For me they normally happen, these career crises, often, actually, on a Sunday evening, just as the sun is starting to set, and the gap between my hopes for myself and the reality of my life starts to diverge so painfully that I normally end up weeping into a pillow.
U krize vezane za karijeru obično zapravo, često zapadam nedeljom uveče, kad sunce počne da zalazi i kad jaz između onoga čemu se nadam i stvarnosti u kojoj živim počne tako bolno da raste da se na kraju obično isplačem.
I'm mentioning all this -- I'm mentioning all this because I think this is not merely a personal problem; you may think I'm wrong in this, but I think we live in an age when our lives are regularly punctuated by career crises, by moments when what we thought we knew -- about our lives, about our careers -- comes into contact with a threatening sort of reality.
Sve vam ovo govorim, jer mislim da se ne radi samo o mom ličnom problemu. Možda mislite da grešim. Ali smatram da živimo u dobu kad svako od nas u životu ima periode krize vezane za karijeru, trenutke kad se ono sto smo mislili da znamo o svom životu i svojoj karijeri suočava s pretećom stvarnošću
It's perhaps easier now than ever before to make a good living. It's perhaps harder than ever before to stay calm, to be free of career anxiety. I want to look now, if I may, at some of the reasons why we might be feeling anxiety about our careers. Why we might be victims of these career crises, as we're weeping softly into our pillows. One of the reasons why we might be suffering is that we are surrounded by snobs.
Moguće je da je danas više nego ikad dosad lako dobro živeti. Moguće je i da je teže nego ikad ostati pribran, bez aknsioznosti u vezi s karijerom. Sada bih se, ako dozvolite, posvetio nekim od mogućih razloga za anksioznost po pitanju karijere. Zbog čega smo žrtve tih kriza vezanih za karijeru zbog kojih nečujno ridamo u jastuk. Jedan od mogućih razloga za tu našu patnju jeste to što smo okruženi snobovima.
In a way, I've got some bad news, particularly to anybody who's come to Oxford from abroad. There's a real problem with snobbery, because sometimes people from outside the U.K. imagine that snobbery is a distinctively U.K. phenomenon, fixated on country houses and titles. The bad news is that's not true. Snobbery is a global phenomenon; we are a global organization, this is a global phenomenon. What is a snob? A snob is anybody who takes a small part of you, and uses that to come to a complete vision of who you are. That is snobbery.
E sad, imam u neku ruku loše vesti, naročito za one koji iz inostranstva dođu u Oksford. Postoji pravi problem u vezi sa snobizmom, jer oni koji nisu iz Velike Britanije nekad misle da je snobizam tipično britanski fenomen, koji podrazumeva kuću u provinciji i titulu. Loša vest je da to nije tačno. Snobizam je globalni fenomen. Mi smo globalna organizacija. Radi se o globalnom fenomenu. On je prisutan. Dakle, šta je snob? Snob je svaka osoba koja na osnovu jednog delića vaše ličnosti stvara sliku o vama kao celini. To je snobizam.
The dominant kind of snobbery that exists nowadays is job snobbery. You encounter it within minutes at a party, when you get asked that famous iconic question of the early 21st century, "What do you do?" According to how you answer that question, people are either incredibly delighted to see you, or look at their watch and make their excuses.
A dominantna vrsta snobizma današnjice jeste poslovni snobizam. Na svakom prijemu ćete se začas susresti s njim, kad vam postave čuveno pitanje 21. veka: "Čime se bavite?" I na osnovu toga kako odgovorite na to pitanje, biće im ili neopisivo drago sto vas vide ili će baciti pogled na sat i izviniti se što moraju da idu.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Now, the opposite of a snob is your mother.
A suprotnost od snoba je majka.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Not necessarily your mother, or indeed mine, but, as it were, the ideal mother, somebody who doesn't care about your achievements. Unfortunately, most people are not our mothers. Most people make a strict correlation between how much time, and if you like, love -- not romantic love, though that may be something -- but love in general, respect -- they are willing to accord us, that will be strictly defined by our position in the social hierarchy.
