×

我们使用cookies帮助改善LingQ。通过浏览本网站,表示你同意我们的 cookie 政策.


image

Assorted YouTube videos, The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You

The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You

Before dying at the age of 39, Blaise Pascal made huge contributions to both physics and

mathematics, notably in fluids, geometry, and probability.

This work, however, would influence more than just the realm of the natural sciences. Many

fields that we now classify under the heading of social science did, in fact, also grow

out of the foundation he helped lay. Interestingly enough, much of this was done

in his teen years, with some of it coming in his twenties. As an adult, inspired by

a religious experience, he actually started to move towards philosophy and theology.

Right before his death, he was hashing out fragments of private thoughts that would later

be released as a collection by the name of Pensées.

While the book is mostly a mathematician's case for choosing a life of faith and belief,

the more curious thing about it is its clear and lucid ruminations on what it means to

be human. It's a blueprint of our psychology long before psychology was deemed a formal

discipline. There is enough thought-provoking material

in it to quote, and it attacks human nature from a variety of different angles, but one

of its most famous thoughts aptly sums up the core of his argument:

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room

alone.” According to Pascal, we fear the silence of

existence, we dread boredom and instead choose aimless distraction, and we can't help but

run from the problems of our emotions into the false comforts of the mind.

The issue at the root, essentially, is that we never learn the art of solitude.

Today, more than ever, Pascal's message rings true. If there is one word to describe

the progress made in the last 100 years, it's connectedness.

Information technologies have dominated our cultural direction. From the telephone to

the radio to the TV to the internet, we have found ways to bring us all closer together,

enabling constant worldly access. I can sit in my office in Canada and transport

myself to practically anywhere I want through Skype. I can be on the other side of the world

and still know what is going on at home with a quick browse.

I don't think I need to highlight the benefits of all this. But the downsides are also beginning

to show. Beyond the current talk about privacy and data collection, there is perhaps an even

more detrimental side-effect here. We now live in a world where we're connected

to everything except ourselves. If Pascal's observation about our inability

to sit quietly in a room by ourselves is true of the human condition in general, then the

issue has certainly been augmented by an order of magnitude due to the options available

today. The logic is, of course, seductive. Why be

alone when you never have to? Well, the answer is that never being alone

is not the same thing as never feeling alone. Worse yet, the less comfortable you are with

solitude, the more likely it is that you won't know yourself. And then, you'll spend even

more time avoiding it to focus elsewhere. In the process, you'll become addicted to

the same technologies that were meant to set you free.

Just because we can use the noise of the world to block out the discomfort of dealing with

ourselves doesn't mean that this discomfort goes away.

Almost everybody thinks of themselves as self-aware. They think they know how they feel and what

they want and what their problems are. But the truth is that very few people really do.

And those that do will be the first to tell how fickle self-awareness is and how much

alone time it takes to get there. In today's world, people can go their whole

lives without truly digging beyond the surface-level masks they wear; in fact, many do.

We are increasingly out of touch with who we are, and that's a problem.

If we take it back to the fundamentals — and this is something Pascal touches on, too — our

aversion to solitude is really an aversion to boredom.

At its core, it's not necessarily that we are addicted to a TV set because there is

something uniquely satisfying about it, just like we are not addicted to most stimulants

because the benefits outweigh the downsides. Rather, what we are really addicted to is

a state of not-being-bored. Almost anything else that controls our life

in an unhealthy way finds its root in our realization that we dread the nothingness

of nothing. We can't imagine just being rather than doing. And therefore, we look

for entertainment, we seek company, and if those fail, we chase even higher highs.

We ignore the fact that never facing this nothingness is the same as never facing ourselves.

And never facing ourselves is why we feel lonely and anxious in spite of being so intimately

connected to everything else around us. Fortunately, there is a solution. The only

way to avoid being ruined by this fear — like any fear — is to face it. It's to

let the boredom take you where it wants so you can deal with whatever it is that is really

going on with your sense of self. That's when you'll hear yourself think, and that's

when you'll learn to engage the parts of you that are masked by distraction.

The beauty of this is that, once you cross that initial barrier, you realize that being

alone isn't so bad. Boredom can provide its own stimulation.

