(3)第四讲

Lesson No. 4 —

第四讲——活力调整

 

Carrel and Lakhovsky are the greatest scientists of the age so far as the constitution of Man is concerned. The former dug deeper into the body and its processes perhaps than any one else in modern times, while the latter swept the universe in his search for the secret of Life.

只要谈到人体的构建，卡雷尔和拉霍夫斯基（Lakhovsky）算得上是本世纪最伟大的科学家了。前者对人体及其各个过程（processes）的研究，恐怕比当今任何其他人进行得都要深刻。而后者为了探寻生命的秘密，把整个宇宙都放在了他的研究之列。

 

Carrel devoted a chapter of his work, Man, The Unknown, to the important subject of Adaptive Functions, and declared them to be responsible for the duration of man’s life. He showed why man’s body, composed of soft, alterable matter, susceptible of disintegration in a few hours, lasts longer than if made of steel. He wrote:

卡雷尔在他的书《人，未解之谜》中，用了整整一章来诠释适应性功能（Adaptive Functions）这个重要主题，而且宣称是这些功能对人寿命的长短起了决定性作用。人体，虽然由柔软、易变的物质组成，数小时后即告分解，却为何能有那么长的寿命，好似钢铁铸成一般。对此他解释道：

 

“Not only does he last, but he ceaselessly overcomes the difficulties and dangers of the outside world. He accommodates himself, much better than the other animals do, to the changing conditions of his environment. He persists in living despite physical, economic and social upheavals. Such endurance is due to a very particular mode of activity of his tissues and humors. The body seems to mold itself on events. Instead of wearing out (collapsing) it changes. Our organs always improvise means of meeting every new situation; and these means are such that they tend to give man a maximum duration. The physiological processes are always incline in the direction leading to the longest survival of man. This strange function, this watchful automatism with its specific characters, makes human existence possible. It is called Adaptation.” —191-2.

“人不仅活得长久，而且不停克服外界各种困难及危险。他对不停变化的周遭的适应性比其他动物都强。克服身体、经济与社会的剧变，他还能顽强活下去。这种承受力是由于他的组织及体液的一种特殊运作模式。身体好像能随机应变。它并不会就此精疲力竭（崩溃），而是因应做出改变。我们的器官总是能随时提供办法，应对每一种新情况；而且这些办法一般都能给人最大程度的承受力。生理过程的发展，总是要人尽可能长寿。这种奇怪的功能，这种警觉的自动机制，以其鲜明的特征，使人类的生存成为可能。这就是适应性。”——191-2。

 

People know so little concerning the adaptive functions of the body. Hence it will be difficult for the reader to understand that the weaker his body becomes the longer its duration under adverse conditions.

提及人体适应性功能，人们知之甚少。因此对于读者来讲，也许会难以理解，人体越弱，在恶劣的条件下生存越久。

 

Carrel himself appears not to know that man “persists in living despite physical, economic, and social upheavals,” because of the fact that as the “body seems to mold itself on events,” it suffers in the process a corresponding weakness which will be explained as we proceed, and that explanation will be so new to the student that he will miss some vital points unless he reads this lesson several times.

卡雷尔本人好像并不知道人“克服身体、经济与社会的剧变，还能顽强活下去”，因为有这样一个事实，当“身体好像能随机应变”时，会在这个过程当中遭受一种相应的弱化，这会在后面加以解释，而且那个解释对学生来讲太陌生，以至于他会遗漏一些重要之处，除非他能把这一讲读上好几遍。

 

 

Disease Germs

疾病病菌

 

We shall begin by referring to the fraudulent claim that the world is filled with evil entities which attack healthy persons without reaction and the result is “disease,” — something so dangerous that it must be combated and cured.

开始我们要提到这个骗子言论，言论称这个世界充满了邪恶的实体（evil entities），它们攻击人类，而人类并不自觉，其结果就是人类患上“疾病，”——非常危险，必须抵抗，并加以治疗。

 

A deceived world believes in this and rejects evidence that exposes it. Carrel believed in it to the extent that he asserted, “scientific medicine has given to man artificial health” (P. 311).

这个蒙在鼓里的世界非常相信这种说辞，而且拒绝相信揭穿这种说辞的证据。卡雷尔一定程度上也是相信的，所以他声称，“科学医药给予人类人工的健康”（P. 311）。

 

It requires great prejudice to blind a scholar so completely that he cannot see the obvious absurdity of such a statement.

对于一个学者而言，除非他有极端的偏见，否则不至于被蒙蔽至此，一点也看不出这种说辞显而易见的荒谬。

 

According to cosmic law, man reaps as he sows; and that law has no exception (Gal. 6:7). We shall use that law as a guide to lead us through the wilderness and confusion created by Carrel’s “scientific medicine.”

