What fear can teach us | Karen Thompson Walker

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

翻译人员: James Yu 校对人员: Wei Wu

One day in 1819,

1819年的某一天，

3,000 miles off the coast of Chile,

在距离智利海岸3000英里的地方，

in one of the most remote regions of the Pacific Ocean,

有一个太平洋上的最偏远的水域，

20 American sailors watched their ship flood with seawater.

20名美国船员目睹了他们的船只进水的场面。

They'd been struck by a sperm whale, which had ripped

他们和一头抹香鲸相撞，给船体撞了

a catastrophic hole in the ship's hull.

一个毁灭性的大洞。

As their ship began to sink beneath the swells,

当船在巨浪中开始沉没时，

the men huddled together in three small whaleboats.

人们在三条救生小艇中抱作一团。

These men were 10,000 miles from home,

这些人在离家10000万英里的地方，

more than 1,000 miles from the nearest scrap of land.

离最近的陆地也超过1000英里。

In their small boats, they carried only

在他们的小艇中，他们只带了

rudimentary navigational equipment

落后的导航设备

and limited supplies of food and water.

和有限的食物和饮水。

These were the men of the whaleship Essex,

他们就是捕鲸船ESSEX上的人们，

whose story would later inspire parts of "Moby Dick."

后来的他们的故事成为《白鲸记》的一部分。

Even in today's world, their situation would be really dire,

即使在当今的世界，碰上这种情况也够杯具的，

but think about how much worse it would have been then.

更不用说在当时的情况有多糟糕。

No one on land had any idea that anything had gone wrong.

岸上的人根本就还没意识到出了什么问题。

No search party was coming to look for these men.

没有任何人来搜寻他们。

So most of us have never experienced a situation

我们当中大部分人没有经历过

as frightening as the one in which these sailors found themselves,

这些船员所处的可怕情景，

but we all know what it's like to be afraid.

但我们都知道害怕是什么感觉。

We know how fear feels,

我们知道恐惧的感觉，

but I'm not sure we spend enough time thinking about

但是我不能肯定我们会花很多时间想过

what our fears mean.

我们的恐惧到底意味着什么。

As we grow up, we're often encouraged to think of fear

我们长大以后，我们总是会被鼓励把恐惧

as a weakness, just another childish thing to discard

视为软弱，需要像乳牙或轮滑鞋一样

like baby teeth or roller skates.

扔掉的幼稚的东西。

And I think it's no accident that we think this way.

我想意外事故并非我们所想的那样。

Neuroscientists have actually shown that human beings

神经系统科学家已经知道人类

are hard-wired to be optimists.

生来就是乐观主义者。

So maybe that's why we think of fear, sometimes,

这也许就是为什么我们认为有时候恐惧，

as a danger in and of itself.

本身就是一种危险或带来危险。

"Don't worry," we like to say to one another. "Don't panic."

“不要愁。”我们总是对别人说。“不要慌”。

In English, fear is something we conquer.

英语中，恐惧是我们需要征服的东西。

It's something we fight. It's something we overcome.

是我们必须对抗的东西，是我们必须克服的东西。

But what if we looked at fear in a fresh way?

但是我们如果换个视角看恐惧会如何呢？

What if we thought of fear as an amazing act of the imagination,

如果我们把恐惧当做是想象力的一个惊人成果，

something that can be as profound and insightful

是和我们讲故事一样

as storytelling itself?

精妙而有见地的东西，又会如何呢？

It's easiest to see this link between fear and the imagination

在小孩子当中，我们最容易看到恐惧与想象之间的联系，

in young children, whose fears are often extraordinarily vivid.

他们的恐惧经常是超级生动的。

When I was a child, I lived in California,

我小时候住在加利福尼亚，

which is, you know, mostly a very nice place to live,

你们都知道，是非常适合居住的位置，

but for me as a child, California could also be a little scary.

但是对一个小孩来说，加利福尼亚也会有点吓人。

I remember how frightening it was to see the chandelier

我记得每次小地震的时候

that hung above our dining table swing back and forth

当我看到我们餐桌上的吊灯

during every minor earthquake,

晃来晃去的时候是多么的吓人，

and I sometimes couldn't sleep at night, terrified

我经常会彻夜难眠，担心大地震

that the Big One might strike while we were sleeping.

会在我们睡觉的时候突然袭来。

And what we say about kids who have fears like that

我们说小孩子感受到这种恐惧

is that they have a vivid imagination.

是因为他们有生动的想象力。

But at a certain point, most of us learn

但是在某个时候，我们大多数学会了

to leave these kinds of visions behind and grow up.

抛弃这种想法而变得成熟。

We learn that there are no monsters hiding under the bed,

我们都知道床下没有魔鬼，

and not every earthquake brings buildings down.

