TED | 有趣实验：依照圣经指导原则生活的一年

00:12

我打算跟你们聊些我想要写作的东西。我喜欢完全投入我的研究题目。我直接切入题目中，以自己为白老鼠。我的生活像是一系列的实验。

00:30

几年前我为风尚杂志工作。我写了一篇文章叫做"我的外包生活"我雇用了在印度班加罗尔的一个团队,来过我的生活。所以他们帮我回电子邮件。他们帮我听电话。他们为我和我的老婆吵嘴，且帮我替儿子读床边故事。这是我生活中最美好的一个月,因为我只要放轻松，看书或看电影。这是一个很棒的经验。

01:03

到最近我为风尚杂志写了一篇文章叫做--关于绝对诚实。这是个风潮--由一位维吉尼亚的心理学家开始的,他说人应该绝不能说谎,除非在打牌或是高尔夫球中例外。并且甚至，当任何事情出现在你的脑中应该大声说出来。我决定要来试试看这种方式生活一个月。这是我一生中最糟的一个月。（笑）我完全不建议这样做。我这样讲你就了解了，这篇文章叫做"我觉得你很胖"（笑）因此，那是困难的。

01:46

我最新的书--我前一本书叫做《无所不知》它是关于那年我花在阅读大英百科全书从A到Z在我探寻学习世界万物中或更精确的说从"雅乐"(A-ak)一种东亚的音乐,到最后一条"日维茨"(Zywiec)这是--我不想搞砸了演讲的结尾。(笑声)能够在结尾做转折是令人兴奋的,像是欧亨利的小说,所以我不想搞砸它。但我喜欢这想法因为那是一个关于人脑能吸收多少信息的实验,虽然,根据凯文凯丽的说法,你只要能够在谷歌查到它就不需要记得这件事了。所以我浪费了点时间在这。

02:29

我喜欢那些实验,但是我觉得最奥妙且改变生命的实验是我最近刚完成的实验,我花了一年的时间尝试按照圣经上指导的原则生活--"依照圣经指导原则生活的一年"并且我想这样做有两个原因。第一我成长在一个完全没有宗教的环境。并且如同我书上所说,说我是个犹太人就像"橄榄花园"(美式意大利餐厅)被当成意大利餐厅，一样离谱(笑声)所以,当然不是这样。但是我已经对宗教越来越有兴趣。我认为,在我们的生活中,这是一个明确的议题,或者说是主要的议题之一。而且我有一个儿子。我想要知道拿什么去教他。所以我决定投入其中，并且尝试依照圣经而活。

03:20

第二个原因我决定这样做，是因为我对基督教基本教义的兴起有兴趣,很多人声称他们完全依照圣经。根据调查有百分之45或50的美国人，按着圣经的教导过生活。所以我决定看看，真正依照圣经教导行事会怎样?我决定接受它和它的逻辑上的推论接受一切圣经上字面的说法,不去挑选。

03:49

首先，我找到一堆圣经。我有基督教圣经。我有犹太教圣经。我的一个朋友送我一本叫做「嘻哈圣经」,其中诗篇第23中所称"神是一切"相对的，就我所知应该是"神是我的牧者"。

04:07

然后我阅读了几个版本,并且我写下每一我能找到的律法。这是一个很长的清单--超过700条律法。并且这些包含一些有名的律法一些我曾经听过的--"十戒"、"爱你的邻人"、"多结果子和生养众多"。所以我要遵循这些。我很认真执行这个计划因为这年，我生了双胞胎,所以我确实认真的执行这计划。

04:35

但是我想按照这上百条在圣经中神秘且晦涩的律法。这些是在利未记中的律法--"胡须的周围不可损坏。"我不知道哪里是我的周围,所以我决定留胡须,这是我最后看起来的样子。你可想而知,我花了很长的时间在机场安检部门。(笑声)最后的二个月，我太太不肯亲我。所以,当然这是一项挑战。

05:04

圣经上说，不能穿混合纤维的衣物。所以我想："这听起来很奇怪，但是我要试试看。"你只知道如果你尝试它。我处理掉所有混棉的T恤。圣经上说，如果有两个男人在打架,且其中一个男人的太太抓另一个男人睪丸,那么她的手就要砍断。所以,我想要遵循这个律法。(笑声)我遵循这律法的方式就是--不要和人打架，如果他的太太就站在附近的话,且她看起来有很强的抓力。(笑声)所以--喔,这是另一张我胡子的照片。

