再读《瓦尔登湖》

文/空因

二十年前就看了梭罗的《瓦尔登湖》。那时还太年轻，才二十刚出头。虽然看过了，却没有留下什么印象。二十年后再读它的英文版，不禁掩卷深思、感慨万分。

梭罗在森林里自建了一所房子，在那里耕种、生活、沉思，《瓦尔登湖》等于是他写的一本森林笔记。书中他反复揭示了人类的畸形生活方式：不思考，不创造，在无知、迷茫和焦虑中积累着财富，花尽毕生的精力也在所不惜。然而，我们却始终疏远着自然界和自己的内心世界。更糟糕的是，我们竟然以为这是正常的生活，且握着鞭子，得意地做着“自己的监工”。可是，这一切到底是为了什么？我们得挣上怎样的一份生活，才算得上幸福？

梭罗尖锐地指出：我们生活在一个以衣取人的社会。根据频繁更新的时尚，我们不停地买着新款式的服装，在博取人家的尊重的同时也让自己更加自信。爱美之心人人皆有，这，似乎是无可厚非的。可是，衣服只是一件表面的东西，华丽的装扮并不能够让我们的内心更加丰富美丽。当我们关注着那些短暂的愉悦之时，我们是否也同样关注着那永不过时的思想智慧呢？

在梭罗的眼里，这些着迷于时装的人跟“挂干净衣服的木头支架没有什么两样”，他们就如“巴黎的猴子王戴了一顶旅游帽，美国所有的猴子也都跟着戴。”“他们宁愿瘸着腿，也不愿穿着破裤子进城”，因为“他们关心的不是真正值得人尊敬的东西，而是受人尊敬的东西”。

梭罗强调：简简单单才是最自然和谐的生活方式， 也只有这样的方式才能给我们的内心带来宁静。他的桌上有三块做摆设的小石头。有一天，他忽然意识到：他得天天为它们拭去尘埃。于是，他自嘲地说“我头脑中的灰尘还来不及拂拭呢”，怀着厌恶之情，他将石子扔出窗外。

梭罗，这个宁愿坐在大南瓜上也不愿意坐在天鹅绒软垫上的人，这个当朋友来拜访他时，他递给人家一个勺子叫他自己去湖里舀水喝的人，也用了很长的篇幅阐述了他对房产的意见。对于梭罗来说，有个温暖舒适的家是重要的，毕竟，我们已经进步到现今这个阶段，不必像原始人一样露天夜宿，但是，房屋只是用来遮风避雨的，我们现代人却把它当成了身份的象征，炫耀的工具，最后我们被幽禁在自己的屋子里，是它占有了我们，而不是我们拥有了它。梭罗建议大家都仿效印第安人的尖顶树皮房，它不怎么费功夫就能盖好，而且又经济又环保。

梭罗每天做几个小时的耕耘，然后，要不钓钓鱼，要不看看书，偶然到村里去走一走。大多数时间花在沉思上。他坐在林间，目不转睛地看着蓝天，周遭的鸟儿快乐地叫着，风儿从树枝上飘过来。而他的幸福的歌声也从心底流出。说他懒惰吗？从现代人的意义来说，也许是有一点儿。可他却认为他的生活充满了新奇和快乐，他也不像人家一样期望通过新闻或各种娱乐活动来打发漫长的时间。他不无嘲讽地说：“对于一个哲学家来说，所有的新闻都是谣言，那些编新闻和读新闻的人都是茶桌边的老妇。然而不少人都贪婪地听着这种瞎扯……”

梭罗的整本日子告诉我们：我们已经在文明的幌子下走得太远。我们打着“责任”的牌子，让自己的生活越来越偏离健康的轨道。他反复强调，要谋得一份温饱，实在是太容易了。而大多数的奢侈品不但是毫无必要的，且阻碍着人类心灵的发展。人的痛苦，则大多来自于“黄金和白银的桎梏”。外表看上去，我们似乎比只求果腹的原始人进步了很多，可是，归根结底，我们所追求的还是衣食住行，只是比他们的更加复杂更多样化而已。

梭罗说他去林中生活，是因为他想过一种有意识的生活（live
deliberately），去切身体验生活的卑微和伟大。他最不齿地就是像大多数人那样机械地随波逐流地生活着，跟在别人后面被动地跑，到临死前才发现他们从来没有真正活过。

