昆杜播客：充满信心，拥有信仰

Have Faith – Austin Woerner

Have faith

充满信心

I wonder if any of you listening to this have ever worried that you weren’t truly living. Have you ever thought that you weren’t fully awake to the world, that you were walking through life like a sleepwalker, present in one way, yet absent in another? Have you ever worried that you were living in black and white when you could be living in color, that your experience was paler, less vital, less meaningful than it could be?

在听这期播客的时候，我想知道你们中是否有人曾经担心过自己并没有真正的生活。你有没有想过，当面对这个世界的时候你并不是完全清醒的，你像梦游者一样在生活中行走，以一种方式存在，又以另一种方式消失?你是否曾经担心过，当你本可以活在色彩之中的时候，你却活在黑白之中，你的经历比原本可能的更苍白，更没有活力，更没有意义?

Or—here’s another form that worry might take—have you ever been afraid that the only time you were truly alive was in the past, and that you’d never, ever truly live again? Or have you ever felt that the possibility of a richer, more meaningful life was latent within you, but feared that you’d never attain it, that you’d never realize your life’s true potential?

或者——这是另一种担心的形式：你是否曾经感到害怕，认为你真正活着的时间就在过去，你永远也不会真正地再活一次？或者，你是否曾感到，一个更丰富、更有意义的人生潜伏在你的心中，但你又担心自己永远无法实现它，永远无法发掘到生命真正的潜力?

I know I’ve had these worries. These are fears I’ve felt many times in my life, fears I still sometimes feel. They were strongest when I was in college and in my early twenties, on the threshold between childhood and adulthood. When I was the same age as my students now, I was often paralyzed by these fears. I experienced crippling anxiety, the blackest depression, feelings I know some students must be experiencing right there in the classroom with me but would never admit it.

我知道，我曾经有过这些担心。在我的生活中，我已经感受过这些恐惧很多次了，现在我仍然有时还会感觉到。这些情绪在我20岁出头上大学，从童年到成年的门槛上跨越时最强烈。当我像我现在的学生一样大时，我经常被这些恐惧麻痹。我经历了极度的焦虑，最黑暗的沮丧，我知道一些和当时的我在教室里的学生肯定也有这种感觉，但他们永远不会承认。

It was at a time when these worries loomed over me, as perhaps they are looming over some of you right now, that I discovered this poem. It’s by John Keats, the nineteenth-century British poet. This poem imagines a sleeper waking out of the darkness of night. This person seems to have undergone some kind of terrible mental anguish, and hearing a bird singing outside the window, he imagines the bird is speaking to him, reassuring him. Here is what the bird says:

就在这些忧虑笼罩着我的时候，就像你们中有些人或许现在也在担心的那样，我发现了这首诗。是19世纪的英国诗人约翰·济慈写的，这首诗想象一个沉睡者从黑夜中醒来。这个人似乎经历了某种可怕的精神痛苦，他听到窗外有一只鸟在唱歌，就想象这只鸟是在对他说话、安慰他。下面是这只鸟说的话:

O Thou whose face hath felt the Winter’s wind,

Whose eye has seen the snow-clouds hung in mist,

And the black elm tops ’mong the freezing stars,

To thee the spring will be a harvest-time.

O thou, whose only book has been the light

Of supreme darkness which thou feddest on

Night after night when Phœbus was away,

To thee the Spring shall be a triple morn.

O fret not after knowledge—I have none,

And yet my song comes native with the warmth.

O fret not after knowledge—I have none,

And yet the Evening listens. He who saddens

At the thought of idleness cannot be idle,

And he’s awake who thinks himself asleep.

噢，你啊！若你的脸感受到冬天的风，

你的眼睛看到雪云高悬在雾霭中，

黑色的榆树高耸在泠冷的星星间，

对你，春天将会是收获的时节。

噢，你啊！你唯一的书向来只是，

至高的黑暗之光，夜复一夜，

当福波斯不在你全赖其养活，

对你，春天当是三倍的朝阳。

噢，不要为智慧烦恼—我一无所知，

但我的歌声从温柔之乡自然至此。

不要为智慧烦恼—我一无所知，

但那暮色倾听我的歌。想到游手好闲

便转而忧伤的人不会逍遥，

而那以为自己沉睡的人却是醒着的。

John Keats, who died quite young, must have written this poem in his early twenties. To me, this poem seems to speak directly to the fears I just described, as if Keats himself, standing on the threshold of adulthood two centuries ago, had experienced those same feelings, and this poem was his way of answering them.

