GEB 4/LBEW 35 - Strange Loops 4 集异壁4/东西方的连接34 - 怪圈4

A recent trip to Anmei Village, Anhui Province left me thinking about modes of life. The mode of life of the villagers there, especially some of the elderly, forms a sharp contrast with the mode I hail in Beijing. Although their mode of life in the idyllic environment may not directly lead to happiness, its key inspiration for me will be laid out in this article.

An individual’s life shall be relatively simple at the beginning is a well-established claim. When we were in our childhood, our lives possessed few elements and uncertainties. Whether children lead innocent lives, though, is another matter. One cannot equate simplicity with innocence, as innocence describes a state where there is “freedom from guilt or sin through being unacquainted with evil”, while simplicity refers to an unmixed, uncompounded state.

As we progress into our adolescent years, our modes of life would begin to become more complicated. This change can be attributed partly to education. Education introduces us to the vast array of social norms and the limitless pool of knowledge, adding in new lenses to our minds. For example, once one learns history, they would feel an endless stream of events and stories “flood” in, providing a plethora of old and new, changing and non-changing perspectives. When one takes these perspectives into reality, they would find themselves capable of dissecting and understanding a far greater amount of elements, such as wars, international economic activities, etc. In this process of gaining a greater understanding and the capability to understand, one’s worldview will be expanded dimensionally into a kaleidoscope.

However, as people immerse themselves in the complexity of life, they tend to eventually desire for a natural return to simplicity. This simplicity is not the same as the one a person experienced during their early childhood. One part of this “elderly simplicity” is to acquire a holistic and overarching perspective over matters. One’s return to simplicity is like the end of an arduous mountain climb. After all the turns and passings through trees, bushes, and rocks, one eventually reaches the mountain top. What a majestic moment! All the peaks and the world beyond are laid out beneath the climber. By that point, that climber’s worldview will be greatly simplified, as they need not bother themselves to trot back down to experience any trivial segment of the journey – one can already “see” and feel everything on the mountaintop. A sea of knowledge is not necessarily required for the achievement of this simplicity, though ample experience is required.

Another aspect of this ultimate simplicity is a fall back to nature, which should be the final goal of one’s life. “Nature” here has a two-fold meaning: the phenomena or sceneries constituting “physical nature”, and human passions constituting an original “human nature”. When we enter the complicated stages of our lives, a self-alienation from this primary human nature is possible, as we rely excessively on knowledge. We simultaneously drown in an artificial sea of technology and social codes, distancing ourselves from physical nature.

I argue that when we detach from nature in general, it might be increasingly difficult to develop aspects of one’s genuine personality, because it is improbable to compose wholesome narratives out of the chaotic mess of knowledge we take in, when these narratives are what people rely on to shape their identities. For instance, only a few can claim that the aspect of justice, one of the most valued traits, is engraved in their personalities. This observation can be attributed to the inability of people to draw wholly from their human nature. They are befuddled by all the knowledge and arguments surrounding the concept of “justice”. Historically, some argued that justice is in the hands of the powerful (as the sophist Thrasymachus proposed in his argument with Socrates at the beginning of The Republic), while others argued that justice rests with courage, determination, and responsibility. How can one easily weave a complete, self-compelling narrative out of this puddle of arguments and knowledge? Then, how can one derive an element of personality that they shall display if they cannot resonate with the concept of “justice” through a narrative? When we navigate in the sea of knowledge, we may gain content, but may lose the ability to create personality, or form.

Now, when we reach for that ultimate simplicity, we attempt to reconcile that conflict or gap between gaining content and creating personality or form. When one initiates a return to nature, they can derive form from content, and let all their knowledge from their complex years be tempered with that overarching, holistic viewpoint as mentioned before.

An explanation of this loop of “simplicity, complexity, back to simplicity” can be enhanced by referencing Nietzsche. Nietzsche defined “living unhistorically” and “living historically” vividly in his work On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life. The essence of “living unhistorically” is living like an animal, only caring about the present, forgetting everything in the past. “Living historically”, on the other hand, is about the reminiscing of the past, and focusing on the ability of history to serve an individual. When children start with the initial simplicity, they are living quite unhistorically, as they are not endowed with any form of knowledge or reasoning to make them effectively factor in the past. However, we start to live historically when our lives progress to be more complex, especially after we encounter the history of the individual, the family, the state, and the world. The primary effect of history is that it immediately “morphs into” one’s viewpoints and bind onto that individual. The final stage of simplicity is a combination and balance between living unhistorically and historically. When one achieves a holistic perspective and falls back to nature, they can shift between focusing on the present and drawing experiences from the past. This balance is enlightenment, when we can master the influence of both past knowledge and natural instincts on our decision-making moments.

One can see this eventually simple mode of life in some of the elderly villagers at Anmei Village. Through my observations and interactions with them, while they certainly are historical individuals in the sense that they are well-aware of the history of their family, the village, and the relationship in between, they also live cheerfully or full-heartedly in the present. They talked to me about the weather patterns and the impacts of our visit; they participated in some of our activities; they seem not to be always mired in the murky puddles of their past, and can easily draw their minds to their current experiences. I believe this balance of the historical and unhistorical and this ability to shift between the past and present provides these villagers with tranquility, even happiness. These villagers showcase that life is not necessarily related to age, but related more to one’s capability of arriving at a state of ultimate simplicity where they can reconcile the conflicting elements and dichotomies in their minds.

