Chapter 5: Working with the Mind

Working with the Mind – How to Focus the Mind
与心灵一起工作——如何集中心智

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on March 22, 1992 in Boulder, CO
1992年3月22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

Focusing and working with the mind is a very important topic for those who are undertaking a spiritual practice and who are seeking to comprehend the nature of the mental environment in which they live. There are many questions regarding how the mind should be approached. Most people follow the mind like resigned servants. Others struggle against the mind as if it were an evil force or a great nuisance that they must contend with. For many people, the mind is either approached as something that is followed unquestioningly or is considered to be an adversary.

对于那些正在进行精神练习和寻求理解他们所处的心理环境的性质的人来说，集中注意力和与心灵合作是一个非常重要的话题。关于应该如何接近心灵，有很多问题。大多数人像顺从的仆人一样跟随心灵。其他人则与心灵斗争，仿佛它是一种邪恶的力量或他们必须与之抗争的大麻烦。对许多人来说，心灵要么被当作不问世事的东西来对待，要么被认为是对手。

When you undertake a spiritual practice, you soon discover how chaotic your mind is and how your thoughts vary from one thing to another without any kind of consistency or purposeful direction. You come to recognize that there are certain patterns of thinking which lead to patterns of behavior and that this is part of your conditioning from being in the world. So, working with the mind is a great challenge. To be able to still the mind, focus the mind and direct the mind’s great resources is a tremendous challenge and one that requires preparation, practice and application.

当你进行精神练习时，你很快就会发现你的心灵是多么的混乱，你的思维是如何从一个想法到另一个想法，没有任何形式的一致性或有目的的方向。你开始认识到，有一些思维模式会导致行为模式，这是你在这个世界上的一部分条件。因此，与心灵打交道是一个巨大的挑战。能够静心、集中心智和引导心智的巨大资源是一个巨大的挑战，需要准备、练习和应用。

Let me begin now by giving you an idea of what a healthy relationship with your mind can look like. You have this mind that seems to overtake you, distract you and dominate you. It seems to govern your feelings and direct your actions, almost on its own. You begin to realize this when you begin to recognize that you have a vantage point beyond the mind from which you can observe and direct it. After all, if you can observe the mind and direct the mind, you cannot be in your mind. You are out of your mind, so to speak. This is a very important discovery and will lead you to realize that you have a relationship with your own mind. Up until this time, you were not aware of this relationship. The mind simply told you what to think and what to do and you did that, rarely thinking that perhaps you had a choice in the matter. Your mind was stimulated. It responded, and you did whatever it directed you to do.

让我现在开始给你一个关于与你的心灵建立健康关系的想法。你有这样一个看似支配你、分散你注意力并控制你的心灵。它似乎主宰着你的感受并引导你的行动，几乎是自行其事。当你开始意识到你有一个超越心灵的观察点，可以观察和引导它时，你开始意识到这一点。毕竟，如果你能观察心灵并引导心灵，你就不可能处于心灵之中。可以说，你已经超越了自己的心智。这是一个非常重要的发现，将让你意识到你与自己的心灵有一种关系。在此之前，你并不意识到这种关系。心灵简单地告诉你该怎么想、该怎么做，而你就照做了，很少想到也许你在这方面有选择权。你的心灵被刺激了。它做出了回应，而你则按照它的指示去做。

However, when you reach the point where you realize that you can stand outside your mind and observe and direct it, then you will realize that you have a relationship with your mind. It is at this point that the mind can seem to be a great adversary and a great nuisance. You wish it weren’t there! Or, perhaps you wish it were more compliant to your newfound will and preferences. Some people think of the mind as a great machine which is programmed to do certain things and it does those things repetitively and responds to the environment in predictable ways. Others consider the mind to be something evil that they want to get away from, as if it were the source of all of their suffering and misery. Still others think that the mind is a wonderful thing that they can harness, use and apply—a tremendous energy or resource that they will try to harness and use to produce the things that they want. So, they try to change the mind’s thinking and program the mind themselves.

