Chapter 11: Power and Responsibility

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on August 29, 1987 in Los Angeles, CA
1987年8月29日，在加州洛杉矶(Los Angeles, CA)，向上帝的信使马歇尔・维安・萨默斯(Marshall Vian Summers)揭示

Many people’s interest in personal development, in spiritual growth and in cultivating their abilities is associated with the issue of power. It is very essential that you realize that power and responsibility are intrinsically tied together. You cannot separate them.

许多人对个人发展、精神成长和培养能力的兴趣都与力量问题有关。你必须认识到，力量与责任在本质上是联系在一起的，这是非常重要的。你不能把它们分开。

Power is the ability to take care of people. That is the definition of power for now. There are other very good definitions, of course. Many of you will think, “Power is the ability to overcome obstacles, or handicaps or hindrances. Power is the ability to get things done in the world. Power is the ability to maintain a state of equanimity.” This is all true, but it is necessary to talk about power in the context of providership, the ability to take care of others without loss but with gain. This is not the only definition of power, but it is relevant here.

力量是照顾人的能力。这就是目前力量的定义。当然，还有其他非常好的定义。你们中的许多人会想，”力量是克服障碍、缺陷或阻碍的能力。力量是在世界范围内完成事情的能力。力量是保持平和状态的能力”。这都是事实，但有必要在供养人的背景下谈论力量，即照顾他人的能力，没有损失但有收获。这不是力量的唯一定义，但它在这里是相关的。

Responsibility is the ability to respond to your truest inclinations as well as to the needs of others. Therefore, responsibility is associated with providership as well. As you provide more for others, you must call upon your own strength. You cannot be obsessed with your needs, wants and difficulties because you have placed yourself in a situation that requires you to rise to a greater occasion and ability.

责任是对你最真实的倾向以及对他人的需要作出反应的能力。因此，责任也与供养有关。当你为他人提供更多服务时，你必须调用自己的力量。你不能沉迷于自己的需要、愿望和困难，因为你已经把自己置于一个需要你上升到更大场合和能力的境地。

There is a great preoccupation in modern society with personal freedom, the ability to determine and carry out your own destiny. This is a very rare freedom you have, rare in your own world and rare in the context of the Greater Community of worlds, where personal freedom is extremely rare. There is an obsession here with personal freedom. People wish to reclaim power, ability, relationship and resourcefulness, but they want it without any infringement upon their freedom at all. It cannot be that way. There is a direct relationship between power and freedom.

在现代社会中，有一种对个人自由的极大关注，即决定和执行你自己命运的能力。这是你所拥有的非常罕见的自由，在你自己的世界里很罕见，在世界大社区的背景下也很罕见，在那里个人自由是极其罕见的。这里有一种对个人自由的痴迷。人们希望重新获得权力、能力、关系和足智多谋，但他们希望完全不侵犯他们的自由。这不可能是这样的。力量和自由之间有一个直接的关系。

The more powerful you are, the less personal freedom you have, yet the greater internal freedom you have. Here you do not have the freedom to go wherever you want and do whatever you like at any time because you are carrying responsibility. You are answerable to other people through taking care of them and through providing service. You cannot just do whatever you want at any hour of the day. With greater power and ability, you have a greater sense that your life has destiny, purpose and direction, and this is the greater context for freedom.

你的力量越大，你的个人自由就越少，然而你的内部自由就越大。在这里，你没有自由去你想去的地方，在任何时候做你想做的事，因为你背负着责任。你要通过照顾别人和提供服务来对他人负责。你不能在一天中的任何时候为所欲为。有了更大的力量和能力，你就更能感觉到你的生命有命运、目的和方向，这就是自由的更大背景。

Personal freedom becomes very obsessive because it demands things from life that you yourself cannot provide. People say, “I want to have complete peace, power and ability. I want to be able to do what anyone can do, but I do not want anything to hold me back, restrict me, restrain me, or bind me. I want to feel good about myself at every moment. I do not want to be in difficult situations. I do not want to be confronted with ugly things. I want the world to be a wonderful place so that I can have personal freedom and not hurt anybody.”

个人自由变得非常执着，因为它要求从生命中获得你自己无法提供的东西。人们说，”我想拥有完全的和平、权力和能力。我希望能够做任何人都能做的事，但我不希望有任何事情阻碍我，限制我，约束我，或束缚我。我希望每时每刻都对自己感觉良好。我不希望处于困难的境地。我不想面对丑陋的人性。我希望世界是一个美好的地方，这样我就可以有个人自由，不伤害任何人”。

How can there be peace unless you have regained your power? Peace is not a state where the world does not infringe upon you. Peace is a state of inner discovery where you have realized that you are part of life, that there are intrinsic relationships and that your Spiritual Teachers are real and exist within you. You realize that you have assistance from without and from within—a greater resource than you could provide for yourself. This is what enables you to take on great tasks and carry burdens. This life is so short here. You are not here a very long time, but you can do important things here.

除非你恢复了你的力量，否则怎么会有和平？和平不是一种世界不侵犯你的状态。和平是一种内在发现的状态，你已经意识到你是生命的一部分，有内在的关系，你的精神导师是真实的，存在于你的内心。你意识到你有来自外部和内部的援助——比你自己能提供的更大的资源。这就是使你能够承担伟大的任务和背负重担的原因。这个生命在这里是如此短暂。你在这里的时间不是很长，但你可以在这里做重要的事情。

In modern society, you have both an opportunity and a handicap. Your great opportunity is the freedom to seek Knowledge and to express your inner life openly. This freedom is unprecedented. Your handicap is that you have very few models for true power and ability and very few models for successful relationship. Modern society seems self-indulgent and very chaotic. You are free to shop, but the selection is very great, and you have very little reference on how to make the best choice.

