I’m 28. Here’s What I Would Tell My 18-Year-Old Self.
我 28 歲了，以下是我想對 18 歲的自己說的話
When I was 18, I felt lost.
當我 18 歲時，我感到迷失。
I was always searching for a neat little set of answers to the biggest questions of life. Why are we here? What do I do with myself? How do I avoid ending up like those around me, or is everyone destined to be reactive, unhappy, and low energy? How do I make the most of this chance I’ve been given?
我總是在尋找一套整潔的小答案，來回答生命中最大的問題。我們為什麼會在這裡？我該如何處置自己？我該如何避免落得和周圍的人一樣的下場，還是每個人都注定要被動、不快樂、低能量？我該如何充分利用這次給我的機會？
But no matter how many books I burned through, I couldn’t seem to find them. All I found were debates without clear conclusions, arguments from people who didn’t seem happy, and beliefs of high conviction that didn’t seem to make sense when taken out of context.
但無論我翻了多少本書，似乎都找不到。我找到的都是沒有明確結論的辯論、看來不開心的人的爭論，以及斷章取義似乎說不通的崇高信念。
After thousands of years on this planet, we really haven’t come up with a set of principles, values, or lessons that everyone can agree on? Is this some kind of sick cosmic joke? I mean come on… this even stems beyond life’s big questions. Seed oils. Business models. Relationship dogma. Religious teachings. Everyone is engaging in this war of concepts, and neither side is the clear winner.
在這個星球上生活了幾千年之久，我們真的還沒有想出一套大家都能同意的原則、價值觀或教訓嗎？這難道是宇宙開的玩笑嗎？我是說......這甚至超越了生命的大問題。種子油。商業模式。人際關係教條。宗教教義。每個人都在參與這場概念大戰，而雙方都不是明顯的贏家。
It seems like evolution and entropy go hand in hand, but far beyond the physical world. We latch onto beliefs that give us a shred of clarity, preach them as the one true answer, and often refuse to change our mind when that belief inevitably falls apart.
進化與熵似乎是相輔相成的，但卻遠遠超越了物理世界。我們抓住那些讓我們有一絲明朗感的信念，將它們宣揚為唯一的真實答案，當這個信念不可避免地崩潰時，我們往往拒絕改變主意。
So if there is one thing that I’ve realized, it’s that.
所以，如果有一件事是我已經意識到的，那就是。
The only right way to live is like nobody else.
唯一正確的生活方式就是不像任何人一樣。
The good life starts when you reject any other way.
當你拒絕任何其他方式時，美好的生活就開始了。
The best practice is to start from scratch and figure it out.
最好的做法是從頭開始摸索。
Beliefs, concepts, and advice are like tools. They are useful to achieve a goal, but once that goal is achieved, the tool can no longer fit the screw. So instead of searching for one true tool to fit a non-existent one true screw or plank of wood or house, it is wise to train a mind that can create its own tools, plan its own house, and be willing to start all over again from a place of experience that allows them to adapt as the micro and macro context inevitably takes a new shape.
信念、概念和建議就像是工具。它們對於達成目標是有用的，但是一旦目標達成，工具就不再適用於螺絲。因此，與其尋找一個真正的工具來安裝一個不存在的真正的螺絲、木板或房子，倒不如訓練一個能夠創造自己的工具、規劃自己的房子，並且願意從經驗中重新開始的心靈，讓他們能夠在微觀和宏觀環境不可避免地出現新形態時，能夠適應。
If I could go back in time and hand my 18-year-old self a letter, this is what I would say.
如果我能回到過去，給 18 歲的自己寫一封信，我會這樣寫。
1) If You Don’t Create A Purpose, You Will Be Assigned One
1) 如果您沒有建立一個目標，您將會被指派一個目標
Most people, by the time they turn 18, have their entire life decided for them, even if they think they don’t.
大多數人在 18 歲時，就已經決定了自己的一生，即使他們認為自己還沒決定。
The only way to reverse this process is by gaining a deep understanding of how the mind works.
