第091期……尼采第二部分：权力意志

非常感谢你们收听这个播客。

Thanks so much for listening to the podcast.

很高兴你们到目前为止这么喜欢。

Cool that you're enjoying it so far.

每期节目的完整文字稿都在 philosophizethis.org 上。

Full transcripts of every episode at philosophizethis.org.

想支持这样的节目，就去 patreon.com/philosophizethis 吧。

And to support a show like this, go to patreon.com/philosophizethis.

没有你们的帮助，我根本做不下去。

Could never do this without your help.

谢谢。

Thank you.

上一期我们聊了很多不该做的事。

So last episode, we talked a lot about what we shouldn't be doing.

我们谈了尼采。

We talked about Nietzsche.

我们聊了他对普通人的心理分析，说人有多容易说服自己去相信或做某些事——这些事未必最贴近真相，但就是能填补你内心某种深层的空虚。

We talked about his psychological analysis of the average person and how easy it is to convince yourself to believe in something or to do something that isn't the most accurate necessarily, but nonetheless, it fills some sort of deep psychological void that you may have.

不过咱们别光说不该做什么了，来聊聊该做什么。

But instead of talking about what you shouldn't be doing, let's talk about what you should be doing.

要展开这个讨论，一个不错的自我反思起点，就是问自己一个问题。

And a pretty good introspective launching point for having this discussion is to ask yourself the following question.

你为什么要做你正在做的事？

Why do you do what you do?

你做每一件事，最根本的心理动机是什么？

What is the primary psychological motivation for whatever it is that you do?

在每一个选择的十字路口，你其实有上百万种可能。

When you're at any given decision point, there's a million different things you could do.

当你最终选了其中一条路时，你到底想达成什么？

What are you specifically trying to accomplish when you're choosing the one you're actually gonna do?

这个问题的答案，可不止一种。

There's a lot of different answers to this.

你去问大多数人，他们都会给出一个很典型的答案，有点亚里士多德的味道：人做任何事，归根结底都是觉得这事能让自己开心。

A really common one when you talk to people, a very Aristotelian approach to the question, is that whenever somebody's doing something, they ultimately are doing it because they think it's going to bring them happiness.

不管你干啥，内心深处你都相信，这事最终会让你快乐。

Whatever you're doing, ultimately, somewhere deep down, you believe that it will make you happy.

不过呢，也有人不这么看。

Now some people argue with this.

不是这样的。

No.

我不一样。

That's not me.

不对。

No.

才不是呢。

No.

别管我开不开心了。

Forget my happiness.

我这一生就是为了牺牲。

My life is about sacrifice.

我这一生就是为了帮助别人。

My life is about serving other people.

我有十一个孩子。

I have 11 children.

我经常去施粥所做志愿者。

I I volunteer down at the soup kitchen.

我有时候就会开车在城里转悠，专门找那些站在繁忙路口的老太太，好去帮她们过马路。

In fact, I'll often find myself just driving around the city looking for old ladies standing by a a busy intersection so I can help them cross the street.

其实，她们是不是真想过马路，我都不在乎。

In fact, I don't even care if they need to cross the street.

我都会硬拉着她们过马路。

I'll I'll make them cross the street.

这就是我活着的意义。

That's what I do with my life.

现在很多人会对此提出异议。

Now a lot people would argue back to that.

不管你自己为别人承受了多少痛苦，归根结底，你这么做只是因为做完之后心里感觉好受些。

Well, no matter how much pain you're putting yourself through on behalf of others, ultimately, you're just doing it because it brings you some sort of positive emotional state for having done it.

换句话说，你做这事，是因为它让你在某种程度上感到快乐。

In other words, you did it because it makes you happy in some way.

但也有人不这么看。

But then there's people that would argue against that.

他们可能会说，表面上看，这说法好像挺有道理。

They'd say, sure, on the surface, that seems to hold water.

可如果人们真的只是为了让自己开心才做事，那为什么我们总看到有人明知道某些事会让自己不开心，却还是非做不可？

But if people really are just doing things because it makes them happy, why do we see people so often engaging in behaviors that they know for certain are gonna make them unhappy, but they do it anyway?

我说的是内疚、嫉妒，或者对别人的憎恨这类事。

I'm talking about things like guilt or jealousy or hate for somebody else.

没人会坐在那儿对自己说：‘哎，今天刷了会儿Facebook。’

And there's no way somebody sits around and says to themselves, oh, look at Facebook today.

我前女友又找了个新男朋友。

Oh, my ex girlfriend got a new boyfriend.

她可真是一点都没耽搁啊，是吧？

She didn't waste any time, did she?

对。

No.

她不是说她快崩溃了吗？看着还真是那么回事。

She seems to be really crushed like she said, doesn't she?

你知道我打算干嘛吗？

You know what I'm gonna do?

我就要瘫着恨他们俩好几个星期，自个儿窝在那儿自怨自艾，而我这么干，就是因为这让我觉得爽。

I'm gonna sit around and resent the two of them for weeks wallowing in my own misery, and I'm gonna do this because it makes me happy.

没人会这么说。

Nobody says that.

那他们为啥还非得这么做？

So why do they do it?

