Chapter 35: Achieving Peace

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on February 24, 1989 in Chicago, IL
1989年2月24日，在伊利诺伊州芝加哥(Chicago, IL)，向上帝的信使马歇尔・维安・萨默斯(Marshall Vian Summers)揭示

Peace is the full enjoyment of your natural mind and the complete utilization of your opportunity to be in the world. At the very core of this experience is stillness. From this stillness emanates a potency of action that is rarely to be matched in the world. So at the very core of peace, it is absolutely still. At its outer perimeter, it is very powerful action.

和平是充分享受你的自然心智，完全利用你在这个世界上的机会。这种经历的核心是静止。从这种静止中发出的行动力，在世界范围内是很少有的。因此，在和平的核心，它是绝对静止的。在其外围，它是非常强大的行动。

Therefore, those who are engaged in this kind of experience are very still on the inside and yet can function very competently in the world. As a matter of fact, they can function at a far greater level of efficacy than the average person because their mind is concentrated.

因此，那些从事这种经历的人，内心非常静止，但却能在这个世界上非常有能力地发挥作用。事实上，他们可以在一个比普通人更高的效率水平上运作，因为他们的心智是集中的。

To concentrate your mind, to focus your mind to this degree, you must be still because stillness is what focuses you and concentrates you. This naturally emanates into the world and exerts influence in all aspects of human endeavor. Your world has been saved many times because of the cumulative effect of this. The few minds that are engaged in this kind of concentration have been able to protect the world from aggressive forces and from internal conflict. The calling for this concentration will certainly increase as time goes on.

要集中你的心智，要把你的心集中到这个程度，你必须静止，因为静止是集中你和集中你的内识。这自然会发散到世界上，在人类努力的各个方面发挥影响。由于这一点的累积效应，你们的世界已经被拯救了许多次。少数从事这种集中的心已经能够保护世界免受侵略势力和内部冲突的影响。随着时间的推移，对这种集中的呼唤肯定会增加。

Do not think of achieving peace in political or economic terms in the world. That is the wrong appropriation at this point because you are working internally now. Peace in the world is difficult to achieve because the world is not a place of peace. It is a place of activity, growth, friction, competition, disappointment and accomplishment—not exactly a quiet and still place.

不要想着在世界的政治或经济方面实现和平。这在此时是错误的拨款，因为你现在是在内部工作。世界上的和平很难实现，因为世界不是一个和平的地方。它是一个充满活动、增长、摩擦、竞争、失望和成就的地方——不完全是一个安静和静止的地方。

If you do not have peace at the center of you guiding your actions, and very few people do, then you will become engaged in the world of movement, living at the surface of yourself. Asking the world to be at peace is asking for people to be in a different state of mind than they are currently in. This is not easy to achieve. All of the people in the world do not need to achieve this equanimity; only a very few do, but those very few must achieve it. For them it is vital, and their achievement will resonate with others and keep the potency of this alive.

如果你没有以和平为中心指导你的行动，而很少有人会这样做，那么你就会参与到运动的世界中，生活在自己的表面。要求世界和平就是要求人们处于与目前不同的心智状态。这是不容易实现的。世界上所有的人都不需要实现这种平和；只有极少数人需要，但这些极少数人必须实现它。对他们来说，这是至关重要的，他们的成就将与其他人产生共鸣，并保持这种力量的活力。

Therefore, let Us make a very important point. To achieve the goal that We have indicated here, you must have a different kind of mind than the mind you are used to. You already have this different kind of mind. It is the mind that you have brought with you from your Ancient Home. The mind that you think with now is the mind that you have created since you have been here. We call this the “personal mind” or “personal side.” It is not bad. You need to have a personal mind to function in the world. Otherwise, no one would understand you and you would not understand anyone.

因此，让我们提出一个非常重要的观点。为了实现我们在这里指出的目标，你必须有一个不同于你习惯的心智。你已经有了这种不同的心智。它是你从你的古老家园带来的心智。你现在思考的心智是你来到这里后创造的心智。我们称这为”个人心智”或”个人的一面”。这并不坏。你需要有一个个人的心智来在这个世界上运作。否则，没有人会理解你，你也不会理解任何人。

The personal mind is not your natural mind. The personal mind is meant to serve the greater Mind of God, of which you are a part. It is cruel to demand that the personal mind achieve peace, power and harmony. That is like requiring your body not to feel pain. The personal mind was born in conflict and resides in conflict and will achieve peace only in service to the greater Mind.

个人心智不是你的自然心智。个人心智是为了服务于更大的上帝心智，你是其中的一部分。要求个人心智实现和平、力量与和谐是残酷的。这就像要求你的身体不要感到疼痛。个人心智在冲突中诞生，在冲突中生存，只有在为更大心智服务时才能实现和平。

The greater Mind of God is not a personal mind. It is a mind of which you are a part. You may be familiar with this idea, but We must make this emphasis because this is the critical one: You cannot achieve peace with the personal mind alone. This does not mean that you have to get rid of the personal mind, but that the personal mind cannot be the center of you because the personal mind cannot achieve peace. It can only achieve service.

