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Over the past few days I’ve had conversations with friends and colleagues living in four separate countries. One thing that comes with having regular contact with people in different parts of the world is that I always get some sense of their sociopolitical perspective on what is happening where they are, wherever I happen to be. And despite all the expected variation from one country to the next, what seems clear is that people everywhere are harbouring feelings of uncertainty and concern about our collective future.
在过去的几天里，我与生活在四个不同国家的朋友和同事进行了交谈。与世界各地的人保持经常联系的一个好处是，无论我身在何处，我总能感受到他们对所在地发生的事情的社会政治观点。尽管每个国家之间的差异是可以预料的，但显而易见的是，世界各地的人们都对我们共同的未来感到不确定和担忧。
I’ve found myself thinking about where it is many of us look to place our faith. Not necessarily the idea of faith in a traditional religious sense, though it may be that, but in the broader sense of where or in what or whom we put our belief and confidence for experiencing the life for which we hope, peaceful and free.
我发现自己在思考我们许多人将信仰寄托于何处。这不一定是传统宗教意义上的信仰，尽管可能是如此，而是在更广泛的意义上，我们将信念和信心寄托于何物、何事或何人，以实现我们所期望的和平与自由的生活。
“Politics in an Oyster House”, a painting from 1848 by the American artist Richard Caton Woodville, is held at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Two elegantly dressed men from different generations sit across from one another at a wooden table in a booth of a restaurant. A red curtain that could offer privacy is pulled back, so we are privy to their interaction.
美国艺术家理查德•卡顿•伍德维尔(Richard Caton Woodville)于1848年创作的画作《牡蛎屋中的政治》(Politics in an Oyster House)现收藏于巴尔的摩的沃尔特斯艺术博物馆(Walters Art Museum)。两位来自不同年代、衣着优雅的男士坐在餐厅包厢的木桌对面。红色的帘子被拉开，使我们能够看到他们的互动。
The younger man on the right of the canvas with his top hat still on looks intently at the older man, while holding an open newspaper in one hand and gesturing passionately with the other. It seems that he is sharing his opinions about the contents of the newspaper, and we can assume it is political in nature.
画布右侧的年轻男子仍戴着高顶礼帽，专注地看着年长的男子，一手拿着展开的报纸，另一手热情地比划着。看起来他正在分享他对报纸内容的看法，我们可以推测这是政治性的。
The older man, even though he is being directly addressed by his companion, has turned to face the viewer. His left hand rests against the side of his head as though cupping his ear closed, his right hand holds his glasses and rests on his thigh, and he has a look of slight amusement on his face as he glances at us. I love the way the body language of both men offers insight into their different attitudes, and also gives us viewers more to think about.
这位年长的男士，尽管他的同伴正在直接和他交谈，却已经转身面向观众。他的左手靠在头部旁边，仿佛在捂住耳朵，右手拿着眼镜，放在大腿上，脸上带着一丝轻微的愉悦表情，看着我们。我喜欢两位男士的肢体语言揭示了他们不同的态度，也让我们这些观众有更多的思考空间。
From their posture and facial expressions, my own interpretation of the painting is that the young man feels passionately about the politics of his day, perhaps because he expects the elected leadership to act more in the best interests of people and society. So, frustrations arise when the faith he has placed in this leadership fails him. The older gentleman looks as though life has already shown him what happens when you put too much of your faith in politics, and he is mildly entertained by the young man’s naïveté.
从他们的姿势和面部表情来看，我对这幅画的解读是，这位年轻人对当时的政治充满热情，可能是因为他期望当选的领导层能更多地为人民和社会的利益着想。因此，当他对这些领导层的信任落空时，他感到沮丧。而那位年长的绅士看起来似乎已经从生活中领悟到，当你对政治寄予过多信任时会发生什么，他对年轻人的天真感到略微有些好笑。
Many of us anchor our hope for the future to our belief in our financial, or at least material, accumulations
我们中的许多人将对未来的希望寄托在对财务或至少物质积累的信念上
It’s an interesting scene to me because it makes me wonder about which side of the booth to sit on. One can understand the need to have faith in good leadership to make the best decision for society, but as we also know, politics rarely serves the best interest of everyone, even in democracies. There will always be people on the margins who do not get the same opportunities or freedoms, and who they are is largely determined by who makes up the majority and whose voices are most powerful in leadership.