有些人会说，这其实挺叔本华的——人们做事情，未必是因为能带来快乐。

Well, some people would say, a very Schopenhauer approach to things, that the reason there is this discrepancy is because people aren't doing things because it makes them happy necessarily.

归根结底，只要你仔细观察人的行为，所有动机最后都逃不开一个字：活命。

Ultimately, if you look at people's behavior closely enough, it all comes down to survival.

求生的本能。

A will to life.

内疚、嫉妒这些情绪，表面上看让人难受，可它们实实在在地帮我们活了下来。

The process of guilt or the process of jealousy, these are examples of processes that don't make us feel amazing in the moment that we're experiencing them, but they definitely give us very real benefits in terms of survival.

举个例子，几百万年前，人类生活在狩猎采集的小部落里——当然，我不是想冒犯谁，这话真不是冲谁去的。

For example, if for millions of years you lived in a very hunter gatherer tribal setting as human beings seem to have lived and by the way, I'm not look, I'm not trying to alienate anyone by saying that.

我承认，这说法可能有点极端。

I I concede.

说不定考古证据根本就是老天爷设的局，就为了让你怀疑：你到底信不信他？

The archaeological record very well may have been an elaborate ruse by god to get you to question whether you believe in him or not.

明白吧？

Alright?

但咱们就假设，我们真的生活在那样的部落里吧。

But let's just pretend that we did live in these tribes.

在这些部落里，这些心理机制对生存有着非常实际的作用，因为你的命可全靠能不能被部落接纳。

These psychological processes serve a very useful function in terms of survival in these tribal settings where your survival's contingent upon being a member of this tribe.

假如整个部落忙活一整天，好不容易做了张咖啡桌，结果你路过时一脚踢上去，把桌子给毁了——那种强烈的内疚感，会逼你以后碰咖啡桌都得小心翼翼。

If the whole tribe works all day to make something like a coffee table, and at the end of the day, you walk past the coffee table, you stub your pinky toe on it, and you ruin it, that horrible feeling of guilt is probably gonna get you to think twice and be careful whenever you're around coffee tables in the future.

因为你要是没这内疚感，明天可能又撞坏一张，后天再坏一张。

Because if you didn't have that feeling of guilt, you might break another one the next day, and then another one the next day.

说白了，最后大家干脆就不让你靠近他们的咖啡桌了。

Point is, eventually, they're not letting you around their coffee tables anymore.

那你只能一个人被扔到树林里，自己用树枝和树叶搭个窝。

You're gonna be out in the middle of the woods trying to make a a shelter out of some twigs and leaves.

这种内疚感，就跟很多当下让你不舒服、但其实帮你活下来的机制一样，作用不小。

This process of guilt, just like many other processes that we don't enjoy in the moment, often help us survive.

当然，也有人会说，像尼采讲的那样，光用‘生存’根本解释不了人为什么做这些事。

Then there's other people that would say what Nietzsche would say is that survival doesn't seem to really explain all the reasons why people do stuff.

我的意思是，如果我们真的只凭生存需求做选择，那为啥有人去跳伞呢？

I mean, if we really were just making choices based on what's going to ensure our survival, why does anybody go skydiving?

为啥有人会开车？

Why does anybody drive a car?

我们在动物界也能看到这种现象。

We see it in the animal kingdom.

如果真就只是为了不惜一切代价活下去，动物干嘛要冒没必要的险？

If the goal truly was just ensuring our survival at all costs, why would an animal ever take an unnecessary risk?

它们难道不该只顾着找吃的喝的，然后躲在个小圈子里，哪儿都不敢去，生怕丢了命吗？

Why won't we just see them, you know, securing food and water and then staying inside of a little cul de sac that they never venture out of for fear of dying?

在尼采看来，事情没那么简单。

No, it seems to be more complex than that to Nietzsche.

关于这个问题，我们能聊出一大堆答案。

And there's tons of answers to this question that we could talk about.

但尼采会说，不，这根本不是追求快乐的欲望。

But Nietzsche would say, no, it's not a will to happiness.

这不是对生命的渴望。

It's not a will to life.

我们做的一切，其实都是在追求权力。

We do what we do as a pursuit towards a will to power.

我们每个人都在找权力。

We're all looking for power.

不过说快点，这个‘权力’——

Now real quick, power.

好吧。

Alright.

这又是个词义特别重的词，每个人听这期节目时，脑子里都有自己的固有理解。

Once again, one of these really loaded words that everybody's gonna come to the episode with their own conditioned definitions of.

他口中的权力到底指什么？

What does he mean by power?

先说说他不是在说什么吧。

Well, I'll tell you what he's not talking about.

他不是在说电力那种权力。

He's not talking about electrical power.

他也不是在说军事霸权那种东西。

He's not talking about militaristic power necessarily.

更不是指去健身房举重、练肌肉、提升体能这种‘力量’。

He's not talking about getting more power, like, the gym or something, lifting the heavy plates, working on your fitness.

我见过最贴切的说法是：权力就是成为真正的自己。

The best way I've ever seen it put is that power is becoming who you truly are.

人们常说是自我表达，就是不被外物奴役。

Self expression is how it's often put, not being enslaved by things.