在现代社会，你既有机会也有障碍。你的巨大机会是寻求内识和公开表达你内心生活的自由。这种自由是史无前例的。你的障碍是，你很少有真实的力量和能力的模式，也很少有成功的关系模式。现代社会似乎自我放纵，非常混乱。你可以自由购物，但选择非常多，而你对如何做出最佳选择的参考非常少。

In modern society, you are free now to have relationships with very little limitation. Men and women are extremely available to each other as never before. They are not held apart by social castes or economic lines. You have tremendous wealth available to you. Your life is easy and your fundamental needs are being met, for the most part. You have houses to sleep in, clothes to wear and food to eat.

在现代社会，你现在可以自由地建立关系，没有什么限制。男人和女人彼此之间的关系是前所未有的。他们不受社会等级或经济界线的限制。你有巨大的财富可以利用。你们的生活很轻松，你们的基本需求在大多数情况下得到了满足。你们有房子可睡，有衣服可穿，有食物可吃。

So with your freedom you seek to regain your power. Yet if you try to do this without assuming the burden of responsibility, then your search will be fruitless. You will be demanding from others that they accept you and give you the freedom and license that you yourself cannot provide. This attempt is very disappointing. It is focused on taking and not on giving.

因此，你用你的自由寻求重新获得你的力量。然而，如果你试图在不承担责任的情况下做到这一点，那么你的寻求将是没有结果的。你将要求别人接受你，给予你自身无法提供的自由和许可。这种尝试是非常令人失望的。它专注于索取而不是给予。

Many people have often asked, “What can I do now to have greater ability?” On occasion they were given specific indications. Often these were not met with favorably because it meant restricting their personal freedom. People then thought, “Oh, I don’t want to do that. It is too hard. It is too much. I would have to give up my little happinesses.”

许多人经常问：”我现在怎么做才能有更大的能力？”偶尔他们会得到一些具体的指示。通常这些都不被看好，因为这意味着限制了他们的个人自由。人们就想，”哦，我不想这样做。这太难了。太多了。我将不得不放弃我的小幸福”。

You see, people rarely grow and develop on their own initiative. People usually grow because they must, not because they want to. There is complacency that is inherent in intelligent life, and your environment is so easy that complacency is built in. If you lived in a more demanding environment where your choices were limited, then you would value your decisions far more because they would have much more serious consequences.

你看，人们很少主动地成长和发展。人们通常是因为他们必须成长，而不是因为他们想成长。有一种自满情绪是智慧生命中固有的，你的环境是如此轻松，以至于自满情绪是内置的。如果你生活在一个要求更高的环境中，你的选择是有限的，那么你会更珍惜你的决定，因为它们会有更严重的后果。

Responsibility is difficult, but it is also very rewarding if it is placed in the proper perspective and given in the right area. You must choose wisely what burden you will carry, whom you will take care of and for what reason. You will be happier if you can provide for others beyond your own choice. For example, if you have children, some days you want to be a parent and some days you do not, but you are a parent every day. If you own a business enterprise, you carry that business on days when you like having a business and on days when you do not. Here your rewards are greater and more long term than the freedom to go and have a day off whenever the impulse strikes you.

责任是困难的，但如果把它放在适当的角度并给予适当的领域，它也是非常有价值的。你必须明智地选择你将背负什么负担，你将照顾谁，出于什么原因。如果你能在自己的选择之外为他人提供帮助，你会更快乐。例如，如果你有孩子，有些日子你想当父母，有些日子你不想，但你每天都是父母。如果你拥有一个商业企业，在你喜欢有生意的日子里，你就带着这个生意，而在你不喜欢的日子里，你就带着这个生意。在这里，你的回报比在你冲动的时候去休息一天的自由更多，更长远。

Therefore, in whatever employment you are engaged, concentrate on contributing to people. Do not concentrate on being liked and accepted. Do not concentrate on having the license to express yourself without other people’s disagreement. Do not seek for freedom. Seek for contribution. You are free to contribute in your society to a very great degree. This freedom is worthwhile. When you leave this world, you will not have to feed and house yourself. You will not have to take care of a physical body. You will not have all these trials and difficulties.

因此，无论你从事什么工作，都要专注于对人的贡献。不要专注于被人喜欢和接受。不要专注于拥有表达自己的许可，而没有其他人的反对意见。不要寻求自由。要寻求贡献。在你的社会中，你可以在很大程度上自由地做出贡献。这种自由是值得的。当你离开这个世界时，你将不必为自己提供食物和住所。你将不必照顾一个有形的身体。你将不会有所有这些考验和困难。

It is a characteristic of all men and women who have regained Knowledge that they can take care of other people effectively, without a loss of vitality. This does not mean that it is easy. This does not mean that it is always a pleasure, and it does not mean that they do it gracefully, necessarily. But they are capable of doing it.

这是所有重获内识的男人和女人的一个特点，他们可以有效地照顾其他人，而不会失去活力。这并不意味着这很容易。这并不意味着这总是一种乐趣，也不意味着他们一定会优雅地做这件事。但他们有能力做到这一点。

There are two aspects of mind in every individual, and they must be addressed so that you can have a proper perspective on these things. Within you, you have a personal side and an impersonal side.

每个人的心智都有两个方面，必须解决它们，以便你能对这些事情有一个正确的看法。在你体内，你有个人的一面和非个人的一面。

Your personal side, which includes your personality and your intellect, is the aspect of mind that you have acquired and developed in your own brief life here. Your impersonal side is the aspect of mind that you have brought with you. It is intrinsic to you. It is actually your reality beyond this world as it exists in this moment, which We call Knowledge.

