we are held back by the crippling thought

我們會因為自我貶低的想法而退縮。

that people like us could not possibly triumph

像是在自我認知下

given what we know of ourselves

我們這樣的人是不可能成功的。

how reliably: stupid, anxious, gauche, crude, vulgar and dull

這些形容才貼切：愚笨、焦慮、粗魯、不成熟、粗俗、無趣。

we really are.

這才是我們的真面目。

we live the possibility of succes, to others

我們在外人眼裡看似成功。

because we do not seem to ourselves

因為我們不像看起來的那樣

to be anything like the sort of people we see lauded around us

不像是平常看到身邊會出現的菁英份子。

faced with responsibility or prestige, we quickly become convinced

面臨了責任或聲望，我們很快就會相信

that we are simply: impostors

簡單來說自己就是：冒牌貨。

like an actor, in the role of a pilot

像個演員，扮演飛行員。

wearing a uniform, and making sunny cabin announcements

身穿制服進行陽光的機上廣播。

while utterly incapable, of even starting the engines

甚至在完全無法啟動引擎的時候。

it can feel easier, simply not to try

只要什麼都不做就會比較自在。

the root cores of the impostor syndrome

冒名者綜合症狀的根源

is a hugely unhelpful picture of what other people are really like

就是一幅無助的畫描繪著其他人的模樣。

we feel like impostors, not because we are uniquely flawed

我們感覺很像冒牌貨，不是因為我們特別有缺陷

but because we fail to imagine how deeply flawed

而是因為我們缺乏想像。

everyone else must necessarily, also be

其他人也有缺陷。

beneath the more or less, polished surface.

或多或少都有，在光鮮亮麗的外表下。

the impostor syndrome has its roots far back in childhood

冒名者綜合症狀可以追溯到童年時期。

specifically, in the powerful sense children have that their parents, are really very different from them

特別是，在威權教育下長大的孩子會與父母差很多。

to a four year old, it's incomprehensible that their mother was once their age

對一個四歲的孩子來說，很難理解媽媽也曾是孩子。

and unable to drive a car, tell the plumber what to do

而且不會開車、告訴水電工該怎麼辦、

decide other people's bedtimes and go on planes with colleagues

決定別人的上床時間還有跟同事一起搭飛機。

the gulf in status appears absolute and unbreachable

身分地位的鴻溝顯得更加確切且難以跨越。

the child's passionate loves

小孩充滿熱情。

pouncing on the sofa, pingu, toblerone

喜歡在沙發上跳來跳去、喜歡企鵝家族、瑞士巧克力。

have nothing to do with those of adults

但這都和那些大人無關。

who like to sit at a table, talking for hours

喜歡坐在桌邊聊上好幾個小時

when they could be running about outside

當他們可以到外面透氣的時候

and drink beer, which tastes of rusty metal

然後喝著味道像生鏽金屬的啤酒。

we start out in life with a very strong impression

我們在人生的開端就有非常強烈的印象。

that other people, especially competent and admirable other people

就是其他人，特別是有權勢且受敬佩的人

are really not like us, at all

跟我們真的不一樣，很不一樣。

this childhood experience

這些童年經驗

dovetails with a basic feature of the human condition:

與基本的人性吻合：

we know ourselves from the inside

我們了解內在的自己

but we know others only from the outside

但我們只從外在了解別人。

so we're constantly aware of all our anxieties, doubts and idiocies

所以我們常常發現自己的焦躁、疑慮、和笨點。

yet all we know of others

但我們對別人的了解

is what they happen to do and tell us

要從他們的行為或等他們主動開口才知道。

which is a far narrower and more edited source of information.

所以收到的資訊遠遠不足甚至是經過潤飾的。

We're often left to conclude

我們很容易就這樣下定論。

that we are isolated at the more freakish and revolting end of human nature

認為自己因為奇葩且令人作嘔的個性而被孤立了。

far from it

其實差遠了。

we're just failing to imagine

我們只是缺乏想像。

that others are, of course, every bit as disturbed as we are

其他人當然也是，跟我們一樣煩躁。

without knowing exactly what it is

因為無法確知究竟是什麼造成困擾

that troubles or racks another, outwardly very impressive person

影響外表看起來很成功的人士。

we can be sure that it will be something.

我們可以確定一定有什麼。

We might not know exactly what they regret

我們無法知道他們有什麼遺憾

but there will be agonizing feelings of some kind

但一定也有某種苦惱的感受

we won't be able to say exactly

讓我們有苦說不出。

what kind of unusual, sexual kink obsesses them?

