物感与“万物自生听”

The Sense of Things and“The Natural Sound of the Myriad Things”

“物感”指万物之间的感应。感应在中国古代文化中常以不限于耳根的“听”来指代,较之于其他感知,“听”可以让万物在更大的空间范围内彼此沟通。人也是万物之一,“人物”一词突出了人的物性,表明我们的古人早就注意到人与物之间的对立统一。物虽然为人所用,但也有衬人、代人、名人、助人乃至强人的功能。古代文论中的物感,指的是人作为万物之一与他物之间的沟通。“听无”为超脱耳根直诉心灵的体验,“大音希声”“渊默而雷声”等均为以静默来震荡人的内心耳鼓。“无听”包括无人之听与无闻之听:前者在古代诗文中常被用来暗示万物的自在自足与自生自灭,不是自然需要人类而是人类需要自然;后者虽为对声音的忽略,但被忽略的声音仍会若有若无地存留在意识中,为需要被关注的声音充当背景。与感应相关的万物互联已成为时下流行话题,自然科学如今尚未强大到能够解释万物之间的一切感应,与感应问题关系紧密的人文学科应当为这一领域的研究奉献出自己的认知与思考。

The“sense of things”refers to the interaction between all things.In ancient Chinese culture,the aesthetic sense is often referred to as“hearing,”in a way that is not limited to the aural sense.Compared with the other senses,the sense of hearing allows the myriad things to communicate with each other across a larger space.Man is one of these things.The word renwu(literally“man/thing,”)highlights the physical aspect of a human being,indicating that our ancestors had long noticed the unity of opposites between human beings and things.Although things are used by people,they also have the functions of setting someone off,representing someone and naming,helping and even strengthening human beings.The sense of things in ancient literary theory refers to the communication between man,as one of the myriad things,and the others.“Hearing nothingness”is the experience of transcending the ear and directly reaching the heart.The propositions that“the greatest sound is inaudible”and that“a deadly silence resounds like thunder”all suggest how silence hits the drum of the soul.The phrase“no hearing”covers both hearing with no listener and listening without hearing.The former is often used in ancient poetry and essays to express the idea that all things are self-sufficient and self-contained,and that rather than nature needing human beings,human beings need nature;the latter overlooks the sound or voice,but that overlooked sound or voice remains half-heard in the consciousness,serving as a background for those voices that need attention.The sensing of all things related to this aesthetic perception has become a popular topic nowadays.Natural science is not powerful enough to explain the resonance of the myriad things;the humanistic disciplines closely related to such resonance should contribute their own cognition and thinking to research in this field.