也不是每个地震都会震垮房子。

But maybe it's no coincidence that some of our most creative minds

但是我们当中最有想象力的人们

fail to leave these kinds of fears behind as adults.

并没有因为成年而抛弃这种恐惧，这也许并不是巧合。

The same incredible imaginations that produced "The Origin of Species,"

同样不可思议的想象力创造了《物种起源》，

"Jane Eyre" and "The Remembrance of Things Past,"

《简·爱》和《追忆似水年华》，

also generated intense worries that haunted the adult lives

也就是这种与生俱来的深深的担忧一直缠绕着成年的

of Charles Darwin, Charlotte BrontĂŤ and Marcel Proust.

查尔斯·达尔文， 夏洛特·勃朗特和马塞尔·普罗斯特。

So the question is, what can the rest of us learn about fear

问题就来了， 我们其他人如何能从这些

from visionaries and young children?

梦想家和小孩子身上学会恐惧？

Well let's return to the year 1819 for a moment,

让我们暂时回到1819年，

to the situation facing the crew of the whaleship Essex.

回到ESSEX捕鲸船的水手们面对的情况。

Let's take a look at the fears that their imaginations

让我们看看他们漂流在太平洋中央时

were generating as they drifted in the middle of the Pacific.

他们的想象力给他们带来的恐惧感觉。

Twenty-four hours had now passed since the capsizing of the ship.

船倾覆后已经过了24个小时。

The time had come for the men to make a plan,

这时人们制定了一个计划，

but they had very few options.

但是其实他们没什么太多的选择。

In his fascinating account of the disaster,

在纳撒尼尔·菲尔布里克（Nathaniel Philbrick）描述这场灾难的

Nathaniel Philbrick wrote that these men were just about

动人文章中，他写到“这些人离陆地如此之远，

as far from land as it was possible to be anywhere on Earth.

似乎永远都不可能到达地球上的任何一块陆地。”

The men knew that the nearest islands they could reach

这些人知道离他们最近的岛

were the Marquesas Islands, 1,200 miles away.

是1200英里以外的马克萨斯群岛（Marquesas Islands）。

But they'd heard some frightening rumors.

但是他们听到了让人恐怖的谣言。

They'd been told that these islands,

他们听说这些群岛，

and several others nearby, were populated by cannibals.

以及附近的一些岛屿上都住着食人族。

So the men pictured coming ashore only to be murdered

所以他们脑中都是上岸以后就会被杀掉

and eaten for dinner.

被人当做盘中餐的画面。

Another possible destination was Hawaii,

另一个可行的目的地是夏威夷，

but given the season, the captain was afraid

但是船长担心

they'd be struck by severe storms.

他们会被困在风暴当中。

Now the last option was the longest, and the most difficult:

所以最后的选择是到最远，也是最艰险的地方：

to sail 1,500 miles due south in hopes of reaching

往南走1500英里希望某股风

a certain band of winds that could eventually

能最终把他们

push them toward the coast of South America.

吹到南美洲的海岸。

But they knew that the sheer length of this journey

但是他们知道这个行程中一旦偏航

would stretch their supplies of food and water.

将会耗尽他们食物和饮水的供给。

To be eaten by cannibals, to be battered by storms,

被食人族吃掉，被风暴掀翻，

to starve to death before reaching land.

在登陆前饿死。

These were the fears that danced in the imaginations of these poor men,

这就是萦绕在这群可怜的人想象中的恐惧，

and as it turned out, the fear they chose to listen to

事实证明，他们选择听从的恐惧

would govern whether they lived or died.

将决定他们的生死。

Now we might just as easily call these fears by a different name.

也许我们可以很容易的用别的名称来称呼这些恐惧。

What if instead of calling them fears,

我们不称之为恐惧，

we called them stories?

而是称它们为故事如何？

Because that's really what fear is, if you think about it.

如果你仔细想想，这是恐惧真正的意义。

It's a kind of unintentional storytelling

这是一种与生俱来的，

that we are all born knowing how to do.

无意识的讲故事的能力。

And fears and storytelling have the same components.

恐惧和讲故事有着同样的构成。

They have the same architecture.

他们有同样的结构。

Like all stories, fears have characters.

如同所有的故事，恐惧中有角色。

In our fears, the characters are us.

在恐惧中，角色就是我们自己。

Fears also have plots. They have beginnings and middles and ends.

恐惧也有情节。他们有开头，有中间，有结尾。

You board the plane. The plane takes off. The engine fails.

你登上飞机。飞机起飞。结果引擎故障。

Our fears also tend to contain imagery that can be

我们的恐惧会包括各种生动的想象，

every bit as vivid as what you might find in the pages of a novel.

不比你看到的任何一个小说逊色。

Picture a cannibal, human teeth

想象食人族，人类牙齿

sinking into human skin,

咬在人类皮肤上，

human flesh roasting over a fire.

