人可以走向天堂，不可以走到天堂。走向，意味着彼岸的成立。走到，岂非彼岸的消失？ 彼岸的消失即信仰的终结、拯救的放弃。One can walk towards heaven, but one can never arrive at heaven. Walking towards implies the existence of the other shore. But arriving there, wouldn't it mean the disappearance of the other shore? The disappearance of the other shore means the end of faith, the abandonment of salvation. 因而天堂不是一处空间，不是一种物质性存在，而是道路，是精神的恒途。 Thus, heaven is not a place, not a material existence, but a path, an eternal journey of the spirit. 物质性（譬如肉身）永远是一种限制。走到（无论哪儿）之到，必仍是一种限制，否则何以言到？限制不能拯救限制，好比“瞎子不能指引瞎子”。 Materiality (such as the physical body) is always a limitation. The "arriving" in "walking to (anywhere)" is still a kind of limitation. Otherwise, how could we call it "arriving"? A limitation cannot save another limitation, just like "the blind cannot guide the blind". 天堂是什么？正是与这物质性限制的对峙，是有限的此岸对彼岸的无限眺望。 What is heaven? It is precisely the confrontation with this material limitation, the infinite gazing of the finite this shore towards the other shore. 谁若能够证明另一种时空，证明某一处无论多么美好的物质性“天堂”可以到达，谁就应该也能够证明另一种限制。 Whoever can prove another kind of time and space, prove that a material "heaven" no matter how wonderful it is can be reached, should also be able to prove another kind of limitation. 另一种限制于是呼唤着另一种彼岸。因而，在限制与眺望，此岸与彼岸之间，拯救依然是精神的恒途。 Another kind of limitation then calls for another kind of other shore. Therefore, between limitation and gazing, between this shore and the other shore, salvation remains the eternal journey of the spirit. 这是不是说天堂不能成立？是不是说“走向天堂”是一种欺骗？我想，物质性天堂注定难为，而精神的天堂恰于走向中成立，永远的限制是其永远成立的依据。 Does this mean that heaven cannot exist? Does it mean that "walking towards heaven" is a deception? I think that a material heaven is doomed to be difficult to achieve, while the spiritual heaven is precisely established in the process of walking towards it. The eternal limitation is the basis for its eternal existence. 形象地说：设若你果真到了天堂，然后呢？然后，无所眺望或另有眺望都证明到达之地并非圆满，而你若永远地走向它，你便随时都在它的光照之中。To put it vividly: Suppose you really did arrive at heaven, and then what? Then, having nothing to gaze at or having something else to gaze at both prove that the place you arrived at is not perfect. But if you are always walking towards it, you will always be in its light. 残疾与爱情，这两种消息，在史铁生的命运里特别地得到强调。对于此一生性愚顽的人，我说过，这样强调是恰当的。我只是没想到，史铁生在四十岁以后也慢慢看懂了这件事。 The two pieces of news, disability and love, have been particularly emphasized in Shi Tiesheng's fate. For this person who was born stubborn, as I said, such emphasis is appropriate. I just didn't expect that Shi Tiesheng would also gradually understand this matter after the age of forty. 这两种消息几乎同时到来，都在他二十一岁那年。 一个满心准备迎接爱情的人，好没影儿的先迎来了残疾——无论怎么说，这一招是够损的。我不信有谁能不惊慌，不哭泣。 These two pieces of news arrived almost simultaneously, both in the year when he was twenty-one. A person who was wholeheartedly ready to embrace love first welcomed disability out of the blue - anyway, this move was quite cruel. I don't believe anyone could not be panicked or not cry. 况且那并不是一次光荣行为的后果，那是一个极为普通的事件，普通得就好像一觉醒来，看看天，天还是蓝的，看看地，地也并未塌陷，可是一举步，形势不大对头——您与地球的关系发生了一点儿变化。 Moreover, it was not the consequence of a glorious act. It was an extremely ordinary event, so ordinary that it was like waking up from sleep, looking at the sky, the sky was still blue, looking at the ground, the ground hadn't caved in either, but when taking a step, something was not quite right - your relationship with the earth had changed a little. 是的，您不能再以脚掌而是要以屁股，要不就以全身，与它磨擦。不错，第一是坐着，第二是躺着，第三是死。 好了，就这么定了，不再需要什么理由。Yes, you could no longer use your feet but your buttocks, or even your whole body to have friction with it. That's right, the first option was to sit, the second was to lie down, and the third was to die. Alright, it's settled. No more reasons are needed. 庆幸他很快就发现了问题的要点：没有理由！ 你没犯什么错误，谁也没犯什么错误，你用不着悔改，也用不上怨恨。I'm glad that he quickly discovered the key point of the problem: there is no reason! You didn't make any mistakes, no one made any mistakes. You don't need to repent, nor do you need to resent. 让风给你说一声“对不起”吗？而且将来你还会知道：上帝也没有错误，从来没有。Should we let the wind say "sorry" to you? And in the future, you will also know that God didn't make any mistakes, never.