但这个概念其实挺微妙的。

But this whole notion is actually pretty nuanced.

为了搞清楚尼采这话到底啥意思，咱们先聊聊他所说的‘被奴役’是什么意思，不妨从动物界说起。

So to start to clarify what Nietzsche is talking about here, let's talk about what he means by being enslaved, and maybe a good place to start doing that is to look at the animal kingdom.

别搞错了。

Make no mistake.

我们人类也是动物界的一部分。

We as human beings are a part of this animal kingdom.

对。

Yeah.

我们住的地方有围墙，街道是水泥的，大楼林立，野牛根本进不来伤不到你。

We may have these cordoned off areas that we live in with these concrete streets and buildings where all the buffalo aren't gonna come and attack you.

不过话说回来，可得提防着点那些家伙。

Gotta watch out for those, by the way.

但即便如此，我们依然属于生命进程的一部分。

But despite that, we are still a part of this process of life.

我们是生态系统中的一环。

We are part of an ecosystem.

如果你退一步，看看我们所有人参与的这个生命过程，生命通常是怎么运作的呢？

And when you take a step back and you look at that process that we're all a part of, how does life behave typically?

比如熊、青蛙、树木和植物，它们全都是被一种求生的意志驱动着。

Well, a a bear or a frog or trees and plants, these things are all fueled by a will to power.

它们的目标是充分表达自己，而这种表达往往是为了改善生活质量，掌控那些可能让处境变好或变坏的因素。

Their aim is to express themselves fully, that self expression often being to improve the quality of their life, to harness control over certain variables that might make their situation better or worse.

如果一只动物在森林里勉强求生，它可不会因为活下来就感到一阵满足。

If an animal's out in the middle of the woods and it's barely scraping by an existence, there isn't some wave of satisfaction that washes over them because they're surviving.

不会的。

No.

它们会努力改善处境，哪怕这意味着要冒风险。

They try to improve their circumstances even if it means taking risks.

尼采说，我们人类也是一样，这其实根本不该让我们惊讶。

Nietzsche says, we're the same way, and it shouldn't be a surprise to us that we're the same way.

我们的问题是，把事情搞得比熊复杂多了。

Thing with us is we just make things a lot more complicated than a bear does.

我们有大脑，能让我们考虑各种各样的选择。

So we have these brains, these brains that allow us to consider all kinds of different options.

对吧？

Right?

它们让我们能彼此达成协议。

They allow us to make agreements with each other.

我们可以结成和平联盟。

We can form alliances for peace.

我们还能彼此友好相处。

We can be cool to each other.

但它们也让我们能做相反的事。

But they also allow us to do the opposite.

对吧？

Right?

可怕的事情。

Horrible things.

这些大脑不仅放大了我们能想出来的各种邪恶念头——比如奴役他人或周围事物，还让我们能用隐蔽、狡猾的手段去做，甚至能骗别人觉得这事儿天经地义，或者对被奴役的人其实有好处。

Not only do these brains magnify all the possibilities of the sick ideas we can come up with for how to enslave other people or things around us, but they also allow us to do it in tricky, covert ways, ways that we can often convince other people are either perfectly justifiable or good for the person that's being enslaved.

但关键是。

But here's the thing.

不管你站在哪一边——是奴役别人，还是帮老太太过马路，你都想一想。

Regardless of what side of this equation you fall on, you know, whether you're enslaving people or you're helping old ladies across the street, think about this.

这两件事，背后都是权力意志在驱动。

Both of these things are motivated by a will to power.

这两件事，本质上都是自我表达。

Both of these things are acts of self expression.

我们后面会看到尼采对这个观点讲得特别多。

We're gonna see a lot of this with Nietzsche.

他说，很多我们以为截然相反的行为，其实仔细一看，不过是同一种心理机制在两种不同形式下的表现。

He talks about how there there's tons of examples of behaviors that we often see as opposites, but when you take a closer look at them, they start to look like the same mental process manifesting itself in two different ways.

比如羞耻和骄傲，或者傲慢和自我贬低。

Things like like shame and pride, or arrogance and self deprecation.

这些看似对立的东西，细看之下，其实是一枚硬币的两面。

These things, when you look at them, start to look like two sides of the same coin.

不用说，他特别推崇赫拉克利特。

Needless to say, he's a he's a huge fan of Heraclitus.

关于尼采，现在有各种各样的解读，这不仅因为他本人极具争议，也不仅因为他作品里经常自相矛盾，更因为他在去世后，妹妹接管了他的思想遗产。

Now there's a lot of different interpretations of Nietzsche, not only because he was highly controversial, not only because he tends to contradict himself a lot throughout his work, But even just because after he died, his sister took over his intellectual estate.

她接手后，觉得不妨稍微调整一下，这里改改，那里调调，好让尼采的思想更贴近她自己的纳粹立场。

And when she did that, she she thought it'd be a good idea to, you know, tweak a few knobs over here, turn a few dials over there so that his thinking more corresponded with her Nazi sensibilities.

这就是为什么这么多年来，很多人误以为尼采的哲学是在为第三帝国做辩护。

This is the reason a lot of people have misinterpreted Nietzsche's philosophy over the years as a kind of justification for the Third Reich.