When you surround yourself with moments of solitude and stillness, you become intimately

familiar with your environment in a way that forced stimulation doesn't allow. The world

becomes richer, the layers start to peel back, and you see things for what they really are,

in all their wholeness, in all their contradictions, and in all their unfamiliarity.

You learn that there are other things you are capable of paying attention to than just

what makes the most noise on the surface. Just because a quiet room doesn't scream

with excitement like the idea of immersing yourself in a movie or a TV show doesn't

mean that there isn't depth to explore there. Sometimes, the direction that this solitude

leads you in can be unpleasant, especially when it comes to introspection — your

thoughts and your feelings, your doubts and your hopes — but in the long-term, it's

far more pleasant than running away from it all without even realizing that you are.

Embracing boredom allows you to discover novelty in things you didn't know were novel; it's

like being an unconditioned child seeing the world for the first time. It also resolves

the majority of internal conflicts.

The more the world advances, the more stimulation it will provide as an incentive for us to

get outside of our own mind to engage with it.

While Pascal's generalization that a lack of comfort with solitude is the root of all

our problems may be an exaggeration, it isn't an entirely unmerited one.

Everything that has done so much to connect us has simultaneously isolated us. We are

so busy being distracted that we are forgetting to tend to ourselves, which is consequently

making us feel more and more alone. Interestingly, the main culprit isn't our

obsession with any particular worldly stimulation. It's the fear of nothingness — our

addiction to a state of not-being-bored. We have an instinctive aversion to simply being.

Without realizing the value of solitude, we are overlooking the fact that, once the fear

of boredom is faced, it can actually provide its own stimulation. And the only way to face

it is to make time, whether every day or every week, to just sit — with our thoughts,

our feelings, with a moment of stillness. The oldest philosophical wisdom in the world

has one piece of advice for us: know yourself. And there is a good reason why that is.

Without knowing ourselves, it's almost impossible to find a healthy way to interact with the

world around us. Without taking time to figure it out, we don't have a foundation to built

the rest of our lives on. Being alone and connecting inwardly is a skill

nobody ever teaches us. That's ironic because it's more important than most of the ones

they do. Solitude may not be the solution to everything,

but it certainly is a start.


The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You Die wichtigste Fähigkeit, die Ihnen niemand beigebracht hat La habilidad más importante que nadie te enseñó La compétence la plus importante que personne ne vous a apprise 誰も教えてくれなかった最も重要なスキル A habilidade mais importante que ninguém te ensinou Самый важный навык, которому вас никто не научил Kimsenin Size Öğretmediği En Önemli Beceri Найважливіша навичка, якої вас ніхто не навчив 没人教你的最重要的技能

Before dying at the age of 39, Blaise Pascal made huge contributions to both physics and Antes de morir a los 39 años, Blaise Pascal. hecho enormes contribuciones a la física y

mathematics, notably in fluids, geometry, and probability. Matemáticas, notablemente en fluidos, geometría, y probabilidad. математика, особенно жидкости, геометрия и вероятность. 數學,特別是在流體、幾何和概率方面。

This work, however, would influence more than just the realm of the natural sciences. Many Este trabajo, sin embargo, influiría más que Solo el reino de las ciencias naturales. Muchos 然而,這項工作的影響不僅僅局限於自然科學領域。許多

fields that we now classify under the heading of social science did, in fact, also grow Campos que ahora clasificamos bajo el encabezado. De las ciencias sociales, de hecho, también creció. 事實上,我們現在歸類為社會科學的領域確實也在增長

out of the foundation he helped lay. Interestingly enough, much of this was done de la fundación ayudó a poner. Curiosamente, mucho de esto fue hecho 他幫助奠定了基礎。有趣的是,其中大部分已經完成

in his teen years, with some of it coming in his twenties. As an adult, inspired by en su adolescencia, con algo de eso por venir En sus veinte. De adulto, inspirado en

a religious experience, he actually started to move towards philosophy and theology. una experiencia religiosa, en realidad comenzó Para avanzar hacia la filosofía y la teología.

