《针对人类的阴谋：恐怖的诡计》救赎的异类

[ 经典 ]

作者：托马斯·利戈蒂（Thomas Ligotti）
译者：0suffering（注：译自英语原著The Conspiracy Against The Human Race: A Contrivance Of Horror）

Freaks of Salvation

救赎的异类

本章小节

Down-Going （沉沦） |

Down-Going

沉沦

点击展开/折叠英语原文

"Depressing" is the adjective that ordinary folk affix to the life-perspectives expressed by men such as Zapffe, Schopenhauer, and Lovecraft. The doctrines of world-class religions, dolorous as they may be, will never be thus defamed, because they are perceived to be "uplifting" by ordinary folk. Panglossian falsehoods convene the crowd; discouraging truths disperse it. The reason: It is depression not madness that cows us, demoralization not insanity that we dread, disillusionment of the mind not its derangement that imperils our culture of hope. An epidemic of depression would quiet those chattering voices in our heads, stopping life dead in its tracks. Providentially, we are endowed with enough manic enthusiasm to keep us plowing onward and making more of ourselves, bragging all the while about what billions of years of evolution have bidden every species to do anyway.

“沮丧”是普通人给像扎普夫、叔本华和洛夫克拉夫特这样的思想家所表达的人生观贴上的形容词。世界级宗教的教义再悲苦，也从未遭此诋毁，因为在普通人看来，它们是“振奋人心”的。庞格洛斯式的谎言¹能聚拢人群；令人气馁的真相则驱散他们。原因在于：让我们心生畏惧的不是疯狂，而是抑郁；让我们害怕的不是失去理智，而是意志消沉；威胁我们希望文化的并非心智的错乱，而是心智的幻灭。一场抑郁的流行足以让脑中喋喋不休的声音归于寂静，让生命停滞不前。幸运的是，我们天生拥有足够的亢奋与热情，驱使我们不断前行、不断扩张自己，并一路夸耀那些本就是数十亿年进化早已命定的一切。

点击展开/折叠英语原文

译者注：

庞格洛斯式的谎言（Panglossian falsehoods）：这里的 Panglossian 源自伏尔泰的讽刺小说《老实人》(Candide) 中的角色 Dr. Pangloss（庞格洛斯）。庞格洛斯是一个极端乐观主义者，他的口头禅是“这是最好的世界，一切都是最好的安排”（all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds）。因此，Panglossian falsehoods 指的并不是普通的谎话，而是带着天真或自我安慰性质的过度乐观的谎言——那些明明现实残酷，却仍声称“一切都是最好的”的说辞。 ↩