Medium Top 精选：不会有人教你的最重要的技能
The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You
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正文翻译
Before dying at the age of 39, Blaise Pascal made huge contributions to both physics and mathematics, notably in fluids, geometry, and probability.This work, however, would influence more than just the realm of the natural sciences. Many fields that we now classify under the heading of social science did, in fact, also grow out of the foundation he helped lay.Interestingly enough, much of this was done in his teen years, with some of it coming in his twenties. As an adult, inspired by a religious experience, he actually started to move towards philosophy and theology.Right before his death, he was hashing out fragments of private thoughts that would later be released as a collection by the name of Pensées.
帕斯卡[ 法国哲学家、物理学家、数学家] 在39岁去世之前，对物理学和数学都做出了巨大的贡献，尤其是在流体、几何和概率方面，然而其工作影响的不仅仅是自然科学领域，许多我们现今归入社会科学的领域，事实上也是在他帮助奠定的基础上发展起来的。
有趣的是，这些成就大部分是在他十几岁的时候完成的，其中一些是在他二十几岁的时候，成年后，在一次宗教经历的启发下，他事实上开始走向哲学和神学，就在他去世前，他一直在梳理个人思想的碎片，这些碎片后来以《Pensées》[沉思录] 的名义结集出版。
While the book is mostly a mathematician’s case for choosing a life of faith and belief, the more curious thing about it is its clear and lucid ruminations on what it means to be human. It’s a blueprint of our psychology long before psychology was deemed a formal discipline.
There is enough thought-provoking material in it to quote, and it attacks human nature from a variety of different angles, but one of its most famous thoughts aptly sums up the core of his argument:
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
虽然这本书主要是一名数学家对选择信仰生活的论证，但更令人好奇的是它对人类存在的意义进行了清晰明了的思考，堪称我们（现代）心理学的奠基之作，时间远在心理学被视为一门正式的学科之前。
书中有足够的发人深省的材料可供引用，这本书从各种不同的角度攻讦人性，但是书中最著名的一个观点恰如其分地概括了他论点的核心：
“人类的所有问题都源于人类无法独自安静地坐在房间里。”[ 又译：人类的一切痛苦源于无法在安静的房间独自坐着 ]
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
There is enough thought-provoking material in it to quote, and it attacks human nature from a variety of different angles, but one of its most famous thoughts aptly sums up the core of his argument:
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
虽然这本书主要是一名数学家对选择信仰生活的论证，但更令人好奇的是它对人类存在的意义进行了清晰明了的思考，堪称我们（现代）心理学的奠基之作，时间远在心理学被视为一门正式的学科之前。
书中有足够的发人深省的材料可供引用，这本书从各种不同的角度攻讦人性，但是书中最著名的一个观点恰如其分地概括了他论点的核心：
“人类的所有问题都源于人类无法独自安静地坐在房间里。”[ 又译：人类的一切痛苦源于无法在安静的房间独自坐着 ]
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
According to Pascal, we fear the silence of existence, we dread boredom and instead choose aimless distraction, and we can’t help but run from the problems of our emotions into the false comforts of the mind.
The issue at the root, essentially, is that we never learn the art of solitude.
根据帕斯卡尔的观点，我们害怕生存的孤寂，我们害怕无聊，相反，我们选择无目的的分心，我们无法控制自己的情绪，我们忍不住从情绪的问题中逃避到心灵的虚假舒适中。
从本质上说，问题的根源在于我们从未学会独处的艺术。
The issue at the root, essentially, is that we never learn the art of solitude.
根据帕斯卡尔的观点，我们害怕生存的孤寂，我们害怕无聊，相反，我们选择无目的的分心，我们无法控制自己的情绪，我们忍不住从情绪的问题中逃避到心灵的虚假舒适中。
从本质上说，问题的根源在于我们从未学会独处的艺术。
The Perils of Being Connected
Today, more than ever, Pascal’s message rings true. If there is one word to describe the progress made in the last 100 years, it’s connectedness.Information technologies have dominated our cultural direction. From the telephone to the radio to the TV to the internet, we have found ways to bring us all closer together, enabling constant worldly access.
