模拟人生3城镇生活:为什么设计生活方式，环游世界和独自一人居住不会让你获得自由

现在，很多人在网上想向你兜售自由。他们说为自己打工，独自居住或者抛弃你所有的财产，是通向自由之路。

But I don’t think freedom can ever be found by breaking free of anything. Because once you move in the direction to Freedom from X, you start to put yourself in opposition to X. And that’s when you put yourself into another pattern, another groove. Once you identify as counter-culture, you’ve become the thing you wanted to rid yourself of: conformity.

但我不认为自由可能从打破任何东西中寻找到。因为一旦你从X走向自由，你开始把自己放在了X的对立面。而当你把自己放到另外一种模式中，那种模式又成了对立面。一旦你认定自己是反文化的，你就变成了你想摆脱的那种模样：从众。

Freedom is not found in patterns, nor on the edges of contrarianism. Freedom isn’t about escaping the 9 to 5, revolution, or breaking away.

自由不是在模式中找到的，也不是在反对主义前沿找到的。自由不是逃离朝九晚五，改革或者逃跑。

When I quit my job in 2009 I thought that that was what I needed to create freedom in my life. And did it? No, and yes. It created more time for me to do the things I wanted. But it didn’t grant me freedom. That was something only I could claim, right now. I didn’t need to be free from a job in order to be free as a human. Freedom doesn’t rely on achieving any specific circumstance in the future. It’s here now, or not at all.

当我在2009年辞职时，我以为我需要这样来创造我生命中的自由。它创造了自由么？不是，也是。它使我有了更多的时间来做我想做的，但是它并没有授予我自由。这是我现在唯一能说的。我不需要为了成为一个自由的人而从工作中解脱。自由也不取决于在将来达成任何特定的环境。它现在就在这里，或者完全不存在。

But a lot of people have trouble accepting that. They think they need to do or change something in order to earn their freedom. We think that freedom is something we have to protect and fight for. As soon as you start thinking that, it’s already too late. You’re in another pattern of you vs. them. Freedom has no home, it’s alien to all patterns.

但是很多人很难接受这一事实。他们认为他们需要做或者改变一些事情，从而获得自由。我们认为自由是我们保护并为之奋斗的食物。一旦你开始这么想，就已经太晚了。你处在另外一种“你对抗他们”的模式中。自由没有定居之地，它不同于所有的模式。

No one can take away your freedom.

没有人能拿走你的自由。

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what freedom means to me. Is it the absence of desire? Detachment? The ability to do whatever I want?

我花费了很多时间思考自由对我来说意味着什么。是欲望的缺失？是分离？是做我想做的任何事情的能力？

What I found is that…

我发现：

Freedom is the absence of conditioning

自由是条件限制的消失

It sounds simple, but being free of conditioning is a hard thing to do. We spend most of our lives submitting to ideas, beliefs, perspectives, and patterns that are false. They keep us confined and keep us from experiencing life.

这听起来很简单，但是从条件限制中挣脱出来是一件很难的事。我们花了生命中大把的时间屈从于各种想法，各种信念，各种观点，各种虚假的模式。他们限制了我们，并防止我们体验生活。

Because that’s the sad part: you can’t experience life right now when you’re trapped in a pattern. You’re looking through the lens of conformity and distortion. What was once alive has been filtered and processed down to an automatic response.

因为悲哀的是：当你身陷一种模式中，你不能在当下体验生活。你透过从众和扭曲的眼镜观察。曾经生动的事物被过滤掉并被加工成一种自动反应。

You can’t listen to another person when you’re formulating a response. And you can’t experience life when you’re caught in a pattern of thinking. As soon as you say “this is the way,” you have stopped living.

当你规划一种反应的时候，你听不进别人的话。而当你陷入一种思维模式时，你无法体验生活。一旦你说：“就是这样。” 你就停止了生活。

Freedom is not for sale

自由不能出售

Just as no change in circumstance can bring you freedom, you can’t buy freedom either. No one can sell you a guide or solution that will give you what you need to liberate yourself. A lot of people like to claim they can help you become free with this new system or this or that change. It’s all bullshit.

正如环境不发生改变也能带给你自由一样，你无法买到自由。没有人能卖给你一份指南或者解决方案，从而把你解放自己所需要的东西给你。很多人喜欢说他们可以用一套新的系统或者这样那样的变化来帮你变得自由。这都是胡说八道。

The only thing that will set you free is… curiosity. Deep, sincere inquiry. This is a quality that I attempt to cultivate in myself, and is something that I think can serve you for life.

唯一能让你自由的是——好奇心。深刻，真诚的探究。这是一种我尝试训练自己的能力，也是我认为能服务你生活的东西。

I’m not here to say that things like lifestyle design, location independence, or self-employment are wrong or that they don’t enhance your life. But to say they are necessary to being free is misleading, and simply not true. And evangelizing it as the way just puts you in another pattern.

我不是在说诸如设计生活方式，独自居住或者为自己打工这些事是错误的，或者他们不能提高你的生活质量。我只是说，他们对变得自由是必须的，这一说法是令人误解的，至少不是真的。这样传播这些只会把你放到另外一种模式中。

So yeah, you can master lifestyle design, travel the world, and hack your personal growth, but that won’t make you free.

所以，你可以控制生活方式的设计，全球旅行，砍断你个人成长，但是这并不会让你自由。

Radical, sincere, and fiery inquiry is the only medicine potent enough to burn through conditioning. Then, whatever action you take is rooted in insight, not just responding to what other people think will set you free.

彻底的，真诚的，热烈的探索，是烧毁条件限制唯一足够有效的药物。这样，你怎么行动都是根植于洞察力，而不仅仅是对别人认为能让你自由的方法的反应。

The truth is, your burning questioning is all you need to set yourself free. But don’t believe me, investigate for yourself.

事实是，你最棘手的问题是你需要什么来释放自己。但是，不要相信我，问问自己。