原文
By pleasure we mean the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul. It is not an unbroken succession of drinking-bouts and of merrymaking, not sexual love, not the enjoyment of the fish and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life.
The absence of pain in the body : 古希腊语:ἀπονία,英语:Aponia,意为“无痛”。
The absence of trouble in the soul:古希腊语:ἀταραξία,英语:Ataraxia,意为“心神安定、无评判”。
翻译
我们所谓的快乐,是指身体的无痛苦和灵魂的无纷扰,而不是通宵达旦的狂饮和寻欢作乐,也不是性爱、更不是在豪华的餐桌上享用山珍海味,满足口腹之欲的所谓快乐生活。
出处
《致美诺西斯的信(Letter to Menoeceus)》,伊壁鸠鲁(Ἐπίκουρος,Epicurus,公元前341~270年)古希腊哲学家、伊壁鸠鲁学派的创始人。伊壁鸠鲁成功地发展了阿瑞斯提普斯(Aristippus)的享乐主义,并将之与德谟克利特的原子论结合起来。他一辈子病病歪歪,很少有几日不受病痛困扰。他的学说的主要宗旨就是要达到不受干扰的宁静状态。
马克思的博士论文的主题就是“伊壁鸠鲁”,他的思想极大影响了马克思哲学思想的发展。
解读
人天性追求快乐,避免痛苦。
于是我们自然而然的,就把快乐与痛苦对立起来,但事实并非如此,它们是人体内相互独立的两套系统。
快乐的反义词不是痛苦,而是没有快乐。
痛苦的反义词也不是快乐,而是没有痛苦。
没有快乐的极端,是抑郁症,情绪低落、高兴不起来、没有活力,逐渐失去活下去的动力。
没有痛苦的极端,是麻风病,感染皮肤神经,让人感受不到痛觉,受到伤害而不自知,最终导致严重受伤或残疾。
也许,我们之所以感受到快乐(例如吃糖),是因为身体告诉我们需要去做一些事情(摄取能量);我们之所以感受到痛苦(例如被骗),是因为身体在告诉我们需要避免一些事情(再次被骗)。
前者是正反馈,后者是负反馈。我们每个人,都在这两个循环里寻找平衡。
伊壁鸠鲁说:幸福就是平静。
当我们从快乐的循环和痛苦的循环中解脱,也许就如他所说,获得了平静,获得了真正的幸福。
总结
平静。
拓展阅读
Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.
寻找源自内心的快乐,快乐会燃烧掉痛苦。
约瑟夫·坎贝尔
The end of all our actions is to be free from pain and fear, and, when once we have attained all this, the tempest of the soul is laid.
我们所有行为的目的就是摆脱痛苦和恐惧,一旦我们达到了目的,心灵的风暴就平息了
《致美诺西斯的信(Letter to Menoeceus)》伊壁鸠鲁(Epicurus)
It is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest disturbances take possession of the soul. Of all this the d is prudence.
For this reason prudence is a more precious thing even than the other virtues, for ad a life of pleasure which is not also a life of prudence, honor, and justice; nor lead a life of prudence, honor, and justice, which is not also a life of pleasure. For the virtues have grown into one with a pleasant life, and a pleasant life is inseparable from them.
快乐是一种清醒的理性,它探究我们所作一切选择的背后的根据,把可能给灵魂带来最大困扰的那些信仰抛弃,这就是审慎。
因此,审慎比其他美德更加宝贵,因为快乐的人生必定是审慎、荣誉、正义的人生,缺乏审慎、荣誉、正义的人生不可能是快乐的人生,这些美德和快乐的人生已经融为一体,它们水乳交融,不可分割。
《致美诺西斯的信(Letter to Menoeceus)》伊壁鸠鲁(Epicurus)
Accustom yourself to believe that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply awareness, and death is the privation of all awareness; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terror; for those who thoroughly apprehend that there are no terrors for them in ceasing to live.
Foolish, therefore, is the person who says that he fears death, not because it will pain when it comes, but because it pains in the prospect. Whatever causes no annoyance when it is present, causes only a groundless pain in the expectation.
让你自己习惯于相信,死亡对我们一无所是,因为善恶隐含对意识的要求,而死亡是对所有意识的剥夺;因此正确理解死亡对我们而言一无所是,可以让我们凡人的生活快乐逍遥,这靠的不是长生不老,而是靠打消人们对不朽的渴望,生命由此没有了恐惧;对那些能够完全理解这一点的人,在生命终结时不会有任何恐惧。
然而,声称害怕死亡的人是愚蠢的,这不是因为在死亡来临之时他会感到痛苦,而是在预想死亡时他会感到痛苦。死亡来临时,无论如何,绝对不会带来烦恼,只有在预想中才会带来一种没有理由的痛苦。
《致美诺西斯的信(Letter to Menoeceus)》伊壁鸠鲁(Epicurus)
Either to the living or to the dead, for with the living it is not and the dead exist no longer.
死亡无论对生者还是死者,都一无所是,因为它无法与生者相伴,也无法与死者共眠。
《致美诺西斯的信(Letter to Menoeceus)》伊壁鸠鲁(Epicurus)
无专注者,则无平静,无平静者,何谈幸福?
《薄伽梵歌》
处忧患不为忧患所惊,
《薄伽梵歌》
居安乐不为安乐所动,
抛却情欲、畏惧和嗔怒,
此人才称为智慧坚定之圣。
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
我步入丛林,因为我希望有意识地生活,只面对生活的基本事实,看看我是否学得到它的教导,以免当我生命终结,才发现自己从没有活过。
《瓦尔登湖(Walden)》亨利·戴维·梭罗