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402.罗素

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发表于 2024-1-19 12:05:59 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式
经典美文之罗素:强烈的爱好可以抗衰老。我吃喝均随心所欲,想睡就睡。做事情不考虑是否有益健康,只要具有强烈的爱好,活动又都恰当适宜,我根本不必担心衰老。一、要仔细选择祖先当楷模。我的外祖父67岁去世,正值盛年,另3位祖辈亲人都活到80岁以上。稍远些的亲戚,只有一位没能长寿,但他死于被杀头。我的一位曾祖母,活到92岁。我外祖母生了10个孩子,活了9个,还有一个早年夭折。守寡后,马上致力于妇女高等教育事业。

她是格顿学院创办人之一,力图使妇女进入医疗行业。她总喜欢讲这样一个故事,她曾经在意大利遇到过的一位老绅士,绅士面容忧郁,她询问他缘故。绅士说两个孙儿女刚离开。“天哪!”她叫道,“我有七十二个孙儿孙女,如果我每次离开一个都悲伤不已,我早就没法活了!”绅士说。“奇怪的母亲。” 作为她的72个孙辈的一员,我要说我更喜欢她的见地。

上了80岁,她开始有些入睡困难,经常在午夜至凌晨三时这段时间阅读科普书籍。我想她根本就没有功夫去留意她在衰老。我认为,这正是保持年轻的最佳方法。如果你的兴趣和活动既广泛又浓烈,你能从中感到自己仍然精力旺盛,你就不必去考虑你已经活了多少年,更不必去考虑你那也许不很长久的未来。

至于健康,由于我这一生几乎从未患过病,也就没有什么有益的忠告。我吃喝均随心所欲,醒不了就继续睡。我做事情从不以是否有益健康为依据,尽管实际上我喜欢做的事情通常都是有益健康的。

二、避免过分沉湎于往事。

从心理角度讲,老年需防止过分沉湎于往事。人不能生活在回忆中,不能生活在对美好往昔的怀念或对去世友人的哀念中。应当把心思放在将来,放到需要自己去做点什么的事情上。要做到这一点并非轻而易举,往事的影响总是在不断增加。人们总认为自己过去的情感要比现在强烈得多,头脑也比现在敏锐。假如确实如此,就该忘掉它;如果可以忘掉它,那你自以为是的情况可能并不是真的。

三、避免期望从年轻人的勃勃生气中获取力量

老年人要避免依恋年轻人,期望从他们的勃勃生气中获取力量。子女们长大成人后,都想按照自己的意愿生活。如果你还想象她们年幼时那样关心他们,你会成为他们的包袱,除非她们是异常迟钝的人。不是说不应该关心子女,而是说这种关心应该是含蓄的,假如可能的话,还应是宽厚的,而不应该过分地感情用事。

四、适当的爱好

我认为,具有强烈的爱好,活动恰当适宜、且不受个人情感影响,成功地度过老年决非难事。只有这样,长寿才真正有益;源于经验的智慧才能得到运用而不令人感到压抑。告诫已经成人的孩子别犯错误是没有用处的,因为一来他们不会相信你,二来错误原本就是教育所必不可少的要素之一。

但是,如果你是那种受个人情感支配的人,你就会感到,不把心思都放在子女和孙儿女身上,你就会觉得生活很空虚,那么你必须明白,虽然你还能为他们提供物质上的帮助,比如支援他们一笔钱或者为他们编织毛线外套,但决不要期望他们会因为你的陪伴而感到快乐。

五、害怕死亡毫无意义

有些老人因害怕死亡而苦恼。年轻人害怕死亡是可以理解的。有些年轻人担心他们会在战斗中丧身。一想到会失去生活能够给予他们的种种美好事务,他们就感到痛苦。这种担心并非无缘无故,也是情有可原的。但是,对于一位经历了人世悲欢、履行了个人职责的老人,害怕死亡就有些可怜且可悲了。

克服这种恐惧的最好办法是逐渐扩大你的兴趣范围,并使其不受个人情感的影响,直至包围自我的围墙一点一点地离开你,而你的生活则越来越融合于大家的生活之中。每一个人的生活都应该象河水一样——开始是细小的,被限制在狭窄的两岸之间,然后热烈地冲过巨石,滑下瀑布。渐渐地,河道变宽了,河岸扩展了,河水流得更平稳了。

最后,河水流入了海洋,不再有明显的间断和停顿,而后便毫无痛苦地摆脱了自身的存在。能够这样理解自己一生的老人,将不会因害怕死亡而痛苦,因为他所珍爱的一切都将继续存在下去。而且,如果随着精力的衰退,疲倦之感日渐增加,长眠并非是不受欢迎的念头。

