TED | 真实的你存在吗？

视频引见

是什么培育了你？是你怎样看待自己，他人怎样看待你，还是其他什么？哲学家朱利安·巴基尼从哲学和神经科学中得出了一个令人诧异的答案。

片长：10：13

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So I think that we have a common-sense idea that there is a kind of core or essence of ourselves to be discovered.

我想我们有一个共识，就是都以为自己有一种有待挖掘的中心特质。

And that this is kind of a permanent truth about ourselves, something that's the same throughout life.

有一种关乎我们自身的永世真相，终身都不会改动。

Well, that's the idea I want to challenge.

但是这正是我要应战的认知。

And I have to say now, I'll say it a bit later, but I'm not challenging this just because I'm weird,

我往常就得说，一会还会再讲，我要应战这种认知并不是由于我这人很怪，

the challenge actually has a very, very long and distinguished history.

事实上这个应战曾经有一段长久显赫的历史了。

Here's the common-sense idea.

这是一个普遍性的想法。

There is you.

这是你。

You are the individuals you are, and you have this kind of core.

你是你这个个体，并且有这类的中心特征。

Now in your life, what happens is that you, of course, accumulate different experiences and so forth.

而在你的终身中，当然你会积聚不同的阅历等等。

So you have memories, and these memories help to create what you are.

于是你有了记忆，这些记忆辅佐你塑造了自己。

You have desires, maybe for a cookie, maybe for something that we don't want to talk about at 11 o'clock in the morning in a school.

你有愿望，或许只是想要一块饼干，或许是一些早晨十一点在学校我们不想去讨论的东西。

You will have beliefs.

你还会有信仰。

This is a number plate from someone in America.

这是一个美国人的车牌。

I don't know whether this number plate, which says "messiah 1," indicates that the driver believes in the messiah, or that they are the messiah.

我不知道这个车牌显现的“弥赛亚1”能否表示这个司机置信救世主，或者他们自己就是救世主。

Either way, they have beliefs about messiahs.

不论怎样，他们信仰弥赛亚。

We have knowledge.

我们有学问。

We have sensations and experiences as well.

我们也有觉得和体验。

It's not just intellectual things.

这不只仅是智力上的东西。

So this is kind of the common-sense model, I think, of what a person is.

我想这就是一个有关“你是什么”的常识性模型。

There is a person who has all the things that make up our life experiences.

你是这么一个人，具有这些构成你人生阅历的事物。

But the suggestion I want to put to you today is that there's something fundamentally wrong with this model.

但今天我想提出的观念却是，这个模型具有基天性的错误。

And I can show you what's wrong with one click,

我能够很简约的给你们展示问题在哪里。

Which is there isn't actually a "you" at the heart of all these experiences.

一切这些阅历的中心其实并不存在那个真实的“你”。

Strange thought?

这个想法很奇特吗？

Well, maybe not.

嗯，不尽然。

What is there, then?

那这些阅历中究竟有些什么呢？

Well, clearly there are memories, desires, intentions, sensations, and so forth.

显然，有记忆、愿望、意愿、直觉，等等诸如此类。

But what happens is these things exist, and they're kind of all integrated, they're overlapped, they're connected in various different ways.

但事实上这些事物是存在的，而且整合在一同，他们以各种各样的方式相互交错，彼此衔接。

They're connecting partly, and perhaps even mainly, because they all belong to one body and one brain.

他们之间有部分衔接，或许以至是大部分衔接，由于他们属于同一个身体，同一个大脑。

But there's also a narrative, a story we tell about ourselves, the experiences we have when we remember past things.

不外还有这样一种叙说，关于自己的故事，那些在我们回想过去时所取得的阅历。

We do things because of other things.

我们所做的事情都有其缘由。

So what we desire is partly a result of what we believe, and what we remember is also informing us what we know.

我们的愿望部分源于我们的信仰，我们的记忆也决议了我们的认知。

And so really, there are all these things, like beliefs, desires, sensations, experiences, they're all related to each other, and that just is you.