但在所有对尼采的误解里，最有趣、至少最发人深省的，大概就是‘权力意志’这个概念，以及它到底能延伸到多远。

But of all the misinterpretations of Nietzsche, probably the most interesting or if at least thought provoking is this concept of the will to power and how far it extends.

有人认为，尼采不仅觉得权力意志能解释人类行为的动机，还认为它贯穿了整个宇宙。

Some people would say that Nietzsche believed that this will to power not only explains the motivations behind human behavior, but that it also extends onto the universe as a whole.

他们说，权力意志是尼采整个哲学体系的形而上学根基，宇宙中的一切，归根结底都受这个‘权力意志’支配。

They'd say that this will to power is the metaphysical foundation upon which Nietzsche builds all the rest of his philosophy, that everything in the universe is ultimately governed by this notion of a will to power.

其实，在尼采生活的年代，科学家们也普遍这么看待宇宙。

It's actually a popular way that scientists were thinking about the universe during the time he was alive.

他们的基本观点是，像原子、分子、物质这些物理实体，并不是存在的根本单位。

The general idea being that physical stuff, you know, like atoms combined to make molecules combined to make matter, these things aren't the fundamental building blocks of what exists.

可能背后有一种潜在的力量，一种看不见的东西，物质只是它的某种表现形式。

That there may be some underlying force, some unseen thing that physical matter is just one manifestation of.

比如你后院烤肉，点着炭火，烤完东西，过几个小时再去看，炭都没了。

For example, if you're out in the backyard having a barbecue and you light up the charcoal, you cook the food, you come back in a couple hours, the charcoal's gone.

那炭去哪儿了？

Where did that charcoal go?

你当自己是魔术师啊？

What are you a magician?

不是。

No.

你根本不是魔术师。

No, you're not.

炭里的碳其实转化成了热能。

No, the the carbon that was in the charcoal was converted into heat energy.

我们平时看到的物质，说白了就是能量的储蓄罐。

Physical matter, as we often see it now, is sort of a savings account for energy.

不是说构成木炭的东西就消失了。

It's not that what made up the charcoal no longer exists.

它只是变成了热能，飘散在空气里了。

It's just flying around out there in the sky after being converted into heat energy.

这说明像能量这样的东西，才是更根本的构成要素，而物质只是它的一种表现形式。

This is an example of how something else like energy can be an underlying building block of things while physical matter is just one manifestation of it.

有些人会说，尼采用‘权力意志’这个概念，就像在说一种看不见的力量，能解释宇宙中一切事物的行为——从人，到超新星，再到木星表面那个巨大、恐怖、肆虐的红斑。

Now some people would say that Nietzsche is using this concept of the will to power as a similar sort of unseen thing that can explain how everything behaves in the universe, everything from people to supernovas to that big red terrifying storm that is wreaking havoc on the surface of Jupiter.

所有这些，都不过是‘权力意志’在不同情境下的主观体现。

All these things are just various highly subjective examples of this will to power.

但我认为，这并不是尼采的本意。

Now I don't think this is what he was saying.

我觉得大多数人也不觉得他是这个意思。

I think most people don't think this is what he was saying.

再说，尼采在很多著作里都明确反对这种无法验证的空想。

For one thing, Nietzsche spends a lot of his work rebuking unverifiable speculation like this.

听起来有点怪。

Seems kinda weird.

他突然就会自己冒出一个说法。

He would all of a sudden come up with one of his own.

不过那些从别的角度读他的人会指出，他本人一向持怀疑态度，连他自己也会觉得这不过是种解读罢了。

Though people that read them the other way would point to his undying skepticism and say that even he would see this as just a mere interpretation of things.

还是挺怪的。

Still is kinda weird.

他从来没在任何正式的哲学著作里写过这种形而上的‘权力意志’。

Also, never actually wrote about this metaphysical will to power in any formal philosophical work of his.

他只在私人笔记里提过一嘴。

He really only mentions it in his personal writing.

每次提到，他都会放软语气，把它当成一个好玩的思想实验。

And whenever he does, he sort of softens it and and frames it as kind of like fun thought experiment.

嘿，各位。

Hey, guys.

要是这真的成立呢？

What if this were true?

要是呢？

What if?

对吧？

Right?

不管哪种解读才对，你想想，如果这是真的，那意味着什么？

Regardless of what interpretation is correct, though, think about what this means if it's true.

要是生命之所以如此运行，其背后神秘的根基，和整个宇宙万物运行的根基其实是同一个呢？

What if the mysterious foundations for why life behaves the way that it does is the same foundation for why everything in the entire universe behaves the way that it does.

换句话说，咱们人类也是宇宙中的一分子，跟星星、星云没啥两样，那我们是不是能通过仔细观察自己的体验，窥见宇宙万物的本质？

In other words, because we as human beings are things in this universe, not unlike stars or distant nebulas, is it possible that we can look really closely at the nature of our own experience and potentially learn something awesome about the nature of everything else out there?

我们此刻不就正握着宇宙的秘密吗？

Do we have access to the secrets of the universe right in front of us right now?

只是咱们没看对地方罢了。

We're just not looking at it correctly.