I can sit in my office in Canada and transport myself to practically anywhere I want through Skype. I can be on the other side of the world and still know what is going on at home with a quick browse.I don’t think I need to highlight the benefits of all this. But the downsides are also beginning to show. Beyond the current talk about privacy and data collection, there is perhaps an even more detrimental side-effect here.
“连接”的危险
今天，帕斯卡的观点比以往任何时候都更加真实，如果用一个词来形容过去100年的进步，那就是“连接”。
信息技术已经主导了我们的文化方向，从电话到广播到电视再到互联网，我们已经找到了使我们所有人更紧密地联系在一起的方法，使我们能够不断地接触世界。
我可以坐在我在加拿大的办公室里，通过Skype 把我带到我想去的任何地方，我可以在世界的另一端，通过快速浏览，仍然知道家里发生了什么。
我想我不需要强调这一切的好处，但是，弊端也开始显现，除了目前关于隐私和数据收集的讨论，也许还有一个更有害的副作用。
Today, more than ever, Pascal’s message rings true. If there is one word to describe the progress made in the last 100 years, it’s connectedness.Information technologies have dominated our cultural direction. From the telephone to the radio to the TV to the internet, we have found ways to bring us all closer together, enabling constant worldly access.
I can sit in my office in Canada and transport myself to practically anywhere I want through Skype. I can be on the other side of the world and still know what is going on at home with a quick browse.I don’t think I need to highlight the benefits of all this. But the downsides are also beginning to show. Beyond the current talk about privacy and data collection, there is perhaps an even more detrimental side-effect here.
“连接”的危险
今天，帕斯卡的观点比以往任何时候都更加真实，如果用一个词来形容过去100年的进步，那就是“连接”。
信息技术已经主导了我们的文化方向，从电话到广播到电视再到互联网，我们已经找到了使我们所有人更紧密地联系在一起的方法，使我们能够不断地接触世界。
我可以坐在我在加拿大的办公室里，通过Skype 把我带到我想去的任何地方，我可以在世界的另一端，通过快速浏览，仍然知道家里发生了什么。
我想我不需要强调这一切的好处，但是，弊端也开始显现，除了目前关于隐私和数据收集的讨论，也许还有一个更有害的副作用。
We now live in a world where we’re connected to everything except ourselves.
If Pascal’s observation about our inability to sit quietly in a room by ourselves is true of the human condition in general, then the issue has certainly been augmented by an order of magnitude due to the options available today.
The logic is, of course, seductive. Why be alone when you never have to?
Well, the answer is that never being alone is not the same thing as never feeling alone. Worse yet, the less comfortable you are with solitude, the more likely it is that you won’t know yourself. And then, you’ll spend even more time avoiding it to focus elsewhere. In the process, you’ll become addicted to the same technologies that were meant to set you free.
Just because we can use the noise of the world to block out the discomfort of dealing with ourselves doesn’t mean that this discomfort goes away.
我们现在生活在一个除了自己之外与一切都相连的世界里。
如果帕斯卡关于我们无法安静地独坐在一个房间里的观察是人类普遍状况的真实写照，那么由于今天的选择，这个问题肯定已经被放大了一个数量级。
当然，这种逻辑是诱人的，如果你永远不需要，为什么要孤独？
好吧，答案是，永远不孤独与永远不感到孤独不是一回事。
更糟糕的是，你对孤独越不适应，你就越有可能不了解自己，然后，你会花更多的时间来回避它，把注意力放在其他地方，在这个过程中，你会沉迷于那些本应让你自由的技术。
我们可以用世界的噪音来屏蔽应对自己的不适感，但这并不意味着这种不适感会消失。
If Pascal’s observation about our inability to sit quietly in a room by ourselves is true of the human condition in general, then the issue has certainly been augmented by an order of magnitude due to the options available today.
The logic is, of course, seductive. Why be alone when you never have to?
Well, the answer is that never being alone is not the same thing as never feeling alone. Worse yet, the less comfortable you are with solitude, the more likely it is that you won’t know yourself. And then, you’ll spend even more time avoiding it to focus elsewhere. In the process, you’ll become addicted to the same technologies that were meant to set you free.
Just because we can use the noise of the world to block out the discomfort of dealing with ourselves doesn’t mean that this discomfort goes away.
