Chapter 27: Disappointment

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on July 22, 1988 in Dallas, TX
1988年7月22日，在德克萨斯州达拉斯(Dallas, TX)，向上帝的信使马歇尔・维安・萨默斯(Marshall Vian Summers)揭示

We find disappointment to be a very great opportunity. Because it is a natural fact of life that you will encounter disappointment, it must then be seen as an advantage, not always something you can appreciate at the outset, but an advantage nonetheless. There is very great effort by many people to avoid disappointment at all costs, but We want to encourage you not to avoid disappointment. Bring it on. Let it happen. There are lessons you must learn in life, and disappointment will illustrate many of them. We do not encourage people to repeat their mistakes, of course, but certain lessons are waiting for you. Taking advantage of them means that they can unburden you so that you may walk lightly through this world. The burden of avoiding disappointment is a far greater burden.

我们发现失望是一个非常好的机会。因为你会遇到失望是生活中的一个自然事实，所以必须把它看作是一种优势，不一定是你一开始就能欣赏的，但还是一种优势。许多人非常努力地不惜一切代价避免失望，但我们想鼓励你不要避免失望。把它带过来。让它发生。你必须在生活中学习一些课程，而失望将说明其中的许多问题。当然，我们不鼓励人们重复他们的错误，但某些教训正等待着你。利用它们意味着它们可以解除你的负担，使你可以轻盈地走过这个世界。避免失望的负担是一个大得多的负担。

We are not in control of things that happen to you, but We provide an opportunity for you to view things that happen to you in such a way that you may be able to find an open door there. There is always a door open for you. The reason this cannot be apprehended is because you are trying to do something else with your life. When you are committed to getting what you want in life, then you see only those things that are relevant to your pursuit. These pursuits exist in each person, whether they are acknowledged or not. Often there are a great many pursuits that are unknown to you, and these must be revealed. Then you begin to understand your behavior and to understand why your consciousness is so selective.

我们不能控制发生在你身上的事情，但我们为你提供了一个机会，让你以这样的方式来看待发生在你身上的事情，你也许能在那里找到一扇敞开的门。总是有一扇门为你打开。之所以不能领会，是因为你正试图用你的生命做别的事情。当你致力于在生活中获得你想要的东西时，那么你只看到那些与你的追求有关的事情。这些追求存在于每个人身上，无论它们是否被承认。往往有大量的追求是你不知道的，这些必须被揭示出来。然后你开始理解你的行为，理解你的意识为什么如此有选择性。

Here it becomes apparent that there are certain things that you have been missing, perhaps for a long time, though the evidence of them is quite apparent. Often people say when they discover that they know something, “Well, I have known this for a long time. I just have not thought about it.” This occurs because you are trying to do something else and only see what is relevant to your pursuits. Many of your pursuits are unnecessary for your happiness and for your true calling in life. Because it is very difficult to give up a pursuit that is cherished and is still seen as a positive factor, disappointment then begins to have real meaning. This is what reduces you down to your essential self. You are at the surface of life no longer.

这里变得很明显，有一些事情你一直在错过，也许已经很久了，尽管它们的证据很明显。通常人们在发现自己知道某些事情时会说：”嗯，我知道这个已经很久了。我只是没有想过这个问题”。出现这种情况是因为你正在努力做别的事情，只看到与你的追求相关的事情。你的许多追求对于你的幸福和你真实的生命召唤来说是不必要的。因为放弃一个珍惜的、仍被视为积极因素的追求是非常困难的，所以失望便开始有了真正的意义。这就是把你降低到你的基本自我。你不再处于生活的表面。

When you are experiencing disappointment, the first key is acceptance. Do not fight it. There is always a relief in this. The second key point is alertness, becoming alert to what is happening. The third key point is leaving the explanation open. The fourth key point is mourning for the loss and the last key point is committing yourself to action. So let Us talk about each of these.

当你正在经历失望时，第一个关键是接受。不要与它对抗。这里面总是有一种解脱。第二个关键点是警觉，对正在发生的事情变得警觉。第三个关键点是留下解释的机会。第四个关键点是对失去的哀悼，最后一个关键点是将自己投入到行动中。因此，让我们分别谈谈这些。

When disappointment is evident, things are not turning out as you had planned. It is not going to happen that way, and it may not happen at all. Accepting this enables you to step back from the experience and become truly observant of your environment, the situation at hand and your own response. This empowers you immediately because it gives you the freedom and the strength to become a witness. This enables you to become alert. One of the most profound and important aspects in all of your education, regardless of what you do in life, is alertness. It seems so commonplace that no one thinks of it when they talk about personal development, spiritual training and so forth. People talk about awareness, but awareness is not the same as alertness.

