July 1st, 2007哦,那残破退色的五彩梦……
哦,那残破退色的五彩梦……
青春照例是五彩的,充满了无数五彩缤纷的憧憬与幻梦。那是人一生心灵最敏感、最柔嫩、最富于艺术气质的时期。
我曾在旧作中回溯了自己是怎样迷上音乐和美术的。对美术的迷恋迟于音乐,已经说过,是文革时期看莫泊桑小说触发的。打那以后,我就无任痴迷地堕入爱河,日日夜夜沉醉在能找到的名画复制品之中,不管那复印技术的质量有多低。
因为启蒙太晚,我学画的命运一开头就注定了:眼高手低,悟性高于表达能力,于是便怎么画都不满意。最致命的是:我的杂念太多,功名心太强烈,日夜生活在“我是否有足够才气成为真正的艺术家”的焦灼之中。于是,我涂下的每一笔都成了对自己才能的苦苦拷问,揉掉的每一张草稿都象征着被粗暴否定了的自我,委屈地蜷缩在废纸萝中。就这样,学画一场只开了我的眼,却斩去了我的手。
到了这个地步,对艺术的苦恋便成了无尽的自我折磨。在看了能找到的一点绘画理论之后,明白了最起码的美术概念,诸如“明度”、“色调对比”、“固有色”、“以面造型和以线造型”之后,眼前的大千世界就再不是过去看熟了的那个呆板乏味的黑白世界。我痴迷地捕捉着阳光在咱们的贫民窟中幻出的魔彩,呆望着谈笑风生的朋友的“阴阳脸”,凝视着日落黄昏,一面把脑海铺成画版,把看到的图景在上面还原出来……
悟出了这么多,便怎样?比没开窍还更情何以堪!每当我为风雨晨昏的美景迷醉,为费尽心机借来的复制品颠倒之后,便照例是痛楚的感伤袭来:假如我有大师的才华!
后来出了国,美术馆便一度成了我的第二故乡。世上没有什么语言可以描述我初见佳丽之时的狂喜,第一次看见复制品变成了原物,而且那颜色竟然新鲜到像是昨天才画成的!在《裸体的玛哈》、《照镜子的维纳斯》和达芬奇的几幅素描面前,我如中风魔,惝恍流连,直到最后双腿再也支持不住疲惫的身躯,跌坐在画馆里的长凳上……
后来小芦也出来了。和他老爸一样,这小子基因里也写下了对艺术的痴迷。终于有一天,他对我郑重其事地说:
“爸,我想去学艺术。”
我早就看出这苗头来了,内心早有所备,于是便诚恳地说:
“我知道你的爱好。虽然我想让你去学物理,但我委屈了自己一辈子,终生在干一种深恶痛绝的职业,所以绝对不会逼迫你干自己不喜欢干的事。不过,你在决定自己的人生方向之前,先得确定你自己是否具有那方面的才能,会不会取得成功。告诉我,你觉得自己会成为一个成功的艺术家么?”
他惶惑了,半天才嗫嚅道:“我不知道……,我从来没想过……,我只是喜欢……”
“光是喜欢并不足以成为选择的理由,你得想想自己是否有成功的把握。依我之见,你要去学艺术有几个不利之处:第一,这行当和别的职业不同,需要特殊的才能。如果你学数理化,哪怕是庸才也足以糊口。但如果你学艺术,不出类拔萃就恐怕连糊口都困难。第二,和鬼子相比,你处在不利的境地。须知这是人家的传统,早就渗透在他们的血液里了。作为第二代华人,你恐怕先天不足,不管怎么努力都比不上人家。你想想是不是我说的这回事?”
他自然想不出什么话来反驳我这全知全能的父亲,于是他的命运就如此注定了。像他老子一样,他也成了个科研工作者。也像他老子一样,至今他常常带着乾粮去博物馆和画廊里度过周末。我从来没敢问过他对当初的选择感觉如何,生怕从那镜子里照见我的扭曲了的一生。日日夜夜折磨着我的问题是:
“如果孩子没有这么一个功利薰心的中国父亲,凡事先问是否会成功,他的一生会不会更幸福?成功就那么重要么?对于幸福的人生来说,‘我在干我喜欢干的事’难道还不够,还非得作个成功的专业人士不可吗?”
