品味羅素的快樂哲學：《幸福之路》-論閒情逸致 33
讀到羅素的這段文字，內心還是有一些感受。
我們都希望自己幸福，也都因生活或工作中的不如意而承受痛苦，這很正常。問題是，很多時候，我們為了幸福而努力並苦苦掙扎，卻終究無法獲得幸福——為什麼老天如此不公？
羅素的文字令我思考：或許，之所以無法幸福恰恰是因為我們太過在意眼前的芝麻小事，蝸牛角上爭鋒芒自然無法逃脫坐井觀天的窘境。
或許，幸福需要忘我，需要放棄一些執著吧！捨得？
或許，幸福需要境界，當自己足夠豐富，足夠豁達，該來的或許自然會來？
另外，挺有趣的，這篇的內容核心是“論閒情逸致”，羅素多少有點跑偏？
It is one of the defects of modern higher education that it has become too much a training in the acquisition of certain kinds of skill， and too little an enlargement of the mind and heart by any impartial survey of the world。 You become absorbed， let us say， in a political contest， and work hard for the victory of your own party。 So far， so good。 But it may happen in the course of the contest that some opportunity of victory presents itself which involves the use of methods calculated to increase hatred， violence and suspicion in the world。 For example， you may find that the best road to victory is to insult some foreign nation。 If your mental purview is limited to the present， or if you have imbibed the doctrine that what is called efficiency is the only thing that matters， you will adopt such dubious means。 Through them you will be victorious in your immediate purpose， while the more distant consequences may be disastrous。 If， on the other hand， you have as part of the habitual furniture of your mind the past ages of man， his slow and partial emergence out of barbarism， and the brevity of his total existence in comparison with astronomical epochs—if， I say， such thoughts have moulded your habitual feelings， you will realise that the momentary battle upon which you are engaged cannot be of such importance as to risk a backward step towards the darkness out of which we have been slowly emerging。 Nay， more， if you suffer defeat in your immediate objective， you will be sustained by the same sense of its momentariness that made you unwilling to adopt degrading weapons。 You will have， beyond your immediate activities， purposes that are distant and slowly unfolding， in which you are not an isolated individual but one of the great army of those who have led mankind towards a civilised existence。 If you have attained to this outlook， a certain deep happiness will never leave you， whatever your personal fate may be。 Life will become a communion with the great of all ages， and personal death no more than a negligible incident。
現代高等教育的缺點之一，是變得太過側重於訓練人們獲得某種技能，卻太少透過對世界客觀的審視來豐富人們的思想和心靈。
比如說，你全身心投入到政治選舉中，為了自己黨派的勝利而努力工作，到目前為止，這當然不失為一件好事。但在競選過程中卻可能出現某些獲勝的機會，而想要把握機會獲得勝利就需要使用某些會增加這個世界中仇恨、暴力及猜疑的手段。
例如，你發現獲取勝利最好的辦法就是欺辱他國。如果你的眼光僅僅侷限於當下的利益，或者你早已接受了目的證明手段的正確這種學說，那麼你就會採取這種令人生疑的手段。依靠這些手段，你眼前可能獲得了成功，但從長遠看則很可能是一場災難。
反之，如果你已將人類過去的時代作為你思維習慣的一部分，你的腦海中存留著人類緩慢地、一點點地從矇昧野蠻中掙扎而出的過程， 並且瞭解與天文時代相比，人類整個存在的歷史又是如何地短暫。我是說，如果這些想法已經鑄造出你習慣性的感受，那麼，你會明白你所進行的短暫的鬥爭其實並沒有那麼重要，並不值得你冒著倒退並重返黑暗時代的風險——要知道，多少年來人類一直在努力奮鬥著，緩慢地從黑暗中探出頭來。
不僅如此，更重要的是，因為你知道一切只是暫時的，所以你不願為此而採用那些有辱人格的手段，而當你承受著眼前的失敗，同樣的認知也會為你提供支撐。同時，超越了眼前的一切，你會擁有長遠的、不斷變得清晰的目標；你也不再會是一個孤獨的個體，而會成為帶領人類走向文明的大軍的一員。倘若你達到了這樣的境界，那無論你個人的際遇和命運如何，某種深沉的幸福將永不會離開你的身邊，而你的生命將變成與人類時代中所有偉人們共享的盛宴，個體的死亡也不過是微不足道的小事。
斯賓諾莎
斯賓諾莎：幸福就是美德本身，而非美德之報酬
