瓦爾登湖的“朝圣”之旅

《瓦爾登湖》是美國作家梭羅的一本著名散文集。書中細致描述了梭羅兩年多來隱居瓦爾登湖畔，感知自然、重塑自我的奇異歷程?！癝implicity， simplicity， simplicity！”是書中的一個名句，在多年后依然閃著哲理的靈光，啟發(fā)著世界各地的讀者。每個時代的人或許都如出一轍地為金錢、為名利奔波勞碌、憂心忡忡。大家長嗟短嘆，困惑于人生的意義到底是什么，殊不知，在大自然中，快樂的真理隨處可見。有時候，我們需要的可能僅僅是一場心靈的“朝圣”，去發(fā)現(xiàn)歡樂，發(fā)現(xiàn)美，發(fā)現(xiàn)一個澄明、恬美、素雅的世界。

Six years ago I found myself in a bad place. I was trapped in a 1）grueling daily commute from our 2）smallholding in the Scottish borders to my soul-sapping office job in Edinburgh. Each day I left early in the morning while my family slept， and returned with barely enough time to say goodnight to our two little boys before putting them to bed. We loved our home but could not afford it， and so I resigned myself to the 3）half-life of the commuter. Eight hours a day were spent sitting at my desk， with three more in my car.

I was chasing money， in hopes of buying space and time and a chance of happiness. The reality， however， was debt， mind-numbing jobs and little time to truly invest in our family and our lives. Something had to be done to shuck us out of it all， and I began to turn the hours in the car to my advantage， using the time to develop a plan of escape； to leave my job and journey into the wilderness.

Making it happen wasn’t so easy， however， starting with telling my friends and family. Not surprisingly， their response was less than 4）enthusiastic. Some assumed that I had finally succumbed to the stress of commuting and was having some kind of mental breakdown； others were angry， thinking I was shirking my responsibility. My wife， however， understood from the start.

Juliet also felt trapped by our situation. No amount of money was worth it， we agreed， and we made a deal： I would somehow find a way to build my cabin in the wilderness where I would live for one year alone. Taking the family wasn’t an option， as the children were too young and the dangers too many. Juliet would realise her own dream， however， and return with the boys to the Isle of Mull， where she was born.

Over time our plan took shape， and I finally found myself in the interior of Alaska， 300 miles from the nearest road. For the first few months I lived in a canvas tent with just my dog for company and laboured ceaselessly to build my 16ft x 16ft cabin before winter set in. I finished just in time： the temperature sank to -50C and pretty soon I was struggling with 12ft of snow and half an hour’s daylight each day. Only after I had nearly starved to death did I eventually 5）get the hang of it. I lived off 6）beaver meat and travelled by dog team， finally achieving the way of life that I had dreamed of.

In the rare moments when I wasn’t engaged in the arduous business of staying alive in the wilderness， I read. Among the sacred collection of books in my cabin， I had the complete works of Shakespeare， the scripts of Woody Allen and， of course， my much-thumbed copy of Walden. It kept me going when times were tough， and I have often turned to it in the years since my return as a “spiritual 7）barometer”， to make sure I am not straying too far from my chosen path.

Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Walden Pond， the lake that gave Thoreau’s book its title， near the small town of Concord， Massachusetts. He wrote beautifully about Walden Pond， with detailed descriptions of its oak and pine surroundings and the quality of the water itself. Clearly the place had inspired him， and his book in turn had inspired many others， including me.

I had long felt that I’d like to make a pilgrimage to Walden Pond， as a kind of homage to the man whose ideas helped turn my life around. It was risky though， since the world has changed immeasurably since Thoreau lived there in the 1840s， and I was in danger of shattering the vision I’d long held in my mind. Nevertheless， a week ago， I arrived at Boston airport， bearing my copy of Walden.

Quickly climbing into my rental car， I hadn’t had time to buy a map and so rather sheepishly 8）consented to use the satellite navigation system. With a sinking heart， I typed “Walden Pond” onto the screen， imagining what Thoreau would have thought of such a device.

The weather was cold enough to justify my beaver hat， so I pulled it out and， with a sense of history， stuffed my sacred kettle into my bag， hoping to brew some tea at a suitable spot. And when I reached the lake I found it even more 9）ravishing than I had imagined. I remembered Thoreau’s metaphor of a lake as“Earth’s eye”， and its surrounding trees as the“eyelashes which fringe it”.

