????????Generally, there are two points of views for us to see the world: aesthetic point of view and utilitarian point of view. When you describe someone as utilitarian, you mean he regards secular fame and gain as important and does everything beneficial to himself, such as study hard for good grades, get good grades to be admitted by a top university, get the diploma to be hired by a big company, and buy everything he wants when he has been paid for his work. Even if the business of making friends, which entails the willingness of the two party and the law of attraction, a utilitarian is bound to embed some aim into it: befriend a pianist to help himself improve piano skills; crawl to dignitaries for the opportunity to use them; try to win a beauty's affection to meet his sexual demand; keep stained people at a distance because they are prone to get him into trouble. As a Chinese saying goes: The gentleman thinks in terms of righteousness, the petty man in terms of gains. An egoist is usually looked down upon and marginalized by people around him. Only when he takes on social responsibility can he be accepted by the mainstream group as a member of them. In spite of all this, utilitarianism is an indispensable means of survival that everybody needs to learn, because evolved from gorilla, everyone of us has animal instincts and needs with us, such as appetite, sexual desire, safety need, love need and esteem need. Like noisy infants, these instincts and needs keep crying for satisfaction. If we failed to meet their demands, they will stir to make us ill at ease and get us as uncomfortable as a fish out of water. To meet their insatiable demands, we have to spend a lifetime competing with one another for scarce resources, such as key school in teenage years, position and salary in our youth, success of career and happiness of family in the autumn of our lives and career and future of our children when we are old enough. To do so, we are like tight-wound clocks rush ahead without a break, grab everything beneficial to make our "inner infants" stop crying. All in all, we have to be utilitarian to lead a better life.

????????通常來說，有兩種我們看待世界的方式：審美的眼光和功利的眼光，當(dāng)你說某人很功利，你的意思是他看重功名利祿、只做對(duì)他自己有利的事，比如努力學(xué)習(xí)為了考高分、得到高分是為了進(jìn)名牌大學(xué)、拿到文憑是為了被大公司聘用，之后就可以用自己獲得的薪水買任何自己想要的東西了。甚至連交朋友這種你情我愿、遵從吸引力法則的事，一個(gè)功利主義者都必定能在其中找到某種目的：結(jié)交一位鋼琴能手是為了幫助自己提高鋼琴技能；巴結(jié)達(dá)官顯貴是為了找機(jī)會(huì)利用他們；追求漂亮的異性是為了滿足性欲；對(duì)劣跡斑斑的人敬而遠(yuǎn)之是為了怕對(duì)方連累自己。中國(guó)有句古話說得好：君子喻于義，小人喻于利，一個(gè)自私自利的人常為周圍人所不恥，當(dāng)且僅當(dāng)他擔(dān)負(fù)起社會(huì)責(zé)任才能被主流文化群體接納為其中的一員，盡管如此，功利主義卻是每個(gè)人必須學(xué)會(huì)的一種生存的必要手段，因?yàn)閺拇笮尚蛇M(jìn)化而來的我們每個(gè)人身上都帶著動(dòng)物的本能和需求，比如食欲、性欲、安全的需求、愛的需求和受尊重的需求，那些本能和需求就像一個(gè)哭鬧的嬰兒總是吵著要我們?nèi)M足它，如果得不到滿足，它就會(huì)攪得我們心神不寧、讓我們感到入魚離水般的不自在。為了滿足它們貪得無厭的需求，我們不得不用一輩子的光景彼此競(jìng)爭(zhēng)稀有資源，比如青少年時(shí)期的重點(diǎn)學(xué)校、青年時(shí)期的薪水和職位、中年時(shí)期的事業(yè)有成和家庭美滿、老年時(shí)期的子女的事業(yè)和前途。我們就像一個(gè)上緊了發(fā)條的時(shí)鐘一刻不停地往前沖，抓住所有對(duì)自己有利的東西去哄我們“內(nèi)在的嬰兒”別哭，總之，為了活得更好我們不得不做功利主義者。

