Where Is Home? | Pico Iyer | TED

Translator: Anne Mogensen Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

Where do you come from?

Hvor kommer du fra?

It's such a simple question,

Det er sådan et simpelt spørgsmål,

but these days, of course, simple questions

men i disse dage, bringer enkle spørgsmål

bring ever more complicated answers.

selvfølgelig alt mere komplicerede svar.

People are always asking me where I come from,

Folk spørger altid, hvor jeg er fra

and they're expecting me to say India,

og de forventer, at jeg vil sige Indien

and they're absolutely right insofar as 100 percent

og de har ret for 100 procent af

of my blood and ancestry does come from India.

mit blod og herkomst er fra Indien.

Except, I've never lived one day of my life there.

Men jeg har ikke boet en eneste dag i mit liv der.

I can't speak even one word

Jeg kan ikke tale ét ord

of its more than 22,000 dialects.

af landets mere end 22.000 dialekter.

So I don't think I've really earned the right

Så jeg tror ikke, jeg har fortjent retten til

to call myself an Indian.

at kalde mig selv indisk.

And if "Where do you come from?"

Og hvis "Hvor er du fra?"

means "Where were you born and raised and educated?"

betyder "Hvor blev du født, er du opvokset og uddannet?"

then I'm entirely of that funny little country

så kommer jeg fra det der sjove lille land

known as England,

kendt som England,

except I left England as soon as I completed

dog forlod jeg England, kort efter jeg afsluttede

my undergraduate education,

min bacheloruddannelse,

and all the time I was growing up,

og under hele min opvækst

I was the only kid in all my classes

var jeg det eneste barn i alle mine klasser,

who didn't begin to look like the classic English heroes

som ikke kom til at ligne de klassiske engelske helte

represented in our textbooks.

repræsenteret i vores lærebøger.

And if "Where do you come from?"

Hvis "Hvor kommer du fra?"

means "Where do you pay your taxes?

betyder "Hvor betaler du din skat?

Where do you see your doctor and your dentist?"

Hvor er din læge og din tandlæge?"

then I'm very much of the United States,

så er jeg meget fra USA,

and I have been for 48 years now,

og har været det i 48 år nu,

since I was a really small child.

siden jeg var et lille barn.

Except, for many of those years,

Men i mange af disse år

I've had to carry around this funny little pink card

har jeg været nødt til at bære dette pink kort

with green lines running through my face

med grønne linjer over mit ansigt

identifying me as a permanent alien.

og identificerer mig som en permanent fremmed.

I do actually feel more alien the longer I live there.

Faktisk føler jeg mig mere som en fremmed, jo længere jeg bor der.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And if "Where do you come from?"

Og hvis "Hvor kommer du fra?"

means "Which place goes deepest inside you

betyder "Hvilken plads går dybest inde i dig

and where do you try to spend most of your time?"

og hvor forsøger du at tilbringe det meste af din tid?"

then I'm Japanese,

så er jeg japansk,

because I've been living as much as I can

fordi jeg har boet så meget som jeg kan

for the last 25 years in Japan.

de sidste 25 år i Japan.

Except, all of those years I've been there on a tourist visa,

Men alle de år har jeg været der på et turistvisum

and I'm fairly sure not many Japanese

og jeg er ret sikker på, at mange japanere

would want to consider me one of them.

ikke ville se mig som en af dem.

And I say all this just to stress

Og jeg siger alt dette blot for at understrege,

how very old-fashioned and straightforward

hvor gammeldags og ligetil

my background is,

min baggrund er,

because when I go to Hong Kong or Sydney or Vancouver,

fordi når jeg tager til Hong Kong eller Sydney eller Vancouver,

most of the kids I meet

så er de fleste af de børn, jeg møder

are much more international and multi-cultured than I am.

langt mere internationale og multikulturelle end jeg er.

