Chapter 4: Serving Others

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on March 21, 1992 in Boulder, CO
1992年3月21日，在科罗拉多州博尔德(Boulder, CO)，向上帝的信使马歇尔・维安・萨默斯(Marshall Vian Summers)揭示

Serving people is an idea that is familiar to you, but we must give you a larger vision of what it means. We must also caution you about the errors and assumptions that are generally made when people approach this idea and consider it for themselves. Serving people can become a great excuse, or it can become a great opening. It can be used to justify things that cannot be justified, or it can be used to support things that are truly worthy. What is the difference here? The difference here is one of preparation, temperament and motive.

为人服务是一个你熟悉的想法，但我们必须给你一个更大的视野，让你了解它的含义。我们还必须告诫你，当人们接近这个想法并为自己考虑时，一般都会出现错误和假设。为人服务可以成为一个伟大的借口，也可以成为一个伟大的开端。它可以被用来为那些无法证明的事情辩护，也可以被用来支持那些真正有价值的事情。这里的区别是什么？这里的区别是准备、气质和动机的区别。

Preparation determines how far you have come in The Way of Knowledge, how honest you are with yourself, how much you are aware of your own tendencies and difficulties and how much you are aware of the environment and its influences, including your primary relationships. Preparation determines how much you know, the degree of clarity that you have established, and so forth.

准备工作将决定你在内识之路上走多远，你对自己有多诚实，你对自己的倾向和困难有多了解，你对环境及其影响有多了解，包括你的主要关系。准备工作决定了你知道多少，你已经建立的清晰程度，等等。

Next, it is a question of temperament. Temperament will determine what your predisposition is—how you interpret your own behavior and the behavior of others and how you respond to the world according to your nature. If you have discovered your nature, your temperament will determine if and how you can work with it constructively.

接下来，是气质问题。气质将决定你的倾向性是什么——你如何解释自己的行为和他人的行为，以及你如何根据你的自性对世界做出反应。如果你已经发现了你的自性，你的气质将决定你是否可以以及如何与之建设性地合作。

Thirdly, it is a question of motive. Why do you seek to contribute to other people? What kind of motives do you have for yourself? What kind of motives have you assumed mindlessly from other people? Motive is always very important in gaining discernment. You will have false motives until your motives become true, and your true motives must be discovered because the false ones will fail. This is where maturity and advancement will play a great part in your success. Anyone can say, for instance, “I am here to serve people. My purpose is to serve people. I know I must serve people.” This generally meets with approval because it is a virtuous idea. But your motive determines everything. If you are personally motivated, the result of your actions will carry with it confusion, division of loyalty, fearfulness, anxiety, uncertainty, and so forth.

第三，这是一个动机的问题。你为什么要寻求对他人的贡献？你对自己有什么样的动机？你从其他人那里无意识地承担了什么样的动机？动机在获得辨别力方面总是非常重要。在你的动机变成真实之前，你会有错误的动机，你的真实动机必须被发现，因为错误的动机会失败。这就是成熟和进步将对你的成功起到很大作用的地方。例如，任何人都可以说：”我在这里是为人民服务。我的目的是为人民服务。我知道我必须为人服务”。这通常会得到认可，因为它是一个良性的想法。但是你的动机决定了一切。如果你的动机是个人的，你的行动结果就会带着混乱、忠诚的分裂、恐惧、焦虑、不确定，等等。

However, if your motivation is born of a deeper spiritual inclination, which we call Knowledge, then you will have an entirely different approach, and the results and the rewards will reflect this. If Knowledge is not the guiding principle in your motives, then you will not be able to bring about a spiritual transmission—you will not be able to activate Knowledge in another—and you will not be able to produce the beneficial results that will be truly lasting. Even your personal motivation to help others is born of your desire for self-gratification. Even your desire to serve people or to relieve suffering in others may be born of your desire to fulfill an aspect or an idea of yourself. This motivation is fundamentally selfish in nature. These personal motives will override the benefits that you are trying to achieve, and as a result, your giving will be fraught with uncertainty, fearfulness and restraint.

