into your lap whenever you』re conscious enough to see the truth about people, situations, the world, or the universe. The fog is what stands in your way, making you unconscious, delusional, and small-minded, so the key day-to-day growth strategy is staying cognizant of the fog and training your mind to try to see the full truth in any situation.

在真相主義中，目標是：隨著時間增長變得更有智慧；智慧會在任何時候你變得非常清醒，能夠看清有關人類、形勢、世界或宇宙的真相時自動落入你的懷抱。迷霧阻止你前進，讓你意識迷糊、妄想、心胸狹隘，因此，重要的逐日成長策略就是，意識到迷霧的存在，訓練你的頭腦努力在任何情形下看到全部的真相。

Over time, you want your [Time on Step 2] / [Time on Step 1] ratio to go up a little bit each year, and you want to get better and better at inducing Step 3 Whoa moments and reminding yourself of the Step 4 purple blob. If you do those things, I think you』re evolving in the best possible way, and it will have profound effects on all aspects of your life.

隨著時間增長，你會想讓[呆在第2階梯的時間]/[呆在第1階梯的時間]的比率每年都變得高一點，你會想在引出第3階梯的驚嘆時刻方面和在提醒自己關注第4階梯的紫色塊方面做得越來越好。如果你這樣做了，我想你就是在以最好的方式來發展自身，並且它會對你人生的各個方面產生深遠的影響。

That』s it. That』s Truthism.

就是這些。這就是真相主義。

Am I a good Truthist? I』m okay. Better than I used to be with a long way to go. But defining this framework will help—I』ll know where to put my focus, what to be wary of, and how to evaluate my progress, which will help me make sure I』m actually improving and lead to quicker growth.

我是一個好的真相主義者嗎？還行吧，比我過去要好，不過還有很長的路要走。但定義這個框架將會起到作用——我將知道關注哪裡，要小心什麼，怎樣評估自己的進步，這將有助於我確保自己確實在提高並通向更快的成長。

To help keep me on mission, I made a Truthism logo:

為了幫助我自己繼續這個使命，我製作了一個真相主義的標識：

That』s my symbol, my mantra, my WWJD—it』s the thing I can look at when something good or bad happens, when a big decision is at hand, or on a normal day as a reminder to stay aware of the fog and keep my eye on the big picture.

這是我的象徵符號，我的真言，我的WWJD——這是一個當有好事或壞事發生時，當有重大決定要做，或在一個平常的日子裡用作警惕迷霧及關注大局的一個提醒時我可以看看的東西。

（註：多年前美國密西根州荷蘭市的一個教會開始發送標有「WWJD」的腕帶，意思是「耶穌基督會怎麼做？」<What Would Jesus Do>，這個簡單的醒語風靡了整個美國。）

And What Are You?

你是什麼？

My challenge to you is to decide on a term for yourself that accurately sums up your growth framework.

我向你提出的挑戰是，為你自己確定一個詞用來概括你的成長框架。

If Christianity is your thing and it』s genuinely helping you grow, that word can be Christian. Maybe you already have your own clear, well-defined advancement strategy and you just need a name for it. Maybe Truthism hit home for you, resembles the way you already think, and you want to try being a Truthist with me.

如果基督教滿足你的需要，能夠真正幫助你成長，那麼這個詞可以是基督徒。也許你已經有了自己清晰、明確的發展戰略，你僅需要為它命個名而已。也許真相主義恰好抓住你的痛點，它很像你既有的思考方式，因而你想和我一起嘗試做一個真相主義者。

Or maybe you have no idea what your growth framework is, or what you』re using isn』t working. If either A) you don』t feel like you』ve evolved in a meaningful way in the past couple years, or B) you aren』t able to corroborate your values and philosophies with actual reasoning that matters to you, then you need to find a new framework.

或者也許你根本不知道你的成長框架是什麼，或你正在使用的方法並不湊效。如果A)你沒覺得自己在過去幾年裡的發展是有意義的，或B)用對你來說重要的實際推理不能證實你的價值觀和哲學，那麼你需要重新尋找一個新的框架。

To do this, just ask yourself the same questions I asked myself: What』s the goal that you want to evolve towards (and why is that the goal), what does the path look like that gets you there, what』s in your way, and how do you overcome those obstacles? What are your practices on a day-to-day level, and what should your progress look like year-to-year? Most importantly, how do you stay strong and maintain the practice for years and years, not four days? After you』ve thought that through, name the framework and make a symbol or mantra. (Then share your strategy in the comments or email me about it, because articulating it helps clarify it in your head, and because it』s useful and interesting for others to hear about your framework.)

要做到這一點，你只要問問自己這些問題，這些問題我也曾用來問過我自己：你努力發展想要達到的目標是什麼（以及為什麼那是你的目標）？你實現目標的途徑是什麼樣子的？什麼東西阻擋你前進？你怎麼克服那些障礙？你日常的實踐是怎麼進行的？每一年你要獲得什麼樣的進步？最重要的是，你怎麼保持堅強，能夠一直堅持很多年，而不是僅僅幾天？當你思考清楚這些後，給你的框架起個名，並制定一個象徵符號或真言。（然後在評語里分享你的策略或把它發郵件給我，因為闡述它有助於它在你的頭腦里變得清晰，還因為讓別人聽聽你的框架，這很有益也很有趣。）

I hope I』ve convinced you how important this is. Don』t wait until your deathbed to figure out what life is all about.

我希望我已經說服了你這是多麼地重要。不要等到臨終前才弄明白人生是幹什麼用的！

___________

發佈於 12:03

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