当失望显而易见时，事情的结果并不像你所计划的那样。它不会以这种方式发生，而且可能根本不会发生。接受这一点使你能够从经历中退后一步，真正观察到你的环境、手头的情况和你自己的反应。这立即增强了你的力量，因为它给了你自由和力量去成为一名见证者。这使你能够变得警觉。在你所有的教育中，无论你在生活中做什么，最深刻和最重要的一个方面就是警觉性。它似乎很普通，以至于当他们谈论个人发展、精神训练等时，没有人想到它。人们谈论的是意识，但意识与警觉不一样。

When you are alert, you are watching things around you. When you are aware, you are rarely aware of things around you. You are aware of yourself thinking of things around you. When you are alert, you are looking with very little thinking involved. If you were trying to listen to a conversation in the next house down the street, you would have to listen very carefully. You could not be thinking, “How am I doing right now? Here I am listening to the conversation in the next house. Why am I here anyway? What’s going on with me? I feel this way and my body hurts.” That is the difference between alertness and awareness. Awareness is very important, but alertness is more important. The person of Knowledge is extremely alert, which makes life very exciting.

当你警觉时，你正在观察周围的环境。当你意识到时，你很少会注意到周围的环境。你是意识到自己在思考周围的事物。当你警觉时，你在几乎没有思考的情况下观察。如果你试图听一听街对面的房子里的谈话，你必须非常仔细地听。你不能想着，“我现在怎么样？我在这里听街对面房子里的谈话。我到底为什么在这里？我到底发生了什么？我感觉这样，我的身体疼痛。”这就是警觉和意识之间的区别。意识是非常重要的，但警觉更重要。内识之人极为警觉，这使生活变得非常令人兴奋。

When you become aware of yourself and your mind too much, it bogs you down and leads to a very unfortunate kind of self-preoccupation. It is giving too much attention to something that is inherently confused. Besides, you have to be outside of your mind to do anything with it. Otherwise, you are running about trying to plug up the holes and keep it all moving along, like a car that is always in disrepair. It is like always working on your car and never going anywhere.

当你对自己和你的心智意识得太多时，它就会使你陷入困境，并导致一种非常不幸的自我纠缠。这是把太多的注意力放在本来就很混乱的心上。此外，你必须置身于你的心智之外，才能对它做任何事情。否则，你就会四处奔波，试图堵住漏洞，让它继续前进，就像一辆总是失修的汽车。这就像一直在修理你的车，却从未去任何地方。

Life conspires to make you alert because until you are alert, you only see those things that are relevant to your interests and pursuits and nothing else. Therefore, your frame of reference is far too limited to comprehend the meaning of your life and to experience and enjoy the mystery of your life. Disappointment is tremendously valuable in making you alert by shaking you out of a fixed mental reference and framework.

生活会密谋让你保持警觉，因为在你警觉之前，你只看到与你的兴趣和追求相关的事物，而不看其他任何东西。因此，你的参照框架太过有限，无法理解生活的意义，体验和享受生命的神秘。失望在让你警觉方面非常有价值，它通过摇动你固定的心智参照和框架来唤醒你。

Once you become accepting and are alert, then you can begin to witness what is happening. The next important point is to leave the explanation open. For those of you who have taken courses and read books, it is very tempting to give an explanation immediately. “I know why this is happening. It is for this reason. This must be about this. That must be about that.” When you do this, you cease to be alert. You now become complacent again with your explanations. Leaving the situation unexplained enables you and requires you to be alert. Now you must watch. Life has your attention.

一旦你变得接受并警惕，那么你就可以开始见证正在发生的事情。下一个重要点是让解释开放。对于你们这些上过课和读过书的人来说，立即给出一个解释是非常诱人的。”我知道为什么会发生这种情况。它是为了这个原因。这一定是关于这个。那一定是关于那个。”当你这样做的时候，你就停止了警惕。你现在又变得对你的解释感到自满。让情况不被解释，使你能够并要求你保持警惕。现在你必须观察。生命吸引了你的注意力。

Before We go further, let Us explain why people become disappointed. As We said, We do not control matters. It is you who is conspiring to bring yourself into the open. It is you who are choosing things that do not work in order to shift your emphasis. Why else would you be committed to things that have so little promise if it were not to bring you to a place of true recognition? Many of your pursuits are very much in alignment with your real purpose, which is yet to be discovered. But many of them are not. Conflict and friction will bring about the necessary recognition.

在我们进一步讨论之前，让我们解释一下人们为什么会变得失望。正如我们所说，我们不控制事情。是你在密谋把自己带到公开的地方。是你在选择不起作用的事情，以转移你的重点。如果不是为了把你带到一个真实承认的地方，你为什么会致力于那些没有什么希望的事情呢？你的许多追求在很大程度上与你的真正目的相一致，而这个目的还有待发现。但也有许多是不符合的。冲突和摩擦将带来必要的认识。

Therefore, We have acceptance and alertness. We have the necessity of refraining from giving an explanation. This is frightening sometimes because if the explanation is not immediately available, then people go into anxiety and feel out of control in the situation. But it is this vulnerability that makes true alertness have meaning and potency.

因此，我们有接受和警觉。我们有避免给出解释的必要性。这有时是很可怕的，因为如果不能立即作出解释，那么人们就会进入焦虑状态，感到在这种情况下无法控制。但正是这种脆弱性使真实的警觉性具有意义和效力。

Then comes mourning. It is very good to mourn for a loss, but not for too long—intensely for a short period of time. Mourning is embarrassing and belittling to your idea of yourself, but it enables you to take the next step. Remember, if you are alert, you can know what is happening. You now can follow each step. You just do not have an explanation yet. Then you reach a position to be ready for action, for each disappointment opens a new door—perhaps something you had never thought of or perhaps something you had thought of at the very beginning of your life, and now it is there awaiting you, as a new opportunity.

