什么是智慧？如何拥有智慧？什么是智慧？如何拥有智慧？不同的人从不同的角度思考会得出不同的答案。我们来看一下美国知名博主Tim Urban在《Religion for the Nonreligious》中是怎么思考这个问题的。Tim Urban是Wait But Why网站的创始人，在TED上做过演讲，擅长写高质量的长文，很多文章在全世界被病毒式传播。Religion for the Nonreligious为不信教者的宗教By Tim Urban翻译：张焕华The mind…can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. ― John Milton心灵，可以变地狱为天堂，变天堂为地狱。——约翰.弥尔顿The mind is certainly its own cosmos. — Alan Lightman心灵毫无疑问是自身的宇宙。——阿兰.莱特曼You go to school, study hard, get a degree, and you’re pleased with yourself. But are you wiser?你去上学，努力学习，拿到学位，并为此自豪。但你变得更有智慧了吗？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，干出了点成绩，有了一定的职位，获得了更多的收入。然后你去了一家更好的公司，职位更高，挣得更多。你租了一套带有停车位的公寓，也不再自己洗衣服。当事情安顿好后，你喝起了9美元的果汁。但你有更快乐吗？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.你在生活里忙着各种事情——购物，阅读，理发，吃东西，拎垃圾，买车，刷牙，拉屎，打喷嚏，刮胡子，伸懒腰，喝醉酒，撒盐，做爱，给笔记本电脑充电，慢跑，清空洗碗机，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?但当你日复一日，年复一年地做这些事情的时候，你提升了自己作为人的价值了吗？In the , 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，我谈了自己是怎样成为无神论者的。除了自得于自己是个不信教者外，我并没有认真地思考过提升个人内在的有效方法，这也阻碍了我自身在成为无神论者过程中的演进。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.当然，这也不是说我做事不成熟，因为社会总是关注那些肤浅的东西，不去重视对真正成长的需要。操办精神活动的主要机构——宗教——倾心于神，胜过关心于人，将救赎而不是自我提升作为最终目的。那些确实经常关注人的生存状况的领域，像哲学、心理学、艺术、文学、自助会等，大多处于外围地带，其各自的研究工作彼此割裂。所有这些使得内在成长很难被重视，对待内在成长就像是一种业余爱好，一种让生活锦上添花的东西。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.考虑到人类心灵是个复杂的海洋，其创建了我们生存于其中的每一块现实，因此致力于了解心灵世界发生了什么看起来会是一个更严肃的优先选择。一家成长型的企业依赖于明确的目标，周密的战略和可衡量的指标。同样地，一个成长中的人需要一项计划——如果我们想要有意义地提升自己，我们便需要定义一个目标，懂得如何到那，清楚障碍所在，并制定战略去克服。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.当我深入这个话题时，我有想过我自身的情况以及我是否在改善它。我确实有做过努力，这点在我过去的几篇博客文章里体现得很明显。但我没有发展模式，没有实际计划，没有明确目标，只是在我恰好想到的时候，在这里或那里我觉得需要自我提高的地方做点随意的思考。因此我现在打算将我以前分散的精力、策略和哲学思想整合到一个单一的框架里。这个框架要很牢靠，即便在将来也不出问题。——我将用这篇文章来做深入的分析。那么就请坐好，端起咖啡，把你的脑子掏出放在跟前的桌子上，——等我们后面会发现大脑是多么奇怪、复杂的一个东西时，你会想要参照一下它。____________The Goal目标Wisdom. More on that later.智慧（稍后详述）How Do We Get to the Goal?我们怎么抵达目标？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.通过认清真相。当我说到“真相”时，我不想成为一个烦人的人，把真相跟模糊的、神秘的东西联系在一块。我所说的真相其实就是指“现实的真实情况”。真相由“我们所知道的”和“我们所不知道的”这正反两面构成，始终清醒地意识到现实的正反两面是获得智慧的关键。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，对吗？我们不需要知道更多的东西，我们仅需要清楚我们知道什么和我们不知道什么。真相一目了然，直接写在黑板上——我们只需看着黑板并思考它。What’s in Our Way?会遇到什么障碍？The fog.迷雾To understand the fog, let’s first be clear that we’re not here:为了理解迷雾，让我们首先弄清楚我们并不处于这里：We’re here:我们在这儿And this isn’t the situation:这不是真实情况：This is:这才是：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:这是让人很难接受的一个观点，但它也是成长的起点。宣称我们自身是“有意识的”可以让我们就此打住，不再想它。我喜欢把它看成是意识阶梯：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?一只蚂蚁的意识比一个细菌的强，鸡的又比蚂蚁的强，猴子的比鸡的强，人的比猴子的强。然而在人之上的会是什么呢？