你个人的一面，包括你的性格和你的智力，是你在这里的短暂生命中获得和发展的心智的一面。你非个人的一面是你带来的心智的一面。它是你内在的。它实际上是你超越这个世界的现实，因为它存在于这一刻，我们称之为内识。

Within the personal side, there are many points of view, but they are all personal. There is a fundamental difference between a viewpoint from your personal side and a viewpoint from your impersonal side. From your personal side, your life looks one way. From the impersonal side, it looks an entirely different way.

在个人方面，有许多观点，但它们都是个人的。来自你个人方面的观点和来自你非个人方面的观点之间有一个根本的区别。从你的个人方面看，你的生命是一个方向。从非个人的一面看，它是完全不同的方式。

The personal side is fundamentally concerned with survival. Once it has made sure it has enough food for the body, enough clothing and shelter, it goes about seeking approval, for that is its desperate need, which is also based on survival. The personal side is very needy. It has great anxiety about life because it is temporary, and it faces annihilation or infringement from so many different sources that it cannot account for them all. Therefore, it is fundamentally fearful and unhappy. To allay its unhappiness, it seeks for stimulation and escape. It does not want to know, for Knowledge is fearful to it. Knowledge represents pain and loss and a threat to its survival. The personal side is not evil; it is only helpless. It cannot function on its own because it is like a child.

个人的一面从根本上说是关注生存。一旦它确保自己有足够的食物、足够的衣服和住所，它就会去寻求认同，因为这是它迫切的需要，这也是基于生存。个人的一面是非常需要的。它对生命有很大的焦虑，因为它是暂时的，它面临着来自许多不同来源的消灭或侵犯，以至于它无法解释所有这些。因此，它从根本上说是恐惧和不快乐的。为了减轻它的不快乐，它寻求刺激和逃避。它不想知道，因为内识对它来说是恐惧的。内识代表痛苦和损失，对它的生存构成威胁。个人的一面并不邪恶；它只是无能为力。它不能独立运作，因为它像个孩子。

Your impersonal side is fundamentally concerned with contribution, for that is why you have chosen to come into this world. You did not come here only for your own development. You came here with resources from your Spiritual Family beyond this world to contribute specific things in this time and place. Therefore, the impersonal side is fundamentally concerned with contribution. Survival is not an issue with it except insofar that it wants to maintain the mind and the body in a healthy state. It wants to keep you out of danger and to make sure that you go to the right places and find the right people. Its perspective on life is extremely different from the personal side. Its priorities are different, its frame of reference is different and its concept of relationship is different. Its understanding about success, survival and well-being is different. It is a different perception altogether.

你的非个人的一面从根本上关注贡献，因为这就是你选择来到这个世界的原因。你来到这里并不仅仅是为了你自己的发展。你是带着你在这个世界之外的精神家庭的资源来到这里，在这个时间和地点贡献特定的资源。因此，非个人的一面从根本上关注的是贡献。生存对它来说不是一个问题，除非它想把身心保持在健康状态。它想让你远离危险，确保你去正确的地方，找到正确的人。它对生命的看法与个人方面极为不同。它的优先事项不同，它的参考框架不同，它的关系概念也不同。它对成功、生存和幸福的理解是不同的。它是一个完全不同的认知。

Our work is to provide a shift into the impersonal, for until that happens and becomes a foundation for perception and decision making, your life will still seem reckless and inconsistent. You will go from happiness to sadness, back and forth, back and forth. You will have brief moments of insight and long periods of emptiness and frustration.

我们的工作是提供一个进入非个人的转变，因为在这发生并成为感知和决策的基础之前，你的生命仍然会显得鲁莽和不一致。你会从快乐到悲伤，来来回回，来来回回。你会有短暂的洞察力，也会有长时间的空虚和挫折感。

It is important to reiterate that perception from these two states of mind is extremely different. From your impersonal side, once you gain a foundation there, you will look at life as if you were a visitor from your Spiritual Family, whom you were sent here to serve. You will not be intimidated by the world because you will know it is a transient, temporary state and it cannot touch you. It can only hinder your ability to contribute. Your Inner Teachers are related to your impersonal side. That is why contact with your Inner Teachers is very valuable because they have the ability to initiate you into Knowledge.

重要的是要重申，来自这两种心智的感知是极其不同的。从你非个人的一面来看，一旦你在那里获得了基础，你就会把生命看成是你的精神家庭的访客，你被派到这里来为他们服务。你不会被世界吓倒，因为你会知道它是一个短暂的、暂时的状态，它不能触及你。它只能阻碍你作出贡献的能力。你的内在老师与你非个人的一面有关。这就是为什么与你的内在老师的接触是非常有价值的，因为他们有能力让你开始接触内识。

But of course people live in their personal sides. You were born in a state of amnesia, and you have grown up developing your personal mind so that it can communicate and survive in this world. Communication and survival were necessary steps which you could not bypass in order to function here. You must have a personal mind because it provides access to other people. It enables you to survive here in a physical state, but its duties and responsibilities are so limited when compared to your Knowledge that you cannot give these two aspects of mind equal footing.

但是，人们当然是生活在自己的个人方面。你是在失忆状态下出生的，你在成长过程中发展了你的个人心智，使其能够在这个世界上沟通和生存。沟通和生存是必要的步骤，为了在这里发挥作用，你不能绕过这些步骤。你必须有一个个人心智，因为它提供了与其他人的联系。它使你能够以身体状态在这里生存，但与你的内识相比，它的职责和责任非常有限，你不能给这两方面的心智以同等的地位。

Your personal mind is about ten percent of you, and it is the ten percent that you live in. Taking you beyond your personal mind gives you a vision of life and a direct experience of your purpose. In time, as you gain further and further access to this experience, you will have the foundation for true accomplishment.