我觉得尼采一定会觉得，这个观点特别有意思，值得我们每个人好好想想。

I think it's safe to say that Nietzsche would have thought this was a really interesting thing that we can all at least think about.

但不管怎么解读尼采，大家基本都认同一点：‘权力意志’这个概念，对理解人类行为至关重要。

But what all parties that interpret Nietzsche seem to agree upon is how important this concept of the will to power is when understanding why people do what they do.

所以问题就在这儿。

So that's the thing.

权力意志不是某个具体的东西，你没法指出来。

The will to power is not a single thing that you can point to.

它甚至不是一套固定的行为模式。

It it's not even a single set of behaviors.

它可能根本就是任何东西。

It could truly be anything.

我觉得这正是人们对‘权力意志’最大的误解。

I think that's one of the biggest misunderstandings about the will to power.

人们一听到‘权力’这个词，就自动代入了自己心里的那个定义。

I think people hear the word power, and they conflate it with their own definition of power.

他们一想到权力，就觉得是...

They think power.

对，没错。

Oh, yeah.

就是走出去搅动世界，掀起风浪。

That that's going out there and making waves in the world.

就是创业开公司。

That's starting a business.

就是扩张到三百家分店。

That's expanding to 300 locations.

就是拥有一个小国家的GDP。

That's that's having the the GDP of a small country.

这才叫权力。

That's power.

但权力也可能只是：有辆卡车、有个老婆、能打点水獭，我就心满意足了。

But power could just as easily be, you know, all I need is my truck, my wife, some muskrats to shoot, and I'm fine.

记住，权力意志其实就是做最真实的自己。

Remember, because the will to power is just becoming who you truly are.

这就是自我表达。

It's self expression.

我刚才提到的那两个人，都经历了不少磨难。

Both those people I just referenced have overcome a lot of stuff.

对尼采来说，有个词特别关键——自我超越。

Big word for Nietzsche, by the way, self overcoming.

这两个人都战胜了外界各种可能束缚他们、让他们无法完全展现自我的东西。

Both those people have overcome all sorts of various things in the external world that may have enslaved them and made them not capable of fully expressing themselves.

他们到底要克服哪些东西呢？

What are these things that they need to overcome?

再说一遍，如果你是一只生活在森林深处的熊，想施展自己的意志、改善生活，那显然得先克服一些障碍，这很合理。

Well, again, if you're a bear out in the middle of the woods and you want to exercise your will to power and improve your lot in life, it's not unreasonable to conclude that there are certain things that you have to overcome.

也许是恶劣的环境。

Maybe it's environmental conditions.

也许是食物匮乏。

Maybe it's scarcity of food.

说不定你还得提防一两头凶猛的野牛追着你跑。

Maybe you're being hunted, you know, by a predatory buffalo or two.

这些可都得留个心眼。

Again, you gotta watch out for those.

不管是什么，外面确实有好多实实在在的障碍等着你去突破。

Whatever it is, there are very real things that you need to overcome out there.

对吧？

Right?

就像那只熊一样，我们人类也得面对各种得克服的难题。

Well, just like that bear, we as human beings have things that we need to overcome as well.

就像我之前说的，我们不仅要提防野牛，还得提防那些人类多年积累下来的各种想法——不管是故意的还是无意的，这些想法都在奴役着人。

And just like I said before, not only do we gotta worry about predatory buffalos, we gotta worry about all the different creative ideas, all the ideas that other human beings have come up with over the years that either deliberately or by accident enslave other human beings.

这些其实是文化里潜藏的旧枷锁，常常让人不知不觉就困住了。

Sort of covert relics of our culture that often keep people enslaved.

为了说清楚点，咱们先简单捋一捋。

So for the sake of clarity, let's just recap this for a second.

在尼采看来，人做任何事最根本的心理驱动力，就是一种永无止境的权力欲。

To Nietzsche, the primary psychological motivation for why people do what they do is an insatiable desire for power.

这里的权力，指的是成为真正的自己，或者说是毫无拘束地表达自我。

Power meaning becoming who you truly are or uninhibited self expression.

但要想达到这种自我表达的状态，现实很残酷——我们这一生被灌输了太多观念，必须一一打破，才能做回真实的自己。

But in order to reach that state of self expression, a sad fact of the world is that there are tons of ideas that are conditioned into us throughout our lives that we need to overcome in order to be our true self.

我其实能单独做一期节目，专门讲这些我们得摆脱的东西。

Now I could probably talk for an entire episode about all these different things that we need to overcome.

估计下一期我就干这事儿。

And I guess I'll probably do that next episode.

但这期先不谈。

Not this one.

今天实在说不了这个。

I I can't talk about it today.

你看，我们现在已经到了尼采哲学的一个关键路口。

See, because we've arrived at a bit of a crossroads in Nietzsche's philosophy.

两条路在金黄的树林里分岔。

Two roads diverged in yellow wood.

要真正理解下一期的内容，咱们得先搞清楚一点：这个权力意志到底跟咱们有什么关系。

And to be able to fully understand the next episode, we got to understand a little bit more about this will to power and what it means for us.