July 1st, 2007 at 8:55 am
标题:此心乐时即成功
贴出《五彩梦》后,网友跟贴安慰我,说其实功利主义还是必须的,否则选了一个自己缺乏才能的行当,顶门嫌短,烧火嫌长,岂不蹉跎了一生?要是我当初去学艺术,如今在扭腰客地铁站吹萨克斯风,或是在单摊为人剪影画像,顺便卖花鸟组成的“书法”,岂不是辱没祖宗?
于是就想起在“文学城”看见的一篇外国留华学生发的议论。他们惊奇地发现,中国学生还停留在他们祖宗的阶段,心心念念只知道“成功”二字,却忘记了那并不是幸福人生的唯一要素。据说,官方报纸登载了华人音乐家谭盾的成功故事。谭初到美国时也混不下去,只能在街头演奏。但他奋斗不已,最后进了世界一流的乐团。某日他又在街上遇到了当年的老朋友,仍然在那儿吹萨克斯风。他告诉老友自己目前在哪儿高就,那家伙戏谑地问:挣的有在街上演奏的多么?
那些外国留学生说,本来文字如果到这里结束,那也不失一篇幽默的小品,可惜作者接着开始教育读者,说如果谭盾像那些老战友一样胸无大志,那就一定会像他们一样,至今流落在街头。洋学生们看到这儿只觉得反胃:在街头演奏又怎么样?一样是艺术家,一样受人们的尊重与喜爱。是在一流乐团里还是在大街上,他们的人生价值并没有什么区别。
刚到西方时受到的震撼之一,便是发现一般人非常尊重街头艺术家,并不把这些人看成是可耻的乞丐一类,甚至不看成是跑江湖卖解的。记得我花了整整一个下午,和一位女孩辩论,她本人也是艺术家,不过是业余的,在当地的乐团里吹黑管。我试图告诉她街头卖艺在中国人眼中是何等可鄙,她睁着小牛那样的又大又黄的眼睛,困惑地一个劲地问:
“但为什么?为什么?”
因为这些人没有正当职业,得过且过,没有出息。
“没有正当职业?得过且过?没有出息?但你想到过么?他们给匆忙的行人带来了欢乐,这还不够体面?这难道不是前途?得过且过又有什么错?难道人活着就是为了折磨自己不成?对不起,不过我觉得这些人才是活得有滋有味,意义十足!”
我试图说服她,但越说下去,越发现脑子里那些固有的天经地义其实并不如我想像的那样牢不可破,最后我惊奇地发现,那些教条的花岗石地基正在缓慢崩塌:是啊,同样是用自己的劳动糊口,凭什么要认定那些人就是低人一等?
但我不是一个轻易服输的人,所以最后使出了煞手锏:
“那你为何不到地铁站去吹黑管呢?”
她惭愧地笑笑:“不好意思,我嫌收入不高,不稳定。你看,人生有不同的方式,有的人看重钱,有的人看重随心所欲,我不幸属于第一种人。”
听她那意思,好像自己还不如那些卖解的似的,于是我再也无话可说了。
这些年来,和她的谈话一直在心头翻来覆去。人生越走向尽头,便越想重新来过。有时我禁不住想,假如再给你一次机会,你会不问成功,但求心之所乐,凭兴趣去选择专业么?
很明显,如果在中国,那是绝对没有可能的。在《黑崽子》里,我回忆起自己在大学时一度因为对所学专业极度缺乏兴趣,动念退学时跟小姐姐的谈话:
“我变得越来越烦躁,于是某天我向小姐姐诉说了心事,她的劝告我从来都非常重视。
‘兴趣?兴趣决不能是你计划自己的未来要考虑的首要因素。咱们享受不起这种奢侈!而且,兴趣总是可以培养的,何必无病呻吟?’
