Anjali Kumar: My failed mission to find God -- and what I found instead
安加莉庫瑪: 我沒找到神,但卻找到了其他的東西
Anjali Kumar is a Brooklyn-born, first-generation Indian American author, attorney, advisor, speaker and “idea acupuncturist.” Full bio
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right up front that I failed,
gave me a lot of hope.
給了我許多希望。
and significance of our differences.
以及重要性有關。
by Indian parents -- culturally Hindu,
印度人——文化上是印度,
unknown religion outside of India
嚴格且相對不太為人所知,
of just how minority that makes me:
讓我變成多麼少數:
roughly one percent of the US population;
Teddy Bear Factory each year
of the Jain religion in America.
my parents then decided,
因為我父母決定:
Let's send her to Catholic school" --
去讀天主教學校。」——
were the only non-white,
in the entire school.
in Flossmoor, Illinois --
布拉格聖嬰耶穌學校——
that there is a single Supreme Being
有唯一的至高神存在,
to moral shepherding to eternal life.
到永生,都歸祂管。
entirely different.
就是神現形的方式,
as individuals,
spending our entire lives
becoming our own godlike, perfect selves.
成為那個如神般的完美自己。
principles of Jainism
that no single person
of absolute truth,
那個概念,祝你好運。
in your Catholic school.
I was from my peers.
我的同儕有多麼不同。
a highly spiritual person,
「無信仰者(none)」,
or a clever play on words,
在文字上賣弄小聰明,
(註:修女 nun,英語發音近似)
痛苦且沒激情的名字,
who checks off the box "none"
(註:美國一民調和智庫機構)
about their religious affiliation.
things about Nones are:
religiously unaffiliated Nones
沒有宗教信仰,
for over one-third of adults
to me about Nones
我覺得最有趣的是,
with some degree of certainty,
有 68% 的人相信
and had found that information out
我學到的第一件事是,
not-so-reassuring takeaway
就不那麼令人寬慰了,
people are currently godless,
高度靈性的人不信仰神,
as easy as I had originally hoped.
我原本希望的那麼容易。
that on my spiritual journey,
在我的靈性之旅中,
into the spiritual fringe
進入靈性的邊緣,
to keep a fairly open mind,
(註:每人各自帶菜共享)
(註:同性戀、雙性戀和跨性別族群)
full of volcanic water
in the convention center --
heat-infused sweat lodge
蒸汽浴室中吟誦了數小時,
to convene with the dead,
my deceased mother-in-law
同時有我已故的岳母
of the hip-hop group The Roots.
(The Roots)的已故經理。
she was really happy
她非常高興
on all the pasta I was eating.
我在吃的義大利麵減量。
that it wasn't his dead mother
out of South Africa;
來自非洲的笑瑜伽團體;
高潮長達四十五分鐘——
a 45-minute orgasm --
the energy of the universe --
in the Nevada desert at Burning Man,
從一間電話亭打電話給神,
lie on top of me,
of the Universe to heal my "yoni,"
來治癒我的「yoni」,
at TED -- even TEDWomen --
就算在 TEDWomen,
faith healer John of God
信念治癒者,神的約翰,
a full-trance medium,
he can talk to dead people.
to channel a very specific group
他溝通的是一個非常明確的族群:
whatever's wrong with you.
not have a medical degree
where there is no cutting,
who is thousands of miles away
治療在數千英哩外的人,
of rules and regulations.
you can visit John of God
就能見到神的約翰,
that you would like fixed,
and doctors to work on your behalf
was kind of weird and inconclusive,
這整件事挺詭異且沒有說服力,
than I already started out.
I came home empty-handed.
to my trip to Brazil,
to some friends
to a couple more people
coffee shop I go to each morning,
當地咖啡廳工作的一個人、
next to me on the subway.