上帝的更伟大心智不是一个个人的心智。它是一个心智，你是其中的一部分。你可能对这个想法很熟悉，但我们必须强调这一点，因为这是关键的一点。你不能仅靠个人的心智来实现和平。这并不意味着你必须摆脱个人心智，而是个人心智不能成为你的中心，因为个人心智不能实现和平。它只能实现服务。

Do not be alarmed when We say this because you must realize that the personal mind is not who you are. It has simply been constructed and developed since childhood—even since birth—as a vehicle to enable you to function in the world as an individual human being. You did not originate as a human being, but to become competent in the world, you have had to create this mind. Actually, you did not really create it. You simply used the components that were available to you to put it together. People who do not effectively put together their personal mind do not function too well in society.

当我们这样说时，不要惊慌，因为你必须认识到个人心智不是你的本体。它只是从童年开始——甚至从出生开始——就被构建和发展，作为一个工具，使你能够作为一个单独的个人在这个世界上发挥作用。你并不是作为一个人出生的，但为了在这个世界上胜任，你不得不创造这个心智。实际上，你并没有真正创造它。你只是使用了你可以得到的组件来把它组合起来。不能有效地把个人心智组合在一起的人，在社会上的运作不会太好。

Therefore, you all have personal minds. Congratulations. But it is not the personal mind that will achieve peace within yourself or within the world. Let Us say this another way: The personal mind cannot be still. If stillness is at the very core of peace and generates peace, then it cannot emanate from the personal mind. Many people today are punishing their personal mind, driving it into servitude, trying to make it godlike, to elevate it, to give it lofty principles and ideals and to torture it into submission. They do this with very limited success. The personal mind can be elevated and will be elevated in The Way of Knowledge, but it cannot achieve a godlike state. Do not make a god of the personal mind. It is a temporary vehicle. It is meant to allow you to contribute in the world.

因此，你们都有个人的心智。恭喜你们。但是，在你自己或世界中实现和平的并不是个人的心智。让我们以另一种方式说。个人心智不能静止。如果静止是和平的核心，并能产生和平，那么它就不能从个人心智中发出。今天，许多人都在惩罚他们的个人心智，把它逼成奴隶，试图让它成为像神一样，提升它，赋予它崇高的原则和理想，并折磨它使之屈服。他们这样做，成功率非常有限。个人心智可以被提升，并将在内识之路中被提升，但它不能达到像神一样的状态。不要把个人心智当作神。它是一个暂时的工具。它是为了让你在这个世界上作出贡献。

Knowledge represents the greater Mind of God within you. Until Knowledge has been rediscovered, the personal mind will dominate you, and you will be in service to it until it can find its true form of service. Your body was also made to serve this greater Mind within you. Without a greater Mind, what can the body do? Your only hope is to keep it comfortable until you die. And when you leave the world and go back to your Spiritual Family, you say, “Let me see. I don’t think I got it done. When can I go back?” And they say, “Well, you have to wait in line!”

内识代表了你体内更伟大的上帝心智。在内识被重新发现之前，个人心智将主宰你，你将为它服务，直到它能找到真实的服务形式。你的身体也是为了服务于你体内的这个更大的心智。没有更大的心智，身体能做什么？你唯一的希望是让它保持舒适，直到你死亡。当你离开世界，回到你的精神家庭时，你说：”让我看看。我不认为我已经完成了。我什么时候可以回去？” 他们说：”嗯，你必须排队等候！”

Everyone who goes back to the other side unfulfilled is so eager to return. When you go back to your Spiritual Family beyond the world, it is so obvious what must be done here. The memory returns to you completely. From that vantage point, it is very clear what you must do. But when you return to the world, you are in the world’s vantage point, and it is not very clear.

每一个回到另一个世界的人，如果没有得到满足，都会很想回去。当你回到你在世界之外的精神家庭时，在这里必须做的事情是如此明显。记忆完全回到了你身上。从那个观测的角度看，你必须做什么是非常清楚的。但当你回到世界时，你处于世界的观测点时，它就不再很清晰了。

The purpose of this Teaching is to give you the vantage point that you had when you were not here, which will make everything very clear. When you are not here, you are not thinking with your personal mind. You are thinking with your natural mind, the mind of Knowledge. So there must be a way to regain the natural mind of Knowledge while you are here. You cannot contribute to the world that well when you are not here. You have to do it while you are here. When you are not here, you can cheer from the sidelines like We do, but when you get into the game, well, then you have a more direct engagement.

这个教学的目的是给你提供你不在这里时的观测点，这将使一切都非常清晰。当你不在这里时，你不是在用你的个人心智在思考。你是在用你的自然心智，即内识的心智来思考。所以一定有办法当你在这里的时候重新获得内识的自然心智。当你不在这里时，你不可能对世界做出那么好的贡献。你必须在你在这里的时候做这件事。当你不在这里时，你可以像我们一样在场边欢呼，但当你进入游戏时，嗯，那么你就有更直接的参与。

Therefore, We are relying upon you, and for this you will need to rely upon Knowledge within you. If you cannot gain access to the natural mind of Knowledge, you must learn to engage with someone who can. That is very simple to understand. If you wish to learn even a mundane skill, you must go to work with someone who has the skill. That is very obvious, though you know, many people do not do it.