我们现在生活在一个除了自己之外与一切都相连的世界里。
如果帕斯卡关于我们无法安静地独坐在一个房间里的观察是人类普遍状况的真实写照，那么由于今天的选择，这个问题肯定已经被放大了一个数量级。
当然，这种逻辑是诱人的，如果你永远不需要，为什么要孤独？
好吧，答案是，永远不孤独与永远不感到孤独不是一回事。
更糟糕的是，你对孤独越不适应，你就越有可能不了解自己，然后，你会花更多的时间来回避它，把注意力放在其他地方，在这个过程中，你会沉迷于那些本应让你自由的技术。
我们可以用世界的噪音来屏蔽应对自己的不适感，但这并不意味着这种不适感会消失。
Almost everybody thinks of themselves as self-aware. They think they know how they feel and what they want and what their problems are. But the truth is that very few people really do. And those that do will be the first to tell how fickle self-awareness is and how much alone time it takes to get there.In today’s world, people can go their whole lives without truly digging beyond the surface-level masks they wear; in fact, many do.We are increasingly out of touch with who we are, and that’s a problem.
几乎每个人都认为自己有自我意识，每个人都认为自己清楚地知道自己的感受，知道自己想要什么，自己的问题何在，但事实是，很少有人真正做到这一点，那些真正知道的人会第一个告诉我们自我意识是多么的变幻无常，需要多少独处的时间才能达到目的。
在当今世界，人们可能一辈子都不会去真正深究他们所戴面具之外的东西，事实上，许多人都是如此。
我们与自己的身份（我们是谁）越来越脱节，这是个问题。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
几乎每个人都认为自己有自我意识，每个人都认为自己清楚地知道自己的感受，知道自己想要什么，自己的问题何在，但事实是，很少有人真正做到这一点，那些真正知道的人会第一个告诉我们自我意识是多么的变幻无常，需要多少独处的时间才能达到目的。
在当今世界，人们可能一辈子都不会去真正深究他们所戴面具之外的东西，事实上，许多人都是如此。
我们与自己的身份（我们是谁）越来越脱节，这是个问题。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
Boredom as a Mode of Stimulation
If we take it back to the fundamentals — and this is something Pascal touches on, too — our aversion to solitude is really an aversion to boredom.At its core, it’s not necessarily that we are addicted to a TV set because there is something uniquely satisfying about it, just like we are not addicted to most stimulants because the benefits outweigh the downsides. Rather, what we are really addicted to is a state of not-being-bored.Almost anything else that controls our life in an unhealthy way finds its root in our realization that we dread the nothingness of nothing. We can’t imagine just being rather than doing. And therefore, we look for entertainment, we seek company, and if those fail, we chase even higher highs.We ignore the fact that never facing this nothingness is the same as never facing ourselves. And never facing ourselves is why we feel lonely and anxious in spite of being so intimately connected to everything else around us.
作为一种刺激方式的无聊
如果我们回到最基本的问题上来——这也是帕斯卡所触及的问题——我们对孤独的厌恶实际上是对无聊的厌恶。
从根本上说，我们对电视机上瘾并不一定是因为它有某种独特的令人满足的东西，就像我们对大多数兴奋剂不上瘾一样，这是因为其好处多于坏处，我们真正上瘾的是一种不感到无聊的状态。
几乎所有其它以不健康的方式控制我们生活的东西，都可以在我们的意识中找到根源，即我们害怕虚无的感觉，我们无法想象唯有存在而什么都不做，因此，我们寻找娱乐，我们寻求陪伴，如果这些都失败了，我们就追逐更高的刺激。
我们忽略了这样一个事实：
从不面对这种虚无就等于从不面对自己，而从未面对自己就是我们感到孤独和焦虑的原因，尽管我们与周围的一切都紧密相连。
If we take it back to the fundamentals — and this is something Pascal touches on, too — our aversion to solitude is really an aversion to boredom.At its core, it’s not necessarily that we are addicted to a TV set because there is something uniquely satisfying about it, just like we are not addicted to most stimulants because the benefits outweigh the downsides. Rather, what we are really addicted to is a state of not-being-bored.Almost anything else that controls our life in an unhealthy way finds its root in our realization that we dread the nothingness of nothing. We can’t imagine just being rather than doing. And therefore, we look for entertainment, we seek company, and if those fail, we chase even higher highs.We ignore the fact that never facing this nothingness is the same as never facing ourselves. And never facing ourselves is why we feel lonely and anxious in spite of being so intimately connected to everything else around us.
