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

譯者: Conway Ye 審譯者: JiaYen Lai

One hot October morning,

在一個炎熱的十月的早晨，

I got off the all-night train

我下了過夜火車，

in Mandalay,

在曼德勒，

the old royal capital of Burma,

那是舊緬甸皇室首都，

now Myanmar.

現在是緬甸聯邦了。

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

我到了街上， 碰到一群衣著樸素的人，

standing beside their bicycle rickshaws.

站在他們的黃包車旁邊。

And one of them came up

其中一個走上前，

and offered to show me around.

想帶我在附近逛逛。

The price he quoted was outrageous.

他要求的價格讓人難以置信，

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

價格比我在家 買一個巧克力還要便宜。

So I clambered into his trishaw,

所以我爬上他的三輪車，

and he began pedaling us slowly between palaces and pagodas.

他載著我，緩緩地 穿梭在皇宮和寶塔之間。

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

同時，他開始講述 他從村莊來到城市的經歷。

He'd earned a degree in mathematics.

他擁有數學系學位。

His dream was to be a teacher.

夢想成為一名老師。

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

但受軍閥獨裁統治的 生活是很困難的，

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

所以這是他唯一能賴以生存的方式。

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

他告訴我，有許多個夜晚 他都睡在自己的三輪車裡，

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

只為了能夠接到 走下夜車的第一批乘客。

And very soon, we found that in certain ways,

很快地，我們發現，在很多方面，

we had so much in common --

我們其實很相似——

we were both in our 20s,

我們都二十幾歲，

we were both fascinated by foreign cultures --

我們都熱愛異國文化。

that he invited me home.

他邀請我到他家。

So we turned off the wide, crowded streets,

所以我們離開了寬大而擁擠的馬路，

and we began bumping down rough, wild alleyways.

開始在一條條凹凸不平、 荒涼的巷子裡顛簸。

There were broken shacks all around.

身邊都是破舊的小屋。

I really lost the sense of where I was,

我完全不知道我在哪，

and I realized that anything could happen to me now.

我意識到現在什麼都有可能 發生在我身上。

I could get mugged or drugged

我可能會被打劫或者下藥，

or something worse.

或者更糟。

Nobody would know.

沒人會知道。

Finally, he stopped and led me into a hut,

最終，他停下車， 帶我進了一個棚屋，

which consisted of just one tiny room.

棚屋只有一個小小的房間。

And then he leaned down,

然後他趴下，

and reached under his bed.

伸手到床下，

And something in me froze.

這讓我心頭一涼。

I waited to see what he would pull out.

我等待著，

想知道他會拿出什麼東西。

And finally he extracted a box.

終於，他抽出一個盒子，

Inside it was every single letter he had ever received

裡面是每一封他從 外國遊客那裡收到的信。

from visitors from abroad,

and on some of them he had pasted

其中的一些，被他黏貼上了

little black-and-white worn snapshots

他新結交的外國朋友的

of his new foreign friends.

小小黑白照片。

So when we said goodbye that night,

那個晚上，當我們道別的時候，

I realized he had also shown me

我意識到，他向我展示了

the secret point of travel,

旅行的秘密，

which is to take a plunge,

那就是沉浸其中，

to go inwardly as well as outwardly

把心靈和身體都放置在

to places you would never go otherwise,

想都沒想過的要去的地方，

to venture into uncertainty,

去探索不確定、

ambiguity,

模糊，

even fear.

甚至恐懼。

At home, it's dangerously easy

在家，我們極容易

to assume we're on top of things.

認為事情都在掌控之中。

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

離家在外的時候， 每分每秒你都不斷地被提醒著，

你不會，也不能了解事情的全部。

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

Everywhere, "People wish to be settled,"

無論身在何處，「人都想安定，」

Ralph Waldo Emerson reminded us,

愛默生提醒過我們，

"but only insofar as we are unsettled

「但是正因為我們如此不安，

is there any hope for us."

我們才有希望。」

At this conference, we've been lucky enough

在這場大會上，我們都很幸運，

to hear some exhilarating new ideas and discoveries

能夠聽到一些令人激動的 新想法和發現，

and, really, about all the ways

而真的就是在這樣的時刻

in which knowledge is being pushed excitingly forwards.

知識被熱情地往前推動。

But at some point, knowledge gives out.

但是有的時候，知識不起作用。

And that is the moment

那就是

when your life is truly decided:

在人生的關鍵點上：

you fall in love;

墜入愛河、

you lose a friend;

失去朋友，

the lights go out.

面對死亡。

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

然後，當你失敗或失落的時候，

that you find out who you are.

你才會發現你是誰。

I don't believe that ignorance is bliss.

我不相信無知是福。

Science has unquestionably made our lives

科學無庸置疑讓我們的生活

brighter and longer and healthier.

變得更光明，更長久，更健康。

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

我永遠感激教導我物理定律的老師

and pointed out that three times three makes nine.

和教會我三三得九的老師。

I can count that out on my fingers

我能在任何時候

any time of night or day.

用手指算出來。

But when a mathematician tells me

但是當一個數學家告訴我，

that minus three times minus three makes nine,

負三乘負三等於九，

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

這種邏輯感覺有點像信任。

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

知識的對岸，換句話說， 不一定是無知。

It can be wonder.