05:48

我会说这是惊奇的一年。因为这真正是生活的改变，且是难以想象的挑战。并且还有两种律法，特别挑战。第一是避免一些我们每天都会犯的小错。我能够一整年不杀生,但是一整年不说闲话,不贪心,不说谎--我生活在纽约，而且我是一个记者,所以我的生活中有75至80%，要做这些。

06:15

但是这是很有趣的，因为我能够做一些改善因为我起初不相信我的行为能改变多少我的想法。这是这一年，我学到的重大学习之一我几乎假装成一个比较好的人,且我真的有一点点变好。以前，我总是认为,"你改变了内心,然后行为才会改变",但是我发现，经常是相反的。当你改变行为,然后你改变了你的内心。所以,你知道的,如果你想要变得更有同情心,你去医院探望生病的人,然后你会变得比较慈善。为某慈善事业捐钱,然后你就放感情在那件事里面，所以,这是认知心里学--认知的不一致--这是我经历的。圣经实际上是关于认知心里学,非常基础的认知心里学。箴言这样说,如果你微笑,你会变得比较快乐,就像我们知道的一样,这是真的。

07:16

第二种非常难去遵循的律法是这些律法会让我们遇到小麻烦在21世纪的美国。一个明显的例子是：拿石头打通奸的人。(笑声)但是，这是圣经的很大一部份,所以我认为我必需行出来。所以,我真的拿石头打了一个通奸者。它发生了--我当时在公园而且我穿着我圣经式的装扮--凉鞋和白长袍--你知道,因为刚刚所说,外在影响内心。我想了解圣经式的装扮，如何影响我的内心。然后这个男人过来找我并说,"你为什么要穿成这样?"然后我解释我的这个计划,然后他说："喔,我是一个奸夫,你打算拿石头打我吗?"然后我说："哇!这很棒喔!"(笑声)然后我从口袋中拿出满手的石头那是我已经带着这些石头几个礼拜了,期待这种情况发生--然后,你知道的,这些是小卵石--但是那个男人把石头从我手中夺走。他其实是一个年长者,七十多岁但是他仍然是奸夫，而且看起来很生气。他把石头从我手上夺走并且往我脸上丢,然后我感到我能--"以眼还眼",我能报复,我就往他后背丢一个。

08:40

所以这就是我的丢石头经验。这让我更能严肃的谈论这些重要议题，如：为何圣经在某些部分这么的野蛮?且又在其它部分又难以置信的有智能?我们该如何看待圣经?我们应该看待它,你知道的,就当成它的本意,像是一种Scalia(美国大法官)版本的圣经?圣经是如何写成?然而,既然这是一个技术集会,让我想这么说圣经让我想起维基百科,因为它是由许多人编辑、撰写而成的并横跨数百年之久。撰写圣经可以说是一种演进过程，而不是一本从天上掉下来、已经写好的书。

09:24

所以我想在结尾告诉你们只是几个总结性并有意义的教训从我这一年学来的第一个是--诸位切莫逐字的理解圣经。这是一开始就很清楚的。因为如果你这样做你最终会像个疯子,拿石头丢奸夫,或者--这里有一另个例子--好的,这是另一个--我花了很多时间牧羊。(笑声)这是一个很令人轻松的职业。我很推荐。

09:57

但这一个是,圣经告诉我们不能碰女人在每个月的某些时间，更甚者--你不能坐在经期妇女曾做过的椅子。我太太觉得这很侮辱女人,所以她把我们家里的每一个椅子都做了一遍,所以我必须在这一年大部分时间都站着直到我买了一张自己的椅子并且随身携带。

10:21

所以,你知道的,我遇到一些特创论者我去了关于特创论者的博物馆。他们是最会咬文嚼字的人。然而这很有趣，因为他们并不是笨蛋。我敢打赌他们的智商，完全跟相信进化论的人一样。只是他们有着很强的信仰执着于圣经上的字面解释所以扭曲事实数据，来符合他们的理论。然后他们经由神奇的心理训练来达成。