根据宇宙法则，人种的是什么，收的也是什么；这个法则毫无例外（格珊地6:7）。我们应当以这个法则为指导，让我们穿过卡雷尔的“科学医药”所制造的困惑与混乱。

 

 

Good Health Is Not Immunity

好身体不等同于免疫

 

Doctors volubly discuss the theory of “resistance to disease,” and Carrel believed in it. Supposedly good health makes man “immune” to disease-breeding influences, to the attack of germs, to vicious habits, to hostile environment.

医生们滔滔不绝地谈论“抗病”理论，卡雷尔相信了。据称，健康体魄使人对疾病传播的影响、病菌的入侵、恶习及不利的环境都具有“免疫力”。

 

The theory of “scientific medicine” is that man is attacked by disease because of a weakening of the natural body defenses. Alfred Pulford, M.D., M.H.S., F.A.C.T.S., a medical practitioner of fifty years, wrote:

“科学医药”的理论是，人之所以得病，是因为自然身体防御的弱化。阿尔弗雷德·普尔福德（Alfred Pulford），医学博士，健康科学硕士，F.A.C.T.S.，五十年的资深医师，写道：

 

“The exciting and contributing causes of pneumonia may be, and are, legion; but they all simmer down to the one point, viz., the breaking down of the natural body defenses (Truth Teller, April 1944, P. 2).

“加重肺炎及肺炎的致病原因或许是多方面的；但是都归于一点，即，自然身体防御的瓦解（说真话的人Truth Teller，1944年4月，第2页）。

 

In his daily column in the press of June 8^th, 1944, Irving S. Cutter, M.D., said:

在1944年6月8日的每日专栏报道中，医学博士欧文·卡特（Irving S. Cutter）说：

 

“Now is the time to think of getting rid of that chronic winter cough. Yes, bacteria are responsible. But their very existence with all the irritation they can create, means that basic resistance (of the body) is too depleted to throw them off.”

“现在是时候想办法甩掉那慢性冬日咳嗽了。是的，细菌是罪魁祸首。但是它们的存在及所制造的所有炎症，都说明，人体基本的抵抗力太弱，无法克服掉。”

 

The better doctors know the germ theory of disease is false. If it were true, no man nor beast could live long. They would be literally devoured by “disease germs.”

比较有智慧的医生都知道疾病细菌论是错误的。假如是对的，那么没人，也没有动物能够长久存活。他们都会被“病菌”吞噬的。

 

Natural science shows that correspondence must prevail as between the living organism and its environment. That is the positive, primal, and fundamental condition of Existence.

自然科学显示，生命器官及其环境之间沟通频繁。这是存在（Existence）积极、首要、根本的条件。

 

It were impossible for primitive man to come into physical being unless the proper, perfect and harmonious condition of his Environment prepared the way. Furthermore, the health condition of man’s body can never be any better than the health condition of his Environment, with the condition of which his body must always be in correspondence.

原始人类是无法直接变为现代人类的，除非环境中恰当、完美及和谐的条件已经为其铺好了道路。而且，人体的健康状况怎么都比不上他所在环境的健康状况，因为人体总是必须与其所在的环境相配合。

 

Bananas grow not in a cold climate because their constitution does not correspond with such climate. Salt water fish live not in fresh water because their constitution does not correspond with such water. That is natural science.

香蕉在寒冷气候里无法生长，因为它们的构成与这样的气候并不一致。咸水鱼无法在淡水中存活，是因为它们的构成与这样的水并不一致。这就是自然科学。

 

Man is the most perfect of all creatures, and is able to rise superior to bananas and fish by reason of his body’s “watchful automatism with its specific characters” which “make human existence possible.” He can modify the condition of a hostile climate or adjust himself to it so as to live for a limited time in the hottest and coldest regions on earth.

万物之中，人最完美，比香蕉和鱼都要高等，因为他身体“警觉的自动机制，以其鲜明的特征，”“使人类的生存成为可能。”他可以改变不利的环境，或者让自己去适应这个环境，这样才能在地球上最热及最冷的地方生活一段时间。

 

The Law of Correspondence in this case means that a condition of harmony must exist as between living things and their environment, or they will die and disappear. That does occur occasionally, causing certain plants and animals to become extinct.

这种情形下的一致性法则（The Law of Correspondence）意味着生物及其环境之间肯定存在某种和谐，否则它们就会死亡、消失。这确实时有发生，某些动植物的灭绝便是例证。

 

Spencer formulated the Law of Eternal Physical Existence and sought to show that Death was the end result of environmental changes which the living organism had not adapted changes to meet, thus creating a condition of discord and friction that sent the body down to death.