然而，如果你的动机是源于更深的精神倾向，也就是我们所说的内识，那么你将有一个完全不同的方法，结果和回报也会反映出来。如果内识不是你动机的指导原则，那么你将无法带来精神上的传递——你将无法在另一个人身上激活内识——你将无法产生真正持久的有益结果。甚至你帮助他人的个人动机也是源于你对自我满足的渴望。甚至你为人服务或减轻他人痛苦的愿望，也可能是源于你对自己某个方面或某个想法的满足。这种动机在本质上是自私的。这些个人动机将凌驾于你所要实现的利益之上，因此，你的给予将充满不确定性、恐惧和克制。

Everyone has personal motives to do good things. This is understandable. We are not saying these motives are evil; we are saying they simply must be set aside for something greater to emerge. The world has many problems, and it calls for selfless action. However, you must prepare for this, and you must grow with it as you proceed. Then something greater can be given to you. Then when you feed the hungry, relieve suffering, attend to the sick or provide valuable resources for other people—whatever the field or avenue of your expression—the Spiritual Presence will be expressed and transmitted. This is the greatest gift. This is mysterious. You cannot learn this in school. You can only prepare for it.

每个人都有做善事的个人动机。这是可以理解的。我们并不是说这些动机是邪恶的；我们是说它们只是必须被放在一边，以便出现更伟大的内识。世界上有许多问题，它要求无私的行动。然而，你必须为此做好准备，你必须在进行时与之一起成长。然后，更伟大的内识可以被赋予你。然后，当你喂养饥饿的人、减轻痛苦、照顾病人或为其他人提供宝贵的资源——无论你表达的领域或途径是什么——精神的临在将被表达和传播。这是最大的礼物。这是很神秘的。你不能在学校里学到这个。你只能为它做准备。

Those who have an association with the Greater Community, who are drawn and called by the Greater Community, and whose nature reflects the Greater Community, must study The Greater Community Way of Knowledge. This Teaching is especially for them. These people will not find their way anywhere else. Perhaps they will want the preparation to be different than it is. This is usually the case. When you find something that is a real answer to your real question, it often does not meet with your expectations. It does not seem to provide the desired things. And it requires things of you that perhaps you are not prepared to give or that you had not thought of giving. That is why understanding your motive and nature are so important here.

那些与大社区有联系的人，那些被大社区吸引和召唤的人，那些自性反映大社区的人，必须学习大社区内识之路。这个教学是专门为他们准备的。这些人在其他地方找不到自己的道路。也许他们会希望准备工作与现在不同。通常是这样的。当你找到一些对你真正问题的真正答案时，它往往不符合你的期望。它似乎没有提供所需的东西。而且它要求你做的事情也许是你不准备给的，或者是你没想过要给的。这就是为什么理解你的动机和自性在这里是如此重要。

You cannot teach The Greater Community Way of Knowledge effectively to individuals who do not have this inner association. They will attempt to use it as a form of therapy for themselves. Or they will use it to gain power, advantage, relationships, wealth, and so forth. It will be lost and wasted on them. They can neither claim it, understand it nor use it. This Teaching offers something far greater than even these things which are so highly valued and which are, in some cases, quite necessary. But you must have this Greater Community orientation inside of you. If not, then you must seek a different teaching and a different way. But if this Teaching is for you, then claim it you must and claim it you should, whether it seems to meet your expectations and preferences or not.

你无法将大社区内识之路有效地传授给那些没有这种内在联系的人。他们会试图把它作为自己的一种治疗形式。或者他们会用它来获得权力、优势、关系、财富，等等。它将在他们身上丢失和浪费掉。他们既不能要求它，也不能理解它和使用它。这个教学提供的内识甚至比这些被高度重视的、在某些情况下相当必要的事情还要大。但你的内心必须有这种大社区的取向。如果没有，那么你必须寻求不同的教学和不同的方式。但是，如果这个教导是为你而设，那么你就必须要求它，也应该要求它，无论它看起来是否符合你的期望和偏好。

If you are to serve others, then you must be served, and you must learn what being served really means, both in its practical and obvious aspects and in its mysterious aspects as well. You must be served, and you must accept the service that is yours to accept. Then you will learn what service you must give, who it is meant for and how it can be expressed. Then you will be able to understand as well the difficulty that people have in receiving the true answer to their request for help, rejuvenation and fulfillment.