他們的腦中盤旋著什麼非比尋常的性幻想？

but there will be one

雖然不知道但一定有。

and we can know this because vulnerabilities and compulsions

我們可以知道這是腦部的漏洞和衝動。

cannot be curses that have just ascended upon us uniquely

我們並不能怪罪，因為大家都會遇到這種現象。

they are universal features of human mental equipment

這些症狀是人類心智的共同特徵。

the solution to the impostor syndrome

冒名者綜合症狀的解決方案

lies in making a crucial leap of faith:

取決於信念上重要的大躍進。

the leap that others' minds must work

知道別人內心的運作方式

in basically much the same way as ours do

基本上跟我們也差不多。

everyone must be as anxious, uncertain and wayward as we are

每個人都會跟我們一樣焦躁、不確定、任性。

it's a leap of faith because we just have to accept

要在信念上跨出很大一步，我們只需要接受

that the majority of what we feel and are

我們很多感受

especially the more shameful, unmentionable sides

還有比較羞於向他人傾訴的黑暗面

will have a corollary in each and every one of us

其他人勢必也有相同的部分。

one of the tasks that works of art should ideally accomplish

藝術作品要理想完成的方法之一

is to take us more reliably into the minds of people we're intimidated by

就是更確實地了解讓我們產生壓迫感的人的內心。

in order to show us the more average, muddled and fretful experiences that they have

向我們展現他們更平凡、迷糊、焦躁的一面

that way, we would be helped to understand

這樣子我們就更能了解

that we're not barred by our vulnerabilities from doing what they do

我們並沒有被其他人也擁有的自我缺陷阻礙。

that's what the philosopher Montaigne

這是哲學家蒙田

writing in the 16th century

於十六世紀所寫下的。

was attempting to do

目的是為了

when he playfully informed his readers in plain French that

用開玩笑的筆法以通俗的法文告訴讀者：

"kings and philosophers shit and so do ladies!"

「國王和哲學會拉屎，淑女也會！」

Montaigne's point is that for all the evidence that exists about this shitting

蒙田的拉屎理論可以運用在所有類似的現象上。

we might not guess that these people ever had to squat on a toilet

我們可能猜不到這些人也會蹲廁所。

we never see distinguished types doing this

我們從沒看過地位顯赫的人這樣做。

while of course we are immensely well informed

但當然我們非常熟悉

about our own digestive activities

自己的「消化活動」。

and therefore we build up a sense

因此我們建立了一個概念

that because we have crude and sometimes rather desperate bowels

因為我們很粗俗，有時候還急著上廁所

we can't be philosophers, kings or ladies

我們沒辦法當哲學家、國王、或淑女。

and that if we set ourselves up in these roles

而如果我們讓自己攀升到這些角色

we would just be impostors

我們只是冒牌貨。

Montaigne's example is a neat one

蒙田的比喻很貼切。

because despite the lack of evidence

即使缺乏證據

we know that these exalted people

我們知道這些地位崇高的人

must of course excrete in exactly the same way we do

當然一定跟我們一樣需要排泄。

So, with Montaigne's guidance

所以，在蒙田的啟發下

we're invited to take on a saner sense of what

我們可以理智地看

grand, powerful and beautiful people are really like

有權有勢又顏質高的人真實的模樣。

but the real target isn't just an under confidence about bodily functions

但真正的目標不是看穿自信下的生理功能。

this point extends into the psychological arena too

重點延伸到心理學領域。

Montaigne might also have said that kings, philosophers and ladies

蒙田也許有說國王、哲學家、和淑女

are wracked by self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy

被自我懷疑、信心不足擊倒。

sometimes bump into doors

有時候這些想法會突如其來出現

and have weird, lustful thoughts about members of their own families

有一些關於家人的詭異又貪婪的思想。

Furthermore, instead of considering only the big figures of 16th century France

此外，除了思考這項法國十六世紀的指標

we could update this example

我們還可以更新一下例子。

and refer to CEOs, corporate lawyers, news presenters and successful start-up entrepreneurs

換成執行長、企業律師、主播、還有成功的創業家

they too, can't cope, feel they might buckle under pressure

他們也會有無法克服的時候，感覺被壓力淹沒

and look back on certain decisions with shame and regret

還有回想充滿羞恥悔恨的某些決定。

No less than shitting, such feelings are not what separates us from them

不只是拉屎，這些感覺我們都一樣。

our inner frailties don't cut us off from doing what they do

我們做跟他們一樣的事，但內在的弱點並不會把我們毀掉。

If we were in their roles, we'd not be impostors

如果我們處於他們的角色，我們並不是冒牌貨。

we'd simply be normal

我們就只是正常人。

Making a leap of faith around what other people are really like

在信念上跨出一大步認清別人真實的模樣

helps us to humanize the world

幫助我們賦予世界人性。

it means that whenever we encounter a stranger

代表著不論什麼時候我們碰到陌生人

we're not really encountering a stranger

但我們並不是真的遇到陌生人。

we're in fact encountering someone

事實上我們遇到的是某位

who is, in spite of the surface evidence to the contrary

即使表面上看似不同

in basic ways, very much like us

但基本上與我們非常相似。

and therefore, nothing fundamental stands between us

因此，在我們之間沒有什麼基本標準。

and the possibility of responsibility, success and fulfillment.

就算是責任、成功、和成就也是。