10:49

然而我要说的是,这博物馆相当华丽。他们真的完成了一个很棒的工作。如果你曾经去过美国肯塔基州,就是这--你会看到一个关于大洪水的电影,他们在天花板上装洒水器当播放到洪水画面时，你就会被喷到水。所以,不管你对创世纪论者看法怎样(我是觉得这蛮疯狂)他们做了一个很出色的工作。(笑声)

11:14

另一个教训是：诸位应当心存感恩。这是一个很重要的教诲，因为我祷告,献上感谢,这对于不可知论者来说很怪。但是我嘴上常挂着感谢,无论何时,然而我开始改变我的看法,而且开始了解数以百计的小事情那些顺遂的事,那些我不曾注意到的小事。那些被当作里所当然的--而不是去注意那些出错的三四件事情。所以,这是幸福的秘诀,对我来说,只要提醒自己：当我来这里的时候车子没有翻覆,我没被阶梯绊倒。这是件很棒的事。

11:59

第三,诸位应心存尊敬。这事件意外的体会。因为我刚开始是一个不可知论者，但是到这一年结束时我变成一个虔敬的不可知论者。我的朋友这样叫我,我喜欢这样的称号。然而我尝试把虔敬，变成一种风潮。所以如果有任何人想参与,基本的构想是,不论有没有上帝,我们都一些重要且美好神圣想法,而且，我们的仪式是神圣的。安息日是神圣的。我的这一年中的一件大事是守安息日,因为我是一个工作狂,所以有这样一天我不能工作--这着实改变我的生活。所以,这是一个神圣的观念,无关于有没有神。

12:43

诸位切莫墨守陈规。这个体会来自于我花了许多时间，参加美国各地的不同的宗教团体，因为我希望这不是个人的旅程，而是体验美国宗教的经验。所以我花时间在福音派基督教、哈西德教派，阿米绪教派。我很自豪因为，我认为我是美国唯一能够说倒「耶和华见证人」的人(笑声)过了三小时半,他看着他的手表,他说："我必须走了。"(笑声)噢,非常谢谢你。谢谢你。祝福你,祝福你。

13:23

但是这很有趣因为我有一些先入为主的想法,例如,福音派基督教,我发现这是一个广泛的风潮很难概括解释。我曾遇到一个团体叫做红字基督徒,他们聚焦于圣经上的那些红字,那些耶稣说过的话--在旧圣经中被印成红字的。他们说，耶稣没有讲过同性恋的事情。他们有一个小册子,上面说："这是耶稣对同性恋的说法"然而当你打开它,里面什么都没有。所以他们声称，耶稣谈论了很多关于帮助无家可归,帮助穷人的事。所以这对我是很大的启发。我推荐JimWallace和TonyCampole。他们是很能鼓舞人心的领袖，即使我并不认同--他们多数的言论。

14:26

还有,诸位不能漠视无理的事。这是非常出乎预料的。因为,你们知道,我在一个科学的世界观中成长。然而我十分震惊的发现，我的生命，其实是由不理性的力量主宰。然而，如果这些是无害的，就没必要被完全去除。因为我学到--我在想,我做的这些仪式,这些圣经上的仪式,区分羊毛和麻布质料。我问那些虔诚的人"为什么圣经要这样告诉我们?上帝为什么在意这些?"然而他们说："我们不知道,这只是个赋予我们意义的仪式。"我说,"这很疯狂!"他们会说："噢,那你不是吗?"你会吹熄生日蛋糕上的蜡烛，这也是个仪式。如果一个来自火星的家伙看到,他会说："这有一个家伙吹熄蛋糕上面的火"对比于另一个不穿混纺衣服的人,火星人会说"噢,这家伙很理性,但是那家伙很疯狂"吗?不会,所以,那些仪式是不理性的。所以,关键是选择正确的仪式,那些无害的仪式--仪式本身不该被去除。

15:57

然而,最终,我学到：诸位应该有所选择。这是因为我想要去遵循圣经上所有的东西。然后我失败的很惨。因为你做不到。你必须有所选择,然而任何遵循圣经的人都不是照单全收的关键是：选择正确的部分。有一个词汇叫做"自助餐式宗教"基本教义派，把这个字用于轻蔑的意思,他们会说："噢,这不就是自助餐式宗教罢了。你只是选自己喜欢的去做。"但我认为："自助餐又怎样?"我在自助餐厅有吃得很开心的经验。也有难吃得想吐的经验。所以,这是关于选择圣经中有关恻隐之心,宽容、爱你的邻人的那些部分,不选择「同性恋是一种罪」、或偏狭的,或暴力的这些部份，在圣经里，也相当的多。所以我们若想在这本书中找到意义,我们必须真正投入于它,并且与它争战。