????????In spite of the fact that secular fame and gain are good for our survival, they not only failed to make us happy, but become the root of our suffering in many ways. In order to achieve fame and wealth, one has to pay the price. The more benefit one wants, the more the price increases exponentially: if you just want to maintain a basic living, you can get the result with the same amount of effort; if you want to lead a privileged life, you need to work overtime to get the same result with double amount of effort; if you are so avaricious to lead an extravagant life, you have to do the best you can to get the same result with triple or quadruple amount of effort. Take smart phone as an example, if you just want a mobile phone with the function of call, answer, photograph and chat, you can buy yourself one without any difficulty; if you want the latest iphone, you have to bite the bullet, take out a large amount of savings and cut daily expenses; if you follow the fashion and intend to keep the latest iphone at hand at all times, you have to empty your pocket and be at the mercy of money, luxuries and desire. Sometimes we are too impotent to abandon our desire. When the latest iphone hits the market and the little thing in my hand is on the way out, I have a desperate urge to get rid of the old one and take possession of the new one. Only with great efforts that I dismissed the idea and persuaded myself to keep that seemingly stale, old and broken thing. Sometimes I feel our mortal beings have no other choice but to be slaves of desire and at the mercy of it. In the meantime, the satisfaction of it is not once and for all. We can get temporary pleasure when it is just satisfied, but it won't be long before it stages a comeback and be a "crying infant" again. So, we can come to the conclusion that utilitarian point of view can by no means bring eternal happiness to us. To achieve it, we have to learn to employ aesthetic view of point. When it comes to aesthetics, the first thing springs to my mind is art, such fine art, music, dance and drama. Definitely, it's an inertial thinking to link art with aesthetic, science with truth and morality with goodness. When we adopt the utilitarian thinking, neither of us can get rid of subject-object dualistic division: we see ourselves as subjects and everything we confront as object. To achieve fame, wealth and get everything beneficial, we have to be well acquainted with laws of myriads of things: the natural law, the law of human society and the law of historical development, and then put everything at the service of us, (to manage all sorts of people, we need even to be acquainted with human nature, and only in this way can we avoid the increment of the cost when situation gets complicated). For the reason that the wide world is too complicated to handle and the wisdom of our human beings is too limited to master the ultimate law, in most cases, subjects, instead of letting objects play the part of a "good boy", are often handicapped by them. Hence the consequence this kind of way of thinking constantly leads to is a feeling of anxiety.

????????盡管功名利祿有利于我們生存，但是它們不僅沒能使我們快樂，反而在很多時(shí)候成為我們痛苦的根源，為了得到聲望和財(cái)富一個(gè)人就必須付出代價(jià)，他想得到的好處越多，他付出的代價(jià)就越是呈指數(shù)倍增長(zhǎng)：你若僅僅想維持最基本的溫飽，你付出就能得到同等的回報(bào)；如果你想過上養(yǎng)尊處優(yōu)的生活，你就必須努力工作加班加點(diǎn)付出原來的兩倍才能得到同等的回報(bào)；如果你貪婪到了想要窮奢極欲的地步，你就必須拼盡全力付出原來三四倍的努力才能得到同等的回報(bào)。就拿智能手機(jī)來說吧，如果你僅僅想要一個(gè)能夠接打電話、拍照聊天的手機(jī)，你不費(fèi)吹灰之力就能為自己買一臺(tái)；如果你想要一臺(tái)最新款的蘋果手機(jī)，你必須忍痛割愛拿出一大筆積蓄同時(shí)削減日常開支；如果你趕時(shí)髦時(shí)時(shí)刻刻都想將你手中的蘋果手機(jī)保持在最新款，那你必須掏空口袋并成為金錢、奢侈品和欲望的奴隸。有時(shí)候我們?cè)谟帮@得軟弱而無力，當(dāng)最新款的蘋果手機(jī)上市、同時(shí)我手上的小玩意兒即將淘汰的時(shí)候，我有一種強(qiáng)烈的沖動(dòng)想要處理掉舊手機(jī)并將新款的據(jù)為己有，我需要費(fèi)很大的勁才能摒除原先的想法并說服自己繼續(xù)使用那個(gè)看上去已經(jīng)沒有任何新鮮感的破玩意兒，有時(shí)候我感覺我們凡人別無選擇只能成為欲望的奴隸并任由其擺布，與此同時(shí)，欲望的滿足不是一勞永逸的，當(dāng)它剛剛被滿足之際，我們能產(chǎn)生暫時(shí)的愉悅感，但是過不了多久它就會(huì)卷土重來并重新成為那個(gè)“哭鬧的嬰兒”。因此我們可以得出結(jié)論：功利的眼光不能為我們帶來永恒的快樂，為此我們必須學(xué)會(huì)采用審美的眼光，說到審美，我首先會(huì)想到藝術(shù)，如美術(shù)、音樂、舞蹈和戲劇，確切地說，我們?cè)趹T性思維的影響下會(huì)將藝術(shù)跟美、科學(xué)跟真、道德跟善聯(lián)系在一起，當(dāng)我們采用功利的思維方式我們就擺脫不掉主客體二元分裂：我們將自己看成是主體、將所有我們面對(duì)的事物看作是客體，為了得到聲望、財(cái)富和所有好處，我們不得不掌握大千世界萬事萬物的規(guī)律：自然律、人類社會(huì)的規(guī)律和歷史發(fā)展的規(guī)律，之后讓萬事萬物為我們?nèi)祟愃?，（為了管理各式各樣的人，我們甚至需要掌握人性，只有這樣才不至于在情況變得復(fù)雜時(shí)增加成本）。因?yàn)榇笄澜缣珡?fù)雜了、我們?nèi)祟惖闹腔厶邢蘖艘灾劣诓荒苷莆兆∧莻€(gè)終極規(guī)律，在很多情況下，主體不僅不能讓客體扮演一個(gè)乖孩子的角色，反而常常受制于它們，所以這種思維方式的結(jié)果就是一種焦慮感。

