The American Scholar　論美國學者

The American Scholar

論美國學者

Ralph Waldo Emerson

拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生

作者簡介

拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生（Ralph Waldo Emerson，1803—1882），美國思想家、文學家、詩人，確立美國文化精神的代表人物。美國總統(tǒng)亞伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln）稱他為“美國的孔子”和“美國文明之父”。

愛默生最著名的作品為《隨筆集》（Essays）。他經(jīng)常發(fā)表演說，1841年將演講詞集結(jié)成《隨筆集》第一冊，三年后結(jié)集出版第二冊。他的隨筆語句簡潔生動，充滿警句格言，既有抑揚頓挫的慷慨陳詞，又能體現(xiàn)溫文爾雅的學者風度，為其贏得了“美國的文藝復(fù)興領(lǐng)袖”的美名。

本文節(jié)選自愛默生1837年8月31日在劍橋大學演講的講稿，宣告美國文學脫離英國文學而獨立，被譽為美國思想文化領(lǐng)域的“獨立宣言”。文中告誡美國學者切勿盲目追隨傳統(tǒng)，或遵循刻板教條。無論對閱讀還是研究，這一觀點均頗具借鑒意義。

The theory of books is noble. The scholar of the first age received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again. It came into him, life; it went out from him, truth. It came to him, short-lived actions; it went out from him, immortal thoughts. It came to him, business; it went from him, poetry. It was dead fact; now, it is quick thought. It can stand, and it can go. It now endures, it now flies, it now inspires. Precisely in proportion to the depth of mind from which it issued, so high does it soar, so long does it sing.

Or, I might say, it depends on how far the process had gone, of transmuting life into truth. In proportion to the completeness of the distillation, so will the purity and imperishableness of the product be. But none is quite perfect. As no air-pump can by any means make a perfect vacuum, so neither can any artist entirely exclude the conventional, the local, the perishable from his book, or write a book of pure thought, that shall be as efficient, in all respects, to a remote posterity, as to cotemporaries, or rather to the second age. Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding. The books of an older period will not fit this.

Yet hence arises a grave mischief. The sacredness which attaches to the act of creation, the act of thought, is instantly transferred to the record. The poet chanting was felt to be a divine man. Henceforth the chant is divine also. The writer was a just and wise spirit. Henceforward it is settled, the book is perfect; as love of the hero corrupts into worship of his statue. Instantly the book becomes noxious. The guide is a tyrant. The sluggish and perverted mind of the multitude, always slow to open to the incursions of Reason, having once so opened, having once received this book, stands upon it, and makes an outcry if it is disparaged. Colleges are built on it. Books are written on it by thinkers, not by Man Thinking, by men of talent, that is, who start wrong, who set out from accepted dogmas, not from their own sight of principles. Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given; forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books.

Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the bookworm. Hence the book-learned class, who value books, as such; not as related to nature and the human constitution, but as making a sort of Third Estate with the world and the soul. Hence, the restorers of readings, the emendators, the bibliomaniacs of all degrees.

Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system. The one thing in the world of value is the active soul. This every man is entitled to; this every man contains within him, although in almost all men obstructed, and as yet unborn. The soul active sees absolute truth and utters truth, or creates. In this action it is genius; not the privilege of here and there a favorite, but the sound estate of every man. In its essence it is progressive.

The book, the college, the school of art, the institution of any kind, stop with some past utterance of genius. This is good, say they,—let us hold by this. They pin me down. They look backward and not forward. But genius always looks forward. The eyes of man are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead. Man hopes. Genius creates. Whatever talents may be, if the man create not, the pure efflux of the Deity is not his; —cinders and smoke there may be, but not yet flame. There are creative manners, there are creative actions, and creative words; manners, actions, words, that is, indicative of no custom or authority, but springing spontaneous from the mind's own sense of good and fair.