我知道她是对的,我别我选择。转学这种事还未所前闻,如果我不想学这专业,唯一的路就是回到工厂去。如果我真这么干了,所有的人不是以为我给学校开除了,就一定会认定我是疯子,更别说我的家人要为此丢尽了脸。我又一次想起卢梭的话来:‘自己的幸福取决于他人的意见。’也许,回去当工人比当大学毕业生更快乐,但既然世人的观点恰好与此相反,我必须强迫自己去做大学毕业生,以此显得很快乐。是否觉得快乐并不重要,重要的是显得快乐。”
所以,不用说,如果在中国让我重来一次,我还是别无选择,只有肩上众人给我压上的重轭,以获得向大众显示风光体面的资格。
但如果在西方让我重来一次,我会怎么办?这根本不用多想,明摆着小芦就是我的“重来一次”。他又怎么样了呢?还不是肩上父亲为他指定的重轭,以便在他看重的老父眼中显得前程远大,却不知老头子心中忐忑,到死那天都要神魂不安,不知道自己是否坑了孩子的一生。
苏东坡说:“此心安处是吾乡。”似乎也可以说:“此心乐时即成功。”谁都知道,人生只属于自己,不是为别人活的。只要自己觉得快活便是成功。
悲剧在于人是社会动物,价值观念不可能完全超脱出群体的标准,于是好胜心强者如我辈就有祸了:一生都要强上进,拼命想出人头地,为此放弃了自己真正的爱好,而失去了爱好,也就从根本上失去了成功的可能。到接近生命的终点时才发现自己两手空空,什么都没抓到──既没有成功,也放弃了真正的爱好。或许我的收入比地铁站那位吹萨克斯风的黑人要稳定丰厚一点,但我真的比他成功么?是否比他幸福就更不用说了。
唉。
July 1st, 2007 at 11:43 am
标题:让我想起张爱玲的《天才梦》:
她活在自己的世界里,写作,绘画、音乐……却独独不懂得如何与人共处,甚至是削苹果这样的生存技能。她的母亲看到这种情况,说“我宁愿看你死,不愿看你活着使你自己处处受痛苦。”
到底是培养爱好,还是培养求生的技能,或者每个孩子的父母都曾经苦恼过。
也许将来有一天我为此而苦恼时,最终会选择求生。
July 1st, 2007 at 12:40 pm
标题:可惜,你扼杀了小芦的梦想,成功与否是将来的事情。即使不学纯艺术,那么学学沾边的设计,建筑未必不可
估计老芦错误地认为,艺术就是画画,画油画。
当代的艺术的表现形式太丰富多采了。设计何尝不是一种艺术呢?
俺在上海认识一位日本艺术家,最近他将正方体的八个角对称地切去边上1/3
边长的三楞锥,没想到他居然用五个切过的14面体构成中间成为正
5边形的立体图案。 8卦,与5行有机地联系在了一起,非常奇妙。
真感动。 这个发现在一定会成为设计史上的经典。
还是 罗丹那句话,世界上不缺少美,而是缺少发现美的眼睛。
中国文化呢,现实,势利,缺少创造,冒险精神。
所以也缺少奇迹,感动,缺少创造或欣赏智慧的愉悦。
老芦,你还是多多鼓励小芦吧,业余也可以从事艺术创作活动的。
让小芦努力去园您的艺术家之梦,不是很好吗?
July 1st, 2007 at 12:58 pm
标题:看到您老人家,我们磨牙党彻底“失语” ,只好搬出那句经典 “我傻我知道,我穷我努力”了 - 那个苹果的老爸说的,安校译
July 1st, 2007 at 1:12 pm
标题:You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
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You'’ve got to find what you love,'’ Jobs says
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I'’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: \"We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?\" They said: \"Of course.\" My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents'’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn'’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn'’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn'’t all romantic. I didn'’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends'’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn'’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can'’t capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can'’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn'’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn'’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn'’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don'’t lose faith. I'’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You'’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven'’t found it yet, keep looking. Don'’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don'’t settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: \"If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'’ll most certainly be right.\" It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: \"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?\" And whenever the answer has been \"No\" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I'’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn'’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'’m fine now.
This was the closest I'’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don'’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don'’t waste it living someone else’’s life. Don'’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’’s thinking. Don'’t let the noise of others'’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: \"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.\" It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
July 1st, 2007 at 3:12 pm
标题:本来想进来把握,把握一下本周组织学习的精神,一头扎进来,发现全是鸟语!
介个短,我咬咬呀捋下来了;
后面一万多比特的我可真不敢再看了!
July 1st, 2007 at 3:32 pm
标题:好了,夏日版的,闪亮登场!