I walked slowly along the path towards a small inlet which my visitor’s map marked as the location of Thoreau’s cabin. Pretty soon I reached the sacred spot， and walked very slowly up to the cabin-site， which was marked in a fittingly 10）unadorned manner.

I heard a train hoot， and turned to see a 11）locomotive pulling a row of silvery carriages along the railway that skirted the south-west corner of the pond. Thoreau， too， had listened to the train as it passed， and I stood very still for a while， overcome by a sense of the past. Time has changed—on the surface， everything is speeding up， yet the essential slow forces are still there， like a deep， steady current beneath the surface of a choppy sea.

I wanted to see more， and made my way towards it， enjoying the sight of bone-dry oak leaves landing 12）daintily on the blue-green water. I noticed a fish jump into the air， and looked over to see rings widening across a stretch of shimmering water that began as a cloud slipped past the sun. I reached up and pulled some green needles from a pine tree and crushed them between my fingers， catching their clean scent on my skin. “Every little pine needle expanded and swelled with sympathy and befriended me，” Thoreau had written， and here I was， for all I knew beneath that very same tree. Again， I felt a sense of continuity， of lives crossing over， and I felt restored. True， the place was nothing like the personal image that I had held for so long. But the lake and the trees remain 13）unaltered， and there is still space to get a feel for what so inspired Thoreau.

As I drove back to Boston that night I thought of what Thoreau would have made of the modern world. In these unhappy times， with the world searching its pockets for every last scrap of currency， maybe it would pay to go back to basics， to make spiritual withdrawals from nature rather than the 14）cashpoint machine. Most of us don’t have a trust fund and so will never have enough money in the bank. Yet there is such wealth outdoors and it is everywhere； from an 15）allotment to the wide， open ocean， all can 16）replenish our spiritual banks. When the cold dreary numbers start to let us down， and all the smart-arse analysts start eating their words， it pays to remember that wherever there is a natural place there is a chance to find happiness， serenity and truth.

六年前，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己身陷糟糕的境地。每天疲憊不堪地通勤往返，在我們位于蘇格蘭邊境的小農場與位于愛丁堡的磨人心志的辦公室工作之間奔波。每天，當家人還在睡夢之中，我就早早出門；歸家時，僅僅來得及在兩個年幼的兒子上床睡覺前跟他們道晚安。我們愛這個家，卻買不起這房子，因此，我只能屈從于通勤奔忙，活得不成個樣子。一天八小時，我坐在辦公桌旁，另外有三小時坐在自己的車上。

我一直追逐金錢，希望買來空間、時間和一個獲得快樂的機會。然而，現(xiàn)實是：債務、令人頭腦發(fā)麻的工作以及微量真正投資于家庭和人生的時間。我們必需做一些事情來脫離這種困境。我開始將花在車上的幾個小時化為優(yōu)勢，利用這些時間構思一個出逃計劃；逃離我的工作，走進荒野，展開一段旅程。

不過，一開始跟家人和朋友說起時，計劃的實施并沒那么容易。不出所料，他們的反應并不熱烈。有些人設想我是最后抵御不過通勤的壓力，患上了某種精神疾?。黄渌藙t很氣憤，認為我想逃避自己的責任。然而，我的妻子卻從一開始就表示理解。

朱麗葉也為我們的現(xiàn)況感到困擾。我們都認同，這個計劃的價值非金錢所能比擬，同時我們達成一個共識：我會找個辦法在荒野里建一間小屋子，獨自生活一年。帶上家人并不明智，因為孩子們還太小，而危險卻太多。朱麗葉會追尋自己的夢想，帶上兒子回到冒爾島，她的出生地。

一段時間后，我們的計劃開始像模像樣了，我最終發(fā)現(xiàn)自己置身于阿拉斯加的內陸，離最近的公路有300英里遠。在最初的幾個月里，我與我的狗作伴，住在一頂帆布帳篷里，并且馬不停蹄地趕在冬天到來前，建好我那間16英尺×16英尺大的小木屋。我完工得很及時：氣溫降到了零下50攝氏度，很快我就掙扎于12英尺厚的大雪中，并且一天只有半個小時的日光。就在我經歷過幾乎餓死之后，我才最終學會了求生竅門。我以海貍肉為生，以狗群拉車出行，最終實現(xiàn)了我一直夢寐以求的生活方式。