要扭轉這個過程，唯一的方法就是深入了解心智是如何運作的。
Your conscious or unconscious goals shape how you perceive the world.
您有意識或無意識的目標塑造了您感知世界的方式。
Dopamine spurts into your brain to signal that information is important and will help you achieve your goals.
多巴胺會噴入您的大腦，以表示資訊很重要，並會幫助您達成目標。
Your mind stores that information, you act on that information, and if you make progress toward your goals, your mind interprets that feedback as a “success,” and a system starts to solidify. It takes much less effort to repeat that action. It becomes habit. This is what we call conditioning or programming.
您的心智會儲存這些資訊，您會根據這些資訊行動，如果您朝目標邁進，您的心智會將這些回饋詮釋為「成功」，而一個系統就會開始鞏固。重複這個動作所需的努力會少得多。它變成了習慣。這就是我們所說的條件或程式化。
The entirety of your life depends on the string of goals that are conditioned into your head because those goals shape how you perceive, interpret, and act on any and all information you are exposed to at any given millisecond of the day.
您的整個人生都取決於您腦海中那一連串的目標，因為這些目標塑造了您如何感知、詮釋和處理您一天中任何一毫秒所接觸到的所有資訊。
The massive problem here is that when we are young, we have little to no control over what goals are assigned to us. And if we don’t have high-agency parents who also understand this process, we become subservient to the dominant system. In this case, that’s going to school, getting a job, and retiring at some age with far less than what you were promised. Those are the goals injected into your mind at birth.
這裡的大問題是，當我們還年輕時，我們幾乎無法控制分配給我們的目標。如果我們沒有同樣瞭解這個過程的高階父母，我們就會成為主宰系統的附庸。在這種情況下，那就是上學、找工作，以及在某個年紀退休，但所得卻遠低於你所承諾的。這些都是在你出生時就注入你腦中的目標。
Most children are plopped in front of a government-trained expert for hours each day, soaking in information with the sole purpose of becoming a useful worker. This is not up for debate. The school system serves that which created it: the government. The way you serve the government is by becoming a useful worker, paying your taxes, and the rest.
大多數孩子每天都要在政府訓練的專家面前待上幾個小時，吸收資訊的唯一目的就是成為有用的勞工。這是無可爭議的。學校系統是為創造它的政府服務的。你為政府服務的方式就是成為有用的工人、繳稅，以及其他。
Now, this is not all bad. It’s necessary in many cases. And many useful workers can live great lives. But I’m not speaking to them. I’m speaking to my past self. The kid who knew he was meant for more and couldn’t stand the thought of an average life.
現在，這不全是壞事。在很多情況下，這是必要的。很多有用的工人可以活得很好但我不是在跟他們說話我說的是過去的自己那個知道自己要做更多事的孩子，無法忍受平凡的生活。
To that kid, I would tell him that the difference between average and rare is the difference between low-agency and high-agency. In this context, high-agency individuals are those who create their own goals and actively pursue them without permission from another. Low-agency individuals are those who are assigned goals and pursue them because they don’t have a mind that allows them to see any other option.
對於這個孩子，我會告訴他，一般與罕見之間的差別，就是低代理權與高代理權之間的差別。在這種情況下，高代理權的人是指那些不經他人允許，自己創造目標並積極追求目標的人。低代理權的人是指那些被指派目標並追求這些目標的人，因為他們的心智不允許他們看到任何其他選擇。
This is the difference between free individuals and servants, entrepreneurs and employees, generalists and specialists, and it sets the scene for the rest of this letter. Every other lesson is focused on how to think, how to learn, and how to live in a way that cultivates and leverages your agency.
這是自由個體與僕人、企業家與僱員、通才與專才之間的差異，也為這封信其餘的內容奠定了基礎。其他每堂課都著重於如何思考、如何學習，以及如何以培養和發揮你的能動性的方式生活。
If you do not create a purpose – or a big, meaningful goal from which to align your decision-making – then you are not in control of your potential.
