Why do we choose to put ourselves through its emotional wringer?

為什麼我們會選擇讓自己經歷它的情感糾葛呢？

Does love make our lives meaningful, or is it an escape from our loneliness and suffering?

愛會讓我們的生命充滿意義嗎？還是它只是我們逃脫孤獨與痛苦的手段？

Is love a disguise for our sexual desire, or a trick of biology to make us procreate?

愛是我們性慾的偽裝還是生理構造要我們傳宗接代的詭計？

Is it all we need?

我們需要的只有愛情嗎？

Do we need it at all?

我們真的需要它嗎？

If romantic love has a purpose, neither science nor psychology has discovered it yet.

如果愛情有目的，至少目前科學或心理學都還沒發現它。

But over the course of history, some of our most respected philosophers have put forward some intriguing theories.

但縱觀歷史，有幾位備受尊敬的哲學家都曾提出一些發人省思的理論。

Love makes us whole, again.

愛讓我們再次變得完整。

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato explored the idea that we love in order to become complete.

古希臘哲學家柏拉圖探討了「人類為了變得完整而去愛」這個想法。

In his "Symposium", he wrote about a dinner party, at which Aristophanes, a comic playwright, regales the guests with the following story: Humans were once creatures with four arms, four legs, and two faces.

在柏拉圖的《會飲篇》中，它提到了一場晚宴，當時喜劇作家阿里斯托芬生動地向賓客們講述了一個故事 : 人類曾經是有四隻手臂、四隻腳與兩張臉的生物。

One day, they angered the gods, and Zeus sliced them all in two.

有一天，他們觸怒了天神，宙斯便將他們全部劈成兩半。

Since then, every person has been missing half of him- or herself.

從此以後，每個人都是缺少另一半的狀態。

Love is the longing to find a soulmate who'll make us feel whole again, or, at least, that's what Plato believed a drunken comedian would say at a party.

愛是尋找靈魂伴侶的渴求，讓我們再次感到完整，或者應該是說，至少柏拉圖相信這是醉酒喜劇作家會在派對上講的話。

Love tricks us into having babies.

愛誘騙我們繁衍下一代。

Much, much later, German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer maintained that love⏤based in sexual desire⏤was a voluptuous illusion.

良久之後，德國哲學家阿爾圖・叔本華主張以性慾為基礎的愛不過是充滿肉慾的幻象。

He suggested that we love because our desires lead us to believe that another person will make us happy, but we are sorely mistaken.

他認為人類之所以會愛，是因為我們的慾望讓自己相信另一國人會讓我們開心，但我們其實錯得離譜。

Nature is tricking us into procreating, and the loving fusion we seek is consummated in our children.

大自然想方設法地要讓我們孕育下一代，而我們所尋找的愛情結晶就是子女。

When our sexual desires are satisfied, we are thrown back into our tormented existences, and we succeed only in maintaining the species and perpetuating the cycle of human drudgery.

當我們滿足了性需求，我們將被迫面對自己悲慘的存在，唯一成功的就只有傳宗接代以及人類無限循環的苦難。

Sounds like somebody needs a hug.

聽起來感覺這人需要一個擁抱。

Love is escape from our loneliness.

愛是逃避孤獨的方式。

According to the Nobel Prize-winning British philosopher Bertrand Russell, we love in order to quench our physical and psychological desires.

根據英國哲學家、諾貝爾獎得主羅素所說，我們透過相愛來平息生理與心理需求。

Humans are designed to procreate, but without the ecstasy of passionate love, sex is unsatisfying.

人類被創造的目的之一就是繁衍後代，但沒有熱戀帶來的激情，性愛就不會令人滿足。

Our fear of the cold, cruel world tempts us to build hard shells to protect and isolate ourselves.

我們對於冰冷且殘酷世界的恐懼使得我們不得不築起堅固的心牆以保護並孤立自己。

Love's delight, intimacy, and warmth helps us overcome our fear of the world, escape our lonely shells, and engage more abundantly in life.

愛情的愉悅、親密和溫暖幫助我們克服對世界的恐懼、逃出孤獨的堡壘並且認真過更豐富的生活。

Love enriches our whole being, making it the best thing in life.

愛使我們整體的存在更加豐富，所以愛情成了生命中最美好的事物。

Love is a misleading affliction.

愛是容易讓人產生誤解的折磨。

Siddhattha Gautama, who became known as the Buddha, or the Enlightened One, probably would have had some interesting arguments with Russell.

