THE UNLIVED LIFE

Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
我们大多数人有两种生活。 我们当前的生活，和我们想有但从没有过的生活。 两者之间存在着抵抗。

Have you ever brought home a treadmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever quit a diet, a course of yoga, a meditation practice? Have you ever bailed out on a call to embark upon a spiritual practice, dedicate yourself to a humanitarian calling, commit your life to the service of others? Have you ever wanted to be a mother, a doctor, an advocate for the weak and helpless; to run for office, crusade for the planet, campaign for world peace, or to preserve the environment? Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.

生词：

meditation practice：冥想练习
crusade for the planet：为地球而战
campaign for world peace：争取世界和平
你有没有把跑步机带回家，然后就把它丢在阁楼里收集灰尘？ 曾经放弃健过康饮食，瑜伽课程，冥想练习吗？ 你是否曾在一次精神修行的召唤中脱离困境，献身于人道主义的呼唤，为了别人而献出自己的生命？ 你有没有想成为一个母亲，一个医生，一个为弱者和无助者辩护的人; 竞选公职，为地球而战，争取世界和平，或保护环境？ 深夜你是否想过你可能会成为另一个人，想过你可以完成的工作，意识到你的应该成为什么样的人？ 你是一个不写作的作家，一个不画画的画家，一个从未创业的企业家吗？ 然后你知道什么是抵抗。

One night I was layin' down,
I heard Papa talkin' to Mama.
I heard Papa say, to let that boy boogie-woogie.
‘Cause it's in him and it's got to come out.
—John Lee Hooker, “Boogie Chillen”
一天晚上，我躺在床上，
我听见爸爸跟妈妈说话，
我听到爸爸说，让那个男孩boogie-woogie（一种音乐流派）。
‘因为它就在他体内，它需要被释放出来。’

Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and erectile dysfunction. To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be. If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius. Genius is a Latin word; the Romans used it to denote an inner spirit, holy and inviolable, which watches over us, guiding us to our calling. A writer writes with his genius; an artist paints with hers; everyone who creates operates from this sacramental center. It is our soul’s seat, the vessel that holds our being-in-potential, our star’s beacon and Polaris.

生词：

toxic：有毒的
deform：变形
stunt：阻碍...的正常发展
抵抗是地球上毒性最大的力量。 它是比贫困、疾病和勃起功能障碍更令人不幸福的根源。屈服于抵抗会改变我们的精神。 它阻碍了我们成长，使我们比现在和生来就是的更弱。 如果你相信上帝（我相信）你必须宣告抵抗邪恶，因为它阻止我们实现上帝所期望的生活，因为他赠予我们每个人独特的天赋。 天赋是一个拉丁词; 罗马人用它来表示一种神圣而不可侵犯的内在精神，它盯着我们，引导我们实现我们的呼召。 作家以他的天赋写作; 一位艺术家和她一起画画; 每个创作的人都在这个圣事中心运作。 它是我们灵魂的座位，拥有我们潜能的船只，我们的明星灯塔和北极星。

Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance. As powerful as is our soul’s call to realization, so potent are the forces of Resistance arrayed against it. Resistance is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, harder to kick than crack cocaine. We’re not alone if we’ve been mowed down by Resistance; millions of good men and women have bitten the dust before us. And here’s the biggest bitch: We don’t even know what hit us. I never did. From age twenty-four to thirty-two, Resistance kicked my ass from East Coast to West and back again thirteen times and I never even knew it existed. I looked everywhere for the enemy and failed to see it right in front of my face.

