In pursuit of answers 尋求答案 [中國漢傳密學研究院翻譯局 轉譯]

In pursuit of answers

尋求答案 
 

中國漢傳密學研究院翻譯局轉譯　自墨爾砵《時代日報‧世界宗教國會之諸信仰之會面特刊》第11頁 　　 
 

Can religion and science co-exist in harmony? Senior writer Sushi Das reports on what is often a tempestuous debate, hearing from the religious and scientific camps.

宗教和科學能夠和諧共存嗎？資深作家 Sushi Das［女士］報告了來自宗教和科學營的聆訊，一場暴風雨的辯論。  

“We need to move beyond these primitive notions of the magician in the sky … is there some sort of god? Isn’t there some sort of god? I think it’s just missing the point.” Scientist, Dr Paul Davies

“我們需要前進越過天空中魔師的原始概念……那裡有些上帝？那裡是沒有一些上帝？我想，就僅僅是找不到重點。”科學家 Paul Davies 博士說。  

NOT too hot, not too cold. Conditions on earth are just right for life to flourish. Incredibly, the natural laws are so finely calibrated, even the slightest change to, say, gravity or electromagnetism, would render the universe sterile.

不是很熱，不是很冷。在地球上的氣候是剛合適給予生命生長茂盛。自然規律是那麼細微地校準，就是說，地心吸力或電磁學中，算是最細小的改變，都會令到宇宙無箘。  

But how is it that the earth is so exquisitely poised to support life? How has the world come to be, like baby bear’s porridge, just right? For physicist, cosmologist and big thinker Paul Davies, this is the Goldilocks enigma.

但地球究竟是如何那麼精緻地、平衡地支持著生命？世界是如何來的，就像［著名童話故事中的］小熊寶寶的粥，調到剛剛好？對物理學家、宇宙論者和大思想家 Paul Davies 先生，這就是《 Goldilocks 之謎》【註一】。  

For centuries, people have turned to religion and philosophy to understand the meaning of life, to ask why we are here and what is our destiny. Today, for many answers, they also turn to science. And the more science unveils about the workings of nature in the universe, the more ingenious, awesome and meaningful it seems, says Dr Davies.

世紀以來，人們轉向教和哲學來理解生命的意義，問我們為甚麼在這裡和我們的命運是甚麼。今天，許多答案，都轉向科學。而越多科學把宇宙中自然界的運作揭幕時，宇宙看來便更巧妙、令人敬畏和有意義，Davies 博士說。  

That’s because, as scientific investigation shows, the world is ordered, rational and coherent, not just a haphazard jumble of events and phenomena. “It all hangs together beautifully,” says Dr Davies. And theists agree.

這是因為，如科學調查顯示，世界是有秩序、有理性和協調的，不祗是一個隨意的、混亂的活動現象。“［宇宙］她全部是那麼美麗地掛起來”是科學家 Paul Davies 博士說。而有神論者同意。  

Indeed, it is so perfectly balanced that to some scientists, including Dr Davies, it’s all beginning to look like a fixed-up job. But not fixed up by a pre-existing super-being who designed it all, he stresses. Here, some theists disagree.

確確實實地，她是那麼完美地平衡著，而對一些科學家，包括Paul Davies 博士，開始看來是一項安排好的工作。他強調，但不是由一位預先存在的、設計萬物的超級生命來安排。這點，有些有神論不同意。  

“We need to move beyond these primitive notions of the magician in the sky,” he tells The Age. “It’s just a tired old argument: is there some sort of god? Isn’t there some sort of god? I think it’s just missing the point.

“我們需要前進越過天空中魔師的原始概念，”他告訴《時代》，“這僅僅是一個令人厭倦的論：那裡有些上帝？那裡是沒有一些上帝？我想，就僅僅是找不到重點。”  

“We live in a universe which is stunningly ingenious and there is this subtle and coherent scheme of things and we should be looking to that, not how did it come to exist in the big bang or who made the big bang, or is there a designer who sat down and figured it all out and then made it. I think all that sort of stuff is just childish.”

“我們住在一個極好地巧妙的宇宙裡，但其中［指宇宙］有這微妙和協調的計劃，而我們應該看看，不是她如何在大爆炸中生存或是甚麼人作出這大爆炸，或是否有一個設計師坐下來，把所有都想清楚，然後做出來。我想，那類東西都僅僅是幼稚。”  

After spending 16 years living in Australia, British-born Dr Davies moved to ArizonaStateUniversity in 2006. Eleven years earlier he was awarded the Templeton Prize, the world’s richest prize for intellectual endeavour, for his work on the deeper significance of science.

