选译：This is water. by David Foster Wallace

In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such 
thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody
worships. The only choice we get is _what_ to worship. And an
outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing
to worship----be it J.C. or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan
mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of
ethical principles----is that pretty much anything else you worship will
eat you alive. If you worship money and things----if they are where you
tap real meaning in life----then you will never have enough. Never feel
you have enough. It's the truth.  Worship your own body and beauty and
sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start
showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On                                     
one level, we all know this stuff already----it's been codified as myths,
proverbs, cliches, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every
great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily
consciousness. Worship power----you will feel weak and afraid, and you
will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay.  Worship                                      
your intellect, being seen as smart----you will end up feeling stupid, a
fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on.

    

 

在每天成人们的战壕中，实际上没有什么无神论。每个人都在崇拜。我们唯一的选择是崇拜什么。

选择崇拜某个神或精神----无论是耶稣还是阿拉，犹太的上帝，Wicca女神，佛家四大真理，

或是某一套不可亵渎的伦理原则----的一个首要的原因就是崇拜其他任何东西都会把你活活吞噬。

如果你崇拜金钱和物质----你从中获得生命的意义----那么你将永远得不到满足。这是实际情况。

崇拜你自己的身体，美丽和性感，你将总是感觉丑陋。当时间流逝，年龄开始显现，你会经历百万次死亡直到最后入土。

在某一层次上，我们都知道这件事----它存在于神话，格言，寓言，和陈词滥调之中，

它是每一个伟大故事的骨架。难的是把真理摆在每天意识的首位。

崇拜权力----你将感觉软弱和恐惧，你永远需要更多统治他人的权力来压制你自己的恐惧。

崇拜你自己的才智，显示你的聪明----你终将感到愚蠢，一个骗子，总是活在被揭穿的边缘。

如此这般。

 

 

But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind 
that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great 
outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really
important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and
discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other 
people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty 
little unsexy ways, every day.  That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative
is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the "rat race"----the constant
gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.

 

 

当然自由有多种。最珍贵的那种在这个进取，得胜，和炫耀的世界里是听不到的。

最重要的那种自由需要关注，觉醒，和自律。真正关心他人并为他们做出牺牲，

一次又一次，日复一日，无数微小的毫不性感的牺牲。这才是真正的自由。这才是受过教育，知道怎么思考。

除此之外就是浑然不觉，缺省设置，老鼠赛----总是在得到和失去某种无限的东西中挣扎的挠心的感觉。

[7grizzly]

Changed "--" to "----" in the text and translation to avoid misunderstanding.

[7grizzly]

回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Thanks 暖冬 for reading and your comments.

> So worship nothing, not God(s),
God(s) are what we _can_ worship, according to DFW.

> Money can buy the freedom people want.
The more limited the "want," the less we need money, labor, or in many cases suffering. That's why the Tao said "是以圣人欲不欲，不贵难得之货。"

> Let's be healthy.:)
I wish it's that easy :-) Instead, it is hard in a different way than, say running 100 miles.

[暖冬cool夏]

And so on.=如此这般。 Good translation!

So worship nothing, not God(s), not the money, power or beauty, but freedom. But in this mercenary world, without money, freedom will not be real either.:) Money can buy the freedom people want. The topic is too big to debate on. But of course you are right that "with health, I don’t need much else, without it, nothing helps much either.?" Let's be healthy.:)