作为一种刺激方式的无聊
如果我们回到最基本的问题上来——这也是帕斯卡所触及的问题——我们对孤独的厌恶实际上是对无聊的厌恶。
从根本上说，我们对电视机上瘾并不一定是因为它有某种独特的令人满足的东西，就像我们对大多数兴奋剂不上瘾一样，这是因为其好处多于坏处，我们真正上瘾的是一种不感到无聊的状态。
几乎所有其它以不健康的方式控制我们生活的东西，都可以在我们的意识中找到根源，即我们害怕虚无的感觉，我们无法想象唯有存在而什么都不做，因此，我们寻找娱乐，我们寻求陪伴，如果这些都失败了，我们就追逐更高的刺激。
我们忽略了这样一个事实：
从不面对这种虚无就等于从不面对自己，而从未面对自己就是我们感到孤独和焦虑的原因，尽管我们与周围的一切都紧密相连。
Fortunately, there is a solution. The only way to avoid being ruined by this fear — like any fear — is to face it. It’s to let the boredom take you where it wants so you can deal with whatever it is that is really going on with your sense of self. That’s when you’ll hear yourself think, and that’s when you’ll learn to engage the parts of you that are masked by distraction.
The beauty of this is that, once you cross that initial barrier, you realize that being alone isn’t so bad. Boredom can provide its own stimulation.When you surround yourself with moments of solitude and stillness, you become intimately familiar with your environment in a way that forced stimulation doesn’t allow. The world becomes richer, the layers start to peel back, and you see things for what they really are, in all their wholeness, in all their contradictions, and in all their unfamiliarity.You learn that there are other things you are capable of paying attention to than just what makes the most noise on the surface. Just because a quiet room doesn’t scream with excitement like the idea of immersing yourself in a movie or a TV show doesn’t mean that there isn’t depth to explore there.
幸运的是，有一个解决方案。避免被这种恐惧所毁灭的唯一方法——就像任何恐惧一样——就是面对它。让无聊带你去它想去的地方，这样你就可以处理任何真正发生在你的自我意识中的事情，这时你就能听到自己的思考，能学会专注于那些被分心掩盖的部分。
这样做的美妙之处在于，一旦你跨越了最初的障碍，你就会意识到独处并不是那么糟糕，无聊本身就可以带来刺激。
当你置身于孤独和静止的包围时，你就会以一种强迫性刺激所不允许的方式密切地熟悉你的环境——世界变得更加丰富，层层剥落，你看到了事物的真实面目，看到它们的整体性，它们的所有矛盾，以及它们所有的不熟悉性。
你会了解到，除了表面发出最多噪音的东西之外，还有其他你能够注意的东西，一个安静的房间并不像沉浸在电影或电视节目中那样令你的头脑兴奋地尖叫，并不意味着那里没有可供探索的深度（空间）。
The beauty of this is that, once you cross that initial barrier, you realize that being alone isn’t so bad. Boredom can provide its own stimulation.When you surround yourself with moments of solitude and stillness, you become intimately familiar with your environment in a way that forced stimulation doesn’t allow. The world becomes richer, the layers start to peel back, and you see things for what they really are, in all their wholeness, in all their contradictions, and in all their unfamiliarity.You learn that there are other things you are capable of paying attention to than just what makes the most noise on the surface. Just because a quiet room doesn’t scream with excitement like the idea of immersing yourself in a movie or a TV show doesn’t mean that there isn’t depth to explore there.
