TEDWomen 2010
Elizabeth Lindsey: Curating humanity's heritage
伊利沙伯·琳賽：策劃人類的遺產
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有人說，當一個長老死了，就好像一個圖書庫被燒毀。人類學家伊莉莎白·琳賽，美國國家地理研究員，收集深厚的文化知識傳承下來的故事和傳說。
Elizabeth Lindsey - Explorer, ethnographer
Elizabeth Lindsey is a fellow of the National Geographic Society. Her mission: to keep ancestral voices alive by recording indigenous wisdom and traditions. Full bio
Elizabeth Lindsey is a fellow of the National Geographic Society. Her mission: to keep ancestral voices alive by recording indigenous wisdom and traditions. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
As a child,
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作為一個孩子，
00:18
I was raised by native Hawaiian elders --
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我由夏威夷原住民長老--
00:21
three old women
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三個年老的女人
00:23
who took care of me while my parents worked.
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她們因為我的父母工作而照顧了我。
00:27
The year is 1963.
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這一年是1963年。
00:30
We're at the ocean.
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我們在
00:32
It's twilight.
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黃昏的海洋。
00:34
We're watching the rising of the stars
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我們正在注視著上升的明星
00:38
and the shifting of the tides.
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與潮汐的轉變。
00:41
It's a stretch of beach we know so well.
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在這一個綿延的海灘上我們感覺很好。
00:45
The smooth stones on the sand
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沙灘上光滑的石頭
00:48
are familiar to us.
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都是我們熟悉的。
00:52
If you saw these women on the street
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如果你在街上看到這些婦女
00:54
in their faded clothes,
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穿著褪了色的衣服,
00:56
you might dismiss them
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你可能會因為她們窮困愚蠢
00:58
as poor and simple.
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而打發她們.
01:00
That would be a mistake.
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那將是一個錯誤。
01:03
These women are descendants
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這些婦女是
01:05
of Polynesian navigators,
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波利尼西亞航海家的後裔，
01:07
trained in the old ways
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由長輩的舊方式
01:10
by their elders,
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所培育。
01:12
and now they're passing it on to me.
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現在他們正在將它傳遞給我。
01:15
They teach me the names of the winds and the rains,
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他們教我風和雨--
01:19
of astronomy according to a genealogy of stars.
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根據天文學恆星的家譜。
01:23
There's a new moon on the horizon.
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當地平線上有一灣新月。
01:26
Hawaiians say it's a good night for fishing.
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夏威夷人說這是一個美好的捕魚夜。
01:29
They begin to chant.
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他們開始誦詠。
01:32
[Hawaiian chant]
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[夏威夷詠]
02:02
When they finish,
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當他們完成後，
02:04
they sit in a circle
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他們坐成一個圓圈
02:06
and ask me to come to join them.
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並請我和他們一起。
02:09
They want to teach me about my destiny.
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他們想教我一些關於我命運的事情。
02:13
I thought every seven-year-old went through this.
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我想我七歲已經歷了這一點。
02:15
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
02:19
"Baby girl,
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“親愛的女孩，
02:21
someday the world will be in trouble.
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世界將有一天陷入困境。
02:24
People will forget their wisdom.
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人們會忘記自己的智慧。
02:27
It will take elders' voices
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這將需要長者的聲音
02:30
from the far corners of the world
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從遙遠的角落
02:33
to call the world into balance.
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呼籲世界進入平衡。
02:37
You will go far away.
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你會去很遠的地方。
02:39
It will sometimes be a lonely road.
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在孤獨的路上。
02:42
We will not be there.
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我們不會在那裡。
02:44
But you will look into the eyes
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但你表面上
02:46
of seeming strangers,
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是陌生人，
02:49
and you will recognize your ohana,
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你會識別您的"奧哈納"，
02:52
your family.
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你的家庭.
02:54
And it will take all of you.
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和它將帶走你的一切。
02:57
It will take all of you."
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它將帶走你的一切。"
03:01
These words, I hold onto
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這些話，我緊握
03:04
all my life.
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於我的一生.
03:06
Because the idea of doing it alone
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因為獨自這樣做的想法
03:09
terrifies me.
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使我驚恐萬分。
03:12
The year is 2007.
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這一年是2007年。
03:15
I'm on a remote island in Micronesia.
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我在密克羅尼西亞的一個偏遠的島嶼.
03:18
Satawal is one half-mile long
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薩塔瓦爾島是半英里長
03:21
by one mile wide.
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一英里寬的地方。
03:24
It's the home of my mentor.
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這是我導師的家。
03:26
His name is Pius Mau Piailug.
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他的名字叫Pius Piailug.
03:28
Mau is a palu,
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茂 是一個"帕盧"，
03:30
a navigator priest.
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一位航海家牧師。
03:32
He's also considered
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他也被認為
03:34
the greatest wave finder in the world.