你的个人心智是你的百分之十，它是你生命的百分之十。让你超越你的个人心智，给你一个生命的愿景和对你的目的的直接经历。随着时间的推移，当你越来越多地获得这种经验时，你将拥有真实成就的基础。

When people talk about intuition, they are feeling the effects of the impersonal on the personal, but they are still in the personal. They are still concerned with getting things they want so that they can survive. This also includes happiness because if you do not get enough happiness, you will lose interest in survival and destroy yourself. This is why people do all manner of harmful things to themselves physically and mentally. They do not care anymore.

当人们谈论直觉时，他们正在感受非个人对个人的影响，但他们仍然在个人中。他们仍然关心如何获得他们想要的东西，以便他们能够生存。这也包括幸福，因为如果你没有得到足够的幸福，你就会对生存失去兴趣，并摧毁自己。这就是为什么人们在身体和心理上对自己做各种有害的事情。他们不再关心了。

The personal side is all about fear and survival. It knows that it cannot overcome the forces of nature and that its fight to survive will in time be overwhelmed, and so it seeks comfort and escape. It wants to make sure it has everything that it feels will give it some sense of identity, purpose and direction. It wants this because, without your Being, it is lost. It is like a little child in a big world with no guardian. Your impersonal side is the guardian of your personal side. Your Being is the guardian of your mind.

个人的一面是恐惧和生存。它知道自己无法战胜自然的力量，它的求生斗争终将被压垮，因此它寻求安慰和逃避。它想确保自己拥有一切它认为能给它带来认同感、目的感和方向感的关系。它想要这些，因为没有你的存在，它就会迷失。它就像一个在大千世界中没有监护人的小孩子。你的非个人的一面是你个人的一面的守护者。你的存在是你心灵的守护者。

To be initiated into Knowledge is to shift your frame of reference from your mind to your Being. It is fundamentally a shift in perception, for as long as you are in your personal mind, everything looks one way. Yet as you gain access to Knowledge and are able to experience it with greater frequency, you will notice this dramatic shift. Here you will not attempt to work out your personal problems while you are in your personal mind. You will only attempt to implement certain practices or procedures that will help you maintain what you know while you are in a state of unknowing.

进入内识是将你的参照系从你的心智转向你的存在。从根本上说，这是一种感知的转变，因为只要你在你的个人心智中，一切看起来都是一个样子。然而，当你获得内识并能够以更高的频率经历它时，你会注意到这种巨大的转变。在这里，当你在你的个人心智中时，你不会试图解决你的个人问题。你将只试图实施某些做法或程序，以帮助你在不知道的状态下保持你所知道的。

It is very damaging to believe that your personal mind is evil or terrible when it is really pathetic. This is like punishing a child for being a child, for not being an adult. Can you create a mind in a few years that can match the magnitude of your true identity? Can you mock God like this? Can you create an awareness or a belief system that can in any way match the power of Knowledge? Of course not.

如果认为你的个人心智是邪恶或可怕的，而它确实是可怜的，这是非常有害的。这就像惩罚一个孩子，因为他是一个孩子，因为他不是一个成年人。你能在几年内创造出一个能与你真实身份的规模相匹配的心智吗？你能这样嘲弄上帝吗？你能创造一种意识或信仰体系，能以任何方式与内识的力量相匹配吗？当然不能。

Your personal mind needs your impersonal mind to be safe. As your impersonal side emerges, you will feel increasingly safe and secure, yet there will be resistance at the beginning because of this survival issue. As you learn to receive instruction from your Inner Teachers, you begin to relinquish some control over things. The obsession with personal freedom, which is the personal side’s obsession with survival and fulfillment, begins to be transferred to a Greater Power within you. You are now accepting relationship into your life.

你的个人心智需要你的非个人心智才会安全。随着你的非个人的一面出现，你会感到越来越安全，然而由于这个生存问题，一开始会有阻力。当你学会接受内在老师的指导时，你开始放弃对事物的一些控制。对个人自由的迷恋，也就是个人方面对生存和满足的迷恋，开始转移到你内心深处的更大力量。你现在正在接受关系进入你的生命。

You may live in a free country, and yet you live little lives obsessed with ridiculous things. When you are scared, you go seek relationship, and it gives you temporary relief. You do not know what to do with your freedom. God is not interfering. You can do anything here, but very few people know what to do with their freedom. It is very sad because you may have everything, and you are still empty. Your true desire inside has not been quenched.

你可能生活在一个自由的国家，但你却过着迷恋荒谬事物的小日子。当你害怕时，你去寻求关系，它给你暂时的解脱。你不知道该如何对待你的自由。上帝并不干涉。你在这里可以做任何事情，但很少有人知道如何对待他们的自由。这是非常可悲的，因为你可能拥有一切，但你仍然是空的。你内心真实的欲望还没有被浇灭。

What begins to restore you then is responsibility. Knowledge will always direct you to begin to serve people, to care for them, to act in a responsible manner and to be effective in communication. It will help you discern whom to take care of and whom not to take care of. Human beings must serve. You were made for this. In fact, all beings were made to serve. If you are a taker in life, you will be very unhappy. Life here cannot give you enough to satisfy you. It is always taking things away. This is extremely sad.

