【正文】 T HAVE Date: New Myths for the New Millennium Assignments 23 Will we learn from the failures of those who came before us? The only thing we learn from history, observed the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, is that we don39。s history is, so far, a microcosm of our pla (Bahn amp。s ruin, physiologist Jared Diamond (1995) observes that the changes in deforestation occurred so slowly from one year to the next that they were almost impossible to detect. An islander might easily miss the longterm trend, assessing: This year we cleared those woods over there, but trees are starting to grow back again on this abandoned garden site here (p. 68). Furthermore, Diamond suggests that any islander who issued a warning against the oning disaster would have been silenced by vested interests. Chiefs, priests, and stonecarvers alike depended on the status quo to maintain their position and privileges. Perhaps Easter Island39。s statues in the process. By the time the Europeans arrived (Easter Sunday, 1772, hence the island39。 Flenley, 1992。s vanished civilization and its giant statues is unique in archaeology because of the isolation of this barren land from its neighbors 2020 miles from South America and 1400 miles from the nearest inhabited island. Current archaeological evidence indicates that some 1600 years ago the island39。 Krippner, 1997), the emerging mythic contour is also evident in the psyches of many people Date: New Myths for the New Millennium Assignments 21 throughout the world. And not only is the myth changing, but the mythmaker as well. Humanity39。 （李應(yīng)清 譯） Date: New Myths for the New Millennium Assignments 20 Comparison and Contrast for the writings Note: A slightly modified version of this paper appeared in World Futures, 52,. 187238, 1998. WAKING TO THE RHYTHM OF A NEW MYTH Mythic Perspectives for a World in Distress David Feinstein Ashland, Oregon Ann Mortifee Vancouver, British Columbia Stanley Krippner San Francisco, California This essay is concerned with the myths that are leading us into an uncertain future, how they can be understood, how they can be worked with, and how they can be transformed. Some people think a myth is no more than a quaint relic from an antiquated culture, a fanciful story created to explain what is not known. More exactly, myth is the way people bine what is known and what is not known into the maps that guide them through their lives. We are continually making choices within largely uncharted waters. We can never be certain about where these choices will lead, yet we must choose. Our myths serve as the internal maps that invisibly guide us from one choice to the next. While a myth to be viable for the contemporary mind must be aligned with our capacity for rational thought, mythmaking is as much with us today as it was thousands of years ago. Myth is, in fact, grounded in the quintessential human ability to address the large questions of existence using symbolism, metaphor, and narrative. And no other species has a guidance system that touches ours for promoting flexibility and creativity in responding to the environment. The thesis to be developed here is that a new mythology is being born in the human psyche. It is, in fact, already seeping through the cracks of the mythology that has been guiding Western civilization for centuries. Because a culture39。 