Chapter 3 Chapter Two Byronic Misfortune

Today, as in so many periods of human history, there are many wise men among us who think they have seen through all their early passions, and are convinced that there is nothing more worth living for.People who hold this view are becoming extremely common.They congratulated themselves on their misfortune, though they did not attain it; they ascribed it to the nature of the universe, and regarded it as the only reasonable attitude of an enlightened man.Their boasting of their unhappiness makes the less worldly minds doubt its sincerity, and think that those who appreciate pain do not actually suffer.This view is too simplistic.These sufferers no doubt received some compensation in their sense of superiority and insight, but this was not enough to compensate for the loss of simple joy.Personally, I never think that there is rationality and superiority in being unhappy.A wise man is happy so long as the situation permits, and if he finds that thinking about the universe beyond a certain point is painful, he turns to other problems.This is the point I want to make in this chapter.I would like to advise my readers, that reason, for whatever reason, does not impose a prohibition on happiness; nay, I firmly believe that those who sincerely attribute their grievances to their own views of the universe, It's putting the cart before the horse.The truth is that they are unhappy for reasons unknown to them, and this unhappiness leads them to contemplate unpleasant aspects of the world in which they live.

The point of view I am about to discuss with regard to contemporary Americans has already been expressed by Mr. Joseph Wood Krutch in his book Modern Temperament.For our forefathers, it was Byron's view; for all ages, it is the view of the author of the Book of Sermons.Mr Krutch said: "Our business is a lost business, we cannot find our place in the world of nature; yet we do not regret being human for this reason. We would rather die as human beings. , and don't want to live like an animal." Byron said: None of the world's pleasures gives so much joy as it takes away, when the light of early thoughts is drowned in the faint fading of emotion.

The author of Sermons says: I envy those who are dead, they are much happier than the living.But he who has not yet been born, and has not seen all the injustices that go on in the world, is luckier than both. All three pessimists came to sad and depressing conclusions after reviewing the joys of life.Mr. Krutch lived among the highest intellectual circles in New York; Byron swam the Hellespont and had numerous affairs. The author of "The Preacher" pursued even more varied pleasures. He drank and enjoyed music, "all of that," he built pools, he had servants and servants, and even servants continued in his family.Even under these circumstances, his wisdom did not leave him.Yet he sees all this, even his wisdom, as a mass of futility that changes, but it does not change with argument.I've had that feeling myself, that everything seems to be empty; I've gotten rid of it not by any philosophical means, but by some compulsive need to act.If your child is sick, you feel unhappy but you don't feel that everything is empty; you feel that the child's recovery is a major concern that you take for granted, and you don't even bother with the question of whether life has ultimate value. bother.A rich man may, and often does, feel that everything is empty, but if he happens to lose his money, he feels that his next meal is anything but empty.This emotion comes from the all too easy gratification of natural needs.Human beings, like other animals, are more adapted to a certain amount of struggle for survival, and when he possesses a huge wealth without any effort, when all his strange ideas are easily realized, the lack of this effort in life alone deprived him of an essential element of happiness.A person who easily gets what he wants tends to believe that wish fulfillment does not bring happiness.If he had been a little philosophic, he would have concluded that the essence of human life is unhappiness, because the man who has everything he wants is not happy.He forgets that the incompleteness of the object of need is one of the indispensable conditions of happiness.

That's all I can say about emotions.In Sermons, however, there are some intellectual discussions as well.The rivers flow into the sea, but the sea is not full.There is nothing new under the sun. There is nothing old that no one remembers.I hate everything I do under the sun; for I have to leave it all for posterity. If the above views are expressed in the style of modern philosophers, it is likely to be like this: people are always working hard, and matter is in eternal motion.I tried to discriminate between wisdom and ignorance, knowledge and arrogance; but I found that this was nothing but a cocoon of the spirit.The more wisdom, the heavier the troubles; the more knowledge, the deeper the worries.His intelligence seemed to piss him off, and he tried to get rid of it, but couldn't.I cried out from the bottom of my heart, "Come on! Try happiness, enjoy happiness!" But, behold, this is emptiness too!But wisdom still haunts him.I thought to myself: "What happened to the stupid is also what happened to me, what good would it do me to be wise?" My answer was: "No, everything is empty!" Therefore, life meant nothing to me, Everything done under the sun just bores me, everything is nothingness, everything is a cocoon of the spirit.