然后是哀悼。为失去的东西哀悼是非常好的，但不要时间太长，在短时间内强烈地哀悼。哀悼是令人尴尬的，是对你自己想法的贬低，但它使你能够采取下一步行动。记住，如果你有警觉性，你可以知道正在发生什么。你现在可以跟踪每一步。你只是还没有一个解释。然后你达到了一个准备行动的位置，因为每一次失望都会打开一扇新的门——也许是你从未想过的事情，也许是你在生活的最开始就想到的事情，现在它就在那里等着你，作为一个新的机会。

Mourning is especially evident in relationships because there is so much disappointment here. Where there is ambition, there is disappointment. We do not want to discourage your ambition. We wish for it instead to lead to its conclusion. Many people want to know the purpose of their lives, the meaning of their experiences and the meaning of the events occurring around them, but you cannot know these things from the surface of your mind. You must be taken deeper.

哀悼在人际关系中尤为明显，因为这里存在着很多失望。有野心的地方就会有失望。我们并不想打消你的野心，相反，我们希望它能引领你达到终点。许多人想要了解他们生命的目的，经历的意义以及发生在他们周围的事件的意义，但你无法从你心智表面知道这些事情。你必须深入其中。

It is a very interesting phenomenon that in human thought, hell is associated with the unconscious and with the depths of the world, where it is thought there are fires and demons. It is analogous to your inner life. That is why those individuals and powers in the world that have been fearful of humanity’s true Knowledge have attempted to persuade people to stay on the surface of their minds. We are encouraging you to go deeply into your true Mind where things can be known. This is what We mean by Knowledge. Your successes and failures will bring you here if you are alert, attentive and open-minded.

这是一个非常有趣的现象，在人类思维中，地狱与无意识和世界的深处有关，人们认为那里有火和恶魔。它类似于你的内在生活。这就是为什么世界上那些对人类真实的内识感到恐惧的个人和势力，试图说服人们停留在他们心智的表面。我们鼓励你深入到你真实的心智中去，在那里可以知道事物。这就是我们所说的内识。你的成功和失败会把你带到这里，如果你警觉、注意和愿意考虑不同的意见。

When We say that you bring yourself to disappointment and that you choose the things that bring you to this experience, We must ask you, “Who is this you who is conspiring to do this?” It must not be the you that is thinking and planning your life. You will not let yourself stray from your true discovery. There will always be pressure here. You will never be content until you find your purpose in life. Accept this. You cannot be content with less. You have come here in order for your purpose to be discovered when you reach maturity. If your purpose is neglected, avoided or discounted, you will live with a stress that no one can alleviate. This is not cruel. It is, in fact, the very essence of life that makes this possible. As you become a witness to your life, you will see this greater force, which is like an undercurrent. You will feel it. But you will not understand it, and your philosophy will not be able to explain it.

当我们说你让自己失望，并选择那些会让你有这种经历的事物时，我们必须问你，“这个在密谋做这件事的你是谁？”这一定不是那个在思考和规划生活的你。你不会让自己偏离真正的发现。这里总会有压力。在找到生命的目的之前，你永远不会满足。接受这一点。你不能满足于更少。你来到这里是为了在成熟时发现你的目的。如果你的目的被忽视、回避或低估，你将生活在一种无法缓解的压力中。这并不残酷。事实上，正是生命的本质使这成为可能。当你成为你生活的见证者时，你会看到这股更大的力量，它就像是一股暗流。你会感受到它。但你不会理解它，你的哲学也无法解释它。

True spiritual training is very disappointing. Why? Because you find that your philosophy, your idealism and your hopes must be left at the entrance to the temple. Only those who argue philosophy remain outside on the steps. In the sanctuary, this has no meaning.

真实的精神练习是非常令人失望的。为什么？因为你发现你的哲学、你的理想主义和你的希望必须被留在寺庙的入口处。只有那些争论哲学的人留在外面的台阶上。在圣所里，这没有任何意义。

This is a teaching in The Way of Knowledge in the tradition of the Greater Community. Our aim is great. We do not guarantee anything short of the discovery of your purpose, which is purely an experience that you will discover. Your purpose is to discover Knowledge, to follow Knowledge and to allow Knowledge to express itself through you. That is everyone’s purpose. This statement indicates that there are three stages: there is discovery, there is following and there is expression. When you truly want to learn about the mystery of your life and when you see that the mystery of your life is the source of all of your true happiness and contentment, you will find that there will be disappointment. It will not be as great as the immediate relief and joy you will feel, but there will be disappointment. With disappointment there will come relief.