And they have one home associated with their parents,

Og de har et hjem forknippet med deres forældre,

but another associated with their partners,

men et andet forknippet med deres partnere,

a third connected maybe with the place where they happen to be,

et tredje måske forbundet til det sted, hvor de for tilfældet er,

a fourth connected with the place they dream of being,

et fjerde forbundet med det sted, de drømmer om at være,

and many more besides.

og mange flere der ud over.

And their whole life will be spent taking pieces

Og hele deres liv vil blive brugt på at tage stykker

of many different places and putting them together

fra mange forskellige steder og sætte dem sammen

into a stained glass whole.

til en komplet enhed.

Home for them is really a work in progress.

Hjem for dem er virkelig et igangværende arbejde.

It's like a project on which they're constantly adding

Det er som et projekt, hvor de konstant tilføjer

upgrades and improvements and corrections.

opgraderinger, forbedringer og rettelser.

And for more and more of us,

Og for flere og flere af os

home has really less to do with a piece of soil

har hjem mindre at gøre med et stykke jord

than, you could say, with a piece of soul.

end med det man kan kalde et stykke sjæl.

If somebody suddenly asks me, "Where's your home?"

Hvis nogen spørger mig, "Hvor er dit hjem?"

I think about my sweetheart or my closest friends

tænker jeg på min kæreste eller mine nærmeste venner

or the songs that travel with me wherever I happen to be.

eller de sange, der rejser med mig, hvor jeg end er.

And I'd always felt this way,

Og jeg har altid følt på denne måde,

but it really came home to me, as it were,

men det kom først virkelig til mig

some years ago when I was climbing up the stairs

for nogle år siden, da jeg klatrede op for trappen

in my parents' house in California,

i mine forældres hus i Californien,

and I looked through the living room windows

og jeg kiggede igennem stuevinduerne

and I saw that we were encircled by 70-foot flames,

og så, at vi var omgivet af over 20 meter høje flammer,

one of those wildfires that regularly tear through

en af de skovbrande, der regelmæssigt hærger

the hills of California and many other such places.

ved bakkerne i Californien og mange andre sådanne steder.

And three hours later, that fire had reduced

Og tre timer senere havde branden reduceret

my home and every last thing in it

mit hjem og hver eneste ting i det,

except for me to ash.

bortset fra mig, til aske.

And when I woke up the next morning,

Og da jeg vågnede næste morgen,

I was sleeping on a friend's floor,

jeg sov på en vens gulv,

the only thing I had in the world was a toothbrush

var det eneste jeg havde en tandbørste,

I had just bought from an all-night supermarket.

som jeg lige havde købt i et supermarked.

Of course, if anybody asked me then,

Hvis nogen havde spurgt mig dengang,

"Where is your home?"

"Hvor er dit hjem?"

I literally couldn't point to any physical construction.

ville jeg bogstaveligt talt ikke have kunnet udpege en fysisk plads.

My home would have to be whatever I carried around inside me.

Mit hjem ville være det, jeg bar inde i mig.

And in so many ways, I think this is a terrific liberation.

Og på så mange måder tror jeg, at dette er en fantastisk befrielse.

Because when my grandparents were born,

For da mine bedsteforældre blev født

they pretty much had their sense of home,

var deres følelse af hjem,

their sense of community, even their sense of enmity,

deres følelse af fællesskab, til og med deres følelse af fjendskab,

assigned to them at birth,

blevet tildelt dem ved fødslen

and didn't have much chance of stepping outside of that.

og havde ikke meget mulighed for at bevæge sig uden for det.

And nowadays, at least some of us can choose our sense of home,

I dag kan i det mindste nogle af os vælge vores følelse af hjem,

create our sense of community,

oprette vores fornemmelse af fællesskab,

fashion our sense of self, and in so doing

skabe vores følelse af os selv, og dermed

maybe step a little beyond

måske træde lidt udenfor

some of the black and white divisions

nogle af de sorte og hvide divisioner

of our grandparents' age.

fra vores bedsteforældres tid.