因此，我们要依靠你们，为此你们需要依靠你们内心的内识。如果你不能获得内识的自然心智，你必须学会与可以的人接触。这一点很容易理解。如果你想学习哪怕是一项平凡的技能，你必须去和拥有这种技能的人一起工作。这是非常明显的，尽管你知道，许多人并没有这样做。

Now let Us speak about the natural mind of Knowledge. Very different it is from the personal mind. Your first experience of it will be emptiness. It will seem eerie, like entering a great temple where very little is said but a great deal is understood. Your first experience, if you are not used to this, is, “Oh, it’s strange in here!” Everything is very quiet; there is not a lot of noise or running around. Stillness can be very threatening at first because it is so powerful. So the first experience of peace is emptiness because in a state of peace so much that you are used to seems to be missing. That can make it seem uncomfortable, even a little scary at first. But if you proceed in your preparation, you will discover that emptiness is not “nothing.” It is something. It is simply so still.

现在让我们谈谈内识的自然心智。它与个人的心智非常不同。你对它的第一次经历将是空虚。它看起来很阴森，就像进入一个巨大的寺庙，那里很少有人说话，但有很多人都明白。如果你不习惯这样，你的第一个经历是：”哦，这里真奇怪！”一切都非常安静；没有很多的噪音或奔跑。静止一开始可能非常具有威胁性，因为它是如此强大。所以和平的第一个经历是空虚，因为在和平的状态下，你所习惯的很多东西似乎都不见了。这可能会使和平看起来不舒服，甚至一开始有点吓人。但是如果你继续准备，你会发现空虚不是”无”。它是一种存在。它只是如此静止。

When people approach peace, at first they often feel the weight of their own conflicts. If you were to enter a very quiet place and were to stay there, what is the first thing you would experience but your own stress and tension? The contrast between your current state of mind and the environment in which you have placed yourself would be so great that it would illustrate to you your own strain. So you may not want to go to that place because you feel more pain at first. But then, if you return, you will find that there is a sweetness there, a comfort there and a reassurance there you cannot find anywhere else.

当人们接近和平时，起初他们常常感到自己的冲突的重量。如果你进入一个非常安静的地方并呆在那里，除了你自己的压力和紧张，你首先会经历到什么？你目前的心灵状态和你所处的环境之间的反差将是如此之大，以至于向你说明了你自己的压力。所以你可能不想去那个地方，因为你一开始会感到更多的痛苦。但后来，如果你回去，你会发现那里有一种甜蜜，那里有一种安慰，那里有一种你在其他地方找不到的安心。

The world will continue to be the world. Do not try to make the world like your Ancient Home. This is not a good idea. It will never be like that. It will always be a crazy place. However, the world can be an environment where people rediscover themselves—a much happier place than it is now. But it will not be a place of absolute stillness and quiet. After all, people initially came to the world for excitement. But excitement is not exciting for very long. Yet that is another story.

这个世界将继续是这个世界。不要试图使世界像你的古老家园一样。这不是一个好主意。世界永远不会像古老家园。世界将永远是一个疯狂的地方。然而，世界可以成为一个人们重新发现自己的环境——一个比现在更快乐的地方。但它不会是一个绝对静止和安静的地方。毕竟，人们最初来到这个世界是为了寻求刺激。但兴奋的时间并不长。然而那是另一个故事。

Therefore, you must rediscover your natural mind, which We call Knowledge. Knowledge thinks its own thoughts. But because it is very quiet, whenever it thinks, its thoughts are very potent. Whenever it moves you to act, your actions are very strong. When it is not thinking or moving you to act, it is very quiet. The more you experience this, the more you realize that Knowledge is both yourself and something greater than yourself. The more you establish relationship with Knowledge, the more you realize that you are now free to become quiet. You realize that when you think with Knowledge, your thoughts are powerful, and when you act with Knowledge, your actions are directed and strong.

因此，你必须重新发现你的自然心智，我们称之为内识。内识会思考自己的思维。但由于它非常安静，每当它思考时，它的思想都非常有力。每当它促使你行动时，你的行动就非常有力。当它不思考或推动你行动时，它就非常安静。你越是经历到这一点，你就越是意识到，内识既是你自己，也是比你自己心智更大的心智。你越是与内识建立关系，你就越是意识到你现在可以自由地变得安静。你意识到，当你用内识思考时，你的思维是强大的，当你用内识行动时，你的行动是有方向的和强大的。

To approach the reality of Knowledge, your personal mind will need to be reorganized. Perhaps certain things will have to be given up and other things acquired. Your body will change because it is now becoming a vehicle for a greater force, which is why We advocate physical fitness for students of Knowledge—not just to look better or to live a little longer, but to actually carry this Presence.

为了接近内识的现实，你的个人心智将需要重新组织。也许某些东西将不得不放弃，而其他东西则必须获得。你的身体将发生改变，因为它现在正成为一种更伟大力量的载体，这就是为什么我们提倡内识学生的身体素质——不仅仅是为了看起来更好或活得更久，而是为了真正携带这种存在。

When you are still internally, your stillness is your contribution to the world. A still mind has a much greater impact upon the world than any other form of achievement. This is mysterious but true nonetheless. Please remember Our words: You cannot have a still personal mind. That is like trying to make the blood stop flowing in your veins. The personal mind will continue to be very chatty. The difference over time is that you are with it less and less.