幸运的是，有一个解决方案。避免被这种恐惧所毁灭的唯一方法——就像任何恐惧一样——就是面对它。让无聊带你去它想去的地方，这样你就可以处理任何真正发生在你的自我意识中的事情，这时你就能听到自己的思考，能学会专注于那些被分心掩盖的部分。
这样做的美妙之处在于，一旦你跨越了最初的障碍，你就会意识到独处并不是那么糟糕，无聊本身就可以带来刺激。
当你置身于孤独和静止的包围时，你就会以一种强迫性刺激所不允许的方式密切地熟悉你的环境——世界变得更加丰富，层层剥落，你看到了事物的真实面目，看到它们的整体性，它们的所有矛盾，以及它们所有的不熟悉性。
你会了解到，除了表面发出最多噪音的东西之外，还有其他你能够注意的东西，一个安静的房间并不像沉浸在电影或电视节目中那样令你的头脑兴奋地尖叫，并不意味着那里没有可供探索的深度（空间）。
Sometimes, the direction that this solitude leads you in can be unpleasant, especially when it comes to introspection — your thoughts and your feelings, your doubts and your hopes — but in the long-term, it’s far more pleasant than running away from it all without even realizing that you are.Embracing boredom allows you to discover novelty in things you didn’t know were novel; it’s like being an unconditioned child seeing the world for the first time. It also resolves the majority of internal conflicts.
有时候，这种独处会让你陷入不愉快的境地，尤其是在自省的时候——你的想法和感受、你的怀疑和你的希望——但是从长远来看，这远比逃避这一切而不自知要愉快得多。
拥抱无聊让你在你不知道的事物中发现新奇，就像一个无拘无束的孩子第一次看到这个世界，另外，它也能解决了大多数的内部冲突。
有时候，这种独处会让你陷入不愉快的境地，尤其是在自省的时候——你的想法和感受、你的怀疑和你的希望——但是从长远来看，这远比逃避这一切而不自知要愉快得多。
拥抱无聊让你在你不知道的事物中发现新奇，就像一个无拘无束的孩子第一次看到这个世界，另外，它也能解决了大多数的内部冲突。
The more the world advances, the more stimulation it will provide as an incentive for us to get outside of our own mind to engage with it.
While Pascal’s generalization that a lack of comfort with solitude is the root of all our problems may be an exaggeration, it isn’t an entirely unmerited one.Everything that has done so much to connect us has simultaneously isolated us. We are so busy being distracted that we are forgetting to tend to ourselves, which is consequently making us feel more and more alone.
世界越是进步，它所提供的刺激就越多，以促使我们走出自己的心灵，与之互动。
虽然帕斯卡关于缺乏对孤独的舒适感是我们所有问题根源的概括可能是夸张的，但并非完全没有道理。
所有能把我们连接起来的东西同时也在孤立我们，我们忙于分心而忘记了顾及自我，结果使我们感到越来越孤独。
While Pascal’s generalization that a lack of comfort with solitude is the root of all our problems may be an exaggeration, it isn’t an entirely unmerited one.Everything that has done so much to connect us has simultaneously isolated us. We are so busy being distracted that we are forgetting to tend to ourselves, which is consequently making us feel more and more alone.
世界越是进步，它所提供的刺激就越多，以促使我们走出自己的心灵，与之互动。
虽然帕斯卡关于缺乏对孤独的舒适感是我们所有问题根源的概括可能是夸张的，但并非完全没有道理。
所有能把我们连接起来的东西同时也在孤立我们，我们忙于分心而忘记了顾及自我，结果使我们感到越来越孤独。
Interestingly, the main culprit isn’t our obsession with any particular worldly stimulation. It’s the fear of nothingness — our addiction to a state of not-being-bored. We have an instinctive aversion to simply being.Without realizing the value of solitude, we are overlooking the fact that, once the fear of boredom is faced, it can actually provide its own stimulation. And the only way to face it is to make time, whether every day or every week, to just sit — with our thoughts, our feelings, with a moment of stillness.
有趣的是，罪魁祸首不是我们对任何特定的世俗刺激的迷恋，而是对虚无的恐惧——我们沉迷于一种不无聊的状态，我们对简单的存在有一种本能的厌恶。如果没有意识到独处的价值，我们就忽略了这样一个事实：
事实上，一旦你敢于面对无聊的恐惧，会发现实际上它自身就可以带来刺激，而面对它的唯一方法是抽出时间，无论是每天还是每周，单纯地坐下来——与我们的思想、我们的感情一起，静静地坐一会儿。
有趣的是，罪魁祸首不是我们对任何特定的世俗刺激的迷恋，而是对虚无的恐惧——我们沉迷于一种不无聊的状态，我们对简单的存在有一种本能的厌恶。如果没有意识到独处的价值，我们就忽略了这样一个事实：
事实上，一旦你敢于面对无聊的恐惧，会发现实际上它自身就可以带来刺激，而面对它的唯一方法是抽出时间，无论是每天还是每周，单纯地坐下来——与我们的思想、我们的感情一起，静静地坐一会儿。
The oldest philosophical wisdom in the world has one piece of advice for us: know yourself. And there is a good reason why that is.
