在紛亂的世界裡,最難的不是選邊,而是保有人性。最近友人分享日本知名作家村上春樹那篇〈我永遠站在雞蛋的那方〉,想起聖經中「哀哭的人有福了,因為他們必得安慰」。作為一個信仰者,也作為一個台灣人,我願用理性與悲憫,看待這場讓世界心碎的戰爭——這是一篇見證,一篇寫給仍相信「靈魂有尊嚴」的人們的文章。 站在雞蛋那方,不等於反對牆 村上春樹說:「在高大堅硬的牆和雞蛋之間,我永遠站在雞蛋那方。」這句話經過多年仍擲地有聲。它不是政治宣言,而是一種道德座標。 牆象徵的是體制,是權力,是那個冷峻、無情、但似乎必要的秩序;而雞蛋,是人——每一個獨立、脆弱、卻不可取代的生命。 但在以色列與巴勒斯坦之間,這比喻變得格外艱難。這裡沒有純粹的牆,也沒有單一的雞蛋。雙方都有歷史的傷,信仰的根,恐懼的影子。若只以「正義/邪惡」「壓迫/被壓迫」二分,反而掩蓋了真實的悲劇。 當雙方都成為彼此的牆 作為一個基督徒,我相信每一個人都按上帝的形象被造。因此,每當看到以色列的城鎮遭火箭襲擊,我為無辜的平民心痛;而當我看到加薩的孩子在瓦礫中哭泣,我同樣心痛。 這世界上沒有乾淨的戰爭。當報復變成慣性,當恐懼取代理性,牆與蛋的界線開始模糊——我們都成了彼此的牆。 以色列在歷史的創傷中求生,而巴勒斯坦則在封鎖的絕望裡喘息。雙方都在防衛,也都在毀滅。誰也不再只是受害者,誰也不再是單純的加害者。這是最悲哀的現實。 媒體戰與話語權的陷阱 今天的輿論戰場幾乎被哈瑪斯主導。他們懂得如何利用媒體與情緒,將戰爭轉化成影像敘事。而以色列,因為軍事強勢與「國家身份」的標籤,幾乎註定被視為壓迫者。 我並不否認巴勒斯坦人民的苦難,但我也拒絕將一切真相交給宣傳者編排。因為當痛苦成為政治資本,受難就不再是受難,而是操弄。真正的同情,不應有策略;真正的悲憫,不能分國籍。上帝看的是靈魂,不是立場。 不喜中國的介入,因為懂它的假面 作為台灣人,很清楚中國在中東問題中的角色。它表面上「聲援弱者」,實際上只是利用哈瑪斯來對抗以色列與西方。這種「為巴勒斯坦發聲」的姿態,不是出於良知,而是出於算計。 那不是站在雞蛋的那方,而是利用雞蛋去砸別人的牆。這樣的政治表演,對於真正的和平沒有任何幫助。台灣人太明白這種邏輯——那是「黃鼠狼向雞拜年」的虛偽關懷,是牆在模仿雞蛋的口氣說話。 信仰與記憶:我們該記得什麼? 《聖經》說:「你要記念你在埃及地作過奴僕。」這提醒人們,不要在獲得自由之後,忘記自己也曾是弱者。以色列應該記得這句話;巴勒斯坦人也應該記得。我們每一個人都該記得。 我生活在台灣——一個同樣被威脅的小島。我明白何謂恐懼,何謂孤立,也明白要在壓力中仍然保持理性有多難。或許正因如此,我更能理解以色列的焦慮,也同情加薩的苦難。 永遠站在人的那一方 村上春樹說:「小說家的責任,是給予每個靈魂尊嚴。」我相信,知識分子的責任,正是如此。但我不想再問「誰對誰錯」,我只願提醒自己:在高牆與雞蛋之外,還有更根本的一個立場——那就是人的一方。 牆或許必要,但不該冷酷;自衛或許正當,但不能失去靈魂。我們唯一能做的,就是相信人的價值,守住那一點點溫度。當我看著新聞畫面,我的禱告始終簡單:願所有的牆終有一天倒塌,願所有的雞蛋不再破碎。願上帝親自擦乾每一個人的眼淚。
冷靜不是冷漠,理性不是遺忘。身為台灣知識分子,我願用筆見證——在充滿仇恨的世界裡,仍有一些人選擇記得「人性」。 那是信仰之光,也是我們最後的防線。
----■附錄:村上春樹〈我永遠站在雞蛋的那方〉(2009耶路撒冷文學獎演講辭)■ Haruki Murakami:‘’Always on the Side of the Egg‘’ (Jerusalem Prize Acceptance Speech, 2009) 開場:小說家與謊言 Today, I come to Jerusalem as a novelist. 今天我以一名小說家的身分來到耶路撒冷。 A novelist is a liar by profession. 而小說家,正是所謂的職業謊言製造者。 Of course, politicians lie, too. Diplomats lie. Generals lie, as do car salesmen and butchers. Even architects lie. 當然,不只小說家會說謊。眾所周知,政治人物也會說謊。外交官、將軍、二手車業務員、屠夫和建築師亦不例外。 But the lies of the novelist are different from the others. Nobody minds if a novelist tells lies, as long as they are well made. The bigger and better the lie, the more people like it. 但是小說家的謊言和其他人不同。沒有人會責怪小說家說謊不道德。相反地,小說家愈努力說謊,把謊言說得愈大愈好,大眾和評論家反而愈讚賞他。 --- Why is this? Because by telling skillful lies—by making up fictions that appear to be true—the novelist can bring a truth out to a new place and shine a new light on it. 為什麼?因為藉由高超的謊言,也就是創作出幾可亂真的小說情節,小說家才能將真相帶到新的地方,也才能賦予它新的光輝。 In most cases, the truth is like a shadow, it remains hidden behind the wall. We cannot grasp it directly. So we dig it out and re-create it in a fictional framework. 在大多數的情況下,我們幾乎無法掌握真相,也無法精準地描繪真相。因此,必須把真相從藏匿處挖掘出來,轉化到另一個虛構的時空,用虛構的形式來表達。 But before doing so, we must be sure that the truth is there, inside us. This is a prerequisite for making good lies. 但是在此之前,我們必須先清楚知道,真相就在我們心中的某處。