人肉在火上烤。

Fears also have suspense.

恐惧中也有悬念。

If I've done my job as a storyteller today,

如果我今天像讲故事一样，留个悬念不说了，

you should be wondering what happened

你们也许会很想知道

to the men of the whaleship Essex.

ESSEX捕鲸船上，人们到底怎么样了。

Our fears provoke in us a very similar form of suspense.

我们的恐惧用悬念一样的方式刺激我们。

Just like all great stories, our fears focus our attention

就像一个很好的故事，我们的恐惧也如同一部好的文学作品一样，

on a question that is as important in life as it is in literature:

将我们的注意力集中在对我们生命至关重要的问题上：

What will happen next?

后来发生了什么？

In other words, our fears make us think about the future.

换而言之，我们的恐惧让我们想到未来。

And humans, by the way, are the only creatures capable

另外，人来是唯一有能力

of thinking about the future in this way,

通过这种方式想到未来的生物，

of projecting ourselves forward in time,

就是预测时间推移后我们的状况，

and this mental time travel is just one more thing

这种精神上的时间旅行是恐惧

that fears have in common with storytelling.

与讲故事的另一个共同点。

As a writer, I can tell you that a big part of writing fiction

我是一个作家，我要告诉你们写小说一个很重要的部分

is learning to predict how one event in a story

就是学会预测故事中一件

will affect all the other events,

事情如何影响另一件事情，

and fear works in that same way.

恐惧也是同样这么做的。

In fear, just like in fiction, one thing always leads to another.

恐惧中，如同小说一样，一件事情总是导致另一件事情。

When I was writing my first novel, "The Age Of Miracles,"

我写我的第一部小说《奇迹时代》的时候，

I spent months trying to figure out what would happen

我花了数月的时间想象如果地球旋转突然变慢了之后

if the rotation of the Earth suddenly began to slow down.

会发生什么。

What would happen to our days? What would happen to our crops?

我们的一天变得如何？我们身体会怎样？

What would happen to our minds?

我们的思想会有什么变化？

And then it was only later that I realized how very similar

也就是在那之后，我意识到

these questions were to the ones I used to ask myself

我过去总是问自己的那些些问题

as a child frightened in the night.

和孩子们在夜里害怕是多么的相像。

If an earthquake strikes tonight, I used to worry,

要是在过去，如果今晚发生地震，我会很担心，

what will happen to our house? What will happen to my family?

我的房子会怎么样啊？家里人会怎样啊？

And the answer to those questions always took the form of a story.

这类问题的答案通常都会和故事一样。

So if we think of our fears as more than just fears

所以我们认为我们的恐惧不仅仅是恐惧

but as stories, we should think of ourselves

还是故事，我们应该把自己当作

as the authors of those stories.

这些故事的作者。

But just as importantly, we need to think of ourselves

但是同样重要的是，我们需要想象我们自己

as the readers of our fears, and how we choose

是我们恐惧的解读者，我们选择如何

to read our fears can have a profound effect on our lives.

去解读这些恐惧会对我们的生活产生深远的影响。

Now, some of us naturally read our fears more closely than others.

现在，我们中有些人比其他人更自然的解读自己的恐惧。

I read about a study recently of successful entrepreneurs,

最近我看过一个关于成功的企业家的研究，

and the author found that these people shared a habit

作者发现这些人都有个习惯

that he called "productive paranoia," which meant that

叫做“未雨绸缪“，

these people, instead of dismissing their fears,

意思是，这些人，不回避自己的恐惧，

these people read them closely, they studied them,

而是认真解读并研究恐惧，

and then they translated that fear into preparation and action.

然后把恐惧转换成准备和行动。

So that way, if their worst fears came true,

这样，如果最坏的事情发生了，

their businesses were ready.

他们的企业也有所准备。

And sometimes, of course, our worst fears do come true.

当然，很多时候，最坏的事情确实发生了。

That's one of the things that is so extraordinary about fear.

这是恐惧非凡的一面。

Once in a while, our fears can predict the future.

曾几何时，我们的恐惧预测将来。

But we can't possibly prepare for all of the fears

但是我们不可能为我们想象力构建的所有

that our imaginations concoct.

恐惧来做准备。

So how can we tell the difference between

所以，如何区分值得听从的恐惧

the fears worth listening to and all the others?

和不值得的呢？

I think the end of the story of the whaleship Essex

我想捕鲸船ESSEX的故事结局

offers an illuminating, if tragic, example.

提供了一个有启发性，同时又悲惨的例子。

After much deliberation, the men finally made a decision.

经过数次权衡，他们最终做出了决定。

Terrified of cannibals, they decided to forgo the closest islands

由于害怕食人族，他们决定放弃最近的群岛

and instead embarked on the longer

而是开始更长

and much more difficult route to South America.

