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本帖最后由 此岸 于 2014-12-7 11:54 编辑
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老罗谈如何老化或者不老
罗素当年来华的动静据说比杜威泰戈尔大多了。在民国土地上晃荡大半年,回去又活了五十多岁,所以左右逢源的层面既深且广又远,以至于今天我们可以很方便地见到其全部作品的英文版及中文繁简体译本,不少早期译者有和老罗面晤或笔谈的幸运。
衰老或者老化主要是一种过程兼状态判据,而老之将至常常只是一种状态甚至仅仅一时顾虑。状态有稳定亚稳不稳之分,受遗传、环境、内心影响颇大;过程有徐速路径方向之别,多半教养、习惯、性格使然。老罗七十多岁时候公开的这篇短文,平易亲切,委婉道来,把这几个方面都约略说到了。不过,一般成年人从身边的见闻大都明白,对权力、金钱、美女、事业、名声、使命的“强烈爱好”使无数人长寿或短命,其共同特征正是临死前都不觉老之将至(虽然前者难免老态毕现后者全然无心理会),而老罗除了权力金钱之外,其他几项爱好皆为世人楷模。由此不难理解状态与过程的各种联系。以前在此岸絮语里聊过小说热力学和动力学的话题,说的也是这两方面事情。
不过老罗的防老术显然另有所本:
Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age. One of these is undue absorption in the past. It does not do to live in memories, in regrets for the good old days, or in sadness about friends who are dead. One's thoughts must be directed to the future, and to things about which there is something to be done. This is not always easy; one's own past is a gradually increasing weight. It is easy to think to oneself that one's emotions used to be more vivid than they are, and one's mind more keen. If this is true it should be forgotten, and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.
The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigour from its vitality. When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives, and if you continue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young, you are likely to become a burden to them, unless they are unusually callous. I do not mean that one should be without interest in them, but one's interest should be contemplative and, if possible, philanthropic, but not unduly emotional. Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves, but human beings, owing to the length of infancy, find this difficult.
俗语说,“好汉不提当年勇”“儿孙自有儿孙福”,便是这两段的“中心思想”。
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