Tattoos for me, one of the reasons I started to get them is because when I was in prison,

纹身于我而言 我纹身是因为在监狱的时候

when you go to prison they completely strip you of an identity.

如果你进了监狱 所有身份都会被彻底剥夺

You don't even have a name anymore.

你不再有名有姓

You're given a number. My number was SK931.

他们会给你一个编号 我的编号是SK931

That means I was the 931st person sentenced to death in Arkansas.

意思是 我是阿肯色州第931个被判死刑的人

To the state of Arkansas I was not Damien Echols.

对阿肯色州而言 我不是Damien Echols

I was inmate SK931.

我是这个监狱的SK931

They take your clothes, they take your name.

他们会拿走你的衣服 剥夺你的名字

There were even times when I was shackled to a chair and had my head shaved against my will

我甚至还被绑在椅子上 强行剃光头发

just to make you look like every other prisoner in the prison.

只为让监狱里所有人看起来都一样

They don't want any form of identity, any form of humanity.

他们不想要任何身份 不要任何人性

So I learned that pretty much everything can be stripped away from you except your skin.

所以我明白了你的一切都会被拿走 除了皮肤以外

That was why I started tattooing things that were meaningful to me,

于是我开始把对我很重要的东西纹在身上

bonds I shared with other people, friends, anyone from Johnny Depp and Peter Jackson.

把我跟其他人的关系纹在身上 朋友 包括Johnny Depp和Peter Jackson

We got tattooed together to just people that were friends of mine in the tattoo shop.

我们一起做的纹身 还有我纹身店里的朋友们

It's like if you have a photograph you can lose that photograph.

就好像 如果你有张照片 它可能会丢

It can be torn up. It can be disintegrated through time.

会被撕坏 会随着时间的流逝风化

But whenever you carry something on your body

但如果你把它刻在身上

it's almost like you have a suit of armor made out of the things that are meaningful to you.

就好像穿了一件用对你而言很重要的东西做成的盔甲一样

So a lot of the things I have on me were not only things that I shared with friends

我身上纹的不只是我跟朋友共享的东西

like representative of bonds that I had with other people

比如我跟其他人之间的关系纽带

but I started to also use talismans, sigils.

我还纹了护身符 印章

What talismans are we were talking about thought forms a while ago.

护身符是什么 之前我们聊了思想形式

Well some things are really hard to visualize.

有些东西很难形象化

If you want to put energy into manifesting something say, for example, happiness.

如果你想努力阐述比如说 快乐

So you don't know what will make you happy.

你不知道什么能让你快乐

You just know that you're not happy at this particular time in your life.

你只知道现阶段的生活不快乐

You're not happy with your job but you don't know what job would make you happy.

你不喜欢现在的工作 但你不知道什么工作能让你开心

You're not happy in your relationship

你不满意现在的恋情

but you don't know exactly what sort of relationship you want to be in that would bring happiness.

但你不清楚什么样的恋情才能给你带来快乐

You can use a talisman or a sigil to take a concept like happiness

你可以用护身符或者印章去代表快乐这个概念

and break it down into a symbolic form

把它分解成一种符号形式

that will bypass the conscious mind and can be fired directly into the subconscious

它可以绕过显意识直达潜意识层

because it just looks like a squiggly line for the most part.

因为它多数时候都像条弯曲的线

It looks like an alphabet that your conscious mind doesn't read.

它就像显意识看不懂的字母

So it bypasses all of the thought processes, goes deep into your unconscious psyche

所以它会绕过思维过程 直接进入潜意识里

and can then work in whatever way it works down there.

然后用它自己的方式去运作

I don't know how some of this stuff works. I just know it does work.

我不懂这些东西是何原理 但我知道它确实有效

If you break it down into just a symbol and then put the energy, put the chi into that symbol

如果你把它分解成一个符号 把能量和气注入这个符号里

you can manifest something that you may not necessarily be able to picture like happiness or protection or love.

你就可以阐述一些无法描述的东西 比如快乐、保护或爱

I even have one of my favorite ones is probably the one on the side of my neck

我最喜欢的可能就是我脖子侧面的这个纹身

and what it is is a talisman that represents New York City because to me this is home.

它是个护身符 代表的是纽约市 因为那里是我的家

The second I landed here, the second I stepped off the plane

我踏足那里的那一刻 下飞机的那一刻

I knew this was the place I wanted to live and this was the place I wanted to die.

就知道这是我想要生活的地方 是我想死去的地方

I want to be buried here.

我想埋在那里

So and like I said earlier if you react to something,

就像我刚说过的 如果你对某事做出回应

if you interact with something as if there's an intelligence behind it,

如果你跟某物交流 就好像它有智慧一样

it will react to you in the same way.

那它也会以同样的方式回应你

So you can do the same thing with not only concepts but places.

所以不仅是观念 地点也同样如此

We think of for some reason people have come to think of natural places or wooded areas or deserts or whatever

由于某些原因 人们觉得原生态之地、森林、沙漠之类的地方

as being somehow more sacred or more holy than urban environments.

要比城市更加神圣或圣洁

And that's not true at all.

根本不是这样

Everything is made out of the same divine substance.

所有东西都是由同样神圣的物质构成的

So either everything and every place is sacred or none of them are.

要么所有东西和所有地方一样神圣 要么都不神圣

For me I choose to approach life as if they all are.

就我个人而言 我认为所有东西都是一样神圣的

So if you interact with New York City as if there's an intelligence behind it

如果你把纽约当成智慧之物对待

the same way the Romans did, the same way the Greeks did

就像罗马人和希腊人所做的那样

then it will behave towards you the same way.

那它也会以同样的方式对待你

So I will do things like some people in different traditions like say Native American shamanism

所以我会像有其他传统的人那样做一些事 比如印第安人萨满教

will interact with spirits of animals.

他们会跟动物的灵魂沟通

For me it's more along the lines of spirits of particular trains.

对我来说 倒更愿意跟火车沟通

You burn blue candles to communicate and link yourself to the spirit of the C train or the A train

点上蓝色的蜡烛 跟C快车或A快车（纽约的两种快速交通服务）交流 把自己跟它们连接起来

then it will respond to you as if there's an intelligence behind it.

然后它也会像智者一样对待你

So the tattoo on my neck what I wanted to do was sort of enshrine New York City, the spirit of this place.

我脖子上的纹身 就类似于把纽约市供奉起来 奉祀这个地方的灵魂

Sort of ask for its blessing, as for its favor as I go about day to day life here.

以此来寻求它的庇护 保佑我在这里的每一天都能顺利