斯宾塞（Spencer）建立了身体存在永恒法则，试图证明，死亡只是因为生命器官无法适应环境的变化，从而造成一种不协调与摩擦，而这把身体送上不归路。

 

The human body is so perfectly constituted that it possesses the power to prolong its duration by adapting itself to conditions so adverse that they would otherwise cause not only early death, but instant death in some cases.

人体的构建如此完美，完全有能力通过适应极其恶劣的环境来延长其存在期限，否则人不仅死得早，某些情况下甚至猝死。

 

On this point Dr. Charles W. Greene wrote:

在这点上，查理·格林（Charles W. Greene）博士写道：

 

“As the air exhaled from the lungs contains a large proportion of carbon dioxide and a small amount of organic matter, it is obvious that if the same air be breathed again and again, the proportion of carbon dioxide and organic matter in it will increase until it becomes decidedly unfit to breathe.

“人的肺呼出的气体大部分是二氧化碳，一小部分是有机物。很显然，假如同样的气体一直被吸进呼出，二氧化碳及有机物的比例会升高，最终将不再适合呼吸。

 

“It is a remarkable fact that the organism, in time, adapts itself to a very vitiated atmosphere, and that a person soon comes to breathe, without sensible inconvenience, an atmosphere which, when he first enters it, feels intolerable. But such an adaptation can occur only at the expense of a depression of all the vital functions, which must be injurious if long continued or often repeated” (P.286).

但惊人的事实是，这个器官，会及时地自行调整，以适应已经变质、糟糕的空气，那么这人即使起初呼吸此种空气时感到难以忍受，但很快便不再有明显的不适。但是这种调整是以所有活力功能的减弱为代价的，假如长期持续下去或反复如此的话，肯定会对身体造成伤害”（P.286）。

 

There is a definite statement of what occurs in the body as its “watchful automatism with its specific characters make human existence possible” in an atmosphere so badly poisoned that it feels intolerable when one first enters it. The adaptation occurs “at the expense of a depression of all the vital functions, which must be injurious if long-continued or often repeated.”

在严重污浊的空气里，人一进入马上就感到无法忍受，但“警觉的自动机制，以其鲜明的特征使人类的生存成为可能，”这时身体里肯定发生了什么。这种适应是“以所有活力功能的减弱为代价的，假如长期持续下去或反复如此的话，肯定会对身体造成伤害。”

 

That is how the body builds up “basic resistance” to inimical influences and unhealthful conditions. We must first weaken the body’s vital powers before it will submit without protest to “the dangers of the outside world” and the evil effects of bad habits.

这就是身体如何建立“基本的抵抗力”来抵制有害影响及不健康的状况。在我们毫无抵抗地向“外界的危险”及坏习惯的不良影响投降时，我们必须首先弱化身体的活力功能。

 

 

Immunity Reduces Power to Resist

免疫降低抵抗力

 

The secret of Vital Adaptation is the riddle that puzzles the doctors. They term it immunity. The body acquires immunity to dangers by reducing its powers to resist them. Exactly the opposite of what medical art teaches.

活力适应（Vital Adaptation）的秘密是医生无法解开的谜。他们称之为免疫力。通过减弱抵抗危险的功能，身体获得了对危险的免疫力。而这和医学所教授的完全相反。

 

We shall recite another instance of this weakened condition which medical art terms immunity. Greene continues.

我们应当引用另外一个例子，来说明医学定义的这种弱化情形，免疫力。格林继续说道。

 

“This power of adaptation is well illustrated by an experiment of Claude Bernard. He showed that if a bird is placed under a bell-glass of such size that the air contained in it will permit the bird to live for three hours, and the bird is removed at the end of the second hour, when it could have survived another hour, and a fresh, healthy bird is put in its place, the latter will die at once” (Kirks Physiology, revised by Greene, P. 304).

“克劳德·伯尔纳（Claude Bernard）的一个试验很好地证明了这个适应的力量。他指出，假如一只鸟被放在一个玻璃钟罩内，而这个罩内的空气只够让这只鸟存活三个小时，在第二小时结束时，把这只鸟取出，虽然它还可能再活一个小时，之后把另外一只鲜活、健康的鸟放进去，结果后面这只鸟立刻死去”（柯克斯生理Kirks Physiology，格林修订，P. 304）。

 

According to medical theory of ‘vital resistance,’ the fresh healthy bird should have resisted the effect of the polluted air in the bell-glass and lived for three hours. But it died immediately; whereas the other bird that had been under the bell-glass for two hours and suffered a certain degree of debilitation by reason of breathing the poisonous exhalations of its own body, could have lived for another hour.

