自我之孤獨 The So1itude of Self

    要保護女子，使其免遭狂風暴雨般的生活打擊，這種說法是十足的嘲弄，因為生活的風暴對女子如同對男子一樣，從四面八方襲擊她們。由於男子受過訓練，知道如何保護自己，如何去抗爭，如何去征服，因此女子遭打擊後結果更慘。

    作為美國女權運動領袖，伊麗莎白‧凱迪‧斯坦頓輝煌的一生，充滿成就，聞名全國。1892年，她發表《自我之孤獨》時，年已七十六歲。人們普遍認為，這是她的女權思想的最佳宣言；其中沒有任何自負自傲或沾沾自喜的表露，有的只是為婦女在生活的各個領域求得「自主權」的強烈要求。自立自助之所以必要是因為我們每個人最終都是孤獨的；每個人必須準備好為自己而行動，為自己而思索，對自己的生命負全部責任。

    現在我想直率地闡明的一點是：每個人的個性，也就是我們新教的思想，以及每個人擁有良知，進行獨立判斷的權利，這又是我們的共和思想，亦即每個人的公民權。要討論婦女權利，我們首先要考慮的是：在一個女性的自身世界裏，作為一個人，作為自己命運的主宰者。作為想像中的魯濱遜，在一個孤島上，身邊的唯一伴侶只有「星期五」，這時她究竟擁有什麼樣的權利。在這種境況下，她的權利只能是為自身的安全和幸福而利用自己的全部聰明與才智。

    其次，假如一個女子被視為公民，視為一個偉大國家的一個成員，那麼，根據我們政府的基本原則，她就應該享有其他成員所享有的同樣權利。

    其三，即使把一個女子僅僅視為一個女子，視為文明結構中一個同等重要的因素，她的權利與責任仍然一樣，即個人的幸福與發展。

    其四，只有生活中的附帶關係，比如作為母親、妻子、姐妹、女兒等，才需要一個女性盡一些特殊的責任，接受某種特殊的訓練……

    要讓婦女受高等教育，讓她們充分發揮個人的聰明才智，以求身心得到全面發展，同時還要享有最廣泛的思想和行動自由，從任何形式的束縛中，從陳規陋習、依附他人及種種迷信中徹底解放出來，免受恐懼的侵擾和摧殘。之所以要給婦女所有這些機會，最大的理由莫過於每個婦女要對自己孤獨的一生負完全的責任。我們要求婦女在自己的政府中要有發言權，在讓她們信仰的宗教中要有發言權，在她們充當重要角色的社會生活中要享有平等待遇，在她們能獲得生計的各行各業中應佔有一席之地；之所以如此，最大的理由莫過於她們生來就有的自主權，因為作為一個人，每個婦女都得完全依靠自己。不管婦女多麼喜歡有所依靠，有人保護，有人支援，也不管男人如何希望她們這麼做，婦女都得獨自駕馭生活之舟。在危急關頭要脫險，婦女就得對航海規律有所瞭解。要為自己導航，我們必須同時既是船長，又是引航員，又是工程師，舵手之位需配有航海圖和羅盤，以便觀測風浪、理會天象，適時收帆。作為一個孤獨的航海者，男女性別，無關緊要。大自然的恩賜不分性別、一視同仁，因此在危急關頭，大自然同樣讓他們去發揮自己的技藝與判斷力，假如無法與環境匹敵，男女將同樣遭受滅頂之災。為了弄清每個人都能獨立行動的重要性，且考慮一下自我的無限孤獨感。我們隻身一人來到世界，又隻身一人離開世界，所處的環境獨一無二，跟前人毫不相干。前人與後人都不可能出現在今人正要去航行的同一個人生之海。一個人身上的種種遺傳作用不會在其他人身上再現；影響這個人的幼年、青年乃至成年期的環境也不會再現於其他人身上。大自然絕不會舊戲重演；這個人的種種可能絕不會重現於那個人身上。沒有人找到過兩片同樣的葉子，也沒有人會找到兩個一模一樣的人。只要考慮到人性的無限多樣化，我們多多少少便能領會到，要是一個國家的任何一個階層缺乏教育，在政府中沒有自己的代表，這對於該國家將是多重大的損失。

    我們要求個人的全面發展，首先是為個人的利益和幸福考慮。要裝備一支軍隊，就要給每個士兵分發背包、武器、彈藥、毛毯、口杯、刀叉及湯匙。我們要給每個人提供一切必需品，然後每個人肩挑起各自的擔子。

