Lesson 3
Beauty Is Meaningless

Ayoung man sees a sunset and, unable to understand or to express the emotion it rouses in him, concludes that it must be the gateway to a world that lies beyond. It is difficult for any of us in moments of intense aesthetic experience to resist the suggestion that we are catching a glimpse of a light that shines down to us from a different realm of existence, different and, because the experience is intensely moving, in some way higher. And, though the gleams blind and dazzle, yet they do convey a hint of beauty and serenity greater than we have known or imagined. Greater too than we can describe, for language, which was invented to convey the meaning of this world, cannot readily be fitted to the uses of another.

That all great art has this power of suggesting a world beyond is undeniable. In some moods, Nature shares it. There is no sky in June so blue that it does not point forward to a bluer, no sunset so beautiful that it does not waken the vision of a greater beauty, a vision which passes before it is fully glimpsed, and in passing leaves an indefinable longing and regret. But, if this world is not merely a bad joke, life a vulgar flare amid the cool radiance of the stars, and existence an empty laugh braying across the mysteries, if these intimations of a something behind and beyond are not evil humour born of indigestion, or whimsies sent by the devil to mock and madden us, if, in a word, beauty means something, yet we must not seek to interpret the meaning. If we glimpse the unutterable, it is unwise to try to utter it, nor should we seek to invest with significance that which we cannot grasp. Beauty in terms of our human meanings is meaningless.

名人名言

To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other, who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. Almost I fear to think how glad I am.

美是难以言传的

年轻人看到日落，由于无法理解或表达心中激起的那种强烈感情，便断定日落处一定是通往遥远世界的大门。我们任何人在强烈感受美的（aesthetic）时刻都不禁联想到：我们似乎瞥见从一个不同世界射向我们的一线光芒，不仅不同，而且因为这种美具有强烈感染力，所以在某种程度上更高级。还有，尽管这光芒（gleams）使人眼花缭乱，但它确实传送了一种我们未曾经历的和无法想象的美和静谧的启示。这种美和静谧（serenity）是我们所不能描述的，因为人们创造语言的目的是表达我们这个世界的各种意义，无法轻易地运用于另一个世界。

不可否认(undeniable)，一切伟大的艺术都具有使人有超尘脱俗的浮想的力量。在某种状态下，大自然就具有这种魅力。六月的天空蓝得令人心醉，可是它总是暗示还有更蓝的天空；日落美得令人心醉，可是它总是暗示还有更美的景象，一个未被饱览就消失的、而且在消失的时候留给人们一种莫名的渴望和遗憾的景象。但是，如果这个世界不只是一场恶作剧的话，如果生命不只是惨淡的星光里的平凡的一闪（flare）的话，如果存在不只是神秘的宗教仪式传出的一阵空虚的笑声的话，如果对某种玄妙的事物的暗示不是由于消化不良而引起的不好情绪，或者不是一种魔鬼送来嘲笑（mock）我们并使我们发狂的怪念头的话，一句话，如果美有某种意义的话，我们千万不要设法去阐明它的意义。如果我们瞥见难以言传的东西，企图用语言把它表达出来是不明智的，我们也不应该设法给我们所不理解的事物赋予意义。从人生各种意义来看，美是难以言传的。

名人名言

说实话，能够看见大自然的成年人寥寥无几。大多数人其实并没有看见太阳。至少，他们那种视觉感受是非常肤浅的。太阳只照亮（illuminates）成年人的眼睛，但是它照进了孩子的眼睛和心灵。钟爱大自然的人内在的和外在的感官真正契合一致，直至成年依然保持着童稚之心。与天地交流（intercourse），是他每天不可或缺的精神滋养。置身大自然，一种狂喜渗透全身，不仅仅是太阳和夏日，每一个时辰，每一个变化，从无声的正午到可怖的（grimmest）子夜，都导致并契合着不同的心境。大自然就是一个大背景，上演喜剧或哀悼剧（mourning）一样合宜。踏着泥雪浆，走过平滑的广场，在光明与黑暗交合之际，伫立于云天之下，脑海中没有一丝祈盼好运突然降临的杂念，我欣欣然如入仙境。我几乎不敢想我是多么快乐。