Ne nužno baš vaša, pa ni moja majka. Već, da tako kažem, idealna majka. Neko kome nije bitno šta ste postigli u životu. Ali, nažalost, nisu nam svi majke. Kod većine ljudi odluka o tome koliko su vremena i ako želite, ljubavi, pri čemu ne mislim na romantičnu ljubav, mada i to može da bude od nekog značaja - već ljubavi uopšte, poštovanja, spremni da nam posvete, strogo je povezana
And that's a lot of the reason why we care so much about our careers
s našom pozicijom u društvenoj hijerarhiji.
and indeed start caring so much about material goods. You know, we're often told that we live in very materialistic times, that we're all greedy people. I don't think we are particularly materialistic. I think we live in a society which has simply pegged certain emotional rewards to the acquisition of material goods. It's not the material goods we want; it's the rewards we want. It's a new way of looking at luxury goods. The next time you see somebody driving a Ferrari, don't think, "This is somebody who's greedy." Think, "This is somebody who is incredibly vulnerable and in need of love."
I upravo to je razlog zašto nam je karijera toliko bitna i naravno, zašto su nam materijalna dobra postala toliko bitna. Vidite, često čujemo da živimo u vreme materijalizma i da smo svi veoma pohlepni. Ne mislim da smo posebno materijalistički nastrojeni. Smatram da živimo u društvu u kojem je sticanje materijalnih dobara povezano sa izvesnim emotivnim priznanjem. Mi ne želimo ta materijalna dobra. Mi želimo priznanje. To je novi stav prema luksuznoj robi. Kad sledeći put vidite nekog ko se vozi u Ferariju nemojte odmah da pomislite: "Ovaj je pohlepan". Pomislite: "Ovo je neko ko je neverovatno ranjiv i ko vapi za ljubavlju".
(Laughter)
Drugim rečima -- (Smeh)
Feel sympathy, rather than contempt.
nemojte ga prezreti, već imajte razumevanja za njega.
There are other reasons --
Ima i drugih razloga --
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
There are other reasons why it's perhaps harder now to feel calm than ever before. One of these, and it's paradoxical, because it's linked to something that's rather nice, is the hope we all have for our careers. Never before have expectations been so high about what human beings can achieve with their lifespan. We're told, from many sources, that anyone can achieve anything. We've done away with the caste system, we are now in a system where anyone can rise to any position they please. And it's a beautiful idea. Along with that is a kind of spirit of equality; we're all basically equal. There are no strictly defined hierarchies. There is one really big problem with this,
Ima i drugih razloga zašto je danas možda teže biti pribran nego ikad ranije. Jedan od njih, paradoksalno je da se odnosi na nešto prilično prijatno, jeste nada koju gajimo po pitanju svoje karijere. Nikad dosad se od ljudi nije očekivalo da tako mnogo postignu tokom svog životnog veka. Mnogi izvori nam govore da nema toga što neko ne može da postigne. Rešili smo se kastinskog sistema. U našem sistemu svako može da dostigne položaj koji želi. To je divna pomisao. Rame uz rame s tim stoji neka vrsta duha jednakosti. U principu smo svi jednaki. Nema strogo definisanih hijerarhija.
and that problem is envy. Envy, it's a real taboo to mention envy, but if there's one dominant emotion in modern society, that is envy. And it's linked to the spirit of equality.
S tim u vezi postoji jedan veliki problem. A taj problem je zavist. Zavist, sam njen pomen je tabu, ali ako se za neku emociju može reći da dominira u modernom društvu, to je onda zavist. I ona je povezana s duhom jednakosti. Da objasnim.
Let me explain. I think it would be very unusual for anyone here, or anyone watching, to be envious of the Queen of England. Even though she is much richer than any of you are, and she's got a very large house, the reason why we don't envy her is because she's too weird.
Mislim da bi bilo veoma neobično kad bi neko od vas ovde i neko ko ovo gleda bio ljubomoran na englesku kraljicu. Bez obzira na to što je bogatija od bilo koga od vas, i što ima veliku kuću. Razlog za to jeste to što previše odskače od uobičajenog.
(Laughter)
Naprosto se previše razlikuje.
She's simply too strange. We can't relate to her, she speaks in a funny way, she comes from an odd place. So we can't relate to her, and when you can't relate to somebody, you don't envy them.