如果您沒有創造一個目的，或是一個偉大、有意義的目標來調整您的決策，那麼您就無法掌控自己的潛能。
2) Contemplate What You Don’t Want Often
2) 經常思考您不想要的東西
It is not death that a man should fear, but rather he should fear never beginning to live. – Marcus Aurelius
人應該害怕的不是死亡，而是從未開始生活的恐懼。- 馬庫斯-奧勒留
You do not learn anything from praise of positivity.
您無法從正面的讚美中學到任何東西。
This is a feature, not a bug in the human experience, that you can learn to integrate and leverage. Our minds are wired for survival. When we are comfortable, which is quite often in today’s world, we become more susceptible to traps and pleasures that slowly drag us down into chaos.
這是人類經驗中的一個特點，而不是錯誤，您可以學會整合和利用。我們的心靈是為了生存。當我們感到舒適時，也就是在現今的世界裡，我們會變得更容易受到陷阱和快感的影響，這些陷阱和快感會慢慢地將我們拖入混亂之中。
You only learn from mistakes. You only learn from struggle. You only learn when your mind is in a state that is hungry to learn, adapt, and evolve so that it can experience that pain less. When your mind is wrestling with a problem until it births a solution.
你只能從錯誤中學習。你只能從掙扎中學習。只有當你的心靈處於渴求學習、適應和進化的狀態時，你才能學習，這樣才能減少痛苦。當你的心靈與問題搏鬥，直到產生解決方案。
So, the trick to moving toward our ideal lifestyle isn’t constant positivity and visualizing ideal outcomes. Those help, of course, but it’s missing the other half of the equation.
因此，邁向理想生活方式的訣竅不在於持續的積極和想像理想的結果。這些當然有幫助，但卻缺少了等式的另一半。
You must contemplate what you don’t want often. You must form an anti-vision that you can tap into for a source of potent fuel to rocket toward a unique future.
您必須經常思考您不想要的東西。您必須形成一個反願景，讓您可以利用這個反願景作為強大的燃料來源，邁向獨一無二的未來。
You do not create a vision or anti-vision all at once. You add brush strokes through experience. You give yourself permission to suck. You give yourself permission to be afraid. You give yourself permission to step into the unknown to make mistakes, struggle, wrestle with your demons, and figure it out.
您不會一下子就創造出一個願景或反願景。您可以透過經驗增加筆觸。你允許自己爛。允許自己害怕。您允許自己踏入未知的領域，犯錯、掙扎、與心魔搏鬥，並找出答案。
Make a practice of reflecting on your experience when most people let problems in their life go unnoticed. What do you never want to experience again? Where are your current actions leading you? What pain did you ignore because your mind was in such a closed state in the moment that you couldn’t imagine a solution?
當大多數人對生活中的問題放任不理時，請練習反省自己的經驗。您再也不想經歷什麼？您目前的行為會把您引向何處？您忽略了哪些痛苦，因為您當下的思維處於封閉狀態，無法想像解決方法？
When you’re in the heat of the moment, you aren’t in an open state of mind. You won’t be bothered to fix it. If you don’t self-reflect when you are in a state that allows you to do so, you will not change. And you will let mistakes compound until it is too late.
當您處於緊張狀態時，您的心態並不開放。你不會煩惱去修正它。如果您在可以自我反省的狀態下不自我反省，您就不會改變。您會讓錯誤複雜化，直到為時已晚。
3) Focus On The Why & Watch The How Magically Emerge
3) 專注於 「為什麼」，看 「如何 」神奇地出現
Humans are generalists.
人類是通才。
We do not thrive in a singular niche like a lion or polar bear who wouldn’t survive if plopped into a different environment. We build tools like clothes, computers, and concepts to help us adapt to new physical, mental, and digital environments.