这是内识之路中的教导，是大社区的传统。我们的目标是伟大的。我们不保证任何事情，除非发现你的目的，这纯粹是你将发现的经历。你的目的是发现内识，追随内识，让内识通过你来表达自己。这就是每个人的目的。这句话表明，有三个阶段：有发现，有跟随，有表达。当你真正想了解你生命的神秘，当你看到你生命的神秘是你所有真实幸福和满足的来源，你会发现会有失望。它不会像你立即感到的解脱和喜悦那样大，但会有失望。伴随着失望，也会有解脱。

Let Us spend a few moments talking about peace, peace of mind. It is very hard to pursue peace. You are at peace when you are not at war. Therefore, peace is a quiet state. It is not a state born of getting all of your requests fulfilled. That may produce momentary excitement and happiness, but these are very soon lost, for the yearning of your true Self has not been answered. The happiness that goes with the discovery of your purpose is so far greater than any disappointment that it literally absorbs the disappointment in moments. It is a moment of grief leading to a moment of laughter. It is as if you finally set down this great burden you have been carrying. Now in peace there is acceptance, there is alertness, there is openness of mind and there is no need for explanation.

让我们花一些时间来讨论和平，心灵的和平。追求和平是非常困难的。当你不处于战争状态时，你就处于和平状态。因此，和平是一种安静的状态。它不是一种因你所有的要求都得到满足而产生的状态。这可能会产生一时的兴奋和快乐，但这些很快就会失去，因为你对真我的渴望还没有得到回应。伴随着发现你的目的而产生的幸福，远远大于任何失望，以至于它在瞬间就吸收了失望。这是一个悲痛的时刻，导致一个欢笑的时刻。就好像你终于放下了你一直以来背负的巨大负担。现在在和平中，有接受，有警觉，有开放的心态，不需要解释。

However, We must treat peace as a result and not as a goal. If it is held as a goal, then you will attempt to act peacefully, behave peacefully and mask your conflict. That prolongs the conflict and makes it more difficult. Peace is a result.

然而，我们必须把和平当作一个结果，而不是一个目标。如果把它作为一个目标，那么你就会试图和平地行动，和平地表现，并掩盖你的冲突。这就延长了冲突，使其更加困难。和平是一种结果。

Peace in the world is something very few people have ever attained. It is something so inexplicable. Therefore, think of it in terms of satisfaction because satisfaction is something you can acquire in a state of action or movement. You are in physical life, in a world of movement where everything is moving and colliding and mixing. And yet you have a purpose in being here and a calling in life to carry out a specific role.

世界上的和平是极少数人曾经达到的。它是如此难以解释的状态。因此，从满足的角度来考虑它，因为满足是你在行动或运动的状态下可以获得的状态。你在物质生活中，在一个运动的世界里，一切都在运动、碰撞和混合。然而，你在这里有一个目的，在生活中有一个召唤，要履行一个特定的角色。

When people are profoundly disappointed, then they turn inward. They slow down and God catches up! This is true elsewhere in the universe as well. Your predicaments here are shared by other societies in the Greater Community beyond your world. It is no different there. Very few individuals have acquired Knowledge or discovered Knowledge. So having the best approach requires that you be open to disappointment and even welcome it. If it must be, and if it will lead to greater happiness in your life, greater certainty and a greater sense of purpose, meaning and direction, then welcome it. Then you will have the opportunity to truly see what is going on. Then Our Presence will begin to make sense to you. We have only one goal. You have many. When your goal is Our goal, you will feel as intimate with Us as you would with your own child, as close as your brother or sister.

当人们深感失望的时候，他们就会向内转。他们放慢脚步，上帝就会追上来!在宇宙的其他地方也是如此。你们在这里的困境是你们世界之外的大社区的其他社会所共有的。那里也没有什么不同。很少有个人获得内识或发现内识。所以拥有最好的方法需要你对失望持开放态度，甚至欢迎它。如果它必须如此，如果它能给你的生活带来更大的幸福，更大的确定性和更大的目的、意义和方向感，那么就欢迎它。然后你将有机会真正看到正在发生的事情。然后我们的存在将开始对你有意义。我们只有一个目标。你有很多。当你的目标就是我们的目标时，你会觉得与我们的关系就像与你自己的孩子一样亲密，就像你的兄弟或姐妹一样亲密。

To armor yourself against disappointment is to cast yourself in chains. Now your preparation requires more time and is more difficult to bring about. This means that there is more suffering. Therefore, to end suffering in the world, We teach the reclamation of Knowledge. A more daring and adventuresome pursuit you cannot imagine. This makes climbing great mountains like child’s play. A more thorough involvement with your true Self and all of your important abilities you cannot find. You must honor yourself to even begin to consider it. You cannot be a pathetic person and think it is a worthy pursuit for you. There must be something in you that is truly valuable that is worth this kind of investment of your time.

