Photo by Pixabay巍巍校园，总是莘莘学子魂牵梦绕之所，又是一年毕业季，你是否准备好了，用欢笑与泪水迎接未来。
当地时间5月17日，哥伦比亚大学举行了2023年毕业典礼，即将卸任的哥大老校长李·卡罗尔·布林格（L. C. Bollinger）发表了毕业演说，让我们来听听他讲了什么吧～
在这个非常特别的早晨，在这个辉煌的学术殿堂，欢迎你们所有人来此迎接这个重要的时刻，这是我极大的荣幸。我今天特别感伤，因为这将是我二十余年哥伦比亚大学校长生涯的最后一次毕业典礼演讲。我想我们是一起毕业的。我相信……我相信……你和我——这是我希望引起的反应——我相信你和我都将在余生中铭记这一刻。It is my very, very great honor, indeed privilege and joy, to welcome you all here on this very special morning, in this glorious academic setting, to this magnificent occasion. I am especially sentimental today as this will be my last Commencement speech after serving more than two decades as president of Columbia University. I – I like to think that we are graduating together. I am sure… I am sure that…that you and I – that was the response I hoped to elicit – I’m sure that you and I both will hold this moment in our hearts for the rest of our lives.
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就我个人而言，我很高兴能说我有一份新工作，我将回到法学院继续教书——这是我始于1973年的职业生涯，我从哥大法学院毕业两年后，就开始从事这项职业，那时我和你们差不多大。我很喜欢担任这所伟大学府的校长。无论如何衡量，这都是一种值得我度过一生的方式，最重要地，它本身就是一种变革式的教育。
On a personal note, I’m pleased to say I have a job. I now return… I now return to the life of a law professor, a career I began at more or less your age in 1973, two years after graduating from our Law School. I have loved being president of this great academic institution. By any measure I can think of, it has been a worthy way to spend my life and, most importantly, a transformative education in itself.对我来说，这种转变有些复杂（今天早上你们会听到我说这个词很多次）。因为要离开同事——每个人都是我的挚友，去适应一个我在其中越来越不重要的世界，我感到有些悲伤。但是我也很高兴能在生活中获得更多时间和空间去做些别的事——也许就像是当你离家读书时你的家人的感受。然而，结束也是生活的一部分，正如这个时刻凄美地象征着的那个部分，以及我非常高兴米努什·沙菲克（Minouche Shafik）将成为我们的新任校长。This transition for me is somewhat complicated (a word you will hear me say a lot this morning). I feel some elements of sadness as I leave behind colleagues, every one a dear friend, and adjust to a world in which I am increasingly unneeded. But certainly, I am delighted to have more space and time in life for other things – perhaps the way your families felt when you went off to school. However, endings are a part of life, as this occasion so poignantly symbolizes, and I couldn’t be happier that Minouche Shafik will become our next President.因此，请让我以我个人的名义，代表全体教职员工和行政部门，感谢彼此，感谢丰富了我们生活的每一个人，同时感谢在你们学术生涯中支持过你们的所有人。也请花点时间谢谢他们。So let me say, personally and on behalf of the faculty, and the staff, and administration, how thankful we are to each and every one of you for enriching our lives, and this appreciation extends to all who have supported youthroughout your academic journey. Please take a moment to thank them as well.