那么开始恢复你的是责任。内识总是会引导你开始为人服务，关心他们，以负责任的方式行事，并在沟通中有效。它将帮助你分辨出哪些人需要照顾，哪些人不需要照顾。人类必须服务。你是为此而生的。事实上，所有的生命都是为了服务。如果你在生命中是一个索取者，你将会非常不快乐。这里的生命不能给你足够的满足。它总是在夺走东西。这是很可悲的。

Knowledge is with you. It is a tremendous Presence. It is so powerful that it is frightening to encounter at first. You can only gain access to it in small degrees because you do not yet have the capacity to accept such magnitude of mind. That is why when people have an experience of Knowledge, they run away and go hide. They go back into romance or intoxication or some kind of debilitating activity where they can hide because Knowledge is so great.

内识与你同在。它是一个巨大的存在。它是如此强大，以至于一开始遇到它就会感到害怕。你只能在很小的程度上获得它，因为你还没有能力接受如此规模的心智。这就是为什么当人们有了内识的经历时，他们会逃跑并躲起来。他们回到浪漫中，或沉醉于某种衰弱的活动中，因为内识是如此之大，所以他们可以躲起来。

Because your life is part of a greater Plan, you have an intrinsic role to assume. This always engages you in relationship with others in a very profound way. Now you are not in relationship for personal freedom or personal fulfillment. You are now in relationship, perhaps, for reasons you cannot even describe, but you must be together. As you are together, your life begins to feel more at ease, and there is greater self-acceptance. You see that your nature is geared towards a certain role that is best for you.

因为你的生命是一个更大计划的一部分，你有一个内在的角色要承担。这总是让你以一种非常深刻的方式参与到与他人的关系中。现在你不是为了个人自由或个人成就而参与关系。你现在的关系，也许是为了你甚至无法描述的原因，但你们必须在一起。当你们在一起时，你们的生命开始感到更加自在，而且有更大的自我接受能力。你看到你的天性是面向某个最适合你的角色。

God knows that if you found your rightful place, much of your current turmoil would disappear. You would be happy just to do your part. Yet because your part is in contrast to so many of your former goals and ambitions, and because your personal side fears that your part may not be real or true, it is not sought after.

上帝知道，如果你找到了你应有的位置，你目前的许多动荡就会消失。你会很高兴只是做你的角色。然而，由于你的角色与你以前的许多目标和野心形成对比，而且你的个人方面担心你的角色可能不是真实的或真正的，所以它没有被寻求。

You see, there are turning points in life. Let Us say that life has three periods: a period of denial, a period of discovery and a period of accomplishment.

你看，生命中有一些转折点。让我们说，生命有三个时期：否认期、发现期和成就期。

In the first period, your life is really about escaping Knowledge. It is preoccupied with excitement, sensation and stimulation so that your mind will not know anything.

在第一个时期，你的生命实际上是为了逃避内识。它专注于兴奋、感觉和刺激，这样你的心智就不会知道任何事情。

The second period is the stage of discovery. It is born of the fact that the first stage is so terribly disappointing. Now you realize that there are important things you must learn and discern in order not to repeat old mistakes. You have a greater sense now that you could be far more happy, far more involved and a greater asset than you had considered possible before. So you begin to discern what is right and good and what is wrong or bad for you.

第二个时期是发现的阶段。它诞生于第一个阶段是如此可怕的失望。现在你意识到有一些重要的事情你必须学习和辨别，以便不重复旧的错误。你现在有了更大的感觉，你可以比以前认为的更快乐、更投入、更有价值。因此，你开始辨别什么是正确的、好的，什么是错误的或对你不利的。

This in time leads to the discovery that you do have a purpose and that you must engage yourself in a certain way in life to discover this purpose and live it, for it is in living this purpose that it is discovered. We cannot give you a definition and say, “You are this,” and you say, “Oh, I’m happy. I know that I am this.” You must live it. It must grow for you. It is so great that you cannot simply accept it and have it happen.

随着时间的推移，你会发现你确实有一个目的，你必须以某种方式参与生命，以发现这个目的并实现它，因为正是在生命中发现了这个目的。我们不能给你一个定义，说”你是这个”，然后你说”哦，我很高兴。我知道我是这个”。你必须活出它。它必须为你成长。它是如此之大，你不能简单地接受它，让它发生。

Your Teachers do not want to bring the realization of purpose about prematurely. It cannot be brought about until you are ready, willing and able to carry its responsibilities. Discovering Knowledge means that you will be asked to do things in life that perhaps are not based upon former goals. But if you do them, you will respect yourself and feel at home within yourself because they will be so right for you.

你的老师不希望过早地实现目的。除非你准备好了，愿意并能够承担它的责任，否则它就无法实现。发现内识意味着你将被要求在生命中做一些也许不是基于以前目标的事情。但如果你做了这些事，你会尊重自己，在自己的内心感到自在，因为这些事对你来说是非常正确的。

The greatest struggle for freedom is always to escape the personal side to find Knowledge. But if you are afraid of your impersonal side, which everyone is, and have not ventured there effectively, then you will attempt to make other people love and accept you, either by force or persuasion, and make sure that no one infringes on you in any way. “No one can tell me what to do!” You see, that is the problem with Inner Teachers. They tell you what to do and you need their advice greatly, but they also teach you how to make decisions.

