英国作家哈罗德·阿克顿痴迷中国文化,在其小说《牡丹与马驹》里通过对主人公菲利浦·费劳尔在中国的精神探索历程的描写,形象地展现了东方文明拯救西方危机这一时代命题的诸多内涵。菲利浦怀着一份倦游归乡的挚诚,把北京当作安身立命的归宿、栖息灵魂的家园,苦心孤诣地渴望在中国得到抚慰与庇护。然而,他又不愿正视中国正在发生的一切变化,而是借着一种怀旧的情绪,对中国的历史和传统发出一种“但恨不为古人”或“但恨今人不古”的感慨。同时,从孔子的信徒到道家思想的追随者,再变为遁世的佛教徒,菲利浦的哲学思考行踪几乎浓缩了整个西方世界对东方哲学接受和利用的历程。其实,东方救助是西方文明危机下的一种精神诉求,是西方意识下的文化利用。它先天带有的理想化色彩,就决定其对文化与文明的反思批判比提供实际可行的策略更有意义。 Harold Acton, a British writer obsessed with Chinese culture, vividly expresses the Eastern Civilization’s rescue of the West in his novel “Peony and Colt” by describing the protagonist Philip Fellow’s spiritual exploration in China Many connotations of the proposition of the era of crisis. With sincere dedication to return to the homeland, Philips regarded Beijing as a place to settle down and inhabit his soul, desperately wanting to be soothed and sheltered in China. However, instead of looking squarely at all the changes that are taking place in China, he instead used a nostalgic mood to send a message of “but not hate the ancients” or “but hate not being ancient” to China’s history and tradition Emotion At the same time, from Confucius followers to followers of Taoism and then to recluse Buddhists, the philosophical reflections of Phillip’s philosophers have almost condensed the entire western world’s acceptance and utilization of Eastern philosophy. In fact, Eastern relief is a spiritual appeal under the crisis of Western civilization and is a cultural utilization under Western consciousness. Its innate idealistic color determines that its critique of culture and civilization is more meaningful than providing a realistic strategy.