A brief history of melancholy - Courtney Stephens

忧郁简史 - 考特尼·史蒂芬斯

翻译人员: Saduo Dangui 校对人员: Xinze Jiang

Sadness is part of the human experience,

悲伤是人类必经的感受

but for centuries there has been vast disagreement

但几个世纪以来，人们既没有判断出它到底是什么

over what exactly it is and what, if anything, to do about it.

也不知我们应该以怎样的态度去面对它

简单来说

In its simplest terms,

sadness is often thought of

悲伤常被人们理解为

as the natural reaction to a difficult situation.

面对艰难处境时的自然反应

You feel sad when a friend moves away or when a pet dies.

朋友搬走了或是宠物死了你都会感到悲伤

When a friend says, "I'm sad,"

当一个朋友说“我好伤心”时

you often respond by asking, "What happened?"

你经常会问他们“发生什么了？”

But your assumption that sadness has an external cause outside the self

但你对于悲伤是由外界因素导致的假设

is a relatively new idea.

还是个比较新的想法

Ancient Greek doctors didn't view sadness that way.

古希腊医生可不是这么看待悲伤的

They believed it was a dark fluid inside the body.

他们觉得悲伤是体内一种深色的液体

According to their humoral system,

根据他们创造的体液系统理论

the human body and soul were controlled by four fluids, known as humors,

人体和灵魂是由四种体液控制的

and their balance directly influenced a person's health and temperament.

于是它们之间的平衡会直接影响到一个人的健康和性情

Melancholia comes from melaina kole,

精神忧郁来自于一种叫Melaina Kole

the word for black bile, the humor believed to cause sadness.

也就是黑胆汁，一种被认为会产生悲伤的体液

By changing your diet and through medical practices,

改善伙食和医疗手段

you could bring your humors into balance.

都可以有效地使你的体液处于平衡状态

Even though we now know much more about the systems

虽然现在我们对控制人类身体的系统

that govern the human body,

了解已经很多了

these Greek ideas about sadness

这些古希腊人有关于悲伤的想法

resonate with current views,

还是可以和当今的观点产生共鸣

not on the sadness we all occasionally feel,

不仅仅是我们偶尔会感到的悲伤

but on clinical depression.

也包括医学上所说的忧郁

Doctors believe that certain kinds of long-term,

医生们认为有些长期

unexplained emotional states are at least partially related to brain chemistry,

无法解释的感情状态和大脑内部

the balance of various chemicals present inside the brain.

各种化学物质的平衡多少有些关系

Like the Greek system,

像希腊的体液系统理论

changing the balance of these chemicals can deeply alter

改变这些物质的平衡就可以甚至可以深刻地影响到

how we respond to even extremely difficult circumstances.

我们面对极端困难环境时的反应

There's also a long tradition of attempting to discern

长久以来，我们不断地尝试去无视掉

the value of sadness,

悲伤的价值

and in that discussion,

但在以下的讨论中

you'll find a strong argument that sadness is not only

你会发现一个强有力的证据说

an inevitable part of life but an essential one.

悲伤不仅仅是生命中无法避免的一部分

而且还是不可或缺的一部分

If you've never felt melancholy,

如果你从来没有感受过忧郁

you've missed out on part of what it means to be human.

那你已经失去了一部分作为人类的意义

Many thinkers contend that melancholy is necessary in gaining wisdom.

许多学者反映，长智商的必要条件之一是忧郁

Robert Burton, born in 1577,

1577年出生的Robert Burton

spent his life studying the causes and experience of sadness.

贡献了一生的时间研究悲伤的起因和过程

In his masterpiece "The Anatomy of Melancholy,"

在他的著作The Anatomy of Melancholy中

Burton wrote, "He that increaseth wisdom increaseth sorrow."

他写道：“积累智慧的同时也会积累忧伤。”

The Romantic poets of the early 19th century

19世纪初期的浪漫主义诗人们

believed melancholy allows us to more deeply understand other profound emotions,

相信忧郁可以使我们更很深刻地了解其他深沉的感受

like beauty and joy.