No coincidence that the president

Det er ingen tilfældighed, at præsidenten

of the strongest nation on Earth is half-Kenyan,

af den stærkeste nation på jorden er halv-kenyansk,

partly raised in Indonesia,

dels opvokset i Indonesien

has a Chinese-Canadian brother-in-law.

og med en kinesisk-canadisk svoger.

The number of people living in countries not their own

Antallet af mennesker, der bor i lande, som ikke er deres egne

now comes to 220 million,

er nu 220 millioner,

and that's an almost unimaginable number,

og det er et næsten ufatteligt antal,

but it means that if you took the whole population of Canada

men det betyder, at hvis du tog hele befolkningen i Canada

and the whole population of Australia

og hele befolkningen i Australien

and then the whole population of Australia again

og hele befolkningen i Australien igen

and the whole population of Canada again

samt hele befolkningen i Canada igen

and doubled that number,

og fordoblede dette nummer,

you would still have fewer people than belong

ville du stadig have færre folk end dem,

to this great floating tribe.

der tilhører denne store flydende stamme.

And the number of us who live outside

Og antallet af os, der bor uden for

the old nation-state categories is increasing so quickly,

de gamle nationalstats kategorier vokser så hurtigt,

by 64 million just in the last 12 years,

med 64 millioner kun inden for de sidste 12 år,

that soon there will be more of us than there are Americans.

så der snart vil være flere af os, end der er amerikanere.

Already, we represent the fifth-largest nation on Earth.

Vi repræsenterer allerede den femte største nation på jorden.

And in fact, in Canada's largest city, Toronto,

Og i Canadas største by Toronto

the average resident today is what used to be called

er den gennemsnitlige beboer i dag, det der tidligere blev kaldt

a foreigner, somebody born in a very different country.

en udlænding, en person født i et helt andet land.

And I've always felt that the beauty of being surrounded by the foreign

Og jeg har altid følt, at det fine ved at være omgivet af det udenlandske er,

is that it slaps you awake.

at det får dig til at vågne.

You can't take anything for granted.

Du kan ikke tage noget for givet.

Travel, for me, is a little bit like being in love,

At rejse er for mig lidt ligesom at være forelsket,

because suddenly all your senses are at the setting marked "on."

fordi pludselig er alle dine sanser slået "til."

Suddenly you're alert to the secret patterns of the world.

Pludselig er du opmærksom på de hemmelige mønstre i verden.

The real voyage of discovery, as Marcel Proust famously said,

Den virkelige opdagelsesrejse, som Marcel Proust berømt sagde,

consists not in seeing new sights,

består ikke i at se nye steder,

but in looking with new eyes.

men i at se med nye øjne.

And of course, once you have new eyes,

Og når du har nye øjne

even the old sights, even your home

bliver selv de gamle steder, selv dit hjem,

become something different.

noget andet.

Many of the people living in countries not their own

Mange af dem, der bor i lande, som ikke er deres egne

are refugees who never wanted to leave home

er flygtninge, der aldrig ønskede at forlade deres hjem

and ache to go back home.

og som længes efter at vende hjem.

But for the fortunate among us,

Men for de heldige blandt os

I think the age of movement brings exhilarating new possibilities.

tror jeg, at denne tid af bevægelse bringer spændende nye muligheder.

Certainly when I'm traveling,

Når jeg rejser,

especially to the major cities of the world,

især til de store byer i verden,

the typical person I meet today

vil den typiske person jeg møder i dag være,

will be, let's say, a half-Korean, half-German young woman

lad os sige, en ung halv-koreansk, halv-tysk kvinde,

living in Paris.

der bor i Paris.

And as soon as she meets a half-Thai,

Og så snart hun møder en ung halv-thailandsk,

half-Canadian young guy from Edinburgh,

halv-canadisk fyr fra Edinburgh,

she recognizes him as kin.

vil hun genkende ham som slægt.