書的理論是高貴的。古老的學者接納自己周遭的世界，以此為基礎(chǔ)進行思索，將知識在頭腦中重新排列，最后得出思考的結(jié)果。進入頭腦的是生活，輸出頭腦的是真知。通過他的頭腦加工，短暫的行為能化作不朽的思考，純粹的生意能化作優(yōu)美的詩歌。曾經(jīng)已逝的事實，如今化作敏捷的思想。它時而駐足，時而前行。如今，它繼續(xù)前進、自由翱翔、給人啟迪。準確說來，思之愈深，則翔之愈高、傳之愈久。

或者說，這完全取決于“將生活化為真知”的程度有多深。蒸餾的程度越高，產(chǎn)物就越純凈、越不易腐。但沒有東西會那么完美。就像氣泵抽不出絕對的真空，藝術(shù)家也無法徹底排除習俗、地域、時效的影響，無法寫出思想純粹的作品。這種作品能從各個方面影響當代人和后代，或者說流傳到下一個時代。人們發(fā)現(xiàn)，每個時代都必須寫下自己的作品，或者說，每一代人都必須寫下作品留給后代。更加古老的作品則無法流傳。

但這會造成極大的危害。與創(chuàng)造（即思考）相關(guān)的圣物立即被記入史冊。人們將發(fā)出詠嘆的詩人視為圣人，那么他的詠嘆就成了圣詩；作者公正賢明，那么他的作品就必定完美無瑕——對英雄的熱愛蛻化成對其塑像的崇拜。一旦如此，書也就有了毒素，導師變成了暴君。民眾心智開啟遲緩，容易誤入歧途，接受理性的過程緩慢。一旦他們心智開啟，接受了某本書，就會堅持書中觀點。若此書遭人非議，他們會公開抗議。大學就是以此為基礎(chǔ)建立。書不是由“思想者”寫成，而是由“思考者”1寫就。那些天才開始時就錯了——他們不從自身觀點出發(fā)，而是拘泥于刻板教條。在圖書館長大的溫良青年，確信接受西塞羅、洛克、培根的觀點是自身責任所在，卻忘記了西塞羅、洛克、培根當年寫書時，也只不過是圖書館里的青年。

于是，我們有了書呆子，而非“思想者”。于是，我們有了珍視書本的“知識分子階級”。他們既不關(guān)注自然也不關(guān)注人性，而是關(guān)注世界與靈魂之間的“第三層”。于是，我們有了重振閱讀派、修正派和程度不一的藏書狂。

書，善用之，乃萬物精華；濫用之，則秕糠不如。那么何為善用？人們千方百計想要達到的目標是什么？書的作用無非是給人啟迪。如果一本書的引力會讓我偏離自身軌道，不再擁有自己的行星體系，而成為繞其旋轉(zhuǎn)的一顆衛(wèi)星，那我最好永遠不要看見它。世間最可貴的東西莫過于活躍的心智。盡管它與生俱來，藏于每個人心中，但大多數(shù)人的心智受到堵塞、尚未開啟。心智活躍之人能看見絕對的真理，并能說出真理或進行創(chuàng)造。在這個過程中，心智活躍是一種天賦。它不是上天寵兒的特權(quán)，而是人人皆有的資產(chǎn)。它的本質(zhì)是進步。

曾經(jīng)的某位天才說過的話，能讓書本、大學、藝術(shù)院校及各類機構(gòu)裹足不前。人們說，天才的話說得對，我們要貫徹下去。這些人讓我寸步難行。這些人只顧后而不瞻前，但天才總是著眼未來。人的眼睛不在腦后，而在額前。常人只會期盼，天才則會創(chuàng)造。一個人若不能創(chuàng)造，就算再有天賦，也沒有絲毫靈性——或許有些煙塵，卻難以成為烈焰。世間有許多創(chuàng)造性的方法、行為和語言。這些方法、行為、語言不以習俗或權(quán)威為據(jù)，而是心靈良知的自然流露。

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書，善用之，乃萬物精華；濫用之，則秕糠不如。

Ralph Waldo Emerson 拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生

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1．“思想者”不同于“思考者”?！八伎颊摺笔潜粍铀伎?、靠吸吮他人思想活著的人，而“思想者”要形成自己的思想。