我旁邊的一個陌生人。
of theirs down to Brazil,
to see John of God
只要去見神的約翰,
apparently told more friends,
and the guys at their coffee shops,
before I left for Brazil
我的電子郵件地址了。
have my email address.
was that I had offered too much
我自願提供的協助太多,
those messages a few years later,
three commonalities,
about how they could be reached.
說明如何聯絡到他們。
or their friends had told them,
或他們的朋友有告訴過他們,
of the three things they wanted fixed,
他們想要修補的事情之外,
and their date of birth.
照片、姓名,以及生日。
like, apartment numbers and zip codes,
有門牌號碼和郵遞區號,
to stop by their house
順道造訪他們家
或是寄個包裏過去似的。
or send along a package.
that their wishes were granted
願望被神的約翰給實現,
that they weren't delivered
was just as curious,
the Muslim, the devout Catholic --
穆斯林、虔誠的天主教徒——
the same three things.
and yes, a few people asked for cash.
ultimately a handful of anomalies,
離群值的資料去除之後,
for themselves and their families.
health issue to be fixed,
某個健康議題能被解決,
asked for good health in general.
specific subtype of happiness, too --
能得到某種類的快樂——
that could sustain us,
absolutely everything else.
of romantic love,
in epic romantic novels,
讀到的心靈伴侶,
till the end of our days.
一直與我們同在的那種愛。
race or religion,
that I really wanted,
of the basic human needs
like Abraham Maslow and Manfred Max-Neef.
(Abraham Maslow)
(Manfred Max-Neef)所確認的。
to the big existential questions
like I had set out to find.
就像我最初想要找尋的。
to war or global hunger.
或是全球饑荒能終止。
for absolutely anything,
happiness and love.
a third commonality as well.
their wishes all the way to Brazil,
把他們的願望一路運送到巴西去,
that we have so much in common
all to hear, especially now,
重要的,特別是現在,
on the things that make us different,
讓我們不同的事物,
that I am not a statistician,
承認自己不是統計學家的人,
that I just accumulated in my in-box
那些我的收件匣裡累積的資料,
more qualitative than quantitative.
比較偏向質化,而非量化。
with data would tell you,
or demographically balanced sample.
在人口統計特徵上也不平衡。
thinking about those emails
會想著這些電子郵件,
on the bias and prejudice
所面對的偏見與成見時,
or a senseless tragedy
或無理的悲劇時,
might be insurmountable.
永遠無法被克服。
我有證據證明
with the opportunity
no matter who we are,
哪種宗教,如果有的話。
want these things so badly
我在非靈性上也很困惑——
confused as well --
and email her our deepest wishes,
the remote possibility
by someone who is not a god,
這個人不是神,
a member of our chosen religion,
所選擇之宗教的成員,
look at him on paper,
candidate to deliver.
fractured by religious,
和種族分歧的世界,
and racial divides,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Anjali Kumar - General counsel, author, "idea acupuncturist"Anjali Kumar is a Brooklyn-born, first-generation Indian American author, attorney, advisor, speaker and “idea acupuncturist.”
Why you should listen
Anjali Kumar is the Chief People Officer and General Counsel at Cheddar, author and "idea acupuncturist." She was formerly the Head of Social Innovation and Founding General Counsel at Warby Parker, a transformative lifestyle brand offering designer eyewear at affordable prices while leading the way for socially conscious businesses. Prior to joining Warby Parker, Kumar was Senior Counsel at Google where she was a commercial and product attorney on areas ranging from Google X to YouTube. She is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School and Fordham University and serves as an advisor to prominent technology companies, luxury fashion brands, consumer products and non-profit organizations including Malala Fund, IDEO.org and organize.org. She serves on the Board of Directors of Happy Money, GloScience Professional, Amplifier Foundation, Edible Schoolyard NY, and GrowNYC and the Guggenheim museum’s Global Innovation Group. Anjali’s first book, Stalking God: My Unorthodox Search for Something to Believe In, comes out January 2018 via Seal Press.
Anjali Kumar | Speaker | TED.com