Quora精選：真的會有人覺得生活很美好嗎？

I'm surrounded by people who claim they enjoy life - but I've always had a hard time believing them. Life, to me, is full of so much pain. Sure, there are some great moments here and there but I think in the grand scheme of things the unpredictability, relationships, stress, expectations, etc make life a pretty shitty experience.

我周圍的人都聲稱自己很享受生活，但我總很難相信他們。生活，于我而言，有著太多的痛苦。當然，偶爾也會有一些美好的瞬間，但總的來說，生活中不可預知性、人際關系、壓力、期望等等，都會讓我感覺糟透了。

Are these people being honest? Are there actually people who enjoy life? Or am I the only one who secretly believes that life is overrated?

這些人說的都是真的嗎？真的會有人覺得生活很美好嗎？還是只有我會暗中覺得生活沒那么美好？

Answered by Jack Thompson

Jack Thompson的回復：

Yes.

是。

I want you to look at this photo of the world's tallest stacked pile of pig iron. It's from Wikipedia, and it's very nice.

來看看這張照片吧，世界上堆得最高的一堆生鐵。照片來自維基百科，看著很漂亮。

See, when you're trying to take a good photo, there's a lot to think about. Lens, light, filters, perspective, composition, timing, permits, thieves, alimony, and the list goes on. Looking through the viewfinder, you're not in the world. You're in your head.

瞧，當你想拍張好照片時，你得考慮很多東西。鏡頭、光線、濾光、透視、構圖、時機、能否拍照、小偷、生活費等等，不勝枚舉。從取景器中看過去時，你并不在這個世界中。你只是在自己的腦海里。

Like the photographer, you're looking but you're not really seeing.

就像攝影師一樣，你只是在觀察，但并沒有真的去體會。

You look at life and complain that life is full of pain, and while life is punctuated by great moments, you don't enjoy it as a whole.

你看著生活，抱怨生活充滿痛苦。即使不時會有美妙的時刻穿插其中，總的來說，你也無法去享受生活。

What I see is you looking through the viewfinder of life waiting for the opportunity to press the button to capture what you want, but when you finally do, the feeling doesn't last because you're already looking for the next opportunity. Or you're looking at the past, going over and over your long list of missed opportunities trying to work out when you should have pressed the button, and who to blame. Or you're imagining what life will be like when everything falls into place. That curiously timeless moment when everything is perfect is especially pernicious.

依我所見，你就是在透過生活的取景器觀察，伺機按下快門，捕捉你想要的畫面。但按下快門之后你也不會興奮很久，因為你已經開始尋找下一個按快門的時機，或是一遍遍回味過去，試圖把之前錯失的良機一個個揪出來，想著這都怪誰。又或者你會想像，如果一切都能按你想的順理成章地發(fā)展下去，生活又會是什么樣子的？當一切都趨于完美時，這永無止境的挑剔尤其無益。

Guess what? None of it's real. It's all in your head. What you're not enjoying is not actually, well, life.

猜猜怎么著？這些都是虛妄，只存在于你的腦海之中。而你不喜歡的那些，也并不是真正的生活。

What you're not enjoying is comparing your life to constantly shifting ideals you will never reach, revisiting the past you can not change, and always wanting more even while you are getting what you want. What you're not enjoying are fantasies, very normal ones I might add, which are typically much more compelling than the simple, humble, often very dull reality of life.

你不喜歡的，是把你的實際生活和你不斷變化但又達不到的理想生活相比較，是沉緬于已無法挽回的過去，是得到想要的后還會渴望更多。讓你無法享受的是幻想，或者哪怕很平常的事情，但它們往往比簡單、卑微、通常乏味無比的現(xiàn)實生活要吸引人得多。

Sure, there's pain and greatness, but they're two points on a rich spectrum of all kinds of mediocrity. In the grand scheme of things, you will be fine. Mostly other people are lying, or more properly are selfdeluded, but some are telling the truth. Yes, there are people who enjoy life, but not equally all the time - why would you want to? And yes, others secretly and not-so-secretly think that life is overrated, including myself.

的確，生活有悲有喜，但這只是豐富多彩的平凡生活的兩端。總的來說，你不會有事的。許多人都在撒謊，更有甚者是在自欺欺人，但也有人說了實話。是的，是有人會覺得生活很美好，但也不總是那么美好——為什么你會希望總能如此？同時，也有人暗中覺得或者隱約表示他們認為生活沒那么美好，包括我在內。

Life becomes a much more enjoyable ride once you stop confusing it with what you thought it was, or what you wish it would become, and simply let it be what it is. Acceptance (not to be confused with passivity) is your ticket to wherever you need to go. I also suggest you leave the camera at home. Buy postcards.

一旦你不再將生活與你的想象或期望混淆，而是讓它該怎樣就怎樣，生活會變得愉快得多。接受，而非順從，能引領你去任何你想去的地方。同時我也建議你把相機留在家里，買明信片去。