The Psychology of Gravity 01

The Psychology of Gravity 01

地心引力心理學

By Gaston Bachelard 巴舍拉

Translated by Springhero 雄伯

                              The moral tendency of humankind, like its physical tendency, is to fall, continually.

                               人類的道德，如同生理一樣，

都傾向於不斷地墮落。

              Jean-Paul Richter,

              La vie de Fixlein

In Air and Dream I discussed a number of images of falling and of the abyss which, according to all evidence, were products of the terrestrial imagination. It was necessary to examine these images in order to understand the dynamic inverse of flight. For one takes flight against gravity, in dream as well as in reality. In a reciprocal manner, it is necessary now to invoke aerial images if we are to appreciate properly the psychological weight of terrestrial images.

在「空氣與夢」一書中，我討論許多墮落跟懸崖的影像，依據各種證據，是地球想像的產物。現在為了要瞭解飛翔的動力倒轉，有需要再審查這些影像。因為人飛翔就是要對抗地心引力，無論是在夢中或現實當中。以互動的方式，現在需要召喚空中影像，假如我們想要適當地欣賞地球影像的心理重量。

There is no way to understand the psychology of gravity—the psychology of that which makes us heavy, tired, slow, unsteady on our feet—without referring to the psychology of weightlessness, the nostalgic for lightness. Interested readers may consult that earlier work, with which I began my study of the active imagination.

要瞭解地心引力的心理學，也就是使我們沉重、疲倦、緩慢、兩腳不穩的心理學，我們不可能不提到無重量的心理學，也就是對於輕盈的懷念。有興趣的讀者不妨參考一下那部早期的作品，當時我開始研究及積極想像。

It would be a mistake, however, to limit ourselves to a mere juxtaposition of images of the above with images of the below. Images which adhere to such a geometry are, in a way, too obvious. They have logical images. One must free oneself of their simple relativity to experience the dynamic dialectic of rising and falling. The psychological realism of this dialectic of ascent and descent is better understood when one reads, with a dreaming soul, this entry in Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks:

可是我們若僅是限於將上面的影像跟下面的影像做對比，將是個錯誤。堅持幾何學的影像在某方面看法太明顯了。他們形成邏輯的影像。為了要經驗到上昇與墮落的動力演變學，我們必須擺脫他們簡單的相對。當我們帶著夢幻的靈魂閱讀達文西的筆記，我們就較能瞭解上昇與下降演變的心理真相：

Lightness is born of heaviness and heaviness of lightness, instantaneously and reciprocally, returning creation for creation, gaining strength proportionally as they gain life, and as much more in life as they gain in motion. They destroy one another also at the same time, fulfilling a mutual vendetta, proof that lightness is created only in conjunction with heaviness, and heaviness only where lightness follows.

   輕盈從沉重產生，沉重亦由輕盈產生，同時而又互相，創造回報創造，生命力越大，力量就越大，運用於人生甚至有勝於運用於動作。輕盈與沉重也同時互相毀滅，實現互相仇殺，證明輕盈只與沉重並生，沉重之所在，輕盈跟隨之。

Certainly, one could give this obscure passage a scientific commentary which would show that the learned Italian, following Aristotle and anticipating Galileo, represented falling bodies to himself as passing through an active atmosphere conceived as a full medium. But this clarification in the realm of ideas brings us no closer to the realm of belief, where the science of bygone days dreams on. In order to gain entry to this world of primary belief, we must place ourselves at the center of a mass of images.

的確，對於這似非而是的引文，我們可以給予科學的評論，證明達文西這位義大利人，前踵亞力斯多德、後期伽立略，將自己身驅的墮落，比擬為經歷過他認為是充分媒介的活動大氣。但是這種觀念領域的澄清，並無補於我們對於以往科學夢幻所在的信仰領域的瞭解。為了要進入原先信仰的這個世界，我們先要置身於大量影像的中心。

It is within this sort of psychic nebula that the sense of core weight and flowering lightness originate. Our feelings of heaviness and lightness emerge out of this “ feud” between two opposing tendencies. When we are dizzy to the point of falling, it seems we are about to rise into the air. Myriad impressions affect our psychological weight, which is truly imaginary.

核心重量跟開花的輕盈，就開始於這種心理的朦朧星雲的範圍內。我們的沉重跟輕盈之感，就是從這兩個相反傾向的「宿怨」中出現。當我蒙暈眩到要墮落的程度，似乎我們即將上昇到空中。我們心理的重量，其實是無中生有，是受到無數的印象影響。

Were it possible to scrutinize our dream lives closely, we would quickly recognize how heightened our sensitivity can be to impressions of weight and balance. Perhaps we might teach ourselves to combat our feelings of heaviness and be cured of them. A pedagogy of gravity would thus double as psychology of psychic gravity. What an aspiration to heights there is in these two lines by Sergei Esenin!

假如我們可能仔細審查我們的夢中生活，我們會很快體認出，我們的感官多麼的被強化到重量跟平衡的印象。也許，我們可以教導自己去格鬥這種沉重之感，而痊癒其病徵。做為一門心理地心引力的心理學，我們因此需要加倍的教導。看看Sergei Esenin所寫的下面這兩行，升高的渴望是多麼強烈！

Enough of heaven without stairs,

Enough of falling snow.

再無法忍受沒有樓梯的天堂

再無法忍受墮落的雪

Verticality is so impressionable a human dimension that it occasionally permits an image to be elongated, stretching it in two directions at once, both upwards and downwards. Dreamers who love verticality will smoke their cigarettes and daydream differently if they meditate upon the double movement in this image borrowed from Ribemont-Dessaignes’ wonderful collection, Ecce Homo:

   直立是人類令人印象深刻的向度，因此有時會允許影像延長，同時朝兩個方向延伸，既朝上、又朝下。喜愛直立的夢幻者，假如沉思從Ribemont-Dessaignes文集「戴荊棘的耶穌！」借用過來的這個影像的雙重動作，將會邊抽煙，邊夢想。

   He flapped his wings, lit a cigarette,

   And smoke rose up into the sky,

   And ash plunged down into the depths of hell

   他拍動翅膀，點燃香煙，

   煙圈上昇到空中，

   灰燼下墮到地獄的深淵

  

P263—p264

Earth and Reveries of Will by Gaston Bachelard

Translated by Springhero 雄伯

https://springhero.wordpress.com

32hsiung@pchome.com.tw