的确，一切这些东西好比信仰，愿望，直觉和阅历，他们都相互关联，这就构成了“你”。

In some ways, it's a small difference from the common-sense understanding.

某种意义上，这与我们的基本认知只需些微的不同。

In some ways, it's a massive one.

而某种意义上，这种倾向却是庞大的。

It's the shift between thinking of yourself as a thing which has all the experiences of life,

这是在把你自己当做具有一切这些人生阅历的事物，

and thinking of yourself as simply that collection of all experiences in life.

以及把你自己当做一切这些人生阅历的合集之间的一种转换。

You are the sum of your parts.

你是一切部分的汇合。

Now those parts are also physical parts, of course, brains, bodies and legs and things,

当然，这些也能够是身体的部分，好比大脑，躯干，肢体等等，

but they aren't so important, actually.

但事实上这些都不那么重要。

You konw, if you have a heart transplant, you're still the same person.

假定你做了心脏移植，你还是那个你。

If you have a memory transplant, are you the same person?

但假如你做了记忆移植，你还是那个你吗？

If you have a belief transplant, would you be the same person?

假如是信仰移植呢，你还是原来的你吗？

Now this idea, that what we are, the way to understand ourselves, is as not of some permanent being, which has experiences,

所以，这个关于我们是什么以及如何认识自身的想法，它以为我们不是什么具有阅历的永世个体，

but is kind of a collection of experiences, might strike you as kind of weird.

而是这些阅历的汇合，这种想法可能会让你觉得有点儿奇特。

But actually, I don't think it should be weird.

但事实上，我觉得一点都不。

In a way, it's common sense.

在某种水平上，这是常识。

Because I just invite you to think about, by comparison, think about pretty much anything else in the universe,

我请大家经过比较，想想宇宙中其它的诸多事物，

maybe apart from the very most fundamental forces or powers.

不用思索那些最基本的力或者功。

Let's take something like water.

举个水的例子吧。

Now my science isn't very good.

我的科学素养很普通。

We might say something like water has two parts hydrogen and one parts oxygen, right?

我们能够说水含有两份氢和一份氧，对吧？

We all know that.

我们都知道这一点。

I hope no one in this room thinks that what that means is there is a thing called water,

希望这个屋子里没有人会了解为有一种叫做水的东西，

and attached to it are hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and that's what water is.

附着着氢原子和氧原子，以为这就是水。

Of course we don't.

我们当然不会这么想。

We understand, very easily, very straightforwardly, that water is nothing more than the hydrogen and oxygen molecules suitably arranged.

我们都能随意而直接的了解，水不外是氢和氧以恰当的方式排列而成的。

Everything else in the universe is the same.

宇宙中的其他一切都是一样的。

There's no mystery about my watch, for example.

好比，我的手表也没有什么神秘的。

We say the watch has a face, and hands, and a mechanism and a battery.

我们说它有名义，指针，还有机械装置以及电池。

But what we really mean is, we don't think there is a thing called the watch to which we then attach all these bits.

不外我们的真正意义并不是以为一种叫做表的东西，上面附着上一切这些元件。

We understand very clearly that you get the parts of the watch, you put them together, and you create a watch.

我们很分明当你把一切这些元件组合起来，就能够得到一个手表。

Now if everything else in the universe is like this, why are we different?

假如宇宙中一切事物都是这样，我们又有什么特殊的呢？

Why think of ourselves as somehow not just being a collection of all our parts,

为什么我们不把自己以为是一切部件的组合，

but somehow being a separate, permanent entity which has those parts?

而是一个具有那些部件的某种独立而永世的存在？

Now this view is not particularly new, actually.

这种见地其实并不新颖。

It has quite a long lineage.

它曾经有着一段很长的传承。

You find it in Buddhism, you find it in 17th, 18th-century philosophy going through to the current day, people like Locke and Hume.

在佛教里有，十七，十八世纪的哲学里有直至往常，以洛克和休谟为代表的思想。

But interestingly, it's also a view increasingly being heard reinforced by neuroscience.