MP3: tle=\”http://www.wiredatom.com/steve_jobs_stanford_commencement_speech.tar.gz\”>tle=\”http://www.wiredatom.com/steve_jobs_stanford_commencement_speech.tar.gz\”>http://www.wiredatom.com/steve_jobs_stanford_commencement_speech.tar.gz
视频:tle=\”mms://vodwins.stanford.edu/sns/0506/jobs.wmv\”>tle=\”mms://vodwins.stanford.edu/sns/0506/jobs.wmv\”>mms://vodwins.stanford.edu/sns/0506/jobs.wmv
第一个故事,是关于串起生命中的点点滴滴。(原文为“connecting the dots”指一种小游戏:把标有序列号的点连起来,就构成一幅图画——译注)
我在里德大学呆了6个月就退学了,但之后仍作为旁听生混了18个月后才最终离开。我为什么要退学呢?
故 事要从我出生之前开始说起。我的生母是一名年轻的未婚妈妈,当时她还是一所大学的在读研究生,于是决定把我送给其他人收养。她坚持我应该被一对念过大学的 夫妇收养,所以在我出生的时候,她已经为我被一个律师和他的太太收养做好了所有的准备。但在最后一刻,这对夫妇改了主意,决定收养一个女孩。侯选名单上的 另外一对夫妇,也就是我的养父母,在一天午夜接到了一通电话:“有一个不请自来的男婴,你们想收养吗?”他们回答:“当然想。”事后,我的生母才发现我的 养母根本就没有从大学毕业,而我的养父甚至连高中都没有毕业,所以她拒绝签署最后的收养文件,直到几个月后,我的养父母保证会把我送到大学,她的态度才有 所转变。
17年之后,我真上了大学。但因为年幼无知,我选择了一所和斯坦福一样昂贵的大学,(笑声)我的父母都是工人阶级,他们倾其所有资助我的学业。在6个月之后,我发现自己完全不知道这样念下去究竟有什么用。当时,我的人生漫无目标,也不知道大学对我能起到什么帮助,为了念书,还花光了父母毕生的积蓄,所以我决定退学。我相信车到山前必有路。当时作这个决定的时候非常害怕,但现在回头去看,这是我这一生所作出的最正确的决定之一。(笑声)从我退学那一刻起,我就再也不用去上那些我毫无兴趣的必修课了,我开始旁听那些看来比较有意思的科目。(退学,是一生所做出的最正确的决定之一)
这件事情做起来一点都不浪漫。因为没有自己的宿舍,我只能睡在朋友房间的地板上;可乐瓶的押金是5分钱,我把瓶子还回去好用押金买吃的;在每个周日的晚上,我都会步行7英里穿越市区,到Hare Krishna教堂吃一顿大餐,我喜欢那儿的食物。我跟随好奇心和直觉所做的事情,事后证明大多数都是极其珍贵的经验。
我 举一个例子:那个时候,里德大学提供了全美国最好的书法教育。整个校园的每一张海报,每一个抽屉上的标签,都是漂亮的手写体。由于已经退学,不用再去上那 些常规的课程,于是我选择了一个书法班,想学学怎么写出一手漂亮字。在这个班上,我学习了各种衬线和无衬线字体,如何改变不同字体组合之间的字间距,以及 如何做出漂亮的版式。那是一种科学永远无法捕捉的充满美感、历史感和艺术感的微妙,我发现这太有意思了。
当时,我压根儿没想到这些知识会在我的生命中有什么实际运用价值;但是10年之后,当我们的设计第一款Macintosh电脑的候,这些东西全派上了用场。我把它们全部设计进了 Mac,这是第一台可以排出好看版式的电脑。如果当时我大学里没有旁听这门课程的话,Mac就不会提供各种字体和等间距字体。自从视窗系统抄袭了Mac以后,(鼓掌大笑)所有的个人电脑都有了这些东西。如果我没有退学,我就不会去书法班旁听,而今天的个人电脑大概也就不会有出色的版式功能。当然我在念大学的那会儿,不可能有先见之明,把那些生命中的点点滴滴都串起来;但10年之后再回头看,生命的轨迹变得非常清楚。
