It is an eternal phenomenon:
the insatiable will always find a way to detain its creatures in life and compel them to live on, by means of an illusion spread over things.
贪得无厌的意志，凭借笼罩万物的幻象，把芸芸群生拘留在人生中，强使他们生存下去。One is chained by the Socratic love of knowledge and the delusion of being able thereby to heal the eternal wound of existence;
有人被苏格拉底的求知欲所桎梏，妄想借此可以治疗生存的永久伤痕；
another is ensnared by art's seductive veil of beauty fluttering before his eyes;
有人迷恋于拓展在眼前诱惑人心的艺术美之幻幕；still another by the metaphysical comfort that beneath the whirl of phenomena eternal life flows on indestructibly
有人陶醉于超脱的慰藉，以为在现象的旋涡之下有一道川流不息亘古长存的永生之流，--to say nothing of the more vulgar and almost more powerful illusions which the will always has at hand.
而绝不提及意志每一刹间在手边都有更一般的但总是更有力的幻象。These three stages of illusion are actually designed only for the more nobly formed natures,
这三个幻象阶段，总之只有得天独厚的人才能体会，who actually feel profoundly the weight and burden of existence, and must be deluded by exquisite stimulants into forgetfulness of their displeasure.
这种人一般地感觉到生存的沉重负荷，深恶而痛绝之。所以需要寻找一些刺激来麻醉自己，以忘却生存的不愉快。All that we call culture is made up of these stimulants;
所谓“文明”的一切，就是用这些刺激剂制成的；and, according to the proportion of the ingredients, we have either a dominantly Socratic or artistic or tragic culture;
照其成份的比例，主要在苏格拉底文化，或艺术家文化，或悲剧文化，or, if historical exemplifications are permitted, there is either an Alexandrian or a Hellenic or a Buddhistic culture.
如果允许我用历史的例证，那就有亚历山德里亚文化。或希腊主义文化，或印度（婆罗门教）文化。