Well, let's step one step backwards.

好吧，讓我們倒退一步。

The first question might be, why should you even bother improving yourself?

第一個問題可能是，你為什麼要費心改善自己？

And I think the answer to that is something like, so you don't suffer any more stupidly than you have to.

我想答案應該是這樣的：這樣你就不會再傻傻地受苦了。

And maybe so others don't have to either.

也許這樣其他人也不必如此。

It's something like that.

差不多就是這樣。

You know, like there's a real injunction at the bottom of it.

你知道，就像底部真的有禁令一樣。

It's not some casual self-help doctrine.

這不是什麼隨隨便便的自助學說。

It's that if you don't organize yourself properly, you'll pay for it, and in a big way, and so will the people around you.

這就是，如果你不好好組織自己，你就會付出代價，而且是很大的代價，你周圍的人也會付出代價。

And you could say, well, I don't care about that, but that's actually not true.

你可以說，我不在乎這些，但事實上並非如此。

You actually do care about that, because if you're in pain, you will care about it.

你其實很在乎這個，因為如果你很痛苦，你就會在乎。

And so you do care about it, even if it's just that negative way.

是以，你確實關心它，哪怕它只是負面的。

It's very rare that you can find someone who's in excruciating pain who would ever say, well, it would be no better if I was out of this.

很少有人會在極度痛苦的時候說，如果我脫離了這種狀態就好了。

It's sort of pain is one of those things that brings the idea that it would be better if it didn't exist along with it.

這種痛苦會讓人產生 "如果它不存在會更好 "的想法。

It's incontrovertible.

這是不爭的事實。

You get your act together so that there isn't any more stupid pain around you than necessary.

你要振作起來，這樣你身邊才不會有更多不必要的愚蠢痛苦。

Well, so then the question might be, well, how would you go about getting your act together?

那麼，問題可能就來了，你該如何振作起來？

And the answer to that, and this is a phenomenological idea, too.

這也是一個現象學的觀點。

It's something like, look around for something that bothers you, and see if you can fix it.

這就好比，環顧四周，尋找令你煩惱的事情，看看能否解決它。

You can do this in a room.

你可以在房間裡做這件事。

It's quite fun to do it just when you're sitting in a room, like maybe your bedroom.

當你坐在一個房間裡，比如你的臥室裡，這樣做是非常有趣的。

You can sit there and just sort of meditate on it and think, okay, if I wanted to make this room better, what would I have to do?

你可以坐在那裡冥思苦想，想一想，好吧，如果我想讓這個房間變得更好，我應該做些什麼？

And you have to ask yourself that, right?

你必須這樣問自己，對嗎？

It's not a command.

這不是命令。

It's like a genuine question.

這就像一個真正的問題。

And things will pop out in the room that you know, like there's a stack of papers over there that's kind of bugging you, and you know that maybe a little order there would be a good thing, and there's some rubbish behind your computer monitor that you haven't attended to for like six months, and the room would be slightly better if it was a little less dusty and the cables weren't all tangled up the same way, and there'll be all sorts of things that'll pop out in it that you could just fix.

房間裡會突然冒出一些你知道的東西，比如那邊有一疊文件讓你很煩，你知道也許在那裡擺放一些東西會是件好事，電腦顯示器後面有一些垃圾，你已經有六個月沒有清理了，如果房間裡的灰塵少一點，線纜不要都纏在一起，房間就會稍微好一點。

And, you know, I might say, well, if you were coming to see me for psychotherapy, the easiest thing for us to do first would just be to get you to organize your room.

你知道，我可能會說，好吧，如果你來找我做心理治療，我們首先要做的最簡單的事情就是讓你整理好你的房間。

You think, well, is that psychotherapy?

你會想，那是心理治療嗎？

And the answer is, well, it depends on how you conceive the limits of your being.

答案是，這取決於你如何看待自己的存在極限。

I would say, start where you can start, you know?

我會說，從你能開始的地方開始，你知道嗎？

If something announces itself to you, which is a strange way of thinking about it, as in need of repair that you could repair, then hey, fix it.

如果有什麼東西向你宣佈（這是一種奇怪的思維方式）它需要修理，而你可以修理它，那麼嘿，就修理它吧。

You fix a hundred things like that, your life will be a lot different.

如果你能解決一百件這樣的事情，你的生活就會大不一樣。

Now, I often tell people, too, fix the things you repeat every day, because people tend to think of those as trivial.

現在，我也經常告訴人們，要修正你每天重複的事情，因為人們往往認為這些事情微不足道。

You get up, you brush your teeth, you have your breakfast, you know, you have your routines that you go through every day.

你起床、刷牙、吃早餐，你知道，你每天都有例行公事。

Well, those probably constitute 50% of your life.

嗯，這些可能佔了你生活的 50%。

And people think, well, they're mundane, I don't need to pay attention to them.

人們會想，好吧，它們很平凡，我不需要關注它們。

It's like, no, no, that's not what you do every day.

這就像，不，不，這不是你每天做的事情。

Those are the most important things you do.

這些都是你要做的最重要的事情。

So, a hundred adjustments to your broader domain of being, and there's a lot less rubbish around, and a lot fewer traps for you to step into.

是以，對你更廣闊的存在領域進行一百次調整，周圍的垃圾就會少很多，讓你踏入的陷阱也會少很多。

Once you've got your mind and your emotions together, and once you're acting that out, then you can extend what you're willing to consider yourself, and start fixing up the things that are part of your broader extent.

