2019-08-10

Prior to the time of Descartes, Bacon and Newton, man lived in an animated, spiritual world, saturated with meaning, imbued with moral purpose. The nature of this purpose was revealed in the stories people told each other—stories about the structure of the cosmos and the place of man. But now we think empirically (at least we think we think empirically), and the spirits that once inhabited the universe have vanished. The forces released by the advent of the experiment have wreaked havoc within the mythic world.

在笛卡尔、培根和牛顿之前，人类生活在一个充满活力的精神世界，那里充满意义，充满着伦理的价值。人们互相传颂着这类“揭示意义”的故事：关乎宇宙结构，关乎人类在其中的位置。但现在我们是通过科学的“实验数据”来理性思考的（至少我们以为我们很理性很客观）。曾经居住在宇宙中的“灵”已经消失了。科学的出现释放出的力量将神话世界彻底摧毁。

Jung states:

荣格说

How totally different did the world appear to medieval man! For him the earth was eternally fixed and at rest in the center of the universe, encircled by the course of a sun that solicitously bestowed its warmth. Men were all children of God under the loving care of the Most High, who prepared them for eternal blessedness; and all knew exactly what they should do and how they should conduct themselves in order to rise from a corruptible world to an incorruptible and joyous existence. Such a life no longer seems real to us, even in our dreams. Natural science has long ago torn this lovely veil to shreds.

对于中世纪的人来说，世界是多么的不同啊!  那时候的人看见的地球是永远固定的，静止在宇宙的中心，被热切地给予它温暖的太阳所环绕。人都是神的儿女，在至高者的慈爱下，被永远的福祉洗礼。所有人都清楚地知道他们应该做什么，他们应该怎样做，以便从一个腐败的世界上升到一个不腐败和快乐的存在。这样的生活对我们来说似乎不再真实，即使是在梦里。自然科学早就把这个美好的面纱撕成了碎片。