愛智的人,時刻都保持著一個開放的心靈,
所以凡有「浮沙恐懼症」的人,亦難以愛智。
甚麼是「浮沙恐懼症」?
讀科學的人都明白,所有理論都是「暫時的」temporary,
隨時會被推翻;
說得不好聽的話,其實很多知識都是建築在「可能是浮沙」之上!
Our proud theories are but temporary resting places
of the mind on the unending road to knowledge.
( L. Rosenfeld )
Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated
minds—and fanatics. It is, for scientific folks,
an unattainable ideal.
( C. J. Keyser )
Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end,
when philosophic thought has done its best,
the wonder remains.
( Alfred North Whitehead, Modes of Thought, 1938 )
本來就沒有任何理論或者信念可以完全肯定,
所以性格上喜歡完全肯定的人,容易偏離真理。
Not to be absolutely certain is, I think,
one of the essential things in rationality.
( Bertrand Russell )
在探索真理的過程之中,犯錯難以避免,
今天的理論或者信念,經過實驗和批判之後,
取代了昨天的理論或者信念,是常見的現象。
If you shut your door to all errors
truth will be shut out.
( Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916 )
To make no mistakes is not in the power of man;
but from their errors and mistakes
the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.
( Plutarch )
愛智的人,絕對不會將自我和自己的思想掛鉤;
愛智的人,不怕以往的認知被動搖,不怕要重新開始思考,
因為他明白
True revolutions restore more than they destroy!
中國人叫這種情況做「破舊立新」!
To teach how to live without certainty,
and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation,
is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy,
in our age, can still do for those who study it.
( Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1945 )
沒有「浮沙恐懼症」的人,才可以擁有一個開放的心靈;
擁有開放的心靈才可以「破舊立新」。
Irrationally held truths may be more harmful
than reasoned errors.
( Thomas Henry Huxley )
閱讀,一定要用心,一定要謹慎,一定要批判,
這句英文中的 truths 代表個人「相信」的「真理」,
其實可能只不過是 beliefs 而已,甚至可能是 superstitions。
The criterion of truth is that it works
even if nobody is prepared to acknowledge it.
( Ludwig von Mises )
有「浮沙恐懼症」的人,除了難以愛智之外,
亦往往傾向於接受某些宗教信念,以求個人情緒「穩定」,
所以他們的口中常常會掛著「歸宿」這個詞彙!
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves…Do not
NOW seek the answers, which cannot be given to
you because you would not be able to live them…
The point is, to LIVE EVERYTHING.
( Rainer Maria Rilke )