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

Translator: Julie Mbeyella Reviewer: Doris Mangalu

One hot October morning,

Asubuhi moja ya mwezi Oktoba yenye joto,

I got off the all-night train

nilishuka kutoka kwenye treni ya usiku

in Mandalay,

Mandalay,

the old royal capital of Burma,

mji mkuu wa kifalme wa zamani wa Burma,

now Myanmar.

sasa Myanmar.

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

Kwenye mtaa, nikakutana na kundi la wanaume ambao ni wakorofi

standing beside their bicycle rickshaws.

wakiwa wamesimama pembeni ya baiskeli zao.

And one of them came up

Mmoja kati yao akanifuata

and offered to show me around.

na kujitolea kunionesha maeneo.

The price he quoted was outrageous.

Bei aliyoitaja ilikuwa ni ya kushangaza.

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

Ilikuwa ni kidogo kuliko ambayo ningetumia kununua chokoleti nyumbani.

So I clambered into his trishaw,

Nikapanda kwenye baiskeli yake,

and he began pedaling us slowly between palaces and pagodas.

na akaanza kutuendesha polepole kwenye makasri na mahekalu.

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

Wakati anaendesha, akaniambia jinsi alivyokuja mjini kutoka kijijini kwake.

He'd earned a degree in mathematics.

Alikuwa na digrii ya hisabati.

His dream was to be a teacher.

Ndoto yake ilikuwa awe mwalimu.

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

Hakika maisha ni magumu kwenye udikteta wa kijeshi,

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

kwa sasa, hii ilikuwa ni namna pekee ya kujipatia kipato.

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

Mara nyingi usiku, aliniambia, alilala kwenye guta yake

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

ili kusudi apate wateja wa kwanza wa treni ya usiku.

And very soon, we found that in certain ways,

Punde si punde, tukagundua kwamba kwa namna fulani

we had so much in common --

tuna mengi ya kufanana --

we were both in our 20s,

wote tulikuwa kwenye miaka ya 20,

we were both fascinated by foreign cultures --

sote tulikuwa tunavutiwa na tamaduni za kigeni --

that he invited me home.

mpaka akanikaribisha nyumbani.

So we turned off the wide, crowded streets,

Tukatoka kwenye mtaa wenye watu wengi,

and we began bumping down rough, wild alleyways.

na tukaanza kupita kwenye njia zenye mabonde na kona nyingi

There were broken shacks all around.

Kulikuwa na nyumba zilizo bomoka kila sehemu.

I really lost the sense of where I was,

Kwakweli sikujua nilipokuwepo,

and I realized that anything could happen to me now.

na nikagundua kua chochote kinaweza kunitokea sasa.

I could get mugged or drugged

Ninaweza ibiwa au leweshwa

or something worse.

au kibaya zaidi.

Nobody would know.

Hamna ambaye angejua.

Finally, he stopped and led me into a hut,

Mwishowe, akasimama na akanipeleka kwenye kibanda,

which consisted of just one tiny room.

ambacho kilikuwa na chumba kimoja tu kidogo.

And then he leaned down,

Kisha akainama chini,

and reached under his bed.

kwenye kitanda chake.

And something in me froze.

Kitu ndani yangu kikaganda.

I waited to see what he would pull out.

Nikawa nasubiri nione atavuta nini.

And finally he extracted a box.

Mwishowe akatoa boksi.

Inside it was every single letter he had ever received

Ndani yake kulikuwa na barua zote alizowahi kupokea

from visitors from abroad,

kutoka kwa wageni wa nchi za nje,

and on some of them he had pasted

na baadhi zao alikuwa amebandika

little black-and-white worn snapshots

picha ndogo zisizo na rangi zilizochoka

of his new foreign friends.

za marafiki zake wapya wa kigeni.

So when we said goodbye that night,

Hivyo tulivyoagana usiku ule,

I realized he had also shown me

nikagundua kua amenionyesha pia

the secret point of travel,

siri ya kwenye kusafiri,

which is to take a plunge,

ambayo ni kufanya kitu bila uwoga,

to go inwardly as well as outwardly

kusafiri ndani vile vile na nje,

to places you would never go otherwise,

kwenda sehemu ambazo usingeenda vinginevyo,

to venture into uncertainty,

kufanya usiyoyafahamu,

ambiguity,

usichokielewa,

even fear.

hata uwoga.

At home, it's dangerously easy

Nyumbani, ni hatari kirahisi

to assume we're on top of things.

kujiona tupo juu ya mambo.

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

Nje kwenye dunia, unakumbushwa kila saa kwamba haupo

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

na hauwezi kufikia kwenye mwisho wa mambo pia.

