In a moment, I'm going to ask if you would close your eyes

我想要從一個小實驗開始。

and see if you can work out

等一下，我會請各位閉上眼睛，

what emotions you're feeling right now.

看看你們是否能搞懂

Now, you're not going to tell anyone or anything.

你們感受到的情緒是什麼。

The idea is to see how easy or perhaps hard you find it

你不能跟任何人說任何話。

to pinpoint exactly what you're feeling.

我是想讓各位了解， 要指出自己的感受是什麼

And I thought I'd give you 10 seconds to do this.

有多容易或困難。

OK?

我想我就給各位十秒鐘來做這件事。

Right, let's start.

好嗎？

OK, that's it, time's up.

好，咱們開始吧。

How did it go?

好，時間到。

You were probably feeling a little bit under pressure,

進行得如何？

maybe suspicious of the person next to you.

你可能覺得有一點壓力，

Did they definitely have their eyes closed?

也許對旁邊的人感到有點懷疑。

Perhaps you felt some strange, distant worry

他們真的有把眼睛閉上嗎？

about that email you sent this morning

也許你感受到的是 奇怪又遙遠的擔心，

or excitement about something you've got planned for this evening.

擔心你今天早上寄出的電子郵件，

Maybe you felt that exhilaration that comes when we get together

或是對你今晚計畫 要做的事感到興奮。

in big groups of people like this;

也許你感受到的是像 這麼一大群人聚集在一起時

the Welsh called it "hwyl,"

會產生的愉快感；

from the word for boat sails.

威爾斯人稱之為 「hwyl（熾熱感情）」，

Or maybe you felt all of these things.

這個字是來自船帆。

There are some emotions which wash the world in a single color,

也許以上的感受你通通都有。

like the terror felt as a car skids.

有一些情緒會用 單一顏色來洗滌世界，

But more often, our emotions crowd and jostle together

比如當車子打滑時感受到的恐懼。

until it is actually quite hard to tell them apart.

但通常，我們的情緒 會聚集緊貼在一起，

Some slide past so quickly you'd hardly even notice them,

最後變得很難將它們分開。

like the nostalgia that will make you reach out

有些情緒一閃即逝， 你幾乎不會注意到，

to grab a familiar brand in the supermarket.

就像鄉愁，它會讓你想要伸出手，

And then there are others that we hurry away from,

在超級市場中去拿起熟悉的品牌。

fearing that they'll burst on us,

還有其他情緒，是我們急著脫離的，

like the jealousy that causes you to search a loved one's pockets.

害怕它們會從我們身上蹦出來，

And of course, there are some emotions which are so peculiar,

比如嫉妒，會讓你想去搜索 你愛人的口袋中有什麼。

you might not even know what to call them.

當然，還有些情緒相當奇怪，

Perhaps sitting there, you had a little tingle of a desire

你甚至不知道它們叫什麼。

for an emotion one eminent French sociologist called "ilinx,"

也許坐在這裡， 你會有小小的慾望，

the delirium that comes with minor acts of chaos.

想要被著名法國社會學家 稱為「ilinx」的情緒刺激，

For example, if you stood up right now and emptied the contents of your bag

這是種因為製造混亂的小行為 所產生的興奮感。

all over the floor.

比如，你現在站起來， 掏出你包包中的所有東西，

Perhaps you experienced one of those odd, untranslatable emotions

隨便丟在地上。

for which there's no obvious English equivalent.

也許你有經歷過那些怪異、 無法解譯的情緒，

You might have felt the feeling the Dutch called "gezelligheid,"

沒有明確的英文字可以用來描述。

being cozy and warm inside with friends when it's cold and damp outside.

你可能會有一種荷蘭人稱為 「gezelligheid」的感受，

Maybe if you were really lucky,

當外在環境又冷又濕時， 內在因為朋友而感到舒服和溫暖。

you felt this:

也許你非常幸運，

"basorexia,"

你感覺到這個：

a sudden urge to kiss someone.

「basorexia」，

(Laughter)

是種突然想親吻某人的衝動。

We live in an age

（笑聲）

when knowledge of emotions is an extremely important commodity,

在我們所處的時代，

where emotions are used to explain many things,

關於情緒的知識 是極重要且有用的東西，

exploited by our politicians,

情緒會被用來解釋許多事物，

manipulated by algorithms.

會被我們的政客利用，

Emotional intelligence, which is the skill of being able to recognize and name

會被演算法操縱。

your own emotions and those of other people,

情緒智慧是種技能，

is considered so important, that this is taught in our schools and businesses

能夠認出且說出你自己的情緒 以及他人的情緒，

and encouraged by our health services.