我們不會像獅子或北極熊一樣在單一的利基環境中茁壯成長，因為如果把它們放到不同的環境中，它們就無法生存。我們打造衣服、電腦和概念等工具，幫助我們適應新的物理、心理和數位環境。
The problem is when a human is duped into thinking it is a tool.
問題在於人類被騙，以為它是工具。
That’s where the unconscious path leads. You go to school for status and security. You focus on becoming a doctor or lawyer or artist or programmer. Your mind is framed by that goal and you fail to learn anything outside of it.
這就是無意識的道路。你上學是為了地位和安全感。你專注於成為醫生、律師、藝術家或程式設計師。你的心智被這個目標所框住，你無法學到任何目標以外的東西。
It’s no wonder why you are afraid of artificial intelligence and automation. It’s because you are already a machine. You are a tool that is worried about being replaced by a tool. You aren’t a human with an executive function to create narratives rather than being a part of the narrative. You’ve relinquished your ability to nurture a vision, assign goals to the tools, and learn anything required to do both.
難怪您會害怕人工智慧和自動化。這是因為您已經是一台機器。您是一個擔心被工具取代的工具。您不是一個具有執行功能的人類，創造敘事，而不是成為敘事的一部分。您已經放棄了培育願景、為工具指派目標，以及學習兩者所需的一切能力。
When you dig deeper into your desires, you realize that you don’t actually care to become a doctor or lawyer or artist. You realize that those are neat and tidy titles you can adopt to bring instant yet faulty order to your mind.
當您深入探究自己的慾望時，您會發現自己其實並不在乎成為醫生、律師或藝術家。你意識到那些都是整潔的頭銜，你可以用它們來為你的心靈帶來即時但錯誤的秩序。
At the end of the day, humans have the desire to create, expand, and transcend. You want to be a doctor to help others. You want to be an artist to fulfill your creative needs. You want to be a writer to pursue mastery. But accepting this is incredibly difficult because when you do so, you are left with only the option to take complete responsibility for your life.
說到底，人類有創造、擴展和超越的慾望。您想成為醫生來幫助他人。您想成為藝術家是為了滿足您的創造性需求。您想成為作家來追求大師級的境界。但是接受這一點是非常困難的，因為當你接受這一點時，你就只剩下對自己的生命完全負責的選擇。
There are infinite and one paths to fulfilling those desires.
實現這些慾望有無限且唯一的途徑。
The only way to figure out what you were meant to do is maintain focus on the why: creation, expansion, and transcendence. Creating something valuable to help others. Expanding your complexity of self to take on greater challenges. Transcending and including previous levels of development toward a more holistic worldview.
要想知道自己的使命是什麼，唯一的方法就是持續專注於 「為什麼」：創造、擴展和超越。創造有價值的東西來幫助他人。擴展自我的複雜性，以迎接更大的挑戰。超越並包含先前的發展層次，朝向更全面的世界觀邁進。
How you do things changes with the times. It always has and always will. Why you do things has never changed unless you become distracted from your deeper purpose.
您做事的方式會隨著時代改變。過去如此，將來也是如此。除非您偏離了更深層的目標，否則為什麼做事從未改變過。
If you create a purpose that evolves as you do, contemplate what you don’t want often, and avoid latching onto the best or highest-status tools to get a job done, you no longer feel threatened by new technology and change.
如果您創造一個隨著您的工作而演進的目標，經常思考您不想要的東西，並避免抓住最好或地位最高的工具來完成工作，您就不會再感到新技術和變革的威脅。
Don’t learn skills just to do a specific job. Learn any skill that is necessary to create your ideal lifestyle. Try everything until you find that one thing you can’t pull yourself away from, and when that one thing inevitably decays, do it all over again.
不要只為了做特定的工作而學習技能。學習任何創造您理想生活方式所需的技能。嘗試所有的事情，直到你找到那件讓你無法自拔的事情，而當那件事情不可避免地衰退時，再重新來過。
As an aside, AI, in particular, is useless without the application. OpenAI only became useful when it became a chat app. Cursor made AI useful by putting it into an editor. Kortex will do the same thing as our AI features start to drop this month.