Everywhere, "People wish to be settled,"

Kila sehemu, "Watu wanatamani kutulia,"

Ralph Waldo Emerson reminded us,

Ralph Waldo Emerson alitukumbusha,

"but only insofar as we are unsettled

"lakini mara nyingi tunapokuwa hatujatulia

is there any hope for us."

ndipo kuna tumaini kwetu."

At this conference, we've been lucky enough

Kwenye hili kongamano, tumebahatika sana

to hear some exhilarating new ideas and discoveries

kusikia mawazo mapya ya kustaajabisha na vumbuzi

and, really, about all the ways

na kweli, kuhusu njia zote

in which knowledge is being pushed excitingly forwards.

ambazo maarife yanasukumwa mbele sana.

But at some point, knowledge gives out.

Lakini kuna hatua, maarifa yanaondoka.

And that is the moment

Na huo ndio muda

when your life is truly decided:

ambao maisha yako yanaamua kweli:

you fall in love;

unapata upendo;

you lose a friend;

unapoteza rafiki;

the lights go out.

taa zinazimika.

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

Na ni hapo, ambapo ukiwa umepotea, au huelewi au umepoteza matumaini,

that you find out who you are.

ndipo unapogundua wewe ni nani.

I don't believe that ignorance is bliss.

Siamini kama ujinga ni starehe.

Science has unquestionably made our lives

Sayansi imefanya maisha yetu

brighter and longer and healthier.

yang'ae zaidi, marefu zaidi na yenye afya zaidi.

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

Na ninawashukuru sana walimu walionifundisha kanuni za fizikia,

and pointed out that three times three makes nine.

na kunielekeza kwamba tatu mara tatu ni tisa.

I can count that out on my fingers

Naweza kuhesabu hiyo kwa vidole vyangu.

any time of night or day.

muda wowote wa usiku au mchana.

But when a mathematician tells me

Lakini mwanahisabati akiniambia

that minus three times minus three makes nine,

hio ukitoa mara tatu ukitoa tatu ni tisa,

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

hiyo ni aina ya mantiki inayoonekana kama uaminifu.

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

Tofauti ya maarifa, kwa maneno mengine, sio lazima iwe ujinga.

It can be wonder.

Inaweza ikawa mshangao.

Or mystery.

Au maajabu.

Possibility.

Uwezekano.

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

Na kwenye maisha yangu, nimegundua ni vile nisivyovijua

that have lifted me up and pushed me forwards

ndivyo ambavyo vimeninyanyua na kunisukuma mbele zaidi

much more than the things I do know.

kushinda vile ninavyovijua.

It's also the things I don't know

Ni pia vile nisivyovijua

that have often brought me closer to everybody around me.

vilivyonileta karibu na kila mtu anaenizunguka.

For eight straight Novembers, recently,

Kwa Novemba nane mfululizo, hivi karibuni,

I traveled every year across Japan with the Dalai Lama.

nimesafiri kila mwaka kupitia Japan na Dalai Lama.

And the one thing he said every day

Na kitu ambacho alikuwa anasema kila siku

that most seemed to give people reassurance and confidence

ambacho kilionekana kuwapa watu suluhisho na tumaini

was, "I don't know."

ilikuwa ni "sijui."

"What's going to happen to Tibet?"

"Nini kitatokea Tibet?"

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

"Lini tutapata amani duniani?"

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

"Ipi ni njia sahihi ya kulea watoto?"

"Frankly," says this very wise man,

"Kiukweli," anasema huyu mtu mwenye busara,

"I don't know."

"Sijui."

The Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman

Mshindi wa tuzo ya Nobeli, mwanauchumi Daniel Kahneman

has spent more than 60 years now researching human behavior,

ametumia zaidi ya miaka 60 sasa akichunguza tabia za binadamu,

and his conclusion is

na muafaka wake ni

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

kua huwa tunajiamini sana na kile tunachodhani tunakijua

than we should be.

kuliko tunavyotakiwa kuwa.

We have, as he memorably puts it,

Tunakuwa, kama anavyosema,

an "unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance."

na "uwezo usio na kikomo wa kupuuzia ujinga wetu."

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

Tunajua -- nanukuu -- timu yetu itaenda kushinda wikiendi hii,

and we only remember that knowledge

na tunakumbuka tu hayo maarifa

on the rare occasions when we're right.

mara chache tukiwa sahihi.

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

Mara nyingi, tunakuwa gizani.

And that's where real intimacy lies.

Na hapo ndipo hisia za kweli zipo.

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

Unajua mpenzi wako atakachokua anafanya kesho?

