再讀《瓦爾登湖》

文/空因

二十年前就看了梭羅的《瓦爾登湖》。那時還太年輕，才二十剛出頭。雖然看過了，卻沒有留下什麼印象。二十年後再讀它的英文版，不禁掩卷深思、感慨萬分。

梭羅在森林裡自建了一所房子，在那裡耕種、生活、沉思，《瓦爾登湖》等於是他寫的一本森林筆記。書中他反覆揭示了人類的畸形生活方式：不思考，不創造，在無知、迷茫和焦慮中積累着財富，花盡畢生的精力也在所不惜。然而，我們卻始終疏遠着自然界和自己的內心世界。更糟糕的是，我們竟然以為這是正常的生活，且握着鞭子，得意地做着“自己的監工”。可是，這一切到底是為了什麼？我們得掙上怎樣的一份生活，才算得上幸福？

梭羅尖銳地指出：我們生活在一個以衣取人的社會。根據頻繁更新的時尚，我們不停地買着新款式的服裝，在博取人家的尊重的同時也讓自己更加自信。愛美之心人人皆有，這，似乎是無可厚非的。可是，衣服只是一件表面的東西，華麗的裝扮並不能夠讓我們的內心更加豐富美麗。當我們關注着那些短暫的愉悅之時，我們是否也同樣關注着那永不過時的思想智慧呢？

在梭羅的眼裡，這些着迷於時裝的人跟“掛乾淨衣服的木頭支架沒有什麼兩樣”，他們就如“巴黎的猴子王戴了一頂旅遊帽，美國所有的猴子也都跟着戴。”“他們寧願瘸着腿，也不願穿着破褲子進城”，因為“他們關心的不是真正值得人尊敬的東西，而是受人尊敬的東西”。

梭羅強調：簡簡單單才是最自然和諧的生活方式， 也只有這樣的方式才能給我們的內心帶來寧靜。他的桌上有三塊做擺設的小石頭。有一天，他忽然意識到：他得天天為它們拭去塵埃。於是，他自嘲地說“我頭腦中的灰塵還來不及拂拭呢”，懷着厭惡之情，他將石子扔出窗外。

梭羅，這個寧願坐在大南瓜上也不願意坐在天鵝絨軟墊上的人，這個當朋友來拜訪他時，他遞給人家一個勺子叫他自己去湖裡舀水喝的人，也用了很長的篇幅闡述了他對房產的意見。對於梭羅來說，有個溫暖舒適的家是重要的，畢竟，我們已經進步到現今這個階段，不必像原始人一樣露天夜宿，但是，房屋只是用來遮風避雨的，我們現代人卻把它當成了身份的象徵，炫耀的工具，最後我們被幽禁在自己的屋子裡，是它占有了我們，而不是我們擁有了它。梭羅建議大家都仿效印第安人的尖頂樹皮房，它不怎麼費功夫就能蓋好，而且又經濟又環保。

梭羅每天做幾個小時的耕耘，然後，要不釣釣魚，要不看看書，偶然到村里去走一走。大多數時間花在沉思上。他坐在林間，目不轉睛地看着藍天，周遭的鳥兒快樂地叫着，風兒從樹枝上飄過來。而他的幸福的歌聲也從心底流出。說他懶惰嗎？從現代人的意義來說，也許是有一點兒。可他卻認為他的生活充滿了新奇和快樂，他也不像人家一樣期望通過新聞或各種娛樂活動來打發漫長的時間。他不無嘲諷地說：“對於一個哲學家來說，所有的新聞都是謠言，那些編新聞和讀新聞的人都是茶桌邊的老婦。然而不少人都貪婪地聽着這種瞎扯……”

梭羅的整本日子告訴我們：我們已經在文明的幌子下走得太遠。我們打着“責任”的牌子，讓自己的生活越來越偏離健康的軌道。他反覆強調，要謀得一份溫飽，實在是太容易了。而大多數的奢侈品不但是毫無必要的，且阻礙着人類心靈的發展。人的痛苦，則大多來自於“黃金和白銀的桎梏”。外表看上去，我們似乎比只求果腹的原始人進步了很多，可是，歸根結底，我們所追求的還是衣食住行，只是比他們的更加複雜更多樣化而已。

梭羅說他去林中生活，是因為他想過一種有意識的生活（live
deliberately），去切身體驗生活的卑微和偉大。他最不齒地就是像大多數人那樣機械地隨波逐流地生活着，跟在別人後面被動地跑，到臨死前才發現他們從來沒有真正活過。

我們並不需要像梭羅一樣打着一雙赤腳在森林裡過原始拓荒的生活，但是，我們是否應該問問自己：我們真的有必要讓黃金和白銀來桎梏着自己嗎？我們非得用外在的東西來娛樂自己嗎？我們該如何有意識地活着？到底什麼才是我們真正所需要的？我們又該如何得到它？我們為何要追隨着被人家所認同的生活來桎梏着自己的自由？人類在文明進步方面，真的已經走了很遠嗎？我們可以獨自閱讀或沉思多久，然後，我們的手禁不住伸向手機或者電腦？

以下是我從書中所摘錄的梭羅之言：

“大多數人在默默中絕望地生活。所謂的聽天由命是已經承認的絕望……即使在人類所謂的遊戲和娛樂背後，也隱藏着固定的、傳統的、不知不覺的絕望。”（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.”

“絕大多數的奢侈品，以及許多所謂的使生活舒適的東西，不僅是可有可無的，而且必然阻礙人類的進步。就奢侈和舒適而言，最明智的人自古就過着比窮人更為簡單和清貧的生活。”( 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.”