但有趣的是，这也是一种越来越经常听到的被神经科学不时增强的想法。

This is Paul Broks, he's a clinical neuropsychologist, and he says this:

这是保罗·布洛克斯，一位临床神经心理学家，他是这样说的：

"We have a deep intuition that there is a core, an essence there, and it's hard to shake off, probably impossible to shake off, I suspect.

“我们有一种根深蒂固的直觉：就是存在一种中心特质，很难解脱，我以至狐疑或许是基本无法解脱的。

But it's true that neuroscience shows that there is no centre in the brain where things do all come together."

但神经科学的确显现，我们的大脑中没有什么让一切东西都汇合在一同的中心区域。”

So when you look at the brain, and you look at how the brain makes possible a sense of self,

那么当你察看大脑，察看大脑如何构成自我认识，

you find that there isn't a central control spot in the brain.

你会发现基本不存在什么中心控制点。

There is no kind of center where everything happens.

不存在一切事情集中发作的区域。

There are lots of different processes in the brain, all of which operate, in a way, quite independently.

大脑中有大量不同的进程，各自以相当独立的方式运转着。

But it's because of the way that they relate that we get this sense of self.

但是，他们之间相互关联的方式使得我们有了自我的认识。

The term I use in the book, I call it the ego trick.

我在书里把它叫做自我迷局。

It's like a mechanical trick.

就像机械迷局一样。

It's not that we don't exist, it's just that the trick is to make us feel that inside of us is something more unified than is really there.

不是说我们不存在，而是这个迷局使得我们觉得在我们内部有一种更为统一的存在。

Now you might think this is a worrying idea.

或许你会觉得这个想法让人感到沮丧。

You might think that if it's true, that for each one of us there is no abiding core of self, no permanent essence,

你或许会想，假如这是真的，我们每个人都没有耐久的中心自我，没有永世的实质，

does that mean that really, the self is an illusion?

这能否意味着自我是一种假象呢？

Does it mean that we really don't exist?

这能否意味着我们并不存在？

There is no real you.

不存在真正的你。

Well, a lot of people actually do use this talk of illusion and so forth.

的确有很多人接纳了这种假象之类的说法。

These are three psychologists, Thomas Metzinger, Bruce Hood, Susan Blackmore,

好比有三位心理学家，托马斯·梅辛革，布鲁斯·胡德以及苏珊·布莱克默，

a lot of these people do talk the language of illusion, the self is an illusion, it's a fiction.

这些人都支持这种假象学说，以为自我是一种假象，是虚拟的。

But I don't think this is a very helpful way of looking at it.

不外我不觉得这种了解方式在这个问题上有任何的辅佐。

Go back to the watch.

我们回到手表的例子。

The watch isn't an illusion, because there is nothing to the watch other than a collection of its parts.

手表不是假象，由于除了部件的组合没有其它东西了。

In the same way, we're not illusions either.

同样的，我们也不是假象。

The fact that we are, in some ways, just this very, very complex collection, ordered collection of things, does not mean we're not real.

事实上，从某种角度来说，我们只是一个极端复杂的有序汇合，并不意味着我们不是真实存在的。

I can give you a very sort of rough metaphor for this.

我能够给你们一个十分粗浅的比方。

Let's take something like a waterfall.

就拿瀑布来说吧。

These are the Iguazu Falls, in Argentina.

这是阿根廷的伊瓜苏瀑布。

Now if you take something like this, you can appreciate the fact that in lots of ways, there's nothing permanent about this.

假如认真想想，你就会体会到，从很多方面来看，它都不是永世的。

For one thing, it's always changing.

首先，它永远在变更中。

The waters are always carving new channels,

这些水总在冲蚀出新的途径。

with changes and tides and the weather, some things dry up, new things are created.

随着潮汐和天气的变更，有的干涸了，有的则刚刚构成。

Of course the water that flows through the waterfall is different every single instance.

当然，瀑布中流淌着的水每一刻都是不同的。

But it doesn't mean that the Iguazu Falls are an illusion.

但这并不是说伊瓜苏瀑布就是假象。

It doesn't mean it's not real.