Right before his death, he was hashing out fragments of private thoughts that would later Justo antes de su muerte, él estaba saliendo. Fragmentos de pensamientos privados que luego 就在他死前,他正在整理一些後來會被遺忘的私人想法

be released as a collection by the name of Pensées. Ser lanzado como una colección con el nombre de Pensées. 以 Pensées 的名義作為合集發行。

While the book is mostly a mathematician's case for choosing a life of faith and belief, Si bien el libro es en su mayoría matemático caso para elegir una vida de fe y creencia, 雖然這本書主要是一位數學家選擇信仰和信仰生活的案例,

the more curious thing about it is its clear and lucid ruminations on what it means to Lo más curioso de esto es su claridad. y reflexiones lúcidas sobre lo que significa 更令人好奇的是它對它意味著什麼的清晰而清晰的反省

be human. It's a blueprint of our psychology long before psychology was deemed a formal Se humano. Es un plano de nuestra psicología. Mucho antes de que la psicología fuera considerada formal 做人。早在心理學被認為是正式的之前,它就是我們心理學的藍圖

discipline. There is enough thought-provoking material disciplina. Hay suficiente material de reflexión 紀律。有足夠的發人深省的材料

in it to quote, and it attacks human nature from a variety of different angles, but one en ella citar, y ataca la naturaleza humana. desde una variedad de ángulos diferentes, pero uno

of its most famous thoughts aptly sums up the core of his argument: de sus pensamientos más famosos resume acertadamente el núcleo de su argumento: 其中最著名的思想恰當地總結了他論點的核心:

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room "Todos los problemas de la humanidad provienen de la incapacidad del hombre para sentarse tranquilamente en una habitación 「人類のすべての問題は、人間が部屋に静かに座ることができないことに起因している “人類所有的問題都源於人無法安靜地坐在房間裡

alone.” According to Pascal, we fear the silence of solo." Según Pascal, tememos el silencio de

existence, we dread boredom and instead choose aimless distraction, and we can't help but existencia, tememos el aburrimiento y en su lugar elegimos distracción sin rumbo, y no podemos evitar pero 存在,我們害怕無聊反而選擇漫無目的的分心,我們情不自禁

run from the problems of our emotions into the false comforts of the mind. correr de los problemas de nuestras emociones en Las falsas comodidades de la mente. 逃避我們情緒的問題,進入心靈的虛假安慰。

The issue at the root, essentially, is that we never learn the art of solitude. El problema en la raíz, esencialmente, es que Nunca aprendemos el arte de la soledad. 從根本上說,問題的根本在於我們永遠學不會獨處的藝術。

Today, more than ever, Pascal's message rings true. If there is one word to describe Hoy, más que nunca, el mensaje de Pascal. suena verdadero Si hay una palabra para describir 今天,Pascal 的信息比以往任何時候都更加真實。如果有一個詞可以形容

the progress made in the last 100 years, it's connectedness. El progreso realizado en los últimos 100 años, es conectividad 過去 100 年取得的進步,就是連通性。

Information technologies have dominated our cultural direction. From the telephone to Las tecnologías de la información han dominado nuestra Dirección cultural. Desde el telefono hasta

the radio to the TV to the internet, we have found ways to bring us all closer together, La radio a la televisión a internet, tenemos encontrado maneras de acercarnos a todos,

enabling constant worldly access. I can sit in my office in Canada and transport permitiendo el acceso mundano constante. Puedo sentarme en mi oficina en Canadá y transportarme. 實現持續的世俗訪問。我可以坐在我在加拿大的辦公室裡運輸

myself to practically anywhere I want through Skype. I can be on the other side of the world Yo mismo a prácticamente cualquier lugar que quiera a través Skype. Puedo estar al otro lado del mundo

and still know what is going on at home with a quick browse. y todavía sé lo que está pasando en casa con un vistazo rápido.

I don't think I need to highlight the benefits of all this. But the downsides are also beginning No creo que tenga que destacar los beneficios. de todo esto Pero las desventajas también están comenzando. 我認為我不需要強調這一切的好處。但缺點也開始了

to show. Beyond the current talk about privacy and data collection, there is perhaps an even mostrar. Más allá de la actual charla sobre privacidad. y la recopilación de datos, tal vez hay una incluso 以顯示。除了目前關於隱私和數據收集的討論之外,甚至還有可能

more detrimental side-effect here. We now live in a world where we're connected Un efecto secundario más perjudicial aquí. Ahora vivimos en un mundo donde estamos conectados. 更有害的副作用在這裡。我們現在生活在一個相互聯繫的世界