当你内心静止时，你的静止就是你对世界的贡献。一个静止的心智对世界的影响要比任何其他形式的成就大得多。这很神秘，但也是事实。请记住我们的话。你不可能有一个静止的个人心智。这就像试图让血液在你的血管中停止流动。个人心智将继续非常健谈。随着时间的推移，区别在于你和它在一起的时间越来越少。

Why is it so difficult for people to achieve peace? Well, it is a difficult thing. Theoretically, achieving peace would be easy if you wanted it and nothing else. But who is in this position? If you wanted it and nothing else, it would come to you so easily. In fact, you would be there. But who wants this and nothing else?

为什么人们实现和平如此困难？嗯，这是一个困难的事情。从理论上讲，如果你想要和平而不需要其他东西，实现和平将是很容易的。但谁处于这种位置呢？如果你想要它，而没有其他东西，它就会很容易来到你身边。事实上，你会在那里。但谁会只想要这个而不想要别的呢？

Knowledge will guide you, simplify your life, give you the freedom to be quiet and give you escape from your personal mind. Who wants to be with a chatterbox all the time? Who wants to be governed by little thoughts all the time? That is like being stuck watching re-runs on television twenty-four hours a day!

内识会引导你，简化你的生活，给你自由，让你安静，让你逃离个人心智。谁想一直和一个喋喋不休的人在一起？谁想一直被小小的思维所支配？那就像一天二十四小时都被困在电视上看重播节目一样！

The more you experience Knowledge, the less you will be concerned about loss and survival because you will have confidence that you will be guided by what you need to do. This will not lead to passivity at all but to a very heightened engagement and a very great sense of responsibility, a responsibility that is not motivated by fear. You will care for your body because it is a valuable instrument. You will care for your mind for the same reason. You will care for your affairs because they are important. You will value relationships because they are essential.

你经历的内识越多，你就越不担心损失和生存，因为你会有信心，你会被你需要做的事情所引导。这根本不会导致被动，而是导致非常高的参与度和非常大的责任感，这种责任感不是由恐惧所激发的。你将关心你的身体，因为它是一个宝贵的工具。你将出于同样的原因关心你的心灵。你会关心你的事务，因为它们很重要。你会重视关系，因为它们是必不可少的。

This is not a passive state. It is not sitting around in dreamland all day long. Why? Because Knowledge will propel you into action in the world. You did not come here to lie on the beach. You lie on the beach when you go Home. Well, there actually is no beach, but you can lie there anyway. We could create a beach if someone wanted one!

这不是一种被动的状态。它不是整天坐在梦境中。为什么？因为内识将推动你在这个世界上采取行动。你来这里不是为了躺在沙滩上。当你回家时，你会躺在海滩上。嗯，实际上没有海滩，但你还是可以躺在那里。如果有人想要的话，我们可以创造一个海滩！

So how do you do all these things that We are speaking about? People often want answers to their problems. They say, “I am reading this because I need to find out what is going on with me and how I’m going to fix this situation. I have been to several teachers and conferences and have read several books, and I have all these ideas and different recipes.”

那么，你如何做我们正在谈论的所有这些事情呢？人们经常希望得到问题的答案。他们说：”我读这本书是因为我需要找出我身上发生的事情，以及我要如何解决这种情况。我已经参加了几个老师和会议，读了几本书，我有所有这些想法和不同的配方”。

The answer to any problem is following a means to its resolution. Answers are nothing; they only generate more questions. For instance, imagine that you were lost in the middle of the jungle and you were trying to figure out where you were and someone finally figured it out. “We are here, in the middle of the jungle in this particular country.” And everyone goes, “Oh, I am so relieved! At least we know where we are.” But you are still five hundred miles from the nearest outpost. So you walk a mile and you say, “Where are we now?” And somebody figures it out. “We’re in the middle of the jungle in this particular country.” And everyone goes, “Oh, I am so relieved! At least we know where we are.” Now you are four hundred and ninety-nine miles from your destination.

任何问题的答案都是按照解决问题的手段来的。答案算不了什么，它只会产生更多的问题。例如，想象一下，你在丛林中迷路了，你正试图弄清楚你在哪里，有人终于弄清楚了。”我们在这里，在这个特定国家的丛林中间。”然后每个人都会说：”哦，我真松了一口气!至少我们知道我们在哪里。”但你仍然离最近的前哨站有500英里。所以你走了一英里，你说，”我们现在在哪里？”然后有人想出了办法。”我们在这个特定国家的丛林中间。”然后每个人都说，”哦，我真松了一口气！至少我们知道我们在哪里。至少我们知道我们在哪里。” 现在你离你的目的地有四百九十九英里。

Therefore, there must be a means of achieving your objective, but you cannot figure this out with your personal mind. If the personal mind accounts for five percent of your mind, then what about the other ninety-five percent? Is it dead weight? Is it a bag of rocks? Is it empty computer disks? No. What this means is that only five percent of the preparation is for five percent of the mind. Ninety-five percent of the preparation is for the other ninety-five percent of the mind, which means that you are probably only aware of five percent of the preparation. That is why students of Knowledge often feel that they do not quite know what is going on. But they do feel more certain because their personal mind, which they are most engaged with, is being more greatly influenced by the natural mind of Knowledge that is influencing them, of which they are as yet not fully aware.

