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尽管约伯的疑问得到了宗教层面的解答，然而从其世俗的层面来看，也可以找到答案。壮阔景观的雄伟和力量有其象征意义。那就是：让我们无怨无悔地接受那些无法跨越的障碍，以及无法理解的事件。正如《旧约》中的上帝所知的那样，我们可以参照自然界中远超人类体积的景物，如高山、地球上的森林以及沙漠，用以对比人类的脆弱，进而使人坚强。

But the religious answer to Job's question does not invalidate the story for secular spirits. Sublime landscapes, through their grandeur and power, retain a symbolic role in bringing us to accept without bitterness or lamentation the obstacles we cannot overcome and events we cannot make sense of. As the Old Testament God knew, it can be helpful to back up deflationary points about mankind with reference to the very elements in nature which physically surpass it-the mountains, the girdle of the earth, the deserts.

如果这个世界不公平，或让人无法理解，那么壮阔的景致会提示我们，世间本来就是如此，没有什么好大惊小怪的。宇宙的力量可以移山倒海，而人类不过是小小的玩偶。从壮阔的山河中去了悟自身的局限是十分有效的，否则我们就有可能在日常生活的流变中感到焦虑和愤怒。不只是自然违抗我们，就连生活本身也是不堪忍受的重压。然而，自然界中广阔的空间却最充满善意和敬意地提示了我们所有超越我们的事物。如果我们用更长的时间与它们相伴，它们会帮助我们心服口服地接受那些无法理解而又令人苦恼的事情，并接受我们最终将化为尘土这一事实。

If the world is unfair or beyond our understanding, sublime places suggest it is not surprising things should be thus. We are the playthings of the forces that laid out the oceans and chiselled the mountains. Sublime places gently move us to acknowledge limitations that we might otherwise encounter with anxiety or anger in the ordinary flow of events. It is not just nature that defies us. Human life is as overwhelming, but it is the vast spaces of nature that perhaps provide us with the finest, the most respectful reminder of all that exceeds us. If we spend time in them, they may help us to accept more graciously the great unfathomable events that molest our lives and will inevitably return us to dust.