“難道我們老得研究如何得到越來越多的東西，而不能有時滿足於少得一點？那些可敬的公民們，難道非得莊嚴地言傳身教，告訴年輕人早在老死以前就得備好若干多餘的皮鞋和雨傘，以及空空的客房，來招待並不存在的客人嗎？”（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?）

“我們不再露營一宿，而是安居於大地之上，忘卻了天空。”（We now no
longer camp as for a night, but have settled down on earth and forgotten
heaven.）

“我們在塵世造好府邸，隨之再建造族氏墓園。最傑出的藝術作品都在於表現人類如何從這種情形中掙扎出來，解放自己，但我們的藝術不過是把這屈辱的處境弄得舒適一點，而將那較高級的境界置之腦後。” (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.

“人關心着東、西方的那些紀念碑，並牢記是誰創造了它們。我倒願意知道，是誰當時不肯造這些東西，——誰能夠超越那些玩意兒之上。” （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夠放下的東西成正比（a man is rich in
proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.）

你們要儘可能自由地生活，無所羈絆。苦守在一個農莊上，和關在縣政府的監獄中，簡直沒有分別。As long as possible live free and uncommitted. It
makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.

早晨就是當我醒來時黎明就在我的心裡。Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me.

對於一個哲學家來說，所有的新聞都是謠言，那些編新聞和讀新聞的人都是茶桌邊的老婦。然而不少人都貪婪地聽着這種瞎扯。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.

 一個人如果不能相信每一天都有一個比他褻讀過的更早、更神聖的玫瑰色時辰，他一定已經對生命失望了，並在掉入一條逐漸黑暗之路。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.

可以紀念的一切事，我敢說，都在黎明時、黎明的氛圍中發生。 All memorable events, I should say, transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphere.

人如果不是在渾渾噩噩地睡覺，那他們回顧每一天的時候為什麼要說得這麼可憐呢？Why is it that men give so poor an account of their day if they have not been slumbering?

新聞算什麼！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!

時間只是我垂釣的溪。我喝溪水，喝水時候我看到它那沙底，它多麼淺啊。它的汨汨的流水逝去了，可是永恆留了下來。我願飲得更深；魚兒在空中漫遊，它的底層有着石子似的星星。我不能數出“一”來。我不知道字母表上的第一個字母。我常常後悔：我不像初生時那樣聰明了。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；它看準了，就一路切開事物的秘密。我不希望我的手比所必需的忙得更多些。我的頭腦是手和足。我覺得我最好的官能都集中在那裡。我的本能告訴我，我的頭可以挖洞，像一些動物，有的用鼻子，有的用前爪，我要用它挖掘我的洞，在這些山峰中挖掘出我的道路來。我想那最富有的礦脈就在這裡的什麼地方；用探尋藏金的魔杖，根據那升騰的薄霧，我決定；在這裡我要開始開礦。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尋找娛樂、進社交界或上戲院的人，我的生活方式有這個好處：我的生活本身便是娛樂，且永遠新奇。（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.）

只要緊緊跟住你的創造力，它會在每一個時辰向你指示一個新的前景。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，條條都是宿命之路。那麼，還是走你自己的路吧。Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.

像湖一樣，我的寧靜只有漣漪而沒有激盪。 Like the lake, my serenity is rippled but not ruffled.

人，正如國土一樣，必須有適度的、寬闊而自然的疆界，甚至在疆界之間，要有一個相當的中立地帶。 Individuals, like nations, must have suitable broad and natural boundaries, even a considerable
neutral ground, between them.

每一個人都是一座聖廟的建築師。他的身體是他的聖殿，在裡面，他完全用自己的方式來崇拜他的神，他不可能另外用大理石來琢鑿它。我們都是雕刻家與畫家，血、肉、骨骼是我們的材料。（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，做一個哥倫布吧，去尋找你內心的新大陸和新世界，開闢新的海峽，不是為了通商，而是為了溝通思想。Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you opening new channels, not of trade,but of thought.

“去你的內心探險。”Explore thyself.

無論你的生命如何卑賤，面對它，接受它；不要躲避它，更不要咒罵它。它不像你那樣壞。你最富的時候，倒顯得最窮。吹毛求疵的人在天堂里也找得到缺點。熱愛你的生活，儘管貧困。就算在一個貧民窟里，你也會有愉快、激動、榮耀的時分。夕陽照在濟貧院的窗上，也照在富戶人家的窗上，兩者一樣光亮。在他們的門前，積雪同在早春溶化。
“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.

視貧窮如園中藥草，像聖人一樣去耕耘它吧！別麻煩自己去找新花樣，無論是新朋友或新衣服。轉向那些古老的；回到那裡。萬物不變；變的是我們自己。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.

如果我得整天躲在閣樓一角，像一隻蜘蛛一樣，只要我還擁有着自己的思想，世界對於我還是一樣遼闊。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.

多餘的財富只能夠買多餘的東西，人的靈魂所必需的東西，是不需要花錢買的。Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul.

笨鵝終歸是笨鵝，隨便你怎麼裝扮它。But a goose is a goose still, dress it as you will.

每一個錘入的鉚釘應該是宇宙大機器中的一部分。你在繼續着這一項工作。Every nail driven should be as another rivet in the machine of the universe, you carrying on the work.

不要給我愛，或給我錢，或給我榮譽，給我真理吧。在一張擺滿了山珍海味的桌前，我被盛情招待。可是，那裡既無真理也無誠意。宴散之後，從這無味的桌邊離去，我依然飢腸轆轆。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.

使我們失去視覺的那種光亮，對於我們只是黑暗。只有我們睜眼醒來的那一天，天才亮了。黎明的光亮比你想象的更多。太陽不過是晨星一顆。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.