Ne možemo se porediti s njom. Ona čudno govori. Dolazi s neuobičajenog mesta, pa ne možemo da se poredimo s njom. A ako s nekim ne možete da se poredite, onda mu i ne zavidite. Što je dvoje ljudi sličnije, kad je reč o starosti, miljeu iz kojeg potiču,
The closer two people are -- in age, in background, in the process of identification -- the more there's a danger of envy, which is incidentally why none of you should ever go to a school reunion, because there is no stronger reference point than people one was at school with. The problem of modern society is it turns the whole world into a school. Everybody's wearing jeans, everybody's the same. And yet, they're not. So there's a spirit of equality combined with deep inequality, which can make for a very stressful situation.
procesu identifikacije, to je veća opasnost od zavisti. Zbog toga nikada ne bi trebalo da idete na godišnjice mature, jer se ljudi najčešće porede s onima s kojima su išli u školu. Međutim, problem modernog društva u celini jeste što se ceo svet pretvorio u školu. Svi nose farmerke, svi su isti. A s druge strane nisu. Dakle, prisutan je jedan duh jednakosti u kombinaciji s oštrim nejednakostima, što izaziva - može da izazove veoma stresnu situaciju.
It's probably as unlikely that you would nowadays become as rich and famous as Bill Gates, as it was unlikely in the 17th century that you would accede to the ranks of the French aristocracy. But the point is, it doesn't feel that way. It's made to feel, by magazines and other media outlets, that if you've got energy, a few bright ideas about technology, a garage -- you, too, could start a major thing.
Danas je verovatno podjednako mala verovatnoća da ćete postati bogati i slavni kao Bil Gejts kao što je u 17. veku bila mala verovatnoća da ćete postati deo francuske aristokratije. Ali se radi o tome da je osećaj drugačiji. Časopisi i drugi mediji doprinose tome da mislite da, ako imate energije, par genijalnih tehnoloških ideja i garažu, i vi možete da lansirate neki veliki projekat.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
The consequences of this problem make themselves felt in bookshops. When you go to a large bookshop and look at the self-help sections, as I sometimes do -- if you analyze self-help books produced in the world today, there are basically two kinds. The first kind tells you, "You can do it! You can make it! Anything's possible!" The other kind tells you how to cope with what we politely call "low self-esteem," or impolitely call, "feeling very bad about yourself."
A posledice tog problema se osećaju po knjižarama. Ako u nekoj većoj knjižari odete na odeljenje s knjigama iz oblasti "sam svoj psiholog", što ja ponekad činim, i proanalizirate knjige iz te oblasti koje se danas izdaju, videćete da se one, u suštini, mogu svrstati u dve vrste. Prva vrsta vam govori: "Možeš ti to! Uspećeš! Sve je moguće!", a druga vrsta vam objašnjava kako da se nosite s onim što bi se učtivo moglo nazvati "niskim samopoštovanjem", a neučtivo da se "osećate kao krpa".
There's a real correlation between a society that tells people that they can do anything, and the existence of low self-esteem. So that's another way in which something quite positive can have a nasty kickback. There is another reason why we might be feeling more anxious -- about our careers, about our status in the world today, than ever before. And it's, again, linked to something nice. And that nice thing is called meritocracy.
Postoji realna korelacija između društava koja ljudima govore da su u stanju sve da učine i postojanja niskog samopoštovanja. To je, dakle, još jedan od slučajeva kad nešto što je sasvim pozitivno, može da ima veoma negativne posledice. Postoji još jedan razlog iz kojeg bismo mogli da budemo anksiozniji nego ikad kad je reč o karijeri i statusu u današnjem svetu, i on je takođe povezan s nečim pozitivnim. Ta pozitivna pojava zove se meritokratija.
Everybody, all politicians on Left and Right, agree that meritocracy is a great thing, and we should all be trying to make our societies really, really meritocratic. In other words -- what is a meritocratic society? A meritocratic society is one in which, if you've got talent and energy and skill, you will get to the top, nothing should hold you back. It's a beautiful idea. The problem is, if you really believe in a society where those who merit to get to the top, get to the top, you'll also, by implication, and in a far more nasty way, believe in a society where those who deserve to get to the bottom also get to the bottom and stay there. In other words, your position in life comes to seem not accidental, but merited and deserved. And that makes failure seem much more crushing.