另外，AI 在沒有應用程式的情況下尤其無用。OpenAI 只有在成為聊天應用程式時才變得有用。Cursor 將 AI 放進編輯器中，讓它變得有用。隨著我們的 AI 功能在本月開始推出，Kortex 也會做同樣的事情。
4) If You Aren’t Building, You’re Dying
4) 如果你沒有建設，你就在死亡
The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary. – Nassim Nicholas Taleb 最有害的三種癮是海洛因、碳水化合物和月薪。- 納西姆-尼古拉斯-塔勒布
Entrepreneurship is the only logical option for long-term thinkers.
創業是長期思考者唯一合理的選擇。
You can be a high-agency individual at a job and be rewarded handsomely for it – by taking initiative and solving problems – but the fact still remains that you are not in control of the vision. You are not in control of the goal. You are not in control of what you learn, how you think, or where your life will end up. You have some control, of course, but it is still limited by he who is allowing you to survive.
您可以在工作中成為高階主管，並因此獲得豐厚的報酬 - 透過主動出擊和解決問題 - 但事實上，您仍然無法掌控願景。您無法掌控目標。您無法控制您所學到的東西、您的思考方式，或是您的人生最終會走向何處。當然，你有一些控制權，但仍受限於讓你生存的那個人。
If you want to move toward your purpose, leverage the energy from contemplating what you don’t want, and develop yourself as a deep generalist, you must become a builder.
如果您想要邁向您的目標，利用思考您不想要的東西所帶來的能量，並將自己發展為深度通才，您就必須成為建構者。
If you can build someone else’s dream for 8 hours each day, you can spend 1 hour building your own. Everyone has one hour they can carve out in their routine. And to those who think that is small, where do you think 99% of people start?
如果您每天可以花 8 小時為他人築夢，那麼您就可以花 1 小時為自己築夢。每個人都有一個小時可以在日常工作中抽出來。對於那些認為這只是一小時的人，您認為 99% 的人是從哪裡開始的呢？
Does every entrepreneur just magically start working 12 hours a day on their own thing? Or do you lack perspective and like the comfort of thinking that they don’t have responsibilities just like you? One hour can turn into 365 hours very quickly, and 365 hours is more than enough to build something incredible.
是否每個企業家都會神奇地開始每天工作 12 小時做自己的事？還是你缺乏遠見，喜歡安逸地以為他們和你一樣沒有責任？一小時可以很快變成 365 小時，而 365 小時足以創造出令人難以置信的成就。
Block out 1 hour each day.
每天預留 1 小時。
Outline a project as a puzzle piece to your ideal life.
畫出一個專案，作為您理想生活的拼圖。
Give yourself permission to start, suck, and make mistakes.
允許自己開始、爛、犯錯。
Learn the multitude of skills required to build something of your own.
學習建立自己的東西所需的多種技能。
For the record, I do not think jobs are useless or bad. But I am brutally aware that they make you complacent and are dangerous for your psyche. You see, at a job, you are not in control of the skill:challenge ratio.
在此聲明，我不認為工作無用或不好。但我很清楚，工作會讓人自滿，對您的心理很危險。在工作中，您無法控制技能與挑戰的比例。
A challenging goal is what makes life enjoyable. But if your skill isn’t high enough to match the challenge, you will get anxious. And if your skill is to high for the challenge, you will get bored. The key is to aim just above what you are capable of. That way, your abilities are tested and you feel the enjoyment of progress.
具有挑戰性的目標才能讓生活充滿樂趣。但是，如果您的技能不夠高，無法應付挑戰，您就會感到焦慮。如果您的技能過高，無法應付挑戰，您就會感到無聊。關鍵在於目標要剛好高於您的能力範圍。這樣既能測試您的能力，又能讓您感受到進步的樂趣。
Jobs are useful for skill acquisition, experience, and connections, but you can only go so high up the ladder before it becomes unfeasible for most people. After the initial 6 months, the repetition will start to kick in. You won’t be challenged anymore. You will be more likely to stay at that job not because it’s fulfilling but because it gives you a steady paycheck each month.