这对我来说是一个有趣的场景，因为它让我思考应该坐在这个桌子的哪一边。人们可以理解需要对良好的领导力抱有信心，以便为社会做出最佳决策，但我们也知道，政治很少能为每个人的最佳利益服务，即使在民主国家也是如此。总会有一些边缘人群无法获得相同的机会或自由，而他们是谁，很大程度上取决于谁构成多数以及谁在领导层中声音最有力。
World history gives evidence to this again and again. The passion of the man on the right could be admirable or it could be potentially dangerous, depending on how his faith in politics plays out, and whose interests are deemed more valuable than others. I wonder too, if the older man’s gaze might also be one of questioning how much he too should perhaps still have faith in political leadership. And if he chooses not to, where then does he turn for support, and where do we?
世界历史一再证明了这一点。右边那位男士的激情可能令人钦佩，也可能潜藏危险，这取决于他对政治信仰的表现，以及谁的利益被认为比其他人更有价值。我也在想，年长者的目光是否也在质疑他是否仍应对政治领导保持信心。如果他选择不这样做，那么他将向何处寻求支持，我们又该何去何从？
In the 1514 work “The Money Lender and His Wife” by the Flemish painter Quentin Matsys, we see a couple sitting side by side attending to their respective duties. There is a lot of detail in this painting. The shelves in the background are lined with books, an empty vase, a snuffed-out candle, a piece of fruit and other items. In the foreground, the money changer sits at a table of treasures. We cannot see his eyes because he is gazing down intently at the gold coins he is weighing.
在1514年，弗拉芒画家昆廷•马茨斯的作品《放债人和他的妻子》中，我们看到一对夫妇并肩坐着，各自忙碌。这幅画中有很多细节。背景的架子上摆满了书籍、一个空花瓶、一支熄灭的蜡烛、一块水果和其他物品。在前景中，货币兑换商坐在一张堆满珍宝的桌子旁。我们看不到他的眼睛，因为他正专注地低头看着他正在称重的金币。
He holds the scales carefully between his slim fingers with a delicacy one might reserve for a thing of great value. Even his body leans in towards the money. His wife, beside him, holds a prayer book, but instead of reading it her attention is diverted by her husband’s activity. The couple’s rapt interest in material wealth seems to have an almost spiritual intensity.
他用纤细的手指小心翼翼地握住天平，仿佛对待一件珍贵之物般细致。甚至他的身体也向金钱倾斜。他身旁的妻子手持一本祈祷书，但她并没有在阅读，而是被丈夫的活动吸引。这对夫妇对物质财富的热切兴趣似乎带有一种近乎宗教般的强烈感情。
This painting was made at a time of religious conflict and growing division in Europe. The Protestant Reformation began just three years later in 1517, with Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. It was an era when people were beginning to openly question what they believed and to reconsider their faith. We are living in very different times today, although organised religions or spiritual paths of any kind will always have tenets and practices to inspire and those of which to be wary.
这幅画创作于欧洲宗教冲突和日益加剧的分裂时期。仅仅三年后的1517年，马丁•路德(Martin Luther)发表了《九十五条论纲》，新教改革由此开始。那是一个人们开始公开质疑并重新审视自己信仰的时代。尽管我们今天生活在一个截然不同的时代，但有组织的宗教或任何形式的精神道路始终会有启发人们的信条和实践，也会有需要警惕的地方。
But I was taken by this work because, regardless of people’s religious or spiritual beliefs, many of us still anchor our hope for the future by placing faith presently in our financial, or at least material, accumulations. We live in societies that teach us that the more we own, the safer we will be, to the extent that fear of not having enough, which also equates to feeling not in control of our own lives, can lead us to favour decisions and political policies that promise to secure our own wellbeing at a cost to others.
但我被这项工作吸引，因为无论人们的宗教或精神信仰如何，我们许多人仍然通过对当前财务或至少物质积累的信任来寄托对未来的希望。我们生活在这样的社会中，教导我们拥有越多就会越安全，以至于对不够的恐惧，也等同于感觉无法掌控自己的生活，可能导致我们偏向那些承诺以牺牲他人为代价来确保我们福祉的决策和政治政策。
It’s fascinating because the nature of faith is to actively place trust in a thing, system or person without certainty, and yet many of us seem to believe that only things that are predictably and reliably in our favour are worthy of our confidence or trust.
令人着迷的是，信仰的本质是在没有确定性的情况下积极地信任某个事物、体系或人，然而我们中的许多人似乎认为，只有那些可以可靠且可预测地对我们有利的事物才值得我们的信任。
I don’t think we consciously sit around and decide to place our faith in money and resources but I do think we naturally feel more confident about our lives if we can control them. The only problem is that this sense of control is mostly an illusion.