不过好消息是，我们现在要聊的这条路——就是那条分岔在金黄树林里的路——在我看来，是尼采整个哲学里最深刻的思想。

The good news, though, is that this other road diverged in yellow wood, the one we're gonna be talking about right now, is, in my opinion, the most profound idea in all of Nietzsche's philosophy.

但说来也挺有意思。

But it's funny.

这么重要的一个观点，居然起源于一件特别简单的事。

Despite it being such a special idea, it all starts with something that's actually very simple.

这事咱们节目这些年可能都聊过一百遍了。

Something we probably talked about a 100 times on the show over the years.

你看，如果你是个独立的个体，在这个世界上不断施展你的权力意志，那很自然地，其他人和事物也都在这个世界上，施展着他们的权力意志。

See, because one thing that naturally follows if you are an individual agent navigating this universe, exerting your will to power, is that everyone and everything else is also existing in this universe, exerting their will to power.

当这么多不同的意志力相互碰撞时，现实往往很残酷——我们的目标并不总能一致。

And when you have all these different individual wills to power interacting with one another, the unfortunate reality is that all of our aims don't always align.

事实上，它们经常直接冲突。

In fact, they often directly contradict each other.

你的意志力可能正在破坏别人的意志力，反过来也一样。

Your will to power could be directly sabotaging somebody else's will to power and vice versa.

我知道这听起来不算什么新发现。

I realize this isn't a breakthrough concept here.

咱们还是说得更接地气一点吧。

I let's just put in real world terms.

这辈子，你不可能事事如愿。

You don't always get what you want in this life.

进一步说，有些特别糟糕的事，就是会无缘无故落到你头上。

And the extension of that is sometimes really bad things are just gonna happen to you.

每一个活着的人，每一个在听这段话的人，都一直在经历痛苦和磨难。

Each and every person alive, everybody listening to this goes through pain and hardship all the time.

我们没法完全掌控一切。

We don't have total control.

我们没法控制老板哪天突然无理由地把我们炒了。

We don't have control over whether our boss irrationally decides to fire us one day.

我们也没法控制路上有个人突然插到我们前面。

We don't have control over whether that guy cuts us off in traffic.

而且不只是人的问题。

And it's not just people.

我们连整个宇宙都控制不了。

We don't have control over the universe.

你根本没法预测，会不会突然有个引力异常，让哈雷彗星直冲地球，砸中你爸妈正一起骑双人单车经过的公园那个点。

You don't have control over whether, you know, some gravitational anomaly sends Halley's Comet plummeting towards Earth, and it plummets towards Earth and a fiery ball It hits the exact spot that your mom and dad were riding through the park on their tandem scooter together.

那得多惨啊，对吧？

That'd be horrible, wouldn't it?

倒霉事总会发生的。

Bad stuff happens.

我们对外部世界并没有完全的掌控力。

We don't have total control over the external world.

其实，我们对这个世界没有终极控制权，这想法一点都不新鲜。

Now this idea that we have no ultimate control over the external world, this is nothing new.

这种观点在哲学史上早就被反复提过了。

This has been echoed all throughout the canon of philosophy.

历史上，哲学家们一碰到这个问题，99%的都会得出同一个结论：外部世界你根本控制不了。

And, historically, when philosophers have tried to figure out what the solution to this problem is, 99% of the time, they've arrived at some variation of the same idea, the idea that you can't control the external world.

你唯一能掌控的，只有自己的内心——你怎么看待外界，怎么理解自己的人生，怎么回应和适应那些外头发生的事。

All you can ever hope to control is the internal world, the way that you interpret that external world, the ways you frame your existence, the way you respond and adapt to whatever happened externally.

这种例子多得数不清。

Tons of examples of this.

佛教、斯多葛主义、伊壁鸠鲁主义，全都是这样。

Buddhism, faithism, stoicism, epicureanism.

蒙田也经常讲这个。

Monctane spoke a lot about it.

关键是，历史上有无数思想流派都说过：当你意识到无法掌控外部世界时，就该把精力放在修炼内心上。

Point is we have dozens and dozens of examples all throughout history of schools of thought that say that when you realize you can't control the external world, you should focus on strengthening your internal world.

就像锻炼肌肉得靠运动一样，你的大脑也需要通过各种心理练习来增强。

Now the same way you strengthen a muscle by exercising, you strengthen your mind by doing any number of mental exercises.

比如正念冥想、慈心观、悲观预演、视觉化想象，都是不错的方法。

It could be mindfulness meditation, loving kindness, premeditated pessimism, visualization.

这些方法本质上都是帮你转变视角，摆脱对尘世执念的依赖。

All of these are different tactics to change your perspective yourself of these earthly attachments.

把那些你过分看重结果、却根本控制不了的外部事物，统统从心里放下来。

Remove yourself of all these things in the external world that you place so much value on the outcome of that you ultimately have no control over.

这些修行的终极目标，就是达到一种智者般的境界——不管是开悟，还是斯多葛式的淡然。

The ultimate goal being in many of these practices to arrive at some sage like state, whether that's enlightenment, whether that's stoic apatea.

不管哪种，核心都是彻底接纳你对世事无能为力的事实，彻底放下对尘世的执着。

Either way, it's a state where you've arrived at complete acceptance of your lack of control over things in the external world, a state where you've removed yourself of all of your earthly attachments.