She realizes that she probably has much more in common with him

Hun indser, at hun sandsynligvis har meget mere til fælles med ham,

than with anybody entirely of Korea or entirely of Germany.

end med nogen anden, udelukkende fra Korea eller Tyskland.

So they become friends. They fall in love.

Så de bliver venner. De forelsker sig.

They move to New York City.

De flytter til New York.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Or Edinburgh.

Eller Edinburgh.

And the little girl who arises out of their union

Og den lille pige, der udspringer af deres forening

will of course be not Korean or German

er selvfølgelig ikke koreansk eller tysk

or French or Thai or Scotch or Canadian

eller fransk, thailandsk, skotsk eller canadisk

or even American, but a wonderful

eller for den sag amerikansk, men en vidunderlig

and constantly evolving mix of all those places.

og konstant udviklende blanding af alle disse steder.

And potentially, everything about the way

Og potentielt kan alt om den måde,

that young woman dreams about the world,

som denne unge kvinde drømmer om verden,

writes about the world, thinks about the world,

skriver om verden, tænker om verden,

could be something different,

være noget nyt og anderledes,

because it comes out of this almost unprecedented

fordi det kommer ud af denne næsten hidtil usete

blend of cultures.

blanding af kulturer.

Where you come from now is much less important

Hvor du kommer fra er nu langt mindre vigtig

than where you're going.

end hvor du skal hen.

More and more of us are rooted in the future

Flere og flere af os er lige så rodfæstede

or the present tense as much as in the past.

i fremtiden eller i nutiden som i fortiden.

And home, we know, is not just the place

Og hjem er ikke blot det sted,

where you happen to be born.

hvor du er født.

It's the place where you become yourself.

Det er det sted, hvor du bliver dig selv.

And yet,

Men,

there is one great problem with movement,

der er et stort problem med bevægelighed,

and that is that it's really hard to get your bearings

og det er, at det er virkelig svært at finde orienteringen,

when you're in midair.

når du er i bevægelse.

Some years ago, I noticed that I had accumulated

For nogle år siden bemærkede jeg, at jeg havde akkumuleret

one million miles on United Airlines alone.

en million miles ved United Airlines.

You all know that crazy system,

I kender alle det skøre system,

six days in hell, you get the seventh day free.

seks dage i helvede og den syvende dag har du fri.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And I began to think that really,

Og jeg begyndte at tro,

movement was only as good as the sense of stillness

at bevægelse kun var så godt som den følelse af stilhed,

that you could bring to it to put it into perspective.

som man kan bringe til det for at sætte det i perspektiv.

And eight months after my house burned down,

Og otte måneder efter, at mit hus brændte ned

I ran into a friend who taught at a local high school,

stødte jeg på en ven, der underviste på et gymnasium,

and he said, "I've got the perfect place for you."

og han sagde: "Jeg har det perfekte sted til dig."

"Really?" I said. I'm always a bit skeptical

"Virkelig?", sagde jeg. Jeg er skeptisk,

when people say things like that.

når folk siger sådan noget.

"No, honestly," he went on,

"Ærlig talt," fortsatte han,

"it's only three hours away by car,

"det er kun tre timer væk i bil,

and it's not very expensive,

og det er ikke særlig dyrt

and it's probably not like anywhere you've stayed before."

og det er sandsynligvis ikke som noget sted du har boet før."

"Hmm." I was beginning to get slightly intrigued. "What is it?"

"Hmm." Jeg begyndte at blive nysgerrig. "Hvad er det?"

"Well —" Here my friend hemmed and hawed —

"Altså —" min ven vendte og drejede sig —

"Well, actually it's a Catholic hermitage."

"Det er rent faktisk en katolsk skole."

This was the wrong answer.

Dette var det forkerte svar.