Svi redom, svi političari i levica i desnica, slažu se da je meritokratija odlična i da svi treba da se trudimo da naše društvo postane stvarno meritokratsko. Drugim rečima, šta je meritokratsko društvo? Meritokratsko je ono društvo u kojem ćete, ako raspolažete talentom, energijom i umećem, dosegnuti vrh. Ne bi trebalo ništa da vas spreči. To je divna zamisao. Problem je u tome što, ako zaista verujete u neko društvo, u kojem oni koji to zaslužuju stižu do vrha, vi istovremeno, što je mnogo negativnije, implicitno verujete u društvo gde oni koji zaslužuju da padnu na dno, zaista tamo padaju i ostaju. Drugim rečima, vaš položaj u društvu više ne deluje kao slučajnost, već postaje pravedno zaslužen. Na taj način neuspeh postaje mnogo pogubniji.
You know, in the Middle Ages, in England, when you met a very poor person, that person would be described as an "unfortunate" -- literally, somebody who had not been blessed by fortune, an unfortunate. Nowadays, particularly in the United States, if you meet someone at the bottom of society, they may unkindly be described as a "loser." There's a real difference between an unfortunate and a loser, and that shows 400 years of evolution in society and our belief in who is responsible for our lives. It's no longer the gods, it's us. We're in the driving seat.
Vidite, u Srednjem veku u Engleskoj siromašna osoba nazivana je "nesrećnikom". Bukvalno, takva osoba smatrana je nekim kome se sreća nije osmehnula, dakle, nesrećnikom. Danas, naročito u Sjedinjenim Državama, neko ko se nalazi na dnu društvene lestvice mogao bi bezdušno biti nazvan "gubitnikom". Postoji stvarna razlika između nesrećnika i gubitnika. Ona se vidi iz 400 godina društvene evolucije i naših uverenja u vezi s tim ko je odgovoran za naš život. Više to nisu bogovi, već mi sami. Mi imamo glavnu reč,
That's exhilarating if you're doing well, and very crushing if you're not. It leads, in the worst cases -- in the analysis of a sociologist like Emil Durkheim -- it leads to increased rates of suicide. There are more suicides in developed, individualistic countries than in any other part of the world. And some of the reason for that is that people take what happens to them extremely personally -- they own their success, but they also own their failure.
što je sjajno ako nam dobro ide, i pogubno ako nam loše ide. U najgorim slučajevima, u skladu s analizom sociologa kao sto je Emil Dirkem, to dovodi do povišene stope samoubistava. Samoubistva su češća u razvijenim individualizovaim društvima nego u bilo kom drugom delu sveta. Jedan od razloga za to jeste to što ljudi veoma lično shvataju ono što im se dešava. Kako svoje uspehe, tako i neuspehe.
Is there any relief from some of these pressures that I've been outlining? I think there is. I just want to turn to a few of them. Let's take meritocracy. This idea that everybody deserves to get where they get to, I think it's a crazy idea, completely crazy. I will support any politician of Left and Right, with any halfway-decent meritocratic idea; I am a meritocrat in that sense. But I think it's insane to believe that we will ever make a society that is genuinely meritocratic; it's an impossible dream.
Mogu li se ublažiti neki od pritisaka koje sam upravo opisao? Mislim da mogu. Objasniću neke od načina. Uzmimo za primer meritokratiju. Polazi se od toga da svako zaslužuje ono što ga je snašlo. Mislim da je to luda ideja, veoma luda. Podržaću bilo kojeg političara, levičara ili desničara, koji zastupa iole pristojno meritokratsko stanovište. Ja sam meritokrata i to je to. Ali, ja smatram da je besmisleno verovati da ćemo ikada stvoriti zaista meritokratsko društvo. To je neostvariv san. Ideja da ćemo stvoriti društvo
The idea that we will make a society where literally everybody is graded, the good at the top, bad at the bottom, exactly done as it should be, is impossible. There are simply too many random factors: accidents, accidents of birth, accidents of things dropping on people's heads, illnesses, etc. We will never get to grade them, never get to grade people as they should.
u kojem je bukvalno svako svrstan u neku kategoriju gde su dobri na vrhu, a loši na dnu, i to bez greške, to je nemoguće. Naprosto ima previše nasumičnih faktora. Nesrećnih slučajeva, bilo da se radi o rođenju ili kad nekom nešto padne na glavu ili bolesti i sl. Takve stvari nikad nećemo moći da svrstamo u neku kategoriju. Nikad nećemo moći da klasifikujemo ljude kakvi jesu.