    我們要求個人的全面發展，同樣也是為了大眾利益，是為了有才有識之士能在人類利益的所有方面，在國民生活中的所有問題上取得共識；而個人要在公眾責任中挑起自己的擔子。無親無友的兒童在尚不能分析自己的情感之前，在尚不能分清歡樂與痛苦之前，便過早地陷入孤立無援的境地。目睹此種景象，怎不令人悲哀? 不管哪個時代，大自然給予我們的最大教誨似乎都是自立自助、自護自衛……

    失去友愛，焦慮痛苦之時，我們不指望從他人身上獲得同情。死亡奪走我們的至愛親朋之時，我們獨自籠罩在痛苦的陰影裏。在生活的大悲大喜之日，我們都是獨自而行。當達到人類成就的神聖頂峰時，作為英雄或聖人受到頂禮膜拜時，我們仍獨自而立。作為一個無知的人，乞丐或罪犯，我們獨自挨餓或去行竊。我們獨自面對人們的嘲笑和冷遇，獨自於黑暗的院落， 於大路，於小巷被人追趕，受人侵擾，獨自於受審席上，獨自於牢房之中吞食罪惡和不幸的苦果，獨自走上絞刑架結束一切罪孽。就在這種種關頭，我們領略了個人生活的極端孤獨感。感受到生活的痛苦，生活的懲罰以及生活的責任；就在這種種關頭，年幼的，最孤立無援的，無人關顧，只能自我安慰，自尋出路。生活永遠是一次行軍，一場戰爭，每個士兵為了自衛必須裝備齊全。有鑒於此，剝奪一個人的任何一種自然權利都是慘無人道的。

    在一個人接受全面教育的道路上設置障礙，無異於剜掉人的雙眼；剝奪貧困者的權利無異於剁去人的雙手。剝奪人的政治平等等於奪走人的所有自尊，等於奪走人在市場中的信用，等於奪走人的工作報酬，等於奪走一個人選擇行政立法者的發言權，等於奪走一個人選擇自己評審團的自由，等於奪走一個人選擇決定自己刑罰的法官……請拭目瞧瞧婦女的地位吧：她們的自然權利被剝奪了，法律及傳統習慣使她們處處受挫，迫使她們獨自而戰，在生命的緊要關頭，要保護自己也只能自立自助……

    一個年輕女子，作為妻子，作為母親，作為家庭主婦，若有一位好丈夫護衛著，免受生活惡風的襲擊，而且有財富，有地位，那麼她便擁有一個安全的港灣，遠離生活中常見的不幸。但要持家、要在社會中產生好影響，要結交朋友，要贏得丈夫的溫情，要教育好小孩，要訓練好僕人，她就必須具有非同一般的常識、智慧和交際本領，同時還要瞭解人的本性。要做到這點，她必須具備最為成功的政治家所具備的長處及其優良性格。一個女人，未受過教育，無才無識，而又養成依附他人的習慣，在生活中不管做何事都將失敗無疑。然而，社會卻流行著這麼一種說法：婦女不需要世界知識，不需要公眾生活經驗所能提供的豐富多彩的訓練，不需要獲得大學教育的種種好處。可一旦失去這一切，幸福化為烏有時，婦女只能獨自去忍受恥辱。無知的弱者，其孤獨的確可悲可歎，因為這些人在盲目追求生活獎賞中，被碾成粉末。

    當年輕時代的樂趣結束後，當身邊的小孩長大成人，結婚離家後，當東奔西忙的生活接近尾聲時，當雙手無力從事繁重勞務時，當安樂椅、壁爐成為久留之地時，不管是男人還是女人，都得自己依靠自己。假如他們無法以書籍為伴，無法對重大時事問題產生興趣，無心再去觀察自己或許過問過去的改革如何得以實現，那麼他們將很快老化昏聵。人的心智愈得到發展，得以使用，人的精力及對周圍一切的興趣便愈能持久。假如一個婦女一生參與公共事業，覺得對形成我們教育制度的法規負有責任，對我們的監獄制度負有責任，對私人住宅、公共設施及公共道路的衛生條件負有責任，對商業、財政、外交中的個別問題或所有問題有興趣，那麼，她的最後孤獨至少是令人崇敬的，而她自己也不會以搬弄是非，傳播醜聞為樂。

    之所以要對每個人打開通往人的全部責任和幸福之門，其主要原因是，只有這樣，個人才能得以發展；只有這樣，一個人才能在各種情況下，獲得力量去對付有時人人都不可避免的孤獨感。…．

    既然短暫的時光乃至永久歲月所帶來的歡樂和痛苦，男女一樣平分，那麼男人想在投票箱前，在王位上代表婦女，想在國家中代婦女投票，在教堂裏代婦女祈禱，在家庭裏高居聖壇之上，扮演神父角色，這豈不是霸道至極嗎?

