I'm not going to beat Gregory with his saxophone for sure, but bear with me.

我該是比不過葛雷哥里跟他的薩克斯風了，但請忍耐一下

This might be - no, it won't be remotely as interesting, as good or entertaining.

這主題可能－不，可能不會很有趣、很好玩

Is there a real you?

「真實的你存在嗎？」

This might seem to you like a very odd question.

對你來說這可能是個怪問題

Because, you might ask,

因為你會問

how do we find the real you,

怎麼找到真實的你？

how do you know what the real you is?

怎麼知道真實的你是什麼呢？

And so forth.

這類的問題

But the idea that there must be a real you,

但確實有個真實之你的信念

surely that's obvious.

想必還是那麼地直觀

If there's anything real in the world, it's you.

若這世界有什麼是真實的，那就是你了

Well, I'm not quite sure.

說真的，我倒不是那麼肯定

At least we have to understand a bit better what that means.

至少我們該更了解一下它的意思

Now certainly, I think there are lots of things in our culture around us

當然我想文化中許多環繞我們的事物

which sort of reinforce the idea

或多或少都強化了這樣的信念

that for each one of us, we have a kind of a core, an essence.

就是我們每個人都有個核心、本質

There is something about what it means to be you which defines you,

談到「你」時，確實有個被指涉的對象可以定義你

and it's kind of permanent and unchanging.

而它貌似是恆久而不變的

The most kind of crude way in which we have it,

在大多最粗略的方式裡

are things like horoscopes.

有像是星座之類的

You know, people are very wedded to these, actually.

人們對這其實蠻執著的

People put them on their Facebook profile

許多人把星座放在臉書資料上

as though they are meaningul,

好像那有意義似的

you even know your Chinese horoscope as well.

甚至連自己的生肖也知道

There are also more scientific versions of this,

其中也有些更科學的版本

all sorts of ways of profiling personality type,

各式各樣的個性類型測驗方法

such as the Myers-Briggs tests, for example.

比如麥氏測試(MBTI)

I don't know if you've done those.

不知道你們是否做過

A lot of companies use these for recruitment.

很多公司用這類測試作為聘雇的依據

You answer a lot of questions,

你回答了一大堆問題

and this is supposed to reveal something about your core personality.

而這些就該顯示出所謂你的核心人格

And of course, the popular fascination with this is enormous.

當然這普遍的迷戀是很盛行的

In magazines like this, you'll see,

在這類雜誌上你可以看到

in the bottom left corner, they'll advertise in virtually every issue

左下角他們幾乎在每一期都廣告了

some kind of personality thing.

一些關於人格的東西

And if you pick up one of those magazines,

而你只要一拿起這些雜誌

it's hard to resist, isn't it?

就很難克制，是不是？

Doing the test to find what is your learning style,

測試一下看看你的學習類型是什麼

what is your loving style, or what is your working style?

你的愛情類型是什麼，或工作類型是什麼？

Are you this kind of person or that?

你是這一類或者那一類的人？

So I think that we have a common-sense idea

所以我認為我們有個共同的信念

that there is a kind of core or essence of ourselves

就是我們具有某些核心或本質

to be discovered.

等著我們去發掘

And that this is kind of a permanent truth about ourselves,

那個關於我們自己的永恆真相

something that's the same throughout life.

某種在一生當中保持不變的東西

Well, that's the idea I want to challenge.

而這正是我想要挑戰的信念

And I have to say now, I'll say it a bit later,

我現在必須說，晚點我還會重提

but I'm not challenging this just because I'm weird,

挑戰這信念並不是因為我很怪

the challenge actually has a very, very long and distinguished history.

這挑戰實際上擁有非常長而特殊的一段歷史

Here's the common-sense idea.

所以這是一個普遍的認知

There is you.

你存在

You are the individuals you are, and you have this kind of core.

你作為一個個體，擁有某種核心

Now in your life, what happens is that you, of course,

在你的生活當中

accumulate different experiences and so forth.

當然你會累積不同的經驗

So you have memories,

於是你有了記憶

and these memories help to create what you are.

而這些記憶幫忙塑造了你自己

You have desires, maybe for a cookie,

你有欲望，可能是對一塊餅乾

maybe for something that we don't want to talk about

又或許是為某些我們不願意明說的事情

at 11 o'clock in the morning in a school.