????????Aesthetic way of thinking is just a good recipe to tackle the problem. As it is super-utilitarian and has nothing to do with desire, it not only bridged that dualistic division, but to some extent dispelled the feeling of anxiety. I can still remember the scene I was playing video games in my early years: I totally submerged into it as if I was that small figure on the screen. His life and death completely lie in my hands. As if possessed by a devil, I was delirious with joy when he defeated the boss and went through the level successfully; I got frustrated when he was given an awful beating up by enemies; My heart was thumping when he is in danger and I wept for joy at the scene he reunited with his lover. I can also remember the first time I brought home the DVD of Rurouni Kenshin—a classic Japanese animation. The whole afternoon passed in a flash and it is already dark outside when I came to myself. As if my spirit left my body and entered another world, I was so absorbed in characters and the vivid story of it that I would not care even if an earthquake happened at my feet. Notwithstanding there were all kinds of intractable people and things pestered me and made my life a complete mess in real life, it seemed as if I had a dream, and having fled into the fantasy world, I broke loose from the annoyance and got the pleasure never experienced before when I was playing games and watching animations, and that is perhaps the so-called aesthetic activity. If video game and animation could only be counted as cheap aesthetic activities which any untrained man is able to lose himself in it, fine art and music is really advanced ones. You may be tired of all kinds of games, find it difficult to be enthusiastic about them anymore and feel all the cartoons of the same pattern and it is a waste of time watching them, but you can always draw pleasure from the "advanced aesthetic activities" when you go a bit deeper into any kind of them and have a fresh feeling when you turn your attention to another genre and school. When you are listening to a symphony or enjoying an oil painting, you can enter a state of "forgetting yourself and the opposing object, blending emotion with scenery". As it is super-utilitarian, we never concern for personal gains and losses when we look into everything for beauty. For the reason that there is no need for us to pay any price for it, the feeling of upset will never rise in our hearts during the process.

????????審美的思維模式恰恰是解決這個(gè)問題的一劑良方，因?yàn)樗浅?、它跟欲望扯不上一毛錢關(guān)系，所以它不僅能夠彌合主客體二元分裂的鴻溝，而且在一定程度上消除了焦慮感。還記得早年玩游戲時(shí)的情景：我完全沉浸在其中，仿佛自己就是銀幕上的那個(gè)小人，他的生死完全掌握在我手中，我好像被鬼魂附體了一樣，當(dāng)他打敗了老怪順利通關(guān)的時(shí)候我就欣喜若狂；當(dāng)他被敵人虐成狗我就感到無比沮喪；當(dāng)他陷入危險(xiǎn)時(shí)我的心砰砰直跳；當(dāng)他跟自己的愛人團(tuán)聚時(shí)我喜極而泣。我也記得第一次將浪客劍心——一部經(jīng)典的日本動(dòng)畫片的碟片帶回家中，整個(gè)下午如彈指一揮間，我剛回過神來天已經(jīng)黑了，似乎我的靈魂離開了身體進(jìn)入了另一個(gè)世界，我完全專注于其中的人物和生動(dòng)的故事情節(jié)，以至于即便是地震在我腳下發(fā)生我都管不了，雖然在現(xiàn)實(shí)中各種頭疼的人和事讓我不堪其擾、他們把我的生活攪得一團(tuán)糟，但是當(dāng)我打游戲和看動(dòng)畫片時(shí)，我好像做了一個(gè)夢(mèng)，遁入幻想世界的我擺脫了煩惱并得到了之前從未經(jīng)歷過的愉悅，這或許就是所謂的審美活動(dòng)。如果說電子游戲和動(dòng)畫片僅僅算是一種廉價(jià)的審美活動(dòng)，任何沒有受過專業(yè)訓(xùn)練的人都能沉浸其中，那么美術(shù)和音樂則算是一種高級(jí)的審美活動(dòng)，你或許會(huì)對(duì)各式各樣的游戲感到膩味兒，或是對(duì)它們?cè)僖蔡岵黄鹑魏闻d趣；你或許會(huì)感覺所有的動(dòng)畫片都千篇一律、觀看它們簡(jiǎn)直是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間，但是當(dāng)你對(duì)那些“高級(jí)審美活動(dòng)”中的任何一個(gè)藝術(shù)門類鉆得更深一點(diǎn)你總能從中汲取快樂、當(dāng)你切換到其他類型和流派時(shí)你總能找到一種新鮮感。當(dāng)你聽一部交響樂或是觀賞一幅油畫時(shí)，你能達(dá)到一種物我兩忘、情景交融的境界，因?yàn)樗浅?，所以我們?cè)谕诰蚴挛锩赖耐瑫r(shí)不必考慮個(gè)人得失，因?yàn)槲覀儾槐貫榇烁冻鋈魏未鷥r(jià)，所以沮喪感從來不會(huì)在此過程中油然而生。