這是小說家編造好謊言的必要條件。 Today, however, I am not here to tell lies. I am here to be as honest as I can. 今天,我不打算說謊。我會盡可能地誠實。 --- 來此的掙扎 In Japan, many people advised me not to come here to accept the Jerusalem Prize. Some even warned me that if I did come, they would boycott my books. 在日本,許多人建議我不要來這裡接受耶路撒冷文學獎。甚至有人警告我,如果我堅持前來,他們會聯合抵制我的小說。 The reason, of course, is the fierce battle now going on in Gaza. According to UN reports, more than a thousand people have already died there, many of them innocent civilians, children, and old people. 主要的原因,當然是迦薩正在發生的激烈戰鬥。根據聯合國調查,在被封鎖的迦薩城內,已經有超過千人喪生,許多人是手無寸鐵的平民、孩童和老人。 I asked myself: is it right to come here and accept a literary prize under these circumstances? Wouldn’t it be taken as a sign that I support one side in the conflict, or endorse the policy of a state that uses overwhelming force? 我收到獲獎通知後,不斷問自己:此時到耶路撒冷接受文學獎,是否正確?這會不會讓人認為我支持衝突中的某一方,或認為我支持一個發動壓倒性武力攻擊的國家政策? To be honest, I did not want my books to be boycotted, either. But after much consideration, I decided to come. 老實說,我也不想看到自己的書被抵制。但經過反覆思考,我還是決定來到這裡。 Like most novelists, I have the habit of doing things people tell me not to do. Unless we see things with our own eyes, touch them with our own hands, we cannot believe anything. 我和許多小說家一樣,總是要做人們反對的事情。小說家是特別的族群,除非親眼所見,親手觸摸,否則他們不會相信任何事情。 I came here because I wanted to face things directly, not turn away. I wanted to see them with my own eyes, not close them. I wanted to speak out, not keep silent. 我來到這裡,我選擇親身面對而非置身事外;我選擇親眼目睹而非矇蔽雙眼;我選擇開口說話,而非沉默不語。 --- 雞蛋與牆的比喻 But this does not mean that I came here to deliver a political message. My own preference is to do so through stories—especially surrealistic stories. So today I will not make any direct political statements here. 但是這不代表我要發表任何政治訊息。我個人偏好用故事,尤其用超現實的故事來表達。因此,我今天不會在你們面前發表任何直接的政治訊息。 What I would like to do is tell you something very personal. It is a kind of motto I keep in mind whenever I write. I have never written it down or displayed it, but it is engraved on the wall of my heart. It goes like this: 不過,請容我在這裡向你們傳達一個非常私人的訊息。這是我創作時永遠牢記在心的話語。我從未將這句話真正行諸文字或貼在牆壁,而是刻劃在我心靈深處的牆上。這句話是這樣的: “Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg.” 「以卵擊石,在高大堅硬的牆和雞蛋之間,我永遠站在雞蛋那方。」 Yes, no matter how right the wall may be and how wrong the egg, I will stand with the egg. Someone else will have to decide what is right and what is wrong; perhaps time or history will decide. If a novelist should ever write works standing on the side of the wall, then what worth would those works have? 無論高牆是多麼正確,雞蛋是多麼地錯誤,我永遠站在雞蛋這邊。誰是誰非,自有他人、時間、歷史來定論。但若小說家無論何種原因,寫出站在高牆這方的作品,這作品豈有任何價值可言? The wall represents the System, which crushes us. The egg is the individual soul, fragile and irreplaceable. 