In April of 1958, Hunter S. Thompson was 22 years old when he wrote this letter to his friend Hume Logan in response to a request for life advice.
Thompson’s letter, found in Letters of Note, offers some of the most thoughtful and profound advice I’ve ever come across.
April 22, 1958
57 Perry Street
New York City
1958年4月，亨特·S·汤普森22岁时，他向朋友休谟·洛根写了这封信，以回应对生活的建议。
汤普森的信，可以在便条中找到，提供了一些我所遇到过的最贴心和最深刻的建议。
1958年4月22日
佩里街57号
纽约市
Dear Hume,
You ask advice: ah, what a very human and very dangerous thing to do! For to give advice to a man who asks what to do with his life implies something very close to egomania. To presume to point a man to the right and ultimate goal— to point with a trembling finger in the RIGHT direction is something only a fool would take upon himself.
I am not a fool, but I respect your sincerity in asking my advice. I ask you though, in listening to what I say, to remember that all advice can only be a product of the man who gives it. What is truth to one may be disaster to another. I do not see life through your eyes, nor you through mine. If I were to attempt to give you specific advice, it would be too much like the blind leading the blind.
亲爱的休谟，
你征求意见：啊，这是一件多么人性化和危险的事情！因为给一个问自己的生活该怎么办的人提建议意味着一件非常接近自大的事情。假定一个人指向正确的终极目标——用颤抖的手指指向正确的方向——这是只有傻瓜才会接受的。
我不是傻瓜，但我尊重你诚恳地征求我的意见。不过，在听我说的话时，我请你记住，所有的建议只能是给出建议的人的产物。真理对一个人来说可能是另一个人的灾难。我看不到你眼中的生命，也看不到你眼中的生命。如果我想给你具体的建议，那就太像盲人带领盲人了。
“To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles … ” (Shakespeare)
And indeed, that IS the question: whether to float with the tide, or to swim for a goal. It is a choice we must all make consciously or unconsciously at one time in our lives. So few people understand this! Think of any decision you’ve ever made which had a bearing on your future: I may be wrong, but I don’t see how it could have been anything but a choice however indirect— between the two things I’ve mentioned: the floating or the swimming.
“是要成为，还是不成为：这就是问题所在：是要承受无耻的命运的吊索和箭，还是要拿起武器去对抗一片麻烦的海洋……”（莎士比亚）
事实上，这就是问题：是随波逐流，还是为了一个目标而游泳。这是我们生活中必须有意识或无意识地在同一时间做出的选择。很少有人能理解这一点！想想你曾经做过的任何决定，它关系到你的未来：我可能是错的，但我不知道它怎么可能是一个选择，无论多么间接-在我提到的两件事之间：漂浮或游泳。
But why not float if you have no goal? That is another question. It is unquestionably better to enjoy the floating than to swim in uncertainty. So how does a man find a goal? Not a castle in the stars, but a real and tangible thing. How can a man be sure he’s not after the “big rock candy mountain,” the enticing sugar-candy goal that has little taste and no substance?
The answer— and, in a sense, the tragedy of life— is that we seek to understand the goal and not the man. We set up a goal which demands of us certain things: and we do these things. We adjust to the demands of a concept which CANNOT be valid. When you were young, let us say that you wanted to be a fireman. I feel reasonably safe in saying that you no longer want to be a fireman. Why? Because your perspective has changed. It’s not the fireman who has changed, but you. Every man is the sum total of his reactions to experience. As your experiences differ and multiply, you become a different man, and hence your perspective changes. This goes on and on. Every reaction is a learning process; every significant experience alters your perspective.
So it would seem foolish, would it not, to adjust our lives to the demands of a goal we see from a different angle every day? How could we ever hope to accomplish anything other than galloping neurosis?