为自由而进行的最大的斗争，总是要摆脱个人的一面，去寻找内识。但是，如果你害怕你的非个人的一面，每个人都是如此，而且没有有效地涉足那里，那么你就会试图通过武力或说服让其他人爱你、接受你，并确保没有人以任何方式侵犯你。”没有人可以告诉我该怎么做！”你看，这就是内在老师的问题所在。他们告诉你该怎么做，你非常需要他们的建议，但他们也教你如何做决定。

If you cannot be infringed upon by anyone, then there will be great conflict regarding authority: “I must determine what I do in life. No one can tell me anything.” That produces a very difficult teaching situation, for the student now is demanding great things but will not receive advice or direction from anyone. So their Teachers cannot arise. They must be in the background, sending their thoughts into the student’s mind. The student will think it is his or her thoughts: “Ah, I had a marvelous idea today!” and the student will be restored.

如果你不能被任何人侵犯，那么就会有关于权威的巨大冲突。”我必须决定我在生命中做什么。没有人可以告诉我任何事情”。这就产生了一个非常困难的教学情况，因为学生现在要求很大，但不会接受任何人的建议或指导。所以他们的老师不能出现。他们必须在后台，把他们的想法送入学生的心灵。学生会认为这是他或她的想法。”啊，我今天有一个奇妙的想法！”学生就会恢复过来。

As students learn to follow, they begin to have a sense that their direction is not coming from them alone, that there really is a very great Presence with them. It is not just their presence, for what is Presence but relationship? You as an individual have no Presence. You cannot have Presence and be separate from life. You have Presence because you are intrinsically joined with life, and that is what produces Presence.

当学生学会跟随时，他们开始有一种感觉，他们的方向不是来自他们自己，真的有一个非常伟大的存在与他们在一起。这不仅仅是他们的存在，因为除了关系，存在是什么？你作为一个人没有存在感。你不可能有存在而与生命分离。你有存在，因为你在本质上与生命结合，这就是产生存在的原因。

There are no powerful individuals. What can a powerful individual be? Powerful individuals are expressions of something greater than individuality, and that is what makes them powerful. That is why there are no great individuals, but there are great relationships.

强大的个体并不存在。一个强大的个体可以是什么？强大的个体是某种超越个体的表达，这也是使他们强大的原因。这就是为什么没有伟大的个体，但存在着伟大的关系。

Because of humanity’s social and political needs, you will become increasingly reliant upon one another in the years to come. The emphasis on personal freedom will be restricted by your circumstances. You see, people want the world to be like a Garden of Eden so that they can have total freedom to explore and express, but the reality is that they have created something very different, which requires them to be in relationship with one another and learn to cooperate and take care of people. If you lived in a Garden of Eden, you would be very unhappy because it would not be requiring anything of you. You would be in a very beautiful isolation.

由于人类的社会和政治需要，在未来的岁月里，你们将变得越来越依赖彼此。对个人自由的强调将受到你们环境的限制。你看，人们希望世界像伊甸园一样，这样他们就可以完全自由地探索和表达，但现实是，他们创造了非常不同的环境，这需要他们彼此之间的关系，学会合作和照顾人。如果你住在伊甸园里，你会非常不开心，因为它不会对你有任何要求。你会处于一个非常美丽的孤立状态。

What you will create are the conditions that will make relationship necessary because most people grow out of necessity and not out of preference. Real growth requires challenge, change and adjustment. It requires that you relinquish a little bit of personal freedom and yet it makes inner freedom possible.

你们将创造出必须建立关系的条件，因为大多数人成长都是出于必要而非出于偏好。真正的成长需要挑战、改变和调整。它要求你放弃一点个人自由，但却使内在的自由成为可能。

How can you know your abilities unless you take care of people? How can you achieve anything without carrying a burden of responsibility? How can true friendship or true marriage ever be established unless you risk your own personal interests for someone else? That is why having children is beneficial to many people. Then life is more about providing for others. There is a certain peace in this even though it is not easy. Here you do not have time to be constantly questioning, “Who am I? How am I doing today? What is my mental state? What is my physical state?” You have to take care of people.

除非你照顾人，否则你怎么能知道自己的能力？如果不背负责任的重担，你怎么能取得任何成就？除非你为别人冒着自己的个人利益的风险，否则怎么可能建立起真正的友谊或真正的婚姻？这就是为什么孩子对许多人来说是有益的。因为生命要求你为他人提供服务。尽管这并不容易，但却有某种平静。在这里，你没有时间不断质疑：”我是谁？我今天做得怎么样？我的心理状态如何？我的身体状态是什么？” 你必须要照顾好他人。

When you graduate from this world, for those of you who evolve beyond this world’s learning, you will have to take care of people. That will be your task. In specific ways, you will have to take care of people. When you are beyond this life, you will find that caring for those who are still here is very challenging because they are ambivalent regarding your existence. They are ambivalent regarding their relationship with you, if they are aware of it at all, and they have very conflicting views about everything. So if you wish to contact them or give them something helpful, you are met with very limited results, not because they are bad but because they are part of a world that is without Knowledge.

当你从这个世界毕业时，对于那些进化到超越这个世界的学习的人来说，你将不得不照顾人。这将是你的任务。在具体的方面，你将不得不照顾人。当你超越这个生命时，你会发现，照顾那些仍然在这里的人是非常具有挑战性的，因为他们对你的存在感到矛盾。他们在与你的关系上是矛盾的，如果他们意识到这一点的话，他们对一切都有非常矛盾的看法。因此，如果你想联系他们或给他们一些有用的想法，你会遇到非常有限的结果，不是因为他们是坏人，而是因为他们是一个没有内识的世界的一部分。

This speaks of the greatness that is hidden within you. This greatness comes with a price, but the price is so small and the reward is so great that it is really without a price when you think about it.

这说明了隐藏在你体内的伟大。这种伟大是有代价的，但代价是如此之小，回报是如此之大，以至于当你想到它时，它真的是没有代价。

Students of Knowledge must consider their relationships seriously because relationships are very important. They must consider their lives as having purpose and everything they do as being related to this purpose in some way.