我渴望死于尚能劳作之时,同时知道他人将继续我所未竟的事业,我大可因为已经尽了自己之所能而感到安慰。

文 | 伯兰特·罗素
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 楼主| 发表于 2024-1-19 12:08:11 | 显示全部楼层
Russell Russell: A strong hobby can resist aging. I eat and drink as I please and sleep as I please. I don’t care whether it’s good for my health or not. As long as I have strong hobbies and appropriate activities, I don’t have to worry about aging at all. 1. Carefully choose your ancestors as role models. My maternal grandfather died at the age of 67, in his prime, and the other three relatives all lived to be over 80 years old. Only one of his more distant relatives did not live long, but he died by being beheaded. One of my great-grandmothers lived to be 92 years old. My maternal grandmother gave birth to 10 children, 9 survived, and one died in infancy. After becoming a widow, she immediately devoted herself to women's higher education.

She was one of the founders of Girton College, which worked to get women into the medical profession. She always liked to tell a story about an old gentleman she once met in Italy. The gentleman had a sad face, and she asked him why. The gentleman said the two grandchildren had just left. "My God!" she cried, "I have seventy-two grandchildren, and if I grieved every time one of them was gone, I should be dead!" said the gentleman. "Strange mother." As one of her 72 grandchildren, I'd say I prefer her perspective.

When she reached the age of 80, she began to have difficulty falling asleep and often read popular science books between midnight and three in the morning. I don't think she had time to notice that she was aging. I think this is the best way to stay young. If your interests and activities are broad and strong, and you can feel that you are still energetic, you don't have to think about how many years you have lived, let alone your future, which may not be very long.

As for health, since I have almost never been sick in my life, I have no useful advice. I ate and drank as much as I wanted, and continued to sleep when I couldn't wake up. I never do things based on whether they are healthy or not, even though the things I enjoy doing are often healthy.

2. Avoid dwelling too much on the past.

From a psychological point of view, old people need to avoid being too obsessed with the past. One cannot live in memories, in nostalgia for the good old days or in mourning for deceased friends. You should focus on the future and things that require you to do something. It is not easy to do this, and the influence of the past is always increasing. People tend to think that their emotions in the past were much stronger and their minds sharper than they are now. If it is true, forget it; if you can forget it, then your self-righteousness may not be true.

3. Avoid expecting to gain strength from the vitality of young people.

Old people should avoid clinging to young people and hoping to gain strength from their vitality. When the children grow up, they all want to live according to their own wishes. If you still care about them as much as you did when they were young, you will become a burden to them, unless they are unusually slow people. This does not mean that you should not care about your children, but that this kind of care should be implicit and, if possible, generous, and should not be overly emotional.

4. Appropriate hobbies

I believe that it is not difficult to successfully live in old age if you have strong hobbies, appropriate activities, and are not affected by personal emotions. Only then can longevity be truly beneficial; the wisdom born of experience can be applied without being oppressive. It is useless to warn adult children not to make mistakes, because firstly they will not believe you, and secondly mistakes are an essential element of education.

However, if you are the kind of person who is dominated by personal emotions, you will feel that if you do not put your thoughts on your children and grandchildren, you will feel that your life is empty, then you must understand that although you can still serve them Offer material help, such as giving them money or knitting them a woolen coat, but never expect them to feel happy in your company.

5. Fear of death is meaningless

Some elderly people suffer from fear of death. Young people are understandably afraid of death. Some young men feared they would die in battle. They feel pain at the thought of losing all the good things life has to offer them. This worry is not unreasonable and is understandable. However, for an old man who has experienced the joys and sorrows of this world and fulfilled his personal duties, fear of death is a bit pitiful and tragic.

The best way to overcome this fear is to gradually expand the scope of your interests and make them impersonal, until bit by bit the walls surrounding yourself leave you and your life becomes more and more integrated with everyone else. in life. Everyone's life should be like a river - small at first, confined between its narrow banks, then rushing passionately through boulders and sliding down waterfalls. Gradually, the river channel widened, the river banks expanded, and the river flow became smoother.

Finally, the river flows into the ocean without any obvious interruptions or pauses, and then painlessly sheds its own existence. An old man who can understand his life in this way will not suffer from the fear of death, because everything he cherishes will continue to exist. And if fatigue increases as energy wanes, sleep is not an unwelcome thought.

I long to die while still able to work, knowing that others will continue what I have left unfinished, and that I can take comfort in the fact that I have done my best.

| Bertrand Russell
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