Fortunately for men of letters, people don't read things that were so long ago; for once they have been read, it is concluded that no matter what someone has said about the pool, new books must be written in vain .If we can show that the teachings of the Book of Sermons are not reserved only for intelligent people, we need not be troubled by later expressions expressing the same sentiments.In this discussion we must distinguish between emotional and intellectual expressions.There is no need to argue with emotion, for it follows a lucky event, or a change in our physical condition, and nothing is constant, though there is little difference between what is new later and what is old that is gone.When a man dies, his posterity reaps the fruits of his labor; the river runs to the sea, but its water is not allowed to stay in the sea.Such a cycle, endless period, and purposeless, human beings and all things live and die in this cycle, without progress and development, without eternal harvest, day after day, year after year.If the river is wise, it will stay where it is and stop moving.If Solomon had been wise, he would not have planted fruit trees and let his son enjoy the fruit.

But in another mood, it all looks quite different.Is there nothing new under the sun?How then to explain skyscrapers, aviation planes and politicians' radio speeches?How did Solomon ever know this?Would it not be a consolation to him, among useless trees and ponds, if he could hear the Queen of Sheba's speech to her subjects on her return from his dominion over the radio?If he had a news-editing agency through which he could see how the papers reported the splendor of his buildings, the comforts of his harem, and the embarrassment of the sages with whom he debated, he would still insist that there is nothing under the sun Is it new?Perhaps these things will not completely cure his pessimistic tone, but at least he will come to a new way of expressing it.In fact, one of Mr. Krutch's complaints about our time is that there are too many new things under the sun!If both the appearance of the new and its disappearance are equally disturbing, it is hard to say that either is the real cause of despair.Let us look again at the fact: "All rivers run to the sea, but the sea is never full; the rivers come to their source, and there they return." Taking this as a basis for pessimism, then Assume that such travel is unpleasant.People come to health resorts in the summer and then return to their original places.This does not prove that summer visits to health resorts are useless.

If rivers had feelings, they might well enjoy this adventurous cycle, like the clouds in Shelley's poetry.As to the pain of bequeathing property to posterity, it may be viewed from two points of view: From the point of view of the heir, it is clearly not a great loss or calamity.Nor is the fact that all things are successive within themselves a reason for pessimism.If something worse followed, that would be all right, but if something better followed, that would be grounds for optimism.But, as Solomon thought, how do we know what we inherit if the inherited thing is exactly like the original thing?Doesn't that make the whole process meaningless?Of course not, unless the stages of the cycle are themselves distressing.It is a pernicious habit to look only into the future and think that today is all about what it will produce.Without partial value, there is no so-called holistic value.Life should not be seen as a melodrama in which the heroes and heroines experience unimaginable misfortune and finally compensate with a happy ending.I have my way of life, my son inherited me, he has his way of life, and his son inherited him.What is the tragedy of all this?On the contrary, if I am immortal, the joys of living must eventually lose their appeal.From generation to generation, life will always be youthful.I warmed my hands before the fire of life; the flame died away, and I prepared to go.This attitude is as rational as the indignant attitude towards death.Therefore, if emotion is determined by reason, there is the same reason for joy and despair. Sermons is tragic, Mr Krutch's Modern Temperament is plaintive.Mr. Krutch's complaints are fundamentally due to the collapse of the accepted principles of things in the Middle Ages and in later ages.He said: "The present age is an unfortunate one, with the ghosts of the nether world wandering about; If you don’t know the world of mythology, you don’t know how to lead yourself where you want to go.” This situation is completely applicable to some intellectuals, who love culture and education, but know nothing about the modern world.Since they were brought up to base their beliefs on emotions, they could not escape their childhood desire for safety and protection, which the scientific world could hardly satisfy.Mr. Krutch, like most intellectuals, is troubled by the idea that science has not lived up to its promises.He certainly doesn't tell us what those promises are, but he seems to think that what Darwin, Huxenley and others expected of science 60 years ago has not been fulfilled.I think it's a complete fallacy, created by writers and pastors who don't want their expertise to be despised.There are indeed many pessimists in the world today.When many people have less income, pessimists increase.Mr. Krutch is a true American, and American incomes on the whole have increased because of the war; but throughout the Continent, the intellectual class has suffered greatly, and everyone is terrified by the First World War .Such social factors have far more influence on the mood of an age than on the theories about the nature of the world.Few ages have been more hopeless than the thirteenth century, when the faith so deplored by Mr. Krutch was held firmly by almost all except the Emperor and a few Italian nobles.Hence Rogier Bacon says: "In our age more than ever before has more vice reigned in the world; and vice and wisdom are incompatible. Let us see the world as it is, and carefully Thinking about it, we will find too much depravity and corruption; and this is first of all the prince who is above....The whole court is discredited by debauchery and lust, and gluttony is the first....If this is the king's What does it do, and what about its ruling members? Look at the high priests: how they chase after gold and silver, and sneer at the salvation of souls.... Let us think of the precepts of religion: what you say, do what you say. See how far they have fallen, one by one from their own dignity. The first dignity of the new order (of the monks) has been terribly corroded. The whole class of priests is after glory, lust and greed : Wherever these clergymen congregate, let's say in Paris and Oxford, scandals of their quarrels and vices of every kind spread throughout the world. . . . No one cares what he does, let alone how Insidious and cunning, as long as you can satisfy your own desires.” When talking about the pagan sages in ancient times, he said: “Their lives are much better than ours; society's scorn. They were merry. Abundance, glory. All this in the writings of Aristotle, Seneca, Turi and Avicenna, Alpharabius, Plato, Socrates and others can be read. In this way, they not only obtained the mysteries of wisdom, but also discovered all knowledge." These views of Roger Bacon are in line with those of his contemporaries, none of whom had any doubts about himself. I like the times I live in.I have never believed that there is any metaphysical reason for this pessimism.The reason is war, poverty and brutality.