至少不是早上11點鐘在學校說得出口的

You will have beliefs.

你也會有信念

This is a number plate from someone in America.

這是某個美國人的車牌

I don't know whether this number plate, which says "messiah 1,"

我不知道這個寫著「彌賽亞-1」的車牌

indicates that the driver believes in the messiah,

是代表了這個駕駛相信彌賽亞的傳聞

or that they are the messiah.

或者他們自己就是彌賽亞

Either way, they have beliefs about messiahs.

不論是哪一種狀況，他們都有對於彌賽雅的信念

We have knowledge.

我們有知識

We have sensations and experiences as well.

我們也有感覺和經驗

It's not just intellectual things.

那不僅僅是理智認知的東西

So this is kind of the common-sense model, I think, of what a person is.

所以我想這是某種關於「人」是什麼的共識模型

There is a person who has all the things that make up our life experiences.

某個人擁有所有這些建構我們生活經驗的事物

But the suggestion I want to put to you today

但是今天我想提供給大家的意見

is that there's something fundamentally wrong with this model.

是這模型存在某種根本性的錯誤

And I can show you what's wrong with one click.

我只要按一下就可以讓你看看錯的是什麼

Which is there isn't actually a "you" at the heart of all these experiences.

那就是：並沒有一個真正的「你」存在在這些經驗的中心

Strange thought? Well, maybe not.

奇怪的想法嗎？其實也許還好

What is there, then?

那麼那裡到底有什麼呢？

Well, clearly there are memories, desires, intentions, sensations,

顯然有記憶、欲望、意願、感覺

and so forth.

等等

But what happens is these things exist,

但事實是這些東西存在

and they're kind of all integrated,

而它們整合為一體

they're overlapped, they're connected in various different ways.

它們互相重疊，互相以各種不同的方式連結在一起

They're connecting partly, and perhaps even mainly,

它們部分連結，有時甚至大部分

because they all belong to one body and one brain.

因為它們全屬於同一個身體和同一顆大腦

But there's also a narrative, a story we tell about ourselves,

但那還有一個我們描述給自己聽的故事

the experiences we have when we remember past things.

即憶起往事時我們所擁有的體驗

We do things because of other things.

我們因為別的事情而做某事

So what we desire is partly a result of what we believe,

因此我們所欲望的某部分來自於我們相信什麼

and what we remember is also informing us what we know.

而我們所記得的，也同時告訴自己我們知道些什麼

And so really, there are all these things,

所以真的，所有的這些東西

like beliefs, desires, sensations, experiences,

像是信念、欲望、感覺、經驗

they're all related to each other,

它們全是彼此互相關連的

and that just is you.

而那正是「你」

In some ways, it's a small difference from the common-sense understanding.

以某方面說，這和常識性的理解只有些微差距

In some ways, it's a massive one.

但另一些方面來看，卻有著很大的不同

It's the shift between thinking of yourself

這是一個轉移，介於將自己視為

as a thing which has all the experiences of life,

一個能擁有一切生活經驗的東西

and thinking of yourself as simply

與將自己視為一個僅僅是

that collection of all experiences in life.

一個生活經驗的集合體之間

You are the sum of your parts.

你是你各個部分的總和

Now those parts are also physical parts, of course,

當然也包含了物質性的部分

brains, bodies and legs and things,

大腦、身體，還有腳等等

but they aren't so important, actually.

但它們其實並沒有那麼重要

If you have a heart transplant, you're still the same person.

就算做了心臟移植，你還是同一個你

If you have a memory transplant, are you the same person?

但如果是記憶移植，你是同一個你嗎？

If you have a belief transplant, would you be the same person?

如果你做了信念移植，你還會是同樣那一個人嗎？

Now this idea, that what we are, the way to understand ourselves,

現在這個關於我們是什麼，理解自己的方法

is as not of some permanent being, which has experiences,

認為「我們不是能擁有經驗的永恆存在

but is kind of a collection of experiences,

而是一個經驗的集合體」

might strike you as kind of weird.

可能會讓你覺得有些怪異

But actually, I don't think it should be weird.

但事實上，我不認為這該是奇怪的

In a way, it's common sense.