但是如果你没有目标，为什么不浮动呢？这是另一个问题。毫无疑问，享受漂浮比在不确定的环境中游泳要好。那么一个人如何找到目标呢？不是星空中的城堡，而是真实而有形的东西。一个男人怎么能确定他不是在追求“大石头糖果山”，一个诱人的糖果目标，没有味道和物质？
答案——从某种意义上说，生命的悲剧——是我们寻求理解目标，而不是人。我们设定了一个目标，要求我们做某些事情：我们做这些事情。我们适应了一个无效概念的要求。当你年轻的时候，让我们说你想成为一名消防员。我说你不想再当消防员，这是相当安全的。为什么？因为你的观点改变了。不是消防队员改变了，而是你。每个人都是他对经验的总反应。随着你的经历的不同和增多，你会变成一个不同的人，因此你的观点也会发生变化。这种情况不断发生。每一个反应都是一个学习过程；每一次重要的经历都会改变你的观点。
所以，把我们的生活调整到我们每天从不同角度看到的一个目标的要求似乎是愚蠢的，不是吗？除了狂奔的神经官能症，我们怎么能指望达到其他目的呢？
The answer, then, must not deal with goals at all, or not with tangible goals, anyway. It would take reams of paper to develop this subject to fulfillment. God only knows how many books have been written on “the meaning of man” and that sort of thing, and god only knows how many people have pondered the subject. (I use the term “god only knows” purely as an expression.) There’s very little sense in my trying to give it up to you in the proverbial nutshell, because I’m the first to admit my absolute lack of qualifications for reducing the meaning of life to one or two paragraphs.
I’m going to steer clear of the word “existentialism,” but you might keep it in mind as a key of sorts. You might also try something called Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre, and another little thing called Existentialism: From Dostoyevsky to Sartre. These are merely suggestions. If you’re genuinely satisfied with what you are and what you’re doing, then give those books a wide berth. (Let sleeping dogs lie.) But back to the answer. As I said, to put our faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. So we do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors. WE STRIVE TO BE OURSELVES.
那么，答案决不能与目标打交道，也不能与有形目标打交道。开发这个主题需要大量的论文才能实现。上帝只知道有多少关于“人的意义”之类的东西的书，上帝只知道有多少人思考过这个问题。（我纯粹用“上帝知道”这个词来表达。）我试图简单地把它交给你是毫无意义的，因为我是第一个承认自己完全没有资格把生命的意义缩减到一两段。
我要避开“存在主义”这个词，但你可以把它记在心里，作为某种关键。你也可以尝试让·保罗·萨特所说的存在与虚无，以及另一种叫做存在主义的小东西：从陀思妥耶夫斯基到萨特。这些只是建议。如果你真的对自己和正在做的事感到满意，那就把这些书放在一边。（让睡狗躺下）但回到答案。正如我所说，把我们的信念放在切实的目标上，充其量似乎是不明智的。所以我们不努力成为消防员，也不努力成为银行家，警察，医生。我们努力做自己。
But don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean that we can’t BE firemen, bankers, or doctors— but that we must make the goal conform to the individual, rather than make the individual conform to the goal. In every man, heredity and environment have combined to produce a creature of certain abilities and desires— including a deeply ingrained need to function in such a way that his life will be MEANINGFUL. A man has to BE something; he has to matter.
As I see it then, the formula runs something like this: a man must choose a path which will let his ABILITIES function at maximum efficiency toward the gratification of his DESIRES. In doing this, he is fulfilling a need (giving himself identity by functioning in a set pattern toward a set goal), he avoids frustrating his potential (choosing a path which puts no limit on his self-development), and he avoids the terror of seeing his goal wilt or lose its charm as he draws closer to it (rather than bending himself to meet the demands of that which he seeks, he has bent his goal to conform to his own abilities and desires).
但不要误解我。我不是说我们不能成为消防员、银行家或医生，而是说我们必须使目标符合个人，而不是使个人符合目标。在每一个人身上，遗传和环境结合在一起，产生了一种具有某种能力和欲望的生物——包括一种根深蒂固的需要，以使他的生活有意义的方式发挥作用。一个人必须是某种东西；他必须是物质的。
正如我当时看到的，这个公式是这样运行的：一个人必须选择一条道路，让他的能力以最大的效率运行，以满足他的欲望。在这样做的过程中，他满足了一个需要（通过对一个既定目标的既定模式的运作来赋予自己身份），他避免了挫败他的潜力（选择一条不限制他自我发展的道路），并且他避免了看到他的目标在他接近时枯萎或失去魅力的恐惧。为了它（不是为了满足他所追求的，而是为了满足自己的能力和欲望而弯曲自己）。
In short, he has not dedicated his life to reaching a pre-defined goal, but he has rather chosen a way of life he KNOWS he will enjoy. The goal is absolutely secondary: it is the functioning toward the goal which is important. And it seems almost ridiculous to say that a man MUST function in a pattern of his own choosing; for to let another man define your own goals is to give up one of the most meaningful aspects of life— the definitive act of will which makes a man an individual.