生词：

potent：强有力的
太阳会投下阴影，而天赋的阴影就是抵抗。 正如我们灵魂对实现的强烈要求一样强大，与之对抗的抵抗力量也很强大。抵抗比飞快的子弹更快，比火车头更强大，比开裂可卡因更难踢。 如果我们被抵抗力量摧毁，我们并不是一个人; 数以百万计的优秀男女为我们提供了前车之鉴。最大的问题是：我们甚至不知道是什么打击了我们。 我一直都不知道。 从二十四岁到三十二岁，抵抗将我从东海岸踢到了西部，再次回来，重复了十三次，然而我甚至都不知道它的存在。 我到处寻找敌人，却未能在我面前看到它。

Have you heard this story: Woman learns she has cancer, six months to live. Within days she quits her job, resumes the dream of writing Tex-Mex songs she gave up to raise a family (or starts studying classical Greek, or moves to the inner city and devotes herself to tending babies with AIDS). Woman’s friends think she’s crazy; she herself has never been happier. There’s a postscript. Woman’s cancer goes into remission.
你是否听过这个故事：一个女子得知她患有癌症，只剩六个月的生命。 几天之内她就辞去了工作，重新开始了因为养家而放弃的梦想——写德克萨斯 - 梅克斯歌曲，（或者开始学习古典希腊语，或者搬到内城并致力于照顾患有艾滋病的婴儿）。这位女子的朋友认为她很疯狂; 可她自己从未如此幸福。 有一个附言。 这位女子的癌症进入缓解阶段。

Is that what it takes? Do we have to stare death in the face to make us stand up and confront Resistance? Does Resistance have to cripple and disfigure our lives before we wake up to its existence? How many of us have become drunks and drug addicts, developed tumors and neuroses, succumbed to painkillers, gossip, and compulsive cell-phone use, simply because we don’t do that thing that our hearts, our inner genius, is calling us to? Resistance defeats us. If tomorrow morning by some stroke of magic every dazed and benighted soul woke up with the power to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams, every shrink in the directory would be out of business. Prisons would stand empty. The alcohol and tobacco industries would collapse, along with the junk food, cosmetic surgery, and infotainment businesses, not to mention pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the medical profession from top to bottom. Domestic abuse would become extinct, as would addiction, obesity, migraine headaches, road rage, and dandruff.

生词：

cripple：削弱
disfigure：毁坏
succumb：屈服
compulsive：强迫性的
这就是代价吗？是否必须面对死亡才能使我们站起来对抗抵抗？在我们意识到抵抗存在之前，是否一定先让它削弱和毁坏我们的生活？我们当中有多少人成了醉酒和吸毒成瘾者，患上了肿瘤和神经病，屈服于止痛药、八卦和强迫性的手机使用，仅仅因为我们没有做那件我们内心一直呼唤去做的事？抵抗击败了我们。如果明天早上通过一些神奇的魔法，让每一个茫然和愚昧的灵魂醒来，都有力量迈出追求梦想的第一步。监狱会空无一人。酒精和烟草行业将与垃圾食品，整容手术和信息娱乐业务一起崩溃，更不用说制药公司，医院和医疗行业从上到下。家庭暴力将灭绝，成瘾，肥胖，偏头痛，道路愤怒和头皮屑也会消失。

Look in your own heart. Unless I’m crazy, right now a still, small voice is piping up, telling you as it has ten thousand times before, the calling that is yours and yours alone. You know it. No one has to tell you. And unless I’m crazy, you’re no closer to taking action on it than you were yesterday or will be tomorrow. You think Resistance isn’t real? Resistance will bury you.
看看你自己的内心。 除非我疯了，否咋现在有一个小小的声音正在流淌着，告诉你，正如它之前一万次一样，你的呼唤仅属于你自己。 你是知道的。 没有人告诉你。 除非我疯了，否则你不会比昨天或明天更接近采取行动。 你认为抵抗不是真的？ 抵抗会埋葬你。

You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At eighteen he took his inheritance, seven hundred kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts and later to the School of Architecture. Ever see one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement but I’ll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.
你知道，希特勒想成为一名艺术家。 十八岁时，他继承了七百克朗，并搬到维也纳生活和学习。 他申请了美术学院，后来又进入了建筑学院。 有没有人见过他画的任何一副画？ 我没有见过。抵抗击败了他。 有人说这是夸大其辞，但无论如何我也会说：希特勒发动第二次世界大战，也比面对空白的画布更轻松。