更艰难的南美洲之旅。

After more than two months at sea, the men ran out of food

在海上呆了两个多月后，他们

as they knew they might,

的食物如预料之中消耗殆尽，

and they were still quite far from land.

而且他们仍然离陆地那么远。

When the last of the survivors were finally picked up

当最后的幸存者最终被过往船只救起时，

by two passing ships, less than half of the men were left alive,

只有一小半的人还活着，

and some of them had resorted to their own form of cannibalism.

实际上他们中的一些人自己变成了食人族。

Herman Melville, who used this story as research for "Moby Dick,"

赫尔曼·梅尔维尔（Herman Melville）将这个故事作为

wrote years later, and from dry land, quote,

《白鲸记》的素材，在数年后写到：

"All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex

ESSEX船上遇难者的悲惨结局

might in all human probability have been avoided

或许是可以通过人为的努力避免的，

had they, immediately after leaving the wreck,

如果他们当机立断地离开沉船，

steered straight for Tahiti.

直奔塔西提群岛。

But," as Melville put it, "they dreaded cannibals."

“但是”，梅尔维尔说道：“他们害怕食人族”

So the question is, why did these men dread cannibals

问题是，为什么这些人对于食人族的恐惧

so much more than the extreme likelihood of starvation?

超过了更有可能的饥饿威胁呢？

Why were they swayed by one story

为什么他们会被一个故事

so much more than the other?

影响如此之大呢？

Looked at from this angle,

从另一个角度来看，

theirs becomes a story about reading.

这是一个关于解读的故事。

The novelist Vladimir Nabokov said that the best reader

小说家弗拉基米尔·纳博科夫（Vladimir Nabokov）说

has a combination of two very different temperaments,

最好的读者能把两种截然不同的性格结合起来，

the artistic and the scientific.

一个是艺术气质，一个是科学精神。

A good reader has an artist's passion,

好的读者有艺术家的热情，

a willingness to get caught up in the story,

愿意融入故事当中，

but just as importantly, the readers also needs

但是同样重要的是，这些读者还要

the coolness of judgment of a scientist,

有科学家的冷静判断，

which acts to temper and complicate

这能帮助他们稳定情绪并分析

the reader's intuitive reactions to the story.

其对故事的直觉反应。

As we've seen, the men of the Essex had no trouble with the artistic part.

我们可以看出来，ESSEX上的人在艺术部分一点问题都没有。

They dreamed up a variety of horrifying scenarios.

他们梦想到一系列恐怖的场景。

The problem was that they listened to the wrong story.

问题在于他们听从了一个错误的故事。

Of all the narratives their fears wrote,

所有他们恐惧中

they responded only to the most lurid, the most vivid,

他们只对其中最耸人听闻，最生动的故事，

the one that was easiest for their imaginations to picture:

也是他们想象中最早出现的场景：

cannibals.

食人族。

But perhaps if they'd been able to read their fears

也许，如果他们能像科学家那样

more like a scientist, with more coolness of judgment,

稍微冷静一点解读这个故事，

they would have listened instead to the less violent

如果他们能听从不太惊悚但是更可能发生的

but the more likely tale, the story of starvation,

半路饿死的故事，他们可能就会直奔塔西提群岛，

and headed for Tahiti, just as Melville's sad commentary suggests.

如梅尔维尔充满惋惜的评论所建议的那样。

And maybe if we all tried to read our fears,

也许如果我们都试着解读自己的恐惧，

we too would be less often swayed

我们就能少被

by the most salacious among them.

其中的一些幻象所迷惑。

Maybe then we'd spend less time worrying about

我们也就能少花一点时间在

serial killers and plane crashes,

为系列杀手或者飞机失事方面的担忧，

and more time concerned with the subtler

而是更多的关心那些悄然而至

and slower disasters we face:

的灾难：

the silent buildup of plaque in our arteries,

动脉血小板的逐渐堆积，

the gradual changes in our climate.

气候的逐渐变迁。

Just as the most nuanced stories in literature are often the richest,

如同文学中最精妙的故事通常是最丰富的故事，

so too might our subtlest fears be the truest.

我们最细微的恐惧才是最真实的恐惧。

Read in the right way, our fears are an amazing gift

用正确的方法的解读，我们的恐惧就是我们想象力

of the imagination, a kind of everyday clairvoyance,

赐给我们的礼物，借此一双慧眼，

a way of glimpsing what might be the future

让我们能管窥未来

when there's still time to influence how that future will play out.

甚至影响未来。

Properly read, our fears can offer us something as precious

如果能得到正确的解读，我们的恐惧能

as our favorite works of literature:

和我们最喜欢的文学作品一样给我们珍贵的东西：

a little wisdom, a bit of insight

一点点智慧，一点点洞悉

and a version of that most elusive thing --

以及对最玄妙东西——

the truth.

真相的诠释。

Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢。（掌声）