Without knowing ourselves, it’s almost impossible to find a healthy way to interact with the world around us. Without taking time to figure it out, we don’t have a foundation to built the rest of our lives on.Being alone and connecting inwardly is a skill nobody ever teaches us. That’s ironic because it’s more important than most of the ones they do.Solitude may not be the solution to everything, but it certainly is a start.
世界上最古老的哲学智慧给了我们一个忠告：认识自己，这是有充分理由的。
如果不了解、认识自己，几乎不可能找到一个健康的方式来与我们周围的世界互动，如果不花时间去弄清楚自己，我们就没有一个基础来建立我们的其余生活。
独处和向内连接是一种没有人教我们的技能，这很讽刺，因为它比我们所需的大多数技能都更重要。
独处可能不是解决一切问题的办法，但它肯定是一个开始。
Without knowing ourselves, it’s almost impossible to find a healthy way to interact with the world around us. Without taking time to figure it out, we don’t have a foundation to built the rest of our lives on.Being alone and connecting inwardly is a skill nobody ever teaches us. That’s ironic because it’s more important than most of the ones they do.Solitude may not be the solution to everything, but it certainly is a start.
世界上最古老的哲学智慧给了我们一个忠告：认识自己，这是有充分理由的。
如果不了解、认识自己，几乎不可能找到一个健康的方式来与我们周围的世界互动，如果不花时间去弄清楚自己，我们就没有一个基础来建立我们的其余生活。
独处和向内连接是一种没有人教我们的技能，这很讽刺，因为它比我们所需的大多数技能都更重要。
独处可能不是解决一切问题的办法，但它肯定是一个开始。
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There is a Japanese proverb, 沈黙 (ちんもく) は 金 (きん) 雄 (ゆう) 弁 (べん) は 銀 (ぎん), Chinmoku wa kin, yuuben wa gin.
My father told me this. It means: Silence is gold, eloquence is silver.
We learn from the silences, not the words. We learn from the spaces in between.
Love your philosophical posts….:)
ps have you ever read The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima?
日本有一句谚语“沈黙 (ちんもく) は 金 (きん) 雄 (ゆう) 弁 (べん) は 銀 (ぎん)”。
这是我父亲告诉我的，它的意思是：沉默是金，雄辩是银。
我们从沉默中学习，而不是言语，我们从空间间隙中学习。
我很喜欢你的哲学帖子.... ：）
PS：你读过三岛由纪夫的《金阁寺》吗？
Silence is gold, eloquence is silver.
Hi:) This proverb is same in Turkish. I think the two nations’ ancestors have agreed on this :)
“沉默是金，雄辩是银。”
土耳其语中也有一样的谚语，我想两个国家的祖先达成了共识 : )
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
沉默是金，雄辩是银。 lol
I’ve been a firm believer in “Silence is Golden” for many years. I have lived the majority of my life in quiet places. Being an artist I need quietness especially when I’m doing textile design , it’s pretty much a mathematical equation and one cannot be interrupted while creating fabric otherwise it will not work out correctly. Textile design is very tedious but rewarding in the way of self disciplining.
多年来，我一直是 "沉默是金 "的坚定信徒，我一生中大部分时间都生活在安静的地方，作为一个艺术家，我需要安静，特别是当我在做织品设计的时候，这几乎像是一个数学方程式（定律），在创造织物时不能被打断，否则将无法正常工作，织品设计非常乏味，但作为一种自律方式是非常有益的。
All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
You can see this with the intolerance of solitude in little things, such as refusing to dine out alone, begging for company when doing mundane things… It’s really important to note that being alone doesn’t mean you are lonely, even if people mistake it as so.
"人类的所有问题都源于人类无法独自安静地坐在一个房间里"
——你可以从一些小事上看到我们对独处的不容忍，比如拒绝独自外出就餐，做一些再普通不过的的事情也乞求有人陪伴......值得注意的是，独处并不意味着你是孤独的，即使人们误以为是这样。
We now live in a world where we’re connected to everything except ourselves.