如果你要为他人服务，那么你必须被服务，你必须学习被服务的真正含义，包括其实际和明显的方面，也包括其神秘的方面。你必须被服务，而且你必须接受属于你的服务。然后你将学习你必须给予什么服务，它是为谁而设，以及它如何表达。然后你将能够理解人们在接受对他们的帮助、复兴和满足的请求的真实答案方面所遇到的困难。

People incessantly ask the same questions: “Who am I? Why am I here? Who is with me? What must be done? “These are the essential questions. These are the questions that underlie all of the “Why this?” and the “Why that?” questioning. People are seeking for their true identity, and they are seeking for their Spiritual Family because true identity cannot be known outside the context of true relationship.

人们不断地问同样的问题。”我是谁？我为什么在这里？谁和我在一起？必须做什么？”这些是基本问题。这些问题是所有”为什么这样？”和”为什么那样？”问题的基础。人们在寻找他们的真实身份，他们在寻找他们的精神家庭，因为真实的身份不能在真实关系之外被知道。

In studying The Greater Community Way of Knowledge, people are seeking for their relationships beyond the boundary of humankind as well as within it. Their requirements are somewhat different from other people’s. Their Knowledge accounts for more than humanity alone, regardless of their ideas, fantasies or preferences. Many people are interested in the Greater Community but only as a form of escape from their own practical and emotional dilemmas. Yet those who know that the Greater Community is their life and their destiny must attend to what we are saying very carefully. Perhaps you who are reading this book already know that this applies to you. If so, then open yourself to receive this gift. Learn to be served. Learn to receive. Learn to set aside your preferences and requirements about what service must be for you. Many things that you want for yourself are not necessary while other things must be given and given in a way that you had not expected or that you cannot anticipate.

在学习大社区内识之路时，人们正在寻求人类边界之外以及人类内部的关系。他们的要求与其他人的要求有些不同。他们的内识所占的比例超过了人类本身，不管他们的想法、幻想或喜好如何。许多人对大社区感兴趣，但只是作为一种逃避自己的实际和情感困境的形式。然而，那些知道大社区是他们的生命和命运的人，必须非常仔细地关注我们所说的内容。也许正在读这本书的你已经知道这适用于你。如果是这样，那就敞开自己接受这份礼物。学会接受服务。学会接受。学会把你对服务必须是什么的偏好和要求放在一边。你为自己想要的许多东西是不必要的，而其他东西必须被给予，而且是以你没有预期或无法预期的方式给予。

If you can learn to be served, then you will learn what service is. This will ignite your desire to give, and it will also give you the Wisdom to learn how to give, to whom you must give and from whom you must withhold your gift. This is Wisdom. This must be learned as well. If you can patiently learn to be served, then your desire to give will grow naturally and the Wisdom that must attend it for it to find its fruitful expression in the world will grow as well.

如果你能学习被服务，那么你将学习什么是服务。这将点燃你给予的渴望，也将给你智慧，让你学会如何给予，对谁必须给予，对谁必须扣留你的礼物。这就是智慧。这也必须学习。如果你能耐心地学习接受服务，那么你的给予渴望就会自然增长，而为了在这个世界上找到富有成效的表达方式而必须伴随它的智慧也会增长。

For this, you will need a community of students of Knowledge. You will need others to demonstrate to you those things that must be cultivated, nourished and developed within yourself and those things that must be restrained or curtailed altogether. Until something is brought into the context of relationship, it is not yet fulfilled. It is only a potential. That is why The Way of Knowledge brings you into relationship.

为此，你将需要一个内识学生的社区。你将需要其他人向你展示那些必须在你内在培养、滋养和发展的内识，以及那些必须被限制或完全被削减的事情。在某些东西被带入关系的背景中之前，它还没有被实现。它只是一种潜力。这就是为什么内识之路把你带入关系中。

Perhaps you don’t want to come into relationship or the only kind of relationship you think you want is a romantic relationship. This is quite common because people often think that romantic relationship accounts for all of their relationship needs, and as a result they have such great expectations here. But in fact, romantic relationship is a very small part of your relationship needs overall.