17:04

然而结束前我想我在说几件事。这是我正在阅读圣经的照片。这是我如何招呼出租车。(笑声)它是有效的--且是的,那其实是租来的羊,所以我必须在早晨归还,但是牠整天都被照顾的很好。所以,不论如何,很谢谢你们让我来演讲。

00:12

I thought I'd tell you a little about what I like to write. And I like to immerse myself in my topics. I just like to dive right in and become sort of a human guinea pig. And I see my life as a series of experiments. 

00:30

So, I work for Esquire magazine, and a couple of years ago, I wrote an article called "My Outsourced Life," where I hired a team of people in Bangalore, India, to live my life for me. So, they answered my emails. They answered my phone. They argued with my wife for me, and they read my son bedtime stories. It was the best month of my life, because I just sat back and I read books and watched movies. It was a wonderful experience. 

01:03

More recently, I wrote an article for Esquire called -- about radical honesty. And this is a movement where -- this is started by a psychologist in Virginia, who says that you should never, ever lie, except maybe during poker and golf, his only exceptions. And, more than that, whatever is on your brain should come out of your mouth. So, I decided I would try this for a month. This was the worst month of my life. (Laughter) I do not recommend this at all. To give you a sense of the experience, the article was called, "I Think You're Fat." (Laughter) So, that was hard. 

01:46

My most recent book -- my previous book was called "The Know-It-All," and it was about the year I spent reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z in my quest to learn everything in the world, or more precisely from Aak, which is a type of East Asian music, all the way to Zwyiec, which is -- well, I don't want to ruin the ending. (Laughter) It's a very exciting twist ending, like an O. Henry novel, so I won't ruin it. But I love that one, because that was an experiment about how much information one human brain could absorb. Although, listening to Kevin Kelly, you don't have to remember anything. You can just Google it. So, I wasted some time there. 

02:29

I love those experiments, but I think that the most profound and life-changing experiment that I've done is my most recent experiment, where I spent a year trying to follow all of the rules of the Bible, "The Year of Living Biblically." And I undertook this for two reasons. The first was that I grew up with no religion at all. As I say in my book, I'm Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is Italian. (Laughter) So, not very. But I've become increasingly interested in religion. I do think it's the defining issue of our time, or one of the main ones. And I have a son. I want to know what to teach him. So, I decided to dive in head first, and try to live the Bible. 

03:20

The second reason I undertook this is because I'm concerned about the rise of fundamentalism, religious fundamentalism, and people who say they take the Bible literally, which is, according to some polls, as high as 45 or 50 percent of America. So I decided, what if you really did take the Bible literally? I decided to take it to its logical conclusion and take everything in the Bible literally, without picking and choosing. 

03:49

The first thing I did was I got a stack of bibles. I had Christian bibles. I had Jewish bibles. A friend of mine sent me something called a hip-hop bible, where the twenty-third Psalm is rendered as, "The Lord is all that," as opposed to what I knew it as, "The Lord is my shepherd." 

04:07

Then I went down and I read several versions, and I wrote down every single law that I could find. And this was a very long list -- over 700 rules. And they range from the famous ones that I had heard of -- The Ten Commandments, love your neighbor, be fruitful and multiply. So I wanted to follow those. And actually, I take my projects very seriously, because I had twins during my year, so I definitely take my projects seriously. 

04:35

But I also wanted to follow the hundreds of arcane and obscure laws that are in the Bible. There is the law in Leviticus, "You cannot shave the corners of your beard." I didn't know where my corners were, so I decided to let the whole thing grow, and this is what I looked like by the end. As you can imagine, I spent a lot of time at airport security. (Laughter) My wife wouldn't kiss me for the last two months. So, certainly the challenge was there. 

