原文: What a Little Bird Told Me

photo from Fallingbrook Community Association As I was thinking about Beth's Where is Home for You? contest, about the responses to the contest on Patti's 37Days FaceBook page, and about my own article on the subject, a chickadee landed on the bird feeder just outside my window. It occurred to me that this little creature might have some thoughts on the subject. I started by asking her name, and the answer she chirped back didn't translate into any phoneme I know of, so for this interview I'm calling her Unique Chickadee, since I think that's what her name means: Dave: OK Ms Chickadee, could you please start by telling me what you do for a living, and what you do just for fun? Unique Chickadee: What I "do for a'livin"? Very musical expression, but I have no idea what you mean. Dave: What you do to feed and shelter yourself and your family, then. And then what you do with the time left over. Unique Chickadee: Hmmm. I do what you see me do. I do whatever I like. As you told your friend the other week, the best way to describe it is to say "I do...this." I eat stuff that's tasty. I sleep in the shelter of the trees because it's cozy and comfortable and just because I like to do it. I splash in the water to get clean, especially with others, and just because I like to do it. I fly, to look around, to meet others, to discover new places, and just because I like to do it. I sing, to communicate, to identify myself, to keep myself company, and just because I like to do it. I play, with others and by myself, because that's how I learn, and just because I like to do it. I don't see the distinction between your a'livin activities and fun activities. I do all these things because I want to. They're all easy, and they're all fun. As for family, I'm not in a breeding pair, so except for the Time of Newborns, when I help out the parents of the babies, protecting their nest from attack, finding sources of food and so on, I need only look out for myself. Dave: I thought birds were flock creatures? Unique Chickadee: I have been a part of several flocks in my life. Like most of us, I'm a bit of a rover, and if I find a flock that needs me more than the one I'm with, I'll ask to join them. My Purpose is To Be Of Use, but that's never a burden. We help each other out, but our a'livin is pretty easy and carefree. By the way, we'd love a birdbath out by the feeder. Yes, we know all about your cat -- he's fast and clever, but so are we. Dave: Not my cat. Not sure he belongs to anyone, really. Unique Chickadee: Really? Far too pampered to survive without a human keeper. He must belong with one of the other humans in your community. Dave: Who are you, or what are you, other than what you do, if that isn't too philosophical a question? Unique Chickadee: I am who you see. I am me, Unique Chickadee. If you are asking what I believe, what I think about and care about, what I aspire to, what I enjoy, what I am capable of that I don't do, what qualities I have that make me good at what I do, that is another question. Is that what you mean? Dave: OK, yes, I guess so. Unique Chickadee: I believe all-life-on-Earth is wonderful. I think about visiting new places, and I imagine doing new things. I care about my well-being and that of my flock. I aspire to love everyone and everything I encounter. I enjoy intuiting and learning, the fruits of my discovery. I am capable of imagining things I have never seen or heard or felt. I have the useful capacities of patience and attentiveness and appreciation and playfulness. You put too fine a point on this distinction between what we do and who we are. When I am by myself I sing, for the sheer joy of it, and maybe someone else will hear me and enjoy my song or maybe no one will hear. It doesn't matter. You told your friend you are a writer, a 'blogger', and that you're impatient because you're not 'doing' anything. Can't you see how silly that is? Your blogging is just like my singing to myself. It's what we do, it's who we are, it's all the same thing. Dave: Is there something latent in you, something that you need to be or do, or that your flock needs you to be or do? Unique Chickadee: I don't understand the meaning of 'need'. This word makes no sense to me. Dave: Do you ever feel lonely, or sad, or as if you're missing something? Unique Chickadee: Not for a second. This is a world full of love and joy and connection. It is all right here. I am astonished at how you humans have tricked yourselves into seeing this world of abundance as a world of scarcity. Dave: So you don't long to be part of a mating pair, to make love? Unique Chickadee: I 'make love' with every creature I meet in different ways in everything I do. Everyone I meet and sing with and play with is my 'mate'. You said it yourself last week: Love, Conversation, Community. That's why we're here. The act of sexual coupling carries with it a huge responsibility, and I don't feel that instinctive desire to accept that responsibility that the breeders do. It's more trouble than it's worth. I don't want to be that unhappy. Dave: OK, last question: Where is Home, to you? Where do you belong? Unique Chickadee: You spoke to your friend recently about how time and place are bound up with each other. We non-humans live in Now Time. Your Clock Time, that passes and is gone and fills you with regret for what was or what might be or what should be or what might have been, it is just an abstraction, a human artifact, designed to keep you in thrall to the other humans who want you to be everybody-else, obedient, fearful, helpless, dependent, full of grief. You have to relearn that all time is Now Time, there is no other time, and that Now Time is eternal, limitless. For the same reason, we live in Now Space. When we nest, when we hibernate, when we migrate, when we move from one flock to another, we are always Home, we can never be elsewhere, this is where we belong. This is it.  Dave: I don't understand. Unique Chickadee: I know. I'm sorry. I think your brain is in the way. Keep watching. Pay attention. Listen to your instincts, and to the songs of all-life-on-Earth. You'll figure it out. You're pretty smart, for a human. Category: Being Human

译文: 一只小鸟告诉我的

照片摘自Fallingbrook社团协会

 我正在思考着贝斯的题为“何处为家”的征文比赛，思考着帕蒂的网页“37天”主页上对比赛的看法，思考着如何构思我的征文，突然，一只山雀落在窗户外面的喂鸟器上。顿时觉得，似乎这个小东西会令我茅塞顿开。