情緒智慧被認為相當重要， 所以在我們的學校和企業中都會教，

But despite all of this,

連我們的保健服務 都會鼓勵要有情緒智慧。

I sometimes wonder

但，儘管上述這些，

if the way we think about emotions is becoming impoverished.

我有時還會納悶，

Sometimes, we're not even that clear what an emotion even is.

我們去思考情緒的方式 是否變得沒創意了。

You've probably heard the theory

有時，我們甚至不清楚情緒是什麼。

that our entire emotional lives can be boiled down

你們可能有聽過一個理論，

to a handful of basic emotions.

我們的整個情緒生活可以被濃縮

This idea is actually about 2,000 years old,

成為少數幾種基本情緒。

but in our own time,

這個想法其實已經有兩千年歷史，

some evolutionary psychologists have suggested that these six emotions --

但在我們自己的時代， 一些演化心理學家指出，

happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, surprise --

這六種情緒──

are expressed by everyone across the globe in exactly the same way,

快樂、悲傷、恐懼、 反感、生氣、驚訝──

and therefore represent the building blocks

全世界所有人表達 這些情緒的方式完全一樣，

of our entire emotional lives.

因此，這幾種基本情緒就代表了

Well, if you look at an emotion like this,

堆疊出我們整個情緒生活的幾種積木。

then it looks like a simple reflex:

如果你們用這種方式來看情緒，

it's triggered by an external predicament,

情緒看起來就會像是簡單的反射：

it's hardwired,

它是由外在困境所觸發，

it's there to protect us from harm.

它是與生俱來的，

So you see a bear, your heart rate quickens,

它是用來保護我們不受傷害的。

your pupils dilate, you feel frightened, you run very, very fast.

所以你看到熊時，心跳就會加速，

The problem with this picture is,

瞳孔會放大，覺得害怕， 然後你就會跑得非常非常快。

it doesn't entirely capture what an emotion is.

這個寫照的問題是，

Of course, the physiology is extremely important,

它並沒有完全捕捉到情緒的本質。

but it's not the only reason why we feel the way we do

當然，生理學是相當重要的，

at any given moment.

但並不是在任何時候 我們有任何感覺時，

What if I was to tell you that in the 12th century,

原因都一定是生理學。

some troubadours didn't see yawning

我可以告訴各位，在十二世紀，

as caused by tiredness or boredom like we do today,

有些吟遊詩人並不認為打哈欠

but thought it a symbol of the deepest love?

是因為太累或太無聊所造成， 和我們現今認知不同，

Or that in that same period, brave men -- knights --

他們認為打哈欠象徵的是最深的愛。

commonly fainted out of dismay?

還有，在同樣那個時期， 勇敢的人、騎士，

What if I was to tell you

常常會因為驚慌而昏倒。

that some early Christians who lived in the desert

我還可以告訴各位，

believed that flying demons who mainly came out at lunchtime

早期一些住在沙漠的基督徒

could infect them with an emotion they called "accidie,"

相信會飛的惡魔通常 都會在午餐時間出來，

a kind of lethargy that was sometimes so intense

這些惡魔會讓他們感染到 所謂「accidie」的情緒，

it could even kill them?

是一種昏睡狀態，

Or that boredom, as we know and love it today,

這狀態有時候強到足以致人於死。

was first really only felt by the Victorians,

或是我們現今所知且熱愛的無聊，

in response to new ideas about leisure time and self-improvement?

最初只有維多利亞女王時代的人 才會感覺到它，

What if we were to think again

是針對關於閒暇時間 和自我改善的新點子所做出的反應。

about those odd, untranslatable words for emotions

我們可以再重新想想

and wonder whether some cultures might feel an emotion more intensely

那些怪異、無法解譯的情緒，

just because they've bothered to name and talk about it,

並且思忖是否有些文化對於 某種情緒的感受更強一些，

like the Russian "toska,"

只因為他們花了心力去 把那情緒命名，然後去談論它？

a feeling of maddening dissatisfaction

就像俄國人有「toska」，

said to blow in from the great plains.

一種讓人不滿意到發火的感覺，

The most recent developments in cognitive science show

據說是從北美大平原吹來的情緒。

that emotions are not simple reflexes,

在認知科學領域中 最近期的發展顯示，

but immensely complex, elastic systems

情緒並非僅是反射，

that respond both to the biologies that we've inherited

而是相當複雜、有彈性的系統，

and to the cultures that we live in now.

這些系統對於我們繼承的生物學，

They are cognitive phenomena.

以及我們現在所處的文化都會有反應。

They're shaped not just by our bodies, but by our thoughts,

它們是認知現象。

our concepts, our language.

它們不只是由我們的身體，

The neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett has become very interested

也由我們的思想、 觀念、語言形塑出來。

in this dynamic relationship between words and emotions.

