What Make You Feel Insignificance¹

什么使你感到渺小

A generation ago young people aspired² to become lawyers and doctors. Now they yearn³ to be the next Oscar winner or celebrity⁴ pop star.

上一代人，他们在年轻的时候都立志成为律师或者医生，而现在的年轻人则是梦想成为下一位奥斯卡奖得主或成为如雷贯耳的明星。

But one university psychologist has warned this is wreaking⁵ havoc⁶ with our self-image and undermining our sense of self-worth. Over recent years people around the world have been suffering from an increasing fear of their own "insignificance", according to Dr Carlo Strenger of Tel Aviv University.

但是一位大学心理学家对此发出警告说，这种名人崇拜将会严重干扰我们对自我形象的认识、破坏我们的自我价值感。按照特拉维夫大学的卡罗·斯兰则博士的看法，近年来，世界各地的人们越来越忧心地感觉到自己的渺小。

He began an interdisciplinary project on the phenomenon⁷ 10 years ago, after noticing a surge of this fear in his own patients. His findings, presented in a new book, notes hundreds of research projects that have charted an unprecedented⁸ increase in levels of anxiety and depression.

十年前，当斯兰则博士注意到他的病人中陷入对自身渺小忧虑的人数呈现激增状态之后，他就针对该现象展开了一项跨学科的研究项目。这一研究成果都发表在他的新书上，上面介绍了在他分析了上百个研究项目之后发现，人们的焦虑和抑郁水平都在以前所未有的速度上升。

By using a wide-ranging framework Dr Strenger thinks he has pinpointed5 the cause. "The impact of the global infotainment' network on the individual is to blame," he said. "A new species is born: homo globalis -global man -and we are defined by our intimate connection to the global infotainment network, which has turned ranking and rating people on scales of wealth and celebrity into an obsession⁹. "

通过这一领域宽泛、涵盖甚广的研究，斯兰则博士认为他已经查明了导致该现象的原因。他说"应该把责任归咎于全球化的资讯娱乐网络对个人所产生的消极影响。一个新物种——世界人——诞生了。作为这一新物种，我们的身份高低完全由我们与全球资讯娱乐网络的关系亲疏来定义。这一网络按财富和知名度给人们划分了等级，我们陷入了这种困扰之中。"

As humans we naturally measure ourselves to those around us, but now we live in a "global village" we are comparing ourselves with the most "significant" people in the world -and finding ourselves wanting. Today, even high achievers constantly fear that they are insignificant¹⁰ when they compare themselves to success stories in the media. "This creates highly unstable¹¹ self-esteem and an unstable society," Dr Strenger said.

作为人类，我们自然会和身边的人做比较。可是现在我们住进了地球村，来做我们比较对象的是全世界最受关注的人，这样一对比就发现了自身的不足。在今天，即便是那些成就卓越的人，当他们跟媒体所描述的成功人士比较起来，也会担忧地发现自身很渺小。斯兰则博士称这种渺小的感觉导致了极度脆弱的自尊和不稳定的社会。"

Instead, Dr Strenger says people should stop measuring their achievement through cultural fantasies of riches and celebrity, which cannot lead to fulfillment. The remedy is a process that he calls "active self-acceptance" through a sustained quest for self-knowledge through life.

斯兰则博士认为，人们应该停止用那些富豪和名人的文化传奇作标准来衡量自己的成就，这种比较并不会使他们获得成功。对于这种病症，人们可以通过一个斯兰则博士称之为积极的自我接纳——即通过在生活中不断地发现自我——的过程来治疗。

The fear of insignificance can only be overcome through strong individual and cultural identity over and above measurable achievement. He believes that people need to invest as much time in developing their worldviews as their careers.

这种对自身低微的恐惧只能通过强烈的个人和文化认同感来克服，这种认同感的表现就是不再用成就高低来衡量一切。斯兰则博士认为，人们需要花费和发展事业同样多的时间来培养他们的世界观。

"Stable meaning cannot be found in cheap paperbacks¹². People should invest time and thought to their worldviews and self-understanding in the same way they invest in medical studies and law school," Dr Strenger advises.

他还建议说廉价的平装书中很难有真知，人们应该拿出他们用在医学和法学的时间和思想来培养他们的世界观和自我认知。"