A) Definitely something, and B) Nothing we can understand better than a monkey can understand our world and how we think.A、绝对是很了不起的东西。B、我们搞明白那是怎么回事的可能性不会高于猴子搞明白人类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.没有理由认为阶梯不会一直向上延伸。在我们之上几步阶梯的红色外星人看待人类的意识就像我们看待猩猩的意识一样，——他们或许认为人类是令人印象深刻的一种动物，但显然人类在真正理解事物方面甚至连门槛都未迈入。我们最优秀的科学家还不如他们蹒跚学步的小孩。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.对于在阶梯上更高位置的绿色外星人来说，红色外星人在智力、意识上同他们的差距就好比鸡同我们人类之间的差距。至于我们，在绿色外星人眼里，只不过是最简单的小预编程蚂蚁。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.我们无法设想阶梯上更高位置的生物会是什么个样子，但我们得明白一个事实：更高的阶梯是存在的，我们需从更高的视角看待我们自身——这种思考方式很重要，贯穿于这整篇文章。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?现在，让我们忽略那些高得多的阶梯，让我们只专注仅比我们高一阶的阶梯，也即浅绿色的那一阶。在那一阶的物种看待我们可能就像我们看待三岁小孩一样，也就是开始有了简单、幼稚的意识。想象一下，这一物种的一个代表被派来观察人类并回到他们的星球汇报，他会怎样评价我们的思想和行为？什么东西会给他留下印象？什么东西会令他不安？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:我想他会很快发现存在于人类心灵中的一种持续的冲突。一方面，人类是从比我们低级的物种发展而来的，亿万年来在残酷的世界进行动物性的生存斗争所形成的进化适应已植根于我们的DNA，而且在我们身体内的原始冲动产生了一系列的低级品质——恐惧，狭隘，嫉妒，贪婪，及时行乐，等等。这些品质是以往动物性的残留，现在仍是我们大脑的一个重要组成部分，这有如在我们的头脑里创建了一个充满狭隘情绪和动机的动物园。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.然而在过去的600万年里，我们的进化路线在意识方面和不可思议的逻辑推理方面经历了地球上其他物种难以达到的快速发展，我们很快顺着意识阶梯往上跨了一大步——就让我们把更高级意识里的这一新元素称为我们的更高存在。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:更高存在灿烂、思考长远、完全理性，然而从一个大的时间尺度来看，更高存在是我们头脑里一个非常新的住民，相反，原始的动物本能却很古老。两者共存于人类心灵之中让人类心灵变成了一个奇怪的地方。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，并不是说人就等同于更高存在且更高存在只有3岁大，而是，人是更高存在与低级动物的结合体，两者融合铸成了三岁大的我们。更高存在单独而言是个更先进的物种，动物单独而言则原始得多，两者这种独特的共存使我们成了独特的人类。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:随着人类进化，更高存在开始苏醒，他环顾大脑四周，发现自身处在一个怪异的陌生丛林里。丛林里布满了强大的原始动物，这些原始动物并不清楚自己是谁或是什么。更高存在的任务就是给人类提供清晰的视野和高级的思想，然而动物们却在他的工作场所乱窜，严重影响了更高存在的工作。事情还要变得更糟。人类继续进化，使得更高存在的知觉能力越来越强，直到有一天，他意识到了一件可怕的事情：WE’RE GOING TO DIE我们将会死去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:这标志着第一次地球上有物种的意识发达到足以明白万物必亡这个事实。大脑里的那些动物以前从未接收过这种信息，这下全都陷入了狂怒中，把整个生态系统搅得混乱不堪。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.动物们之前从未经历过这种恐惧，它们一下全都疯狂了，至今仍在继续，——这是更高存在最不希望发生的事情，他一直都在努力学习，成长，以便为我们更好地决策。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:被肾上腺驱使的动物们在我们大脑周围嬉戏，得以占领我们的心灵，蒙蔽我们的思想、判断、自我感觉以及对世界的理解。动物们的这种集体力量就是我所说的“迷雾”。动物们越是霸占舞台，使得我们难以了解更高存在的思想和洞察力，我们头脑周围的迷雾就越浓厚，甚至经常浓厚到我们只能看见眼前几英寸的地方。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.让我们回想一下我们的目标和实现它的方法——认清真相。更高存在几乎在任何情形下都能够很好地看清真相，但是当我们周围有浓厚的迷雾时，迷雾会遮住我们的眼睛，堵塞我们的耳朵，闭塞我们的大脑，让我们无法接近更高存在或他的洞察力。这就是为什么保持认清真相这么难——我们如此迷失于迷雾中，以致于我们难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:当外星人代表结束对我们人类的观察并返回他的星球后，我想这会是他对我们人类所存在问题的总结：The battle of the Higher Being against the animals—of trying to see through the fog to clarity—is the core internal human struggle.更高存在为了拨除迷雾获得清晰视野与动物们所展开的战斗是人的内部最核心的斗争。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) the Higher Being (in the role of the Authentic Voice) battling against the ov the Higher Being’s message that