I'm drawn to a lovely quote by St. Augustine in "The City of God," where he says, "It's a sin to judge any man by his post." In modern English that would mean it's a sin to come to any view of who you should talk to, dependent on their business card. It's not the post that should count. According to St. Augustine, only God can really put everybody in their place; he's going to do that on the Day of Judgment, with angels and trumpets, and the skies will open. Insane idea, if you're a secularist person, like me. But something very valuable in that idea, nevertheless.
Ovde bih naveo jedan lep citat svetog Avgustina iz "Božjeg grada" gde on kaže: "Greh je suditi o čoveku na osnovu njegovog položaja". Na jeziku današnjice to bi značilo: "Greh je odlučivati o tome s kim ćete govoriti na osnovu njegove vizit-karte." Položaj ne bi trebalo da se računa. Prema svetom Avgustinu, jedino Bog može svakom da odredi mesto. On će to učiniti na Sudnji dan uz anđele i trube i nebesa će se otvoriti. To je besmislena pomisao ukolliko ste sekularno opredeljeni, kao ja. Ali u njoj ipak ima nečeg veoma vrednog.
In other words, hold your horses when you're coming to judge people. You don't necessarily know what someone's true value is. That is an unknown part of them, and we shouldn't behave as though it is known. There is another source of solace and comfort for all this. When we think about failing in life, when we think about failure, one of the reasons why we fear failing is not just a loss of income, a loss of status. What we fear is the judgment and ridicule of others. And it exists.
Drugim rečima, obuzdajte se kad vam dođe da sudite o ljudima. Ne mora da znači da zaista znate koliko neko zaista vredi. To je nepoznati deo čoveka, i ne bi trebalo da se ponašamo kao da je poznat. Za sve ovo postoji još jedan izvor utehe. Kad razmišljamo u neuspehu u životu, mi se ne bojimo neuspeha samo kao gubitka prihoda, gubitka statusa. Ono čega se bojimo jeste osuda i podsmeh drugih ljudi. A oni su prisutni. Vidite, prvenstveni instrument podsmeha
The number one organ of ridicule, nowadays, is the newspaper. If you open the newspaper any day of the week, it's full of people who've messed up their lives. They've slept with the wrong person, taken the wrong substance, passed the wrong piece of legislation -- whatever it is, and then are fit for ridicule. In other words, they have failed. And they are described as "losers." Now, is there any alternative to this? I think the Western tradition shows us one glorious alternative, which is tragedy.
danas jeste štampa. Ako otvorite novine bilo kojeg dana u nedelji, videćete da su pune priča o ljudima koji su uprskali svoj život. Ili su spavali s pogrešnom osobom ili su se odali pogrešnoj supstanci ili su doneli pogrešan zakon. Šta god da je u pitanju, oni su postali predmet podsmeha. Drugim rečima, neuspešni su. Opisani su kao "gubitnici". Postoji li bilo kakva alternativa za to? Mislim da nam tradicija Zapada nudi jednu veličanstvenu alternativu.
Tragic art, as it developed in the theaters of ancient Greece, in the fifth century B.C., was essentially an art form devoted to tracing how people fail, and also according them a level of sympathy, which ordinary life would not necessarily accord them. A few years ago, I was thinking about this, and I went to "The Sunday Sport," a tabloid newspaper I don't recommend you start reading if you're not familiar with it already.
A to je tragedija. Umetnost tragedije, kakva je nastala u pozorištima antičke Grčke u 5. veku pre nove ere, bila je u suštini vid umetnosti posvećen traganju za načinima ljudskog neuspeha i pridavanju izvesnog stepena saosećanja koje im u običnom životu ne bi nužno pripalo. Sećam se da sam pre nekoliko godina razmišljao o svemu tome. Išao sam da se vidim s ljudima iz "The Sunday Sport", tabloida koji vam ne bih preporučio ukoliko vam nije već poznat.