Photo by website我想了很多关于在这个时候该对你们说什么。一个人会自然地感觉到一种期望，希望能够提供与此刻在你们生活中同样深刻的思想。考虑到世界上正在发生的这一切，你很可能希望我谈论一些重大问题，尤其是民主政体面临的重大威胁。但我惊讶地发现，你们已经非常熟悉你们这一代人所肩负的解决文明尺度难题的使命。I thought a lot about what to say to you on this occasion. One naturally feels an expectation to offer thoughts as profound as this moment is in your lives. Given all that is happening in the world, you might well expect me to talk about big issues and, in particular, big threats to democracy. But it strikes me that you are already well-versed in civilization-scale problems that your generation has been tasked with solving.我能做的，也是我所愿做的，就是总结一下我随年岁渐长所学到的对美好生活有所贡献的一小部分体会。我对看似简单的问题感兴趣，关于如何成为一个屹立于世的人，以及需要怎样的条件来灌溉和培养。我没有确切的命题用以描述我将要谈及的内容，但是，总的来说，它是关于培养一种开放性——这些东西经常被评论，但是很少有人能意识到，实现和维持这种开放性有多么困难。What I can do, and I hope to do, is to sum up a little part of what I have learned over time contributes to a good life. I am interested in the seemingly simple matter of how to be a person in the world and what qualities to nurture and develop. I don’t have a precise name for what I’m going to talk about, but, in general, it’s about developing a certain disposition of openness – something frequently commented on, but little appreciated in how hard it is to achieve and sustain.思想开放，无论对社会还是个体，都有许多典范。我们通常从宪法第一修正案和神圣的言论自由原则开始思考这个课题。在这方面，碰巧我略知一二。Being open-minded, whether as a society or as an individual, has many models. The place we typically start in thinking about the subject is the First Amendment and the sacred principle of freedom of speech. That is something… that is something I happen to know a little about.我诉诸宪法第一修正案，并非如你们可能以为的那样，是某种我们都应尽力遵守的信条，事实上，在很多方面，情况恰恰相反。身处现世，我理解为什么，你们中的一些人可能会觉得宪法第一修正案保护了太多坏东西，给分裂我们的有害力量提供了氧气。对于这一点，我想说，这是一个合理的辩论，过去是，将来也是。相反，我想以宪法第一修正案作为参照点，因为我们正在着手进行一项更为复杂的任务，那就是创造我们自己的，我们自己的“言论自由”。But I am not turning to the First Amendment for the reason you might think – as some kind of article of faith that we all should strive to live by – in fact, quite the opposite in many respects. I understand why, in this current age, some of you may feel the First Amendment protects too many bad things, giving oxygen to the toxic forces that divide us. To that I would say, that’s a legitimate debate and always has been and always will. Rather, I want to use the First Amendment as a point of reference as we set about the far more complex task of creating our own, our own personal “free speech,” as it were.
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这是我们自己决定如何思考、学习、是否能容忍、是否与他人往来——包括那些与我们最亲密的人的重点。我建议我们把生活视为有不同的方式或层次，试图达成同样的事情，并在此比较它们，看看它们如何相互交叉。我认为宪法第一修正案是一个出发点，而不是终点。当我们期望社会遵循我们从自己的生活中得知的标准时，我们正在让自己摆脱困境，因为我们知道那些社会标准过于固执，无法容纳生活中的无限微妙之处。This is where we decide for ourselves how to think, learn, tolerate or not, engage with others or not, including those with whom we are closest. I propose that we see life as having different ways, or layers, of trying to achieve the same thing and compare them and look at how they intersect. I see the First Amendment as a point of departure, not a destination, as it were. We are letting ourselves off the hook when we expect society to conform to standards that we know from our own lives are too unyielding to accommodate life’s infinite subtleties.But we begin with free speech and the First Amendment.在美国，我们自豪地宣布——主要是通过上个世纪的最高法案例——政府或“邦州”不应该“审查”言论，除非是在极端情况下（例如，当它构成严重且迫在眉睫的暴力危险时）。这意味着，我们必须停止对种族主义、反犹太主义或具有实质性危险的虚假言论实施制裁。我们只对被我们归类为“言论”的行为（这本身就是一个谜）实行这种自我约束，并将其作为一项基本原则嵌入宪法。对于“为什么”和“为了什么”这两个问题，我们要说的是：In the United States, we proudly have decided – primarily through Supreme Court cases over the last century – that the government, or the “State,” should not “censor” speech except in extreme situations (for example, when it poses a serious and imminent risk of violence). This means that we must withhold imposing sanctions on speech that is racist, or antisemitic, or materially and dangerously false. We exercise this self-restraint only towards behavior we classify as “speech” (a puzzle in itself) and we embed it as a fundamental principle in the Constitution. To the questions why and to what ends we say the following:首先，我们认识到人的本性并不自然地对其他信仰和理念开放。