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.我们头脑里的这种斗争在许多方面展开，我们来看几个例子：更高存在（作为理性决策者）与及时行乐的猴子之间的斗争；更高存在（作为真正的代言人）与被吓坏了的社会中生存的猛犸象之间的斗争；更高存在认为生活就是一个又一个的“今天”，这一认识却迷失在盲目渴望明天会更好的致盲之光下。这些是我们原始的过去与开明的未来之间最核心冲突的一部分。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.关于迷雾最狗屎的是，当你身处迷雾时，迷雾挡住你的视野，把你变成弱智，让你不知道自己在迷雾当中。当迷雾最浓的时候也是你根本意识不到迷雾存在的时候，你成了个无知者。意识到迷雾存在并且学会识别迷雾，对于促使意识崛起以及成为更有智慧的人，这是重要的第一步。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:因此我们已经明确了：我们的目标是智慧，为了实现目标我们需要尽可能地认清真相，以及我们的主要障碍是迷雾。现在就让我们锁定战场，去看一下为什么认清真相那么重要，以及我们如何冲破迷雾来达到这点。The Battlefield战场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:无论我们怎样努力，人类都不可能跃上在我们之上的浅绿色意识阶梯，我们具有高级能力的更高存在还无法满足我们这一愿望，也许100万年或200万年后可以做到。现在，战斗会发生的唯一地方就是我们所生存的这一阶梯，这也是我们要锁定的地方。我们必须聚焦于我们所在阶梯上的迷你意识光谱，我们可以通过把该阶梯进一步分解成4个子阶梯来达到目的。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.攀爬这个迷你意识阶梯是通往真相、智慧以及我个人成长目标的途径——我以前从没想过我会听到自己说出一堆别的什么老套的声明。不提这个了，我们仅需要理解这个游戏并努力做好它就行了。Let’s look at each step to try to understand the challenges we’re dealing with and how we can make progress:现在，让我们把目光转向每个阶梯，去努力了解我们所面对的挑战，以及如何能够取得进展：Step 1: Our Lives in the Fog第1阶梯：我们活在迷雾中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阶梯是最低的阶梯，迷雾最浓的阶梯，而且很不幸地，也是大多数人生活的默认选项。在该阶梯，迷雾浓厚、紧密，堵塞我们的感官，让我们过着无知的生活。在这里，更高存在的思想、价值观和优先事项完全淹没在致盲的迷雾里，淹没在震耳欲聋的喧闹、啁啾、鸣放、嚎叫里，淹没在我们头脑中的动物们的嘶吼里。这就使得我们1）狭隘，2）短视，3）愚蠢。下面就让我们来逐一讨论：1）On Step 1, you’re terribly small-minded because the animals are running the show.1）处在第1阶梯，你会极其狭隘，因为动物们占据了舞台。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.当我审视人类所经历的各种动机性情感时，我发现这些情感并非各不相干，而是可以被归入相反的两类：更高存在高尚的、基于爱的、高级的情感，和我们大脑中动物们狭隘的、基于恐惧的、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阶梯，我们完全被动物情感给控制，这是由于动物情感通过浓雾向我们咆哮。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-absor narrow-m 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.正是动物情感使得我们狭隘、妒忌以及对别人的不幸幸灾乐祸，使得我们害怕、焦虑和不安。也正是动物情感使我们变得自私、自恋、自负、贪婪、偏执、冷漠、无情，甚至残忍。唯有在第1阶梯，我们才会感受到原始的“我们对抗他们”的部落主义，部落主义使我们憎恨与我们不同的人。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发现大部分的这些相同的情感——这对它们具有意义，因为在它们的核心中，这些情感可以归结为动物生存的两个关键：自我保护和繁殖。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阶梯的情感是野蛮、强大的，能够将你一把抓牢。当这些情感控制你时，更高存在及其高尚的、基于爱的情感就被挤到了下水道里。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）处在第1阶梯，你会短视，因为迷雾就在你眼前6英寸的地方，阻止你看到大的图景。The fog explains all kinds of totally illogical and embarrassingly short-sighted human behavior.迷雾解释了人类各种完全不合逻辑的和极其短视的行为。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?不然怎么解释，每个人在父母或爷爷奶奶还活着时总是不把他们当回事，只是偶尔去看望他们，很少向他们敞开胸怀，也很少向他们征求意见——即使在他们去世后，你可能只想到他们曾经是多么地了不起，你真不能相信自己未能珍惜与他们相处的机会，以及在他们活着时未能更好地了解他们？