也许你不想进入关系，或者你认为你唯一想要的关系是一种浪漫的关系。这很常见，因为人们常常认为浪漫关系占了他们所有的关系需求，结果他们在这里有如此大的期望。但事实上，浪漫关系在你整体的关系需求中只是很小的一部分。

This becomes quite evident in The Way of Knowledge, for here you will need individuals to teach you what is true and what is untrue. Here you will need others to help demonstrate to you what you need to see so that you can see objectively, which is easier to do with others than by yourself. They will teach you how to see yourself objectively as you learn to reflect upon your own actions and thoughts and the nature of your interaction with others. This is a very slow learning process. The essential steps must be taken and are often difficult to learn and to decipher.

这在内识之路中变得非常明显，因为在这里你需要个人来教你什么是真实的，什么是虚假的。在这里，你将需要他人帮助向你展示你需要看到的东西，以便你能客观地看待，这一点与他人在一起比自己一个人更容易做到。他们会教你如何客观地看待自己，因为你要学会反思自己的行为和思维，以及你与他人互动的性质。这是一个非常缓慢的学习过程。必须采取必要的步骤，而且往往很难学习和解读。

As we have said many times, The Greater Community Way of Knowledge is not an individual pursuit. It brings you into community, to show you that you are joined with life and that you need to join with specific people in specific ways for a specific purpose. This is where people tend to feel threatened and withdraw because they want to have everything but give very little of themselves. Even their giving is to make themselves richer. It is true that real giving will make you richer, but your real wealth is discovered through the reclamation of Knowledge. It is not counted in how many assets, friends and pleasures you have acquired in life. All of these are constantly threatened and are easily lost. But the reclamation of Knowledge cannot be lost unless it is neglected or denied, and even then it will abide with you and go with you wherever you go.

正如我们多次所说，大社区内识之路不是个人的追求。它把你带入社区，向你展示你与生命的结合，你需要为特定的目的以特定的方式与特定的人结合。这就是人们往往感到威胁和退缩的地方，因为他们想拥有一切，但自己的给予却很少。甚至他们的给予是为了让自己更富有。诚然，真正的给予会使你更富有，但你真正的财富是通过对内识的开垦发现的。它不被计算在你的生命中获得了多少资产、朋友和快乐中。所有这些都不断受到威胁，很容易失去。但是，内识的开垦是不会失去的，除非它被忽视或否认，即使如此，它也会与你同在，无论你走到哪里都会与你同行。

People say many things that are true, but they do not understand the truth in what they say. They interpret things according to their personal motives, you see. People say, “I must serve others. I must find my spiritual truth. I must develop my intuition. “You can say all the right things for all the wrong reasons. It is motive, preparation and temperament that are important.

人们说了很多真实的事情，但他们并不理解他们所说的真理。他们根据他们个人的动机来解释事情，你看。人们说：”我必须为他人服务。我必须找到我的精神真理。我必须发展我的直觉。”你可以为了所有错误的理由说所有正确的事情。重要的是动机、准备和气质。

If you truly want to serve others, and if you recognize that this is needed in order for you to reclaim your value and your gift and to discern your true nature, then you must learn to be served—not according to your dictates but according to what the answer itself calls you to do and to receive. For instance, if The Greater Community Way of Knowledge is the answer, then you must learn to receive it, to practice it and to comprehend it according to its methods. Certainly, how you approach it will be determined by your nature, your motives and your temperament, but nonetheless, you must develop according to its dictates. When people try to learn The Way of Knowledge according to their own personal motives, they will fail, but their failure will elude them until its real costs become known.

