November 6th
SOMEONE ELSE IS SPINNING THE THREAD
“If the breaking day sees someone proud,
The ending day sees them brought low.
No one should put too much trust in triumph,
No one should give up hope of trials improving.
Clotho mixes one with the other and stops
Fortune from resting, spinning every fate around.
No one has had so much divine favor
That they could guarantee themselves tomorrow.
God keeps our lives hurtling on,
Spinning in a whirlwind.”
—SENECA, THYESTES, 613
The novelist Cormac McCarthy was living in a motel room when he heard a knock at the door. It was a messenger—he’d been awarded the MacArthur “genius” grant and $250,000. Unexpected events can be good as well as bad.
Who could dream of such an unexpected twist? Who but Clotho, one of the three Greek goddesses of fate, who “spins” the thread of human life? To the ancients, she was the one who decided the course of the events of our lives—some good, some bad. As the playwright Aeschylus wrote, “When the gods send evil, one cannot escape it.” The same was true for great destiny and good fortune.
Their resigned attitude might seem strange to us today, but they understood who was really in control (not them, not us!). No amount of prosperity, no amount of difficulty, is certain or forever. A triumph becomes a trial, a trial becomes a triumph. Life can change in an instant. Remember, today, how often it does.
11月6日
命运之线由他人纺织
“倘若黎明见一人意气扬扬，
日暮或见其跌落低谷。
胜利之时，切莫过于自恃；
困厄之中，亦不应放弃希望。
命运女神克洛托将祸福交织，
使幸运永不停驻，
令众生命运流转不息。
无人能蒙受如此深厚的神恩，
以至于敢担保明日依然属于自己。
神明推动我们的生命疾驰向前，
在旋风之中翻卷不休。”
——塞内卡，《提厄斯忒斯》，第613行
小说家科马克·麦卡锡曾经住在一家汽车旅馆里。一天，他听见有人敲门。来者是一位信使，带来了一个令人难以置信的消息：麦卡锡获得了麦克阿瑟“天才奖”，连同一笔25万美元的奖金。可见，突如其来的变故未必都是坏事，也可能是意外之喜。
谁能预料到如此出人意料的命运转折？或许只有克洛托——希腊神话中三位命运女神之一，负责纺织人类生命之线的女神。在古人看来，正是她决定着我们生命历程中的种种遭遇，有的带来幸福，有的带来苦难。正如古希腊剧作家埃斯库罗斯所言：“诸神若降下灾祸，凡人便无从逃避。”然而，伟大的际遇与幸运的降临，同样不由人自主宰。
古人这种听天由命的态度，在今天看来或许有些陌生。但他们深知，究竟是谁掌握着命运的主导权——既不是他们，也不是我们。无论繁荣昌盛，还是艰难困苦，都没有什么是确定不变、永恒持久的。胜利可能转眼成为磨难，磨难也可能顷刻化作胜利。人生的境遇，往往在一瞬之间便天翻地覆。
今天，请提醒自己：这样的变化，在人生中何其常见。
读要读顺口，写要写顺手， 擒字如擒虎，解句如解题。 |