Source text in Chinese | Translation by Ronald Kimmons (#6818) |
我们常常听人说,自己醒悟了,明白了,觉悟了之类的。 或许是的,或许不是的,更多的是在途中说的话。 我们没有可能说终极性的、不会变的话。那么这句话本身是不是终极的呢?这句话和它指向的话并不在一个意义上说的,这是一种视角立场,我们最好不要这样问。 我们常常感到自己醒悟了,例如我感到每一个月,每一个学期,每一年,甚至每一天都会感到自己醒悟了。然而,从历史的眼光看,我们只是说出了当下的感受和理解。事实上,时间一推移,什么都会变的。对一个人的爱,似乎也如此。你对一个人说,我爱你,直到永远。这句话其实是当时自己的体验和理解以及甚至是许诺,但时间是那样的严肃,生活是那样的偶然,你在另一个时间和条件下,你会把原来的话放下,或者淡化之,甚至完全背叛了 。 醒悟,我觉得把它理解为一个过程比较合适。我们对生活处于不断的醒悟中。对个人的生命,对群体生活,对组织单位,对民族文化,对自然宇宙,对未知者,对平时不被注视者处于不断的醒悟中,出现新的意识。一般地说,我们的醒悟依赖我们的方法论之发展,立场之改变,语言之变化,异质的交流,语言的反复运动,默观的实践等。我们的醒悟是历史中的醒悟。 | We often hear people say they have been awakened, informed, enlightened, and that sort of thing. Whether true or not, such things are usually said while still in the midst of one's journey. None of us can ever make an absolute, enduring declaration. Then again, is this not also an absolute declaration? This question and the statement to which it refers do not bear comparable significance; it is a matter of perspective, and we had better not to ask such a thing. We often feel that we have been awakened. As for myself, every month, every semester, every year, and even every day, I feel a certain awakening. However, considering it from a historical perspective, we see that we have only been talking about the feelings and the discernment of the moment. Actually, as time elapses, everything will change. This is seemingly true for one's love of another person, also. You tell someone, "I will love you forever," but this is actually just an utterance--a promise, even--that is based on your experience and understanding at that time. However, time is so harsh and life is so unpredictable that, at a different time and under different circumstances, you will abandon your original declaration--or you will water it down to the point of betraying it completely. As for awakening, I feel it is more appropriate to think of it as a process. In life, we are in a constant state of awakening. Our personal lives, our social interactions, the organizations to which we belong, our cultural sympathies, the natural universe, the people we have yet to meet, and the people we tend to ignore all exist in a constant state of awakening and of new realizations. Generally, our awakening is reliant upon the development of our methodology, the changing of our perspectives, the gradual shift of language, the heterogeneous exchange of ideas, linguistic revolution, the tacit implementation of principles, etc. Our awakening is an awakening that occurs throughout the grand course of history. |