就算你练了一辈子也没达到那种境界，至少你对‘无法掌控外界’这件事的接受度，也远超那些从没训练过内心的人。

Now even if you practice these disciplines and never achieve this sage like state, you're still gonna have a greater level of acceptance of your lack of control than somebody who's never trained their mind before.

这当然很好，但如果你坚持修炼多年，最终达到五段黑带的境界时，你的内心会强大到彻底超脱世俗执念。

And that's great, but if you eventually train for many, many years, the fifth degree black belt when you're training in these disciplines is ultimately to have such a strong internal game that you reach a level so devoid of earthly attachments.

历史上，无数人反复提到过这种状态。

People throughout history have talked about it again and again.

有人说，你甚至能眼睁睁看着自己的亲生孩子惨死在面前，却面不改色，毫无波动。

They say that you can reach a state where you can literally watch your firstborn child die a horrific death right in front of you and not bat an eyelash about it.

一个智者对自身无法掌控的事，能有如此彻底的接纳。

That's how much acceptance a sage would have of their lack of control over what happens to them.

当坏事发生时，你不必因此受苦。

You need not suffer when bad things happen to you.

痛苦是必然的。

Pain is certain.

但受苦，却是可以选择的。

Suffering is optional.

尼采可能会说：你能做到这样，真了不起。

Now Nietzsche would say to all this, hey, Good on you if you can do that.

对吧？

Right?

恭喜你。

Congratulations.

你做到了。

You've done it.

你已经彻底超脱了尘世。

You are completely detached from the world.

干得漂亮。

Nice job.

但反过来想，当你对亲生孩子在眼前被残忍杀害无动于衷时，你也同样对孩子的第一次对你微笑毫无感觉。

But the flip side to that, the flip side to being completely detached from your firstborn child being brutally slaughtered in front of you is that you're also completely detached from when your firstborn child smiles at you for the first time.

尼采会问：为什么把彻底超脱尘世当成人类的最高境界？

Nietzsche would ask, why is being completely detached from the world the pinnacle of being a human being?

为什么非得上山三十年，穿着橙色垃圾袋下山，到处跟人吹自己多超脱？

Why is going up to the mountains for thirty years, coming down wearing a orange trash bag telling everybody about how detached you are?

这有什么好追求的？

Why is that something to strive for?

尼采会说，这根本不是人真实体验世界的方式。

Nietzsche would say, this isn't how people actually experience the world.

事实上，我们本来就和外界的事物紧密相连。

Fact is, we are attached to things in the external world.

没错。

Yeah.

我们永远不可能完全掌控发生在自己身上的事。

We can't ever have ultimate control over what happens to us.

世界总会扔给我们痛苦，但为什么不换种策略呢？

There's always gonna be the pain that the world throws our way, but why not have a different strategy?

为什么不拼尽全力，让自己变得更强，尽可能掌控自己的处境呢？

Why not work as hard as you possibly can to become as powerful as you can and have as much control over your circumstances as possible?

想想森林里的那头熊。

Think of the bear in the woods.

当这只熊想要掌控更多处境，不想让其他动物的意志干扰它的时候，它该不该整天打坐冥想，试图摆脱所有尘世的牵绊？还是说，你认为不该？

When the bear wants more control over its circumstances, when it wants to prevent other animals' wills from interfering with its will, should the bear just meditate day and night trying to remove itself from all these earthly attachments that it has, or would you say no?

不该。

No.

去施展你的权力意志。

Exert your will to power.

去吧，小熊，去争取你想要的东西。

Go out and get what you want, mister Bear.

既然如此，那我们为啥要走相反的路呢？

Well, if that's the case, why should we have the opposite approach?

为啥我们要花三十年训练自己，就为了学会接受自己对处境无能为力？

Why should we train our minds for thirty years just so we can accept how powerless we are over our circumstances?

尼采会说：不。

Nietzsche would say no.

掌控你的处境，至少试着去掌控。

Control your circumstances or at least try.

拼命干就是了。

Work tirelessly.

施展你的意志力，超越这些处境。

Exert your will to power and rise above those circumstances.

当然。

Sure.

你没法完全掌控一切。

You can't ultimately control everything.

你没法保证自己一定不会丢工作。

You can't control with certainty whether you're gonna lose your job or not.

但我觉得他会说，如果有两个人干着完全一样的工作，都特别想保住这份工作——对工作有这份执着，这没什么好争议的：那个每天早到晚走、拼尽全力、不断进步、对同事永远和和气气的人。

But I think he'd say, if two different people with the exact same job really wanted to keep their job, you know, they both have this earthly attachment to their job, it's not that controversial to say that the person that goes in early and stays late, the person that gives a 110% effort every day, constantly trying to improve, constantly cordial to their fellow employees.

经济一垮，这种人丢工作的概率，肯定远低于那种天天摸鱼、下班就走、天天打坐等着失业的人。

That person's probably a lot less likely to lose their job when the economy tanks than the person that just mails it in every day, goes home, and meditates in preparation for when they lose their job.