内识的学生必须认真考虑他们的关系，因为关系是非常重要的。他们必须认为他们的生活是有目的的，他们所做的一切都以某种方式与这个目的有关。

You must be engaged with people in a special way to activate Knowledge in each other. These relationships based on Knowledge are not merely therapeutic. They do not merely put the personal side at ease. They are really for something greater.

你必须以一种特殊的方式与人交往，在对方身上激活内识。这些基于内识的关系不仅仅是治愈性的。它们不仅仅是让个人方面得到缓解。它们实际上是为了更伟大的关系。

Your challenge now is to learn to contribute to the right people for the right purpose without putting yourself at risk unnecessarily. This calls for wisdom, a whole other aspect of learning. Yet wisdom goes along with the discovery of Knowledge.

你现在的挑战是学会为正确的目的为正确的人做贡献，而不把自己置于不必要的风险之中。这需要智慧，这是学习的另一个方面。然而，智慧是伴随着内识的发现而来的。

Here is an important idea that may perhaps be contrary to many of your ambitions. This idea is worth thinking about a great deal: The more powerful you are, the more hidden you must be. The greater your capacity for Knowledge, the less you will want to show it to others. Those who have Knowledge do not display it except in certain circumstances and with certain individuals. Why is this so? Because otherwise it generates conflict, fear and hostility towards the giver. It gives rise to the most deeply held conflicts of mind in the recipient. It can activate change before a person is ready for change and can stimulate a power in the recipient for which they may not have the capacity. Therefore, the more power you have, the more hidden you must be. For those of you who have thought about transforming the world or making a big show by demonstrating some great virtue, you must think very carefully now.

这里有一个重要的想法，也许与你的许多抱负相悖。这个想法很值得深思。你的力量越大，你必须越隐蔽。你的内识能力越强，你就越不想向别人展示它。那些拥有内识的人不会展示它，除非在某些情况下和某些人一起。因为否则就会产生冲突、恐惧和对给予者的敌意。它会引发接受者内心最深刻的冲突。它可以在一个人还没有做好改变的准备时就启动改变，并且可以激发接受者可能没有能力激发的力量。因此，你拥有的力量越大，你就必须越隐蔽。对于那些曾想过改变世界或通过展示某种伟大的美德来大显身手的人来说，你现在必须非常仔细地思考。

If Jesus Christ came tomorrow, he would begin the next world war. We assure you this would be the case—the believers against the non-believers. It would be terrible. Whenever any great soul has become public, there has been much conflict and discord. It has set in motion great forces of change. It has activated many people. When you are activated by Knowledge and you cannot accept it, you will fight the giver. Has Jesus Christ brought peace to the world? He has brought the activation of Knowledge. Many wars followed his presence here. He knew this would happen, of course. Thus, even he had a conflict with giving.

如果耶稣基督明天到来，他将开始下一场世界大战。我们向你保证，情况会是这样的——信徒对非信徒。这将是可怕的。每当任何伟大的灵魂公开化时，都会有很多冲突和不和谐。它已经启动了巨大的变革力量。它激活了许多人。当你被内识激活，而你不能接受它时，你会与给予者斗争。耶稣基督给世界带来了和平吗？他带来了内识的激活。许多战争是在他出现之后发生的。他当然知道这将发生。因此，即使是他也与给予有冲突。

You do not give children power. You raise them so that they may become powerful. Yet at certain junctures in history, individuals of Knowledge must become open and display their ability, which is not their individual ability. This is what keeps your evolution going. These displays are very rare. Do not think that if you cultivate Knowledge, you will be asked to display it very often, though you will be asked to use it constantly. If you give it indiscriminately, you will be very disappointed because you will find that most people are not interested, and if you press them, they will become belligerent. It is very hard then not to be critical of others or demean your own gift.

你不能给孩子力量。你抚养他们是为了让他们变得强大。然而，在历史的某些时刻，内识的个体必须变得开放，展示他们的能力，这不是他们个人的能力。这就是保持你们进化的原因。这些展示是非常罕见的。不要认为如果你培养内识，你会被要求经常展示它，尽管你会被要求不断使用它。如果你不分青红皂白地给它，你会非常失望，因为你会发现大多数人都不感兴趣，如果你逼他们，他们会变得好斗。那么就很难不批评他人或贬低自己的礼物。

Knowledge is a state of direct realization and it is extremely powerful. It is not meant for everybody at this moment. Yet if it is passed on and given to the individuals who are prepared for it, then this world will accelerate its evolution, and the results of this giving will have impact on all levels of human endeavor.

内识是一种直接实现的状态，它是非常强大的。此时此刻，它并不是为每个人准备的。然而，如果它被传递并给予那些准备好的人，那么这个世界将加速其进化，而这种给予的结果将对人类努力的各个层面产生影响。

You see, God does not want to activate Knowledge in each individual completely at this moment. It is not God’s Plan to do this because it does not work. There are certain individuals who need to be activated to a certain degree, and as they accept this and accept their function that arises from it, then they give certain specific gifts to others. Those people then pass on their abilities. So it grows extensively. If one person gives the gift of Knowledge to another, the other will then feel motivated to give to others, and those who receive will give and so forth. Therefore, the initial gift will grow tremendously and have a resonating effect. That is how God brings about fundamental change with a minimum of disruption. That is how a greater ability of mind is brought into play without producing terror or conflict. The wise know this to be so. That is why they say, “The greater your power, the more hidden you are.”