因此，必须有一种方法来实现你的目标，但你不能用你的个人心智来弄清楚。如果个人心智占你心智的百分之五，那么其他的百分之九十五呢？它是死物吗？是一袋石头吗？是空的电脑磁盘吗？不是。这意味着只有百分之五的准备是为了百分之五的心智。百分之九十五的准备是为其他百分之九十五的心智准备的，这意味着你可能只意识到百分之五的准备。这就是为什么学习内识的学生经常感到他们不太知道发生了什么。但他们确实感到比较确定，因为他们最投入的个人心智，正被正在影响他们的内识的自然心智更大程度地影响着，而他们还没有完全意识到这一点。

Let Us say this in another way. Your personal mind, where you live, is being increasingly influenced by something very great which you do not understand. This may concern you as to who is really in charge of your life, but the fact of the matter is that your life now has greater purpose, meaning and direction than it did before. So most of the real work is happening on another level anyway, beyond your control. All you can do is participate or not and to participate requires a great deal of will. Therefore, you must have self-determination, which eliminates any hope of being passive in the situation. That is the funny thing. Achieving peace is the most active engagement. It is finding the way out of the jungle.

让我们以另一种方式说这个。你的个人心智，也就是你生活的地方，正越来越多地被一些你不了解的伟大东西所影响。这可能会让你担心谁在真正掌管你的生命，但事实是，你的生命现在比以前有更大的目的、意义和方向。所以大多数真正的工作反而是在另一个层面上发生的，超出了你的控制。你所能做的就是参与或不参与，而参与需要大量的意志。因此，你必须有自我决定权，这就消除了在这种情况下被动的任何希望。这就是有趣的事情。实现和平是最积极的参与。它是在丛林中找到出路。

You may ask yourself, “Am I ready for this? Maybe I should get married first, have children, become successful in business or achieve great status in art or achieve all of my goals. Then maybe when I am an old person, when I have had my fill of all these things, then I can turn my mind to such pursuits.”

你可能会问自己，”我准备好了吗？也许我应该先结婚，生孩子，在商业上获得成功，或在艺术上获得巨大的地位，或实现我所有的目标。然后也许当我是一个老人时，当我受够了所有这些事情时，我就可以把我的心智转向这种追求。”

Yet what if We said that you will be called into the development of Knowledge and into your spiritual life when you are in the middle of the ladder, and when you reach halfway up the ladder, your spiritual life will begin. Then you find out at some later time that the ladder—remember, We are going for the halfway point—extends infinitely in both directions.

然而，如果我们说，当你处于阶梯的中间位置时，你将被召唤进入内识的发展，进入你的精神生活，而当你到达阶梯的一半时，你的精神生活将开始。然后你在以后的某个时间发现，这个梯子——记住，我们要去的是中点——向两个方向无限延伸。

Therefore, wherever you are is the halfway point. So when you are an old person, satisfied or sick of the world, you reach the halfway point. Some people reach the halfway point when they are on their deathbed, but they cannot do much then. Therefore, the halfway point is right now. There is no, “Well, these other things must be done first.” The halfway point is whenever you begin.

因此，无论你在哪里都是中途点。因此，当你是一个老人，对世界感到满意或厌恶时，你就到达了中间点。有些人在临终时达到了中途点，但那时他们不能做很多事情。因此，中点就是现在。不存在”嗯，这些其他的事情必须先做”。中间点就是你开始的时候。

The way out of the jungle is to follow a preparation. It cannot be a preparation that you have invented for yourself because the preparation you invent will only keep you where you are. Something greater in you must call it into being; something greater in you must engage you with it. You will need assistance from others as you proceed, both within the world and beyond it. Your spiritual advancement is a matter of worldly involvement and involvement from beyond the world.

走出丛林的方法是遵循一种准备。它不能是你为自己发明的准备，因为你发明的准备只会让你留在原地。你心中更伟大的内识必须将它召唤出来；你心中更伟大的内识必须让你参与其中。在你前进的过程中，你将需要他人的帮助，无论是在世界内还是在世界之外。你的精神进步是一个世俗参与和来自世界之外的参与的问题。

You have Knowledge within you, waiting to be discovered. You have no hope for certainty outside of this, for everything that seems certain is contingent upon very weak forces. Your government is fragile. Your economy is fragile. Your body is fragile. Your thought system is fragile. And your relationships are fragile. All these things are fragile without Knowledge. Knowledge is from beyond the world, but it is within you, and you are here. Therefore, what is from beyond the world is here.

你的里面有内识，等待被发现。在此之外，你对确定性没有希望，因为一切看似确定的东西都取决于非常薄弱的力量。你的政府是脆弱的。你的经济是脆弱的。你的身体是脆弱的。你的思维体系是脆弱的。你的关系也很脆弱。没有内识，所有这些东西都是脆弱的。内识来自世界之外，但它在你之内，而你就在这里。因此，来自世界之外的内识就在这里。

To find and follow Knowledge, here are some of the things that must be cultivated. First, you must learn to develop stillness internally. This will allow you to gain access to your natural mind. Then you must begin to communicate honestly about your circumstances so that they can be arranged appropriately and so that many problems can be resolved in order to give you the freedom to penetrate deeper, both into yourself and into life. Your comprehension of your environment is directly proportional to your comprehension of your inner life. Therefore, as you become closer to the natural mind of Knowledge and more engaged with it, your engagement with your life in the world will be more meaningful, more penetrating and more genuine.

