Name: 如何過上有意義的生活 | Brian S. Lowery | TED (How to Live a Meaningful Life | Brian S. Lowery | TED)
Uploaded: 2025-06-12T10:37:48.000Z
Duration: 14 min 3 s

The experiences we have, the possibilities of personal achievement.

我們擁有的經歷，個人成就的可能性。

You could create a huge successful business.

你可以創建一個巨大的成功企業。

And when you're successful, it feels incredible.

當你成功的時候，感覺不可思議。

Success, the flush of excitement, the celebration, and you should celebrate, the congratulations, the posting on Instagram, wherever you put your stuff up, it all feels great.

成功、興奮、慶祝（你應該慶祝）、祝賀、在 Instagram 上發帖、無論你把東西放在哪裡，這一切都讓人感覺很棒。

But when that fades, when that starts to fade, sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once, a question comes up.

但當這種感覺逐漸消失時，當這種感覺開始消失時，有時是慢慢地，有時是一下子，問題就來了。

And so I'm going to tell you a little story about myself to give you an idea.

是以，我要給你們講一個關於我自己的小故事，讓你們有所瞭解。

When I got my job, I was elated, elated, and a little bit terrified.

當我得到這份工作時，我很高興，很高興，也有點害怕。

And I was terrified because when you get a job like that, you know you're going to be reviewed in about seven years.

我很害怕，因為當你得到一份這樣的工作時，你知道你將在七年後接受審查。

And either you're going to be given tenure, more or less a job for life, or you're going to get fired.

要麼你會被終身聘用，或多或少有一份終身工作，要麼你就會被解僱。

It's a little bit like that movie, Glenn Gary, Glenn Goss, the scene where Alec Baldwin's character goes in to give the motivational speech.

這有點像那部電影《格倫-加里，格倫-高斯》，亞歷克-鮑德溫扮演的角色進去發表勵志演講的場景。

And he says, it's going to be a competition.

It's a little bit like that, except there's no second prize.

And it turns out, as you might imagine, that has a way of focusing your mind.

事實證明，正如你可能想象的那樣，這有一種讓你集中注意力的方法。

So I was really, really focused on doing good research, getting my papers published, doing well in the classroom, and all the other little things you need to do to get tenure.

是以，我非常非常專注於做好研究、發表論文、在課堂上表現出色，以及獲得終身教職所需做的所有其他小事。

And it was a huge relief, and I was so excited.

And I reflected back, and I thought about the time I spent in undergrad, five years in grad school, the tears, and there were a lot of tears, the seven years of trying to get tenure.

我回想了一下，我想到了我在大學階段度過的時光，想到了研究所學生階段的五年，想到了淚水，有很多淚水，想到了為獲得終身教職而努力奮鬥的七年。

And I had expected, I had hoped that when I made it past that, when I succeeded, when I went through that threshold, life would feel different.

我曾期待，我曾希望，當我成功地跨過那道門檻時，當我成功地跨過那道門檻時，生活就會有不一樣的感覺。

But it turns out that wasn't what happened.

Now, when psychologists talk about meaningfulness in life, what they're talking about is a sense that our lives matter, that the world makes sense, that we are more than the sum of our minutes, days, and years on this planet.

現在，當心理學家談論生活的意義時，他們所說的是一種感覺：我們的生活很重要，這個世界很有意義，我們比我們在這個星球上的分分秒秒、日日年年的總和還要多。

Now, the research on meaningfulness in life suggests there are three big ideas associated with meaningfulness in life.

現在，關於人生意義的研究表明，有三大理念與人生意義相關。

After winter comes spring, after spring comes summer, you get up in the morning, you brush your teeth, you have breakfast, you get the kids off to school, you go to work.

冬天過後是春天，春天過後是夏天，早上起床，刷牙，吃早飯，送孩子上學，然後去上班。

Those little routines make the world feel knowable, predictable, coherent.

這些例行公事讓人覺得這個世界是可知的、可預測的、連貫的。

Now, when you think about personal achievement, it does create sometimes this experience of coherence because we achieve within a framework.

現在，當你思考個人成就時，有時確實會產生這種連貫的體驗，因為我們是在一個框架內取得成就的。

I understood what they expected of me for tenure.

我明白他們對我終身任職的期望。

I understood that if I got my papers published, that I did well in the classroom, that I talked to the right people, I did all the networking, there was a good chance I'd get tenure.

我明白，如果我的論文發表了，我在課堂上表現出色，我和合適的人交談，我做了所有的網絡工作，我就很有可能獲得終身教職。

If you're trying to lose weight, you understand.

If you change your diet, you exercise, the weight will come off, or at least we hope so.

如果你改變飲食習慣，堅持鍛鍊，體重就會減輕，至少我們希望如此。

Now, those things, that framework gives the world a sense of coherence.

現在，這些東西、這個框架給了世界一種連貫感。

Second big idea associated with meaningfulness in life, second big idea, purpose.