武装自己以抵御失望，就是给自己套上枷锁。现在你的准备工作需要更多的时间，更难实现。这意味着会有更多的痛苦。因此，为了结束世界上的痛苦，我们教授内识的开垦。一个更大胆、更冒险的追求，你无法想象。这使得攀登大山如同儿戏。更彻底地参与你的真实自我和你所有的重要能力，你无法找到。你必须尊重自己，甚至开始考虑它。你不能成为一个可悲的人，认为这是一个值得你追求的目标。你身上一定有一些真正有价值的东西，值得你投入这样的时间。

There is great assistance available to help you alleviate suffering. Here it is very important to realize that suffering is not the same as disappointment. To have something you want not turn out for you is not suffering; it is disappointment. Suffering is when you long for something that cannot be or when you long for something that you do not really want. That is suffering. What attends that kind of suffering is hope and disappointment. Hope recommits you to your suffering and disappointment offers escape from it.

有很大的援助可以帮助你减轻痛苦。在这里，认识到痛苦与失望是不一样的，这一点非常重要。你想要的东西没有得到满足，这不是痛苦，而是失望。痛苦是指你渴望不可能实现的东西，或者你渴望你并不真正想要的东西。这就是痛苦。伴随着这种痛苦的是希望和失望。希望使你重新致力于你的痛苦，而失望则使你摆脱痛苦。

The great spiritual leadership in the times to come will be primarily given to women, for this is the Age of the Women. Part of the restructuring of society is for this purpose, and it is happening naturally. Therefore, many women will become true leaders. The disappointment for these women is that they cannot take men with them. These women who have a true calling to be spiritual leaders will rarely be able to take a man with them. This is part of their maturity. It is going unchaperoned into a greater life.

在未来的时代，伟大的精神领导者将主要赋予女性，因为这是一个女性的时代。社会重组的一部分就是为了这个目的，而且它正在自然发生。因此，许多女性将成为真实的领袖。这些女性的失望之处在于，她们不能带着男人。这些有真实召唤成为精神领袖的女性将很少能带着男人。这是她们成熟的一部分。这是在无人陪伴的情况下进入更大的生命。

Women want to find a man first and then go to God because they do not want to go to God without a chaperone. They want to have a man to make sure they will not be lonely. But how can you be lonely in God? God is like having all men at once! To lament not having a man when your heart is going for God represents confusion. Therefore, these women must be disappointed. No man? Go for God. Mourn for no man. Go for God. Don’t go for belief in God; don’t become a philosopher. Let God and your Spiritual Family fill your life. Then things will begin to happen.

女人想先找到一个男人，然后再去找上帝，因为她们不想在没有陪伴者的情况下去见上帝。她们希望有一个男人来确保自己不会孤独。但在上帝那里怎么可能会感到孤独呢？上帝就像同时拥有所有男人一样！当你的心向着上帝时，却为没有男人而悲叹，代表着困惑。因此，这些女人必定会感到失望。没有男人？去寻找上帝。为没有男人而悲伤。去寻找上帝。不要只信仰上帝；不要成为一个哲学家。让上帝和你的精神家庭充满你的生活。然后事情就会开始发生。

If you yearn for a man and a man is not there, you are wasting your life. You might as well yearn for something that is there. Not every woman will be with a man, not in the normal sense. And yet women will still need men very much because they will need to be nourished as women.

如果你渴望一个男人，而一个男人不在那里，你就是在浪费你的生命。你还不如去渴望一些存在的东西。不是每个女人都会和一个男人在一起，不是正常意义上的。然而，女人仍然非常需要男人，因为她们需要作为女人得到滋养。

In many other societies in the Greater Community that have attained wisdom to any degree, their greater leadership are all females. Males run society and females provide the Knowledge. For races very similar to yours, this is usually the case. Because your world and its societies are now preparing for emergence into the Greater Community and because you are preparing to unify your race, this issue of the role of women is quite relevant. It is not merely a potentiality. It is actually happening.

在大社区的许多其他社会中，凡是达到智慧程度的社会，其更大的领导层都是女性。男性管理社会，女性提供内识。对于与你们非常相似的种族来说，情况通常是这样的。因为你们的世界和它的社会现在正准备进入大社区，因为你们正准备统一你们的种族，女性的角色问题是相当相关的。它不仅仅是一种潜在的情况。它正在实际发生。

Certain women who have a great spiritual calling in life must approach their calling without requiring a man to go along with them. In other words, they must take complete responsibility for their calling. If they can respond to this, they will be so nurtured by life.

某些在生活中具有伟大精神召唤的女性必须接近她们的召唤，而不需要一个男人与她们一起同去。换句话说，她们必须对自己的召唤负起全部责任。如果她们能对此作出回应，她们将受到生命的帮助。

With women on the rise, men feel quite helpless and confused. Women outperform men in many, many ways. But women have weaknesses as well. Women for centuries have carried the flame of spirituality in the world. Now they must carry the responsibility. This is very different. Here they will be able to have compassion for men, for they will see why men’s errors and successes came about.

随着女性的崛起，男性感到相当无助和困惑。女性在很多很多方面都超过了男性。但女性也有弱点。几个世纪以来，女性一直在世界范围内传递着精神的火焰。现在她们必须承担起责任。这是很不同的。在这里，她们将能够对男人产生同情心，因为她们将看到男人的错误和成功的原因。

This is also the era of the Spiritual Family. That is why there is so much of this kind of spiritual communication going on. That is why the women will respond. Family is their domain. That is why We use this terminology. Very exceptional men will respond, too. Most men are concerned with the day-to-day function of physical things, and that is a big challenge in and of itself. Men have plenty to do. We are making this point because women carry their disappointment about men like a great yoke, while in reality it is a means for their freedom.