(Laughter)
Išao sam da razgovaram s njima
And I went to talk to them about certain of the great tragedies of Western art. I wanted to see how they would seize the bare bones of certain stories, if they came in as a news item at the news desk on a Saturday afternoon.
o izvesnim velikim tragedijama u umetnosti Zapada. Hteo sam da vidim kako će reagovati na okosnicu izvesnih priča ako se pojave kao novinska vest
I mentioned Othello; they'd not heard of it but were fascinated.
na televiziji u subotu uveče.
Ispričao sam im priču o Otelu. Nisu je ranije čuli, ali su bili fascinirani.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
I asked them to write a headline for the story. They came up with "Love-Crazed Immigrant Kills Senator's Daughter." Splashed across the headline. I gave them the plotline of Madame Bovary. Again, a book they were enchanted to discover. And they wrote "Shopaholic Adulteress Swallows Arsenic After Credit Fraud."
Zamolio sam ih da napišu naslov za priču o Otelu. Sastavili su naslov: "Imigrant zaslepljen ljubavlju ubio senatorovu ćerku" ispisan preko cele stranice. Ispričao sam im radnju "Madam Bovari". I ovog puta su bili oduševljeni otkrićem nove knjige, i napisali su "Preljubnica opsednuta šopingom proneverila kreditnu karticu pa se otrovala arsenikom".
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And then my favorite -- they really do have a kind of genius of their own, these guys -- my favorite is Sophocles' Oedipus the King: "Sex With Mum Was Blinding."
A sad moj omiljeni. Znate, ti tipovi su stvarno na neki način genijalni. Moj omiljeni je Sofoklov "Kralj Edip". "Seks s majkom zaslepljuje".
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
In a way, if you like, at one end of the spectrum of sympathy, you've got the tabloid newspaper. At the other end of the spectrum, you've got tragedy and tragic art. And I suppose I'm arguing that we should learn a little bit about what's happening in tragic art. It would be insane to call Hamlet a loser. He is not a loser, though he has lost. And I think that is the message of tragedy to us, and why it's so very, very important, I think.
Na neki način, da tako kažemo, na jednom kraju spektra saosećajnosti imamo taboide. Na drugom kraju imamo tragediju i umetnost tragedije. Ovde otprilike hoću da kažem da bi nešto trebalo da naučimo o tome šta se dešava u tragediji. Bilo bi besmisleno nazvati Hamleta gubitnikom. On nije gubitnik, mada gubi. I mislim da je to poruka koju treba da izvučemo iz tragedije, mislim da je zato to toliko važno.
The other thing about modern society and why it causes this anxiety, is that we have nothing at its center that is non-human. We are the first society to be living in a world where we don't worship anything other than ourselves. We think very highly of ourselves, and so we should; we've put people on the Moon, done all sorts of extraordinary things. And so we tend to worship ourselves. Our heroes are human heroes.
Druga stvar vezana za savremeno društvo i zašto se u njemu javlja ta aknsioznost jeste to što u njegovom središtu nema ničeg što nije ljudskog porekla. Mi smo prvo društvo koje živi u svetu u kojem ne služimo nikom osim sebi. Mi imamo veoma visoko mišljenje o sebi, što je u redu. Poslali smo čoveka na Mesec. Postigli smo niz izuzetnih stvari. Zato obožavamo sami sebe.
That's a very new situation. Most other societies have had, right at their center, the worship of something transcendent: a god, a spirit, a natural force, the universe, whatever it is -- something else that is being worshiped. We've slightly lost the habit of doing that, which is, I think, why we're particularly drawn to nature. Not for the sake of our health, though it's often presented that way, but because it's an escape from the human anthill. It's an escape from our own competition, and our own dramas. And that's why we enjoy looking at glaciers and oceans, and contemplating the Earth from outside its perimeters, etc. We like to feel in contact with something that is non-human, and that is so deeply important to us.