也可能是疑惑，

Or mystery.

或者神秘，

Possibility.

或是機會。

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

在我的人生中，我發現， 那些我不知道的事情

that have lifted me up and pushed me forwards

為我帶來的進步和成長，

much more than the things I do know.

遠超過我所知道的事情。

It's also the things I don't know

而且也是我不知道的那些事情，

that have often brought me closer to everybody around me.

讓我和身邊的人更親近。

For eight straight Novembers, recently,

過去的八個十一月，

I traveled every year across Japan with the Dalai Lama.

我和達賴喇嘛在日本遊歷。

And the one thing he said every day

有一句話他每天都說，

that most seemed to give people reassurance and confidence

也似乎最能夠讓人們 感到安慰和自信，

was, "I don't know."

就是「我不知道。」

"What's going to happen to Tibet?"

「西藏會發生什麼？」

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

「什麼時候世界會和平？」

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

「培養孩子最好的方式是什麼？」

"Frankly," says this very wise man,

「坦白說」，這個智者說，

"I don't know."

「我不知道。」

The Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman

諾貝爾奬得主經濟學家 丹尼爾·卡尼曼

has spent more than 60 years now researching human behavior,

花了超過 60 年研究人類行為，

and his conclusion is

他的結論是，

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

相較於我們真正知道的事情，

我們總是對自認為 知道的事情更為自信。

than we should be.

We have, as he memorably puts it,

他的表述是，「我們擁有

an "unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance."

無限忽視無知的能力。」

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

我們「知道」 我們的隊伍這週末會贏，

and we only remember that knowledge

而我們只記得我們說對了──

on the rare occasions when we're right.

在極罕見真的說對的時刻。

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

大多數時候， 我們都處在無知當中，

And that's where real intimacy lies.

這就是真正的親密所在的地方。

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

你知道你的愛人明天要做什麼嗎？

Do you want to know?

你想知道嗎？

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

我們的祖先，有一些人稱他們為

Adam and Eve,

亞當和夏娃，

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

如果他們只從生命之樹獲取食物， 就可以得到永生。

But the minute they began nibbling

但是他們開始一點一點地從

from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

分別善惡的樹上獲取食物的時候，

they fell from their innocence.

他們落入了無知的陷阱。

They grew embarrassed and fretful,

他們萌生害羞、煩躁

self-conscious.

和自我意識。

And they learned, a little too late, perhaps,

他們意識到，可能晚了一點，

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

總有些事情是需要了解的，

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

但是有更多的事情 還是不要知道比較好。

Now, when I was a kid,

當我還是個孩子的時候，

I knew it all, of course.

當然，我覺得我什麼都知道，

I had been spending 20 years in classrooms collecting facts,

我已經花了 20 年 在教室裡了解事實，

and I was actually in the information business,

我在資訊業工作，

writing articles for Time Magazine.

給《 時代雜誌》寫文章。

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

我的第一次日本之旅花了兩週半，

and I came back with a 40-page essay

回來的時候， 我寫了一份 40 頁的文章，

explaining every last detail about Japan's temples,

詳述每一個細節──

日本寺廟、時尚潮流，棒球比賽，

its fashions, its baseball games,

its soul.

日本的民主魂。

But underneath all that,

但是，深埋底下的，

something that I couldn't understand

一些我無法理解的東西，

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

無法言表地打動了我，

that I decided to go and live in Japan.

讓我決定到日本定居。

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

現在，我已經在那兒待了 28 年，

I really couldn't tell you very much at all

我真的沒有辦法告訴你們很多

about my adopted home.

關於我的第二個家。

Which is wonderful,

這真的很棒，

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

因為這意味著我每天都有新發現。

and in the process,

在這個過程中，

looking around the corner and seeing the hundred thousand things

我環視角落，發現上萬的

I'll never know.

我永遠不會知道的東西。

Knowledge is a priceless gift.

知識是無價的禮物。

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

但是知識的幻象可能比無知更危險。

Thinking that you know your lover

你以為你了解你的愛人，

or your enemy

或者你的敵人，

can be more treacherous

可能比承認你不了解他們還要危險。

than acknowledging you'll never know them.

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

在日本的每一個早上， 當陽光湧入我們的小公寓時，

I take great pains not to consult the weather forecast,

我都掙扎著看不看天氣預報，

because if I do,

因為如果我看了，

my mind will be overclouded, distracted,

我的意念會被烏雲遮蔽、渙散，

even when the day is bright.

即使那是個晴天。

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

我當全職作家已經 34 年了，

And the one thing that I have learned

我學到一件事，

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

就是改變是在 不去掌控的時候發生的，

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

當我不知道接下來會發生什麼，

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

當我不自以為是。

And the same is true in love

這也發生在墜入愛河的時候，

or in moments of crisis.

或者身陷危機的時候。

Suddenly, we're back in that trishaw again

突然，我們又回到那台三輪車，

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

我們顛簸地駛離寬大明亮的馬路，

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

我們記得，旅行的真諦，

and, therefore, of life:

也是生命的真諦：

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

你因面對未知的能力而強壯，

In the end, perhaps,

可能，到最後，

being human

做普通人，

is much more important

比做一個無所不知的人，

than being fully in the know.

還要重要。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）