    最能提高人的判斷力，最能激發人的良知的莫過於個人的責任。最能增添個性尊嚴的莫過於承認個人自主權，莫過於承認──普遍承認──人人擁有平等地位的權利。這種地位要靠個人功績去獲得，而不是靠世襲、靠財富、靠家庭名望來巧取豪奪。既然男女肩負一樣的生活責任，有著一樣的命運，那麼男女都要為現時及悠悠歲月做好同樣的準備。要保護女子，使其免遭狂風暴雨般的生活打擊，這種說法是十足的嘲弄，因為生活的風暴對女子如同對男子一樣，從四面八方襲擊她們。由於男子受過訓練，知道如何保護自己、如何去抗爭、如何去征服，因此女子遭打擊後，結果更慘。個人自主的責任正是人類經驗證明的事實。富人與窮人，智者與愚者，好人與壞人，男人與女人，不管是誰都得自己依靠自己，無一例外。

    儘管有關婦女依賴男人的理論各種各樣，在婦女一生的緊要關頭，男人是無法挑起婦女肩上的重負的。當每個新生兒降臨人世時，婦女獨自邁向死亡之門。無人可以分擔她的恐懼；無人可以減輕她的劇痛。當痛苦超越一個女人所能忍受的極限時，她獨自一人跨進死亡的 門檻……

    由此可見，每個人總是位於生活的戰場，在漫長、疲憊的行軍中，獨自前行。我們可能擁有許多朋友，擁有別人的同情與仁愛，使每天的旅途順坦些，但在人生征途上，大喜大悲之時，每個人仍然是孑然一身……

    在整個思想領域，在藝術、科學和文學界，在政府裏，婦女已經佔有一些與男人平等的位置……本世紀有出自她們之手的詩歌與小說，她們參與過宗教、政治和社會生活的重大改革，她們佔有編輯、教授和律師的位置，醫院病房裏有她們的身影，教堂的佈道壇上，學校的講臺上也有她們的聲音。今天，開明的公眾輿論所歡迎的正是這種類型的女性；生活事實與以往虛假理論的鬥爭所贏來的也正是這一勝利。

    過去婦女圍著手紡車和編織針轉，政治活動範圍極其有限，而今天的女性已經成長起來，要是仍然將她們局限於過去狹窄的政治圈裏，能夠協調嗎? 不能，絕不能!機器不知疲倦的肩膀已扛起男女身上的重負，織布機、手紡車只是昨日舊夢，取而代之的是筆刷、畫架、鑿子。同時，婦女的理想抱負也發生了根本性的變化。

    人的外界條件是以說明個人求自由、求發展的理由。然而，當我們考慮到每個人都得依靠自己時，我們覺得，不管是男性還是女性，都需要具備勇氣，需要明察秋毫，需要調動身心的各器官，並在使用中得以增強和發展。

    不管男性在一般情況下，對女性有多大的保護力，一旦遇到天災人禍，在生死攸關的關頭，婦女仍要獨自去對付險惡的環境。死神為婦女準備的不可能是一條平坦的大道。男人的愛心與同情心只能我們的生活錦上添花。連結無限時空的是神聖的自我之孤獨，每個靈魂永遠生活於孤獨之中…..

    有一種孤獨，我們每個人隨身帶有的孤獨，比那冰雪覆蓋的山巒更加可望不可及，比那午夜的海洋更加深不可測，這就是自我之孤獨。我們稱為自我的內心世界，不管是凡人還是天神都看不穿、摸不透，它要比神靈守護的地下室穴更隱秘，要比神殿的內室更隱秘，要比古希臘以流西斯城裏的暗室更隱秘，因為唯有全能全知的上帝才能進入人的內心世界。

    每個人生，概莫如此。試問：有誰能夠，又有誰敢將他人的權利與責任奪為己有？

The point I wish plainly to bring before you on this occasion is the individuality of each human soul; our Protestant idea, the right of individual conscience and judgment; our republican idea, individual citizenship. In discussing the rights of woman, we are to consider, first, what belongs to her as an individual, in a world of her own, the arbiter of her own destiny, an imaginary Robinson Crusoe, with her woman, Friday, on a solitary island. Her rights under such circumstances are to use all her faculties for her own safety and happiness.

      Secondly, if we consider her as a citizen, as a member of a great nation, she must have the same rights as all other members, according to the fundamental principles of our Government.