最近的一次安徽省安梅村之行让我思考了生活状态的问题。那里的村民，尤其是老人的生活状态，与我在北京的状态形成了鲜明的对比。虽然我不能确定他们在一种更田园的环境中的生活状态一定会带来幸福，但它对我的关键启发将在本文中阐述。

个体的生活在一开始应该是相对简单的，这是一个可以被证实的说法。当我们在童年时，我们过着相对简单的生活，几乎没有什么复杂因素和不确定性。不过，儿童是否过着单纯的生活，是另一个有待讨论的问题。人们不能将单纯等同于简单，因为单纯描述的是一种 "通过不熟悉邪恶而免于有罪或罪恶 "的状态，而简单指的是一种不混合、不复合的状态。

当我们进入青少年时期，我们的生活模式将开始变得更加复杂。这种变化可以部分归因于教育。教育引入了大量的社会规范和无限的知识库。有了这些规范和知识库，我们的头脑中就有了新的视角。例如，一旦一个人学习了历史，他们就会感到有无穷无尽的事件和故事 "涌入 "他们的头脑，提供了大量的新旧、变化和不变化的观点。当一个人把这些观点带入现实，他们会发现自己有能力剖析和理解更多的元素，如战争、国际经济活动等。在这个获得更多理解和理解能力的过程中，一个人的世界观将得到维度上的扩展，生活成为一个复杂的万花筒。

然而，当人们沉浸在复杂的生活中时，他们最终往往会渴望自然地回归简单。这种简单与一个人在幼年时期所经历的简单是不一样的。这种 "老年的简单 "的一部分是获得对事物的整体性和总体性的看法。一个人的回归简单就像一个艰巨的爬山过程的结束。在经历了所有的转弯和穿越树木、灌木和岩石之后，人们最终到达了山顶。这是一个多么雄伟的时刻啊！所有的山峰和外面的世界此刻都展开在个体的双眼面前！到那时，攀登者的世界观将被大大简化，因为他们不需要费力地跑下山顶体验任何琐碎的旅程--人们已经可以 "看到 "和感受到山顶以及路上的一切。实现这种简单性可能不需要大量的知识，但需要充足的体验。

这种最终的简单性的另一个方面是回归自然，这应是人一生的终极追求。这里的 "自然 "有两层含义：构成 "物理自然 "的现象或景象，以及构成原始 "人性 "的人类情愫。当我们进入人生的复杂阶段时，我们开始过度诉诸“知识”，逐步脱离了对原始“人性”自然的依靠。同时，我们淹没在技术和社会规范的人造海洋中，更使我们远离了物理自然。

我认为，当我们普遍脱离自然时，可能会越来越难发展一个人真正个性的各个方面，因为从我们接受的混乱的知识中编造出有效的叙述是不可能的，而这些叙述是人们塑造自己身份的依靠。例如，正义可以是个性中最宝贵的品质，但只有少数人可以宣称正义已经铭刻在他们的人格中。这一观察可以归因于人们无法完全从他们的人性中吸取如何成为正义的人的灵感。他们对围绕 "正义 "概念的所有知识和论点感到困惑。从历史上看，有些人认为正义掌握在有权有势的人手中（正如《理想国》开端，智术师在与苏格拉底的争论中提出的那样），而其他人则认为正义在于勇气、决心和责任。一个人怎么能轻易地从如此错综复杂的论据和知识中编织出一个完整的、自我说服的叙述呢？那么，如果一个人不能通过某种叙述或经验与 "正义 "的概念产生共鸣，又怎么能形成他们应展示的个性元素？当我们在“知识”的海洋中遨游时，我们可能吸收了“内容”，但也可能因为无法与人性建立本真的联系而失去塑造人格的能力。

现在，当我们回归自然，达到那个最终的简单性时，我们试图调和吸收“内容”与塑造人格之间的冲突或差距。当一个人开始回归自然时，他们可以从“内容”中获得人格，并让他们从复杂的岁月中获得的所有知识与前面提到的那种总体性的、整体性的观点相融合。

对这种 "简单、复杂、回归简单 "的循环的解释，可以通过参考尼采来加强。尼采在他的作品《论历史对生命的优劣》中生动地定义了 "非历史地生活 "和 "历史地生活"。“非历史地生活 "的本质是像其他动物一样生活，只关心现在，忘记过去的一切。而 "历史地生活 "则是对过去的回忆，注重历史对于个人的服务。当儿童从最初的简单开始时，他们的生活是相当非历史性的，因为他们没有被赋予任何形式的知识或推理，使他们有效地考虑过去的因素。然而，当我们的生活逐渐变得更加复杂时，特别是在我们遇到个人、家庭、国家和世界的历史之后，我们就开始历史性地生活了。历史的主要影响是，它立即 "变形为 "一个人的观点，并绑定在该个人身上。简化的最后阶段是在非历史性生活和历史性生活之间的结合和平衡。当一个人实现了整体的观点并回归自然，他们可以在关注现在和从过去汲取经验之间进行转换。这种平衡就是启蒙，当我们能够掌握过去的知识和自然本能对我们决策时刻的影响。

人们可以在部分安梅村的老年村民身上看到这种最终至简的生活模式。通过我的观察和与他们的互动，虽然他们肯定是历史性的个体，因为他们很清楚他们的家庭、村子以及之间关系的历史，但他们也欢快地或全心全意地生活在当下。他们与我谈论天气规律和我们访问的影响，他们参与了我们的一些活动，他们似乎并不总是沉浸在他们过去的阴暗水坑中，可以很容易地把他们的思想引向他们当前的经历。我相信这种历史和非历史的平衡以及这种在过去和现在之间转换的能力为这些村民提供了安宁，甚至是幸福。这些村民展示了生命不一定与年龄有关，而更多的是与一个人能否到达最终的简单状态有关，在那里他们可以调和他们头脑中的冲突元素及二元对立。