根据‘活力抵抗’的医学理论，这只鲜活健康的鸟应当能抵抗玻璃钟罩内被污染的气体之害，而存活三个小时。但是它立刻就死了；但第一只鸟，待在玻璃钟罩内长达两个小时，只因为呼吸自己身体呼出的毒气而有一定程度的虚弱，这样它还可能再待一个小时。

 

This illustrates what Carrel means when he says, “Our organs always improvise means of meeting every new situation; and these means are such that they tend to give man (living creatures) a maximum duration. The physiological processes (of all animals) always incline in the direction leading to the longest survival of man.”

这个印证了卡雷尔的话，“我们的器官总是能随时提供办法，应对每一种新情况；而且这些办法一般都能给人最大程度的承受力。生理过程的发展，总是要人尽可能长寿。”

 

Man in the civilization is born into and grows up in an environment of polluted air that may kill in a day a wild Indian of the hills, whose vital body would react so violently to the shock, that death may soon result.

现代文明中的人类所出生并成长其中的环境，充满被污染的空气，这可能会在一天之内杀死从深山里乍一出来的土著印第安人，因为他充满活力的身体会对这种冲击反应非常激烈，激烈到死亡的程度。

 

No matter how repugnant or destructive a thing may be, we can endure it provided time is given to secure the efficient operation of the body’s power of adjustment, whereby is prevented a violent swaying of vital activities from one extreme to the other. Only sudden and violent changes become immediately destructive to life, even sometimes when it is a change from evil to good habits.

不管一件事物多么令人厌恶，多么具有破坏力，只要给出时间，确保身体机能调整的运作时间，我们就可以承受，因为这样阻止了活力活动从一个极端到另一个极端的激烈摇摆。只有突然的、剧烈的变化才会对生命造成即时杀伤力，即使是从坏习惯到好习惯的转变也会如此。

 

By the reduction of its vitality, the body pays in the process of becoming “immune” to discordant conditions, to poisonous substances, to evil habits.

在对不协调的状况、有毒物质及坏习惯“免疫”的过程中，身体所付出的代价便是活力减弱。

 

That is the reason why the vigorous Indians of America became a “dying-race” when they came in contact with the enervating habits of the white man of Europe who survived in spite of the evil effects because he was born in and grew up under those health destroying conditions. His body was accustomed to them, was adjusted to them; but the body of the healthy Indians was not, and they died like flies.

这就是为何充满活力的美洲印第安人，在接触欧洲白人令人虚弱的习惯后，最后走向“不归路”。而欧洲白人却生存下来，尽管也遭受坏习惯所造成的不良影响，因为他出生并成长于那些损坏健康的环境里。他的身体已经习惯、适应；但健康的印第安人的身体无法适应，所以像苍蝇那样死掉了。

 

All evidence proves conclusively that the more vital the organism, the more quickly it succumbs to unhealthful conditions and harmful practices. That is another paradox. We live in a world of illusion.

所有的证据确凿证明，器官越有活力，越容易被不健康的状况及有害做法侵害。这是一种矛盾。其实我们就是生活在妄想颠倒的世界里。

 

There is a natural condition of Vital Adjustment to unhealthful conditions and harmful habits, but no Vital Resistance. That is another fallacy that belongs in the same category with the absurd theory of “contagious disease.”

对于不健康的状况及有害习惯，人会自然做活力调整（Vital Adjustment），但并没有活力抵抗（Vital Resistance）。这和荒唐的“传染病”理论一样，同属谬论。

 

It is a paradox that the body, in a weakened condition, will tolerate and endure longer than a more vital body, the various evil practices and inimical influences which it cannot control, and which it must endure or die. Carrel says “the body perceives the remote as well as the near, the future as well as the present,” and it prepares accordingly (P. 197).

身体，在更为虚弱的状况下，反而比在更为活力的状况下更能容忍及承受它无法控制的各种不良做法及有害影响。而不能忍受的话就得死亡。这也是一种矛盾。卡雷尔说“身体由近及远，由现在推知未来，”它会随机应变（P. 197）。

 

Creative Intelligence knows that the weakened body will endure more and live longer under adverse conditions. This appears paradoxical, yet the truth of it every scientist can demonstrate for himself.

创造智能（Creative Intelligence）清楚，在恶劣的条件下，越是虚弱的身体越能承受，活得越久。这好像矛盾，但其中的真实性每个科学家都能加以验证。