然而，当你达到这样的程度，即你意识到你可以站在你的心灵之外，观察和指导它，那么你将意识到你与你的心灵有一种关系。正是在这一点上，心灵似乎是一个强大的对手和一个巨大的麻烦。你希望它不在那里!或者，也许你希望它能更顺从你新发现的意志和喜好。有些人认为心灵是一台优秀的机器，它被编程为做某些事情，它重复地做这些事情，以可预测的方式对环境做出反应。另一些人认为心灵是一种邪恶的东西，他们想远离它，好像它是他们所有痛苦和不幸的来源。还有一些人认为心灵是一种奇妙的东西，他们可以驾驭、使用和应用——一种巨大的能量或资源，他们将试图驾驭和使用它来生产他们想要的东西。因此，他们试图改变心灵的思维，自己对心灵进行编程。

All of these approaches will fail and are doomed with many, many problems. None of them represent a healthy relationship with the mind. They hold that the mind is either a tyrant, a nuisance, or a servant. This does not represent a healthy relationship. Would you want to have such a relationship with another person? Would you want another person to be a dominating influence, a nuisance or a servant? Of course not, if you want a healthy, cooperative relationship. Even though you and your mind are not on equal footing, you have a relationship nonetheless, and your mind can serve a greater purpose if it is trained to do this. The mind has a certain range of responsibility, but beyond that range it cannot function effectively. The mind primarily is here to govern the body and to enable you to interact with the environment. However, for the mind to do this effectively and constructively, you must learn to work with it—not to avoid it, dominate it, conquer it or be subservient to it.

所有这些方法都会失败，而且注定会有很多很多的问题。它们都不代表与心灵的健康关系。他们认为心灵要么是暴君，要么是讨厌的人，要么是仆人。这并不代表一种健康的关系。你想和另一个人有这样的关系吗？你想让另一个人成为一个支配者，一个讨厌鬼或一个仆人吗？当然不会，如果你想要一个健康、合作的关系。即使你和你的心灵不处于平等地位，但你们还是有一种关系，如果你的心灵被训练成这样，它可以为更大的目的服务。心灵有一定的责任范围，但超出这个范围它就不能有效地发挥作用。心灵在这里主要是为了管理身体，使你能与环境互动。然而，为了让心灵有效地、建设性地完成这项工作，你必须学会与它合作，而不是回避它、支配它、征服它或服从它。

You have a personal side and an Impersonal side. They together have a relationship. This relationship is something that will take a great deal of time to cultivate. As you proceed, you will realize that the personal mind needs some things. It needs certain kinds of comfort and stimulation in order to remain healthy. You realize that the Impersonal side also need certain kinds of comfort and stimulation to remain healthy and functional. Here the mind can serve you, and you can also serve the mind.

你有个人的一面，也有非个人的一面。它们共同具有一种关系。这种关系是需要大量的时间来培养的。随着你的进展，你会意识到个人的心智需要一些东西。它需要某些类型的舒适和刺激，以保持健康。你会意识到，非个人的一面也需要某些类型的舒适和刺激，以保持健康和功能。在这里，心灵可以为你服务，而你也可以为心灵服务。

If you think of your relationship with your physical body, it is easier to see that it is a wonderful mechanism that is capable of doing marvelous things. It enables you to participate in the world directly. The body has its aches and its pains, and it has its needs and its discomforts. If it is approached in a healthy way, you will see that the body is a tremendous asset which allows you to carry out something of great importance in the world. Of course, most people do not have this approach to the body. It also is seen either as a tyrant, a nuisance or a servant. If the body is a tyrant, then its needs and appetites govern you completely, and you feel miserable and helpless in the face of it all. If it is a nuisance, then you tend to react to the body in a harsh and destructive way, forcing it to do things to try to prove to yourself that you can overcome it. This also happens when you treat the body like a servant.

如果你想到你与物质身体的关系，就更容易看到它是一个奇妙的机制，能够做奇妙的事情。它使你能够直接参与到这个世界中。身体有它的疼痛，有它的需要，有它的不舒服。如果以健康的方式对待它，你会发现身体是一笔巨大的财富，使你能够在这个世界上进行一些非常重要的事情。当然，大多数人对身体没有这种态度。它也被看作是一个暴君，一个讨厌的人或一个仆人。如果身体是暴君，那么它的需求和食欲就会完全支配你，面对这一切，你会感到悲惨和无助。如果它是个讨厌鬼，那么你就倾向于以苛刻和破坏性的方式对身体做出反应，强迫它做一些事情，试图向自己证明你能战胜它。当你把身体当作仆人时也会发生这种情况。

Your relationship with your body is very much like your relationship with your mind, with some important differences. First, your mind is more permanent than your body; it will exist beyond your physical life. Second, the mind is far more complicated and far more powerful than your body. It interacts in a mental environment that transcends the physical environment. Therefore, it is impossible to have the mind be your servant. However, it is possible for the mind to serve you, but the relationship has to be far more cooperative. Servants are generally treated with a minimal amount of respect and regard and a great deal is asked of them. This cannot be a healthy approach to the mind, nor can it be a healthy approach to the body. Both have their needs and both have their great services. Yet the mind provides a greater service than the body, for the personal mind serves as a medium between physical life and your spiritual reality. It interacts with both of these great domains and serves as a membrane through which information can pass from your spiritual reality into physical life.