Why else would people , 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?不然怎么解释，人们总爱自吹自擂，即使很显然地他们将最终无论以何种方式都会发现自己生活中那些真正有益的东西，并且明白谦虚对自己更好，如果他们能明白大局的话？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?不然怎么解释，当从大局出发的人都知道，在一个工作场所中，某个人工作习惯的真实情况最终都会被老板和同事了解清楚，你不可能糊弄所有的人时，会有人在工作上不愿付出，总爱投机取巧？不然为什么很显然地当只是一心想把工作干好并真正干出点令人侧目的成绩，这对于你在公司的长期声誉和受尊重程度很有帮助时，会有人坚持让每个人都知道他们为公司做出了贡献——这样做清楚地表明你努力工作仅是为了得到表扬？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?如果不是因为浓雾，又为什么会有人为了吃饭买单的事斤斤计较，或者记下旅途中每项消费谁掏的钱这种令人生厌的细账，即使当读到这的每个人都能马上准确说出他们随便一个朋友的大方（小气）程度时，即使当你因小气因而一段时间下来为自己节省了几百美元而实际却得不偿失，鉴于大方总是讨人喜欢和受人尊敬时？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?难道还有什么能更好地解释，为什么有那么多有权势的名人要为婚外情不惜毁掉自己苦心建立起来的事业和婚姻？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?又是为什么人会为了蝇头小利放弃正直，明明正直会为你赢得长期的自尊而蝇头小利从长远来说没有丝毫意义？How else could you explain the decision by so many people to let
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.不然怎么解释，有那么多人会让“别人会怎么想”的恐惧心理来支配自己的生活方式，即使，如果他们能看得清楚便会意识到A）这种恐惧心理是做或不做某件事的一个可怕原因，B）没有人真正在意你那些屁事——他们自己的生活都忙不过来？And then there are all the times when someone’s opaque blinders keep them in the wrong , 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.自然每次都会有某个人的不透明眼罩使得他们处于错误的关系、工作、城市、住所、友谊等之中，一般几年，有时几十年，直到他们最终做出改变并说道：“我不能相信我居然没有更早这样做”，或者“我不能相信我竟错得如此离谱”。他们当然要相信发生在自己身上的事，因为是迷雾的威力让他们变成过去那样！3）On Step 1, you’re very, very stupid.3）处在第1阶梯，你会非常非常愚蠢。One way this stupidity shows up is in us making the same obvious mistakes over and over and over again.愚蠢的一个方式是，一遍遍地重复犯相同的显而易见的错误。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
in favor of directing all of our hope to all the happiness the future will hold because we’re gonna get those carrots.最明显的例子就是，迷雾让我们一次次地相信，会有某样东西让我们一直快乐，而实际上根本不存在这种东西。迷雾摆出了一个又一个的诱惑，告诉我们，这些是获得快乐的钥匙，并且让我们忘掉今天的快乐，将希望寄托于未来，因为未来有那些好东西等着我们。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.即使迷雾已经一再证明它并不知道人类的快乐是如何运作的——尽管我们有过很多次得到某样东西后感受到短暂的巨大的快乐，但没几天便又恢复回原样的经历——我们仍继续落入这个圈套里。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?这就像雇一名营养师来帮你解决疲劳问题。他们告诉你，任何时候你累了就喝特浓的咖啡。你听从了营养师的话并想他真是个天才，直到一个小时后你又变得筋疲力尽。你回头找营养师，他还是给你相同的建议，因此你又试了一次，接下来同样的事情再次发生。这种方法有可能正确吗？你会炒了营养师，对吧？所以问题来了，为什么迷雾给你关于快乐和满足的类似建议，你会轻易地相信呢？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.迷雾比营养师有害得多，因为迷雾不仅给我们可怕的建议，而且它本身就是不快乐的根源。疲劳唯一真正有效的解决办法就是睡觉，而持久提高快乐的唯一真正有效的办法就是在与迷雾的斗争中取得进步。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.心理学上有个概念叫享乐跑步机，它的意思是说，人具有一个始终不变的默认的快乐水平，当好事或坏事发生时，起初快乐会发生变化，但最终会恢复到那个默认的水平上。在第1阶梯上，这当然完全符合实情，考虑到呆在迷雾中却想要永久地变得更快乐，这很像是站在哗哗流水的淋浴头下却想把身体弄干。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.但我拒绝相信，一个能够建摩天大楼、写出交响乐、登上月球以及理解希格斯玻色子是什么的物种不能离开享乐跑步机并以更有意义的方式改善自身。