Do you want to know?

Je unataka kujua?

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

Wazazi wetu sote kama watu wanavyowaita,

Adam and Eve,

Adam na Hawa,

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

wasigeweza kufa, alimradi waliendelea kula kutoka kwenye mti wa uzima.

But the minute they began nibbling

Ila punde walivyoanza kula

from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

kutoka kwenye mti wa maarifa, ya mema na mabaya,

they fell from their innocence.

wakaanguka kutoka kwenye weupe wao.

They grew embarrassed and fretful,

Wakajawa na aibu na uwoga,

self-conscious.

wakajitambua.

And they learned, a little too late, perhaps,

Na wakajifunza, kwa kuchelewa, pengine,

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

kwamba kwa kweli kuna vitu tunahitaji kuvijua,

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

lakini kuna vingi, vingi zaidi ambavyo ni bora visichunguzwe.

Now, when I was a kid,

Sasa, nilivyokuwa mtoto,

I knew it all, of course.

nilijua vyote, bila shaka.

I had been spending 20 years in classrooms collecting facts,

Nilitumia miaka 20 darasani nikikusanya mawazo,

and I was actually in the information business,

na nilikuwa kweli kwenye biashara ya habari,

writing articles for Time Magazine.

nikiandika makala ya gazeti la Time.

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

Nikasafiri kwenda Japan kwa mara ya kwanza kwa muda wa wiki mbili na nusu,

and I came back with a 40-page essay

na nikarudi na insha ya karatasi 40

explaining every last detail about Japan's temples,

ikielezea kila kitu kuhusu nyumba za ibada za Japan,

its fashions, its baseball games,

mitindo yake, michezo yake ya besiboli,

its soul.

nafsi yake.

But underneath all that,

Lakini chini ya hayo yote,

something that I couldn't understand

kitu ambacho sikuweza elewa

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

kiliniongoza kwa sababu nisizoweza kuwaelezea bado,

that I decided to go and live in Japan.

mpaka nikaamua kwenda kuishi Japan.

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

Na sasa ambapo nimekuwa kule kwa miaka 28,

I really couldn't tell you very much at all

siwezi kuwaelezea mengi kabisa

about my adopted home.

kuhusu nyumbani kwangu.

Which is wonderful,

Ambayo ni nzuri,

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

sababu inamaanisha kila siku ninagundua kitu kipya.

and in the process,

na kwenye hiyo harakati,

looking around the corner and seeing the hundred thousand things

kuangalia pembeni na kuona mamia na maelfu ya vitu

I'll never know.

nisingeweza kujua.

Knowledge is a priceless gift.

Maarifa ni zawadi kubwa sana.

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

Lakini maarifa ya uwongo yanaweza kua hatari kuliko ujinga.

Thinking that you know your lover

Kuwaza kwamba unamjua mpenzi wako

or your enemy

au adui yako

can be more treacherous

inaweza kua ya hila zaidi

than acknowledging you'll never know them.

kuliko kukubali kwamba hautowajua.

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

Kila asubuhi Japan, ua likiwaka kwenye nyumba yetu ndogo,

I take great pains not to consult the weather forecast,

inanichukua maumivu mengi kutokuangalia utabiri wa hali ya hewa,

because if I do,

sababu nikiangalia,

my mind will be overclouded, distracted,

akili yangu itajawa na mawazo, na itasumbuka

even when the day is bright.

hata kama siku ikiwa angavu.

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

Nimekuwa mwandishi kwa miaka 34 sasa.

And the one thing that I have learned

Na kitu kimoja ambacho nimejifunza

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

ni kua mabadiliko huja pale nisipoyapangilia,

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

pale ambapo sijui nini kinafuata,

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

pale ambapo siwezi kuwaza kua ni mkubwa kuliko kila kitu kinachonizunguka.

And the same is true in love

Na hio ni kweli pia kwenye upendo

or in moments of crisis.

au kwenye wakati wa majanga.

Suddenly, we're back in that trishaw again

Ghafla, tumerudi kwenye ile guta tena

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

na tunaruka mitaa mikubwa yenye taa;

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

na tunakumbushwa, kweli, kwenye kanuni ya kwanza ya safari

and, therefore, of life:

na hivyo, ya maisha:

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

una nguvu tu kama uwezo wako wa kujisalimisha.

In the end, perhaps,

Mwishowe, pengine,

being human

kuwa binadamu

is much more important

ni muhimu zaidi

than being fully in the know.

kuliko kuwa kwenye kujua kikamilifu.

Thank you.

Asanteni.

(Applause)

(Makofi)