英國出生的 Paul Davies 博士在澳洲生活了十六年，然後2006年搬去［美國西南部的］亞利桑那州的州立大學。11年前就對他在科學的工作有深刻的意義，而頒發他Templeton 獎，此乃世界上給予智能努力的最昂貴的獎品，  

In that year, the prize was described as being for “a living individual who has shown extraordinary originality in helping to advance the world’s understanding of God and/or spirituality”.

該年，獎狀被描述是“一位活著的人顯示出非凡的創造力來幫助推動世界對上帝和或靈性的理解。”  

Dr Davies would like us to move on from thinking of God as a “cosmic magician” because he believes that using that kind of “10th-century view” keeps us locked in an immature debate.

Paul Davies 博士希望我們離開上帝是一個“宇宙的魔術師”的思想而前進，因為他相信，使用這類“十年代的觀點”將我們鎖住在不成熟的辯論中。  

Interesting words from a man who calls himself a “wishy-washy Anglican”. He hastily adds: “As a colleague of mine said, ‘the Anglican Church is the one religious institution in which an atheist can feel comfortable’.”

有趣的字眼出之這個自稱為“空洞無聊的聖公會教徒”。他倉促地補充：“如我的一個同事說：‘聖公會教堂是唯一一個無神論者感到舒服的機構’。”  

Anglican? Atheist? Exactly where does Paul Davies stand? “I’m a scientist looking for deep answers to big questions,” he says.

聖公會？無神論者？Paul Davies 究竟的立場是甚麼？“我是一個對大問題尋找深刻答案的科學家”，他說。  

He finds it depressing when people cling to a faith believing it provides all the answers they need to know. Science, he says, can help unravel some of the mystery of the universe, but we must also admit we don’t have all the answers yet.

對人們執著和信任一個信仰能提供所有答案，他感到沮喪。科學，他說，能夠幫助把宇宙的秘密揭幕，但我們必須承認我們仍沒有全部的答案。  

Perhaps former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s famous words from 2002 are oddly appropriate here: “As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

或許前美國國防秘書長 Donald Rumsfels 在2002年的名言在這裡是奇異地合適：“如我們所知，有些已知的已知物；有些東西我們是知道我們知道的。我們也知道，有些已知的未知物；就是說，我們知道有些東西我們是不知道的。但是也有一些是未知的未知物──有些我們是不知道我們不知道的。”  

Even without a complete scientific explanation of the world, believers in God have generally accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution — a theory that starkly contradicts the literal Christian Biblical story that God created the world in six days.

就算是對世界沒有一個完整的科學解釋，上帝信徒普遍都接受［英國生物學家］達爾文的進化論科學家──嚴酷地否定基督教的聖經故事說上帝在六天裡創造了世界的原義的一種理論。  

Victoria’s churchgoing Governor, David de Krester, is among them. Asked this month whether his scientific career as an infertility expert put him at odds with his Christian belief, he said he accepted that evolutionary theory represented “the most logical explanation for the origin of mankind”.

維多利亞的、經常上教堂的總督 David de Krester 是其中之一。這個月問他，作為一個專治不生育的專家，他的科學事業與他的基督教信仰，是否把他放在一個不一致的立場，他說他接受進化論代表著“對人類的起源的一個最合邏輯的解釋。”  

“Those of us of the Christian faith would believe in a god creator who was the engineer. For me, this engineer did not complete the job in a week as expressed in the book of Genesis, but more over an evolutionary time span,” he said.

“我們那些基督教信仰的人相信上帝創造者是一位工程師。對我來說，這工程師沒有如《創世紀》中表達在一週內完成工作［創造了這世界］，但更像是經過一個進化時間段來完成。”  

So, does religion conveniently co-opt scientific discoveries as all part of God’s plan?

那麼，宗教可以方便地吸收所有科學的發現為上帝的計劃的一部份嗎？  

Tom Frame, director of St Mark’s National Theological Centre at CharlesSturtUniversity and former Bishop to the Australian Defence Force, says science and religion can walk together comfortably.

［澳洲雪梨的］Charles Sturt 大學的聖馬克的全國神學中心的理事和澳洲國防部的前主教Tom Frame說科學和宗教能夠舒適地走在一起。  

“It may appear … that religion gives up nothing until science gives it nowhere to go,” he says. But he maintains the relationship is mutually beneficial.

