Yangtze River Headwaters Volunteering Day 7 长江源志愿工作第7天

This is a series of journals recording my days in the Yangtze River Headwaters volunteering project. I will try to update every day but there might be delays in the days I work in the wild without the internet. I’m also trying to write bilingual if time allows. Like it? Follow my Instagram (@anar.chica.yichenguo) for updates!
这是我参与长江源志愿工作的一系列记录。我争取每日更新，但在野外工作没有网络的那些日子会有延迟。在时间允许的情况下，也会尽量使用中英双语。喜欢的话，关注我的Ins账号(@anar.chica.yichenguo)获取更新吧！

I’m on duty in the post office today. When I don’t have guests to receive I started thinking about life again. With more experience accumulated, my perspective towards environmental protection is deepened as well. I’ve always believed it to be one of the most meaningful activities in today’s world. But if you think deeper, the existence of environmental protection is based on the other human activities are not, or potentially not, environmental friendly. That is to say, if human activity itself is environmental friendly, then ‘environmental protection’ is meaningless, or it doesn’t even need to exist. For example, the drivers driving long distance on the Qinghai Tibet highway may pee in the plastic bottles and throw them away along the roadside. People who are involved in environmental protection may pick them up, pour out the pee, and then recycle. But if the drivers have sufficient environmental awareness, then those dirty works that waste people’s lives won’t even exist. This is a frustrating finding. The most meaningful activity in today’s world could be one least meaningful in a more civilized world.
今天在邮局值班，没有客人需要接待的时候又开始思考人生。随着体验的增多，对于环保的看法也在不断深入。我一直觉得环保是当前世界最有意义的事情之一，现在也这样认为。但往深了想，环保的存在本身是建立在人类其他的活动不环保或可能不环保的基础上。也就是说，如果人类活动本身是环保的，那么“搞环保”这件事本身便毫无意义，或者说根本不需要存在。比如说青藏线上开长途的司机尿在塑料瓶里，并随手扔在路边，“搞环保”的人便需要捡起瓶子，把尿倒掉，分类回收。而当司机本身具备了足够的环保意识时，那些浪费生命的脏活累活就根本不会存在。这个想法令人沮丧。现在最有意义的事情在一个真正文明的世界里却是最无意义的事情。

Then if I live in that covilized world (here simplify as utopia. Not only natural environment, no aspect of the human world has caused meaningless activity), what would I do so that I won’t waste my time? I’ll be all the places I want to be, then choose one or two favorites to live in different seasons; I’ll see and read and experience all the books and cultures I’m interested in, and write down my learnings to construct my knowledge and thought pattern and to remember better. These alone would already take up all my time before I die on my road to a final adventure. When I think about all these, nothing seems related to self-actualization or self-transcendence. Is it possible that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is actually introvert, ie. selfish? And there are connections with hedonism as well?
那么假设我在那个文明世界（这里简化成乌托邦吧，并且不仅仅是自然环境没问题，其他任何方面也没有人为产生的本无必要的无意义的活动），我会去做些什么让自己觉得不虚度光阴的事情呢？想去的地方去个遍，选一两处最喜欢的在不同季节生活；想读的书、想了解的文化通通去读去看去体验，所有的感悟写书写日记，为了构建自己的知识和思维体系，也为了更好地回忆。仅仅这些就已经足够忙到某天牺牲在探险的路上了。想了一圈似乎与自我实现或者自我超越都没什么关系，是否马斯洛的需求金字塔本质上是向内的，也就是自私的？并且与享乐主义有着某种程度上的关联？

I’ll leave these questions to Bende Lake. I’ll be on my way tomorrow with <Walden>. Hope Thoreau could give me some inspirations.
这些问题留给班德湖吧。明天带着《瓦尔登湖》上路，希望梭罗给我些启发。