为了找到并遵循内识，这里有一些必须培养的品质。首先，你必须学会在内部发展静止。这将使你能够接触到你的自然心智。然后，你必须开始对你的环境进行诚实的沟通，以便能够适当地安排它们，使许多问题得到解决，以使你有自由深入到自己和生命中。你对环境的理解与你对内心生活的理解成正比。因此，当你更接近内识的自然心智，并更多地与之接触时，你与世界上的生活的接触将更有意义，更有穿透力，更真实。

You must also have a different foundation for establishing relationships. Some of this can be learned simply through experience, but your powers of discernment must be developed. Knowledge will do this for you naturally if you are able to become aware of it, to follow its indications and to learn to distinguish them from other impulses that may be ruling you.

你也必须有一个不同的基础来建立关系。其中一些可以简单地通过经历学习，但你的辨别能力必须得到发展。如果你能够意识到它，遵循它的指示，并学会将它们与可能支配你的其他冲动区分开来，内识将自然而然地为你做到这一点。

Knowledge frees you from all other impulses. That is what it means to become free. Having no one to tell you what to do is a very limited and unsatisfying freedom. Most people want to be told what to do and feel helpless and resentful when they are not.

内识使你从所有其他冲动中解放出来。这就是变得自由的意思。没有人告诉你该做什么是一种非常有限且不令人满足的自由。大多数人希望有人告诉他们该做什么，当他们没有这样的指导时，他们会感到无助和愤怒。

The purpose of freedom, then, is to find your own freedom and to express it in the world. Then lack of infringement really means something. If you go out into the world where people are having fun and you listen to them beyond their personal minds, you will hear, “Give me something important to do! Tell me what to do!” This is a very, very loud call in the world. Lying on the beach, they are saying, “Give me something to do! I am dying here in this body. I am feeling dead. Give me something.” If you listened beyond the personal mind, you would hear these things, which are very much in contrast to people’s behavior and declarations. This will give you an entirely different experience of people, and a very compassionate one as well. You do not need to have theories about this. You simply need to listen and respond.

因此，自由的目的是找到你自己的自由，并在世界上表达它。然后，不受侵犯才有真正的意义。如果你走出去到人们正在享乐的世界，超越他们的个人思维去倾听，你会听到：“给我一些重要的事情做！告诉我该做什么！”这是世界上非常非常响亮的呼唤。他们躺在沙滩上，却在说：“给我点事情做！我在这个身体里快要死了。我感觉像个行尸走肉。给我点事情。”如果你超越个人思维去倾听，你会听到这些话，这与人们的行为和宣言形成了鲜明对比。这将给你带来完全不同的人生体验，也是一种非常有同情心的体验。你不需要对此有理论。你只需要倾听并回应。

That is another thing you must learn—how to listen to people. There are many, many things to learn and each avenue has various steps. In learning and living The Way of Knowledge, everyone becomes engaged with all of their complications, and all of their complications eventually come undone.

这是你必须学习的另一件事——如何倾听别人。有很多很多东西需要学习，每条途径都有不同的步骤。在学习和生活内识之路的过程中，每个人都会参与到他们所有的并发症中，而他们所有的并发症最终都会被解开。

People often equate freedom with the ability to have choice, yes? They say, “I am free to go this way or that way and that represents my freedom. Actually, I can go in a hundred different ways. That represents my freedom. This coming weekend I can go to a hundred places. Therefore, I am more free than the person who can only go to two places.” However, the person who is really free can only go to one place. They cannot go to the other ninety-nine. They are free to go to the one place they really need to go to, so the burden of constant decision without certainty is not weighing upon them. How can you be happy if you must constantly decide everything? There is no happiness here. But there is another way.

人们经常将自由与拥有选择的能力等同起来，是吗？他们说：“我可以自由选择这样或那样的方式，这代表我的自由。实际上，我可以选择一百种不同的方式。这才是我的自由。这个周末我可以去一百个地方。因此，我比只能去两个地方的人更自由。”然而，真正自由的人只能去一个地方。他们无法去其他九十九个地方。他们有自由去他们真正需要去的地方，因此不必背负着不确定性的持续决定的重担。如果你必须不断决定一切，你如何能够快乐呢？这里没有幸福。但还有另一种方式。

Of course, not every moment will you have to be doing something where there is only one choice, so the rest of the time you can flop around. But when it is time to make an important decision, there is only one thing to do. As you can see, freedom requires a different understanding, as does everything now. This is very clear to your natural mind. Your natural mind of Knowledge will consider relationships differently—freedom, self expression, success, everything differently. It is a different perception altogether.

当然，不是每时每刻你都要做只有一个选择的事情，所以其余时间你可以翻来覆去。但当需要做出重要决定的时候，就只有一件事可以做。正如你所看到的，自由需要一种不同的理解，就像现在的一切一样。这对你的自然心智来说是非常清楚的。你内识的自然心智会以不同的方式考虑关系——自由、自我表达、成功，一切都不同。这完全是一种不同的感知。

Commitment and devotion are natural in relationships of Knowledge. That is what true relationship is. Finding the right person to be with is not difficult if you are patient and discerning. Yet being with that person may be more challenging because in addition to having a greater purpose together, you still have your personal minds to contend with and all of the business of life. Yet the relationship is intact.