这也是精神家庭的时代。这就是为什么有如此多的这种精神交流在进行。这就是为什么女性会做出回应。家庭是她们的领域。这就是为什么我们使用这个术语的原因。非常特殊的男人也会回应。大多数男人关心的是物质事物的日常功能，而这本身就是一个很大的挑战。男人有很多事情要做。我们之所以提出这一点，是因为女人带着对男人的失望，就像带着一个巨大的枷锁，而实际上，这是她们获得自由的手段。

You cannot take a man with you. If a man cannot go, you will have to go alone. We give no guarantees from then on. You go alone because you must. In this way, you honor your nature and you honor the truth within yourself. If a man comes, that is wonderful. If a man does not come, that is wonderful, too. Anyone who goes to God goes alone. They go based only on the power of Knowledge within them. Nobody knows what going to God looks like. Many people wish to look like they are going to God when they are just creating a new social strata, just pretending.

你不能带着一个男人走。如果男人不能去，你将不得不独自去。从那时起，我们不给任何保证。你独自去，因为你必须去。以这种方式，你尊重你的本性，你尊重自己内心的真理。如果一个男人来了，那很好。如果有人不来，那也很好。任何去见上帝的人都是单独去的。他们只根据他们内心的内识力量而去。没有人知道到上帝那里去是什么样子的。许多人希望看起来他们是去找上帝，而他们只是在创造一个新的社会阶层，只是在假装。

As long as women are willing to respond truthfully within themselves and not require that men go with them or wait for them, then they can proceed. You do not choose Knowledge because it guarantees that you will have all the things you think you must have. You choose Knowledge because you must choose Knowledge. You come into the world because you must do that. That is Knowledge. You must not let your small self dictate your decisions here.

只要女人愿意在自己的内心做出真实的回应，不要求男人和她们一起去或等待她们，那么她们就可以进行。你选择内识，不是因为它保证你会拥有你认为必须拥有的所有关系。你选择内识是因为你必须选择内识。你来到这个世界是因为你必须这样做。这就是内识。你绝不能让你的小我在这里支配你的决定。

It is very disappointing when something real happens. It is very disappointing when a true spiritual force emerges in life. You cannot be in relationship until you learn disappointment because until you do, you are living with your thoughts about someone rather than your relationship with them. To know your true Inner Teachers, you must go beyond your thoughts about them and enter true intimacy. That is profound.

当真正的事情发生时，这是非常令人失望的。当一个真实的精神力量在生命中出现时，是非常令人失望的。在你学会失望之前，你不能在关系中，因为在你学会失望之前，你是以你对某人的想法而不是你与他们的关系而生活。要知道你真实的内在老师，你必须超越你对他们的想法，进入真实的亲密关系。这是很深刻的。

When you are disappointed, let the emotions come forth. Be a witness to them. You are greater than any emotional state. Your Teachers stand by while you go through everything. Most of it is quite boring to them, but they are waiting for the opportunity, and they are providing you with the quality of love and the orientation that you will never find in the world.

当你感到失望时，让情绪涌现出来。做他们的见证人。你比任何情绪状态都要大。当你经历一切时，你的老师站在一旁。对他们来说，大部分是相当无聊的，但他们在等待机会，他们在为你提供爱的质量和你在世界中永远找不到的方向。

It is very interesting to Us, though understandable, that even Steps to Knowledge students still debate whether their Teachers are real. It is very hard to be in a relationship with someone who spends so much time wondering whether you are real. You cannot even begin the relationship. “Are the Teachers real? Are they good? Do I have to give up anything to be with them?” Sometimes people get past all that and see that this relationship is as natural, normal and integral as anything they experience in life—in some ways more so, for the Teachers have no form. Here you can experience relationship in its truest context—pure affinity, pure transfer of mind.

对我们来说，非常有趣的是，虽然可以理解，但即使是内识的阶梯的学生仍然在争论他们的老师是否是真实的。与一个花了这么多时间怀疑你是否真实的人建立关系是非常困难的。你甚至无法开始这种关系。”老师是真的吗？他们是好的吗？我必须放弃什么才能和他们在一起吗？”有时，人们超越了这一切，看到这种关系就像他们在生活中经历的任何事情一样自然、正常和完整——在某些方面更是如此，因为老师没有形式。在这里，你可以在最真实的背景下经历关系——纯粹的亲和力，纯粹的心智转变。

At the surface of the mind, everything is deliberated. At the depth of the mind, everything is known. When things are known, you are in a position to witness the world and to have Knowledge of the world. Here you have already been disappointed sufficiently so that you do not want anything from the world. Now you can begin to know things about the world. You are then in a position to contribute because you can give everything in the direction it is meant to be given. And if it does not work out the way you want, well, that is okay.