再 强调一次,你不可能充满预见地将生命的点滴串联起来;只有在你回头看的时候,你才会发现这些点点滴滴之间的联系。所以,你要坚信,你现在所经历的将在你未 来的生命中串联起来。你不得不相信某些东西,你的直觉,命运,生活,因缘际会……正是这种信仰让我不会失去希望,它让我的人生变得与众不同。(过去做的很多事情,不知道有什么用处,后来发现,原来正是这些改变了自己;
现在做的很多事情,也不知道有什么用,但请把它做好,以后你会发现,正是它们成就了你。)我的第二个故事是关于爱与失去。
我是幸运的,在年轻的时候就知道了自己爱做什么。在 我20岁的时候,就和沃兹在我父母的车库里开创了苹果电脑公司。我们勤奋工作,只用了10年的时间,苹果电脑就从车库里的两个小伙子扩展成拥有4000名 员工,价值达到20亿美元的企业。而在此之前的一年,我们刚推出了我们最好的产品Macintosh电脑,当时我刚过而立之年。然后,我就被炒了鱿鱼。一 个人怎么可以被他所创立的公司解雇呢?(笑声)这么说吧,随着苹果的成长,我们请了一个原本以为很能干的家伙和我一起管理这家公司,在头一年左右,他干得 还不错,但后来,我们对公司未来的前景出现了分歧,于是我们之间出现了矛盾。由于公司的董事会站在他那一边,所以在我30岁的时候,就被踢出了局。我失去了一直贯穿在我整个成年生活的重心,打击是毁灭性的。
在 头几个月,我真不知道要做些什么。我觉得我让企业界的前辈们失望了,我失去了传到我手上的指挥棒。我遇到了戴维·帕卡德(普惠的创办人之一——译注)和鲍 勃·诺伊斯(英特尔的创办人之一——译注),我向他们道歉,因为我把事情搞砸了。我成了人人皆知的失败者,我甚至想过逃离硅谷。但曙光渐渐出现,我还是喜 欢我做过的事情。在苹果电脑发生的一切丝毫没有改变我,一个比特(bit)都没有。虽然被抛弃了,但我的热忱不改。我决定重新开始。
我当时没有看出来,但事实证明,我被苹果开掉是我这一生所经历过的最棒的事情。成功的沉重被凤凰涅槃的轻盈所代替,每件事情都不再那么确定,我以自由之躯进入了我整个生命当中最有创意的时期。(每一段经历,当时看来可能是恐惧,可能是噩梦,可能是痛不欲生,回头却发现,正是它们成就了你。没有退学,可能Jobs搞出的电脑也乏善可陈;没有被苹果解雇,也不会有后来的Pixar。)
在接下来的5年里,我开创了一家叫做NeXT的公司,接着是一家名叫Pixar的公司,并且接识了后来成为我妻子的曼妙女郎。Pixar 制作了世界上第一部全电脑动画电影《玩具总动员》,现在这家公司是世界上最成功的动画制作公司之一。(掌声)后来经历一系列的事件,苹果买下了NeXT, 于是我又回到了苹果,我们在NeXT研发出的技术在推动苹果复兴的核心动力。我和劳伦斯也拥有了美满的家庭。
我非常肯定,如果没有被苹果炒掉,这一切都不可能在我身上发生。对于病人来说,良药总是苦口。生活有时候就像一块板砖拍向你的脑袋,但不要丧失信心。热爱我所从事的工作,是一直支持我不断前进的惟一理由。你得找出你的最爱,对工作如此,对爱人亦是如此。工作将占据你生命中相当大的一部分,从事你认为具有非凡意义的工作,方能给你带来真正的满足感。而从事一份伟大工作的惟一方法,就是去热爱这份工作。如果你到现在还没有找到这样一份工作,那么就继续找。不要安于现状,当万事了于心的时候,你就会知道何时能找到。如同任何伟大的浪漫关系一样,伟大的工作只会在岁月的酝酿中越陈越香。所以,在你终有所获之前,不要停下你寻觅的脚步。不要停下。
我的第三个故事是关于死亡。
在17 岁的时候,我读过一句格言,好像是:“如果你把每一天都当成你生命里的最后一天,你将在某一天发现原来一切皆在掌握之中。”(笑声)这句话从我读到之日起,就对我产生了深远的影响。在过去的33年里,我每天早晨都对着镜子问自己:“如果今天是我生命中的末日,我还愿意做我今天本来应该做的事情吗?”当一连好多天答案都否定的时候,我就知道做出改变的时候到了。