Naši junaci su ljudska bića. To je nova situacija. Većina društava je u samom svom središtu kao predmet obožavanja imala nešto transcendentno. Boga, duh, prirodnu silu, univerzum. Predmet obožavanja uvek je bio nešto drugo, šta god on bio. Mi smo izgubili naviku da to činimo. Što je, po mom mišljenju, razlog što smo toliko okrenuti prirodi. Ne iz zdravstvenih razloga, mada se to često tako predstavlja. Već zato što to predstavlja beg iz ljudskog mravinjaka. To je beg od našeg sopstvenog nadmetanja i naših sopstvenih drama. Zato nam prija da gledamo glečere i okeane i zamišljamo kakva je zemlja izvan njenih granica, itd. Želimo da osetimo dodir s nečim što nije ljudsko. To nam je veoma bitno.
What I think I've been talking about really is success and failure. And one of the interesting things about success is that we think we know what it means. If I said that there's somebody behind the screen who's very successful, certain ideas would immediately come to mind. You'd think that person might have made a lot of money, achieved renown in some field. My own theory of success -- I'm somebody who's very interested in success, I really want to be successful, always thinking, how can I be more successful? But as I get older, I'm also very nuanced about what that word "success" might mean.
U stvari, ja zapravo govorim o uspehu i neuspehu. Ono što je zanimljivo kad je reč o uspehu jeste što mislimo da znamo šta on znači. Ako vam kažem da iza scene stoji neko ko je strašno uspešan, odmah će vam pasti na pamet izvesne stvari. Pomislićete da je ta osoba zaradila puno novca, da je priznata na nekom polju. Prema mojoj vlastitoj teoriji uspeha, a ja sam neko koga uspeh veoma zanima. Stvarno želim da budem uspešan. Uvek se pitam: "Kako bih mogao da budem još uspešniji?" Međutim, kako starim, sve više pravim tanane razlike između raznih značenja pojma "uspeh".
Here's an insight that I've had about success: You can't be successful at everything. We hear a lot of talk about work-life balance. Nonsense. You can't have it all. You can't. So any vision of success has to admit what it's losing out on, where the element of loss is. And I think any wise life will accept, as I say, that there is going to be an element where we're not succeeding.
Evo mog poimanja uspeha. Ne može se biti uspešan u svemu. Dosta slušamo o ravnoteži između posla i života. To je besmislica. Ne može se sve postići. Ne može. Tako da se u svakoj viziji uspeha mora priznati na čemu se gubi, šta je element gubitka. Smatram da će svako razborito biće, da tako kažem, prihvatiti da postoji i element u kojem neće uspeti.
And the thing about a successful life is that a lot of the time, our ideas of what it would mean to live successfully are not our own. They're sucked in from other people; chiefly, if you're a man, your father, and if you're a woman, your mother. Psychoanalysis has been drumming home this message for about 80 years. No one's quite listening hard enough, but I very much believe it's true.
Kad je reč o uspešnom životu, činjenica je da često naše viđenje uspeha u životu ustvari nije naše. Preuzeto je od drugih. Ukoliko ste muško, to je najčešće vaš otac, ukoliko ste žensko, to je vaša majka. Psihoanalitičari to ponavljaju već osamdesetak godina. Niko ne sluša baš pažljivo, ali ja sam uveren da je to tačno.
And we also suck in messages from everything from the television, to advertising, to marketing, etc. These are hugely powerful forces that define what we want and how we view ourselves. When we're told that banking is a very respectable profession, a lot of us want to go into banking. When banking is no longer so respectable, we lose interest in banking. We are highly open to suggestion.
Ideje upijamo i iz svega što vidimo na televiziji, preko reklama, do propagandnih poruka itd. To su izuzetno moćne sile koje definišu ono što želimo i kako vidimo sami sebe. Kad nam je rečeno da je bankarstvo cenjena profesija, mnogi od nas su želeli da postanu bankari. Kad bankarstvo prestane da bude tako cenjeno, mi gubimo interesovanje za njega. Veoma smo podložni sugestiji.
So what I want to argue for is not that we should give up on our ideas of success, but we should make sure that they are our own. We should focus in on our ideas, and make sure that we own them; that we are truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it's bad enough not getting what you want, but it's even worse to have an idea of what it is you want, and find out, at the end of the journey, that it isn't, in fact, what you wanted all along.