在心智的表面，一切都在考虑之中。在心智的深处，一切都被知道。当事物被知道时，你就处于见证世界和拥有世界的内识的位置。在这里，你已经充分地失望了，以至于你不想要世界上的任何东西。现在你可以开始知道这个世界的事情。然后你就有能力做出贡献了，因为你可以把一切都往它应该被给予的方向给予。如果它没有按照你想要的方式进行，那么，这也没关系。

We are not worried for the world. But We wish to eliminate suffering. That is what We work on. We are rarely successful in the moment. Yet We are certain because the truth lives with Us. You must find yourself while you are in physical life. We are a very good demonstration that you have life beyond the physical, that life is continuous and that you do have purpose for coming into this world.

我们并不为世界担忧。但我们希望消除痛苦。这就是我们努力的方向。我们很少在当下取得成功。然而，我们是肯定的，因为真理与我们生活在一起。当你在物质生活中时，你必须找到自己。我们很好地证明了你有超越身体的生命，生命是持续的，你来到这个世界确实有目的。

Everything that happens that is genuine is disappointing to someone. Everything truthful that happens is disappointing to someone. Someone tells the truth; others are disappointed. You are disappointed. But everyone is relieved. Even when there is true loss and disappointment, a door is opened, for in this state of loss you can see something that is rarely seen otherwise.

发生的每一件事，如果是真实的，都会让人感到失望。发生的一切真实的事情都会让人失望。有人说了实话；其他人就会感到失望。你是失望的。但每个人都得到了解脱。即使有真正的损失和失望，也会有一扇门被打开，因为在这种损失的状态下，你可以看到一些在其他方面很少看到的内识。

People often ask, “I have a loved one who has died. Can I communicate with them?” We say, “Yes. Be still and they are there. Call for them and they are there—in your permanent state, which is where Knowledge lives.”

人们经常问：”我有一个已经去世的亲人。我可以和他们交流吗？”我们说：”是的，静止下来，他们就在那里。呼唤他们，他们就在那里——在你的持久状态下，那是内识居住的地方。”

If you are not afraid of disappointment, even in your current state of mind, you will be able to embrace life. Here you have already set down half of your burden. If you are very willful and are demanding that your life be a certain way and yet are open to whatever may happen, you are partially liberated already. Therefore, if you seek that which is true, prepare yourself for a little disappointment. And remember always that your disappointment will be momentary and slight compared to the relief and happiness that you will find.

如果你不害怕失望，即使在你目前的心智状态下，你将能够拥抱生命。在这里，你已经放下了一半的负担。如果你非常任性，要求你的生活以某种方式进行，但又对可能发生的任何事情持开放态度，你就已经得到了部分解放。因此，如果你寻求真实的东西，请准备好接受一点失望。请永远记住，与你将发现的解脱和幸福相比，你的失望将是暂时的和轻微的。

We want to speak about one other thing and that is emptiness. What is emptiness? Emptiness is being calm when you want to be stimulated. It is a moment when nothing is going on. It is the one thing that people at your level of development will do anything to avoid. Look at your world and see how noisy it is, how much stimulation! The more affluent you are, the more forms of stimulation are available to you, all to avoid this moment.

我们想谈谈另外一件事，那就是空虚。空虚是什么？空虚就是在你想受到刺激的时候保持平静。它是一个没有任何事情发生的时刻。这是处于你的发展水平的人将不惜一切代价来避免的一件事。看看你的世界，看看它有多嘈杂，有多大的刺激！你越是富裕，就越是要避免。你越是富裕，就有越多形式的刺激，都是为了避免这个时刻。

Disappointment brings to you the experience of emptiness. In this state, you experience how afraid you are of everything. That is what makes it hard. But if you keep going, all that fear dissipates, and you begin to enjoy emptiness. It is like a luxury. Those of you who are students of Knowledge are beginning to find stillness to be a luxury, as it truly is. A more gracious luxury you cannot imagine.

失望给你带来了空虚的经历。在这种状态下，你会经历到你对一切是多么害怕。这就是使人感到困难的原因。但如果你继续前进，所有的恐惧都会消散，你开始享受空虚。这就像一种奢侈。你们这些学习内识的人正开始发现静心是一种奢侈，因为它确实是。一个你无法想象的更亲切的奢侈品。

Disappointment brings you there. For a moment, you do not know what to do about anything. If you do not panic with this, you will see that you can just simply be available in that moment, and it becomes a very special moment. When tragic things happen, it gives rise to very great moments in people’s lives. Great moments are great opportunities. If everything were going the way you wanted it or demanded it to be going, great moments would be hard to find.

失望把你带到那里。一时间，你不知道该如何处理任何事情。如果你对此不慌不忙，你会看到，你可以只是简单地在那一刻可用，而且它成为一个非常特别的时刻。当悲惨的事情发生时，它在人们的生活中产生了非常重大的时刻。重大的时刻就是极大的机会。如果一切都按你希望或要求的方式进行，重要的时刻就很难找到。

There is a very great purpose in life, for all of you and for Us. It is very great! Therefore, We teach people to gain access to this experience of purpose and to gain access to this state of mind. Ideas about teachers and schools and learning—well, many of these ideas have to be disappointed. They are assumptions only and are not born of true experience. They are temporary expedients to bring you forward and to give you ideas.