05:04

The Bible says you cannot wear clothes made of mixed fibers, so I thought, "Sounds strange, but I'll try it." You only know if you try it. I got rid of all my poly-cotton T-shirts. The Bible says that if two men are in a fight, and the wife of one of those men grabs the testicles of the other man, then her hand shall be cut off. So, I wanted to follow that rule. (Laughter) That one I followed by default, by not getting in a fight with a man whose wife was standing nearby, looking like she had a strong grip. (Laughter) So -- oh, there's another shot of my beard. 

05:48

I will say it was an amazing year because it really was life changing, and incredibly challenging. And there were two types of laws that were particularly challenging. The first was avoiding the little sins that we all commit every day. You know, I could spend a year not killing, but spending a year not gossiping, not coveting, not lying -- you know, I live in New York, and I work as a journalist, so this was 75, 80 percent of my day I had to do it. 

06:15

But it was really interesting, because I was able to make some progress, because I couldn't believe how much my behavior changed my thoughts. This was one of the huge lessons of the year, is that I almost pretended to be a better person, and I became a little bit of a better person. So I had always thought, you know, "You change your mind, and you change your behavior," but it's often the other way around. You change your behavior, and you change your mind. So, you know, if you want to become more compassionate, you visit sick people in the hospital, and you will become more compassionate. You donate money to a cause, and you become emotionally involved in that cause. So, it really was cognitive psychology -- you know, cognitive dissonance -- that I was experiencing. The Bible actually talks about cognitive psychology, very primitive cognitive psychology. In the Proverbs, it says that if you smile, you will become happier, which, as we know, is actually true. 

07:16

The second type of rule that was difficult to obey was the rules that will get you into a little trouble in twenty-first-century America. And perhaps the clearest example of this is stoning adulterers. (Laughter) But it's a big part of the Bible, so I figured I had to address it. So, I was able to stone one adulterer. It happened -- I was in the park, and I was dressed in my biblical clothing, so sandals and sort of a white robe, you know, because again, the outer affects the inner. I wanted to see how dressing biblically affected my mind. And this man came up to me and he said, "Why are you dressed like that?" And I explained my project, and he said, "Well, I am an adulterer, are you going to stone me?" And I said, "Well, that would be great!" (Laughter) And I actually took out a handful of stones from my pocket that I had been carrying around for weeks, hoping for just this interaction -- and, you know, they were pebbles -- but he grabbed them out of my hand. He was actually an elderly man, mid-70s, just so you know. But he's still an adulterer, and still quite angry. He grabbed them out of my hand and threw them at my face, and I felt that I could -- eye for an eye -- I could retaliate, and throw one back at him. 

08:40

So that was my experience stoning, and it did allow me to talk about, in a more serious way, these big issues. How can the Bible be so barbaric in some places, and yet so incredibly wise in others? How should we view the Bible? Should we view it, you know, as original intent, like a sort of a Scalia version of the Bible? How was the Bible written? And actually, since this is a tech crowd, I talk in the book about how the Bible actually reminds me of the Wikipedia, because it has all of these authors and editors over hundreds of years. And it's sort of evolved. It's not a book that was written and came down from on high. 

09:24

So I thought I would end by telling you just a couple of the take-aways, the bigger lessons that I learned from my year. The first is, thou shalt not take the Bible literally. This became very, very clear, early on. Because if you do, then you end up acting like a crazy person, and stoning adulterers, or -- here's another example. Well, that's another. I did spend some time shepherding. (Laughter) It's a very relaxing vocation. I recommend it. 

09:57

But this one is -- the Bible says that you cannot touch women during certain times of the month, and more than that, you cannot sit on a seat where a menstruating woman has sat. And my wife thought this was very offensive, so she sat in every seat in our apartment, and I had to spend much of the year standing until I bought my own seat and carried it around. 

10:21

So, you know, I met with creationists. I went to the creationists' museum. And these are the ultimate literalists. And it was fascinating, because they were not stupid people at all. I would wager that their IQ is exactly the same as the average evolutionist. It's just that their faith is so strong in this literal interpretation of the Bible that they distort all the data to fit their model. And they go through these amazing mental gymnastics to accomplish this. 