一旦你把自己的思想和情感結合在一起，一旦你把它付諸行動，那麼你就可以擴展你願意認為的自己，並開始修復那些屬於你更廣闊範圍的東西。

Now, sometimes you don't know how to do that.

現在，有時你不知道該怎麼做。

So, you might say, imagine you're walking down the street, you're an alcoholic and schizophrenic, and has been on the streets for 10 years, he sort of stumbled towards you, and, you know, incoherently mutters something.

所以，你可以說，想象一下你走在街上，你是一個酗酒者和精神分裂症患者，已經在街上流浪了10年，他有點跌跌撞撞地向你走來，你知道，語無倫次地嘟囔著什麼。

That's a problem.

這是個問題。

And, it would be good if you could fix it, but you haven't got a clue about how to fix that.

而且，如果你能解決這個問題就好了，但你根本不知道如何解決這個問題。

You just walk around that, and go find something that you could fix, because if you muck about in that, not only is it unlikely that you'll help that person, it's very likely that you'll get hurt yourself.

你只需繞開它，去找一些你能修好的東西，因為如果你在裡面亂搞，不僅不太可能幫到那個人，你自己也很可能會受傷。

So, you know, just because while you're experiencing things, announce themselves as in need of repair, doesn't mean that it's you right then and there that should repair them.

所以，你要知道，在你經歷事情的時候，宣佈自己需要修補，並不意味著你當時就應該修補它們。

You have to have some humility.

你必須謙虛一些。

You know, you don't walk up to a helicopter that isn't working and just start tinkering away with it.

要知道，你不能走到一架失靈的直升機前，就開始修修補補。

You have to stay within your domain of competence, but most of the time, if people look at their lives, it's a very interesting thing to do.

你必須在自己的能力範圍內行事，但大多數時候，如果人們審視一下自己的生活，就會發現這是一件非常有趣的事情。

I like the idea of the room, because you can do that at the drop of a hat.

我喜歡 "房間 "的概念，因為你可以隨心所欲。

You know, you go back to where you live and sit down and think, okay, I'm going to make this place better for half an hour.

你知道，你回到你住的地方，坐下來想，好吧，我要用半個小時讓這個地方變得更好。

What should I do?

我該怎麼辦？

You have to ask.

你必須問

And things will just pop up like mad, and it's partly because your mind is a very strange thing.

事情就會像瘋了一樣冒出來，部分原因是你的思維非常奇怪。

As soon as you give it a name, a genuine name, it'll reconfigure the world in keeping with that aim.

只要你給它一個名字，一個真正的名字，它就會按照這個目標重新配置世界。

That's actually how you see to begin with.

實際上，你一開始就是這樣看到的。

And so if you set it a task, you have to be genuine about it, which is why you have to bring your thoughts and emotions together, and then you have to get them in your body so you're acting consistently.

是以，如果你把它設定為一項任務，你就必須真誠地對待它，這就是為什麼你必須把你的想法和情感結合起來，然後把它們融入你的身體，這樣你才能始終如一地行動。

You have to be genuine about the aim, but once you aim, the world will reconfigure itself around that aim, which is very strange.

你必須對目標抱有真誠的態度，但一旦你有了目標，世界就會圍繞這個目標重新組合，這非常奇怪。

And it's technically true.

從技術上講，這也是事實。

You know, the best example of that, you have all seen this video, where you watch the basketballs being tossed back and forth between members of the white team versus the black team, and while you're doing that, a gorilla walks up into the middle of the video, and you don't see it.

你知道嗎，最好的例子就是，你們都看過這段視頻，在視頻中，你看著籃球在白人隊成員和黑人隊成員之間來回投擲，當你正在看的時候，一隻大猩猩走到了視頻中間，而你卻沒有看到它。

It's like, you know, if you thought about that experiment for about five years, that would be about the right amount of time to spend thinking about it.

這就好比，你知道，如果你花五年的時間來思考這個實驗，那就差不多了。

Because what it shows you is that you see what you aim at, and that man, if you can get one thing through your head as a consequence of even being in university, that would be a good one.

因為它告訴你的是，你看到了自己的目標，而且，如果你能通過在大學的學習，讓你的頭腦中明白一件事，那將是一件好事。

You see what you aim at.

你看到的就是你的目標。

One inference you might draw from that is, be careful what you aim at.

從中可以得出的一個推論是，要小心你的目標。

Right?

對不對？

What you aim at determines the way the world manifests itself to you.

你的目標決定了世界對你的表現方式。

And so if the world is manifesting itself in a very negative way, one thing to ask is, are you aiming at the right thing?

是以，如果世界正在以一種非常消極的方式表現出來，那麼要問的一件事就是，你的目標是正確的嗎？

Now, you know, I'm not trying to reduce everybody's problems to an improper aim.

現在，你知道，我並不是想把每個人的問題都歸結為目標不當。

People get cut off at the knees for all sorts of reasons.

人們會因為各種原因被砍掉膝蓋。

You know, they get sick, they have accidents, there's a random element to being, that's for sure.

你知道，他們會生病，會發生意外，這是肯定的。

And so you don't want to take anything, even that particular phrase, too far.

是以，你不想把任何事情，甚至是這句話，想得太過分。

You want to bind it with the fact that random things do happen to people.

你想把它與 "隨機事件確實發生在人們身上 "這一事實結合起來。

But it's still a great thing to ask.

但這仍然是一個很好的問題。