      Thirdly, viewed as a woman, an equal factor in civilization, her rights and duties are still the same－individual happiness and development.

      Fourthly, it is only the incidental relations of life, such as mother, wife, sister, daughter, which may involve some special duties and training.....      

      The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her forces of mind and body; for giving her the most enlarged freedom of thought and action; a complete emancipation from all forms of bondage, of custom, dependence, superstition; from all the crippling influences of fear－is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life. The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor; a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her bread, is because of her birthright to self-sovereignty; because, as an individual, she must rely on herself. No matter how much women prefer to lean, to be protected and supported, nor how much men desire to have them do so, they must make the voyage of life alone, and for safety in an emergency, they must know something of the laws of navigation. To guide our own craft, we must be captain, pilot, engineer; with chart and compass to stand at the wheel; to watch the winds and waves, and know when to take in the sail, and to read the signs in the firmament over all. It matters not whether the solitary voyager is man or woman; nature, having endowed them equally, leaves them to their own skill and judgment in the hour of danger, and, if not equal to the occasion, alike they perish.

      To appreciate the importance of fitting every human soul for independent action, think for a moment of the immeasurable solitude of self. We come into the world alone, unlike all who have gone before us, we leave it alone, under circumstances peculiar to ourselves. No mortal ever has been, no mortal ever will be like the soul just launched on the sea of life. There can never again be just such a combination of prenatal influences; never again just such environments as make up the infancy, youth and manhood of this one. Nature never repeats herself, and the possibilities of one human soul will never be found in another. No one has ever found two blades of ribbon grass alike, and no one will ever find two human beings alike. Seeing, then, that what must be the infinite diversity in human character, we can in a measure appreciate the loss to a nation when any class of the people is uneducated and unrepresented in the government.

      We ask for the complete development of every individual, first, for his own benefit and happiness. In fitting out an army, we give each soldier his own knapsack, arms, powder, his blanket, cup, knife, fork and spoon. We provide alike for all their individual necessities; then each man bears his own burden.

      Again, we ask complete individual development for the general good; for the consensus of the competent on the whole round of human interests, on all questions of national life; and here each man must bear his share of the general burden. It is sad to see how soon friendless children are left to bear their own burdens, before they can analyze their feelings; before they can even tell their joys and sorrows, they are thrown on their own resources. The great lesson that nature seems to teach us at all ages is self-dependence, self-protection, self- support. ...

      We ask no sympathy from others in the anxiety and agony of a broken friendship or shattered love. When death sunders our nearest ties, alone we sit in the shadow of our affliction. Alike amid the greatest triumphs and darkest tragedies of life, we walk alone. On the divine heights of human attainment, eulogized and worshipped as a hero or saint, we stand alone. In ignorance, poverty and vice, as a pauper or criminal, alone we starve or steal; alone we suffer the sneers and rebuffs of our fellows; alone we are hunted and bounded through dark courts and alleys, in by-ways and high-ways; alone we stand in the judgment seat; alone in the prison cell we lament our crimes and misfortunes; alone we expiate them on the gallows. In hours like these we realize the awful solitude of individual life, its pains, its penalties, its responsibilities, hours in which the youngest and most helpless are thrown on their own resources for guidance and consolation. Seeing, then, that life must ever be a march and a battle that each soldier must be equipped for his own protection, it is the height of cruelty to rob the individual of a single natural right.

      To throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like putting out the eyes; to deny the rights of poverty is like cutting off the hands. To refuse political equality is to rob the ostracized of all self-respect; of credit in the market place; of recompense in the world of work, of a voice in choosing those who make and administer the law, a choice in the jury before whom they are tried, and in the judge who decides their punishment. [Think of] . . . woman's position! Robbed of her natural rights, handicapped by law and custom at every turn, yet compelled to fight her own battles, and in the emergencies of life to fall back on herself for protection. . . .

      The young wife and mother, at the head of some establishment, with a kind husband to shield her from the adverse winds of life, with wealth, fortune and position, has a certain harbor of safety, secure against the ordinary ills of life. But to manage a household, have a desirable influence in society, keep her friends and the affections of her husband, train her children and servants well, she must have rare common sense, wisdom, diplomacy, and a knowledge of human nature. To do all this, she needs the cardinal virtues and the strong points of character that the most successful statesman possesses. An uneducated woman trained to dependence, with no resources in herself, must make a failure of any position in life. But society says women do not need a knowledge of the world, the liberal training that experience in public life must give, all the advantages of collegiate education; but when for the lack of all this, the woman's happiness is wrecked, alone she bears her humiliation; and the solitude of the weak and ignorant is indeed pitiable. In the wild chase for the prizes of life, they are ground to powder.