约翰·济慈，英年早逝，一定在他二十出头时就写了这首诗。对我来说，这首诗似乎直接表达了我刚才所描述的恐惧，就好像济慈自己，在两个世纪前，站在即将成人的门槛上，也经历了同样的感受，而这首诗就是他回答这些感受的方式。

Let’s hear that final line again:

让我们再来听一次最后几行诗：

“He who saddens / at the thought of idleness cannot be idle / and he’s awake who thinks himself asleep.”

想到游手好闲/便转而忧伤的人不会逍遥/而那以为自己沉睡的人却是醒着的。

To me this poem seems to be saying, “Have faith. The fact that you worry you’re not truly alive—it shows that you are truly alive or will be. You will not lose yourself. That part of yourself you value most cannot be taken from you, because it is part of your very nature.”

对我来说，这首诗似乎在说，“要有信心。你担心自己没有真正地活着，这表明你确实是真正地活着，或者将要活着。你不会迷失自我。你最珍视的那一部分是无法从你身上拿走的，因为那是你本性的一部分。”

For years I had that final sentence taped to my door. During moments of crisis I’d look at it, and each time realize its wisdom anew.

多年来，我一直把最后这句诗贴在门上。在危机时刻，我会审视它，每一次我都能重新认识到它的智慧。

From time to time a student, visiting me in my office, will confess worries like this. They might say, perhaps, that they’re afraid that as they enter adulthood they must compromise and forget the breathtaking vistas that as a child they perceived in life and in themselves. To them I always say, “Have faith. He who sorrows at the thought of idleness cannot be idle, and he’s awake who thinks himself asleep.”

经常有学生到我的办公室来，向我倾诉类似这样的担忧。他们可能会说，他们害怕进入成年后必须妥协和忘记儿时在生活和自己身上看到的令人激动的景象。我总是对他们说:“要有信心。想到悠闲便转而忧伤的人不会逍遥,而那以为自己沉睡的人却是醒着的。”

That bird seems to have another message too. It seems to be saying, “Your worries are complicated, but the answer is simple. I don’t worry about these things, because I am a bird. ‘Fret not after knowledge—I have none, and yet my song comes native with the warmth.'”

那只鸟似乎也在传达另一个信息。它似乎在说，“你的担忧很复杂，但答案很简单。”我不担心这些事情，因为我是一只鸟。不要为智慧而烦恼——我一无所知，但我的歌声从温柔之乡自然至此。”

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this poem cured my worries. A poem alone cannot do that. But I’ve noticed that as the years have gone by, I’ve become less and less like the worried protagonist of the poem, and more and more like the bird.

我不打算说这首诗治好了我的烦恼。单凭一首诗是无法做到这一点的。但我注意到，随着时间的流逝，我越来越不像诗中焦虑的主角，反而越来越像那只鸟。

And now I say to you: Have faith. You are not a sleepwalker. If the thought occurs to you that you are a sleepwalker, it is simply proof that you are truly awake to the world. If you are afraid that you will lose yourself, it is proof that you cannot lose yourself, any more than a bird can lose its song.

现在我要告诉你们：要有信心。你不是在梦游。如果你觉得自己是在梦游，就证明你对这个世界是清醒的。如果你害怕你会失去自己，就证明你不能失去自己，正如一只鸟不能失去它的歌声一样。

【Word Box】

1. Threshold：入口，门槛，临界点，在文章、中指人从青年跨向成年的过渡时期。
2. Anguish ：名词极度的痛苦，也可以作动词，意为“使…感到极度痛苦”。
3. Nature ：自然，本性，本质，这里可理解为人的本质。
4. Phoebus ：福波斯，是希腊神话中太阳神的名字，这里可以理解为阳光，是希腊神话中太阳神。

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昆杜播客（DKU Podcast）旨在用诗意的方式传递生活中点滴的美好。欢迎喜爱生活的你带着诗意的心加入我们。用中文、英文或其他任何一种语言，朗读那些打动了你的文字，与我们分享它如何抚动你的心扉。

来稿请将自我介绍、音频与文本投送至dkusocial@dukekunshan.edu.cn。

DKU Podcast aims to convey the beauty of life in a poetic way. Everyone who loves life is welcome to join us to read the words in any language that move you the most, and share with us how it touches your heart.

Send your self-introduction, audio, and message on email to dkusocial@dukekunshan.edu.cn. We look forward to your participation.

陈孛是昆山杜克2022届本科生，来自四川省；李蔚然是昆山杜克2023届本科生，来自山东省；他们是昆山杜克大学学生媒体中心成员。