我们生来闭塞，而非宽容。First, we recognize that human nature is not naturally open to other beliefs and ideas. We are made for intolerance, not tolerance.1920年，奥利弗·温德尔·霍姆斯大法官明确而简洁地表达了这一前提——他开创了我们今天赖以生存的一系列法理学。他承认: “在我看来，对表达观点的迫害是完全合乎逻辑的。如果你对自己的前提和权力没有任何怀疑，并且想要得到完全符合心意的结果，那么你自然会在法律中表达自己的意愿，扫除反对意见。允许言论反对似乎表明你认为言论无力……或者你不全然关心结果，或者你怀疑你的权力或前提。”Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. expressed this premise explicitly and succinctly in 1920, as he initiated the cascade of jurisprudence we live by today. He acknowledged: “Persecution for the expression of opinions seems to me perfectly logical. If you have no doubt of your premises or your power and you want a result with all your heart, you naturally express your wishes in law and sweep away the opposition. To allow opposition by speech seems to indicate that you think the speech impotent, … or that you do not care whole-heartedly for the result, or that you doubt either your power or your premises.”因此，对其他信仰和观点的闭塞或“迫害”是“完全合乎逻辑的”。但霍姆斯有句名言，这并不是故事的结局。我们需要摒弃这些自然的冲动，追求更高的目标，即“真理”。因为当我们意识到，他说，“时间已经磨去了许多战斗的信念”，然后我们“开始相信……最终的善意渴望是通过思想的自由贸易更好地达成的——对真理的最好检验是思想凭借自己的力量在市场竞争中被接受，在此过程中，真理是唯一的基础，在这个基础上，思想的愿景可以安全地得以实现。”So, intolerance, or “persecution,” towards other beliefs and opinions is “perfectly logical.” But that’s not the end of the story, Holmes says famously. We need to reject these natural impulses and aim for something higher, namely “truth.” For when we realize, he says, “that time has upset many fighting faiths,” then we “come to believe… that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas – that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out.”This, as it were, has become the American creed.
Photo by website这是一件美妙而光荣的事。但是，考虑到这个有问题的前提和理念，难怪每个新世代都必须努力理解并生活在这一信念之中。比这更复杂的是，我们并没有在整个社会中以这种信仰生活，这也很奇怪，当然，在我们自己的生活中也没有，即使我们的脑海中有着相同的目标，而这一目标将我们带到了当下所在的地方。And it is a wonderful and really glorious thing. But, given the problematic premise and the ideal, it is no wonder that each new generation must work to understand and live by this faith. It’s also odd, more intricate than this, because we do not live by this faith throughout all society and, certainly not, in our own lives, even when we have the same goals in mind. Take where we are right this minute.学术界适用一个非常不同的框架来寻求真理。在这里，这种追求受到对自己的观点的客观性、理性、礼仪、同行评议、充分归因和持续怀疑的严格规范的限制。在这个领域里，我喜欢称之为学者气质（Scholarly Temperament）的东西占了上风，对于那些超越规范的人来说，惩罚（“审查制度”，即另一个名字）是严厉的——不提升，甚至是排斥。正如宪法第一修正案对言论自由的承诺一样，学者气质来之不易。它只有通过“教育”和心理训练才能实现。In the academic world, a very different framework applies in the search for truth. Here the quest is bounded by strict norms of objectivity, reason, civility, peer review, full attribution and constant skepticism applied to one’s own ideas. In this realm, what I like to refer to as the Scholarly Temperament prevails, and for those who abridge the norms, the penalties (the “censorship,” as it were, by another name) are severe – non-promotion, and even exclusion. As with the First Amendment commitment to free speech, the Scholarly Temperament does not come easily. It is only achieved by “education” and mental discipline.那么，这里有两个我和你非常熟悉的世界。它们在特性上非常不同，在关于被允许的智力特征的戒律上非常不同，然而它们都致力于发现真理。一个像荒野，另一个像修剪整齐的花园。在这里，我不会讨论如何在我们这样的社会中平衡这两个世界，也不会讨论它们是否需要平衡。我的主要观点有所不同。Here, then, are two worlds I – and you – know well. They are very different in character, very different in the precepts about the permissible intellectual traits, yet both are dedicated to the discovery of truth. One is like a wilderness, and the other a manicured garden. I won’t here go into how to square the two worlds in a society such as ours, nor whether they even need to be squared. My main point takes a different path.
