第28章 生命的意义 The Meaning of Life

阿尔弗雷德·阿德勒/Alfred Adler

If we asked someone,“What is the meaning of life?”He would probably be unable to answer. For the most part, people do not trouble themselves with the question or try to formulate any answers. It is true that the question is as old as humanity itself and that in our own time young people—and older people too—will sometimes demand,“But what is life for? What does life mean?”It is fair to say, however, that they only ask these questions when they have suffered some sort of setback. So long as life is smooth sailing and they are not confronting difficult tests, the question is never put into words. It is, rather, in his actions that each person inevitably poses these questions and answers. If we closed our ears to words and concentrated on observing actions, we would find that each person has formulated his own individual“meaning of life”and that all his opinions, attitudes, movements, expressions, mannerisms, ambitions, habits, and character traits are in accordance with this meaning. Each person behaves as if he could rely upon a certain interpretation of life. In all his actions, there is an implicit summing up of the world and of himself. The verdict,“I am like this and the universe is like that,”has a meaning given to himself and a meaning ascribed to life.

There are as many meanings ascribed to life as there are human beings, and perhaps, each meaning is mistaken to some extent. No one knows the absolute meaning of life, and thus any interpretation that is at all serviceable cannot be called absolutely wrong. All meanings are variations between these two limits. Among these variations, however, we can distinguish some that work well and some that are less effective; some where the mistake is small and some where it is large. We can discover what it is that the better interpretations have in common and what it is that the less satisfactory interpretations lack. We can derive from these a common measure of the truth, a common meaning, which enables us to decipher reality insofar as it concerns humankind. Again, we must bear in mind that true means true for humankind, true for the purpose and aims of human beings. There is no other truth than this. Even if another truth existed, it would not concern us. We could never know it; it would be meaningless.

Individual psychology has found that all human problems can be grouped under three main headings: occupational, social, and sexual. It is in his response to these three problems that every individual human being unfailingly reveals his own personal interpretation of the meaning of life. Suppose, for example, we consider a person whose love life is unsatisfactory or nonexistent, who fails to exert himself in his profession, who has few friends, and who finds contact with his fellow human beings painful. From the self-imposed limits and restrictions in his life, we may conclude that he sees being alive as a difficult and dangerous thing, entailing few opportunities and many failures. His narrow field of action can be construed as expressing the opinion:“Life means protecting myself against harm, barricading myself in, and escaping unscathed.”

Suppose, on the other hand, we consider a person who has a love relationship that is an intimate and full cooperation, whose work results in useful achievements, who has lots of friends, and whose contacts with people are wide-ranging and fruitful. We may conclude that such a person sees life as a creative task, offering many opportunities and no irreversible setbacks. His courage in confronting all the problems of life is to be construed as saying:“Life means being interested in people, being part of the whole, and contributing my share to the welfare of humankind.”

假如我们问：“生命的意义是什么？”人们可能不知道怎么回答。大多数时候，人们不会把自己陷入这个问题的困扰中，或者试图解释清楚。其实这个问题就像人类自身一样古老。在我们这个时代，年轻人——老人也是如此——有时会问：“我为什么而活？生命的意义是什么？”可以肯定的是，只有在遇到挫折时，他们才会提出这种问题来。如果生活万事顺利，不需面对困难的考验，他们永远不会问这样的问题。但是，无法避免地，每个人都会在他的行动中反映这些问题并有所回答。如果我们不听任何人的话语，只留意每个人的行动，那我们会看到：他们在阐释自己独特的“生命的意义”。他的观点、看法、行为、表达方式、癖好、雄心、习惯和性格特点，都和生命的意义一致。每个人的举止、表现仿佛他可以依赖于生活的某种阐释。他的所有行动，都是对这个世界和他自己看法的体现，结论是：“这就是我，那就是宇宙。”这就是他对自己和生命的意义。

世上有各式各样的人，所以生命的意义也多种多样，或许每种意义在某种程度上都是错误的，但没有人知道生命的意义到底是什么，所以谁也不能全盘否定任何一种对生命意义的解释。所有的意义都在两个极端中间变化不定。但是在这种变化中，我们却能辨别出什么是好的，什么是不好的；哪些错误尚小，哪些错误大些。我们还能看到，这些优良的解释有什么共同之处，而那些相对差的解释欠缺之处又在哪里。我们可以从这个事实中得出一个共同的标准，一个普遍的生命的意义，这样它就能使我们解释后来与人类有关的所有真实的意义，这种真实是对人类的目的和意图的真实。此外，再没有别的真实。即便有另一种真实存在，我们也不关注，我们不了解它，那么它也就没有存在的意义。

个体心理学研究发现，人类的所有问题可以分为三个部分，即：职业、社交和性。一个人对这三个问题的反映实际上便是他对生命意义的阐释。我们来假设一下，例如一个人的爱情生活不如意或者就没有爱情，不努力工作，朋友没有几个，与人交往也令他感到头疼。他的生活充满了自我约束和限制，由此我们可以得出：他把生存看作是一件艰难而危险的事，很少获得机会，而失败又太多。他狭窄的生活圈子恰恰表达了他的观点：“生命的意义就是保护自己免受伤害，封闭自己，逃避伤害。”

我们从另一个方面来说，假设一个人他有完美甜蜜的爱情生活，工作卓有成绩，朋友众多，交际很广，收益颇丰，那么我们就可以断言，这样一个人，生活具有创造性，有很多机遇，并且没有什么不可跨越的障碍。面临生活中的各种困难，他的勇气可以概括为：“对他人有兴趣，使自己成为整体中的一部分，用自己的力量为人类的幸福作一份贡献，这就是生命的意义。”

记忆填空

1.It is____________to say, however, that they only ask these questions____________they have suffered some sort of setback. So long as____________is smooth sailing and they are not confronting difficult tests, the question is never put into____________. It is, rather, in his actions that each person inevitably poses these questions and____________them.

2.Individual psychology____________found that all human problems can be grouped under three main headings: occupational, and sexual. It is in his response to these three problems that every individual human____________unfailingly reveals his own personal interpretation____________the meaning of life.

佳句翻译

1.大多数时候，人们不会把自己陷入这个问题的困扰中并有所回答清楚。

译___________________________________________________

2.没有人知道生命的意义到底是什么，所以谁也不能全盘否定任何一种对生命意义的解释。

译___________________________________________________

3.他把生存看作是一件艰难而危险的事，很少获得机会，而失败又太多。

译___________________________________________________

短语应用

1.So long as life is smooth sailing and they are not confronting difficult tests, the question is never put into words.

so long as：只要

造___________________________________________________

2.There are as many meanings ascribed to life as there are human beings, and perhaps, each meaning is mistaken to some extent.

to some extent：在一定程度上；在某种程度上

造___________________________________________________