Life, Art, and Mysticism | Vita, arte e mistica | 布劳威尔 生活艺术和神秘主义翻译，第一章 | I - The sad world

原文：Vita, arte e mistica

LUITZEN EGBERTUS JAN BROUWER 布劳威尔

英语 Translation by WALTER P. VAN STIGT

机翻+润色，第一章。网上找不到中文翻译。马上来备用。虽然可以读英语，但是效率太低了。

charper 1 the sad world

荷兰被创造并一直存在由于大河的沉积。 沙丘和三角洲，潮汐和排水。

Holland was created and was kept in existence

by the sedimentation of the great rivers. There was a natural balance of dunes and

deltas, of tides and drainage.

三角洲某些地区的临时洪水是这种平衡的一部分。 在这片土地上可以生存和繁荣人类。

Temporary flooding of certain areas of the delta was

a part of that balance. And in this land could live and thrive a strong branch of the

human race.

但人们并不满足； 为了规范或防止他们建造的洪水沿河的堤坝； 他们改变了河流的路线以改善排水系统。为了方便水路旅行，他们砍伐森林。

But people were not satisfied; in order to regulate or prevent flooding they built

dykes along the rivers; they changed the course of rivers to improve drainage or to

facilitate travel by water, and they cut down forests.

难怪荷兰微妙的平衡被打破。Zuyder Zee （须德海，荷兰西北原北海海湾）被吃掉了（应该是说荷兰治洪水然后把河流搞成了淡水湖？），沙丘无情地被摧毁。 不奇怪如今更强有力的措施需要做更多的工作（指后来荷兰围须德海？）才能使国家免于彻底毁灭。

No wonder the subtle balance of Holland became disturbed; the Zuyder Zee was eaten away and the dunes slowly but relentlessly destroyed. No wonder that nowadays even stronger measures and ever

more work are needed to save the country from total destruction.

更令人惊讶的是：这种自我强加的负担不仅被认为是不可避免的，而且被认为是

被上帝或不可避免的命运赋予我们肩上的任务。

What is more surprising: this self-imposed burden is not only accepted as inevitable but has been ele-

vated to a task laid on our shoulders by God or inescapable Fate.

最初，人类是孤立地生活的。 在大自然的支持下，每个人都在寻求

在罪恶的诱惑之间保持平衡。 那充满了他的整个

生活; 没有与他人的牵连，也没有对未来的担忧。

Originally man lived in isolation. Supported by nature, every individual sought

to maintain his equilibrium between sinful temptations. That filled the whole of his

life; there was no involvement with others, nor was there any worry about the future.

结果，不存在艰苦的工作，也不存在悲伤、仇恨、恐惧或欲望。

As a result hard work did not exist, nor did sorrow, hatred, fear, or lust.

但人是不满足； 他开始主张控制他的同胞并寻求确定性

的未来。

But man was not content; he started to assert control over his fellow men and to search for certainty

about the future.

因此失去了平衡：被压迫者的劳动变成了

越来越令人痛苦，控制者的阴谋越来越邪恶。

 And so the balance was lost: labor forced onto the oppressed became

ever more distressing and the conspiracy of those in power ever more wicked.

 我们现在已经到了每个人都有权力但同时受苦的地步

压迫; 分离和孤立的旧本能现在只存在于苍白的嫉妒中

和嫉妒。

We have now reached the point where everyone has power but at the same time suffers

oppression; the old instinct of separation and isolation now only lives on as pale envy

and jealousy.

动物和人类原本是互不干涉的。

Animals and human beings originally did not interfere with one another.

当这些不满的人类开始吸食动物（应该是指驯养）时，幸福的状态就结束了

他们认为这很有用，并试图消灭其他人。

This happy state ended when these discontented humans started to sponge on the animals

which they found useful and tried to exterminate the others.

自然的秩序是

撕裂变成痛苦：照顾家畜的负担和辛劳，寄生饮食引起的各种疾病，一场漫长而艰苦的战斗

与尚未灭绝的野生动物，更艰苦的战斗

对抗人类自己家里的害虫和侵扰他身体的细菌。

The order of nature was torn apart and turned into misery: the burden and toil of looking after domestic animals, all sorts of disease caused by parasitic eating practices, a long and hard battle

against the wild animals that had not been exterminated, and an even harder battle

against vermin in man’s own home and the bacteria infesting his body.

科学以这场战争为荣，甚至表示顺从上帝的旨意（这是什么典故？），而这一切都是违背上帝旨意的结果！

Science takes pride in this battle and even expresses its resignation in God’s will, while it is all the result of rebellion against his will!

（为什么话题突然转进回人类生死？）这是永恒和无所不在的生命平衡的一部分，当一个生物的时间到来时，每个生物这个尘世的存在都被召唤离开在时间到来的时候。

It is part of the balance of the eternal and omnipresent life that everyone is called away from this earthly existence when one’s time has come.

在那之前，人的身心都会受苦，这与他节俭的坏情绪、对权力的欲望、虚荣和恐惧相称。

Until then man suffers in mind and body as befits his evil mood of thrift, his lust for power, his vanity, and fear.

在他的怨恨中，他开始通过药物和饮食来篡改他的身体，并通过催眠和虚构来篡改他的思想。他扰乱了他欲望的熔炉，破坏了心理责任和身体健康的平衡。

In his resentment he starts tampering with his body through medicines and diets and with his mind through hypnosis and make-belief; he disturbs the melting pot of his lusts and destroys the balance of psychical responsibility and physical well-being.