I had spent 15 years in Anglican schools,

Jeg havde brugt 15 år i anglikanske skoler,

so I had had enough hymnals and crosses to last me a lifetime.

så jeg havde haft nok salmesang og kors for resten af mit liv.

Several lifetimes, actually.

Flere livstider faktisk.

But my friend assured me that he wasn't Catholic,

Men min ven forsikrede mig, at han ikke var katolsk

nor were most of his students,

ligesom de fleste af eleverne

but he took his classes there every spring.

men han underviste der hvert forår.

And as he had it, even the most restless, distractible,

Og selv den mest rastløse, distraherede,

testosterone-addled 15-year-old Californian boy

testosteron-dumme 15-årige californiske dreng

only had to spend three days in silence

behøvede kun at tilbringe tre dage i stilhed,

and something in him cooled down and cleared out.

inden noget i ham faldt til ro og rensede ud.

He found himself.

Han fandt sig selv.

And I thought, "Anything that works for a 15-year-old boy

Og jeg tænkte, "Noget, som virker for en 15-årig dreng

ought to work for me."

bør virke for mig."

So I got in my car, and I drove three hours north

Så jeg satte mig i min bil og kørte tre timer nordpå

along the coast,

langs kysten,

and the roads grew emptier and narrower,

og vejene blev mere øde og alt smallere,

and then I turned onto an even narrower path,

og så drejede jeg ind på en endnu smallere sti,

barely paved, that snaked for two miles

knap brolagt og som slangede sig tre kilometer

up to the top of a mountain.

op til toppen af et bjerg.

And when I got out of my car,

Og da jeg steg ud af min bil,

the air was pulsing.

var luften pulserende.

The whole place was absolutely silent,

Hele området var komplet stille,

but the silence wasn't an absence of noise.

men stilheden var ikke et fravær af lyde.

It was really a presence of a kind of energy or quickening.

Det var en tilstedeværelse af en form for energi eller levendegørelse.

And at my feet was the great, still blue plate

Og ved mine fødder fandtes det store blå hav,

of the Pacific Ocean.

Stillehavet.

All around me were 800 acres of wild dry brush.

Omkring mig var 800 hektar af vilde tørre buske.

And I went down to the room in which I was to be sleeping.

Og jeg gik ned til det værelse, hvor jeg skulle sove.

Small but eminently comfortable,

Lille men yderst komfortabelt,

it had a bed and a rocking chair

der var en seng og en gyngestol

and a long desk and even longer picture windows

og et langt skrivebord og endnu længere panoramavinduer

looking out on a small, private, walled garden,

med udsigt over en lille, privat, indhegnet have

and then 1,200 feet of golden pampas grass

og 1200 fod gyldent pampasgræs,

running down to the sea.

der løb ned til havet.

And I sat down, and I began to write,

Jeg satte mig ned og begyndte at skrive,

and write, and write,

og skrive og skrive,

even though I'd gone there really to get away from my desk.

selv om jeg var taget dertil for at komme væk fra mit skrivebord.

And by the time I got up, four hours had passed.

Og da jeg rejste mig op var der gået fire timer.

Night had fallen,

Natten var faldet

and I went out under this great overturned saltshaker of stars,

og jeg gik ud under denne store væltede saltkværn af stjerner,

and I could see the tail lights of cars

og jeg kunne se baglygter fra biler,

disappearing around the headlands 12 miles to the south.

der forsvandt bag bræmmerne næsten 20 km mod syd.

And it really seemed like my concerns of the previous day

Og det virkelig virkede som om mine bekymringer fra den foregående dag

vanishing.

forsvandt.

And the next day, when I woke up

Og den næste dag, da jeg vågnede

in the absence of telephones and TVs and laptops,

og ikke havde tilgang til telefoner, fjernsyn og laptops,

the days seemed to stretch for a thousand hours.

syntes dagene at vare tusind timer.