我们并不需要像梭罗一样打着一双赤脚在森林里过原始拓荒的生活，但是，我们是否应该问问自己：我们真的有必要让黄金和白银来桎梏着自己吗？我们非得用外在的东西来娱乐自己吗？我们该如何有意识地活着？到底什么才是我们真正所需要的？我们又该如何得到它？我们为何要追随着被人家所认同的生活来桎梏着自己的自由？人类在文明进步方面，真的已经走了很远吗？我们可以独自阅读或沉思多久，然后，我们的手禁不住伸向手机或者电脑？

以下是我从书中所摘录的梭罗之言：

“大多数人在默默中绝望地生活。所谓的听天由命是已经承认的绝望……即使在人类所谓的游戏和娱乐背后，也隐藏着固定的、传统的、不知不觉的绝望。”（The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation……. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.”

“绝大多数的奢侈品，以及许多所谓的使生活舒适的东西，不仅是可有可无的，而且必然阻碍人类的进步。就奢侈和舒适而言，最明智的人自古就过着比穷人更为简单和清贫的生活。”( Most of the luxuries and many of
the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.”

“难道我们老得研究如何得到越来越多的东西，而不能有时满足于少得一点？那些可敬的公民们，难道非得庄严地言传身教，告诉年轻人早在老死以前就得备好若干多余的皮鞋和雨伞，以及空空的客房，来招待并不存在的客人吗？”（Shall we always study to obtain more of these things, and not sometimes to be content with less? Shall the respectable citizen thus gravely teach, by precept and example, the necessity of the young man’s providing a certain number of superfluous glowshoes, and umbrellas, and empty guest chambers for empty guests, before he dies?）

“我们不再露营一宿，而是安居于大地之上，忘却了天空。”（We now no
longer camp as for a night, but have settled down on earth and forgotten
heaven.）

“我们在尘世造好府邸，随之再建造族氏墓园。最杰出的艺术作品都在于表现人类如何从这种情形中挣扎出来，解放自己，但我们的艺术不过是把这屈辱的处境弄得舒适一点，而将那较高级的境界置之脑后。” (We have built for this world a family mansion, and for the next a family tomb. The best works of art are the expression of man's struggle to free himself from this condition, but the effect of our art is merely to make this low state comfortable and that higher state to be forgotten.

“人关心着东、西方的那些纪念碑，并牢记是谁创造了它们。我倒愿意知道，是谁当时不肯造这些东西，——谁能够超越那些玩意儿之上。” （Men are concerned about the monuments of the West and the East, - to
know who built them. For my part, I should like to know who in those days did not build them, - who were above such trifling.） 

人富裕的程度跟他能够放下的东西成正比（a man is rich in
proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.）

你们要尽可能自由地生活，无所羁绊。苦守在一个农庄上，和关在县政府的监狱中，简直没有分别。As long as possible live free and uncommitted. It
makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.

早晨就是当我醒来时黎明就在我的心里。Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me.

对于一个哲学家来说，所有的新闻都是谣言，那些编新闻和读新闻的人都是茶桌边的老妇。然而不少人都贪婪地听着这种瞎扯。To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea. Yet not a few are greedy after this gossip.

 一个人如果不能相信每一天都有一个比他亵读过的更早、更神圣的玫瑰色时辰，他一定已经对生命失望了，并在掉入一条逐渐黑暗之路。That man who
does not believe that each day contains an earlier, more sacred, and auroral hour than he has yet profaned, has despaired of life, and is pursuing a descending and darkening way.

可以纪念的一切事，我敢说，都在黎明时、黎明的氛围中发生。 All memorable events, I should say, transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphere.

人如果不是在浑浑噩噩地睡觉，那他们回顾每一天的时候为什么要说得这么可怜呢？Why is it that men give so poor an account of their day if they have not been slumbering?

新闻算什么！要知道永不衰老的事，那才重要得多！What news! How much more important to know what that is which was never old!

时间只是我垂钓的溪。我喝溪水，喝水时候我看到它那沙底，它多么浅啊。它的汨汨的流水逝去了，可是永恒留了下来。我愿饮得更深；鱼儿在空中漫游，它的底层有着石子似的星星。我不能数出“一”来。我不知道字母表上的第一个字母。我常常后悔：我不像初生时那样聪明了。Time is but the
stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains. I would drink deeper; fish fill the sky, whose bottom is pebbly with stars. I cannot count one. I know not the first letter of the alphabet. I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.