这并不意味着这不是真的。

What it means is we have to understand what it is as something which has a history, has certain things that keep it together,

这意味着，我们需求将它了解为是一种具有过往的事物，是某些东西的汇合，

but it's a process, it's fluid, it's forever changing.

不外它是一个过程，活动着的，一直变更着的。

Now that, I think, is a model for understanding ourselves, and I think it's a liberating model.

我觉得这就是一个能够用来认识我们自己的模型，一个释放性的模型。

Because if you think that you have this fixed, permanent essence, which is always the same, throughout your life,

由于假如你以为自己有什么固定的永世的特质，无论怎样都终其终身而存在，

no matter what, in a sense you're kind of trapped.

那么在某种意义上你曾经被套住了。

You're born with an essence, that's what you are until you die, if you believe in an afterlife, maybe you continue.

你生而具备某种特质，而它就会定义你，直到死亡，假如你置信有来生，或许还会继续。

But if you think of yourself as being, in a way, not a thing as such, but a kind of a process, something that is changing,

但假如你换种方式，以为自己不是这样一种事物，而是一个过程，一个处于变更中的过程，

then I think that's quite liberating.

我觉得这就是一种解放。

Because unlike the the waterfalls, we actually have the capacity to channel the direction of our development for ourselves to a certain degree.

由于与瀑布不同，我们其真实一定水平上具备为自己的展开规划方向的才干。

Now we've got to be careful here, right?

往常我们要当心了，对吧？

If you watch the X-Factor too much, you might buy into this idea that we can all be whatever we want to be.

对吧？假如你看了太多“X音素”（译注：英国真人选秀节目），你可能会深信我们可能成为任何想成为的人。

That's not true.

但事实并非如此。

I've heard some fantastic musicians this morning, and I am very confident that I could in no way be as good as them.

今早我听到一些十分棒的音乐家的演奏，我十分确信我没法抵达他们的水平。

I could practice hard and maybe be good, but I don't have that really natural ability.

我能够刻苦练习，或许会做的不错，但我并不具备这个天赋。

There are limits to what we can achieve.

我们能够完成的总是有限的。

There are limits to what we can make of ourselves.

在培育自我方面我们才干有限。

But nevertheless, we do have this capacity to, in a sense, shape ourselves.

但无论如何，我们至少具备在一定水平上塑造自己的才干。

The true self, as it were then, is not something that is just there for you to discover,

真实的自己，并不是等着你去发现的什么东西，

you don't sort of look into your soul and find your true self.

你不是在灵魂中寻觅那个真实的自己。

What you are partly doing, at least, is actually creating your true self.

你或多或少正在做的，其实是在发明真实的自己。

And this, I think, is very, very significant, particularly at this stage of life you're at.

这一点我觉得十分重要，特别关于你所在的人生阶段。

You'll be aware of the fact how much of you changed over recent years.

你会认识到这些年自己变更了多少。

If you have any videos of yourself, three or four years ago, you probably feel embarrassed because you don't recognize yourself.

假如你有自己三四年前的视频，你或许会感到很尴尬，由于你都快认不出自己了。

So I want to get that message over, that what we need to do is think about ourselves as things that we can shape, and channel and change.

我希望能传送这样的信息，我们需求做的就是以为我们自己是能够塑造，规划，并不时改动的事物。

This is the Buddha, again: "Well-makers lead the water, fletchers bend the arrow, carpenters bend a log of wood, wise people fashion themselves."

佛说：“水人调船，弓匠调角，巧匠调木，智者调身。”

And that's the idea I want to leave you with, that your true self is not something that you will have to go searching for, as a mystery,

这正是我要传达给你们的理念，你无须寻觅真实的自己，

and maybe never ever find.

或许这是个永远无法解开的谜。

To the extent you have a true self, it's something that you in part discover, but in part create,

即便存在真实的自己，你也需求一边挖掘，一边发明。

and that, I think, is a liberating and exciting prospect.

这是一种自由释放性的，十分的令人振奋的观念。

Thank you very much.

十分感激。

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