提醒自己行将入土是我在面临人生中的重大抉择时,最为重要的工具。
因为所有的事情——外界的期望、所有的尊荣、对尴尬和失败的惧怕——在面对死亡的时候,都将烟消云散,只留下真正重要的东西。在我所知道的各种方法中,提醒自己即将死去是避免掉入畏惧失去这个陷阱的最好办法。人赤条条地来,赤条条地走,没有理由不听从你内心的呼唤。
大 约一年前,我被诊断出癌症。在早晨7:30我做了一个检查,扫描结果清楚地显示我的胰脏出现了一个肿瘤。我当时甚至不知道胰脏究竟是什么。医生告诉我,几 乎可以确定这是一种不治之症,顶多还能活3至6个月。大夫建议我回家,把诸事安排妥当,这是医生对临终病人的标准用语。这意味着你得把你今后10年要对你 的子女说的话用几个月的时间说完;这意味着你得把一切都安排妥当,尽可能减少你的家人在你身后的负担;这意味着向众人告别的时间到了。
我 整天都想着诊断结果。那天晚上做了一个切片检查,医生把一个内诊镜从我的喉管伸进去,穿过我的胃进入肠道,将探针伸进胰脏,从肿瘤上取出了几个细胞。我打 了镇静剂,但我的太太当时在场,她后来告诉我说,当大夫们从显微镜下观察了细胞组织之后,都哭了起来,因为那是一非常罕见的,可以通过手术治疗的胰脏癌。 我接受了手术,现在已经康复了。
这是我最接近死亡的一次,我希望在随后的几十年里,都不要有比这一次更接近死亡的经历。在经历了这次与死 神擦肩而过的经验之后,死亡对我来说只是一项有效的判断工具,并且只是一个纯粹的理性概念时相比,我能够更肯定地告诉你们以下事实:没人想死;即使想去天 堂的人,也是希望能活着进去。(笑声)死亡是我们每个人的人生终点站,没人能够成为例外。生命就是如此,因为死亡很可能是生命最好的造物,它是生命更迭的 媒介,送走耋耄老者,给新生代让路。现在你们还是新生代,但不久的将来你们也将逐渐老去,被送出人生的舞台。很抱歉说得这么富有戏剧性,但生命就是如此。
你们的时间有限,所以不要把时间浪费在别人的生活里。不要被条条框框束缚,否则你就生活在他人思考的结果里。不要让他人的观点所发出的噪音淹没你内心的声音。最为重要的是,要有遵从你的内心和直觉的勇气,它们可能已知道你其实想成为一个什么样的人。其他事物都是次要的。(这段话对我的触动最大,不要自己的时间浪费在别人的生活里)
在 我年轻的时候,有一本非常棒的杂志叫《全球目录》(The Whole Earth Catalog),它被我们那一代人奉为圭臬。这本杂志的创办人是一个叫斯图尔特·布兰德的家伙,他住在Menlo Park,距离这儿不远。他把这本杂志办得充满诗意。那是在60年代末期,个人电脑、桌面发排系统还没有出现,所以出版工具只有打字机、剪刀和宝丽来相 机。这本杂志有点像印在纸上的Google,但那是在Google出现的35年前;它充满了理想色彩,内容都是些非常好用的工具和了不起的见解。
斯图尔特和他的团队做了几期《全球目录》,快无疾而终的时候,他们出版了最后一期。那是在70年代中期,我当时处在你们现在的年龄。在最后一期的封底有一张清晨乡间公路的照片,如果你喜欢搭车冒险旅行的话,经常会碰到的那种小路。在照片下面有一排字:物有所不足,智有所不明(Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.)这是他们停刊的告别留言。物有所不足,智有所不明。我总是以此自诩。现在,在你们毕业开始新生活的时候,我把这句话送给你们。
July 1st, 2007 at 4:12 pm
标题:请教 connecting the dots 游戏的具体例子,经典例子。
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:47 am
标题:就是在 day care 玩的画图游戏