智力是一把刀子；它看准了，就一路切开事物的秘密。我不希望我的手比所必需的忙得更多些。我的头脑是手和足。我觉得我最好的官能都集中在那里。我的本能告诉我，我的头可以挖洞，像一些动物，有的用鼻子，有的用前爪，我要用它挖掘我的洞，在这些山峰中挖掘出我的道路来。我想那最富有的矿脉就在这里的什么地方；用探寻藏金的魔杖，根据那升腾的薄雾，我决定；在这里我要开始开矿。The intellect is a cleaver; it discerns
and rifts its way in to the secret of things.” ''I do not wish to be any more busy with my hands than is necessary. My head is hands and feet. I feel all my best faculties concentrated in it. My instinct tells me that my head is an organ for burrowing, as some creatures use their snout and fore-paws, and with it I would
mine and burrow my way through these hills. I think that the richest vein is somewhere hereabouts; so by the divining rod and thin rising vapors I judge; and here I will begin to mine.

至少，比起那些不得不跑到外面去寻找娱乐、进社交界或上戏院的人，我的生活方式有这个好处：我的生活本身便是娱乐，且永远新奇。（I had this advantage, at least, in my mode of life, over those who were obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre, that my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel.）

只要紧紧跟住你的创造力，它会在每一个时辰向你指示一个新的前景。Follow your genius closely enough, and it will not fail to show you a fresh prospect every hour.

除了你自己的道路之外，条条都是宿命之路。那么，还是走你自己的路吧。Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.

像湖一样，我的宁静只有涟漪而没有激荡。 Like the lake, my serenity is rippled but not ruffled.

人，正如国土一样，必须有适度的、宽阔而自然的疆界，甚至在疆界之间，要有一个相当的中立地带。 Individuals, like nations, must have suitable broad and natural boundaries, even a considerable
neutral ground, between them.

每一个人都是一座圣庙的建筑师。他的身体是他的圣殿，在里面，他完全用自己的方式来崇拜他的神，他不可能另外用大理石来琢凿它。我们都是雕刻家与画家，血、肉、骨骼是我们的材料。（Every man is the builder
of a temple, called his body, to the God he worships, after a style purely his own,nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones.

不，做一个哥伦布吧，去寻找你内心的新大陆和新世界，开辟新的海峡，不是为了通商，而是为了沟通思想。Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you opening new channels, not of trade,but of thought.

“去你的内心探险。”Explore thyself.

无论你的生命如何卑贱，面对它，接受它；不要躲避它，更不要咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富的时候，倒显得最穷。吹毛求疵的人在天堂里也找得到缺点。热爱你的生活，尽管贫困。就算在一个贫民窟里，你也会有愉快、激动、荣耀的时分。夕阳照在济贫院的窗上，也照在富户人家的窗上，两者一样光亮。在他们的门前，积雪同在早春溶化。
“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names.It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The faulfinder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is.
You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man's abode; the snow melts before its doors as early in the spring.

视贫穷如园中药草，像圣人一样去耕耘它吧！别麻烦自己去找新花样，无论是新朋友或新衣服。转向那些古老的；回到那里。万物不变；变的是我们自己。Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Turn the old; return to them. Things do not change; we change.

如果我得整天躲在阁楼一角，像一只蜘蛛一样，只要我还拥有着自己的思想，世界对于我还是一样辽阔。If I were confined to a corner of a garret all my days, like a spider, the world would be just as large
to me while I had my thoughts about me.

多余的财富只能够买多余的东西，人的灵魂所必需的东西，是不需要花钱买的。Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul.

笨鹅终归是笨鹅，随便你怎么装扮它。But a goose is a goose still, dress it as you will.

每一个锤入的铆钉应该是宇宙大机器中的一部分。你在继续着这一项工作。Every nail driven should be as another rivet in the machine of the universe, you carrying on the work.

不要给我爱，或给我钱，或给我荣誉，给我真理吧。在一张摆满了山珍海味的桌前，我被盛情招待。可是，那里既无真理也无诚意。宴散之后，从这无味的桌边离去，我依然饥肠辘辘。Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. I sat at a table where were rich food and wine
in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board.

使我们失去视觉的那种光亮，对于我们只是黑暗。只有我们睁眼醒来的那一天，天才亮了。黎明的光亮比你想象的更多。太阳不过是晨星一颗。The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.