Rightly defined
philosophy is simply the love of wisdom.
( Marcus Tullius Cicero )
哲學的定義告訴我們,
從事哲學的人需要追求智慧,需要對真理有熾熱的愛,
然而愛智的人不一定就能夠立即擁有智慧,
要想增添智慧,除了需要有冷靜的頭腦,
需要不斷努力,晝夜思想,不能夠懶惰之外,
還需要接受極其嚴謹的思考鍛煉,
所以愛智是人類一種綜合感情和心智的活動。
Following the thoughts of a great man
is an entertaining science.
( Alexander Pushkin )
We must form our minds by reading deep
rather than wide.
( Quintilian )
追求智慧,既是人類生命意義的其中一種選擇,
亦是人類文明發展精華之所在。
「哲學」讓我們明白,
☆ 「熱情和感性」只不過是一種能量,
如果沒有「冷靜和理性」的駕馭,能量就會被浪費,
甚至誤入歧途,輕微者只是產生偏好和偏見,
嚴重者會因為保護個人的面子而放棄理性,拒絕批判。
☆ 「冷靜和理性」只不過是一種工具,
如果沒有「熱情和感性」的驅策,往往會半途而廢。
換言之,追求真理,愛真理,愛智,需要能量來驅策,
如果「熱情和感性」是陽,「冷靜和理性」是陰,
那麼愛智一定是陰陽的調和,陽中有陰,陰中有陽。
應用「哲學」,當然會牽涉到「道德」的課題,
人類的高層次「道德」牽涉到同理心及對人類的愛,
既需要鍥而不捨的理性,也需要熱情和感性,
同樣需要陰陽的調和。
人類一旦出現「不同的道德判斷」,
必然是由於理性的高低參差,及情感的高貴抑或狹隘。
粗略地說,
西方十八世紀的啟蒙運動,偏向了「冷靜和理性」,
十九世紀的浪漫主義,偏向了「熱情和感性」,
當陰陽調和,融會貫通,就產生了「愛和智慧」。
再說清楚一點,愛和厭惡並不一定互相排斥,
歧視和尊重亦並不一定互相排斥,
如果不是憎恨和討厭「虛偽」hypocrisy,
人怎可能會重視「誠」honesty / sincerity?
不重視「誠」honesty 又怎能追求「真」truth?
如果不是對追求真理有熱忱 enthusiasm,
人又怎會願意刻苦地去思考和批判?
各位可發現這段文字之中,
有多少個和強烈感情有關的字眼嗎?
開始明白愛智是怎麼一回事嗎?
Ralph Waldo Emerson said that, “Nothing great
has ever been achieved without enthusiasm.”
The word enthusiasm comes from ancient Greek──
en and theos, meaning God. And the related word
enthousiazein means “to be possessed by a god.”
( Eckhart Tolle,
A new earth awakening to your life’s purpose, p.302 )
愛智 [對智慧的追求和探索] 就是哲學思考的動機,
而哲學思考,應該能夠達到培養智慧的功能。
愛智是「心靈 soul 」主持大局的徵象,
因為「誠」和「真」都是「心靈」的糧食。
人活著不是單靠食物,對不對?
而「假愛智」則是「我 ego 」主持大局的徵象。
由於沒有「心靈 soul 」的監管,
能量 (憎恨和討厭) 和工具 (冷靜和理性) 都可能誤入歧途!
「智慧」和「愛」是一個銅板的兩面,
追求「智慧」的人自然會同時追求「愛」。
如果哲學回復了「愛」的含義,
那麼能夠培育智慧,應用在生活之中的哲學,
能夠用最顯淺、清晰、正確的語言,用恰當的譬喻來表達,
讓大部份追求者都容易接近的哲學,才是有愛心的哲學!
有愛心的哲學不但是「愛智」,
更是培育全人類的「愛」和「智」!
所以一個愛智者的理性和情感,不會有衝突。
Where wisdom reigns, there is no conflict
between thinking and feeling.
( Carl Jung )
某些音樂最接近心靈中神聖的感覺,
所以最適合用來表達哲學追求者對「智慧」和「愛」的崇敬。
Ana Vidovic《Cavatina》
從這個角度來看,真正愛智的人,才是「哲學」的追求者。
Anything we love can become an addiction.
Philosophy is an addiction of the wise.
( Jason Ling )
哲學追求者不需要有文憑,不需要有學位,
只需要有一份對真理異常執著的精神,
而且要執著到認同真理比自己還重要的程度。
所以哲學追求者除了喜歡朝思夕想及任由思想自由馳騁,
對追求真理愛到發燒,廢寢忘食,晝夜思想,
不知人間何世,可以用「朝聞道,夕可死矣」來形容之外,
還會反思一切影響自己思考的因素。
佛教的「勇猛精進」應該和西方的「愛智」來自同一根源源
──來自人類追求理性及精神文明的內在驅策。
從宗教的角度來看,「愛智」即是「修行」!
而「修行」的好處,除了是看破生死,對死亡無所畏懼之外,
還可以讓資深或者好學的修行者在面對命運的起伏和挑戰時,
有足夠能力從容地應付。
Love has no age, no limit; and no death.
( John Galsworthy )
愛,本來就是一件悲喜交集的心靈元素!
因為無論是怎麼樣的愛,只要是來自心靈,
都容易令人受傷 vulnerable,即使這個愛和其他人無關。
由於修行艱苦困難,所以愛智一向是苦樂參半的事!