神經科學家麗莎．費德曼．巴瑞特

She argues that when we learn a new word for an emotion,

對於言詞和情緒間的動態關係 很感興趣。

new feelings are sure to follow.

她主張，當我們學到關於 一種情緒的一個新單字時，

As a historian, I've long suspected that as language changes,

接著就一定會有新感覺出現。

our emotions do, too.

身為歷史學家，我長久以來 一直猜想，隨著語言的改變，

When we look to the past, it's easy to see that emotions have changed,

我們的情緒也會改變。

sometimes very dramatically,

當我們回頭看過去， 很容易看到情緒的改變，

in response to new cultural expectations and religious beliefs,

有時候改變得很大，

new ideas about gender, ethnicity and age,

以因應新的文化期待、宗教信仰，

even in response to new political and economic ideologies.

以及對性別、種族、年齡的新想法，

There is a historicity to emotions

甚至因應新的政治和經濟意識形態。

that we are only recently starting to understand.

情緒是有史實性的，

So I agree absolutely that it does us good to learn new words for emotions,

我們直到最近才開始了解這一點。

but I think we need to go further.

我絕對同意學習關於情緒的新字詞 對我們來說是有益的，

I think to be truly emotionally intelligent,

但我認為我們還要再進一步。

we need to understand where those words have come from,

我認為，若要真正有情緒智慧，

and what ideas about how we ought to live and behave

我們就得要了解那些字詞的來源，

they are smuggling along with them.

以及它們偷偷夾帶著哪些想法， 關於我們該如何過生活、

Let me tell you a story.

該做出什麼行為舉止的想法。

It begins in a garret in the late 17th century,

讓我告訴各位一個故事。

in the Swiss university town of Basel.

故事始於十七世紀末的一間閣樓，

Inside, there's a dedicated student living some 60 miles away from home.

在瑞士的大學鎮巴塞爾。

He stops turning up to his lectures,

住在閣樓裡的是一位很認真的學生， 他離家六十英哩。

and his friends come to visit and they find him dejected and feverish,

他不再出現在他的課堂上，

having heart palpitations,

他的朋友去探望他， 發現他很沮喪且在發燒，

strange sores breaking out on his body.

他有心悸，

Doctors are called,

身體突然有奇怪的痠痛。

and they think it's so serious that prayers are said for him

醫生被找來了，

in the local church.

他們認為狀況很嚴重，

And it's only when they're preparing to return this young man home

甚至在當地教堂裡為他禱告。

so that he can die,

當他們正準備要把 這位年輕人送回家，

that they realize what's going on,

讓他能死在家鄉，

because once they lift him onto the stretcher,

他們才了解發生了什麼事，

his breathing becomes less labored.

因為當他們把他抬起來放到擔架上，

And by the time he's got to the gates of his hometown,

他的呼吸就沒那麼費力了。

he's almost entirely recovered.

當到了他家鄉的城門時，

And that's when they realize

他幾乎完全恢復了。

that he's been suffering from a very powerful form of homesickness.

那時他們才了解，

It's so powerful, that it might have killed him.

他的問題是出於 一種非常強大的思鄉病。

Well, in 1688, a young doctor, Johannes Hofer,

強大到很可能會害死他。

heard of this case and others like it

在 1688 年，有一位年輕醫生 叫做約翰尼斯．霍費爾，

and christened the illness "nostalgia."

他聽到了這個案例 以及其他相似案例，

The diagnosis quickly caught on in medical circles around Europe.

把這種病命名為「鄉愁」。

The English actually thought they were probably immune

這項診斷很快就在 歐洲的醫療圈傳開。

because of all the travel they did in the empire and so on.

英國人還認為自己免疫，

But soon there were cases cropping up in Britain, too.

因為他們在大英帝國 做過這麼多旅行等等。

The last person to die from nostalgia

但很快在英國也有案例開始出現了。

was an American soldier fighting during the First World War in France.

最後一個死於鄉愁的人

How is it possible that you could die from nostalgia

是一名美國大兵， 一次大戰時在法國作戰。

less than a hundred years ago?

怎麼可能真有人死於鄉愁，

But today, not only does the word mean something different --

而且還是不到一百年前的事？

a sickening for a lost time rather than a lost place --

但現今，鄉愁這個詞 有不同的意義──

but homesickness itself is seen as less serious,

對於失去的時間， 而非失去的地方，感到煩惱──

sort of downgraded from something you could die from

而且思鄉這件事本身 也不那麼被認真看待了，

to something you're mainly worried your kid might be suffering from

有點像是被降級了，從會致死的病

at a sleepover.

降級到只是你擔心 你的孩子在朋友家過夜時

This change seems to have happened in the early 20th century.

可能會有的感受而已。

But why?