工作對於技能的學習、經驗的累積和人脈的建立都很有幫助，但是你只能往上爬到某個高度，然後對大多數人來說就變得不可行了。在最初的 6 個月之後，重複的工作就會開始起作用。您不會再受到挑戰。您會更願意留在那份工作，不是因為它充實，而是因為它每個月給您穩定的薪水。
If you are not a generalist, you will not get to the top. And at that point, you’d still be better off building your own thing.
如果您不是通才，您將無法達到頂尖。到那時候，您還是最好建立自己的東西。
But here’s the kicker. Boredom and anxiety lead to psychic entropy. Boredom leads to self-centeredness, you begin thinking of what better things you could be doing. Anxiety leads to self-consciousness, you focus on your faults and feel as if you aren’t good enough. Both allow negative thoughts to multiply, tearing down the order and focus in your mind resulting in chaos. Naturally, you seek out pleasure to numb the pain because you don’t see any other option. You don’t need to be your best at work, so you allow bad habits to compound in your life.
但最重要的是無聊和焦慮會導致心理熵。無聊會導致自我中心，您會開始思考您可以做哪些更好的事情。焦慮會導致自我意識，您會專注於自己的缺點，覺得自己還不夠好。這兩種情況都會讓負面想法成倍增加，破壞您心裡的秩序和焦點，造成混亂。很自然地，您會尋求快樂來麻痹痛苦，因為您看不到其他的選擇。你不需要在工作上做到最好，所以你讓壞習慣在生活中複製。
If you aren’t building, aligned with your ideal future, you are dying.
如果您沒有與理想的未來結盟，您就快死了。
5) Money Is A Tool For Personal Development
5) 金錢是個人發展的工具
People who are privileged but have no power are a waste, while those who are educated but uninfluenced are a pile of worthless rubbish. – J.D. Rockefeller 有特權卻無權力的人是浪費，而有學識卻無影響力的人則是一堆無價值的垃圾。- J.D. 洛克菲勒
I know it’s difficult to believe, but money isn’t the evil monstrosity that narrow-minded people believe it is.
我知道這很難令人相信，但金錢並不是心胸狹隘的人所認為的邪惡怪物。
In fact, becoming an entrepreneur was the most powerful catalyst for my personal growth. It forced me to increase my agency. It forced me to get other aspects of my life together, like health and habits, otherwise my work would suffer. It forced me to expand my complexity of self by acquiring new skills and taking on more interesting challenges. And last, it forced me to be less selfish. My creations weren’t only to fulfill my creative outlet, but to help others. 事實上，成為企業家是我個人成長最有力的催化劑。它迫使我增加我的代理權。它迫使我將生活的其他方面（如健康和習慣）整合在一起，否則我的工作就會受到影響。它迫使我學習新技能，接受更多有趣的挑戰，從而擴大我的自我複雜性。最後，它迫使我不再那麼自私。我的創作不只是為了滿足自己的創意，也是為了幫助他人。
I understand that you may have a frugal mind conditioned with limiting beliefs that prevent you from seeing a better half of reality. I understand if you identify with a purely ascending philosophy – and fail to integrate “lower perspectives” – that views the entire manifest world as dirty and unethical. I also understand if you don’t base your interpretations of money on experimentation and experience but instead on the common narrative about how rich and successful people are always unethical cheaters.
我了解你可能有一個節儉的心靈，這個心靈受到限制信念的影響，讓你無法看到現實中更好的一面。如果您認同純粹的上升哲學，而沒有結合「較低的觀點」，將整個顯現的世界視為骯髒和不道德，我可以理解。如果你對金錢的詮釋不是基於實驗和經驗，而是基於一般人對富有和成功人士總是不道德的騙子的敘述，我也能理解。
But life-changing creations aren’t built off of donations and charity. The well-being of humanity isn’t raised by disconnecting from it to contemplate in the woods. Unethical companies aren’t dismantled through protest, and by not starting a business that contributes to humanity in a better way, you are directly contributing to said evil through work and ignorance that allows these unethical companies to rise to the top.