If I had the power to organise higher education as I should wish it to be， I should seek to substitute for the old orthodox religions—which appeal to few among the young， and those as a rule the least intelligent and the most obscurantist—something which is perhaps hardly to be called religion， since it is merely a focusing of attention upon well-ascertained facts。 I should seek to make young people vividly aware of the past， vividly realising that the future of man will in all likelihood be immeasurably longer than his past， profoundly conscious of the minuteness of the planet upon which we live and of the fact that life on this planet is only a temporary incident； and at the same time with these facts which tend to emphasise the insignificance of the individual I should present quite another set of facts designed to impress upon the mind of the young the greatness of which the individual is capable， and the knowledge that throughout all the depths of stellar space nothing of equal value is known to us。 Spinoza long ago wrote of human bondage and human freedom； his form and his language make his thought difficult of access to all but students of philosophy， but the essence of what I wish to convey differs little from what he has said。
如果我有能力按照自己的意願開展高等教育，我會想辦法替換掉舊有的正統宗教——它只能吸引少數最愚昧無知的青年——而代之以某些幾乎不能稱之為宗教的東西，因為，它只是將注意力聚焦於某些已知的事實而已。
我會盡量讓年輕人清晰地瞭解過去，清晰地認識到人類的未來很可能比過去的時代更加長久，深刻地意識到我們所賴以生活的行星有多麼渺小，而這個行星上的生命也只不過是一些過客；同時，相對於這些傾向於強調個人微不足道的事實，我也會提出另外一些事實讓年輕人銘記個體所能達到的偉大，就算窮極這星空最深幽的地方，我們也不曾發現比我們更加有價值的生命。
在很久以前，斯賓諾莎就曾闡述過人類的束縛與自由相關內容，雖然他表達的方式和語言除了哲學系學生外，難以讓普通人理解，但我所要表達的精髓其實跟他所說的沒有什麼本質上的差異。
A man who has once perceived， however temporarily and however briefly， what makes greatness of soul， can no longer be happy if he allows himself to be petty， self-seeking， troubled by trivial misfortunes， dreading what fate may have in store for him。 The man capable of greatness of soul will open wide the windows of his mind， letting the winds blow freely upon it from every portion of the universe。 He will see himself and life and the world as truly as our human limitations will permit； realising the brevity and minuteness of human life， he will realise also that in individual minds is concentrated whatever of value the known universe contains。 And he will see that the man whose mind mirrors the world becomes in a sense as great as the world。 In emancipation from the fears that beset the slave of circumstance he will experience a profound joy， and through all the vicissitudes， of his outward life he will remain in the depths of his being a happy man。
無論多麼短暫，也不管多麼簡略，一個人一旦感受到是什麼令自己心靈偉大之後，如果他依然放任自己心胸狹窄、自私自利，仍然為雞毛蒜皮的小事所困擾，懼怕命運的安排，那麼，他再也不會獲得幸福。
凡是擁有偉大靈魂的人，都會開啟自己心靈的窗戶，讓來自宇宙四面八方的風都自由地吹拂。他會極盡人類的侷限，儘可能真實地看待自己、生命和世界。而在認識到人類生命的短暫和渺小的同時，他也會認識到個體的思想包含了已知宇宙中所有有價值的東西，並且他會看到，其心靈反映著這世界的人類，變得在某種意義上與這個世界同樣偉大。
一旦擺脫對命運擺佈的恐懼，他就會體會到深刻的快樂，體驗到所有滄海桑田、人事變遷，而在他靈魂的深處，他依然是一個幸福的人。
Leaving these large speculations and returning to our more immediate subject， namely the value of impersonal interests， there is another consideration which makes them a great help towards happiness。 Even in the most fortunate lives there are times when things go wrong。 Few men except bachelors have never quarrelled with their wives； few parents have not endured grave anxiety owing to the illnesses of their children； few businessmen have avoided times of financial stress； few professional men have not known periods when failure stared them in the face。 At such times a capacity to become interested in something outside the cause of anxiety is an immense boon。 At such times， when in spite of anxiety there is nothing to be done at the moment， one man will play chess， another will read detective stories， a third will become absorbed in popular astronomy， a fourth will console himself by reading about the excavations at Ur of the Chaldees。 