這種轉變似乎是在 二十世紀初發生的。

Was it the invention of telephones or the expansion of the railways?

但為什麼？

Was it perhaps the coming of modernity,

是因為電話的發明或是鐵路的擴展？

with its celebration of restlessness and travel and progress

還是因為現代性的到來，

that made sickening for the familiar

頌揚的是不定性、旅行、前進，

seem rather unambitious?

讓這種煩惱

You and I inherit that massive transformation in values,

變得似乎很平凡了？

and it's one reason why we might not feel homesickness today

你我都繼承了那種價值觀的大轉變，

as acutely as we used to.

那是現今我們的思鄉感不會像以前

It's important to understand

那麼劇烈的原因之一。

that these large historical changes influence our emotions

很重要的是要了解到，

partly because they affect how we feel about how we feel.

這些歷史的大改變 會影響我們的情緒，

Today, we celebrate happiness.

部分原因是因為它們會影響 我們對自己感受的感受。

Happiness is supposed to make us better workers

現今，我們頌揚快樂。

and parents and partners;

快樂應該會讓我們成為

it's supposed to make us live longer.

更好的工作者、父母、伴侶；

In the 16th century,

快樂應該會讓我們更長壽。

sadness was thought to do most of those things.

在十六世紀，

It's even possible to read self-help books from that period

悲傷有上述大部分的功能。

which try to encourage sadness in readers

在那個時期，甚至有可能 自助書籍的內容，

by giving them lists of reasons to be disappointed.

是列出一堆讓人失望的理由，

(Laughter)

來鼓勵讀者悲傷。

These self-help authors thought you could cultivate sadness as a skill,

（笑聲）

since being expert in it would make you more resilient

自助書作者認為你能夠 培養悲傷這項技能，

when something bad did happen to you, as invariably it would.

當你變成悲傷專家，

I think we could learn from this today.

難免遇到壞事發生時， 你的恢復力就會較佳。

Feel sad today, and you might feel impatient, even a little ashamed.

我想，現今我們能從這現象中學習。

Feel sad in the 16th century, and you might feel a little bit smug.

現今，若感到悲傷，你可能會 無法忍受，甚至有點羞恥。

Of course, our emotions don't just change across time,

在十六世紀，若感到悲傷， 你可能會覺得有點沾沾自喜。

they also change from place to place.

當然，我們的情緒不只會隨時間改變，

The Baining people of Papua New Guinea speak of "awumbuk,"

不同地方的情緒也會有不同。

a feeling of lethargy that descends when a houseguest finally leaves.

巴布亞紐幾內亞的拜寧人 會說「awumbuk」，

(Laughter)

來家裡過夜的訪客終於離開之後 會突然出現的一種沒精打采感。

Now, you or I might feel relief,

（笑聲）

but in Baining culture,

這種時候，你我可能會覺得鬆了一口氣，

departing guests are thought to shed a sort of heaviness

但在拜寧文化中，

so they can travel more easily,

人們認為即將離開的客人 會落下一種沉重感，

and this heaviness infects the air and causes this awumbuk.

這樣他們會比較容易上路，

And so what they do is leave a bowl of water out overnight

而這種沉重感會感染空氣， 造成主人的這種 awumbuk。

to absorb this air,

他們的做法是把 一碗水放在外面整夜，

and then very early the next morning, they wake up and have a ceremony

來吸收這種空氣，

and throw the water away.

隔天一早，他們起床就會做個儀式，

Now, here's a good example

然後把這碗水丟掉。

of spiritual practices and geographical realities combining

還有一個好例子，

to bring a distinct emotion into life

說明將靈修和地理現實結合，

and make it disappear again.

將一種獨特的情緒帶到人生中，

One of my favorite emotions is a Japanese word, "amae."

再讓它消失。

Amae is a very common word in Japan,

我最喜歡的情緒之一， 是一個日本字「amae」。

but it is actually quite hard to translate.

在日本，amae 是個很常見的字，

It means something like the pleasure that you get

但很難翻譯。

when you're able to temporarily hand over responsibility for your life

它的意思類似是一種愉悅，

to someone else.

當你能暫時將你人生責任交給他人時

(Laughter)

產生的愉悅。

Now, anthropologists suggest

（笑聲）

that one reason why this word might have been named and celebrated

人類學者指出，

in Japan

在日本會將這個字命名

is because of that country's traditionally collectivist culture,

並頌揚的原因之一，

whereas the feeling of dependency

是因為該國在傳統上 有種集體主義文化，

may be more fraught amongst English speakers,

而依賴的感受

who have learned to value self-sufficiency and individualism.

可能會被英語人士 認為是令人憂慮的，

This might be a little simplistic,

因為這些人過去學的是 自給自足及個人主義。

but it is tantalizing.