某種意義上，這是一種常識

Because I just invite you to think about, by comparison,

因為我正邀請你來想想看、比較看看

think about pretty much anything else in the universe,

想想看宇宙中任何一個事物

maybe apart from the very most fundamental forces or powers.

排除最基本的動力或能量

Let's take something like water.

讓我們以水為例

Now my science isn't very good.

我的科學素養不是很好

We might say something like water has two parts hydrogen

我們可以說水這東西有兩份氫

and one parts oxygen, right?

和一份氧，對吧？

We all know that.

這我們都知道

I hope no one in this room thinks that what that means

我想這屋裡沒有人會認為那表示

is there is a thing called water, and attached to it

有一個東西叫水，並有

are hydrogen and oxygen atoms,

氫和氧原子附著在上面

and that's what water is.

而認為那就是水

Of course we don't.

我們當然不會這樣認為

We understand, very easily, very straightforwardly,

我們非常輕易和直覺的體認

that water is nothing more

水不外乎是

than the hydrogen and oxygen molecules suitably arranged.

氫和氧分子的適當結合

Everything else in the universe is the same.

宇宙中所有其他的事物也是如此

There's no mystery about my watch, for example.

我的手錶就沒有什麼神秘的，打個比方

We say the watch has a face, and hands,

我們會說這錶有錶面、指針

and a mechanism and a battery,

機械裝置和電池

But what we really mean is,

但我們真正想說的是

we don't think there is a thing called the watch

我們不會認為有一個叫做錶的東西

to which we then attach all these bits.

而所有這些東西會附在其上

We understand very clearly that you get the parts of the watch,

我們非常清楚地知道把手錶的各部件

you put them together, and you create a watch.

組合在一起，你就得到了一只錶

Now if everything else in the universe is like this,

現在如果一切宇宙中的事物都是如此

why are we different?

我們又為什麼會不一樣？

Why think of ourselves

為什麼把我們自己想成

as somehow not just being a collection of all our parts,

不是擁有這些組成部分的總和

but somehow being a separate, permanent entity which has those parts?

而是某種分離的、永恆的實體，擁有著這些部分？

Now this view is not particularly new, actually.

這觀點其實並不新穎

It has quite a long lineage.

它有著漫長傳承

You find it in Buddhism,

你可以在佛教裡找到它

you find it in 17th, 18th-century philosophy

你可以在十七、十八世紀的哲學找到它

going through to the current day, people like Locke and Hume.

一直到當代，像是洛克、休謨

But interestingly, it's also a view

但有趣的是，它也是一個

increasingly being heard reinforced by neuroscience.

據說逐漸被神經科學所重視的一個觀點

This is Paul Broks, he's a clinical neuropsychologist,

這是保羅．布洛克斯，他是一個臨床神經心理學家

and he says this:

他這樣說

"We have a deep intuition that there is a core,

「我們有個根深蒂固的直覺認為，存在著一個核心

an essence there, and it's hard to shake off,

一個本質，難以被撼動

probably impossible to shake off, I suspect.

我甚至懷疑那是絕不可能擺脫的

But it's true that neuroscience shows that there is no centre in the brain

但確實神經科學顯示了大腦當中並沒有一個中心

where things do all come together."

是所有事物彙集之處。」

So when you look at the brain,

所以當你探索大腦

and you look at how the brain makes possible a sense of self,

探索大腦是如何理解自我的概念

you find that there isn't a central control spot in the brain.

你會發現並沒有一個中央控制點在大腦之中

There is no kind of center where everything happens.

並沒有某種讓所有事情發生的中心

There are lots of different processes in the brain,

腦中有許多不同的歷程

all of which operate, in a way, quite independently.

某種程度上來說都是獨立運作的

But it's because of the way that they relate

但是由於他們是互相關聯的

that we get this sense of self.

我們才有一種自我的感覺

The term I use in the book, I call it the ego trick.

我在書中用了一個詞，叫做自我的把戲

It's like a mechanical trick.

就像是一個機械的戲法

It's not that we don't exist,

這不是說我們不存在

it's just that the trick is to make us feel that inside of us

而是這戲法讓我們感覺我們內在

is something more unified than is really there.

有個更統合的東西存在

Now you might think this is a worrying idea.

也許你覺得這是個讓人擔憂的想法

You might think that if it's true,

你可能覺得如果這是真的

that for each one of us there is no abiding core of self,

我們每個人都沒有永固的自我

no permanent essence,

沒有永久的本質

does that mean that really, the self is an illusion?