Yes!! Which means people are constantly looking outside of themselves for answers like, “what’s my purpose in life?” and “what’s the right thing to do in this situation?” when those answers can only ever be found inside.
“我们现在生活在一个除了自己之外与一切都相连的世界”
—— 没错！！！这意味着人们不断地从自身之外寻找答案，比如 "我的人生目标是什么？"和 "在这种情况下应该怎么做？"，而这些答案只能在自己内心找到。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
The ever so growing lack of the practice of solitude and having some alone time to meditate is seriously endangering self-knowledge, autonomy and the consciousness of our lonely nature.
"人类的所有问题都源于人类无法独自安静地坐在一个房间里"
—— 越来越多的人缺乏独处的实践，没有独处的时间来冥想，这严重危害了自我认识、自主意识，令我们无法意识到我们独处天性。
The more the world advances, the more stimulation it will provide as an incentive for us to get outside of our own mind to engage with it.
Well, I’ll even argue- at the rate things are moving that, people and corporations alike see this state as a “human gold mine.” In a sense we are most fragile when we’re less knowledgeable about who we are- hence all the spontaneous shopping or pleasing of we don’t even really like
“世界越是进步，它所提供的刺激就越多，以促使我们走出自己的心灵，并与之互动”
——好吧，我甚至要说——按照眼下的发展速度，人们和企业都把这种状态看作是“人类的金矿”，在某种意义上，当我们对自己的身份知之甚少的时候，我们是最脆弱的——因此我们会不由自主地去购物或者取悦我们甚至不喜欢的人或物。
One version of the idea is that boredom is actually an opposite of what it usually implies?— that one is frustrated, in a languid way, at having nothing entertaining, or even useful, to do. But what if the anxiousness is from something within that we don’t wish to experience or admit, or, maybe more accurately, that wishes to go undetected and leads us to a different identification than its fact. An unconscious denial. Maybe boredom is really a form of depression and that not having anything to distract us from experiencing its pain, which can also result in an accompanying self accusation that we are too lazy or valuable to think of anything useful to do, makes us the problem in a cyclic guilt complex.
A fear of mortality is useful if it makes us poop or get off the pot. But, if we can’t deal with it, then maybe like George Saunders, a suave British actor of the 40s and 50s, an epitaph like his, “I just got too bored,” on the gravestone after his suicide.
这种观点的另一个版本是，无聊实际上与它通常所暗示的意义—— 一个人在没有娱乐，甚至无有用之事可做时，会感到沮丧。
但是，如果焦虑来自于我们不愿经历或承认的内在事物，或者，更准确地说，是不希望被发现的事物，从而导致我们产生与事实不同的认知，那该怎么办呢？无意识的否认。
也许无聊真的是抑郁的一种形式，没有任何东西来分散我们对痛苦的体验，这也会导致伴随而来的自责，我们太懒，想不出任何有用的事情去做，这让我们陷入周期性的内疚情结。
害怕死亡是有用的——如果它使我们远离危险，但是，如果我们不能解决这个问题，那么也许就像乔治 · 桑德斯——一个四五十年代年代温文尔雅的英国演员——在他自杀后的墓碑上写下的墓志铭一样，“我就是太无聊”。
We ignore the fact that never facing this nothingness is the same as never facing ourselves. And never facing ourselves is why we feel lonely and anxious in spite of being so intimately...
I like this. Humans have a natural aversion to conflict and upsetting preconceived notions. We rarely challenge them in others, much less ourselves. Really, who do we fool most often?
“我们忽略了这样一个事实：从不面对这种虚无就等于从不面对自己，而从未面对自己就是我们感到孤独和焦虑的原因，尽管我们与周围的一切都紧密相连”
—— 我喜欢这句，人类天生厌恶冲突，厌烦先入为主的观念，我们很少在别人身上挑战它们，更不用说我们自己。说真的，我们最常欺骗的是谁？
Solitude may not be the solution to everything, but it certainly is a start.