比如说美好和快乐

To understand the sadness of the trees losing their leaves in the fall

要了解秋季黄叶满地的忧伤

is to more fully understand the cycle of life that brings flowers in the spring.

就是更完善地认识可以带来春花的生命周期

But wisdom and emotional intelligence seem pretty high on the hierarchy of needs.

但智慧和情商看起来像是更高层次的需求

Does sadness have value on a more basic, tangible,

那悲伤在更基础可触，或甚至是进化的层面

maybe even evolutionary level?

有没有价值？

Scientists think that crying and feeling withdrawn

科学家认为哭泣以及沉默寡言

is what originally helped our ancestors secure social bonds

是最初帮助我们祖先之间牢牢建立社会关系

and helped them get the support they needed.

并帮助他们寻求到他们所需要的支持的

Sadness, as opposed to anger or violence, was an expression of suffering

和愤怒和暴力不同，悲伤是可以立马唤起别人同情的

that could immediately bring people closer to the suffering person,

痛苦的表现，人与人之间距离一下子就近了

and this helped both the person and the larger community to thrive.

这样，双方都会得到帮助，更大的群体也会得以发展壮大

Perhaps sadness helped generate the unity we needed to survive,

也许，悲伤可以产生我们生存所需的集体感

but many have wondered whether the suffering felt by others

但很多人都在想，别人所感受到的痛苦

is anything like the suffering we experience ourselves.

和我们所感受到的是否一样。

The poet Emily Dickinson wrote,

诗人Emily Dickinson写道，

"I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing Eyes -

“我眯着眼视察每个我所遇见的悲痛-

I wonder if it weighs like MIne - Or has an Easier size."

心想它是否和我的一样重-或者只是小如橡皮。”

And in the 20th century,

在20世纪

medical anthropologists, like Arthur Kleinman,

像Arthur Kleinman这样的人类医学家

gathered evidence from the way people talk about pain

收集了人们阐述自己悲伤的方式作为证据

to suggest that emotions aren't universal at all,

来证明感情其实根本不是普遍的

and that culture, particularly the way we use language,

而且文化，尤其是我们使用语言的方式

can influence how we feel.

都会影响到我们所感所受

When we talk about heartbreak,

当我们说到心碎时

the feeling of brokenness becomes part of our experience,

破碎的感觉就变成了我们体验的一部分

where as in a culture that talks about a bruised heart,

但是当另一个文化说起淤血的心时

there actually seems to be a different subjective experience.

这其实好像又有另外一种客观的体验

Some contemporary thinkers aren't interested

有些当代思想家们对悲伤的客观性和普遍性

in sadness' subjectivity versus universality,

部不是很感兴趣

and would rather use technology to eliminate suffering in all its forms.

而且他们会更愿意用科技去消除各种形态的痛苦

David Pearce has suggested that genetic engineering

David Pearce觉得，基因工程

and other contemporary processes

和其它当代的科学手段

cannot only alter the way humans experience emotional and physical pain,

不应该只改变人们历经精神上和身体上的伤痛

but that world ecosystems ought to be redesigned

而应把世界的生态系统都重新设计一遍

so that animals don't suffer in the wild.

那样野生动物也不会受苦难

He calls his project "paradise engineering."

他把他的项目叫做“天堂工程”

But is there something sad about a world without sadness?

但一个没有悲伤的世界不是有点令人伤感吗？

Our cavemen ancestors and favorite poets

我们的山顶洞人始祖们和最受人喜爱的诗人

might not want any part of such a paradise.

可不会想在这样的一个天堂里

In fact, the only things about sadness that seem universally agreed upon

其实，关于悲伤唯一一些大家都同意的是

are that it has been felt by most people throughout time,

几乎所有历史上的人都曾感受过

and that for thousands of years,

而且几千年来

one of the best ways we have to deal with this difficult emotion

人们面对艰难的感情时最好的方式

is to articulate it, to try to express what feels inexpressable.

就是把它说出来，试着讲述讲不出的东西

In the words of Emily Dickinson,

用Emily Dickinson的话说，

"'Hope' is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul -

“’希望‘是有翅膀的东西-在灵魂里窥视

"And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -"

“它歌唱着没有文字的旋律-而且永不停息-”