The Beauty of What We'll Never Know | Pico Iyer | TED

Prevodilac: Milenka Okuka Lektor: Mile Živković

One hot October morning,

Jednog toplog oktobarskog jutra,

I got off the all-night train

sišao sam sa noćnog voza

in Mandalay,

u Mandaleju,

the old royal capital of Burma,

bivšem glavnom gradu Burme,

now Myanmar.

sada je to Mjanmar.

And out on the street, I ran into a group of rough men

I na ulici sam naleteo na grupu snažnih muškaraca

standing beside their bicycle rickshaws.

koji su stajali pored njihovih bicikli rikši.

And one of them came up

A jedan mi je prišao

and offered to show me around.

i ponudio mi razgledanje.

The price he quoted was outrageous.

Cena koju je naveo je bila smešna.

It was less than I would pay for a bar of chocolate at home.

Bila je niža od cene čokoladice u mojoj zemlji.

So I clambered into his trishaw,

Te sam se ispentrao u njegovu rikšu

and he began pedaling us slowly between palaces and pagodas.

i on je počeo polako da pedala kroz palate i pagode.

And as he did, he told me how he had come to the city from his village.

I dok je to radio, rekao mi je kako je došao u grad iz svog sela.

He'd earned a degree in mathematics.

Stekao je diplomu iz matematike.

His dream was to be a teacher.

Njegov san je bio da bude nastavnik.

But of course, life is hard under a military dictatorship,

Ali, naravno, život je težak pod vojnom diktaturom,

and so for now, this was the only way he could make a living.

te je za sad ovo bio jedini način da zaradi za život.

Many nights, he told me, he actually slept in his trishaw

Mnogo noći, rekao mi je, zapravo je prespavao u ovoj rikši

so he could catch the first visitors off the all-night train.

kako bi uhvatio prve posetioce sa noćnog voza.

And very soon, we found that in certain ways,

I uskoro smo otkrili da na izvesne načine,

we had so much in common --

imamo toliko toga zajedničkog -

we were both in our 20s,

obojica smo bili u dvadesetim,

we were both fascinated by foreign cultures --

obojica smo bili fascinirani stranim kulturama -

that he invited me home.

te me je pozvao u njegovu kuću.

So we turned off the wide, crowded streets,

Pa smo skrenuli sa širokih, natrpanih ulica

and we began bumping down rough, wild alleyways.

i počeli smo da truckamo niz hrapave, nenastanjene uličice.

There were broken shacks all around.

Svuda okolo su bile urušene straćare.

I really lost the sense of where I was,

Zaista sam izgubio svest o tome gde sam,

and I realized that anything could happen to me now.

i shvatio sam da mi se sad može desiti bilo šta.

I could get mugged or drugged

Mogli bi me opljačkati ili drogirati

or something worse.

ili nešto još gore.

Nobody would know.

Niko ne bi znao.

Finally, he stopped and led me into a hut,

Naposletku se zaustavio i uveo me u baraku,

which consisted of just one tiny room.

koja se sastojala od svega jedne sićušne prostorije.

And then he leaned down,

A potom se sageo

and reached under his bed.

i posegnuo ispod kreveta.

And something in me froze.

A nešto u meni se sledilo.

I waited to see what he would pull out.

Čekao sam da vidim šta će da izvuče.

And finally he extracted a box.

I naposletku je izvadio kutiju.

Inside it was every single letter he had ever received

Unutra je bilo svako pismo koje je ikad dobio

from visitors from abroad,

od posetilaca iz inostranstva,

and on some of them he had pasted

a na nekima je zalepio

little black-and-white worn snapshots

male izbledele crno-bele fotografije

of his new foreign friends.

njegovih novih prijatelja iz inostranstva.

So when we said goodbye that night,

Pa, kad smo se pozdravili te noći,

I realized he had also shown me

shvatio sam da mi je takođe pokazao

the secret point of travel,

tajni smisao putovanja,

which is to take a plunge,

a to je strmoglavljivanje,

to go inwardly as well as outwardly

odlazak u unutrašnjost, kao i u spoljašnjost

to places you would never go otherwise,

na mesta na koja u suprotnom ne biste išli,

to venture into uncertainty,

da se otisnete u neizvesnost,

ambiguity,

nepoznanicu,

even fear.

čak i u strah.

At home, it's dangerously easy

Kod kuće, opasno je lako

to assume we're on top of things.

pretpostaviti da imamo kontrolu nad svim.

Out in the world, you are reminded every moment that you're not,

Tamo napolju, podsećaju vas svakog trenutka da nemate,

and you can't get to the bottom of things, either.

i ne možete sve da shvatite, takođe.