One of Mr. Cruzzi's most sentimental chapters is on the question of love.The thing seems to be that the Victorians had a high opinion of love, while those of us with our modern sophisticated senses have seen through it. "For the skeptical Victorian, love performed a function that only a forsaken God could have. In the face of love, time becomes a mystery to many even the most recalcitrant Unfathomable. They found themselves before something which awakened in their minds a peculiar sense of devotion; and they felt, even in the depths of their being, that unquestionable devotion to which they owed. For them, love is God, for which it would sacrifice all. At the same time, love should be like God, rewarding believers by giving life a meaning that has not yet been resolved. We—in contrast to them—have We are accustomed to a world without God, but we are not accustomed to a world without love; and we will not understand what atheism really means until we are accustomed to a world without love." It is strange that young people of our time The views of the Victorians were so different from those of people who lived in that era.I remember two old ladies who were typical in some respects of the period.I have known them since childhood.One was a Puritan, the other a disciple of Voltaire.The former complains that there are too many poems about love, which is a meaningless topic.The latter pointed out: "No one can refute me. I repeat again and again that breaking the seventh commandment is not as bad as breaking the sixth commandment, because no matter what, it always requires the consent of the other party." The typical Victorian perspective portrayed by Mr. Kee is quite different.His opinion obviously came from writers who were not at all in tune with their circumstances.The best example, I think, is Robert Brown.However, I have to admit that his view of love is a bit pedantic.

Thank God, his humblest beings boast of two souls, one facing heaven, the other showing to the woman he loves! That is to say, the only possible attitude towards the whole world is to fight.why?Because the world is cruel, Browning would reply.We'll say, because the world won't accept you the way you think it will.A couple may form a society of mutual admiration like the Brownings.Whether your labor is commendable or not, it's always a flattering thing to have someone who's there for you at all times, who can't stop praising you.When Browning reproached Fitzgerald for not having the guts to praise "Aurora Leigh," no doubt he considered himself a real man and a really reliable companion.I do not find this complete lack of critical function on both sides to be laudable.It has to do with fear, and trying to be ruthless.Unbiased criticism is closely related to the desire to seek refuge.Many older bachelors will find the same satisfaction in their own homes.I myself have lived too long in the Victorian era to be modern by Krutch's standards.In any case, I have by no means lost my faith in love, but the kind of love I believe in is not what the Victorians envied.This love is adventurous and discerning, and when it imparts knowledge of good, it does not forget evil, let alone pretend to be holy and pure.The attribution of these characteristics to the kind of love that is admired is the result of sexual taboos.The Victorian was so convinced that most sexual activity was evil that he had to attach some hyperbole to the kind of love he identified with.Sexual hunger was much greater then than it is now, and this no doubt leads to an exaggeration of the importance of sexual activity, as the dervishes do.Today we are going through a time of confusion, many have cast aside the old norms and have not yet acquired the new ones.This caused them a lot of trouble.Because subconsciously they still believe in the old norms, when these troubles come, they produce despair, regret and cynicism.I don't think there are many people who have had this happen, but they are some of the most outspoken people of our time.I think that if you compare today's successful young people with such people in the Victorian era, you will find that today's young people enjoy more happiness in love and are more sincere about the value of love than they were sixty years ago. faith.Some people are driven into cynicism because of the oppressive domination of the unconscious by old ideas and the absence of the intellectual ethics by which people regulate their behavior today.The solution lies not in mourning and nostalgia for the past, but in accepting the status quo of the modern world with a brave attitude and making up our minds to eradicate the superstitions that have been abandoned in every dark corner.