承诺和奉献在内识的关系中是自然的。这就是真实的关系。如果你有耐心，有眼光，找到合适的人并不难。然而和那个人在一起可能更有挑战性，因为除了一起有更大的目的外，你们还有你们个人的心智要面对，还有所有的生活事务。然而，这种关系是完整的。

In order for you to do something of value in the world, your life must be simple and cannot be drained away with personal disasters and conflicts. You must be free to contribute. Then your vital energy is free to come forth from you. You are fully functioning. You are able then to become involved in greater things. This confirms your experience of your origin, of the Greater Power that is with you to help you and of the value of your relationships.

为了让你在这个世界上做一些有价值的事情，你的生活必须简单，不能被个人的灾难和冲突所耗尽。你必须能自由地做出贡献。然后你的生命力就能自由地从你身上散发出来。你的功能完全正常。然后你就能够参与到更大的事情中去。这证实了你对自己起源的经历，证实了与你在一起帮助你的更伟大力量，证实了你的关系的价值。

All you need to do in life is comprehend the next step and do it completely. Simple! Unfortunately, people want to do all the steps right now or do steps that are far down the way. If you will only do this step, then it will take you to the next step, and that is how you will progress. If there is no dysfunction in learning, you will be able to simply learn within this progression, and you will follow a straight path to your destination. The steps involve giving up what is non-essential and realizing what is essential. When you are doing what is essential, you feel essential. When you are doing what is non-essential, you feel non-essential because you always identify with what you are doing. This is normal. Even Knowledge is identified with what it is doing.

你在生活中所需要做的就是理解下一步，并完全做到这一点。简单!不幸的是，人们想现在就做所有的步骤，或者做那些远在天边的步骤。如果你只愿意做这一步，那么它就会带你到下一步，这就是你的进步。如果在学习中没有功能障碍，你将能够简单地在这个进展中学习，你将沿着一条笔直的道路到达你的目的地。这些步骤包括放弃非必要的东西和实现必要的东西。当你在做必要的事情时，你会感觉到必要。当你在做非必要的事情时，你会感到没有必要，因为你总是认同你正在做的事情。这很正常。甚至内识也认同它正在做的事情。

We are giving you only part of the picture here. Your understanding must always be incomplete. As soon as you think it is complete, you have stopped learning. Do not try to be comfortable with a complete cosmology where nothing new can come in. Do not say, “My theories now cover every gap.” The man or woman of Knowledge does not know what is going on! Jesus did not know what was going on! He did not know what was going to happen next. This probably concerned his personal side very much, at least at first. You do not need to know what is going to happen next; you simply need to know what you are doing now. That is freedom. Let God control the universe! Life is much better with God, if you are friends with God.

我们在这里只给了你部分内容。你的理解必须始终是不完整的。一旦你认为它是完整的，你就已经停止了学习。不要试图对一个完整的宇宙学感到舒服，在那里没有任何新的东西可以进来。不要说，”我的理论现在涵盖了所有的差距”。内识的男女不知道发生了什么!耶稣不知道发生了什么!他不知道接下来会发生什么。这可能让他的个人方面非常担心，至少一开始是这样。你不需要知道接下来会发生什么；你只需要知道你现在在做什么。这就是自由。让上帝来控制宇宙吧!如果你和上帝是朋友，生命会好很多。

Here you must understand that the simpler the truth, the more difficult it is to grasp. Truths that are very complex can be easy to think about because they do not require much attention. Truths that are very simple require a great deal of penetration. They require a greater engagement to comprehend them.

在这里你必须明白，越是简单的真理，越是难以掌握。非常复杂的真理可以很容易思考，因为它们不需要太多注意力。非常简单的真理需要大量的穿透力。它们需要更多的参与来理解它们。

Here is a simple truth: There are two places to be in life. You are either with your thoughts or you are with Knowledge. Why is this so? If you are not with Knowledge, you must be with your thoughts because there is nowhere else to be. Being with the personal mind is very tiring. It is like listening to a two-year- old all day long, or maybe a four-year-old, if it is sophisticated. So after awhile you want some relief, particularly if you have learned to become self-observant, which is a sign of maturity. You want some relief from the constant friction of the personal mind. That is a good sign. It means you are considering that there is a more important place to reside.

这里有一个简单的真理：在生活中有两个地方可以存在。你要么和你的思维在一起，要么和内识在一起。为什么会这样呢？如果你不与内识在一起，你就必须与你的思维在一起，因为没有别的地方可去。与个人的心智在一起是非常累人的。这就像整天听一个两岁的孩子说话，或者可能是一个四岁的孩子，如果它是成熟的。所以一段时间后，你想要一些解脱，特别是如果你已经学会了自我观察，这是成熟的标志。你想从个人心智的不断摩擦中得到一些缓解。这是个好的迹象。这意味着你正在考虑，有一个更重要的地方可以居住。

People are not that different from one another, but their evaluations of things vary greatly. When you are looking from the personal mind, personal minds appear to be very distinct. That is why it is sometimes difficult to let go of your personal mind because you think you are giving up your individuality. However, your real uniqueness is your expression in this life. That is a very joyful individuality because it does not separate you from everything else.