10:49

And I will say, though, the museum is gorgeous. They really did a fantastic job. If you're ever in Kentucky, there's, you can see a movie of the flood, and they have sprinklers in the ceiling that will sprinkle on you during the flood scenes. So, whatever you think of creationism -- and I think it's crazy -- they did a great job. (Laughter) 

11:14

Another lesson is that thou shalt give thanks. And this one was a big lesson because I was praying, giving these prayers of thanksgiving, which was odd for an agnostic. But I was saying thanks all the time, every day, and I started to change my perspective. And I started to realize the hundreds of little things that go right every day, that I didn't even notice, that I took for granted, as opposed to focusing on the three or four that went wrong. So, this is actually a key to happiness for me, is to just remember when I came over here, the car didn't flip over, and I didn't trip coming up the stairs. It's a remarkable thing. 

11:59

Third, that thou shall have reverence. This one was unexpected because I started the year as an agnostic, and by the end of the year, I became what a friend of mine calls a reverent agnostic, which I love. And I'm trying to start it as a movement. So, if anyone wants to join, the basic idea is, whether or not there is a God, there's something important and beautiful about the idea of sacredness, and that our rituals can be sacred. The Sabbath can be sacred. This was one of the great things about my year, doing the Sabbath, because I am a workaholic, so having this one day where you cannot work, it really, that changed my life. So, this idea of sacredness, whether or not there is a God. 

12:43

Thou shall not stereotype. This one happened because I spent a lot of time with various religious communities throughout America because I wanted it to be more than about my journey. I wanted it to be about religion in America. So, I spent time with evangelical Christians, and Hasidic Jews, and the Amish. I'm very proud because I think I'm the only person in America to out Bible-talk a Jehovah's Witness. (Laughter) After three and a half hours, he looked at his watch, he's like, "I gotta go." (Laughter) Oh, thank you very much. Thank you. Bless you, bless you. 

13:23

But it was interesting because I had some very preconceived notions about, for instance, evangelical Christianity, and I found that it's such a wide and varied movement that it is difficult to make generalizations about it. There's a group I met with called the Red Letter Christians, and they focus on the red words in the Bible, which are the ones that Jesus spoke. That's how they printed them in the old Bibles. And their argument is that Jesus never talked about homosexuality. They have a pamphlet that says, "Here's what Jesus said about homosexuality," and you open it up, and there's nothing in it. So, they say Jesus did talk a lot about helping the outcasts, helping poor people. So, this was very inspiring to me. I recommend Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo. They're very inspiring leaders, even though I disagree with much of what they say. 

14:26

Also, thou shalt not disregard the irrational. This one was very unexpected because, you know, I grew up with the scientific worldview, and I was shocked learning how much of my life is governed by irrational forces. And the thing is, if they're not harmful, they're not to be completely dismissed. Because I learned that -- I was thinking, I was doing all these rituals, these biblical rituals, separating my wool and linen, and I would ask these religious people "Why would the Bible possibly tell us to do this? Why would God care?" And they said, "We don't know, but it's just rituals that give us meaning." And I would say, "But that's crazy." And they would say, "Well, what about you? You blow out candles on top of a birthday cake. If a guy from Mars came down and saw, here's one guy blowing out the fire on top of a cake versus another guy not wearing clothes of mixed fabrics, would the Martians say, 'Well, that guy, he makes sense, but that guy's crazy?'" So no, I think that rituals are, by nature, irrational. So the key is to choose the right rituals, the ones that are not harmful -- but rituals by themselves are not to be dismissed. 

15:57

And finally I learned that thou shall pick and choose. And this one I learned because I tried to follow everything in the Bible. And I failed miserably. Because you can't. You have to pick and choose. And anyone who follows the Bible is going to be picking and choosing. The key is to pick and choose the right parts. There's the phrase called cafeteria religion, and the fundamentalists will use it in a denigrating way, and they'll say, "Oh, it's just cafeteria religion. You're just picking and choosing." But my argument is, "What's wrong with cafeterias?" I've had some great meals at cafeterias. I've also had some meals that make me want to dry heave. So, it's about choosing the parts of the Bible about compassion, about tolerance, about loving your neighbor, as opposed to the parts about homosexuality is a sin, or intolerance, or violence, which are very much in the Bible as well. So if we are to find any meaning in this book, then we have to really engage it, and wrestle with it. 

17:04

And I thought I'd end with just a couple more. There's me reading the Bible. That's how I hailed taxicabs. (Laughter) Seriously, and it worked. And yes, that was actually a rented sheep, so I had to return that in the morning, but it served well for a day. So, anyway, thank you so much for letting me speak.