你看，上帝并不想在此刻完全激活每个人的内识。这样做不是上帝的计划，因为它不起作用。有一些人需要被激活到一定程度，当他们接受这一点并接受他们由此产生的功能时，他们就会把某些特定的礼物给其他人。这些人再把他们的能力传递下去。因此，它广泛地发展起来。如果一个人把内识的礼物给了另一个人，另一个人就会感到有动力去给其他人，而那些接受的人也会给予，如此反复。因此，最初的礼物将极大地增长，并产生共鸣效应。这就是上帝如何以最小的干扰带来根本的变化。这就是如何在不产生恐怖或冲突的情况下发挥更大的心智能力。智者知道这一点。这就是为什么他们说，”你的能力越大，你就越需要隐蔽”。

If you wish to be popular and have great accolades for yourself, then do not share Knowledge directly. Keep the pearl within your heart and give the ideas that emanate from Knowledge because ideas are something the world can engage with. You cannot activate another’s Knowledge. You cannot teach Knowledge. It cannot be taught; it can only be passed on by a process that is very mysterious. You can only bear witness to it.

如果你想成为受欢迎的人，为自己获得巨大的赞誉，那么就不要直接分享内识。把珍珠放在你的心中，并给予从内识中发出的想法，因为想法是世界可以参与的东西。你不能激活别人的内识。你不能教授内识。它不能被教导；它只能通过一个非常神秘的过程被传递。你只能见证它。

Knowledge activates Knowledge. You cannot say, “I am going to activate your Knowledge. I am going to get you in touch with your Knowledge.” That is not successful. You do not know how willing, ready or capable the other person is.

内识激活了内识。你不能说，”我将激活你的内识。我将让你与你的内识接触。那是不成功的。你不知道对方的意愿、准备或能力如何。

People know many things that they do not accept. You know things about your life that you have not accepted. You know what to eat and what not to eat, but you do not follow this. You know which relationships are wasting your life, but you will not disengage. Why? Because you are not ready. You do not have the capacity for this change, and you may not be able to accept what it will bring to you as a result. That is all right, but if you try to teach people Knowledge, you will try to change them, ignorant of their level of preparedness.

人们知道许多他们不接受的事情。你知道关于你的生命的事情，但你没有接受。你知道什么该吃，什么不该吃，但你并没有遵循这一点。你知道哪些关系在浪费你的生命，但你不会脱离。为什么？因为你还没有准备好。你没有能力进行这种改变，而且你可能无法接受它将给你带来的结果。这没关系，但如果你试图教人内识，你就会试图改变他们，而无视他们的准备程度。

Knowledge activates Knowledge. Therefore, your first responsibility is to become a student and a recipient of Knowledge. Then Knowledge does the work itself. Ideas are very important because they prepare people to discover Knowledge, but ideas are not Knowledge. All that they can do is prepare a mental framework where Knowledge can arise most easily.

内识会激活内识。因此，你的首要责任是成为一名学生和内识的接受者。然后，内识会自己做工作。想法是非常重要的，因为它们为人们发现内识做准备，但想法不是内识。它们所能做的只是准备一个心理框架，让内识最容易产生。

It is the work of your true Teachers that activates Knowledge in you because they are a force for Knowledge. It is not their personalities that are important. It is their power in activating Knowledge.

是你真实老师的工作激活了你的内识，因为他们是一种内识的力量。重要的不是他们的个性。重要的是他们激活内识的力量。

Therefore, when you think of becoming more powerful, think of having great responsibilities. If you want power without responsibility, you will end up fighting people and blaming them for your difficulties. If you want more power, you will have less personal freedom and will have to be more discriminating in relationships. Even though some may feel that they are very advanced, there is no one in this world who is advanced. No one in this world is beyond temptation or fear, so do not think that you can overcome the world.

因此，当你想到要变得更强大时，要想到要有巨大的责任。如果你想要力量而没有责任，你最终就会与人争斗，把你的困难归咎于他们。如果你想要更多的力量，你的个人自由就会减少，而且在人际关系中必须更有辨别力。即使有些人可能觉得自己很先进，但这个世界上没有人是先进的。这个世界上没有人可以超越诱惑或恐惧，所以不要认为你可以战胜世界。

People will either strengthen you or weaken you. There are no neutral forces in life. At your current stage of development, people will either strengthen you or weaken you. Even if they are not harmful and are very loving people, if they are not directly involved in the enhancement of your Knowledge, they are weakening you to a subtle but very real extent. Your time is precious. Yet people say, “I want to have relationship with anybody I want. Why am I so limited? I try to go be with someone and my internal state says ‘no!’”

人们要么会加强你，要么会削弱你。生命中没有中立的力量。在你目前的发展阶段，人们要么加强你，要么削弱你。即使他们不是有害的，是非常有爱心的人，如果他们不直接参与提高你的内识，他们就会在一个微妙但非常真实的程度上削弱你。你的时间很宝贵。然而，人们说：”我想和任何我想要的人有关系。为什么我这么有限？我试图和某人在一起，但我的内在状态说’不！’”

There is an infringement upon your freedom when you are assuming greater responsibilities. If you become married, you cannot have sex with anyone you want. If you have children, you cannot go out and play at will. If you have a business enterprise, you will have great burdens and concerns. Attempt anything important and there will be an infringement on your personal freedom. This is fine because it offers you something better.

当你承担更大的责任时，你的自由就会受到侵犯。如果你结婚了，你就不能和你想要的人做爱。如果你有孩子，你就不能随意出去玩。如果你有一个商业企业，你将有很大的负担和担忧。尝试任何重要的事情，都会有对你个人自由的侵犯。这很好，因为它为你提供了更好的关系。