Photo by website但我想要的是我们自己的生活，我们每个人日复一日构建出的生活。我们中没有一个人会选择按照宪法第一修正案或者学者气质来生活。它们可能很适合各自的领域，而且它们可能各自以自己的方式成为我们在创建自己的领域时寻求指导的典范。但它们不适用于普通的生活，即使是为了实现同样的目标。But what I want to get to is our own lives, the ones that each of us constructs day after day. None of us would ever choose personally to live according to the dictates of the First Amendment or the Scholarly Temperament. They may well be appropriate for their respective spheres, and they may each in their own way be models for us to turn to for guidance as we create our own. But they will not work for ordinary life, even for the same goal.这就是我的建议。然而，首先让我声明，我并不是在试图解决我们每个人都面临的更大的问题: 我们将成为什么样的人，我们将抱有什么样的信仰，或以何种强度和信念。我们需要勇气为正义而战，但这是另一个话题。我今天的重点是我们如何在自己的内心中建立一种开放的心态，这种心态是真实的、持久的，并最终成为积极改变的力量。Here is where my recommendations come in. Let me say first, however, that I am not trying to solve the larger questions each of us confronts about who we will be, or what beliefs we will hold, or with what degrees of intensity and conviction. We need courage to fight for justice. That is another topic. My focus today is how we build within ourselves a disposition to be open-minded that is authentic, lasting, and ultimately a force for positive change.因此，这里有些我曾求诸于己想法。我发现它们有助于建立我自己的理解和认知，使我感到更加自由、快乐，并有助于培养与他人的关系。我的想法有十个。（我小声说）So, here are some ideas I have turned to myself for help. I have found them useful in building my own understanding and knowledge, in feeling freer and happier, and for nurturing relationships with others. There are ten. (I say under my breath.)
Photo by website首先，在许多方面，最重要的建议是时刻警惕那些会让我们误入歧途的自然冲动。这里你需要从宪法第一修正案开始说起。霍姆斯是对的——我们会有自己的信仰，而且我们越是坚持这些信仰，我们就越想保护它们不受抵触和排斥。但我们的冲动比霍姆斯说的还要危险。我们不仅要“迫害”反对派，我们还要和其他人一起感到坚强和正义。我们拥护一致。换句话说，我们需要看到我们的自然倾向是思想封闭，而非思想开放。我们并非生来就相信言论自由或开放。我们必须学会以另一种方式生活。The first, and in many ways the most important, recommendation is to be constantly alert to our natural impulses that lead us astray. Here you need to start where the First Amendment starts. And Holmes was right – we will have our beliefs and the more strongly we hold them the more we will want to protect them from contradiction and rejection. But our impulse is even more dangerous than Holmes suggested. Not only do we want to “persecute” opposition, we also want to join with others in feeling fortified and righteous in doing so. We want to agree to agree. In other words, we need to see that our natural inclination is to be closed-minded, not open-minded. We are not born believing in free speech or openness. We have to learn to be this other way.第二，从那时起，我认为有意识地认识到我们——甚至是专家——对自己和我们的世界知之甚少是很有帮助的。正如这所大学作为人类知识宝库所证明的那样，人类的知识是浩瀚的惊人的，但我们的无知还要远大于此。我喜欢并且非常尊重专业知识，但是你必须小心，不要让它变得令人生畏。要做到这一点的最好方法是审视我们共同的未知，因为那是我们发现共同的人性的地方，也是新旧事物等待我们发现的地方。From there I think it’s helpful to develop a conscious awareness of how little we – even experts – actually know about ourselves and our world. Human knowledge is vast, and stupendous, as this University attests, as a repository of human knowledge. But our ignorance is far greater. I love and have enormous respect for expertise, but you have to be careful not to let it be intimidating. And the best way to do that is to peer into our shared ignorance, for that is where we find our sense of shared humanity and where old and new things await our discovery.第三，对于那些我们已经了解或能够了解的事情，我们必须始终致力于尽可能深入地看到它们的复杂性。头脑会自然而然地简化事物，并寻找和假设答案的存在。有时候会有答案，但更多时候会有必须要做的选择。我总是告诉我的学生尽量把我们学习的问题复杂化。