to everything except ourselves. If Pascal's observation about our inability a todo menos a nosotros mismos. Si la observación de Pascal sobre nuestra incapacidad. 除了我們自己。如果帕斯卡對我們無能的觀察

to sit quietly in a room by ourselves is true of the human condition in general, then the Sentarse tranquilamente en una habitación por nosotros mismos es verdad. de la condición humana en general, entonces la 一個人靜靜地坐在房間裡是一般人的真實處境,那麼

issue has certainly been augmented by an order of magnitude due to the options available El problema ha sido aumentado por un pedido. de magnitud debido a las opciones disponibles. 由於可用的選項,問題肯定增加了一個數量級

today. The logic is, of course, seductive. Why be hoy. La lógica es, por supuesto, seductora. Porqué ser 今天。邏輯當然是誘人的。為什麼會

alone when you never have to? Well, the answer is that never being alone solo cuando nunca tienes que hacerlo? Bueno, la respuesta es que nunca estar solo.

is not the same thing as never feeling alone. Worse yet, the less comfortable you are with No es lo mismo que nunca sentirse solo. Peor aún, cuanto menos cómodo estés con

solitude, the more likely it is that you won't know yourself. And then, you'll spend even soledad, cuanto más probable es que no lo hagas Conocete a ti mismo. Y luego, vas a gastar incluso

more time avoiding it to focus elsewhere. In the process, you'll become addicted to Más tiempo evitándolo para enfocar en otro lado. En el proceso, te harás adicto a

the same technologies that were meant to set you free. las mismas tecnologías que estaban destinadas a establecer usted libre 旨在讓您自由的相同技術。

Just because we can use the noise of the world to block out the discomfort of dealing with Solo porque podemos usar el ruido del mundo. para bloquear la incomodidad de tratar con

ourselves doesn't mean that this discomfort goes away. nosotros mismos no significa que este malestar se va.

Almost everybody thinks of themselves as self-aware. They think they know how they feel and what Casi todos piensan de sí mismos como conscientes de sí mismos. Piensan que saben cómo se sienten y qué. 幾乎每個人都認為自己有自我意識。他們認為他們知道自己的感受和感受

they want and what their problems are. But the truth is that very few people really do. Quieren y cuáles son sus problemas. Pero La verdad es que muy pocas personas realmente lo hacen.

And those that do will be the first to tell how fickle self-awareness is and how much Y los que lo hagan serán los primeros en contarlos. ¿Qué tan voluble es la auto-conciencia y cuánto? 而那些這樣做的人將是第一個說出自我意識有多變幻無常以及有多少

alone time it takes to get there. In today's world, people can go their whole tiempo solo se tarda en llegar allí. En el mundo de hoy, la gente puede hacer todo lo posible. 到達那裡需要一個人的時間。在當今世界,人們可以全力以赴

lives without truly digging beyond the surface-level masks they wear; in fact, many do. vive sin realmente cavar más allá del nivel de la superficie mascaras que usan; de hecho, muchos lo hacen. 沒有真正挖掘他們所戴的表面水平面具的生活;事實上,很多人都這樣做。

We are increasingly out of touch with who we are, and that's a problem. Estamos cada vez más fuera de contacto con quien Somos, y eso es un problema. 我們越來越不了解我們是誰,這是一個問題。

If we take it back to the fundamentals — and this is something Pascal touches on, too — our Si lo llevamos a los fundamentos - y Esto es algo que también toca Pascal: nuestra

aversion to solitude is really an aversion to boredom. La aversión a la soledad es realmente una aversión. al aburrimiento. 厭惡孤獨其實就是厭惡無聊。

