The bizarre science of enlightenment · Big Think
探索觉悟的科学本质，了解如何在日常生活中实践觉悟行为。适合练习理解、思维和自我认知。
- Enlightenment is often held out as a thing that we can get.
- 启蒙常被视为我们能够获得的东西。
Sometimes people feel like, well, if I just have those experiences, then I'm enlightened.
有时候人们会想：只要我经历了那些事情，我就算是开悟了。
But nobody lives in a kind of unusual, altered state all the time.
但是，没有人会一直处于那种非正常、被改变的状态中。
That, in fact, we move in and out of states of being more awakened or less awakened.
事实上，我们会在不同的“觉醒状态”（即意识清醒或模糊的程度）之间来回转换。
- These are not experiences that are happening only to the Mother Teresa's of the world and the Buddha's of the world.
这些经历并非只发生在那些像特蕾莎修女或佛陀那样具有崇高精神的人身上。
These are experiences that are happening to everyone.
这些都是每个人都会经历的事情。
And when we start to think about
当我们开始思考的时候……
the brain, we can look at the areas of the brain that help us to determine which things in our lives are particularly important,
我们可以研究大脑中那些帮助我们判断生活中哪些事物特别重要的区域。
are particularly intense to us.
这些经历对我们来说尤其难以忘怀（或：这些情感对我们来说尤其强烈）。
- A lot of people think that somehow gaining knowledge about the world and how the world works detracts from its beauty.
很多人认为，了解世界及其运作方式会削弱世界的美丽。
Quite the opposite.
恰恰相反。
The more we understand, the more we can appreciate, the more we can find wonder and awe.
我们理解得越多，就越能体会到事物的美好之处；也就越能感受到其中的奇妙与震撼。
- We try to divide it into two basic ideas about enlightenment and one is what I usually refer to as the “small e” enlightenment experiences.
我们试图将关于“觉悟”的概念分为两个基本方面：其中一个方面就是我通常所说的那些属于“小e”（即较为普通、日常性的）觉悟体验。
And these are the kinds of experiences
这些就是我们所经历的各种事情。
that people have- kind of the sudden epiphany about how to resolve some issue you been working on for a long time,
有时候人们会突然意识到如何解决某个长期困扰他们的问题。
and you suddenly figure it out and you kind of understand things in a different way for the first time.
突然间，你明白了其中的道理，也开始以一种全新的方式去理解那些事物。
But that's the “little e” experience, and the “big E” experiences are usually those experiences that are kind of are life changing.
不过，那些只是属于“小e”（即日常、平凡的）体验；而属于“大E”（即重大、具有深远影响的）体验，往往才是真正能够改变人生的经历。
They’re mind blowing.
它们简直令人惊叹不已。
They change everything about the way you think about the world, about life, about death, about spirituality.
它们彻底改变了你对世界、对生命、对死亡以及對灵性的认知方式。
It changes everything about who you are.
这会彻底改变你作为一个人的本质。
This usually occurs within an area of our brain called the limbic system, particularly areas such as the amygdala and the hippocampus,
这种情况通常发生在我们大脑中的“边缘系统”（limbic system）中，尤其是杏仁核（amygdala）和海马体（hippocampus）等部位。
which light up, they go crazy when something really important happens in our life.
当生活中发生一些真正重要的事情时，这些事物（或现象）就会“亮起来”（变得格外显眼或引人注目），而人们也会因此变得兴奋不已（或“疯狂”）。
Another core element of these experiences, for example, is a feeling of unity, connectedness, oneness.
这些体验的另一个核心要素是人们所感受到的一种团结、紧密相连以及一体感。
There's an area of our brain, a parietal lobe, which is in the back of our brain.
我们大脑中有一个区域，叫做顶叶（parietal lobe），它位于大脑的后部。
And this normally takes all of our sensory information and helps us to reconstruct a sense of our self,
通常情况下，这一过程会利用我们所有的感官信息，帮助我们重新构建对自我的认知。
and how that self relates to the world in some kind of spatial way.
以及这个“自我”如何以某种空间性的方式与世界发生关联。
What we've found that this area of the brain in particular, starts to quiet down when people have these profound experiences of oneness or unity.
我们发现，当人们经历那种深刻的一体感或团结感时，大脑的这一区域会开始变得活跃度降低（即功能变得相对平静）。
And this makes a lot of sense.
这确实非常合理。
If it's trying to create your sense of self and your sense of space, if it starts to shut down,
如果某个系统或机制正在帮助你形成自我认知和空间感知能力，而它却开始失效（或停止运作），……
well, you lose your sense of self, you lose your sense of space.
嗯，你会失去自我意识，也会失去对空间方位的感知能力。
And I suppose ultimately one of the
我想，归根结底，这其中的一个原因（或因素）应该是……
most important aspects of the enlightenment experience is its permanence, is that it rearranges the way our brain works for the rest of our lives.
启蒙运动最重要的特征在于其影响的持久性——它改变了我们大脑的运作方式，这种改变会伴随我们的一生。
And one of the key areas that seems to be involved in that is a very central structure called the thalamus.
其中一个似乎与此过程密切相关的关键区域，是一个位于大脑中央的结构——丘脑（thalamus）。
Some people think that the thalamus is actually the seed of consciousness.
有些人认为，丘脑实际上就是意识的起源（或者说，是构成意识的基础结构）。
Well, this is an area that seems to be dramatically changed by these kinds of practices and experiences.
嗯，这个领域似乎确实因为这类实践和经历而发生了巨大的变化。
So if you think about it, if the thalamus is changed, it's really changing a person's overall perceptions of reality.
仔细想想的话，如果丘脑发生了变化，那实际上就改变了一个人对现实的整体认知。
The way they think about reality, the way they sense reality, and ultimately the way their brain interacts with that reality.
他们看待现实的方式、感知现实的方式，以及最终他们的大脑与现实之间的互动方式。
- There's this notion that somehow scientists
有一种观点认为，科学家们在某种程度上……
have this sterile, clinical, logical, rational view of the world that leaves no room for mystery and awe and magic and wonder.
对世界持有这种冷漠、客观、理性、逻辑至上的看法；这种看法完全排除了神秘感、敬畏之情、魔法以及一切令人惊叹的事物。
On the contrary, everything I learn about how the world is tells me it's full of magic and wonder.
恰恰相反，我所了解到的关于这个世界的种种知识都告诉我：这个世界充满了神奇与奇妙之处。