我建议你按照学术界行之有效的方法来武装他们的头脑，每次回答的开头都要说: “嗯，这很复杂……”然后继续往下说。Next, for those things we do and can know, we must always work on seeing their complexity as deeply as we can. The mind naturally simplifies things, and looks for and assumes there are answers. Sometimes there are, but more often there are choices to be made. I always tell my students to try to make the problems we study as complex as possible. And I suggest you follow the tried-and-true method of academics to ready their minds, by beginning every response by saying: “Well, it’s complicated, …” and then go on from there.第四，一旦你看到了反对开放的离心力，看到了前方的道路，你就会意识到这只能通过不断的练习，通过习惯来实现。你必须让它成为你的一部分，一遍又一遍地练习。对别人说“敞开心扉”就像对别人说“去弹钢琴吧”你必须努力练习，建立自己的能力，获得灵活性和力量——这就是为什么钢琴家要练习音阶，这些音阶代表着思想的开放。Next, once you see the centrifugal forces against openness, and you see the path ahead, you realize this is something that happens only by continuous practice; by habit. You have to make it part of who you are, and do it over and over again. Just saying to people, “Be open” is like saying to someone, “Go play the piano.” You have to work at it, build your capacities, gain agility and strength – that’s why pianists do scales, and these are scales for open-mindedness.
Photo by website第五，当你和别人交谈的时候——这是一个很好的学习方法——你应该问更多的问题而不是给出答案。每个人都能教给我们一些东西，一些独特的兴趣爱好，你的任务就是找到它。问题与答案的比例至少保持在80%。考虑到人的天性，我预测你们在这方面不会有任何问题（除非你在毕业典礼上遇到某个人，他真的听到了我说的话，并且被说服了——我知道，这种人很少）。Now, when you are in conversations with people, which is a great way to learn, you should always ask more questions than give answers. Everyone has something to teach us, something of unique interest, and your task is always to find that. Keep the proportions of questions to answers at least at 80%. Given human nature, I predict you will have no problems succeeding in this (unless you run into someone who was at this Commencement, who actually listened to what I’m saying, and who was persuaded – a vanishingly small pool of people, I realize).第六，试着这样：当你遇到一个问题——一个通情达理的人不同意的问题时，想象一下你会提出的所有论点，直到别无选择。然后重新开始，把自己想象成另一个人，把他们的论点罗列在你的脑海里。然后试着同时记住这两个论点。这是非常，非常难做到的。Then try this: When you encounter a problem, an issue on which reasonable people disagree, imagine all the arguments you would make, until the point where no alternative seems possible. Then start all over again, imagine you are the other person and make their arguments to the same end in your mind. And then try to hold both arguments in your head at once. This is very, very hard to do.第七：永远记住，生活的问题可能有不同的答案，但其复杂性多多少少是等同的。你的父母一定会同意，决定把孩子送去哪所学校可能就跟美国外交政策的任何决策一样令人烦恼。在任何情况下，都不要忽视做出“正确”决定的困难性。The seventh idea is: always remember that the problems of life may be different in consequence, but are more or less equal in complexity. As your parents will no doubt agree, deciding which school to send your child to can be just as vexing as any matter of American foreign policy. Do not be dismissive of any opportunity to bear witness to the difficulties of making the “right” call under any circumstances.第八，也请记住，开放不仅是通向真理和理解的途径，而且有助于建立关系。我很久以前就知道，在婚姻、家庭生活、友谊中没有所谓契约。情感发生变化时，“但我们说好了”是没用的。同理心是开放性的一个分支，同理心对于任何层次的任何关系都是至关重要的。Remember, too, that being open is not only a way to truth and understanding but also helps build relationships. I learned a long time ago that in marriage, family life, friendship there is no such thing as a contract. “But we agreed” does not work when feelings change. Empathy is a branch of openness, and empathy is crucial to any relationship at any level.