At its core, it's not necessarily that we are addicted to a TV set because there is En su esencia, no es necesariamente que nosotros son adictos a un televisor porque hay

something uniquely satisfying about it, just like we are not addicted to most stimulants algo singularmente satisfactorio al respecto, solo Como no somos adictos a la mayoría de los estimulantes. 一些獨特的滿足感,就像我們不會對大多數興奮劑上癮一樣

because the benefits outweigh the downsides. Rather, what we are really addicted to is Porque los beneficios superan los inconvenientes. Más bien, a lo que realmente somos adictos es 因為利大於弊。相反,我們真正沉迷的是

a state of not-being-bored. Almost anything else that controls our life Un estado de no aburrirse. Casi cualquier otra cosa que controle nuestra vida. 一種不無聊的狀態。幾乎任何其他控制我們生活的東西

in an unhealthy way finds its root in our realization that we dread the nothingness de una manera poco saludable encuentra su raíz en nuestra Darse cuenta de que tememos a la nada. 以一種不健康的方式在我們意識到我們害怕虛無中找到根源

of nothing. We can't imagine just being rather than doing. And therefore, we look de nada. No podemos imaginarnos simplemente siendo en lugar de hacer Y por eso, miramos. 什麼都沒有。我們無法想像只是存在而不是做。因此,我們看

for entertainment, we seek company, and if those fail, we chase even higher highs. Para el entretenimiento, buscamos compañía, y si Los que fallan, perseguimos incluso máximos más altos. 為了娛樂,我們尋求陪伴,如果失敗了,我們會追逐更高的高度。

We ignore the fact that never facing this nothingness is the same as never facing ourselves. Ignoramos el hecho de que nunca enfrentamos esto. La nada es lo mismo que nunca enfrentarnos a nosotros mismos. 我們忽略了一個事實,即從不面對這種虛無就等於從不面對我們自己。

And never facing ourselves is why we feel lonely and anxious in spite of being so intimately Y nunca nos enfrentamos a nosotros mismos por eso nos sentimos. Solitaria y ansiosa a pesar de estar tan íntimamente 從來不面對自己,這就是為什麼儘管如此親密,我們仍感到孤獨和焦慮

connected to everything else around us. Fortunately, there is a solution. The only Conectado a todo lo que nos rodea. Afortunadamente, hay una solución. Lo único

way to avoid being ruined by this fear — like any fear — is to face it. It's to forma de evitar ser arruinado por este miedo - como Cualquier miedo es enfrentarlo. Es para 避免被這種恐懼毀掉的方法——就像任何恐懼一樣——就是去面對它。這是為了

let the boredom take you where it wants so you can deal with whatever it is that is really Deja que el aburrimiento te lleve a donde quiera. Usted puede lidiar con lo que sea que es realmente 讓無聊帶你去它想去的地方,這樣你就可以處理真正的事情

going on with your sense of self. That's when you'll hear yourself think, and that's Siguiendo con tu sentido del yo. Eso es cuando te oirás pensar, y eso es 繼續你的自我意識。那時你會聽到自己的想法,那就是

when you'll learn to engage the parts of you that are masked by distraction. cuando aprenderás a involucrar las partes de Ustedes que están enmascarados por la distracción. 當你學會調動被分心所掩蓋的部分時。

The beauty of this is that, once you cross that initial barrier, you realize that being La belleza de esto es que, una vez cruzas Esa barrera inicial, te das cuenta de que siendo 這樣做的美妙之處在於,一旦你跨越了最初的障礙,你就會意識到

alone isn't so bad. Boredom can provide its own stimulation. solo no es tan malo El aburrimiento puede proporcionar Su propia estimulación.

When you surround yourself with moments of solitude and stillness, you become intimately Cuando te rodeas de momentos de Soledad y quietud, te conviertes íntimamente.

familiar with your environment in a way that forced stimulation doesn't allow. The world familiarizado con su entorno de una manera que La estimulación forzada no permite. El mundo 以強制刺激不允許的方式熟悉您的環境。世界

becomes richer, the layers start to peel back, and you see things for what they really are, se vuelve más rico, las capas comienzan a despegarse, y ves cosas por lo que realmente son, 變得更豐富,層次開始剝落,你看到事物的本來面目,

in all their wholeness, in all their contradictions, and in all their unfamiliarity. en toda su plenitud, en todas sus contradicciones, y en toda su falta de familiaridad. 在他們所有的完整性中,在他們所有的矛盾中,在他們所有的陌生中。