是否意味著其實，自我只是一個幻象？

Does it mean that we really don't exist?

這是否意味著我們其實不存在？

There is no real you.

沒有什麽真正的你

Well, a lot of people actually do use this talk of illusion and so forth.

確實，很多人的確採取了這類假象之說

These are three psychologists, Thomas Metzinger, Bruce Hood,

有三個心理學家，湯瑪斯．梅辛革、布魯斯．胡德

Susan Blackmore,

蘇珊．布萊克摩爾

a lot of these people do talk the language of illusion,

這些人都談到假象的觀點

the self is an illusion, it's a fiction.

自我是一個幻象，它是虛構的

But I don't think this is a very helpful way of looking at it.

但我不認為這種看待方式有太多助益

Go back to the watch.

再回到之前的錶

The watch isn't an illusion, because there is nothing to the watch

這只錶並不是幻覺，因為除了

other than a collection of its parts.

它部分的集合之外，並沒有其他東西

In the same way, we're not illusions either.

同樣的，我們也不是一個幻象

The fact that we are, in some ways, just this very, very complex collection,

我們是某種非常複雜的集合體

ordered collection of things,

是精確有序排列的集合體的這件事

does not mean we're not real.

不代表我們就不是真的

I can give you a very sort of rough metaphor for this.

關於這個我想提出一個很粗劣的比喻

Let's take something like a waterfall.

讓我們談談瀑布

These are the Iguazu Falls, in Argentina.

這是阿根廷的伊瓜蘇瀑布

Now if you take something like this,

如果你拿像這樣的例子想想

you can appreciate the fact that in lots of ways,

你就會發現在很多方面

there's nothing permanent about this.

都沒有永恆這回事

For one thing, it's always changing.

一方面，它永遠在改變

The waters are always carving new channels.

水永遠在開拓新的通道

with changes in tides and the weather,

透過潮汐和氣候的改變

some things dry up, new things are created.

有些地方乾涸了，新的事物出現

Of course the water that flows through the waterfall

當然流過瀑布的水

is different at every single instance.

在每一刻都是不同的

But it doesn't mean that the Iguazu Falls are an illusion.

但這並不表示伊瓜蘇瀑布是個幻象

It doesn't mean it's not real.

不表示它並不真實

What it means is we have to understand what it is

它意味著的是我們必須了解

as something which has a history,

它是個擁有歷史發展的事物

has certain things that keep it together,

由特定事物集合而成

but it's a process, it's fluid, it's forever changing.

但它是一個過程，是流動的，永遠在變化

Now that, I think, is a model for understanding ourselves,

我認為這是一個可以用來理解我們自身的

and I think it's a liberating model.

一個自由的模型

Because if you think that you have this fixed, permanent essence,

因為如果你認為有個固定、永恆的本質

which is always the same, throughout your life, no matter what,

終其一生不論如何都永遠不變

in a sense you're kind of trapped.

某種意義上你已經被困住了

You're born with an essence,

你出生就帶有某種本質

that's what you are until you die,

你一直保持如此直到死去

if you believe in an afterlife, maybe you continue.

如果你相信來世，也許你還會繼續下去

But if you think of yourself as being, in a way,

但如果你把自己想成

not a thing as such, but a kind of a process,

不是一個物體，而是一個過程

something that is changing,

一個不斷改變的事物

then I think that's quite liberating.

我認為這是相當令人感到解放的事情

Because unlike the the waterfalls,

因為和瀑布不同

we actually have the capacity to channel

我們實際上擁有能力

the direction of our development for ourselves to a certain degree.

在某種程度上引導自身發展的方向

Now we've got to be careful here, right?

現在我們要小心了，對吧？

If you watch the X-Factor too much, you might buy into this idea

如果你看太多 X-Factor（英國歌唱選秀節目），你可能會認同這個想法

that we can all be whatever we want to be.

「我們能成為任何想成為的人」

That's not true.

這不是真的

I've heard some fantastic musicians this morning,

今天早上我聽了幾位很棒音樂家的演奏

and I am very confident that I could in no way be as good as them.

而我非常確信自己沒法如他們演奏得一般出色

I could practice hard and maybe be good,

也許我努力練習可以做得很不錯