如果你真的想为他人服务，如果你认识到为了让你重新获得你的价值和你的礼物，并辨别你的真实本性，你就必须学习被服务——不是根据你的指令，而是根据答案本身召唤你去做和接受。例如，如果大社区内识之路是答案，那么你必须学习接受它，实践它，并根据它的方法来理解它。当然，你的天性、动机和气质将决定你如何对待它，但无论如何，你都必须按照它的要求去发展。当人们试图按照自己的个人动机来学习内识之路时，他们会失败，但在知道其真正代价之前，他们不会意识到自己的失败。

That is why we say if you wish to serve others, you must learn to be served. This is learning to receive. This is learning to accept. This is learning to discern. It is not blindly opening yourself to what is offered. It is learning to work with what is offered. If you do this, you will be able to discern your own nature. You will be able to recognize your motives. And you will be able to proceed in your preparation, becoming stronger, wiser and more mature. Maturity here is being able to recognize what is true and what is false and to separate them and choose accordingly. Time, practice and wise decisions bring this about, as well as the great assistance from your essential relationships—your relationships with other people and your relationship with your Spiritual Family, whose help and guidance are unknowingly received and utilized so that their benefits can be known. When you depart this life, you will be able to see more clearly why certain things happened for you and who was behind it after all.

这就是为什么我们说如果你想为他人服务，你必须学习被服务。这就是学习得到。这是学习接受。这是在学习辨别。它不是盲目地对所提供的东西开放自己。它是学习与所提供的内识一起工作。如果你这样做，你将能够辨别你自己的本性。你将能够识别你的动机。你将能够继续准备，变得更强大、更明智、更成熟。这里的成熟是指能够识别什么是真实的，什么是虚假的，并将它们分开，做出相应的选择。时间、实践和明智的决定带来了这一点，以及来自你的基本关系的巨大帮助——你与其他人的关系以及你与你的精神家庭的关系，他们的帮助和指导是在不知不觉中得到和使用，这样他们的好处就可以被知道。当你离开这个生命时，你将能更清晰地看到为什么某些事情会发生在你身上，以及毕竟谁在背后支持。

As you learn to be served, you will learn that your gift is meant for certain people and for certain situations to achieve certain kinds of results. Over time, if you have been learning to discern your nature and your motives, you will be able to discern other people’s natures, however different from yours, and their motives as well. People’s natures vary, but their motives do not. People’s motives, no matter how they are individually interpreted and expressed, fall into two categories: There is personal motivation, which is an attempt to make individual identity more secure, more distinct and more autonomous. And then there is the motivation of Knowledge, which will bring about a very different result. The uniqueness that Knowledge will emphasize in you has to do with your gift and your service. It will teach you that you are joined to all life in the world in order to carry out a specific role.

当你学习被服务时，你会学习到你的礼物是为某些人和某些情况而准备的，以达到某些类型的结果。随着时间的推移，如果你一直在学习辨别你的天性和动机，你将能够辨别其他人的天性，无论与你有多大的不同，以及他们的动机。人们的天性各不相同，但他们的动机却不一样。人们的动机，无论他们各自如何解释和表达，都可以分为两类。一种是个人动机，即试图使个人身份更安全、更独特、更自主。再有就是内识的动机，它将带来一个非常不同的结果。内识将在你身上强调的独特性，与你的礼物和服务有关。它将教导你，你与世界上所有的生命结合在一起，以便履行一个特定的角色。

You see, the world is a place of doing. It is not a place of being. Where you have come from before coming to the world is a place of being. So, you “be” there and you “do” here. Who you are here is what you do. Who you are there is who you are. This is a world where things must be done. It is a world of action and movement. That is what makes it temporary. You are here to do things. You are here to achieve certain things, both physically and internally as well. If you are to translate being into doing, then you must learn both how to be and how to do. It is not that you do not focus on being in the world. It is that you translate being into doing so that in whatever you do, you are able to express the essence of your nature and the mysterious force of Knowledge. This is the highest expression of service, whether you heal the sick as a physician or change people’s automobile tires, whether you create art to inspire people or work on preserving the environment.

