Happiness Is a Trap幸福是個陷阱

We live in a world obsessed with happiness. Between chief happiness officers1， the Happy Planet Index2， Gross National Happiness， and the World Happiness Report， it seems as though happiness has some good PR. Throughout modern history， and with little contesting， happiness has been seen as the end goal and just reward for a life of laudable toil.

我們生活在一個執著于幸福的世界。從“首席幸福官”“幸福星球指數”“國民幸福總值”和《全球幸福指數報告》中似乎可以看出，對“幸福”的宣傳頗為有效。縱觀現代史，對于值得贊美的辛勞生活，幸福一直被視為其最終目標與合理回報，這一觀點幾乎沒有爭議。

Before the ancient Greek philosophers， happiness， like most things in life， was seen as a benefaction granted by the gods. It was the great iconoclast Socrates who became the first to suggest that happiness was a cognitive and meaning-making pursuit， something in a person’s control， rather than simply a gift bestowed by the gods. And now， the positive thinking movement， abundance theory and any other number of self-help genres see some form of happiness as the primary objective and something we can achieve if we just try hard enough.

在古希臘哲學家的時代之前，幸福和生活中的大多數事情一樣，被視為神賜恩惠。偉大的反偶像崇拜者蘇格拉底第一個提出，幸福是一種在認知層面構建意義的追求，是人可以控制的東西，而不僅僅是神賜的禮物。如今，積極思考運動、富足理論等各種自助流派都將某種形式的幸福視為首要目標，認為只要我們足夠努力就能實現幸福。

It’s an unfortunate irony then that in a world fixated on happiness， people are so chronically unhappy. There are 280 million people with depression globally， according to the World Health Organization. It’s a further tragic irony that we are so bad at knowing what will make us happy. As humans， we “miswant” a lot of things that we have been conditioned to believe will make us happier than they actually do. How often have we felt a certain kind of deflation after that big purchase or much-anticipated night out when it didn’t live up to our expectations？

然而，既諷刺又令人遺憾的是，在執著于幸福的世界里，人們卻長期處于不快樂的狀態。根據世界衛生組織的統計，全球有2.8億人患有抑郁癥。更為可悲的是，我們根本不知道什么能讓我們幸福。我們人類“誤以為自己想要”很多東西，習慣于相信這些東西會讓我們更幸福，但事實并非如此。我們有多少次因為大采購或熱切期待的夜生活沒有達到預期而在某種程度上感到失落？

Between self-help gurus， philosophers and marketers all telling us how to be happy， it’s easy to get confounded. How do we achieve happiness？ As captivating as it is， that question isn’t the right one. This one is： What if we’re so fixated on happiness that we’ve failed to question whether happiness is what we should be pursuing？ What if， after two millenniums of debating the relative benefits of varying types of happiness， we could focus on another， more enduring， more impactful emotional state that will bring us both happiness and more significant benefits？ Simply put， it feels like we are on a racetrack， chasing the wrong rabbit.

自助大師、哲學家和營銷人員都在告訴我們如何獲得幸福，我們很容易感到困惑。我們如何獲得幸福？這個問題雖然很吸引人，但問得不對。我們應該問：是不是我們太執著于幸福，而未曾考慮幸福是否值得追求？兩千年來，我們一直在思考不同類型的幸福有何相對優勢，假如現在我們可以專注于另一種更持久、更有力的情感狀態，這種狀態既能給我們帶來幸福，也能帶來更重大的益處，情況會如何？簡而言之，執著于幸福就像在賽馬場上追錯了兔子。

Why not pursue wonder？ Each of us has experienced wonder. It’s as universal an emotion as happiness and fear. Still， we all too often seek the comfort of simple positive emotions such as happiness rather than sit in the discomfort of negative or mixed emotions， even though they contribute to more profound well-being.

為什么不追求驚奇呢？我們每個人都感受過驚奇，那是和快樂與恐懼一樣普遍的情感。盡管如此，我們還是經常從簡單的積極情緒（如快樂）中尋求安慰，而不是沉浸在消極或復雜情緒的不快中，盡管后者有助于我們獲得更深刻的幸福。

We resist negative emotions such as sadness or fear at our peril. Psychologist and philosopher Kirk Schneider refers to happiness as “potential fool’s gold，” believing the “compulsion to think positively” （i.e.， toxic positivity） is equally as bad as the “compulsion to think negatively” and can actually block us from experiencing the “wonder-amazement of living.” Embracing negative emotions not only adds to the richness of our human experience， but negative emotions are also a way to broaden our emotional vocabulary， which helps us call up a greater variety of coping skills. In fact， research shows that people with higher emotional granularity， or emodiversity， use more positive coping mechanisms and recover more quickly from stress.

我們抵制悲傷或恐懼等負面情緒的做法反而對自己不利。心理學家、哲學家柯克·施奈德說幸福“可能是愚人的黃金”，他認為“強迫積極思考”（即有毒的積極性）與“強迫消極思考”同樣有害，實際上會阻礙我們體驗“生活的驚奇之處”。擁抱消極情緒不僅能豐富我們人類的體驗，還是拓寬我們情感詞匯的一種方式，有助于我們調用更多種應對技能。事實上，有研究表明情緒顆粒度（或稱情緒多樣性）更高的人會使用更多積極的應對機制，并且能更快地從壓力中恢復過來。

Even better than embracing your negative emotions is embracing both positive and negative emotions at the same time. This powerful coping mechanism increases our sense of meaning and gratitude in the face of adversity. While emotions such as happiness are known as “positively valenced” and emotions such as sadness are “negatively valenced，” some emotions like bittersweetness， sympathy， nostalgia and wonder are mixed or “dually valenced” emotions.