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，这种改善的方式就是通过学会攀爬意识阶梯，将时间更多地花在第2，3，4阶梯上，而更少无意识地陷在迷雾里。Step 2: Thinning the Fog to Reveal Context第2阶梯：减少迷雾以揭示背景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.人类能做地球上其他生物所无法做的了不起的事情——想象。如果你给动物展示一颗树，它们便看到一棵树。只有人类能够想象，40年前一颗橡子沉入土壤中，过了3年后变成了小而脆弱的梗，如今要是在冬天里这棵树看起来肯定是光秃秃的，而将来它最终会在原地横倒死去。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，在你头脑中的动物就像真实世界里的动物一样只能看到树。当它们看见一棵树时，它们会基于原始的需要做出直接的反应。当你处于第1阶梯时，你那由动物驱使的无意识状态甚至让你忘记了还有更高存在，更高存在天赋之能力被白白浪费了。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阶梯整个都是关于怎样充分减少迷雾以引导更高存在的思想和能力进入你的意识里，使你能够看到你生活中所发生事情的周围和背后的情况。在第2阶梯会将“背景”带入你的意识，这样就能够揭示一个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:有大量的活动或事务可以帮助我们减少迷雾。下面说说三种方式：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）通过教育、旅游和生活体验对世界有更多的了解——随着视野的扩大，你能够看到一个更清晰和准确的真相。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）积极反思。这跟写日记所起的作用一样，或者说这是一种治疗，是在迷雾专家的帮助下对你自己的大脑做基本检查。有时一个假设的问题可以被用作“防雾镜”，让你得以透过迷雾看清某个事物——问题可以类似于，“如果金钱并非目标，我该怎么办？”或“关于这个我该如何向他人建议？”或“等到80岁时我会后悔没去做这个吗？”这些问题是在没有动物意识到发生了什么的情况下去征询你的更高存在关于某事物意见的一种方法，因此动物们将会保持安静，更高存在便可以确实地交谈了——这很像父母不想让他们4岁的孩子知道他们在说什么便将单词一个字母一个字母地拼读出来。3) Meditation, exercise, yoga, etc.—activities that help quiet the brain’s unconscious chatter, i.e. allowing the fog to settle.3）冥想、锻炼、瑜伽，等等——这些活动能够促使大脑里无意识的聒噪安静下来，也即让迷雾沉落消散。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.然而减少迷雾最简单有效的方法就是注意到它。通过知道迷雾存在着，并理解它是什么，以哪些不同的形式存在，以及学会识别什么时候我们处在迷雾中，你就可以阻碍它操控你的生活。如果你处在第1阶梯时你都不知道，那么你就不可能上到第2阶梯。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阶梯的方法是，记住要对你所看到的东西、你所经历的事情、你所做的决定始终清楚它们之后的背景。始终注意到迷雾且记得去了解事情的整个背景，这会让你认清现实，并且你以后会明白，比起在第1阶梯，你会成为更好得多的自己。举些例子——Here’s what a rude cashier looks like on Step 1 vs. Step 2:下面是一个粗鲁的收银员在我处于第1阶梯和第2阶梯时看上去的不同样子：Here’s what gratitude looks like:下面是不同的感激的样子：Something good happening:好事发生时：Something bad happening:坏事发生时：That phenomenon where everything suddenly seems horrible late at night in bed:深夜在床上一切似乎很可怕时：A flat tire:一个漏气轮胎：Long-term consequences:长期结果：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:审视背景可以让我们清楚，我们对形势真正了解了多少（包括什么是我们所不知道的，像那位收银员到目前为止所表现的），并且可以让我们注意到人、生活和情况的复杂性及其中的细微差别。当我们处于第2阶梯时，更宽的视角和增强的清晰度使我们内心更加平静也更少担心那些原本并不真正可怕的事情；而且习惯从恐惧中攫取力量及从无意识中茁壮成长的动物们突然显得有点可笑。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.当狭隘的动物情感在我们脸上更少显露时，更高级的更高存在的情感——爱、同情、谦卑、共鸣——就开始燃起。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阶梯并不需要你再去学更多的东西——你的更高存在已经知道了所有生活境遇的背景，无需努力摸索，无需额外信息，无需专业技能——你只需有意识地去想你已经处于第2阶梯上而不是在第1阶梯上，那么你就会到达那里。读到这些，你可能现在就已经在第2阶梯了。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.坏消息是，想要长久地呆在第2阶梯非常难。这里的第22条军规是，始终对迷雾保持警惕是很不容易做到的，因为迷雾会让你意识不到它的存在。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.