與人生意義相關的第二大理念，即第二個大理念--目的。

Now, sometimes people use the term purpose as a synonym for meaning in life, and that's not how I mean it here.

現在，有時人們會把 "目的 "一詞當作 "人生意義 "的同義詞，但我在這裡並不是這個意思。

Purpose is a way of thinking about what your life can be and should be in the future.

目標是一種思考方式，它思考你的生活可以是什麼樣子，未來應該是什麼樣子。

When you get up in the morning, you know what you need to do.

早上起床時，你知道自己需要做什麼。

Here's where the drive for personal achievement is strongest.

這也是個人成就感最強烈的地方。

When I was worried about tenure, I knew exactly what I needed to do when I got up in the morning.

當我為終身職位發愁時，我很清楚自己早上起床後需要做什麼。

When you have a goal, when you're trying to achieve something, you have a clarity about what you should do, how to direct your behavior.

當你有了目標，當你想實現某個目標時，你就會清楚自己應該做什麼，如何指導自己的行為。

So that's the second big idea is purpose.

是以，第二個重要理念就是 "目的"。

Now, the third big idea, by many considered to be the most important, is significance.

現在，被許多人認為是最重要的第三個重要理念就是 "意義"。

Now, the way I like to think about significance is the sense that you can transcend yourself, that you are more than what you are right now, that you will continue to matter into the future beyond this moment.

現在，我喜歡用這樣的方式來思考 "意義"：你可以超越自我，你不僅僅是現在的你，你將在此刻之後的未來繼續發揮重要作用。

This is where I think personal achievement falls short.

這就是我認為個人成就的不足之處。

By definition, personal achievement focuses on you.

顧名思義，個人成就關注的是你自己。

If that's all there is, it's difficult to have significance.

如果僅此而已，那就很難有意義。

So when I want to think about meaningfulness in life and significance in particular, it brings to mind a quote attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.

是以，當我想思考人生的意義，特別是 "意義 "時，就會想起達文西的一句名言。

So Leonardo da Vinci was purported to have said on his deathbed, I have offended God and mankind because my work did not achieve the quality it should have.

據說達文西臨終前曾說過：我冒犯了上帝和人類，因為我的作品沒有達到應有的品質。

Now, I wasn't there, so I don't know if he said that exactly in that way, but here's the thing.

現在，我不在現場，所以我不知道他是否完全是這樣說的，但事情是這樣的。

You understand what it means to have even the most glorious achievements and still ask, is this enough?

你明白，即使取得了最輝煌的成就，仍然會問，這就夠了嗎？

When I look back and think about my time early on in my career, I think about when did it feel meaningful?

當我回首往事，回想我職業生涯早期的時光時，我會想，是什麼時候讓我感到有意義的？

So one of the things that faculty do is train the next generation of faculty.

是以，教師要做的事情之一就是培養下一代教師。

And so you have PhD students and you have them for a significant amount of time, often could be five to six years.

是以，你有博士生，你有他們相當長的時間，通常可能是五到六年。

And the relationships are pretty intense.

So let me tell you about my first student, Miguel Lanzueta.

讓我給你們講講我的第一個學生，米格爾-蘭祖埃塔。

So Miguel was born in El Paso, Texas, in a relatively low income area, really smart kid, does well in school, ends up at the University of Texas at Austin, which is a great university, does well there, eventually ends up in the PhD program at Stanford.

米格爾出生在德克薩斯州埃爾帕索一個收入相對較低的地區，是個非常聰明的孩子，學習成績很好，最後進入了德克薩斯大學奧斯汀分校，那是一所很棒的大學，他在那裡表現出色，最終進入了斯坦福大學的博士項目。

So Miguel gets there the year before I do.

所以米格爾比我早一年到達那裡。

And by his own account, he's having a tough time.

據他自己說，他的日子很不好過。

And it's rough in part because he doesn't have the cultural capital that many people that go places like Stanford have.

之所以如此艱難，部分原因是他不像斯坦福大學的許多學生那樣擁有文化資本。

He doesn't understand how the place works.

Now, when I arrive, I'm really impressed because he's so smart, he's ambitious, and he's asking questions and interested in things that I'm interested in.

現在，當我來到這裡時，我真的被他打動了，因為他非常聰明，有雄心壯志，而且他還會問問題，對我感興趣的事情也很感興趣。

We see each other almost every day, almost every day for those four years.

在這四年裡，我們幾乎每天都能見面。

And some days we're working together 10 to 12 hours a day.

有的時候，我們一天要一起工作 10 到 12 個小時。

是以，這是一次非常緊張的經歷。

And what I remember about that time was that I was really worried about doing enough to make sure he would be successful.

我記得那段時間，我真的很擔心自己做得不夠好，無法確保他取得成功。

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如何過上有意義的生活 | Brian S. Lowery | TED (How to Live a Meaningful Life | Brian S. Lowery | TED)

intense

eventually

incredible

opportunity