在日常生活中尋找幸福

Mow the Lawn

在日常生活中尋找幸福

LONDON — My youngest child, Adele, graduated from the American School in London this week. She’s off to college in California, whence I suspect she will never return. As places to stay go, California is up there. Whenever I’m there I wonder why I leave. Unencumbered by too much past, it offers the sunlit tug of the future.

倫敦——我最小的孩子阿黛爾(Adele)這周從倫敦美國學校畢業(yè)了。她要去加州上大學，我覺得那種地方人去了就不會再回來。在諸多讓人向往的地方中，加州是數(shù)得著的。我每次去都會想，干嘛還要離開。那里沒有太多歷史負累，又有大把的陽光擺在眼前。

So, dear reader, you find me at a juncture. You put four children through high school, and you find yourself reflecting less on the collapsing Sykes-Picot order and the post-carbon economy than on the happiness whose pursuit America at its founding declared an inalienable right.

所以，親愛的讀者，你看到我正在一個轉(zhuǎn)折點上。你供四個孩子上完高中，接著就會發(fā)現(xiàn)自己對賽克斯-皮科協(xié)議(Sykes-Picot)體系的崩潰和后碳經(jīng)濟問題沒那么上心了，你會更多考慮幸福這個問題，而追求幸福在美國建國之初就宣稱為不可剝奪的權(quán)利。

The founders were not wrong. It is a self-evident truth that people, whether in creating a new nation or simply beginning a new relationship, seek happiness. That they often go about it in the wrong way does not detract from the sincerity of their quest. Sure as there are acorns beneath the oak tree, people keep rekindling their hopes.

建國者們這么做沒有錯。不管是創(chuàng)立一個國家還是開啟一段關系，人們總會追求幸福，這是不言而喻的。盡管方式不見得對，但不會減損這種追求本身的真摯。就像橡樹下總會有橡子，人們的希望會不斷重燃。

In this commencement season, there is inevitably much reflection on the nature of those hopes and how to fulfill them. These tend toward the mawkish. Life is a succession of tasks rather than a cascade of inspiration, an experience that is more repetitive than revelatory, at least on a day-to-day basis. The thing is to perform the task well and find reward even in the mundane.

在這樣的畢業(yè)季，有很多人不免會反思這些希望的本質(zhì)，考慮如何實現(xiàn)它們。這樣似乎有些矯情。生活是一個接一個的任務，而非靈感如泉涌不止，它是一種更具重復性的體驗，而非啟示性的，至少啟示不是每天都會發(fā)生。重要的是好好完成每天的任務，能夠在哪怕是比較日常的事物中找到樂趣。

I have no idea if Malcolm Gladwell is onto something with the “10,000-hour rule” — the notion that this is the time required for the acquisition of perfected expertise in a particular field — but I am sure grind is underappreciated in our feel-good culture. Don’t sweat the details, but do sweat.

我不知道馬爾科姆·格拉德威爾(Malcolm Gladwell)的“一萬小時定律”算不算一個大發(fā)現(xiàn)——這個理論認為，要精通某一種特定的技能，需要投入一萬小時的學習時間——但我可以肯定，刻苦在我們這種講求感覺良好的文化里是不被賞識的。別為了旁枝末節(jié)嚇出一頭汗，但出汗是必要的。

I’ve grown suspicious of the inspirational. It’s overrated. I suspect duty — that half-forgotten word — may be more related to happiness than we think. Want to be happy? Mow the lawn. Collect the dead leaves. Paint the room. Do the dishes. Get a job. Labor until fatigue is in your very bones. Persist day after day. Be stoical. Never whine. Think less about the why of what you do than getting it done. Get the column written. Start pondering the next.

我越來越懷疑啟發(fā)的重要性。它被高估了。我覺得，責任這個幾乎要被人們淡忘的詞，跟幸福的關系要比我們想象的更大。想要幸福嗎?那就修草坪，掃落葉，粉刷房間，洗碗，找工作，直到疲憊的感覺深入骨髓。日復一日。學會堅韌。從不抱怨。少考慮為什么要做這些事，多想想怎么做完。寫完手上的專欄文章。開始考慮下一篇。

A few years ago, when my son Blaise graduated, I was asked to give the commencement speech at the American School in London. Among other things, I said:

幾年前，我兒子布萊斯(Blaise)畢業(yè)時，我受邀在倫敦美國學校的畢業(yè)典禮上講話。我當時說到：

“Everyone has something that makes them tick. The thing is it’s often well hidden. Your psyche builds layers of protection around your most vulnerable traits, which may be very closely linked to your precious essence. Distractions are also external: money, fame, peer pressure, parental expectation. So it may be more difficult than you think to recognize the spark that is your personal sliver of the divine. But do so. Nothing in the end will give you greater satisfaction — not wealth, not passion, not faith, not even love — for if, as Rilke wrote, all companionship is but “the strengthening of two neighboring solitudes,” you have to solve the conundrum of your solitude.