      In age, when the pleasures of youth are passed, children grown up, married and gone, the hurry and bustle of life in a measure over, when the hands are weary of active service, when the old arm chair and the fireside are the chosen resorts, then men and women alike must fall back on their own resources. If they cannot find companionship in books, if they have no interest in the vital questions of the hour, no interest in watching the consummation of re- forms with which they might have been identified, they soon pass into their dotage. The more fully the faculties of the mind are developed and kept in use, the longer the period of vigor and active interests in all around us continues. If, from a life-long participation in public affairs, a woman feels responsible for the laws regulating our system of education, the discipline of our jails and prisons, the sanitary condition of our private homes, public building and thorough- fares, an interest in commerce, finance, our foreign relations, in any or all these questions, her solitude will at least be respectable, and she will not be driven to gossip or scandal for entertainment.

      The chief reason for opening to every soul the doors to the whole round of human duties and pleasures is the individual development thus attained, the resources thus provided under all circumstances to mitigate the solitude that at times must come to everyone. . . .

      Inasmuch, then, as woman shares equally the joys and sorrows of time and eternity, is it not the height of presumption in man to propose to represent her at the ballot box and the throne of grace, to do her voting in the state, her praying in the church, and to assume the position of high priest at the family altar?

      Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens the conscience like individual responsibility. Nothing adds such dignity to character as the recognition of one's self-sovereignty; the right to an equal place, everywhere conceded－ a place earned by personal merit, not an artificial attainment by inheritance, wealth, family and position. Conceding, then, that the responsibilities of life rest equally on man and woman, that their destiny is the same, they need the same preparation for time and eternity. The talk of sheltering woman from the fierce storms of life is the sheerest mockery, for they beat on her from every point of the compass, just as they do on man, and with more fatal results, for he has been trained to protect himself, to resist, and to conquer. Such are the facts in human experience, the responsibilities of individual sovereignty. Rich and poor, intelligent and ignorant, wise and foolish, virtuous and vicious, man and woman; it is ever the same, each soul must depend wholly on itself.

      Whatever the theories may be of woman's dependence on man, in the supreme moments of her life, he cannot bear her burdens. Alone she goes to the gates of death to give life to every man that is born into the world; no one can share her fears, no one can mitigate her pangs; and if her sorrow is greater than she can bear, alone she passes beyond the gates into the vast unknown. . . .

      So it ever must be in the conflicting scenes of life, in the long, weary march, each one walks alone. We may have many friends, love, kind- ness, sympathy and charity, to smooth our pathway in everyday life, but in the tragedies and triumphs of human experience, each mortal stands alone. . . .

      Women are already the equals of men in the whole realm of thought, in art, science, literature and government. . . . The poetry and novels of the century are theirs, and they have touched the keynote of reform, in religion, politics and social life. They fill the editor's and professor's chair, plead at the bar 'of justice, walk the wards of the hospital, speak from the pulpit and the platform. Such is the type of womanhood that an enlightened public sentiment welcomes to- day, and such the triumph of the facts of life over the false theories of the past.

      Is it, then, consistent to hold the developed woman of this day within the same narrow political limits as the dame with the spinning wheel and knitting needles occupied in the past? No, no! Machinery has taken the labors of woman as well as man on its tireless shoulders; the loom and the spinning wheel are but dreams of the past; the pen, the brush, the easel, the chisel, have taken their places, while the hopes and ambitions of women are essentially changed.

      We see reason sufficient in the outer conditions of human beings for individual liberty and development, but when we consider the self- dependence of every human soul, we see the need of courage, judgment and the exercise of every faculty of mind and body, strengthened and developed by use, in woman as well as man.

      Whatever may be said of man's protecting power in ordinary' conditions, amid all the terrible disasters by land and sea, in the supreme moments of danger, alone woman must ever meet the horrors of the situation. The Angel of Death even makes no royal pathway for her. Man's love and sympathy enter only into the sunshine of our lives. In that solemn solitude of self, that links us with the immeasurable and the eternal, each soul lives alone forever. . . .

      And yet, there is a solitude which each and every one of us has always carried with him, more inaccessible than the ice-cold mountains, more profound than the midnight sea; the solitude of self. Our inner being which we call ourself, no eye nor touch of man or angel has ever pierced. It is more hidden than the caves of the gnome; the sacred adytum of the oracle; the hidden chamber of Eleusinian mystery, for to it only omniscience is permitted to enter.

      Such is individual life. Who, I ask you, can take, dare take on himself the rights, the duties, the responsibilities of another human soul?