Photo by website第九，坚持记录。多问自己，我学到了什么？我怎么就不明白呢？我有多遵循自己的原则？从研究人员到葡萄酒专家，每个人都知道，通过记下你的印象，你能更好地理解你的经历，并为未来提供参考。Keep notes. Ask yourself, what have I learned? Why didn’t I understand that? And how well did I follow my own principles? Everyone from researchers to wine experts knows that by writing down your impressions, you understand your experience better and have a reference point for the future.第十，最后，要知道，年龄的增长会让一切变得容易得多。随着年龄增长，你越不确定，你就越感激人类出于好奇心所做的一切。时间会帮助你成长，让你对自己和他人更有耐心，更愿意接受世界上那些令人困惑却又令人振奋的谜团。And, finally, know that aging makes it all much easier. The older you grow, the less certain you are and the more you appreciate what humans have done with curiosity. Age will help you out, making you more patient with yourself and others, and more willing to be open to the baffling but exhilarating mysteries of the world.所以，这里有十个建议: 了解自己的不好的冲动；感受我们巨大的无知；努力关注事物的复杂性，而非答案；养成习惯；问更多的问题而不是回答问题；想象你是那个你不同意的人；看到日常生活的复杂性；在人际关系保持开放和共情；坚持记录；让时间助你成长。So, there are the ten ideas: know your bad impulses; feel our vast ignorance; work at seeing the complexity of things, not the answers; make it a habit; ask more questions than provide answers; imagine you are the person you disagree with; see complexity in ordinary life; be open and empathetic in relationships; keep notes; and let age help you out.我很幸运，我的职业生涯与我的个人生活相一致：言论自由，伟大的美国大学，以及作为一名法学教授和哥伦比亚大学校长，这些都交织在一起。这给了我一个宝贵的资源库，从国家到日常生活，我都可以从中汲取。我爱其中的每件事物，也爱这一切的事物。我仍然不理解我需要理解的所有事情，但是当它们相互交融时，我能更好地了解每一件事。我希望并期待你们会发现在你们的生活中同样如此。I’ve been very fortunate to have my professional life correspond to my personal life: freedom of speech, the great American university, and being a law professor and president of Columbia have all been interwoven. This has given me a mine of precious materials from which to draw, from the national to the quotidian. I love each, and I love them all together. I still do not understand all I need to, but as they intersect, I understand each better. I hope and expect you will find the same is true in your lives.让我回到我的开场白，这是我的最后一次毕业典礼演讲。“毕业典礼演讲”是人生中最难做的演讲之一。没有任何演讲可以对你们所有人都具有意义。这有点像一个陷阱，因为当你试图弥补差异时，其中存在的风险就是你最终会落得一种陈词滥调和另一种陈词滥调的下场。无须多言了。（我只希望你们相信我的关于自我意识这件事。）但是，毫无疑问，毕业典礼演讲能够集中大家的注意力。而且，如果有人要求你给出一个答案，我强烈建议你说——是的，然后尽快离开那个地方。Let me return to my opening remark that this is my last Commencement address. The “commencement speech” is one of the hardest in life to give. No remarks can live up to the meaning that this has for all of you. It is a bit of a trap because when you try to close the gap, the risk is that you will end up with the cliché and the banal. Enough said on that. (I only ask that you give me credit for being self-aware.) But, for sure, the commencement speech focuses the mind. And, if you’re ever asked to give one, I strongly urge you to say – yes, and then get out of town as quickly as possible.我向你们所有人，尤其是2023届毕业生致以最深切的祝贺。My deepest congratulations to all of you, and especially my fellow Graduates of 2023.
Reference：
[1]https://b23.tv/wJbRtBd
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