24．然而，如果系統(tǒng)設(shè)計和決策能避開人類進步神話中的斯庫拉和千年神話中的卡律布狄斯，人類就有可能創(chuàng)造可持續(xù)的、連貫性的神話。即使決策不能指令和預(yù)測未來，它也能反映未來人們共同的價值觀。Herbert Benson 對相關(guān)研究的評論表明，擁有靈性的人們善于保養(yǎng)身體，Date: New Myths for the New Millennium Assignments 19 這使他確信靈性是 一種具有進化適應(yīng)的特征。 ● 精神充實能使個人或團體的價值觀與道德觀明朗化。根據(jù)人類學(xué)家 Ruth Benedict 的研究，高度合作的社會是安全的、仁慈的、士氣高昂的，而協(xié)作程度低的社會則不安全、粗暴無禮、士氣低落。 ● 協(xié)同作用產(chǎn)生超越團體與個人各自利益的有利結(jié)果。 ● 崇高的目標是對彼此有利的結(jié)果，能超越?jīng)_突各方各自的利益。 ● 后天形成的樂觀主義者反對這樣的傾向：認為某個團體或國家出現(xiàn)不利情況時，其不利影響具有永恒性和滲透性。 22．在重大決策中，北美易洛魁人詢問一個決策對未來的第七代人有多大的影響 。由于承認語言交流的局限性，后現(xiàn)代主義者極力主張團體之間“超越語言”，進行溝通。只要社會成員不陷入意識形態(tài)的空談之中，完全不同的信仰和生活方式常常能夠彼此融合。許多沖突與其說是人們所經(jīng)歷的價值觀的實際差異，不如說只是形式上的差異。 20． Kenh Gergen 的第二條原則是我們應(yīng)當意識到語言的局限性。以色列總理 Menachem Begin、埃及總統(tǒng)薩達特和美國總統(tǒng)卡特在戴維營會晤時，都交換了各自子孫的照片。后 現(xiàn)代主義者意識到如果參與談判者善于談判，任何道德規(guī)范或理性原則都可隨時應(yīng)用。從神話的角度看，這些原則是非常合適的。他發(fā)現(xiàn)“過去的教條不適宜于不太平的現(xiàn)在，由于我們的情況是新的，因此，我們應(yīng)當與時俱進。 17．還需要在那些令人眼 花繚亂、不很和諧、相互競爭的神話當中構(gòu)建一個統(tǒng)一的神話。即使 Sam Keen的評估過于樂觀，但它也證實了這樣一種論點：人類的想象力和合作能夠解決世界上最危險的相關(guān)問題群。他也意識到全球四分之一的軍費開支可以用于提供住房、掃除文盲、消除饑餓和營養(yǎng)不良的現(xiàn)象，以及償還發(fā)展中國家的債務(wù)。它們包括： ● 把人格特征從以自我為中心轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐陨鐓^(qū)利益為中心； ● 把競爭轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榻?jīng)濟合作； ● 把神圣的暴力和正義戰(zhàn)爭的神話轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)楹推浇鉀Q沖突； ● 把人口爆炸轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槿丝诹阍鲩L； ● 把大自然是原材料基地的世俗觀點轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榇笞匀缓苌袷サ挠^點； ● 把貧富不均轉(zhuǎn) 變?yōu)楦雍侠淼胤峙湄敻缓唾Y源。 15．與 Joseph Cambell 密切合作的另一位哲學(xué)家 Sam Keen 號召我們把進步的神話轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榭沙掷m(xù)增長的神話，建立社會需要的、有同情心的政治秩序來防止人類自我毀滅。但他清楚地意識到如果人類要繼續(xù)生存，就得改變其機能失調(diào)的神話。隨之而來的沖突顯然是古老神話與新神話的沖突。 就像兩條不可阻擋的隊列在十字Date: New Myths for the New Millennium Assignments 17 街口向相反的方向行進。 13．盡管進步大神話保持著優(yōu)勢，但也出現(xiàn)了很多與之競爭的神話。他們不想?yún)⑴c信息高速公路和地球村。對于他們來說，西方技術(shù)的附帶影響令人失望，一些認為地球無可救藥、人類毫無希望、退化墮落的宗教領(lǐng)袖們相信進入另一個世界才是人類得到拯救的唯一機會?！比祟惖挠X醒本身標志著基督教所預(yù)言的千年的到來。一位空想家寫道：“ 2020 年將是人類凝聚集體智慧的時候。 11．很多樂觀的千年神話相信太陽能、冷核聚變、收獲浮游生物或外星人將會拯救人類，它們描繪了一個“新黃金時代”、“新耶路薩冷”、“和平王國”或“太陽城”。在千年之交，進步大神話受到許多理想的神話與災(zāi)難性的“千年神話”的沖擊。 千年的諸多神話 10．從人類學(xué)角度看，神話可以看作是一種處理人類現(xiàn)實問題、指導(dǎo)人們行為結(jié)果的幻想故事。汽車的發(fā)明是人類進步的典范，但隨之產(chǎn)生了交通擁擠、大氣污染和森林的亂砍亂伐等問題，化 肥提高了農(nóng)作物產(chǎn)量，但也使湖泊和運河中的藻類增多，核電站增加了可利用的能源，但導(dǎo)致了核廢料的貯存問題和威脅生命安全的污染問題，至少發(fā)生過一次波及世界的核事故。 Date: New Myths for the New Millennium Assignments 16 7．理性的思考和經(jīng)驗主義的科學(xué)方法已成為進步神話的重要支柱，他們有助于識別哪種經(jīng)濟體制、哪種政治體制、哪種美學(xué)作品能很好地引導(dǎo)人類從混亂走向理想的未來。這是一個邁向成功、改良和征服等目標的過程。 6．從神話的角度提出