It is difficult to explain briefly why people value love, but I am willing to try.Love is valued above all—and this is not its greatest value, but it is necessary for all other values—that it is itself a source of happiness. oh love!they wronged you so much Saying that your sweetness is sorrow, when you bear fruit What could be sweeter and more fragrant than that. The anonymous author of these lines is not looking for an answer to atheism, or a key to the universe; he is simply narcissistic.Love is not only a source of joy, its loss is also a source of pain.Secondly, love is praised because it can bring higher value to all the most beautiful things, such as music, the sunrise on the mountain, and the sea under the bright moon.A man who has never enjoyed good things with the woman he loves cannot fully appreciate the infinite power of these things.At the same time, love can also break the solid shell of the self, because it is a kind of biological instinct cooperation, and when realizing the instinctive goal of the other party, both parties need to invest together.At various times, there have been various forms of celibate philosophy, some noble and some not so noble.The Stoics and early Christians believed that the individual can realize the highest good in life only through his own will, without the help of the whole human race.Some people see power as the purpose of life, others see personal pleasure as the purpose of life.In a certain sense, all of these are celibate philosophies, which advocate that each individual can achieve the state of goodness by himself, and does not necessarily need the efforts of large or small groups.It seems to me that all these points of view are false, both in moral theory and in the active expression of human instincts.Man depends upon cooperation for his existence, and nature has endowed him with - though imperfectly - the organ of instinct by which the friendship necessary for cooperation arises.Love is the first and most common form which leads to co-operation; and he who has experienced it with all his heart will not be content with a philosophy which maintains that the highest good can be attained without the co-operation of the loved one. philosophy of boundaries.Parental affection is even stronger in this respect, but parental affection is at best nothing more than the crystallization of love between parents.I do not falsely claim that the highest form of love is universal, but I am sure that the highest form of love reveals a value that must not have been known, nor touched by skepticism, although those skeptics are incapable of doing so. But they mistakenly attribute their incompetence to skepticism.

Love is an eternal flame, burn forever in the heart; Never weary, never extinguished, never cooled, Never get annoyed with yourself. Next, let me talk about Mr. Krutch's views on tragedy.He insists that Ibsen's Ghosts is far inferior to Shakespeare's King of Kings, and I completely agree with that. "No amount of expressive power, no great gift of language, could turn Ibsen into Shakespeare. The raw material from which his work was created—his conception of human dignity, his awareness of the importance of human emotion , his insight into the vastness of human life—all of which did not and would not exist in Ibsen, as they would not have and could not have existed in his earthly contemporaries. As the centuries passed, God, Both human beings and nature are inexplicably reduced. Not because modern art's belief in realism prompts us to seek out mediocre people, but because human mediocrity is added to us by the same process that leads to The development of the theory of realist art by which our imagination justifies itself." Undoubtedly, the old-fashioned tragedies devoted to depicting the five princes and their woes are no longer suitable for our time.When we try to treat the sorrow of the unknown in the same way, the effect is of course different.The reason, however, is not a backwardness in our view of life, but rather the fact that we no longer regard certain individuals as great men, as if they alone had tragic passion, while all others only Toil and toil in order to produce the greatness of the few.Shakespeare said: When a beggar dies, no comet will appear in the sky; The heavens mourned the death of the king. In Shakespeare's day, this view, if not fully believed, at least expressed a factually common view that Shakespeare himself believed from the bottom of his heart. same view.Hence the comic of the death of the poet Sinner, the tragic of the deaths of Caesar, Bruce, and Cassius.For us, the death of the individual has lost its universal meaning, because we have had an idea not only in external form, but in our convictions.Therefore, today's great tragedy is not closely related to individuals, but to society.Take, for example, Ernst Toller's play, Crowd and Man, which I do not think equals the best that has come out of the greatest period in history, but I am sure it does; it is Sublime, learned, and practical, it focuses on heroic deeds, which, as Aristotle once said, "purify the reader's mind with pity and terror."Examples of modern tragedy like Crowds and Men are rare, since old techniques, old traditions, must be discarded; but not replaced by mediocrity.To write tragedy, the author must have tragic feelings.To be tragic, he must be aware of the world in which he lives, and experience it not only with his own heart but with his own life and passion.Mr. Krutch speaks continually of despair in his book, and one cannot help being moved by his heroic acceptance of Les Miserables; but his Miserables are grounded in the fact that, faced with new stimuli, he And most literati have not learned how to perceive old emotions.Stimulation exists, of course, but not in literary circles.There was no important contact between the literary coterie and social life which is necessary for a serious depth of human emotion, for tragic emotion and true happiness.My advice to talented young people who are bewildered and disoriented is this: "Give up trying to write, and instead, try not to write a single word. Go out into the world; be a pirate, a King of the Polo, a laborer in Soviet Russia; seek such a life, such a way of being, that the fulfillment of basic bodily needs should occupy all your energies. "I do not recommend this practical course to everyone, but only to those suffering from the disease Mr. Krutch has diagnosed. I believe that after a few years of living like this, this former intellectual will find , no matter how hard he tried to restrain himself, he could not stop himself from writing. At this time, he would not feel that his writing was meaningless.