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是世界上最大波濤的發現者。
03:37
There are fewer than a handful
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現在只有很少
03:39
of palu left on this island.
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"帕盧"留在這個島。
03:42
Their tradition is so extraordinary
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他們的傳統是如此平凡,
03:45
that these mariners sailed
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這些水手航行
03:47
three million square miles across the Pacific
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三百萬平方公里渡過太平洋彼岸
03:50
without the use of instruments.
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而無需使用工具。
03:53
They could synthesize patterns in nature
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他們可以協同自然界的模式
03:56
using the rising and setting of stars,
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用星星的起落，
03:59
the sequence and direction of waves,
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波浪的序列和方向，
04:02
the flight patterns of certain birds.
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某些鳥類的飛行模式。
04:05
Even the slightest hint of color
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甚至是雲底最淡淡的
04:08
on the underbelly of a cloud
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顏色的一點提示
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would inform them
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會使他們知道
04:12
and help them navigate with the keenest accuracy.
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並幫助他們以最大精度導航。
04:18
When Western scientists would join Mau on the canoe
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當西方的科學家乘坐 茂 的獨木舟
04:21
and watch him go into the hull,
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看著他走進了船身,
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it appeared that an old man
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他似乎像一位老人
04:25
was going to rest.
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正在休息。
04:27
In fact, the hull of the canoe
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事實上，獨木舟的船身
04:29
is the womb of the vessel.
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是該船隻的孕育處。
04:31
It is the most accurate place
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這是感受波浪的方向
04:34
to feel the rhythm and sequence
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的節奏和序列
04:37
and direction of waves.
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最準確的地方.
04:39
Mau was, in fact,
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茂，事實上，
04:41
gathering explicit data
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用他的整個身體
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using his entire body.
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收集明確的數據。
04:46
It's what he had been trained to do
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他五歲開始
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since he was five years old.
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就一直被訓練這樣做。
04:51
Now science may dismiss this methodology,
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現在科學可能摒棄這個方法，
04:55
but Polynesian navigators use it today
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但今天波利尼西亞航海家正利用這方法
04:59
because it provides them
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因為它可以為
05:02
an accurate determination
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他們的船隻
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of the angle and direction
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準確測定
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of their vessel.
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角度和方向.
05:08
The palu also had
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"帕盧"也有
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an uncanny ability
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一種非同尋常的
05:12
to forecast weather conditions
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能對天氣情況
05:14
days in advance.
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提前幾天的預測能力。
05:16
Sometimes I'd be with Mau on a cloud-covered night
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有時候，我會與 茂 在有雲蓋的晚上
05:19
and we'd sit at the easternmost coast of the island,
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我們會坐在島嶼最東面的海岸，
05:22
and he would look out,
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而他會向外望。
05:25
and then he would say,
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然後他會說，
05:27
"Okay, we go."
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“好吧，我們走。“
05:29
He saw that first glint of light --
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他看到第一次反射的光--
05:31
he knew what the weather was going to be three days from now.
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他會知道現在到三天後的天氣情況。
05:35
Their achievements, intellectually and scientifically,
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他們的成就、智慧上和科學上，
05:38
are extraordinary,
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都是非凡的，
05:40
and they are so relevant
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這跟我們在
05:42
for these times that we are in
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度過風暴的時候
05:44
when we are riding out storms.
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非常相關。
05:48
We are in such a critical moment
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我們集體的歷史
05:51
of our collective history.
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正處在這樣一個關鍵時刻。
05:56
They have been compared
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他們跟宇航員
05:58
to astronauts --
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進行了比較-
06:00
these elder navigators
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這些老航海家
06:02
who sail vast open oceans
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在廣大的公海
06:05
in double-hulled canoes
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以雙殼獨木舟
06:08
thousands of miles
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從一個小島嶼
06:10
from a small island.
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航行千里。
06:13
Their canoes, our rockets;
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他們的獨木舟，是我們的火箭，
06:16
their sea, our space.
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他們的海，是我們的宇宙。
06:20
The wisdom of these elders
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這些長者的智慧
06:22
is not a mere collection
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不是一個單純的收集
06:24
of stories about old people
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在一些偏遠地方
06:27
in some remote spot.
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有關老人的故事。
06:29
This is part of our collective narrative.
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這是我們的集體敘事的一部分。
06:32
It's humanity's DNA.
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這是人類的DNA。
06:35
We cannot afford to lose it.
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我們不能失去它。
06:38
The year is 2010.
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這一年是2010年。
06:42
Just as the women in Hawaii
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正如夏威夷的婦女
06:45
that raised me predicted,
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提出我的預測，
06:47
the world is in trouble.
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世界正陷入困境。
06:51
We live in a society
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我們生活在一個
06:54
bloated with data,
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資料膨脹的社會，
06:56
yet starved for wisdom.