这是手头的第一个挑战。你无法消除迷雾，也无法让迷雾一直保持稀薄。但你能够在迷雾浓厚时通过留心它让自己变得更好，而且每当你有意关注它时，你可以采取策略减少其浓度。如果你成功地做到一直在提升自己，那么随着年龄增长，你会花越来越多的时间呆在第2阶梯，越来越少的时间在第1阶梯。Step 3: Shocking Reality第3阶梯：令人震撼的现实I . . . a universe of atoms . . . an atom in the universe. —Richard Feynman我，一个由原子构成的宇宙，宇宙中的一个原子。——理查德.费曼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阶梯事情开始变得不可思议。甚至还在更开明的第2阶梯时，我们就大概以为我们的生活是下面这个样子：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:这一切令人愉快，然而却完全是个错觉。我们似乎纯粹生活在这个拥有蓝天、花栗鼠和毛毛虫的绿色与褐色的土地上，但实际情况是这样的：But even more actually, this is happening:更真实的情况是这样的：We also tend to kind of think this is the situation:我们还倾向于认为这是实情：When really, it’s this:而真实情况却是这样的：You might even think you’re a thing. Do you?你甚至可能认为你是一个实体，对吗？No you’re a ton of these:不，你仅是一团的这些个原子：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
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.这是在我们小阶梯上的真相的下一个迭代，我们的大脑实际上处理不了它。要求一个人内心感受空间的广袤、时间的永恒或原子的微小就像要求一条狗后腿立起——如果你够专注你可以做到，但难度很大，而且你也坚持不了多久。You can think about the facts anytime—The Big Bang was 13.8 billion years ago, which is about 130,000 times longer than if the sun were a ping pong ball in New York, the closest star to us would be a ping pong ball in A 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 micro 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.你随时都可以想想以下事实——大爆炸发生在138亿年前，这比人类存在时间的13万倍还要长。如果太阳是在纽约那么大的地方里的一个乒乓球，那么离我们最近的恒星则是在亚特兰大里的一个乒乓球。银河系是如此之大，以致如果你把它做成美国那么大的模型，那么将需要一个显微镜才能看见太阳。而原子则极其微小，一小粒盐里的原子数量大概相当于地球上所有沙滩上的沙粒数量总和。当你深入思考这其中的一个事实时，或者当你深夜与合适的人交谈时，或者当你凝视群星时，或者当你严肃地思索死亡实际意味着什么时，偶尔你会拥有一个惊叹时刻。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 C 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 3.一个真正的惊叹时刻是很难拥有的，更难的是长久维持，就像狗要站立起来很困难一样。思考这一层次的现实像是欣赏一张令人惊异的科罗拉多大峡谷照片，而一个惊叹时刻则像身处科罗拉多大峡谷——两种体验很相似但某种程度上来说又极其不同。事实也许很有趣，但只有在惊叹时刻你的大脑才实际上对真正的现实具有深刻印象。在惊叹时刻，你的大脑瞬间超越了它的普通状态，你从而得以瞥见我们存在的惊人真相。——你上到第3阶梯的过程会是一个惊叹时刻。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.我爱那些惊叹时刻，它们让我感受到敬畏、崇拜、悲伤和惊奇的某种强烈结合。更重要的是，它们让我感受到了一种既可笑又深刻的谦卑——那种层面的谦卑行径怪异。在那些惊叹时刻里，所有那些宗教人士所使用的词语——敬畏、崇拜、奇迹、永恒连接——便有了十足的意义。我想要跪下双膝，顶礼膜拜。这是我的宗教时刻。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.在那些稍纵即逝的时刻，没有了迷雾——更高存在畅行无阻，能够极清晰地看清事物。通常复杂的道德世界突然变得清清楚楚，因为在第3阶梯仅有的可测情感皆达到了最高级。上到第3阶梯，任何形式的卑鄙或仇恨都是可笑的——没有了迷雾的遮挡，动物们全都赤身裸体，暴露出它们是不幸的小动物的原本模样。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阶梯，我反击了胆敢跟混球一样对待我的粗鲁的收银员。在第2阶梯，对方的粗鲁并未影响到我，因为我知道是他粗鲁而不是我粗鲁，我还知道我并不清楚他的日子或生活过得怎样。在第3阶梯，我把自己看成是广袤空间里的一团神奇的原子组合，是原子在无尽永恒中的一个瞬间汇集在一块形成的片刻意识，这就是我的生命；我把那个收银员看成是与我同在一个时空交汇点上的另一个片刻意识。在第3阶梯，我对他唯一可能有的感情是爱。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.在惊叹时刻的意识的超越层面中，我不同寻常地看清了每一次互动，每一个动机，每一条新闻头条——原本艰难的人生决定也变得一目了然。我感觉到自己变得睿智了。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.