有一种身体和道德的堕落（衰老/老化？），以至于最终人类死了就不再需要为他的罪行负责，为他在这个地球上所做的一切。

There is a bodily and moral degeneration, such that in the end man can no longer be held responsible for his crimes, for what he has done during his time on this earth.

科学最近揽获延长人类寿命的功劳，这延长还是太短了。

Science has recently claimed credit for extending the span of human life, which certainly is much too short.

但这有什么价值？在一个人的时间之后离开这个生活和在一个人的时间之前一样令人难过；至于死亡，“大自然永远不会在没有用更好的东西代替它的情况下摧毁任何东西。”

But what is that worth? It is equally sad to leave this life after one’s time as before one’s time; and as to death, “Nature never destroys anything without putting something better in its place.”

Meanwhile, truth is still around and about.

比如海里小鱼儿的童谣，有“诚实是上策”、“更好是善的敌人”、“真理终将出局”等谚语。

There is for example the nursery rhyme of the little fish in the sea, and such sayings as “Honesty is the best policy,” “Better is the enemy of good,” and “Truth will be out.”

教育者教小孩子“永远说真话”； 他们向他们灌输一点谎言永远不会得到回报，一件事会导致另一件事，最后一个会被纠缠并被抓住。

Educators teach little children “always to tell the truth”; they drum it into them that little lies never pay, that one thing leads to another and that in the end one becomes entangled and gets caught.

当然，还有这些小说，说鸡最终将如何回家栖息。 因此，总是有这样的真理：

And of course, there are all these novels, illustrating how in the end the chickens will  come home to roost. One truth therefore definitely comes through:

如果理性提出某些行动可能会改善您的状况，但您的良心不赞成，那么就不要做。 理性永远不会完整地掌握世界，它为实现其有限目标而规定的手段最终只会以某种难以理解的方式造成损害。

If reason presents certain actions as likely to improve your condition but your conscience does not approve, then leave them undone. Reason never grasps the world in its entirety and the means it dictates to achieving its limited aim will ultimately and in some inscrutable way only cause damage.

如果这辈子我们面前总有一面镜子，让我们可以一目了然，把一切都掌握在一个 image 中，那么行动和认识就不会给我们带来任何问题。 但是，既然实际上我们必须经常从一件事转向另一件事，我们就不能专注于一件事而不阻碍另一件事。 （艾克哈特大师）

If in this life we always had a mirror in front of us in which we could see things at a glance, grasp everything in one image, acting and knowing would not cause us any problem. But since in our viewing we must turn from one thing to another, we cannot concentrate on one without obstructing the other. (Meister Eckhart)

真理可能就在身边，但每个人和整个人的生活只不过是一连串违背真理的罪。 志向总是受挫，新的志向取而代之； 所有这些空中城堡都倒塌了，新的城堡在它们的位置上建造起来。

Truth may be around, but life of each human being and of people as a whole is nothing but a long string of sins against truth. Aspirations are frustrated all the time and new ones take their place; all these castles in the air collapse and new ones are built in their place.

个人的生命是一种幻觉，是一种焦急而费力的对目的的追求——幻灭。 在他毫无准备和完全无知地等待死亡的那一刻，他要么被意识到自己浪费了自己的生命而震惊，要么他的理性被令人欣慰的想法变得迟钝，没有幻想，生命将一无所有，或者 总的来说，至少他会带着大量的经验进入坟墓。

Life of the individual is an illusion, an anxious and laborious pursuit of ends —— disillusionment. At the time of death, which he has awaited unprepared and in complete ignorance, he is either startled by the realization that he has wasted his life or his reason is dulled by the comforting thought that without illusions life would have been nothing at all, or that on balance at least he will take with him into his grave a large measure of experience.

哦，是的，这些“聪明”的 old people，他们自欺欺人地经历了，年老，在他们脸上留下了印记的长期罪恶生活，僵化和长期剥夺了所有天真，从他们死气沉沉的眼睛中凝视， 所有这一切，只有这一切才能导致智慧！ 然后，当事情发展到关键时，他们会 chanllenge （怂恿？）年轻一代，告诉他们人类生活的意义。

Oh yes, these “wise” old people, who kid themselves that experience, old age, a long life of sin which has left its mark on their faces, rigid and long deprived of all naivete, and which stares out of their lifeless eyes, that all this and this alone leads to wisdom! And then, when things come to a head, they challenge the younger generation to tell them what human life is all about.

整个人类的生命就是傲慢的撕毁和吞噬它在这片纯净大地上的巢穴，扰乱它的母性生长，啃咬残害她，使她丰富的创造力变得贫瘠，直到所有的生命都被吞噬，人类的癌症 已经在贫瘠的星球上枯萎了。

Life of mankind as a whole is an arrogant tearing up and devouring of its nest on this pure earth, messing up its mothering growth, gnawing and mutilating her and making her rich creative power sterile, until all life has been swallowed up and the human cancer has withered on the barren planet.

导致这种情况，使人变成疯子的精神疾病，人们称之为“了解世界”。

The sickness of mind which has caused this, and which has turned men into madmen, they call “understanding the world.”