比擁抱消極情緒更有益的是同時擁抱積極和消極的情緒。這種強大的應對機制能增強我們在逆境中的意義感和感激之情。快樂等情緒被稱為“正價情緒”，悲傷等情緒被稱為“負價情緒”，而苦樂參半、同情、懷舊和驚奇等情緒則屬于復雜或 “雙價情緒”。

Paradoxically， this tendency toward feeling just positive purely or negative emotions is further exacerbated when we are stressed， precisely when we could most benefit from the ameliorating effects of mixed emotions. Under stress， we lean on our mental shortcuts， defaulting to simple emotions such as “happy” or “sad” instead of embracing the multidimensionality of a complex emotion such as wonder. These types of complex emotions make us more resilient. In essence， by holding both positive and negative thoughts in our mind simultaneously， we can better metabolize traumatic experiences and make meaning of them.

自相矛盾的是，當我們背負壓力時，這種只感受到純粹的積極情緒或消極情緒的傾向會進一步加劇，但正是在這種時候，我們最能受益于復雜情緒的改善作用。處于壓力之下，我們會依賴心理捷徑，默認選擇“快樂”或“悲傷”等純粹的情緒，而不是接受多維度的復雜情緒，比如“驚奇”。各種復雜情緒讓我們更有韌性。從本質上講，通過在頭腦中同時保有積極和消極的想法，我們可以更好地代謝慘痛經歷并使其具有意義。

Author Susan Cain， who wrote a bestselling book on the emotion of bittersweetness， described mixed emotions as being “some of the most sublime aspects of being human， and they happen to be connected to our appreciation of how fragile life can be， and the impermanence of life.”

作家蘇珊·凱恩曾寫過一本關于苦樂參半的暢銷書，她將復雜情緒描述為“人之為人最崇高的一些方面，恰好與我們領悟生命的脆弱及無常有關”。

I have experienced this dynamic myself. I vividly recall being a student in Miami， huddling under a mattress with my roommates for what was， at the time， the worst hurricane in history. It was impossible to be happy given the destruction， the loss. But part and parcel of my grief was my sense of wonder. Curious about how we would rebuild， in awe of the brutish impassivity of the storm but also in awe of the sacrifice of the first responders. And that sense of wonder granted me the resilience to heal and to hope.

我親身經歷過這種狀態。我清楚地記得自己在邁阿密讀書期間，和室友們擠在床墊下躲避當時史上最嚴重的颶風。考慮到颶風造成的破壞和損失，我不可能感到快樂，但在我的悲痛中占有重要地位的是驚奇。我好奇我們將如何重建家園，也畏懼暴風雨的殘酷無情，同時敬佩第一批救援人員的犧牲精神。那種驚奇之感賦予了我用于治愈創傷和期望未來的韌性。

And wonder doesn’t just bestow resilience. In fact， in side-by-side comparisons by researchers， wonder’s quantum benefits are greater than those of happiness. Wonder makes us more creative and more desirous of studying the world around us. It makes us humble， less materialistic， more generous and better community members. Wonder-prone people are more likely to perform better in school and work and build healthier relationships. A very prosocial emotional experience， wonder quite simply makes us want to be better， more tolerant people.

驚奇不僅能賦予人韌性。事實上，研究人員在并排比較中發現，驚奇比快樂帶來的益處要大得多。它讓我們更有創造力，更渴望研究周圍的世界。它讓我們為人更謙遜、慷慨，讓我們物欲降低，成為更好的社區成員。驚奇感強的人更有可能在學習和工作中取得更好的成績，建立更健康的人際關系。驚奇是一種非常親社會的情感體驗，讓我們想成為更友好、更寬容的人。

If those aren’t reasons enough to motivate us toward more wonder， the physiological benefits are particularly compelling. Researchers have found a link between people who experience wonder and lower blood pressure， lower stress hormones and decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines， the latter of which are the markers associated with a number of diseases， including cancer and cardiovascular disease. These links suggest a direct “biological pathway” between wonder and better health.

如果說上述理由還不足以激勵我們追求更多驚奇，那么生理上的益處更能令人信服。研究人員發現，體驗驚奇與血壓降低、應激激素水平降低和促炎細胞因子減少之間存在聯系，而促炎細胞因子是與癌癥和心血管疾病等多種疾病相關的標志物。這些聯系表明，驚奇與健康之間存在直接的“生物學通路”。

The world， the people in it， and our experiences are not binary or easily defined. Two things can coexist in opposition to each other， and both can be true at the same time. Wonder embraces life’s beautiful， messy complexity in a way happiness doesn’t. It allows for nuance and depth. It allows for the reality of a simultaneously sucky and sublime existence. That uncomfortable balancing coexistence feels more true to me than a manufactured cajoling toward happiness.

這個世界、生活其中的我們以及我們的經歷都不是二元對立的，也無法簡單定義。兩件事可以對立共存，也可以同時成立。驚奇擁抱生活美麗而混亂的復雜性，但快樂做不到。驚奇允許存在細微差別和深度，接受同時存在卑劣與崇高的現實。對我來說，這種令人不適的平衡共存比編造花言巧語哄騙人們追求幸福更真實。

（譯者單位：東南大學人文學院）

1人力資源領域的新興崗位，主要負責提升職場中的工作幸福感，維護員工的身心健康。" 2 2006年，英國智庫“新經濟基金會”（New Economics Foundation）發布首個“幸福星球指數”，衡量各國在實現長壽、幸福和可持續的生活方面做得如何。