人与人之间的差别不大，但他们对事物的评价差别很大。当你从个人心智看时，个人心智显得非常不同。这就是为什么有时很难放下个人心智，因为你认为你放弃了自己的个性。然而，你真正的独特性是你在此生的表达。那是一个非常快乐的个性，因为它不会把你与其他一切分开。

Here all your beliefs have to be re-evaluated, which happens naturally when you achieve a relationship with Knowledge. Knowledge does not care about ninety percent of the things that concern people. At first, this seems like an affront. You might say, “Well, the things that are important to me apparently aren’t important to Knowledge!” This seems very insulting, but after awhile you realize, “If Knowledge is quiet now, I guess I can be quiet too. If Knowledge is happy, maybe I can be happy. If Knowledge isn’t doing anything right now, maybe I don’t need to be doing anything right now.” This leads to true relaxation. The value of true relaxation is to prepare for valuable action. So true relaxation is always preparatory to doing something important. Most people view relaxation as a form of recovery, not as a form of preparation.

在这里，你所有的信仰都必须被重新评估，当你实现与内识的关系时，这自然会发生。内识并不关心百分之九十的与人有关的事情。起初，这似乎是一种侮辱。你可能会说，”好吧，对我重要的事情显然对内识不重要！”这似乎非常侮辱人，但一段时间后，你会意识到，”如果内识现在很安静，我想我也可以很安静。如果内识是快乐的，也许我也可以是快乐的。如果内识现在不做任何事情，也许我现在不需要做任何事情”。这就导致了真实的放松。真实放松的价值在于为有价值的行动做准备。所以真实的放松总是为做重要的事情做准备。大多数人认为放松是一种恢复，而不是一种准备。

We have said that often the first experience of peace is emptiness. Then We said that emptiness is not nothing. It is something. It is Presence. So you go from feeling empty to feeling very full. If you stand outside of emptiness, it seems empty because it is so still and so great, like looking at the stars and thinking of the space between them. If you could, imagine that the space between two stars is actually full of life and that the stars themselves are the dead objects in comparison with what exists between them. Using this analogy, you could then understand that the space that is within you is incredibly vibrant and intelligent, but from the outside it appears to be empty because it is so still and so large.

我们曾说过，通常和平的第一个经历是空虚。然后我们说，空虚并不是什么都没有。它是一种存在。它是临在。所以你从感觉空虚到感觉非常充实。如果你站在空虚之外，它似乎是空的，因为它是如此静止和伟大，就像看着星星，想着它们之间的空间。如果你可以，想象一下，两颗星星之间的空间实际上充满了生命，与它们之间存在的东西相比，星星本身就是死物。用这个比喻，你就可以理解，存在于你体内的空间是令人难以置信的活力和智慧，但从外面看，它似乎是空的，因为它是如此静止和巨大。

To approach stillness, you must become still. The greatest things in the world are still, but they are rarely experienced because everyone is racing around going 100 mph. If life is going 5 mph and you are going 100 mph, then you are not going to experience what is happening. You are only going to experience your own acceleration and will not at all feel a part of what is around you.

要接近静止，你必须变得静止。世界上最伟大的事情是静止的，但它们很少被经历到，因为每个人都在以100英里/小时的速度狂奔。如果生命的速度是5英里/小时，而你的速度是100英里/小时，那么你就不会经历正在发生的事情。你只会经历到你自己的加速，而根本不会感觉到你周围的一切。

It has been Our experience that whenever a truth is given, an antidote must be given with it, so people will not think that that truth is the whole picture and then fill in all the gaps. All serious errors begin as a truth that is considered to be complete. Therefore, the purpose of truth is to lead you further, not to end your search. That is why when you discover something of great importance, it gives you a whole new array of questions to ask.

我们的经历是，每当给出一个真理时，必须同时给出一个解药，这样人们就不会认为那个真理是全貌，然后填补所有的空白。所有严重的错误都是从一个被认为是完整的真理开始的。因此，真理的目的是引导你更进一步，而不是结束你的寻找。这就是为什么当你发现一些非常重要的东西时，它会给你带来一系列全新的问题。

To prepare for stillness obviously involves a readjustment of your outer life and the development of your mind to concentrate your mind. Here you learn to get used to stillness, and then you can penetrate it and receive its rewards. Everything that is valuable comes from stillness. The center of stillness is absolutely still. There is no movement there, but all movement comes from it. It is like that.

为静止做准备，显然需要重新调整你的外在生活，发展你的心智，以集中你的心智。在这里，你要学会习惯于静止，然后你可以穿透它，接受它的回报。一切有价值的东西都来自于静止。静止的中心是绝对静止的。那里没有运动，但所有运动都来自于它。就是这样。

Where did the physical universe come from? It came from stillness. Where is the physical universe going? It is returning to stillness. Stillness is not dead. It is simply life without movement. You do not need to worry about that here because you have come here for movement, so it is very hard to comprehend life without movement. It is a state of incredible rapture. To prepare for stillness, you must practice a certain kind of meditation, you must have a teacher, you must have a method and you must have a community. These are what are necessary.

物理宇宙是从哪里来的？它来自于静止。物理宇宙要去哪里？它正在返回到静止。静止并不是死。它只是没有运动的生命。你在这里不需要担心这个，因为你是为运动而来，所以很难理解没有运动的生命。这是一种令人难以置信的狂喜状态。为了准备静止，你必须练习某种冥想，你必须有一个老师，你必须有一个方法，你必须有一个社区。这些都是必要的。