当然，如果这是我的正常状态，我会到缅甸某座山上的某个地方去教导僧侣。然而我并没有这样做，因为那不是我的正常状态。惊叹时刻非常罕见，而且即便出现，我会很快地又恢复成普通人一个。但是第3阶梯的情感和清晰性是如此强大，因而即使你从第3阶梯落下，其部分情感和清晰性仍会保留。每次你使动物出丑时，它们未来的力量就会减少一点。这就是为什么第3阶梯如此重要——即使我知道还没人能一直呆在第3阶梯，但定期访问它能够让你在第2阶梯对抗第1阶梯的战斗中获得极大的帮助，这也能够让你变成一个更好的及更快乐的人。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 compatib 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阶梯也是对指责无神论者不道德、愤世嫉俗、虚无主义的人的回答，是对想知道无神论者没了来世的希望和激励后如何找到生命的意义的人的回答。那是第1阶梯看待无神论者的方式——在第1阶梯，地球上的生命被视为理所当然，任何积极的情感或冲动都被认为是出于生命之外的环境原因。在第3阶梯，我感到非常幸运能活着，我简直难以相信自己是能思考原子的一团原子，这真是太酷了——在第3阶梯，生命本身就足够我激动、充满希望、去爱和变得友善。然而，第3 阶梯之所以成为可能，是因为科学扫清了道路，这就是为什么卡尔.萨根会说“科学不仅与灵性相容，而且科学还是灵性的深层来源”。这样，科学便成了这个框架的“先知”——其向我们揭示了新的真相，给我们通过获取它来转变自己的机会。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?来概括一下之前的内容吧。在第1阶梯，你陷入一个妄想的泡沫里，要等第2阶梯致其破裂。在第2 阶梯，生活清晰得多，但却置于一个更大的妄想的泡沫里，要等第3阶梯致其破裂。第3阶梯按说没有了迷雾，真相完全清楚——因此，怎么还会有另一个阶梯呢？Step 4: The Great Unknown第4阶梯：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如果我们发展到了这种地步，即自以为彻底理解了我们是谁，我们来自哪里，那将是我们的失败。——卡尔.萨根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:到目前为止的游戏大部分都是关于消除迷雾以尽可能弄清楚我们作为人和一个物种关于真相知道什么：On Step 4, we’re reminded of the complete truth—which is this:在第4阶梯，我们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.事实是，任何关于我们的整个现实的讨论——关于宇宙或我们存在的真相——是在不承认那个几乎构成了整个现实的大紫色块的情况下的十足的谬见。（注：紫色块是指人类的未知领域）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.你了解人类，他们一点都不喜欢那个紫色快，从未喜欢过。紫色块吓着、羞辱了人类，我们有着完全否认其存在的丰富历史，这很像生活在海滩上却假装海洋并不存在。相反，我们只是跺跺脚便宣称我们现在最终把这一切都搞明白了。在宗教方面，我们创造了神话并宣布它们为真相——然而甚至一个虔诚的宗教徒，他相信自家宗教的故事是真的，却同意我认为其它宗教的故事都是虚构的。在科学前沿方面，我们总是让自己轻信“意识到自己对现实的认识错得离谱，这只是过去才会发生的现象”这样的观点。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”—i.e. this time, all the twists actually are finished.我们对现实的理解被一个新的突破性发现给推翻，这就像是人类正在读的这本史诗性神秘小说，其故事情节发生了令人震惊的转折。在科学发展历程中经常上演这种转折——地球是圆的，太阳系以太阳而不是以地球为中心，亚原子或其它星系的发现，进化论，仅举这几例。因此很难想象，在有如此多重大科学突破的情况下，劳德.开尔文，历史上最伟大的科学家之一，在1900年说道，“现在，物理学不会再有新的发现了，剩下的事无非越来越精确的测量”——也就是说，这一次所有的转折实际上全都结束了。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.当然，开尔文犯了跟历史上其他每一个傲慢的科学家一样的错误——在下一个世纪，广义相对论和后来的量子力学理论共同颠覆了原先的科学体系。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:即使我们今天承认未来会有更多的转折，我们仍可能倾向于认为：我们已经搞明白了大部分的重要事情，而且相对于过去以为地球是平的人们，我们现在拥有了关于现实的更接近于完成的正确图景。对我来说，这听起来就像是这样的：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.让我们记住，事实是，我们并不知道宇宙到底是什么。我们所知的这个宇宙就是一切吗？或它只不过是多元宇宙制造的泡泡中的一个微小泡泡？还是说它连泡泡都不是，而只不过是一个视错觉全息图？我们都知道宇宙大爆炸的理论，然而那是万物的开端吗？宇宙是无中生有而来的吗，还是说这只是长期的膨胀/收缩周期的最新一轮？我们也根本不知道暗物质是什么，只知道它们在宇宙中大量存在。当我们谈论费米悖论时，有一点很清楚，即科学也无法证实是否有外星人或它们到底有多先进。弦理论又是怎么回事？其号称能统一物理世界两种宏伟而又看似不相关的理论：广义相对论和量子力学。弦理论要么是我们曾提出的最宏伟的理论要么就是完全错误的理论，争辩的双方都得到了杰出科学家的支持。作为外行，我们需要做的仅是去了解一下这两种公认的理论，且会意识到现实的实际情况和我们通常认为的样子具有着非常大的不同：像广义相对论告诉我们，如果你飞向黑洞并在强大的重力下环绕黑洞几次，几个小时后你返回地球，你会发现在地球上已过了几十年。