Let’s assume that you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow (all pre-defined paths, of course). And let’s assume that you can’t see any real purpose in any of the eight. THEN— and here is the essence of all I’ve said— you MUST FIND A NINTH PATH.
Naturally, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ve lived a relatively narrow life, a vertical rather than a horizontal existence. So it isn’t any too difficult to understand why you seem to feel the way you do. But a man who procrastinates in his CHOOSING will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.
简而言之，他并没有把自己的一生奉献给实现一个预先设定的目标，而是选择了一种他知道自己会享受的生活方式。目标是绝对次要的：它是朝着目标运转的，这是很重要的。如果说一个人必须以他自己选择的模式运作，这似乎是荒谬的；因为让另一个人定义你自己的目标，就是放弃生命中最有意义的一个方面——让一个人成为一个个体的决定性意志行为。
假设您认为有八条路径可供选择（当然是所有预定义的路径）。让我们假设你看不到任何真正的目的。那么——这就是我所说的一切的本质——你必须找到第九条道路。
当然，这并不像听起来那么简单。你的生活相对狭窄，是垂直的，而不是水平的。所以不难理解为什么你似乎感觉到你的方式。但是，一个在选择上拖拖拉拉的人，不可避免地会因环境而做出选择。
So if you now number yourself among the disenchanted, then you have no choice but to accept things as they are, or to seriously seek something else. But beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life. But you say, “I don’t know where to look; I don’t know what to look for.”
And there’s the crux. Is it worth giving up what I have to look for something better? I don’t know— is it? Who can make that decision but you? But even by DECIDING TO LOOK, you go a long way toward making the choice.
If I don’t call this to a halt, I’m going to find myself writing a book. I hope it’s not as confusing as it looks at first glance. Keep in mind, of course, that this is MY WAY of looking at things. I happen to think that it’s pretty generally applicable, but you may not. Each of us has to create our own credo— this merely happens to be mine.
If any part of it doesn’t seem to make sense, by all means call it to my attention. I’m not trying to send you out “on the road” in search of Valhalla, but merely pointing out that it is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life as you know it. There is more to it than that— no one HAS to do something he doesn’t want to do for the rest of his life. But then again, if that’s what you wind up doing, by all means convince yourself that you HAD to do it. You’ll have lots of company.
And that’s it for now. Until I hear from you again, I remain,
your friend,
Hunter
所以，如果你现在把自己列为清醒的人，那么你就别无选择，只能接受事物的本来面目，或者认真地寻找其他事物。但要小心寻找目标：寻找生活的方式。决定你想要怎样生活，然后看看你能做些什么来在这种生活方式中谋生。但你说，“我不知道该去哪里，我不知道该找什么。”
这就是症结所在。值得放弃我必须寻找更好的东西吗？我不知道-是吗？除了你，谁能做出决定？但是，即使你决定去寻找，你也会有很长的路要走。
如果我不停止，我会发现自己在写一本书。我希望它不会像第一眼看到的那样令人困惑。当然，请记住，这是我看待事物的方式。我碰巧认为这是相当普遍的适用性，但你可能不适用。我们每个人都必须创造自己的信条——这只是我的信条。
如果其中任何一部分似乎没有意义，那就一定要引起我的注意。我并不是想让你“上路”去寻找瓦尔哈拉，而是仅仅指出，没有必要接受你所知道的生活所传递给你的选择。还有更多的事情要做——没有人必须做他余生不愿做的事情。但是，再次重申，如果这就是你最终要做的，那就一定要说服你自己，你必须去做。你会有很多同伴的。
现在就这样。直到我再次收到你的消息，我才离开，
你的朋友，
猎人
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