你看，这个世界是一个做事的地方。它不是一个存在的地方。在来到这个世界之前，你所来自的地方是一个存在的地方。所以，你在那里”存在”，在这里”做”。你在这里是谁，就是你做什么。你在那里是谁，就是你是谁。这是一个必须做事情的世界。它是一个行动和运动的世界。这就是它的暂时性。你在这里是为了做事情。你在这里是为了实现某些事情，无论是身体上还是内在的。如果你要把存在转化为行动，那么你必须同时学会如何存在和如何行动。这并不是说你不注重在这个世界上存在。而是你要把存在转化为行动，这样无论你做什么，你都能表达你本性的本质和内识的神秘力量。这是服务的最高表达方式，无论你是作为医生治病还是为人们更换汽车轮胎，无论你是创造艺术来激励人们还是致力于保护环境。

Whatever your form of service, if Knowledge is being communicated, you are giving a tremendous gift, far exceeding your particular activity and whatever you may produce. This is because something is passing through you and being given to others. You are like a conduit of Knowledge here. But you are also a functional person carrying out specific activities.

无论你的服务形式如何，如果内识被传达，你就在给予一个伟大的礼物，远远超过你的特定活动和你可能产生的服务。这是因为有些礼物正通过你并被给予他人。你在这里就像一个内识的管道。但你也是一个有功能的人，进行特定的活动。

Therefore, the personal part of you is not sacrificed. It is elevated and given its rightful place within the larger context of your life. Then, as you proceed, you will do extraordinary things for people—sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly. And many of the motives that you had previously—of what you were going to do for people and what it was going to do for you—will have departed or been worn away. As you progress in The Way of Knowledge, your motives will change, and your nature will be enhanced and become known to you. And you will develop the Wisdom to receive your gift effectively and to guide its expressions in the best way possible.

因此，你的个人部分没有被牺牲。它被提升，并在你生命的大背景下被赋予其应有的位置。然后，当你继续前进时，你将为人们做非凡的事情——有时是有意的，有时是无意识的。而你之前的许多动机——你要为人们做什么，它要为你做什么——将离开或被消磨掉。随着你在内识之路上的进步，你的动机将改变，你的天性将得到加强，并为你所知。而你将发展出智慧，有效地接受你的礼物，并以最好的方式引导它的表达。

So, hold onto the idea that you are here to serve others. Nurture this idea. But open yourself to learning to be served. You cannot serve others if your development is being neglected, obstructed or denied. How do you learn to be served? By identifying and receiving the answer that is being given to you as the result of your request to know your purpose, your meaning and your direction in life. The answer is always a form of preparation. At a certain stage of your development, there will be a specific training or preparation for advancement. Before this, there is learning lessons, interacting with others and making mistakes in life. But at a certain point, it becomes a formal preparation. This preparation requires practice and dedication; it has structure and form, and so forth. Perhaps you will go through several different preparations of this kind until you find the one which will carry you across the bridge from your personal reality into a Greater Reality which is waiting to be discovered.

所以，坚持你是来为他人服务的想法。培养这个想法。但要开放自己，学会被服务。如果你的发展被忽视、阻挠或拒绝，你就无法为他人服务。你如何学会被服务？通过识别和得到正在给你的答案，这是你要求知道你的目的、你的意义和你的生命方向的结果。答案总是一种准备形式。在你发展的某个阶段，会有一个特定的训练或准备，以促进发展。在此之前，有学习课程，与他人互动，在生活中犯错。但到了一定阶段，就变成了正式的准备。这种准备需要实践和奉献；它有结构和形式，等等。也许你会经历几个不同的这种准备，直到你找到一个能把你从个人现实带入一个更大现实的桥梁，这个现实正等待着你去发现。

Here you must learn a practice, a spiritual practice. Here you must learn discernment. Here everything that you have learned before must come together with greater focus and self-determination. Here you are applying yourself wholeheartedly while you are carrying out a process that transcends your understanding. Here you are developing your abilities in tangible ways, and you are opening yourself to the Mystery, which is beyond your comprehension. If this can be achieved, others will be served because you have been served.

在这里，你必须学习一种实践，一种精神实践。在这里你必须学习辨别力。在这里，你之前所学的一切都必须以更大的专注和自我决定来汇集。在这里，你正在全心全意地运用自己，同时你正在进行一个超越你理解的过程。在这里，你正在以有形的方式发展你的能力，你正在向超出你理解的神秘内识敞开自己。如果能做到这一点，其他人将得到服务，因为你已经得到了服务。