????????Of course, aesthetic point of view is not limited to art, we can also take that attitude toward life. As long as you have an eye for beauty, you can find beautiful things up hill and down dale: beautiful sceneries, delicious food, people with beautiful minds, unusual buildings and colorful flowers. As long as you take the attitude of "admire it in the distance rather than play and possess it rashly", they can always bring pleasure to you. Subsistence and joy are the most important things for our living beings. Hence utilitarian and aesthetic point of view like our two legs. We can't walk without neither of them and we always call somebody a cripple, an unhealthy man if he lacks any one of them. Having integrated into the group of depressed patients, I found not a few of them had been trained to be utilitarians in current educational environment. In the meantime, their modes of thinking hindered them from changing into another angle to see the world, and in this way they fell into a wrong path and got stuck in the mud of depression. As a matter of fact, they can not only grow up healthily, but be healthier than all the normal people around if they learn to "walk with another leg". How important the aesthetic view of point is that it can cure disease! Generally speaking, we mortal beings need first to survival and then to be happy. Having acquired adequate living resource and could thus lead a favorable living, we have to "focus on the aesthetic leg to walk" and derive pleasure from every beautiful triviality in ordinary life, otherwise we will become the slave of desire and never get a thrill of joy even if we keep running day and night like a machine to satisfy it.

????????當(dāng)然，審美的眼光并不限于藝術(shù)，我們也可以此態(tài)度來對(duì)待生活，只要你有一雙善于發(fā)現(xiàn)美的眼睛，你在何處都能發(fā)現(xiàn)美的事物：美景、美食、心靈美的人、非同尋常的建筑物和姹紫嫣紅的花，只要你抱著“可遠(yuǎn)觀而不可褻玩焉”的態(tài)度，它們總能為你帶來愉快。生存和愉悅是對(duì)于我們活著的人來說最重要的兩件事情，因此功利和審美就像我們的兩條腿，缺了其中的任何一只我們都不能行走，若某個(gè)人缺條腿我們會(huì)管他叫瘸子、一個(gè)不健全的人，在接觸了抑郁癥的群體后，我發(fā)現(xiàn)很多人就是因?yàn)樵诋?dāng)前的教育環(huán)境中被訓(xùn)練成功利主義者，并且他們的思維定勢(shì)致使他們不會(huì)改換看待世界的角度，因此他們才走入了歧途，陷入抑郁癥的泥潭不能自拔，其實(shí)只要學(xué)會(huì)了“用另一條腿走路”，他們不僅能健康地成長(zhǎng)，而且能成長(zhǎng)得比所有正常人更加健康，審美的眼光能夠治愈頑疾，可見其有多重要！就一般意義上來說，我們凡人首先是生存其次是快樂與否，當(dāng)我們得到了充足的生存資源并因而能過上豐衣足食的生活后，我們就不得不“將重心放在審美的那條腿上”并從平凡生活中各種美好的瑣事中得到愉悅，否則我們就會(huì)成為欲望的奴隸，即便如機(jī)器一般晝夜運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)也因滿足不了它而得不到任何快樂。

????????That is my opinion towards aesthetics and utilitarianism.

????????這就是我對(duì)審美和功利的理解。