“每個人都有讓他們?yōu)橹徽竦臇|西。只是它經(jīng)常隱藏的比較深。人們會在自己靈魂最脆弱的部分裹上層層外衣，這個部分可能與一個人最寶貴的本質(zhì)聯(lián)系最深。干擾也是外在的：金錢、名譽、同伴壓力、父母期望。所以要認清哪些是屬于自己的神圣之所的閃光，并不容易。但是找到它吧。到最后，沒什么能比它帶來的滿足感更大——財富、激情、信仰都不行，甚至愛也比不上——就像詩人里爾克(Rilke)所說，所有的友誼都不過是‘兩種相鄰的孤獨相加’，你的孤獨只有自己能解。”

“No success, however glittering, that denies yourself will make you happy in the long run. So listen to the voice from your soul, quiet but insistent, and honor it. Find what you thrill to: if not the perfect sentence, the beautiful cure, the brilliant formula, the lovely chord, the exquisite sauce, the artful reconciliation. Strive not for everything money can buy but for everything money can’t buy.”

“不管是多么耀眼的成就，也無法給你帶來長期的幸福。所以傾聽你的內(nèi)心，安靜而持久地傾聽，尊重它。找到讓自己感到興奮的事物：也許是完美的句子、漂亮的治療方案、絕妙的配方、動人的和弦、精致的醬汁、或巧妙的和解。不要為那些金錢可以買到東西奮斗，而要為那些花錢買不來的東西努力。”

It’s not precisely that I would retract any of that today — well, maybe a little — it’s just that I’d put the emphasis elsewhere. I am less interested in the inspirational hero than I am in the myriad doers of everyday good who would shun the description heroic; less interested in the exhortation to “live your dream” than in the obligation to make a living wage.

倒不是說我今天要收回當時說的話——要收回也只是其中一小部分——而是我會把重點放在別的地方。相比于一個鼓舞人心的英雄，我更感興趣的是無數(shù)每天都有所成就的實干家，他們會避諱英雄之類的字眼;相比于“讓夢想成真”之類的箴言，我更愿意討論賺取維持生活的工資的責任。

When you think of Sisyphus — the Greek mythological figure whose devious attempt to defy the gods was punished with his condemnation to pushing a boulder up a hill and repeating the task through all eternity when it rolled down again — think above all that he has a task and it is his own. Rather than a source of despair, that may be the beginning of happiness.

當你想到西緒弗斯(Sisyphus)——希臘神話中的人物，因心思狡黠觸犯了諸神，被懲罰將一個巨大的石頭推上山頂，落下來就再次推上去，永無休止——跳開來看，他有一項任務，是他一個人的任務。這可以不是絕望的源頭，反倒是幸福的開端。

In Camus’ book, “The Plague,” the doctor at the center of the novel, Bernard Rieux, battles pestilence day after day. It is a Sisyphean task. At one point he says, “I have to tell you this: This whole thing is not about heroism. It’s about decency. It may seem a ridiculous idea, but the only way to fight the plague is with decency.”

加繆的《鼠疫》(The Plague)的中心人物伯納德·里厄(Bernard Rieux)醫(yī)生日復一日地對抗鼠疫。這也是一項西緒弗斯式的任務。他一度講到，“這一切不是為了搞英雄主義，而是實事求是。這種想法可能令人發(fā)笑，但是同鼠疫作斗爭的唯一辦法就是實事求是。”(本文中的《鼠疫》譯文皆摘自《局外人/鼠疫》，漓江出版社1990年11月第一版，顧方濟、徐志仁譯。——譯注)

Asked what decency is, he responds: “In general, I can’t say, but in my case I know that it consists of doing my job.” Later, he adds, “I don’t think I have any taste for heroism and sainthood. What interests me is to be a man.”

有人問什么是實事求是，他回應說：“我不知道它的普遍意義。但是就我而言，我知道它的意思是做好我的本分工作。”后來他又說，“我對英雄主義和圣人之道都不感興趣。我所感興趣的是做一個真正的人。”

In the everyday task at hand, for woman or man, happiness lurks.

無論你姓甚名誰，每天要面對的工作才是幸福隱藏的所在。