Everywhere, "People wish to be settled,"

Svuda: "Ljudi žele da se skrase",

Ralph Waldo Emerson reminded us,

podsetio nas je Ralf Valdo Emerson,

"but only insofar as we are unsettled

"ali sve dok smo neskrašeni

is there any hope for us."

ima neke nade za nas."

At this conference, we've been lucky enough

Na ovoj konferenciji smo imali sreće

to hear some exhilarating new ideas and discoveries

da čujemo neke stimulativne nove ideje i otkrića

and, really, about all the ways

i, zaista, o svim načinima

in which knowledge is being pushed excitingly forwards.

na koje se znanje uzbudljivo probija napred.

But at some point, knowledge gives out.

Ali u jednom momentu, znanja ponestaje.

And that is the moment

I to je trenutak

when your life is truly decided:

kad se vaš život uistinu prelama:

you fall in love;

zaljubite se;

you lose a friend;

izgubite prijatelja;

the lights go out.

svetla se pogase.

And it's then, when you're lost or uneasy or carried out of yourself,

I tad kad ste izgubljeni ili uznemireni ili van sebe,

that you find out who you are.

tada otkrivate ko ste.

I don't believe that ignorance is bliss.

Ne verujem da je neznanje blagoslov.

Science has unquestionably made our lives

Nauka je nesumnjivo učinila naše živote

brighter and longer and healthier.

življim i dužim i zdravijim.

And I am forever grateful to the teachers who showed me the laws of physics

I večno sam zahvalan nastavnicima koji su mi objasnili zakone fizike

and pointed out that three times three makes nine.

i istakli da je tri puta tri - devet.

I can count that out on my fingers

Mogu to izračunati na prstima

any time of night or day.

u bilo koje doba noći ili dana.

But when a mathematician tells me

Ali kad mi matematičar kaže

that minus three times minus three makes nine,

da minus tri puta minus tri jeste devet,

that's a kind of logic that almost feels like trust.

takav vid logike skoro da liči na poverenje.

The opposite of knowledge, in other words, isn't always ignorance.

Suprotno od znanja, drugim rečima, nije uvek neznanje.

It can be wonder.

Može da bude čuđenje.

Or mystery.

Ili tajanstvenost.

Possibility.

Mogućnost.

And in my life, I've found it's the things I don't know

A u mom životu, otkrio sam da me ono što ne znam

that have lifted me up and pushed me forwards

uzdiže i vuče napred

much more than the things I do know.

mnogo više nego ono što znam.

It's also the things I don't know

Takođe me je ono što ne znam

that have often brought me closer to everybody around me.

često zbližavalo sa svima koji me okružuju.

For eight straight Novembers, recently,

Osam uzastopnih novembara, poslednjih,

I traveled every year across Japan with the Dalai Lama.

svake godine sam putovao duž Japana sa Dalaj Lamom.

And the one thing he said every day

I jedno mi je ponavljao svakodnevno

that most seemed to give people reassurance and confidence

da se čini kako ljude najviše razuverava i daje im samopouzdanje

was, "I don't know."

fraza: "Ne znam".

"What's going to happen to Tibet?"

"Šta će da se desi sa Tibetom?"

"When are we ever going to get world peace?"

"Da li ćemo ikada postići mir u svetu?"

"What's the best way to raise children?"

"Koji je najbolji način vaspitanja dece?"

"Frankly," says this very wise man,

"Iskreno", kaže ovaj veoma mudar čovek,

"I don't know."

"ne znam."

The Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman

Dobitnik Nobelove nagrade, ekonomista Danijel Kaneman,

has spent more than 60 years now researching human behavior,

proveo je preko 60 godina do sad izučavajući ljudsko ponašanje

and his conclusion is

i njegov zaključak glasi

that we are always much more confident of what we think we know

da smo uvek daleko uvereniji u ono što mislimo da znamo

than we should be.

nego što bi trebalo da budemo.

We have, as he memorably puts it,

Imamo, kako on to upečatljivo formuliše,

an "unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance."

"neograničenu sposobnost da zanemarujemo neznanje".

We know -- quote, unquote -- our team is going to win this weekend,

Znamo - početak i kraj citata - da će naša ekipa pobediti ovog vikenda,

and we only remember that knowledge

i jedino se sećamo tog znanja

on the rare occasions when we're right.

u retkim prilikama kad smo u pravu.

Most of the time, we're in the dark.

Većinu vremena smo u neznanju.

And that's where real intimacy lies.

A tu počiva istinska prisnost.

Do you know what your lover is going to do tomorrow?

Znate li šta će vaš ljubavnik da radi sutra?

Do you want to know?