轟炸機、戰車、火箭和白磷彈就是那堵高牆;而被它們壓碎、燒焦和射殺的平民則是雞蛋。 But it goes deeper: we are all, more or less, eggs. Each of us is a unique soul inside a fragile shell. And each of us confronts the System, the high wall. The System is supposed to protect us, but sometimes it takes our lives, or forces us to kill others coldly and efficiently. 更深一層的看,我們每個人,也或多或少都是一枚雞蛋。我們都是獨一無二,裝在脆弱外殼中的靈魂。你我也或多或少,都必須面對一堵名為「體制」的高牆。體制照理應該保護我們,但有時它卻殘殺我們,或迫使我們冷酷、有效率、系統化地殘殺別人。 We created the System. 是我們創造了體制。 --- 靈魂的尊嚴與父親的記憶 I write novels for one reason only: to bring dignity to the life of each individual soul. Stories exist to remind us of this dignity, to protect it, and to shed light on it. 我寫小說只有一個原因,就是給予每個靈魂尊嚴,讓它們得以沐浴在陽光之下。故事的目的在於提醒世人,在於檢視體制,避免它馴化我們的靈魂、剝奪靈魂的意義。 The role of the novelist is to keep describing the uniqueness of each soul, through stories of life and death, of love, of tears, of laughter and of fear. This is why we go on writing novels, seriously, day after day. 我深信小說家的職責就是透過創作故事,關於生死、愛情、讓人感動落淚、恐懼顫抖或開懷大笑的故事,讓人們意識到每個靈魂的獨一無二和不可取代。這就是我們為何日復一日,如此嚴肅編織小說的原因。 My father, who was 90 years old, passed away last year. He was a retired teacher and a lay Buddhist priest. When he was studying in Kyoto, he was drafted and sent to fight in China. 我九十歲的父親去年過世。他是位退休老師和兼職的和尚。當他在京都的研究所念書時,被強制徵召到中國打仗。 As a postwar child, I used to wonder why he prayed every morning in front of the family altar. One day, I asked him why. He told me he prayed for all who had died in the war, friends and enemies alike. 身為戰後出生的小孩,我很好奇為何他每天早餐前,都在家中佛壇非常虔誠地祈禱。有一次我問他原因,他說他是在為所有死於戰爭的人們祈禱,無論是戰友或敵人。 When I saw his back bent in prayer, I sensed the shadows of death surrounding him. He is gone now, and those memories that I can never know are gone with him. But the shadows remain with me. This is one of the few things I inherited from him, but it is among the most important. 看著他跪在佛壇前的背影,我似乎感受到周遭環繞著死亡的陰影。我父親過世了,帶走那些我永遠無法盡知的記憶。但環繞他周遭那些死亡的陰影卻留在我的記憶中。這是我從他身上繼承的少數東西之一,卻也是最重要的東西之一。 --- 結語:靈魂與體制 All I want to say to you today is this. We are all human beings, regardless of nationality, race, or religion. We are all, more or less, eggs against the high wall. 今天,我只希望能向你們傳達一個訊息。我們都是人類,超越國籍、種族和宗教,我們都只是一枚面對體制高牆的脆弱雞蛋。 No one can ever win against the wall. The wall is too high, too strong, and too cold. 無論怎麼看,我們都毫無勝算。牆實在是太高、太堅硬,也太過冷酷了。 What we can do is believe in the worth of each soul, in its warmth, and in the connection of soul to soul. 戰勝它的唯一可能,只來自於我們全心相信每個靈魂都是獨一無二的,只來自於我們全心相信靈魂彼此融合,所能產生的溫暖。 We must never let the System take away our humanity. We must never let the System exploit us. The System did not make us: we made the System. 我們不能允許體制剝削我們,我們不能允許體制自行其道。體制並未創造我們:是我們創造了體制。 That is all I have to say. Thank you very much. 這就是我想對你們說的。非常謝謝。