後世多稱為「釋迦牟尼佛」或「正等正覺者」的悉達多·喬達摩和羅素之間應該會發生一些有趣辯論。

Buddha proposed that we love because we are trying to satisfy our base desires.

釋迦牟尼佛提出，人類相愛的原因在於我們試圖滿足自己的基本慾望。

Yet, our passionate cravings are defects, and attachments, even romantic love, are a great source of suffering.

然而我們熱情的渴求是種瑕疵，而包括愛情的情感牽掛，也都是痛苦的泉源。

Luckily, Buddha discovered the eight-fold path, a sort of program for extinguishing the fires of desire so that we can reach Nirvana, an enlightened state of peace, clarity, wisdom, and compassion.

幸好，釋迦牟尼佛發現了八正道，這個教法讓我們能夠澆熄慾望之火以進入涅槃，亦即平和、清晰、睿智且具同理心的徹悟境界。

The novelist Cao Xueqin illustrated this Buddhist sentiment that romantic love is folly in one of China's greatest classical novels, "Dream of the Red Chamber."

小說家曹雪芹將佛教「愛情是荒謬的」這個觀點寫入《紅樓夢》，中國最偉大的經典小說之一。

In a subplot, Jia Rui falls in love with Xi-feng, who tricks and humiliates him.

其中一個故事情節講述賈瑞愛上王熙鳳，卻被王熙鳳設計且羞辱一番。

Conflicting emotions of love and hate tear him apart, so a Taoist gives him a magic mirror that can cure him⏤as long as he doesn't look at the front of it.

愛恨交織的情感幾乎要把賈瑞撕裂，於是一位道人給他一面可以治癒他的寶鏡，前提是他不能看鏡子的正面。

But, of course, he looks at the front of it.

但可想而知，他看了鏡子的正面。

He sees Xi-feng.

他看到了王熙鳳。

His soul enters the mirror and he is dragged away in iron chains to die.

他的靈魂進入鏡中，被以鐵鍊拖上死路。

Not all Buddhists think this way about romantic and erotic love, but the moral of this story is that such attachments spell tragedy, and should, along with magic mirrors, be avoided.

不是所有佛教徒對愛情與激情都有這樣的想法，但這故事的寓意是：情感牽掛會招致悲劇，而人們應該要像不看魔鏡一樣，避開這種牽掛。

Love lets us reach beyond ourselves.

愛讓我們超越自我。

Let's end on a slightly more positive note.

讓我們用比較正面的態度作結。

The French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir proposed that love is the desire to integrate with another and that it infuses our lives with meaning.

法國哲學家西蒙·波娃曾提出：愛是與他人結合的渴望，而它賦予我們人生意義。

However, she was less concerned with why we love and more interested in how we can love better.

不過，她卻不太在意我們相愛的原因，反而對「我們該如何更好地愛」感興趣。

She saw that the problem with traditional romantic love is it can be so captivating that we are tempted to make it our only reason for being.

她發現傳統愛情的問題是，它因為太過吸引人，而會讓我們無法自拔地把愛情當作生存的唯一理由。

Yet, dependence on another to justify our existence easily leads to boredom and power games.

然而，依賴他人來將自身存在合理化這件事，容易導致倦怠和權力遊戲。

To avoid this trap, Beauvoir advised loving authentically, which is more like a great friendship.

若要避免步入陷阱，波娃建議我們可以用真心去愛，它反而會更像是偉大的友情。

Lovers support each other in discovering themselves, reaching beyond themselves, and enriching their lives and the world together.

愛人可以支持彼此找到自我、超越自我，進而一起讓自己和世界都變得更豐富。

Though we might never know why we fall in love, we can be certain that it'll be an emotional rollercoaster ride.

雖然我們可能永遠不知道人類墜入愛河的原因，但可以肯定的是，愛情就像情感的雲霄飛車。

It's scary and exhilarating.

它令人懼怕卻又令人興奮不已。

It makes us suffer and makes us soar.

它讓我們受盡苦難，卻又讓我們歡欣鼓舞。

Maybe we lose ourselves.

我們或許會迷失自我。

Maybe we find ourselves.

我們可能找到自我。

It might be heartbreaking, or it might just be the best thing in life.

它可能會讓人心碎，卻也可能是人生中最美好的事。

Will you dare to find out?

你敢去找尋答案嗎？