Da li želite da znate?

The parents of us all, as some people call them,

Roditelji svih nas, kako ih neki ljudi zovu,

Adam and Eve,

Adam i Eva,

could never die, so long as they were eating from the tree of life.

nikad ne bi umrli, dokle god bi jeli sa drveta života.

But the minute they began nibbling

Ali onog trena kad su počeli da glođu

from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

sa drveta poznavanja dobra i zla,

they fell from their innocence.

izgubili su svoju nevinost.

They grew embarrassed and fretful,

Postali su postiđeni i zabrinuti,

self-conscious.

samosvesni.

And they learned, a little too late, perhaps,

I saznali su, možda malčice prekasno,

that there are certainly some things that we need to know,

da izvesno postoje neke stvari koje moramo da znamo,

but there are many, many more that are better left unexplored.

ali da postoji još mnogo, mnogo više onih koje valja ostaviti neistraženim.

Now, when I was a kid,

Sad, kad sam bio dete,

I knew it all, of course.

sve sam to znao, naravno.

I had been spending 20 years in classrooms collecting facts,

Proveo sam 20 godina po učionicama, sakupljajući činjenice

and I was actually in the information business,

i zapravo sam bio u informacionom poslu,

writing articles for Time Magazine.

pisao sam članke za časopis "Tajm".

And I took my first real trip to Japan for two-and-a-half weeks,

I krenuo sam na svoje prvo pravo putovanje u Japan na dve i po nedelje

and I came back with a 40-page essay

i vratio sam se sa esejom od 40 stranica,

explaining every last detail about Japan's temples,

objašnjavajući svaki i najmanji detalj japanskih hramova,

its fashions, its baseball games,

njihovu modu, bejzbol mečeve,

its soul.

njihovu dušu.

But underneath all that,

No ispod svega toga,

something that I couldn't understand

nešto što nisam mogao da razumem

so moved me for reasons I couldn't explain to you yet,

toliko me je ganulo iz razloga koje još uvek nisam mogao da objasnim,

that I decided to go and live in Japan.

da sam odlučio da se preselim u Japan.

And now that I've been there for 28 years,

I pošto sam tamo već 28 godina,

I really couldn't tell you very much at all

zaista vam ne bih uopšte mogao reći mnogo toga

about my adopted home.

o mom usvojenom domu.

Which is wonderful,

A to je divno

because it means every day I'm making some new discovery,

jer znači da svakog dana nešto novo otkrivam,

and in the process,

a samim tim,

looking around the corner and seeing the hundred thousand things

gledam iza uglova i zapažam na stotine hiljada stvari

I'll never know.

koje nikad neću shvatiti.

Knowledge is a priceless gift.

Znanje je neprocenjiv dar.

But the illusion of knowledge can be more dangerous than ignorance.

No iluzija znanja može da bude opasnija od neznanja.

Thinking that you know your lover

Misao da poznajete svog ljubavnika

or your enemy

ili neprijatelja

can be more treacherous

može da bude podmuklija

than acknowledging you'll never know them.

od priznanja da ih nikad nećete upoznati.

Every morning in Japan, as the sun is flooding into our little apartment,

Svakog jutra u Japanu, dok sunce kupa naš maleni stan,

I take great pains not to consult the weather forecast,

mnogo se opirem da ne gledam prognozu vremena

because if I do,

jer ako to uradim,

my mind will be overclouded, distracted,

moj um će da bude pomućen, pometen,

even when the day is bright.

čak i kad je dan vedar.

I've been a full-time writer now for 34 years.

Već 34 godine sam stalno zaposleni pisac.

And the one thing that I have learned

I nešto što sam naučio

is that transformation comes when I'm not in charge,

je da preobražaj nastaje kad nemam kontrolu,

when I don't know what's coming next,

kad ne znam šta će da usledi,

when I can't assume I am bigger than everything around me.

kad ne mogu da pretpostavim da sam iznad svega što me okružuje.

And the same is true in love

A isto važi i za ljubav

or in moments of crisis.

ili u kriznim trenucima.

Suddenly, we're back in that trishaw again

Iznenada smo ponovo u toj rikši

and we're bumping off the broad, well-lit streets;

i truckamo dalje od širokih, osvetljenih ulica;

and we're reminded, really, of the first law of travel

i podsećamo se, zaista, na prvi zakon putovanja

and, therefore, of life:

i, samim tim, života:

you're only as strong as your readiness to surrender.

jaki ste samo onoliko kolika je vaša spremnost na predaju.

In the end, perhaps,

Naposletku, možda,

being human

biti čovek

is much more important

je daleko važnije

than being fully in the know.

od stanja potpune poznanice.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)