但改變生命的創造並不是靠捐款和慈善。人類的福祉不是靠脫離人類在森林裡思考就能提升的。不道德的公司不是靠抗議就能瓦解的，如果你不創立一個能以更好的方式貢獻人類的企業，你就是在透過工作和無知直接助長上述的惡行，讓這些不道德的公司得以崛起。
Beyond that, is your life not already ruled by money? Must you not conquer it to remove its grasps? Do you not work for a company that sells a product to mostly happy customers to survive? Are you not a hypocrite for your hatred of the one thing you can’t seem to escape? Is the only way – in our modern world that people think they can escape by hoping to regress into a past, underdeveloped state of humanity when things were “better” – to remove your money problems not to solve them?
除此之外，你的生活不是已經被金錢主宰了嗎？難道你不需要征服金錢來解除它的控制嗎？你不是在一家公司工作，為了生存而向大多數滿意的顧客銷售產品嗎？你不是因為憎恨你似乎無法逃避的東西而變成偽君子嗎？在我們的現代世界裡，人們認為他們可以藉由希望倒退回過去人性不發達的狀態來逃避，而那時事情還「比現在好」，唯一的方法是消除你的金錢問題，而不是解決它們嗎？
The underlying reason why people despise money is because it is a measure of value. Value is a measure of how many people support and care about your creations.
人們鄙視金錢的根本原因是因為金錢是衡量價值的標準。價值是衡量有多少人支持和關心您的創作。
Getting paid for the amount of work you do doesn’t make sense. Getting paid for the amount of value you provide does, and that’s how reality works. You may not like it, and it may not be completely pure or holy (because nothing is, creation is counterbalanced with destruction), but those who are richer than you are, by definition, more valuable than you, and that pisses you off.
按工作量獲取報酬是沒有意義的。按您所提供的價值量獲取報酬才合理，這就是現實的運作方式。你可能不喜歡，也可能不完全純潔或神聖（因為沒有什麼是純潔或神聖的，創造與破壞是互相抵銷的），但那些比你富有的人，根據定義，比你更有價值，這讓你很不爽。
But rather than doing something about it, you whine and complain about how you work so hard and get paid so little. You don’t yet realize that in order to make the change you want to see in the world, you need attention, power, status, and all of the other things you hate. Imagine if Jesus Christ or Gautama Buddha or Alan Watts or any of the people you look to for direction and clarity didn’t have attention, power, or status. The point is that those things are not completely and absolutely evil. They are as evil as the level of development of the person who possesses them and the level of development of those who interpret them.
但你沒有為此做些什麼，反而抱怨自己工作如此辛苦，薪水卻如此微薄。你還沒有意識到，為了在世界上做出你想要看到的改變，你需要關注、權力、地位，以及其他所有你討厭的東西。想像一下，如果耶穌基督、釋迦牟尼佛、艾倫‧瓦特或任何你想尋找方向與明確的人，都沒有注意力、權力或地位。重點是那些東西並不是完全絕對邪惡的。它們的邪惡程度與擁有它們的人的發展程度以及詮釋它們的人的發展程度一樣。
The reality is you can make money. How much is up to you. In fact, it’s probably the singular thing that is holding you back from achieving a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
現實是您可以賺錢。賺多少錢取決於您自己。事實上，這可能是阻礙您實現更有意義、更充實生活的唯一因素。
If that last sentence shortcircuits your brain, you have some perspective to work on.
如果最後一句話讓您的大腦短路，那您就有一些觀點需要改進了。
That’s it for now.
暫時就這樣。
I have a few more lessons, but I’ll save those for future letters.
我還有一些教訓，不過我會留到以後再寫。