我不认为我们会有意识地坐下来决定把信任放在金钱和资源上，但我确实认为，如果我们能控制它们，我们自然会对自己的生活更有信心。唯一的问题是，这种控制感大多是一种幻觉。
Much of what happens in life happens in spite of our efforts to orchestrate it. Maybe this painting is a work that invites us to think about what we are devoted to, what else competes for that devotion, and where we choose to place our faith.
生活中发生的许多事情，往往是在我们努力策划之外发生的。也许这幅画作邀请我们思考我们所专注的事物，还有什么在与这种专注竞争，以及我们选择将信仰寄托于何处。
I love the 2024 painting “Joie de Vivre” by British-Nigerian artist Joy Labinjo. Three children of different ethnicities play together in an open park alongside a young brown-skinned woman. There is an expanse of green grass and there are trees in the background across a quiet lake. In the foreground of the image, the children chase a green and a red ball, as the woman, wearing jeans, a patterned shirt and hijab, laughingly tries to intervene.
我喜欢英国-尼日利亚艺术家乔伊•拉宾乔(Joy Labinjo)创作的2024年画作《生活的乐趣》。三个不同种族的孩子在一个开阔的公园里玩耍，旁边是一位年轻的棕色皮肤女性。画面中有一片绿草地，背景是宁静湖泊和树木。在画面的前景，孩子们追逐着一个绿色和一个红色的球，而那位穿着牛仔裤、图案衬衫和头巾的女性则笑着试图介入。
I picked this painting to symbolise an example of where we might put our faith because I think it represents so many things to which people aspire.
我选择这幅画作为我们可能寄托信仰的一个例子，因为我认为它代表了许多人所向往的事物。
We often say that children are the future, so obviously it matters how we take care of our children on both a daily basis and through policies and practices on a larger scale. This painting of happy children from different backgrounds may seem simplistic, even romantic, but it reminds me that if we are concerned about our futures, we should be concerned about the present conditions of children across the world, not least those suffering as a result of poverty or conflict.
我们常说孩子是未来，因此，显然我们在日常生活中如何照顾孩子，以及通过更大范围的政策和实践来关怀他们，是非常重要的。这幅描绘来自不同背景的快乐孩子的画作，或许看起来简单甚至浪漫，但它提醒我，如果我们关心自己的未来，就应该关注全球各地孩子的现状，尤其是那些因贫困或冲突而受苦的孩子。
It seems it would be in all of our best interests to put our faith not just in children but in the diversity of young people who represent the next generation. And just as when putting our faith in politics or money we do that by our actions, to put our faith in children and young people we would all be required to also do something active and intentional, whether that is considering ways to create safer spaces for children in domestic, communal and educational environments or voting for policies that support the welfare of children.
看来，我们不仅要相信儿童，还要相信代表下一代的年轻人的多样性，这符合我们所有人的最大利益。正如我们通过行动来表达对政治或金钱的信任一样，为了信任儿童和年轻人，我们也需要采取积极和有意识的行动，无论是考虑如何在家庭、社区和教育环境中为儿童创造更安全的空间，还是投票支持有利于儿童福利的政策。
I suspect there are countless big and small opportunities within our individual communities in which we could figure out a way to act towards the greater wellbeing of children. But I almost want to challenge us to also think of those children who may not be right under our noses.
我怀疑在我们各自的社区中有无数大大小小的机会，我们可以找到方法来促进儿童的福祉。但我几乎想挑战我们，也要考虑那些可能不在我们眼皮底下的孩子。
Where in the world right now do we know of where there are children experiencing such difficulties but that we would rather not confront the reality of? What would it mean to put faith in them? I’m just thinking aloud with you.
我们现在是否知道世界上有哪些地方的孩子正在经历这样的困境，而我们却宁愿不去面对现实？信任他们意味着什么？我只是在和你一起思考。
In a way it takes us back to the idea of spiritual faith requiring works but in this case it is works that are for the benefit of others and not just ourselves. The future of peace and security naturally requires us to look beyond our own self-interest and to remember that difference in perspective or ideology ultimately shouldn’t keep us from the care needed to ensure futures for everyone.
在某种程度上，这让我们回到了精神信仰需要行动的观念，但在这种情况下，这些行动是为了他人的利益，而不仅仅是为了我们自己。和平与安全的未来自然要求我们超越自身利益，记住，观点或意识形态的差异最终不应阻止我们提供必要的关怀，以确保每个人的未来。
What would it look like to practise such a faith in each of our lives and communities today?
在当今的生活和社区中践行这样的信仰会是什么样子？
Email Enuma at enuma.okoro@ft.com
给埃努玛发送电子邮件enuma.okoro@ft.com
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