“可能看來……宗教沒有放棄甚麼，直至科學沒有路可走時，”他說。但他堅持這關係是相互得益的。  

Science tells religion when there are matters on which it is “not competent to comment”, and conversely, those of a religious disposition prevent scientists claiming more than their research and findings entitle them to, he says.

科學告詬訴宗教有些事情是“不怎樣有能力去評論，”但相反地，那些宗教性情的人，阻止科學家去聲稱一些比他們［科學家］從研究和發現而獲得權力［去聲稱］的東西，他說。  

Both Dr Davies and Professor Frame agree that for most moderate believers science and religion co-exist happily. It is only at the extreme ends of science and religion that the debate becomes shrill. The ferocious debate between fundamentalist evolutionary theorists and those who believe in creationism and intelligent design is a case in point.

Davies 博士和Frame教授兩者都同意，對最穩健的信仰者來說，科學和宗教是快樂地共存。只是在科學和宗教的極端時，辯論才會變成尖刻。基要主義者、進化理論家和那些特別創造說和智慧設計的人之間的兇猛辯是很好的例子。  

Unfortunately, says Dr Davies, the September 11 attacks polarised some people further, providing those opposed to religion the opportunity to condemn all religion as dangerous and evil. It set back the case for a more mature debate, he says.

不幸，Davies 博士說，9月11日攻擊進一步極化了某些人，提供給那些反對宗教的人去譴責所有宗教都是危險和魔鬼的一個機會。他說，令到一個更成熟的辯論的例子受挫。  

In the overlap between science and religion it is necessary to “move the debate to a higher plane, away from the childish slanging match that afflicts this whole subject”, says Dr Davies.

在科學和宗教的重疊部份中，有需要“將辯論轉移至一個更高的平面，離開那些折磨整個主題的幼稚的謾罵戰，” Davies 博士說。  

Yes, the universe looks like a fixed-up job, but we will never explain the cosmos by simply taking on faith, either divinity or physical laws, he says. True meaning can only be found from within the universe.

是的，宇宙看來是一個被安排的工作，但我們將永不能用簡單的信仰、或神聖性或物質規律來解釋宇宙，他說。真正的意義只能在宇宙之內找到。  

What he means is the ability of humans to discern and understand the universe is a fundamental part of what makes the universe tick. In other words, humans, unlike animals, have the capacity to understand the world through science, to decode nature to discover what goes on inside an atom or a black hole.

他的意思是，人類去分辨和理解宇宙的能力正是令到宇宙運作的基本部份。換句話說，人類，不像動物，有能力通過科學去理解世界，解碼自然，發現在一個原子裡、或黑洞裡有甚麼。  

And the fact that we can do that, even though it is completely surplus to Darwinian survival requirements, is a matter of “stunning significance”.

而我們能夠這樣做的事實，就算是完全超出達爾文的進化論的倖存要求，都已經是一件“令人震驚的重要性”事件。  

“What I’m trying to do,” he says, “is change the questions people ask.”

“我嘗試做的，”他說“是改變人們問的問題。”  

The best approach, according to Dr Davies, would be to “find a complete and enclosed explanation for existence from within the universe and not appeal to any transcendent entities, not any cosmic magician”.

最好的途徑，根據Davies 博士，會是“對宇宙中的存在物尋找一個完整而包括性的解釋，但又不求助於任何超越界的個體，任何宇宙的魔術師。”  

“The essence of being a scientist is you don’t say ‘I’ve got all the answers, that’s it, end of story..’ I keep changing my mind about things. I find as science marches on, it illuminates different areas of human inquiry, and the last thing I would want is to already have made up my mind in advance about what the truth is, and then try to shoehorn the facts to fit. I’m still searching, as I was when I was a school child.”

“作為一個科學家的本質是你不會說‘我已經有所有的答案，這就是了，故事的尾聲。’我不停對事情改變我的主意。我發覺，當科學向前邁進時，他照亮了人類查的不同方面，我最不想做的是，我已經對真理是甚麼預早決定我的想法，然後強把事實窒進去。我仍然在尋找，就如我以前學童時一樣。”  

For Dr Davies, the heart of finding an overarching explanation of existence involves finding the answer to the Goldilocks enigma — why is it that the universe is just right for life?

對Davies 博士來說，對存在尋找一個包羅萬象的解釋的心，包括對《Goldilocks 之謎》尋找答案一樣──宇宙為甚麼對生命是那樣的合適？  

It’s a question that science and religion ponder in equal measure.

這是科學和宗教同樣尺度在考量的問題。  

【註一】《Goldilocks 之謎》是Paul Davies 博士的一本關於“為甚麼宇宙對生命是剛剛合適？”著作。