然而这会像是冰激凌甜筒，若是比起量子力学告诉我们的那些疯狂的狗屎（事情）来——在宇宙空间中分隔两处的两个粒子具有幽灵般的诡异关联，或者是一只猫在观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.问题是，上面我刚刚说的这些东西仍然处在我们人类的理解范围之内，而我们更早之前曾建立起这样的观点，即相较于进化水平发达得多的意识，我们也许像是三岁的小孩，或是一只猴子，或是一只蚂蚁——因此我们有什么理由认为我们能够理解处于紫色块中的事物呢？一只猴子无法理解地球是圆的行星，更遑论太阳系、银河系或宇宙的存在。你可以试着花几年时间向一只猴子解释这些，不过你肯定不会成功。There are really two options when thinking about the big, big picture: be humble or be absurd.面对如此宏大的图景，实际上有两种选择：变得谦卑或变得荒谬。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.人类因恐惧而假装一切都是确定的，这其中很荒谬的事便是，在人类表面上似乎是万物之中心的过去日子里，不确定性是可怕的，因为它会让我们的现实显得比预想的要暗淡得多——但现在，随着比过去多得多的事物被了解，对于作为人类和一个物种的我们来说，事情看起来变得极其暗淡，因此我们的恐惧将反过来让我们去欢迎不确定性。鉴于我的默定前景，即我还有短短的几十年可活，然后便要坠入永恒的虚无之中， 那么我们可能完全是错的这个事实于我而言听起来便充满了无穷的希望。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?讽刺的是，当我的思想到达了这个植根于无神论的阶梯顶端时，神性事物可能存在的观念好像不再那么荒唐可笑了。说到人类鼓捣出来的关于神的更高力量的所有那些构想，我仍会是一个完全的无神论者——那些构想，在我看来，太过于确定。然而可能存在一种超先进的力量吗？这看起来很有可能。我们有可能是被比我们强大的什么人或什么东西创造出来的吗？或者我们只是活在仿真的世界里却没有意识到？当然可能——记住，我只有3岁，因此我凭什么说不？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.对我来说，完全理性的逻辑告诉我，对于地球上的任何一个宗教都不要相信，要做个无神论者；对于我们存在的本质或可能存在一个更高存在的观点，要做个完全的不可知论者。我是通过逻辑而非任何形式的信仰形成这些观念的。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?我发现第4阶梯让人心灵震撼，但我不能确定我是否能够从心灵上进入第4阶梯，就像我能够偶尔设法上到第3阶梯那样——第4阶梯的惊叹时刻可能只为爱因斯坦级别的思想家准备——但即便我不能踏足第4阶梯，我还是能够知道它存在着且知道它意味什么，而且我可以提醒自己它的存在。然而，这些对于作为单个人的我又有什么帮助呢？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，还记得我在第3阶梯所提到的那种巨大的谦卑吗？在第4阶梯感受到的谦卑会是第3阶梯的100倍。根据我之前才讨论过的理由，巨大的谦卑反而会让我充满希望，它会让我很愉快地接受这个事实，即我永远不会明白到底发生了什么事情，这使我觉得自己可以松开方向盘，靠后坐好，放松，然而纯粹享受驾车的快乐。按这种方式，我想第4阶梯可以促使我们更多地活在当下——如果我只是一个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这一切。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阶梯得以帮助人类的方式就是通过帮助粉碎确定性的观念。确定性是落后的，导致我们走向“我们对抗他们”的部落主义，导致发动战争。我们应该团结在不确定性下，而不是被虚构的确定性给分裂。有越多的人转过身来看那个大紫色块，我们的境况就会越好。Why Wisdom is the Goal为什么智慧会是我们的目标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 spe I wish I had communicat I wish I 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.没有什么比在临终前更能清除迷雾了，这也就是为什么临终前人们总是能够更加清楚地明白，他们本应该以另一种方式去做哪些事——我真希望自己当时能少花点时间在工作上；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。个人成长目标应该是在你还活着时便获得临终前的清醒，因此你对此实际上可以做点什么。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.你可以采取这种方式来达到目的，即发展出尽可能多的智慧，越早越好。对我来说，智慧是作为一个人要努力去实现的最重要的事情。智慧是个大目标——一个伞形目标，在其之下所有其它目标将落到实处。我相信我只能活一回，我想尽可能以最充实和最有意义的方式度过这一生——这对我自身是最好的结果，同时我还能够通过这种方式为世界多做点有益的事。智慧给人以洞察力去明白“充实的和有意义的”实际上意味着什么，同时给人以勇气去做出能够实现目标的选择。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.虽然生活经验有助于智慧，但我认为智慧已多半存在我们的头脑中——智慧的一切东西都是更高存在所知道的。当我们缺乏智慧时，那是因为我们陷在迷雾中，无法利用更高存在的智慧。迷雾是反智慧的，当你迈上阶梯站在了视野更清晰的位置，智慧无非是加强的意识的一个副产品。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 actuall