Any one of these four is acting wisely， whereas the man who does nothing to distract his mind and allows his trouble to acquire a complete empire over him is acting unwisely and making himself less fit to cope with his troubles when the moment for action arrives。 Very similar considerations apply to irreparable sorrows such as the death of some person deeply loved。 No good is done to anyone by allowing oneself to become sunk in grief on such an occasion。 Grief is unavoidable and must be expected， but everything that can be done should be done to minimise it。 It is mere sentimentality to aim， as some do， at extracting the very uttermost drop of misery from misfortune。 I do not of course deny that a man may be broken by sorrow， but I do say that everyman should do his utmost to escape this fate， and should seek any distraction， however trivial， provided it is not in itself harmful or degrading。 Among those that I regard as harmful and degrading I include such things as drunkenness and drugs， of which the purpose is to destroy thought， at least for the time being。 The proper course is not to destroy thought but to turn it into new channels， or at any rate into channels remote from the present misfortune。 It is difficult to do this if life has hitherto been concentrated upon a very few interests and those few have now become suffused with sorrow。 To bear misfortune well when it comes， it is wise to have cultivated in happier times a certain width of interests， so that the mind may find prepared for it some undisturbed place suggesting other associations and other emotions than those which are making the present difficult to bear。
撇開這些比較大的思考不談，我們回到更貼近的主題上來，也就是閒情逸致的價值，有另外一個原因使得它們對提升人們的幸福起到幫助作用。
哪怕是最幸運的生活，也會有糟糕的時候。除了單身漢，幾乎沒有男人不曾跟自己的妻子吵過架；幾乎沒有父母不曾因為孩子的疾病而忍受煎熬；幾乎沒有商人能逃得過面臨資金壓力 的時刻；也幾乎沒有專業人員不曾面對過失敗的時光。在這種時候，能夠對所憂慮的事情之外的東西感興趣，這是極大的福音。
在這種時候，也就是除了焦慮之外一籌莫展的時候，第一個人可能去下國際象棋，第二個人則去讀推理小說，第三個人則專注於大眾天文學，而第四個人去閱讀關於迦勒底的吾珥古城的發掘資料。這四個人中任何一人的行為都是明智地，而那些始終不曾轉移注意力，任憑自己被無法解決 的問題所籠罩的人，其行為則是不明智的，並且會弄得自己疲憊不堪，等到真正需要行動的時候，他已經無力去解決這些問題了。
類似的考慮也適用於那些對於無法挽回的事情的悲傷，比如至愛之人的逝去。在這種時候，讓自己沉浸於悲傷之中對任何人都沒有什麼好處。悲傷是不可避免且意料之中的，但我們應該做所有應該做的事情，將悲傷降低到最輕的程度。像某些人所做的那樣，讓自己沉浸於痛苦之中，從不幸中提取最後一絲悲傷的做法只是感情用事而已。
當然，我並不否認有人會被悲傷壓垮，但我真的認為每個人都應該盡力讓自己逃離這種命運。他應該想辦法分散自己的注意力，哪怕是最瑣碎的事情，只要它沒有害處或令人墮落就行。
我所認為的有害或者令人墮落的事情包含了酗酒和吸毒，它們所帶來的結果就是摧毀人的思想，起碼從眼前來看是這樣。而最恰當的做法不是毀滅思想，而是轉入新的領域，至少要遠離當前的悲傷。然而，如果生活中缺乏興趣愛好，而這有限的興趣又充滿了悲傷，那麼，人們就很難做到這一點。
想要在不幸來臨的時候能夠坦然承受，聰明的做法就是在相對幸福的時候將自己的興趣培養到一定的廣度和寬度，從而使自己的心靈在未來能夠找到一塊安寧所在，能夠喚起自己別的聯想和思緒，而非那些會讓眼前更難以承受的感觸。
A man of adequate vitality and zest will surmount all misfortunes by the emergence after each blow of an interest in life and the world which cannot be narrowed down so much as to make one loss fatal。 To be defeated by one loss or even by several is not something to be admired as a proof of sensibility， but something to be deplored as a failure in vitality。 All our affections are at the mercy of death， which may strike down those whom we love at any moment。 It is therefore necessary that our lives should not have that narrow intensity which puts the whole meaning and purpose of our life at the mercy of accident。
一個富於活力和熱情的人，他會依託在生活每一次打擊之後所浮現的興趣愛好戰勝所有的不幸，而這個世界也絕非那麼悲觀，天無絕人之路。被一次或幾次失敗所擊倒，這不是證明自己情感的、值得尊敬的事情，而是缺乏生命力的、令人遺憾的事情。我們所有的情感都受死神的主宰，它可以在任何時刻奪走我們所愛之人的生命。因此， 我們的生活之路非常有必要變得不這麼狹隘，甚至將生命全部的意義和目的都放任偶然事件來操縱和擺佈。
For all these reasons the man who pursues happiness wisely will aim at the possession of a number of subsidiary interests in addition to those central ones upon which his life is built。
基於以上這些理由，一個明智地追求幸福的人，應該在生活賴以構建的核心興趣之外，擁有一系列次要的興趣愛好。