因為哲學思考的痛苦和歡悅,亦是手牽手而來。
智慧增長,是喜、是樂!
可以令人生充滿了生命的歡悅!
然而天下沒有白吃的午餐,智慧的增長,來自艱苦的耕耘,
獲得智慧的過程,是苦、是痛,
因為思考從來都是辛苦的,而嚴謹的思考令人更是加痛苦。
不經一番寒徹骨,焉得梅花撲鼻香?
The mind conceives with pain,
but brings forth with joy.
( Joubert, Pensees, 1842 )
Find a place inside where there’s joy,
and the joy will burn out the pain.
( Joseph Campbell )
I know you’re tired but come,
this is the way.
( Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi )
香艷的玫瑰怎可能沒有刺?它們必然相伴而來。
就好像禍和福必然相伴而來,煩惱可以促成菩提,
所以愛智肯定是苦樂參半,苦中作樂的事,
很多怕思考辛苦的人寧願愛「知識」和「姿色」!
但如果人類之中沒有部份人擁有心靈,
人性之中沒有愛智的基因,愛智如何能夠薪火相傳?
我們不能夠肯定所有人都有心靈,
所以亦不能夠肯定所有人都會愛智,
我們只能夠肯定愛智者有不同程度的愛智。
當極度愛智的人功夫達到了足夠程度的時候,
才有機會出現「剋期取證」的開悟。
When you want wisdom and insight
as badly as you want to breathe,
it is then you shall have it.
( Socrates )
Truth is so obscured nowadays and lies
so well established that unless we love
the truth we shall never recognize it.
( Blaise Pascal )
And the day came when the risk to
remain tight in a bud was more painful
than the risk it took to blossom.
( Anais Nin )
In the midst of winter, I found there was,
within me, an invincible summer. And that
makes me happy. For it says that no matter
how hard the world pushes against me,
within me, there’s something stronger──
something better, pushing right back.
( Albert Camus )
Elvis Presley
I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You
人活著不是單靠食物,而是要追求「道/真理/智慧」,
因為智慧可以帶往下一生,可以累世累積。
修行者一旦愛上追求「道/真理/智慧」,
就會放棄許多和追求「道/真理/智慧」無關的東西,
例如在物質方面變得很知足,只要能夠不需要行乞,
就已經心滿意足;
然而在追求智慧方面卻會非常貪婪,
因為明白器小盈,所以智慧的容器必須要大,
足以裝載及累積更多的智慧,
所以愛智者不但會得隴望蜀,得寸進尺,鍥而不捨,
而且會對智慧情深似海,每天愛你多一些,
對智慧的愛是「苟日新,日日新,又日新」。
所以愛智是一種刻骨銘心的愛,是一種生活,
愛智成為了一種「信仰」faith!
一旦有了足夠的智慧,就能夠「福慧雙修」。
所以愛智的人,一定與困難抱擁,和思考挑戰接吻。
It is only because of problems that
we grow mentally and spiritually.
( M. Scott Peck )
Therefore difficulties and times of stress
may also be times for growth.
所有喜歡哲學思考的人都明白:
曾經滄海難為水,除卻巫山不是雲。
衣帶漸寬終不悔,為伊消得人憔悴!
追求智慧並非進入錢鍾書的「圍城」,
因為在城裡的人樂不思蜀,希望更多城外的人衝進來。
Alex Gendler
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
問題是,如果年青人欠缺了哲學思考的訓練,
當其中部份還有殘餘心靈的人一旦「人到中年」時,
他們將如何解決內心的「空虛感」emptiness?
這一些大半生並沒有選擇行走在心靈道路上的人﹐
他們活著,可以單靠食物嗎?
可以單靠吃喝玩樂嗎?可以單靠男女之間的愛情嗎?
Sometimes we feel empty; we feel a vacuum,
a great lack of something. We don’t know the cause;
it’s very vague, but that feeling of being empty inside
is very strong. We expect and hope for something
much better so we’ll feel less alone, less empty. The
desire to understand ourselves and to understand
life is a deep thirst. There’s also the deep thirst to
be loved and to love. We are ready to love and be
loved. It’s very natural. But because we feel empty,
we try to find an object of our love. Sometimes we
haven’t had the time to understand ourselves, yet
we’ve already found the object of our love. When
we realize that all our hopes and expectations of
course can’t be fulfilled by that person, we continue
to feel empty. You want to find something, but you
don’t know what to search for. In everyone there’s
a continuous desire and expectation; deep inside,
you still expect something better to happen. That
is why you check your email many times a day!
( Thich Nhat Hanh )
The insistent feeling that something is not right
with our lives and the longing to be restored to
our better selves will not go away. Our fears of
death and being alone, our confusion about love
and sex, and our sense of impotence in the face
of our anger and outsized ambitions bring us
to ask our first sincere philosophical questions.
( Sharon Lebell )
When the soul cries out, it is a sign that we have
arrived at a necessary, mature stage of self-reflection.
The secret is not to get stuck there dithering or
wringing your hands, but to move forward by
resolving to heal yourself. Philosophy asks us to
move into courage. Its remedy is the unblinking
excavation of the faulty and specious premises on
which we base our lives and our personal identity.
( Sharon Lebell )
Philosophy’s purpose is to illuminate the ways
our soul has been infected by unsound beliefs,
untrained tumultuous desires, and dubious life
choices and preferences that are unworthy of us.
( Sharon Lebell )
Sharon Lebell
The Art of Living :
The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness,
and Effectiveness, 1995