生活中有一个非常伟大的目的，对于你们所有人和我们来说。它是非常伟大的!因此，我们教导人们获得这种目的的经历，并获得这种心智状态。关于老师、学校和学习的想法——嗯，许多这样的想法必须要失望。它们只是假设，并不是从真实的经历中产生的。它们是暂时的权宜之计，让你前进，让你有想法。

You have a calling in life that will emanate out of your purpose once you have developed sufficiently. You are made specifically to do something. Until you find this thing, you will always be trying to change your nature, change yourself, rearrange your priorities and make yourself look better. That is why when you find your calling, it is a profound experience of self-acceptance, which is love. You are custom-made for something you have not yet found.

你在生命中有一个召唤，一旦你充分发展，就会从你的目的中发散出来。你是专门为做某事而生的。在你找到这件事之前，你将一直试图改变你的本性，改变你自己，重新安排你的优先事项，使自己看起来更好。这就是为什么当你找到你的召唤时，它是一种自我接受的深刻经历，这就是爱。你是为某个你尚未发现的召唤量身定制的。

We will tell you a very interesting thing. In this day and age when there is so much luxury in modern society, it is harder for people to choose Knowledge. It takes longer to be disappointed. There are always new thrills, always new things to lose yourself in—so many distractions. In earlier times, physical life was not so glamorous. Your advantage is that you can read Our words in this book. We can speak to you and you can listen without serious consequences, without being hurt. Yet your life is so much more stimulated. The experience of Knowledge is entirely different. It is ninety percent stillness and ten percent action, instead of the other way around.

我们将告诉你一件非常有趣的事情。在现代社会有这么多奢侈品的今天，人们更难选择内识。需要更长的时间去失望。总是有新的刺激，总是有新的东西让你迷失在其中——这么多的分心。在早期，物质生活并不那么迷人。你的优势是，你可以在这本书中读到我们的话。我们可以对你说话，你可以听，而没有严重的后果，不会受到伤害。然而，你们的生活却受到了很大的刺激。内识的经历是完全不同的。它是百分之九十的静止和百分之十的行动，而不是反过来。

That is why We teach The Way of Knowledge. We do not want to add things on to people. We want to subtract things. We want to be like a good shower that washes away all the dirt. What happens in The Way of Knowledge is that We engage people in what is absolutely essential for them, and We do not put much emphasis on anything else. By “essential” We mean the things that are essential in your outer life. What is absolutely essential that you must do? That is what We concentrate on. That produces vitality, harmony and a uniform life. It produces power because you are becoming more focused—and power is the result of focus. Power is not good or evil. Power is concentration, and to be concentrated you must simplify your life. Therefore, the preparation requires a certain amount of reduction. This is so simple, yet people never think of it.

这就是我们教授内识之路的原因。我们不想把事情加到人们身上。我们想减去一些事情。我们要像一个好的淋浴，洗去所有的污垢。在内识之路中发生的事情是，我们让人们参与对他们来说绝对必要的事情，而我们并不强调其他事情。我们所说的”基本”是指在你的外部生活中必不可少的东西。什么是你必须做的绝对必要的事情？这就是我们所关注的。这将产生活力、和谐和统一的生活。它产生力量，因为你正变得更加专注，而力量是专注的结果。力量不是善或恶。力量是集中，而要集中，你必须简化你的生活。因此，准备工作需要一定程度的减少。这很简单，但人们从来没有想到过。

What should you reduce? What is essential? What is not essential? What is taking up your time and energy? If you spend twenty minutes a day concentrating on developing Knowledge in your preparation, it would be remarkable what you would be able to produce. But practicing twenty minutes a day is a major accomplishment for many people. You see, this illustrates the problem. The solution here becomes very obvious when the problem is really comprehended.

你应该减去什么？什么是必要的？什么是不重要的？什么占用了你的时间和能量？如果你每天花二十分钟集中能量在你的准备工作中发展内识，你能产生的效果将是非常显著的。但是，对许多人来说，每天练习二十分钟是一项重大成就。你看，这说明了问题所在。当真正理解了这个问题后，这里的解决方案就变得非常明显。

Your purpose here in life is to find out what is important. That is one way of saying it. When you know what is important, then you know where to devote yourself. Until you get there, devote yourself to whatever is most important now, be open and alert and allow for disappointment. Then you can embrace your life. “Here I am. I am open. But I prefer things to be like this.” That is okay. You can have preferences. Be open, though. “I hope this relationship works out, but if it doesn’t, please free me.” Why is there disappointment in life? Because there is so much here that is not important.

你在这里的生活目的是要找出什么是重要的。这是一种说法。当你知道什么是重要的，那么你就知道该把自己投入到哪里。在你到达那里之前，把自己投入到现在最重要的事情上，保持开放和警惕，允许失望。然后你就可以拥抱你的生命。”我在这里。我是开放的。但我更喜欢事情是这样的”。这没关系。你可以有偏好。不过，要开放。”我希望这段关系能成功，但如果不能，请释放我。”为什么生活中会有失望？因为这里有很多事情是不重要的。