Name: 為了生活而必須忘記的事情 (Things You Have to Forget in Order to Live)
Uploaded: 2025-07-22T18:35:25.000Z
Duration: 3 min 17 s

We tend to imagine that in order to live a good life, we need to have an appetite for the truth.

我們往往認為，要想過上美好的生活，就必須對真理有所追求。

反身代名詞

But what if, in reality, in order to keep going and get anything done, we actually need to blind ourselves to a range of realities and have to swallow a number of illusions, without which we couldn't possibly have the willpower to continue?

但是，如果在現實中，為了堅持下去並完成任何事情，我們實際上需要對一系列現實視而不見，不得不吞下一些幻覺，而沒有這些幻覺，我們就不可能有意志力繼續下去呢？

So here are some of the blind spots necessary to our flourishing.

是以，以下是我們蓬勃發展所必需的一些盲點。

First and foremost, we need to pretend that we're not going to die and therefore we have to convince ourselves that all the things we fervently trust are so important and so urgent really do matter and won't look like incomprehensible futile mulch within a few hundred years or less.

首先，也是最重要的一點，我們需要假裝自己不會死，是以我們必須說服自己，我們熱切相信的那些如此重要、如此緊迫的事情真的很重要，不會在幾百年或更短的時間內看起來像不可理喻的徒勞無益的雜物。

We have to care manically about what other people think, though they hardly give us a thought, let alone a fair one.

我們不得不狂熱地關心別人的想法，儘管他們幾乎不考慮我們，更不用說公平地考慮了。

We have to imagine that we could one day be loved and understood, though few things are, in fact, ever more in doubt.

我們必須想象有一天我們會被愛，會被理解，儘管事實上，很少有事情會讓我們更加懷疑。

We have to stay on our side, though we know in our hearts how beastly and strange we really are.

我們必須站在自己這一邊，儘管我們心裡知道自己是多麼的野蠻和奇怪。

We have to melt at the cuteness of small children, though we know most of them will turn out and that the world we're teaching them about doesn't really exist.

我們不得不為小孩子的可愛而融化，儘管我們知道他們中的大多數都會變壞，而且我們教給他們的世界並不真實存在。

We have to look forward to the next few years with excitement, though almost every new day is actually a scratchy six or below.

我們不得不懷著激動的心情憧憬未來幾年，儘管幾乎每一個新的日子實際上都是六歲或六歲以下的撓癢癢。

We have to believe that we're collectively making progress, though every invention unleashes a necessary set of appalling unintended consequences.

我們必須相信，我們正在共同取得進步，儘管每一項發明都會帶來一系列必然的、駭人聽聞的意外後果。

We have to care about humanity, though most of its members are insufferable from close up.

我們必須關心人類，儘管從近距離看，人類的大多數成員都令人難以忍受。

We have to look forward to the future, though if we had a chance to learn what fate had in store, we almost certainly wouldn't want to know.

我們必須展望未來，儘管如果我們有機會了解命運的安排，我們幾乎肯定不會想知道。

We have to keep being excited about buying new things, though we know how seldom any of them ever really make a difference.

我們不得不繼續為購買新東西而興奮，儘管我們知道這些東西很少能真正發揮作用。

We have to keep going travelling, though being somewhere else is always better in memory or anticipation.

我們必須繼續旅行，儘管在其他地方的回憶或期待總是更好。

We have to keep seeing our so-called friends, though we would be crushed by hearing a fraction of what really goes through their minds.

我們必須繼續和所謂的朋友見面，儘管我們聽到他們內心的真實想法會讓我們崩潰。

We have to believe in the possibility of a comfortable wise old age, though it will be agony, aches and catheters.

我們必須相信，我們有可能安享智慧的晚年，儘管那將是痛苦、疼痛和導管。

We have to not properly notice how beautiful, interesting and opportunity-filled life is, in case we were to go mad from excitement and regret.

我們必須不好好注意生活是多麼美好、有趣和充滿機遇，以防因激動和後悔而發瘋。

In short, let's not fool ourselves that we really want to know the full truth, we require only so much of it as is compatible with making it out of bed.

總之，我們不要自欺欺人，以為自己真的想知道全部真相，我們需要的只是能讓我們從床上爬起來的真相。

We have to confront an uncomfortable fact about self-awareness.

我們必須正視關於自我意識的一個令人不安的事實。

Those who most know how to enjoy life may also be those who at points are masters at fruitfully lying to themselves.

那些最懂得享受生活的人，可能也是那些在某些時候善於自欺欺人的人。