The Rewards of Living a Solitary Life

The Rewards of Living a Solitary Life

原文

For me the most interesting thing about a solitary life, and mine has been that for the last twenty years, is that it becomes increasingly

rewarding. When I can wake up and watch the sun rise over the ocean, as I do most days, and know that I have an entire day ahead, uninterrup

ted, in which to write a few pages, take a walk with my dog, lie down in the afternoon for a long think (why does one think better in a horizontal

position?), read and listen to music, I am flooded with happiness.
I’m lonely only when I am overtired, when I have worked too long without a break, when from the time being I feel empty and need filling

up. And I am lonely sometimes when I come back home after a lecture trip, when I have seen a lot of people and talked a lot, and am full to the

brim with experience that needs to be sorted out.
Then for a little while the house feels huge and empty, and I wonder where my self is hiding. It has to be recaptured slowly by watering the

plants and perhaps,by looking again at each one as though it were a person.
It takes a while, as I watch the surf blowing up in fountains at the end of the field, but the moment comes when the world falls away, and the

self emerges again from the deep unconscious, bringing back all I have recently experienced to be explored and slowly understood, when I can

converse again with my hidden powers, and so grow, and so be renewed, till death do us part.

译文

独自生活大有裨益



对于我来说，独自生活-最近二十多年一直是自己生活-最大意义在于这样的生活变得大有裨益。每当清晨我醒来看着旭日从海上冉冉升起，正如大部分时间看到的，我就知道我有整整一天不受打扰。在这一天里，写写文章，散散步，可以长时间躺着若有所思（为什么人躺着是更容易思考），读读书，听听音乐，想到这些我心中就洋溢着幸福。

每当我特别累的时候，每当我长时间一直工作的时候，每当我感到空虚和需要充实自己的时候，我就会感到孤单。每当我外出讲课回来的时候，每当我见了很多人，说了很多话的时候，心中满是所见所闻需要我去整理。

于是有那么一小会，整个房子非常大空荡荡的，我不知道此时自我藏身于何处，这个时候我就给花草浇浇水，挨个看一看，仿佛一个个精灵跃然在你面前，之后慢慢的找到自我。

找回自我，需要一点时间。我看着海浪迸若喷泉，而这样的时刻便降临了，身边的世界仿佛已经不存在了，深藏在无意识中的自我再次浮现，最近的所见所闻也都呈现在眼前，让我仔细去探索，慢慢的去体味。