Dakle, ono što hoću da kažem, jeste da ne treba da odustajemo od svog poimanja uspeha. Ali treba da se postaramo da je ono zaista naše. Treba da se usredsredimo na svoje ideje i budemo sigurni da su one naše, da smo zaista mi autori svojih sopstvenih ambicija. Jer je već dovoljno loše ako ne postignete ono što želite, ali je još gore kad imate neku ideju o tome šta želite i na kraju shvatite da to uopšte nije ono što ste želeli.
So, I'm going to end it there. But what I really want to stress is: by all means, success, yes. But let's accept the strangeness of some of our ideas. Let's probe away at our notions of success. Let's make sure our ideas of success are truly our own.
Ovim ću završiti. Ali ono što bih svakako želeo da istaknem jeste uspeh. Ali pokušajmo da shvatimo da su neke od naših ideja strane, ispitajmo svoje viđenje uspeha. Budimo sigurni da su naše ideje o uspehu zaista naše.
Thank you very much.
Hvala najlepše.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Chris Anderson: That was fascinating. But how do you reconcile this idea of it being bad to think of someone as a "loser," with the idea that a lot of people like, of seizing control of your life, and that a society that encourages that, perhaps has to have some winners and losers?
Kris Andreson: Ovo je bilo fascinantno. Kako pomiriti ideju da je neko - da je loše nekog smatrati gubitnikom s idejom koja je mnogim ljudima privlačna, a to je da kontrolišu svoj zivot? I da u društvu koje to podstiče moraju da postoje i dobitnici i gubitnici.
Alain De Botton: Yes, I think it's merely the randomness of the winning and losing process that I want to stress, because the emphasis nowadays is so much on the justice of everything, and politicians always talk about justice. Now I'm a firm believer in justice, I just think that it's impossible. So we should do everything we can to pursue it, but we should always remember that whoever is facing us, whatever has happened in their lives, there will be a strong element of the haphazard. That's what I'm trying to leave room for; otherwise, it can get quite claustrophobic.
Alan de Boton: Da. Smatram da je nasumičnost procesa dobijanja, odnosno gubljenja ono što sam hteo da istaknem. Jer se danas u velikoj meri ističe pravičnost u svemu. Političari neprestano pričaju o pravdi. Ja duboko verujem u pravdu, ali mislim da ona nije moguća. Stoga treba da učinimo sve što je u našoj moći da je dostignemo. Ali, na kraju svega, uvek treba da imamo na umu da u životnim događajima svakoga s kim se sretnemo, postoji snažan element nasumičnosti. To je ono čemu želim da ostavim prostor. Jer bi inače moglo da postane prilično klaustrofobično.
CA: I mean, do you believe that you can combine your kind of kinder, gentler philosophy of work with a successful economy? Or do you think that you can't, but it doesn't matter that much that we're putting too much emphasis on that?
KA: Znači, Vi verujete da je moguća kombinacija vaše blaže, prijatnije filozofije rada i uspešne ekonomije? Ili mislite da nije? Ali nije naročito bitno ako na tome previše insistiramo?
AB: The nightmare thought is that frightening people is the best way to get work out of them, and that somehow the crueler the environment, the more people will rise to the challenge. You want to think, who would you like as your ideal dad? And your ideal dad is somebody who is tough but gentle. And it's a very hard line to make. We need fathers, as it were, the exemplary father figures in society, avoiding the two extremes, which is the authoritarian disciplinarian on the one hand, and on the other, the lax, no-rules option.
AB: Zastrašujuća pomisao jeste da je najbolji način da se ljudi nateraju da rade da im se utera strah u kosti. I da, što je okrutnije okruženje, to će ljudi bolje reagovati na izazov. Razmislite, kakav bi bio vaš idealni otac? To bi bio neko ko je strog ali blag. A to je teško postići. U društvu su nam potrebni očevi, neko na koga ćemo se ugledati, koji nisu zašli ni u jednu od te dve krajnosti. To znači da, s jedne strane, imaju autoritet i zavode disciplinu, a s druge strane opušteni, koji ne nameću pravila.
CA: Alain De Botton.
KA: Ovo je bio Alan de Boton.
AB: Thank you very much.
AB: Mnogo vam hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)