我询问她的名字，开始了我们的对话，可她叽叽喳喳的回答并没有翻译成我能识别的音素，所以这次采访中，根据我对她名字的理解，我称她为“小山雀”。

戴夫：那么，山雀小姐，首先，可否讲一讲你是如何谋生，而又是如何为乐呢？

小山雀：我如何“谋生”？真是悦耳的词语，可是我弄不明白你的意思。

戴夫：我是说你都如何养家糊口，而在这之后，你又如何度过余下的时间。

小山雀：嗯......我做的事情就是你所看到的啊。凡是我喜欢的事情，我就会去做。正如你有一次告诉你的朋友一样，“我就是......这样做的”，这么说是最贴切的了。好吃的东西，我就会吃。大树的庇护温暖又舒适，所以我在那里睡觉，因为我喜欢。我会轻贱水中，尤其和大家一起，在水里洗澡，因为我喜欢。我会飞翔着四处张望，会和其他鸟见面，会发现新大陆，因为我喜欢。我会和伙伴嬉戏玩耍，也会自娱自乐，因为我喜欢。我不能理解的是你所谓的谋生的活动和为乐的活动到底有什么区别。我所做的事情，都是出于我想去做。很容易，也很都很有趣。说到家庭，我不属于繁殖行列，所以我只是在有宝宝出生的时期去给生育的父母们搭把手而已，像避免窝巢遭到袭击，寻找食物来源等等。除此之外，我只需照顾自己。

戴夫：我没记错的话，鸟类是属于群居动物吧？

小山雀：我曾经加入过几个群体。我和大多数鸟类一样，是个流浪者，如果遇到一个更加需要我的群体，我就会加入到这个群体里。“我的目的”在于“致用”，而这从来就不是一个负担。我们互帮互助，谋生对于我们来说既轻松又愉快。对了，我们非常喜欢饲养员给我们设置的饮水盆。我们的确见识过你的猫咪--敏捷、聪明，但我们也并不逊色。

戴夫：不是我的猫。他好像没有主人，这是真的。

小山雀：真的吗？没有人类的饲养，他岂不是要撑死了。他一定是你们社区里的人养的。

戴夫：你是谁，或者说你是什么，而不是你都做些什么，这个问题不会过于哲学了吧？

小山雀：我就正如你所见，我就是我，我是小山雀。如果你问我相信什么、思考关心什么、渴求什么、喜欢什么、有什么潜力，哪些品质让我善于做我所做到的事情，这就是另外一码事了。你是想问我这些吗？

戴夫：那么，好吧。我想是的。

小山雀：我深信世界上任何生命都很了不起。我琢磨着拜访新的地方，想象着尝试新鲜的事物。我关心我自己和我的群体是否幸福安康。我渴求去喜欢我所遇到的一切人和事。我乐于用直觉探求世界、用心学习本领，这是探索的收获。我能够想象出从未见过、听过或是感知的事物。我具备许多实用的能力，如耐心、专注、欣赏能力以及风趣。你过于着重强调了我们从事什么跟我们是什么之间的区别。我在一个人的时候会唱歌，就是为了唱歌而唱歌，或许有人会听到我的歌声，进而侧耳聆听，也或许没人会听得到。有没有人听到都不打紧。你告诉你的朋友说你是一个作家，一个博客作家，但你很不耐烦，因为你什么都没有“从事”。你不觉得这很愚蠢吗？你写博客就跟我唱歌给自己听是一个道理。这就是我们从事的，也就是我们自己，没有什么区别。

戴夫：在你的潜意识里，有没有什么是你觉得必须要去做或者必须去完成的，或者你的群体需要你去做的？

小山雀：我不知道你所说的“必须”指的是什么。这个字眼对我来说毫无意义。

戴夫：你会不会有时感到孤独、悲伤，就像是非常思念着什么一样？

小山雀：从来都没有过。这个世界充满了爱、欢乐和亲缘，多好的世界啊。而你们人类却总是欺骗自己，把这样一个多姿多彩的世界看成是荒芜暗淡的世界，这简直令我瞠目结舌。

 戴夫：所以你并不是很渴望交配，或谈情说爱？

小山雀：无论我做任何事情，通过任何方式见到任何生命，我都是在和他们“谈情说爱”。无论是谁，凡是与我遇见的、与我一同唱歌的，一同嬉戏的，都是我的“配偶”。爱、交流、社区，这是上周你自己说的原话。这恰恰是我们之所以存在的理由。夫妻们交配往往就要承担起艰巨的使命和责任，在我看来，他们有交配本能却不一定会主动去承担抚养子女的责任。交配的麻烦比价值来得要多呀。我可不想让自己变得那么不幸。

戴夫：好的，这是最后一个问题。请问对你来说，何如为家？你又归于呢？

小山雀：最近，你跟你的朋友提到时间和地点的关联关系。我们动物是活在纯粹时间里的。而你们却是绩效时间。时间一去不复返，却留给你们悔恨，悔恨过往的曾经、悔恨无终的可能、悔恨无数的应当，悔恨太多的不甘，这只不过是人类在意识里为自己制造的枷锁，终成他人的奴仆，顺从、畏惧、孤独、依赖而又痛苦不堪。你们要知道，只有纯粹的时间，独此一种，它是永恒而无限的。同样的道理，我们活在纯粹的空间里。无论我们是在筑巢、冬眠、迁徙、还是迁离到另一个群体，我们始终在“家”，从未离开，我们永远属于这儿。这就是我的想法。

戴夫：我听不懂。

小山雀：我知道，真对不起。我想你已经形成思维定式了。你要一直关注，一直留意。跟随你的直觉，倾听所有生灵的歌声。你会明白的。你是个睿智的人类。