在尼采看来，把人生看成是不断满足于现状的修行，根本就是背叛了我们作为人类的本性。

To see life as a constant struggle for contentment with what we already have, to Nietzsche, is to deny what kinds of creatures we actually are.

不管我们喜不喜欢这一点，我们骨子里总想获得更多权力，不管这对我们来说意味着什么。

Whether we like what it says about us or not, we're always wanting more power, whatever that means to us.

当你买到梦想中的车时，开上几周确实挺爽，感觉自己特别酷。

When you get your dream car, sure, it feels great to drive around in it and feel cool for a few weeks.

但你知道的，等被撞了五六次，刮得满身是伤，它就只是你一辆普通的车了。

But, you you know, eventually, after five or six shopping carts get slammed into it, eventually, it just becomes your car.

然后， inevitably，你又开始想要一辆新车。

Then inevitably, there's a new car that you want.

很多时候，别人会劝我们别这么想。

Now oftentimes, we're told to reject this idea.

你应该知足，珍惜你现在拥有的东西。

You should just be happy with what you have.

尼采会说，与其否认这个事实，整天打坐想把这种欲望赶走，为什么不干脆接受它呢？

Nietzsche would say, instead of rejecting this fact and trying to spend the rest of your life meditating the evil away, why not embrace it?

他就像看着森林里那只熊拼命求生，然后对它说：别只想着勉强活下去，要活得更好。

He says it in the same way that you would look at the bear trying to improve its life out in the woods, and you would implore that bear not just to scrape by.

你会希望它主动去争取更好的生活，哪怕这意味着要冒风险。

You would implore it to actively fight to improve its life even if that means taking risks.

尼采说，我们也该用同样的态度来看待自己的人生。

Nietzsche says that we should look at our lives the same way.

在这个世界上，太多人选择走最省力的路，整天嘴上说着将来要干这干那。

You know, in a world where so many people take the path of least resistance, so many people spend their lives talking about all the stuff they're gonna do.

我要环游世界。

Oh, I'm gonna travel the world.

我要开自己的服装品牌。

I'm gonna start my own clothing line.

我要当个明星狗行为专家。

I'm gonna be a celebrity dog whisperer.

这么多人夸下海口说自己要干大事，可真正去做的又有几个呢？

So many people make all these grandiose claims about what they're gonna do, but how many of them actually do it?

如果真这么少，那到底为什么这么少？

And if the number's low, why is it so low?

他们为啥就不行动呢？

Why don't they do it?

尼采会说，原因就是绝大多数人根本就是平庸之辈。

Nietzsche would say the reason why is because the vast, vast majority of people are just mediocre people.

他们从来就没真拼过。

They never really try that hard.

他们老说想干这干那，却从不行动，归根结底就两个原因：

And the reason they never take action on any of these things that they say they wanna do, it comes from one of two places.

要么是怕，要么是懒。

It's either fear or laziness.

但尼采压根不是写给这种人看的。

But Nietzsche would say he's not writing his philosophy for those people.

他根本不在乎大众。

He's not writing his philosophy for the masses.

他写给的是那少数真正愿意去拼的人——那些渴望真正活得充实、活得快乐的人。

He's writing it for that small, small percentage of people that are actually going to try, the ones that want true fulfillment and happiness out of life.

在他看来，最糟糕的事之一，就是让对失败的恐惧牵着鼻子走，一辈子活在胆怯里。

And in his eyes, one of the worst things we can ever do is to let fear of failure rag doll us around for the rest of our lives.

要获得最高层次的幸福——就像森林里的熊那样——唯一的办法就是敢于冒险，活得大胆一点。

The only way to achieve the highest level of happiness, not unlike the bear out in the woods, is to take calculated risks, to live dangerously.

他说：‘你听着，要想从生命中收获最大的丰盈与最快乐的体验，就得活得冒险一点。’

He says, quote, for believe me, the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is to live dangerously.

就在维苏威火山的山坡上建起你的城市吧。

Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius.

把船驶向从未有人探索过的海域。

Send your ships into uncharted seas.

与你的同辈、甚至与你自己开战。

Live at war with your peers and yourselves.

在你成为统治者、拥有者之前，先当个强盗、征服者吧，你们这些追求真理的人。

Be robbers and conquerors as long as you cannot be rulers and possessors, you seekers of knowledge.

很快，那个可以像害羞的鹿一样躲进森林、安于隐居的时代就一去不复返了。

Soon the age will be past when you could be content to live hidden in forests like shy deer.

终于，追求知识的渴望会挺身而出，争取它应得的地位。

At long last, the search for knowledge will reach out for its due.

它会想要统治、占有，而你，也将被它一同裹挟——这是他的原话。

It will want to rule and possess and you with it, end quote.

换句话说，去拥抱危险吧。

In other words, embrace the danger.

把风险当作通往最精彩人生的催化剂。

Embrace the risk as a catalyst for the best life possible.

但我觉得，我们最该学会去拥抱的，其实是痛苦，德妮西亚。

But I guess the the most important thing that we should learn to embrace, Denisia, is pain.

痛苦。

Pain.

让我来解释他这话是什么意思，因为这时候很多人可能会说：好吧。

Let me explain what he means by this because I think a lot of people at this point in the conversation often say, okay.

我懂了。

I get it.