除了投身于累人的野外生存事務之外，在那些罕有的閑暇里，我會看書。在我的小木屋里，有一些珍藏圖書，有莎士比亞全集、伍迪·艾倫的劇本，當然，還有我快翻爛了的《瓦爾登湖》。這書讓我在艱難困苦時繼續(xù)前行，也是我從荒野回歸后這些年的一大 “心靈標桿”，我經常翻閱，以確保自己不會偏離自己所選的道路太遠。

不久前，我有機會到瓦爾登湖旅行——就是梭羅的名著那點題之地，坐落在馬薩諸塞州小鎮(zhèn)康科德附近。梭羅優(yōu)美地描寫了瓦爾登湖，詳細地描述了由橡樹和松樹環(huán)繞的四周以及湖水自身的靜謐。很明顯，這個地方啟發(fā)了他，而他的書也啟發(fā)了其他許多人，包括我。

很長時間以來，我覺得自己應該去瓦爾登湖作一次朝圣之旅，以此來向這位以思想改變我人生的男子致敬。不過，這是件危險的事，因為梭羅在那里生活的時間是19世紀40年代，而如今這個世界已經發(fā)生了不可估量的變化，我很擔心這會將我長期埋藏于腦海中的美好景象撕個粉碎。盡管如此，一周前，我還是到達了波士頓機場，懷里揣著我的《瓦爾登湖》一書。

我急匆匆地爬進租來的小車，我沒時間買地圖，所以只好慚愧地用起衛(wèi)星導航系統(tǒng)。不無沮喪地，我在屏幕上輸入“瓦爾登湖”，想象著梭羅會對這個儀器抱有怎樣的看法。

天很冷，戴上海貍帽也不過分，所以我把它找了出來。帶著一份歷史感，我還把那個神圣的水壺塞進包里，希望能在一個合適的地方煮點茶。當我到達瓦爾登湖時，我發(fā)現(xiàn)它比我想象的更引人入勝。我記得梭羅曾把這湖比喻成“地球之眼”，把四周的樹木喻為“圍繞眼睛的睫毛”。

我慢慢地沿著小路走向一個小入口，在我的訪客地圖上，那里標注的是梭羅那間小木屋的所在地。很快，我就到達了那個神圣的地點，我以極慢的速度走到小屋的遺址，那里以一種恰到好處又樸實無華的方式被標示了出來。

我聽到了一聲火車的鳴笛聲，轉身看到一個火車頭拖著一列銀色的車廂沿著圍繞瓦爾登湖西南角的鐵路駛過。梭羅也曾聽過火車駛過的聲音，我靜靜地站了一會兒，為一種往昔感所折服。時代變遷——表面上，所有事物都在飛速發(fā)展，然而那種實質性的緩慢推動力依然存在，如同一股深沉、穩(wěn)厚的涌流潛藏于一片怒海之下。

我希望看得更多，于是向瓦爾登湖走去，去欣賞干枯的橡樹葉優(yōu)美地墜落到青綠色的湖水上的美景。我見到魚躍半空，水波暈開，泛著金光的湖水前一秒還映著流云過日的景象。我伸出手，從一棵松樹上扯下一些綠色的松針，在指間將其碾壓，捕捉它們在我皮膚上留下的純凈香氣?！懊恳恢⌒∷舍樁几挥型樾牡孛洿笃饋?，成了我的朋友?！彼罅_寫道，而我正置身其中，據(jù)我所知，我就身處同一棵松樹之下。再一次，我感到一種延續(xù)感，那是一種生命的交錯，我覺得重獲生機。確實，這地方與我長久以來所設想的個人印象毫無相似之處，但這個湖與周圍的樹依然不曾改變，依舊有空間讓人獲得一份曾經啟發(fā)過梭羅的感受。

在我驅車回到波士頓的那晚，我在想梭羅會怎樣理解這個現(xiàn)代世界。在這些不快樂的時代里，整個世界都在搜刮口袋里的最后一張鈔票——回到基本所需，從自然而不是提款機里尋求精神回歸，可能這樣做更具價值。我們中的大多數(shù)人都沒有一份信托基金，因此永遠不會有足夠的錢存在銀行。然而，在野外，卻有著這等財富，隨處可見；從一片湖水到廣袤開闊的海洋，所有的一切都能充實我們的精神銀行。當那些冰冷沉悶的數(shù)字開始讓我們沉淪，當所有自命不凡的分析師開始食言，記住這一點很是劃算：只要是有自然景致的地方，就有機會去發(fā)現(xiàn)快樂、寧靜和真理。