It was really all the freedom I know when I'm traveling,

Det var virkelig al den frihed, jeg kender fra mine rejser,

but it also profoundly felt like coming home.

men det føltes også virkelig som at komme hjem.

And I'm not a religious person,

Og jeg er ikke en religiøs person,

so I didn't go to the services.

deltog ikke i gudstjenesterne.

I didn't consult the monks for guidance.

Og jeg konsultere ikke munkene for vejledning.

I just took walks along the monastery road

Jeg gik bare ture langs klostervejen

and sent postcards to loved ones.

og sendte postkort til mine kære.

I looked at the clouds,

Jeg kiggede på skyerne,

and I did what is hardest of all for me to do usually,

og jeg gjorde det, der normalt set er sværest for mig at gøre,

which is nothing at all.

nemlig ingenting.

And I started to go back to this place,

Jeg begyndte at gå tilbage til dette sted,

and I noticed that I was doing my most important work there

og jeg bemærkede, at jeg fik lavet mit vigtigste arbejde der

invisibly just by sitting still,

blot ved at sidde stille

and certainly coming to my most critical decisions

og kom helt sikkert til mine mest kritiske beslutninger

the way I never could when I was racing

på en måde jeg aldrig kunne, da jeg farede rundt

from the last email to the next appointment.

fra den sidste email til den næste aftale.

And I began to think that something in me

Og jeg begyndte at tro, at noget i mig

had really been crying out for stillness,

virkelig havde hungret efter stilhed,

but of course I couldn't hear it

men jeg kunne ikke høre det,

eftersom jeg farede rundt.

because I was running around so much.

I was like some crazy guy who puts on a blindfold

Jeg var ligesom en skør fyr med bind for øjnene,

and then complains that he can't see a thing.

som derefter klager over, at han ikke kan se noget.

And I thought back to that wonderful phrase

Og jeg tænkte tilbage på den vidunderlige sætning,

I had learned as a boy from Seneca,

jeg havde lært som en dreng fra Seneca,

in which he says, "That man is poor

hvor han siger, "Den mand er fattig,

not who has little but who hankers after more."

ikke som har lidt men som rastløs længes efter mere."

And, of course, I'm not suggesting

Og jeg foreslår selvfølgelig ikke,

that anybody here go into a monastery.

at nogen her går i kloster.

That's not the point.

Det er ikke pointen.

But I do think it's only by stopping movement

Men jeg tror, at det kun er ved at stoppe bevægelse,

that you can see where to go.

som du kan se, hvor du skal hen.

And it's only by stepping out of your life and the world

Og det er kun ved at træde ud af dit liv og verden,

that you can see what you most deeply care about

som du kan se, hvad der betyder mest for dig

and find a home.

og finde et hjem.

And I've noticed so many people now

Og jeg har bemærket, at så mange mennesker

take conscious measures to sit quietly for 30 minutes

aktivt forsøger at sidde stille i 30 minutter

every morning just collecting themselves

hver morgen, blot for at samle sig,

in one corner of the room without their devices,

i et hjørne af rummet uden elektroniske enheder,

or go running every evening,

eller løber hver aften

or leave their cell phones behind

eller efterlader deres mobiltelefoner,

when they go to have a long conversation with a friend.

når de mødes for en lang samtale med en ven.

Movement is a fantastic privilege,

Bevægelse er et fantastisk privilegium

and it allows us to do so much that our grandparents

og det giver mulighed for at gøre meget, som vores bedsteforældre

could never have dreamed of doing.

aldrig kunne have drømt om at gøre.

But movement, ultimately,

Men i sidste ende har bevægelse

only has a meaning if you have a home to go back to.

kun en betydning, hvis du har et hjem at vende tilbage til.

And home, in the end, is of course

Og hjem, i sidste ende, er jo

not just the place where you sleep.

ikke bare det sted, hvor du sover.

It's the place where you stand.

Det er det sted, hvor du står.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)