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然而缺乏智慧。
07:00
We're connected 24/7,
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我們24/7的相互聯繫，
07:04
yet anxiety,
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但焦慮、
07:06
fear, depression and loneliness
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恐懼、抑鬱和孤獨
07:09
is at an all-time high.
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是一個歷史新高。
07:11
We must course-correct.
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我們必須方向正確。
07:15
An African shaman said,
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一個非洲巫師說，
07:18
"Your society worships the jester
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"你的社會崇拜小丑
07:21
while the king stands
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而國王則站在
07:23
in plain clothes."
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便衣之中。"
07:30
The link between the past and the future
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過去與未來之間的聯繫
07:33
is fragile.
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是脆弱的。
07:35
This I know intimately,
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這是我熟知的，
07:37
because even as I travel
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因為即使當我在
07:40
throughout the world
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世界各地旅行
07:42
to listen to these stories and record them,
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去聽這些故事和記錄下來，
07:46
I struggle.
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我掙扎。
07:53
I am haunted
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我感到困擾
07:56
by the fact that I no longer remember
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因為事實上我不再記得
08:00
the names of the winds and the rains.
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風和雨的名稱。
08:09
Mau passed away
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茂 於五個月前
08:12
five months ago,
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去世，
08:14
but his legacy and lessons live on.
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但他的遺產和經驗依然健在。
08:18
And I am reminded
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而我被提醒說，
08:22
that throughout the world
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在整個世界上
08:25
there are cultures
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大量的文化
08:27
with vast sums of knowledge in them,
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蘊藏大量的知識，
08:31
as potent as the Micronesian navigators,
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像密克羅尼西亞的航海家一樣強有力的，
08:35
that are going dismissed,
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將會被摒棄，
08:37
that this is a testament
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這是一個
08:39
to brilliant, brilliant
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對卓越，卓越的
08:41
technology and science and wisdom
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技術和科學和智慧
08:44
that is vanishing rapidly.
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迅速的消失的見證。
08:46
Because when an elder dies a library is burned,
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因為當一個長輩去世，有如一個圖書館被焚毀。
08:49
and throughout the world, libraries are ablaze.
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與之世界各地，圖書館都猛烈燃燒起來了。
08:53
I am grateful for the fact
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我很感謝事實上
08:56
that I had a mentor like Mau
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我曾經有一個像 茂 的導師
08:59
who taught me how to navigate.
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教我如何航海。
09:02
And I realize
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我意識到
09:04
through a lesson that he shared
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通過一個他的教訓
09:07
that we continue to find our way.
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使我們繼續尋找道路。
09:09
And this is what he said:
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這是他說：
09:12
"The island is the canoe;
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“這島是獨木舟;
09:14
the canoe, the island."
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獨木舟，島。“
09:17
And what he meant was,
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而他的意思是，
09:20
if you are voyaging
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如果你航行
09:22
and far from home,
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和遠離家鄉，
09:24
your very survival depends
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你的生存依賴
09:26
on everyone aboard.
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船上的每個人.
09:29
You cannot make the voyage alone,
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你不能孤獨航行，
09:32
you were never meant to.
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你從未想過。
09:34
This whole notion of every man for himself
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這個人各為己的整體概念
09:36
is completely unsustainable.
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是完全不可持續的。
09:38
It always was.
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它始終是。
09:41
So in closing I would offer you this:
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因此最後我會給你這些：
09:45
The planet is our canoe,
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地球是我們的獨木舟，
09:49
and we are the voyagers.
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而我們是旅行者。
09:52
True navigation
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真正的導航
09:54
begins in the human heart.
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從心出發。
09:57
It's the most important map of all.
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這是最重要的地圖。
10:00
Together, may we journey well.
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在一起，願我們的旅途愉快。
10:03
(Applause)
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(掌聲)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Elizabeth Lindsey - Explorer, ethnographerElizabeth Lindsey is a fellow of the National Geographic Society. Her mission: to keep ancestral voices alive by recording indigenous wisdom and traditions.
Why you should listen
Elizabeth Kapu'uwailani Lindsey wants the world to remember the people who came before us. The actor-turned-anthropologist has made it her mission to find, preserve and share the knowledge and traditions of indigenous populations before they disappear. She’s working with Google to create a geospatial Map of the Human Story, using the indigenous science of wayfinding to chart tales at risk of being lost.
In 2011, Lindsey, who's the first female fellow and first Polynesian explorer at the National Geographic Society, will set out on a 186-day global expedition to document what she calls "teachings critical to navigating the complexity of our times." Lindsey’s 1996 documentary Then There Were None, which chronicled the near-extinction of native Hawaiians, has become a must-see in many history classrooms. She was named Hawaii’s Woman of the Year in 2004.
Elizabeth Lindsey | Speaker | TED.com