You learn that there are other things you are capable of paying attention to than just Aprendes que hay otras cosas que son capaces de prestar atención a que simplemente

what makes the most noise on the surface. Just because a quiet room doesn't scream Lo que más ruido hace en la superficie. Solo porque una habitación tranquila no grita

with excitement like the idea of immersing yourself in a movie or a TV show doesn't Con entusiasmo como la idea de sumergirse. usted mismo en una película o un programa de televisión no lo hace

mean that there isn't depth to explore there. Sometimes, the direction that this solitude significa que no hay profundidad para explorar allí. A veces, la dirección que esta soledad

leads you in can be unpleasant, especially when it comes to introspection — your puede ser desagradable, especialmente cuando se trata de introspección - su

thoughts and your feelings, your doubts and your hopes — but in the long-term, it's pensamientos y tus sentimientos, tus dudas y tus esperanzas, pero a largo plazo, es

far more pleasant than running away from it all without even realizing that you are. mucho más agradable que huir de ella Todo sin siquiera darte cuenta de que eres.

Embracing boredom allows you to discover novelty in things you didn't know were novel; it's Abrazar el aburrimiento te permite descubrir la novedad. en cosas que no sabías eran novelas; sus

like being an unconditioned child seeing the world for the first time. It also resolves como ser un niño no condicionado viendo el mundo por primera vez Tambien se resuelve

the majority of internal conflicts. La mayoría de los conflictos internos.

The more the world advances, the more stimulation it will provide as an incentive for us to Cuanto más avanza el mundo, más estimulación nos proporcionará un incentivo para que nosotros

get outside of our own mind to engage with it. salir de nuestra propia mente para participar con eso.

While Pascal's generalization that a lack of comfort with solitude is the root of all Mientras que la generalización de Pascal es que una falta. El confort con soledad es la raíz de todo.

our problems may be an exaggeration, it isn't an entirely unmerited one. Nuestros problemas pueden ser una exageración, no lo es. Uno completamente no merecido.

Everything that has done so much to connect us has simultaneously isolated us. We are Todo lo que ha hecho tanto para conectar. Nos ha aislado simultáneamente. Estamos

so busy being distracted that we are forgetting to tend to ourselves, which is consequently tan ocupado siendo distraído que estamos olvidando para atender a nosotros mismos, que en consecuencia es

making us feel more and more alone. Interestingly, the main culprit isn't our haciéndonos sentir más y más solos. Curiosamente, el principal culpable no es nuestro

obsession with any particular worldly stimulation. It's the fear of nothingness — our Obsesión con cualquier estimulación mundana particular. Es el miedo a la nada - nuestro

addiction to a state of not-being-bored. We have an instinctive aversion to simply being. Adicción a un estado de no aburrimiento. Nosotros Tener una aversión instintiva a simplemente ser.

Without realizing the value of solitude, we are overlooking the fact that, once the fear Sin darnos cuenta del valor de la soledad, nos están pasando por alto el hecho de que, una vez que el miedo

of boredom is faced, it can actually provide its own stimulation. And the only way to face de aburrimiento se enfrenta, en realidad puede proporcionar Su propia estimulación. Y la única manera de enfrentarte.

it is to make time, whether every day or every week, to just sit — with our thoughts, es hacer tiempo, ya sea cada día o cada día. semana, para simplemente sentarse - con nuestros pensamientos,

our feelings, with a moment of stillness. The oldest philosophical wisdom in the world Nuestros sentimientos, con un momento de quietud. La sabiduría filosófica más antigua del mundo.

has one piece of advice for us: know yourself. And there is a good reason why that is. tiene un consejo para nosotros: conócete a ti mismo. Y hay una buena razón por la que eso es.

Without knowing ourselves, it's almost impossible to find a healthy way to interact with the Sin conocernos, es casi imposible. para encontrar una manera saludable de interactuar con el

world around us. Without taking time to figure it out, we don't have a foundation to built mundo que nos rodea. Sin tomarse el tiempo para figurar. fuera, no tenemos una base para construir

the rest of our lives on. Being alone and connecting inwardly is a skill El resto de nuestras vidas en adelante. Estar solo y conectarse interiormente es una habilidad

nobody ever teaches us. That's ironic because it's more important than most of the ones Nunca nadie nos enseña. Eso es irónico porque es más importante que la mayoría de los

they do. Solitude may not be the solution to everything, ellas hacen. La soledad puede no ser la solución a todo,

but it certainly is a start. Pero sin duda es un comienzo.