Name: 【TED】傑基-塔比克:(傑基-塔比克：《同情心的平衡之舉》) (【TED】Jackie Tabick: The balancing act of compassion (Jackie Tabick: The balancing act of compassion))
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T06:19:23.000Z
Duration: 15 min 44 s

One of my favorite cartoon characters is Snoopy.

我最喜歡的漫畫人物之一是史努比。

I love the way he sits and lies on his kennel and contemplates the great things of life.

尤其喜愛他坐躺在小屋上里思考人生大事的情景。

所以當我想到“同情心”這個話題的時候，

my mind immediately went to one of the cartoon strips,

我的腦海立刻浮現出了一集漫畫：

"I really understand, and I really appreciate

how one should love one's neighbor as one love's oneself.

一個人應當愛他周圍的人，跟愛自己一樣。

The only trouble is the people next door; I can't stand them."

但唯一的問題是：隔壁那些人，我實在受不了！」

其實在某種程度上，這是一種挑戰：

如何把一個好的想法付諸行動。

我想，我們大家應該都相信同情心的價值。

If you look at all the world religions, all the main world religions,

如果你去了解全世界的宗教，全世界的主要的宗教，

you'll find within them some teaching concerning compassion.

你會發現其實他們都涵蓋了有關於同情心的教導。

在猶太教義的摩西五書裡，我們有：

that you should love your neighbor as you love yourself.

你應當如愛自己一樣愛你的鄰人。

And within Jewish teachings, the rabbinic teachings, we have Hillel,

在猶太人的教誨里，希伯來教義中，我們有Hillel (著名猶太宗教領袖)的教導，

who taught that you shouldn't do to others what you don't like being done to yourself.

告訴我們，己所不欲，勿施於人。

And all the main religions have similar teachings.

幾乎所有其他的主要宗教都有這樣的教誨。

who is called the compassionate one, Ha-rachaman.

神Ha-rachaman， 是被叫做“同情者”的。

After all, how could the world exist without God being compassionate?

如果神沒有同情心，這個世界怎麼能存在呢？

And we, as taught within the Torah that we are made in the image of God,

正同摩西五書講的，我們是依照神的樣子被創造出來，

所以我們一樣，也要有同情心。

But what does it mean? How does it impact on our everyday life?

但這意味著什麼呢？同情心是如何影響我們的生活的呢？

Sometimes, of course, being compassionate

can produce feelings within us that are very difficult to control.

會使我們產生一些難以控制的情感。

I know there are many times when I've gone and conducted a funeral,

我知道，有很多次我去參加葬禮，

or when I have been sitting with the bereaved, or with people who are dying,

和那些失去親人的朋友們坐在一起，或和垂死的人在一起，

and I am overwhelmed by the sadness, by the difficulty,

the challenge that is there for the family, for the person.

個人或是家庭所面對的挑戰中。

And I'm touched, so that tears come to my eyes.

And yet, if I just allowed myself to be overwhelmed by these feelings,

但是，如果我就這麼埋沒在情感之下，

because I have to actually be there for them

and make sure that rituals happen, that practicalities are seen to.

確定儀式順利進行而細節有顧及到。

And yet, on the other hand, if I didn't feel this compassion,

另一方面，如果我不感到同情，

then I feel that it would be time for me to hang up my robe

And these same feelings are there for all of us as we face the world.

我們在面對這世界時也一樣要面對同樣的感受。

when we see the terrible horrors of the results of war,

"Well, you know there's just so much out there -- I can't do anything,

：「這個世界上發生的事情太多了，我無能為力。

And there are some charity workers who call this compassion fatigue.

有些慈善界的人員稱之為"同情心疲憊"。

There are others who feel they can't confront compassion anymore,

還有那些再也無法處理同情感的人，

and so they turn off the television and don't watch.

In Judaism, though, we tend to always say, there has to be a middle way.

我們猶太教則一直傳達中庸之道的必然存在。

You have to, of course, be aware of the needs of others,

你理所當然要關心到他人的需要，

but you have to be aware in such a way that you can carry on with your life

但你關心的方式要讓你能繼續生活

So part of compassion has to be an understanding of what makes people tick.

所以同情心也包含了對於人們作事動機的了解。

And, of course, you can't do that unless you understand yourself a bit more.

當然，在那之前你得先更了解自己一點。

And there's a lovely rabbinic interpretation of the beginnings of creation,

猶太教裡有這麼一個關於創世紀的故事：

which says that when God created the world,

God thought that it would be best to create the world

only with the divine attribute of justice.

Therefore, there should be justice throughout the world.

所以，全世界都應該是公平的。

And then God looked to the future and realized,

if the world was created just with justice, the world couldn't exist.

不可能存在以絕對公正的世界。

So, God thought, "Nope, I'm going to create the world just with compassion."

所以，上帝想到，「不如，我就創造一個全都是同情心的世界吧。」

And then God looked to the future and realized that,

然後上帝再一次預見了未來，發現，

in fact, if the world were just filled with compassion,

實際上，如果世界只有同情心，

The rabbis describe this as being like a king

擁有一個美麗卻易碎的玻璃碗，

If you put too much cold water in, it will shatter.

若你倒進太多的冰水，它會碎裂。

If you put boiling water in, it will shatter.

若你倒進沸騰的水，它也會碎裂。

What do you have to do? Put in a mixture of the two.

那你該怎麼辦呢？把冰水同滾水混合了再倒進去。

And so God put both of these possibilities into the world.

所以上帝把這兩種可能性都放入了這個世界。

There is something more though that has to be there.

And that is the translation of the feelings

一如史奴比，我們不能一味躺著

and think great thoughts about our neighbors.

懷抱著對我們鄰居偉大的想法。

We actually have to do something about it.

And so there is also, within Judaism, this notion of love and kindness

也因此在猶太教裡，這愛與慈悲的概念

All these three things, then, have to be melded together.

The idea of justice, which gives boundaries to our lives

正義這個觀念讓我們的生命有界線

and gives us a feeling of what's right about life, what's right about living,

也使我們感受到生命和活著本身什麼是正確的，

我們應當在做什麼，社會正義。

There has to be a willingness to do good deeds,

but not, of course, at the expense of our own sanity.

You know, there's no way that you can do anything for anyone

And balancing them all in the middle is this notion of compassion,

而取得中庸之道就是同情的原則。

which has to be there, if you like, at our very roots.

是因為我們是依照神的樣貌打造的。

It entails understanding the pain of the other.

it means understanding one's connection to the whole of creation:

還代表對個人與萬物之間之聯繫的理解