Now that I’m approaching 60 years old , I am finally able to be alone, to sit in total silence and NOT feel the overwhelming necessity to find others to be with, talk with , do something with. I KNOW, without any doubt at all, had I been able, as a young teenager and adult, to sit still on my own and deal with the feelings of emptiness and sorrow I felt whenever I was alone with nothing planned to do, that would have changed the course of my whole life. Had I not felt so desperate for approval, attention, affection from others then all of my choices and decisions would’ve been wiser, better decisions for myself as well as all those my life choices affected. If I could advise young people to learn one thing while they are young, I’d recommend the following:
Master the silence, use time alone to get to know you, to develop your own hobbies, interests and ability to be comfortably introspective. Become proficient at meditating or day dreaming underneath the stars. If you can master this, you will be able to master life and all the choices it will throw at you daily. You will be able to make choices based on better criteria than “I didn’t want to be alone” or “I was so bored !”
“独处也许不是解决一切问题的办法，但它肯定是一个开始”
—— 我已经年近60了，我终于能够独处，完全安静地坐着，而不觉得有必要找别人一起，一起聊天，一起做什么。
我知道，毫无疑问，如果在我年轻时和成年时，我能够独自静坐，应对我独处时无所事事时感到的空虚和悲伤，将改变我整个人生的轨迹，如果我没有那么渴望得到别人的认可、关注和喜爱，那么我所有的选择和决定都会更明智，做出对我自己以及我的生活选择所影响的所有人都更好的决定，如果我可以建议年轻人在年轻时学习一件事，我会推荐以下内容：
掌握沉默，利用独处的时间来了解自己，发展自己的爱好、兴趣和舒适的自省能力，精于冥想或在星空下做做昼梦，如果你能掌握这一点，你将能够掌握生活和它每天抛给你的所有选择，你将能够根据更好的标准做出选择，而不是自认 "我不想独处 "或 "我太无聊了！"
也许现代人对孤独的不适和厌恶的根源，随着近代社会从农业社会向工业化社会转变，在最近的历史中开始逐渐变化而扩大。
在全球许多国家，12年以上的法律强制性学校教育成为大多数儿童的标准经历，所以现代儿童从4岁开始就被调教成很少有长时间的独处。
由于比历史上任何时候都更大比例的家庭双亲从事全职工作，儿童保育成为一种被广泛使用的必需品，现在，许多儿童从出生开始就处于某种形式的托儿所，几乎一直被各种年龄的人包围着，这对人类来说，是相对较新的 "常态"，尽管它在经济方面有其好处，但我们现在看到这些变化可能意味着人类的陷阱，即个人内在力量和独立性的丧失。
I love that the generations coming up behind mine are now seeing the futility of uncontrolled commercialism and acquisition and there seems to be growing awareness of the need to return to focusing on developing the intangible gifts we have on the inside and strength of character and restraint. Balance is key to most everything in life and it seems mankind is forever going from one extreme to the other , when what is needed is balance. We all need to be able to be alone and think (or not think- lol) without freaking out, so to speak. but it gets harder to do the less practice we get.
直到第二次世界大战之后，大多数家庭中只有父母中的一人在外工作，其中一人在家照顾小孩直到上学，经济因素，如：通货膨胀、廉价信贷的爆炸和随之而来无节制的消费主义狂热，都使得这些变化迅速发生。
作为一个物种，我们可能还没有时间去充分适应，20世纪50年代和60年代，电视的爆炸性普及带来了连续不断的诱人的广告，向每个人展示了数以百万计的需求和可获得的产品，电视迅速成为几乎每个家庭都会使用的设备，每年都以难以计数的方式改变我们的整个文化，这些东西和更多的东西把人类推向了父母双方都需要工作的境地，有时每个人甚至需要做两份或更多的工作，以维持一个现代家庭。
在托儿所、公立学校、家庭作业和课外活动的包围下，孩子们没有太多的空闲时间去享受生活，与自己相处的艺术是每个人都需要拥有的重要能力，但在这个过程中几乎已经丧失。
我很高兴，我身后的几代人现在看到了不受控制的商业主义和无节制购物的无用性，而且似乎也越来越意识到有必要回到专注于发展我们内在的无形天赋以及性格及克制的力量。
平衡是生活中大多数事物的关键，而人类似乎永远在从一个极端走向另一个极端，我们需要平衡。
可以这么说，我们都需要能够独处和思考(或者不思考-笑)，而不是不知所措。
但是独处和思考，练习得越少，做起来就越难。