内容提要
关于永无乡
文：陈婷婷
若干时间以前，我所认识的娄申义，是一个擅于追问的人。他追问他人，追问自我，追问种种，从形而下直追问至形而上。我很好奇，他可能会在哪里止住。再后来，一直不曾再聊，对那些思辨，我也有些意兴阑珊，毕竟世间繁芜，尚苦于应对。
这次再见到娄的画，不觉大吃一惊。绿树青山，人面飞燕，梦里水乡，皆不是往常模样。线条稚拙，色彩俭朴，浑然是贴在教室后黑板上的儿童画。去电探问近日生活，不过晨钟暮鼓，鲜有出门，自是看书喝茶，偶拾画笔。言及日后打算，更笑说要搬去乡下落个清净。
娄的家乡在上虞，此前匆匆路过，虽然不曾细看，也是江南的灵秀之地。现下居住的杭州，更是令人艳羡的所在。而于娄看来，竟依旧吵杂难耐，不得容身。细想来，其实也是情有可原。
以娄的敏锐纤细，现世中许多的不如意都难免逼仄。时代日新，生活方式被各种机械改变，功利实用主义抬头，而人心却渐渐失衡。信仰价值观式微，即便再多便利交通，生存之间依然寝食难安。所以娄之前苦苦追问，为的是自我超脱，慰藉心神。既然苦闷无可排解，他选择了离开。
他开始追溯记忆中最初的愉悦来：土生土长的小县城，和县城中生龙活虎的童年。寄心灵于童真，托理想于旧梦，那里既布满远方的迷幻，又有真实的惘然。只是往日已不可追，现实依然严酷逼人。“永无乡”一名似有了答案，永远失去的故乡，一去永不重来的乡愁。
故乡虽不可追，但依然能以某种方式和我们相连。无论现实的面貌如何，也是踏在脚下真实的存在。与其浸淫旧日之美好，不如采其芬芳，滋养当下。永无之乡不能再有，而生活依旧真切。于是何妨这般去想：所谓故乡，永不会消失，它始终存在过去、当下与未来之中。这便是真正的“永无乡”。
About Neverland
Eassy: Chen Tingting
Mr. Lou, as I knew him, used to be a man good at asking questions. He asked so many questions about others, and himself, about physics, and metaphysics, so that I was wondering what kind of a place he might reside in. We hadn¡¯t talked to each other for a long time and my interest in those intellectual enquiries of him seems to wilt. After all, the ups and downs of the world are too many for us to grin and bear.
When I saw Lou¡¯s paintings again, I was overtaken by surprise. Green trees and blue mountains, nice people and flying birds, dreamlike water villages¡¬ everything is not what they used to be. With the clumsy stokes and simple colors, Lou¡¯s paintings practically resemble those children¡¯s drawings hung on the blackboard in the back of the classroom. I called to ask him how everything was going and was told that he didn¡¯t go out much but spent most of the day reading or drinking tea, and painting only occasionally. As for his future planning, Lou said jokingly that he would move to the countryside to seek peace and quiet.
Lou¡¯s hometown was Shangyu (Zhejiang province), a south Yangtze city of exquisite elegance which I used to pass by but didn¡¯t stop to appreciate. Now, Lou lives in Hangzhou, a dreamland of many. However, in his eyes, Hangzhou is too noisy a place for him to enjoy life. Come to think of it, there is a justification for this feeling.
With his acumen and nicety, Lou sees more misfortunes in life than others do and feels rather depressed. The world is changing fast and our life has been greatly changed by various machines. Utilitarianism and pragmatism prevail and bring about unbalance in the minds of men. While the world¡¯s beliefs and values are declining, however convenient the traffic is, worries sit uneasily on Lou¡¯s conscience. That explained why he has persisted in enquiring all the time: to seek self-detachment and solace to his soul. Now that sorrows are hard to call away, he chose to abandon them.
He began to recall the early joys in his memory: the small county where he was born and raised, and his lively childhood life in there. He rests his soul on child¡¯s simplicity and bases his hopes on the old day dreams, where there are both remote fantasies and real feelings of loss. However, the old days are gone never to return while the realities are still harsh and depressing. In this sense, the Neverland has got its name: an old home that was lost forever, the nostalgia that is gone never to return.
The old home is gone but can be felt in certain ways. However harsh the real world is, it is real existence in our life. It¡¯s better to employ beauties from the past to make this world better than to simply miss the good old days. Neverland will never be back but life is so real. Why not think it this way: the so-called old home is never to disappear; it exists in the past, in the present days and in the future. This is the genuine Neverland. （文章来源：《永无乡---娄申义个展暨红桥画廊五周年展》）
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