你与身体的关系非常像你与心灵的关系，但有一些重要的区别。首先，你的心灵比你的身体更持久；它将在你的身体生命之外存在。第二，心灵比你的身体要复杂得多，也强大得多。它在一个超越身体环境的心理环境中互动。因此，让心灵成为你的仆人是不可能的。然而，让心灵为你服务是可能的，但这种关系必须是更加合作的。仆人通常只受到最低限度的尊重和重视，而对他们的要求却很高。这不可能是对待心灵的健康方法，也不可能是对待身体的健康方法。两者都有其需要，都有其伟大的服务。然而，心灵提供的服务比身体更大，因为个人的心智是身体生活和你的精神现实之间的媒介。它与这两个伟大的领域相互作用，并作为一个膜，信息可以通过它从你的精神现实传到物质生活中。

This can only be realized and experienced if the mind is held to be a great servant and a great mechanism for service in the world. It cannot be your personal servant. You cannot use it simply to acquire more money, more love and more advantages. When this is the case, you do not respect its greater abilities or its greater meaning. To use the mind for selfish ends such as these will only bring disaster to you. That is why we point instead to a greater form of development for the mind. How is this development achieved? Development is achieved by following a preparation for training and discernment that you have not created for yourself. This preparation has been provided in many forms. For those who respond to the Greater Community and have a relationship with the Greater Community, The Greater Community Way of Knowledge has been provided. The Way of Knowledge is an appropriate means to train the mind and also to generate a healthy relationship with the mind.

只有当心灵被认为是一个伟大的仆人和在世界中服务的伟大机制时，这才能被实现和经历。它不能成为你个人的仆人。你不能仅仅利用它来获得更多的钱、更多的爱和更多的好处。如果是这样的话，你就没有尊重它更伟大的能力或更伟大的意义。为了这些自私的目的而使用心灵，只会给你带来灾难。这就是为什么我们要指出心灵的更伟大发展形式。这种发展是如何实现的？发展是通过遵循你没有为自己创造的训练和辨别的准备来实现的。这种准备已经以多种形式提供。对于那些响应大社区并与大社区有关系的人，已经提供了大社区内识之路。内识之路是训练心灵的适当手段，也是与心灵建立健康关系的手段。

Because the mind is a limited mechanism, though far more expansive than the body, it poses certain problems. First of all, it must be trained properly and wisely. It cannot be trained for purely personal reasons, for it must serve a Greater Reality and a greater need within you. You will need to redirect some of your thoughts, but Knowledge within you must be the source of this instruction. You, personally, cannot do it. Likewise, you personally cannot make the body do things that the body cannot do without creating great harm to yourself physically.

由于心灵是一种有限的机制，虽然比身体要宽广得多，但它带来了某些问题。首先，它必须得到适当和明智的训练。不能纯粹为了个人原因而训练它，因为它必须为更大的现实和你内心更大的需要服务。你将需要重新引导你的一些想法，但你内心的内识必须是这个指令的来源。你个人无法做到这一点。同样，你个人也不能让身体做那些身体不能做的事情，而不给自己的身体造成巨大的伤害。

The mind, then, is a great resource, but you need to have a healthy relationship with it. This means that you provide certain things that the mind needs. The mind needs a certain degree of stability. It needs a certain degree of protection from adversity. It needs stimulation. It needs what we call “rethinking.” So, let me now talk about rethinking.

那么，心灵是一个伟大的资源，但你需要与它建立一个健康的关系。这意味着你要提供心灵需要的某些东西。心灵需要一定程度的稳定。它需要一定程度的保护，使其免遭逆境。它需要刺激。它需要我们称之为”重新思考”的东西。所以，现在让我谈谈反思。

Consider your personal mind like a great vat of concrete that is all wet and viscous. If you do not stir it and keep it moving, it hardens into a certain form. Once it hardens, it is very difficult to make it fluid once again. So, it is very important that the mind is stimulated. Its greatest stimulation will come from Knowledge, for as the mind is brought into service to Knowledge, it is continually stimulated with new ideas and new experiences and the requirement that things be re-evaluated according to their relevance to present time. This keeps stirring the mind, so to speak, and keeps it fluid. It keeps it young, fresh and active. If the mind is allowed to harden, its ability to respond to new influences, new information and new relationships becomes severely hampered. Past a certain point, it is not able to respond to new things at all. This is when the mind ceases to be a living organism. This is when having a healthy relationship with the mind becomes very, very difficult.

考虑你的个人心智就像一大桶混凝土，都是湿的和粘稠的。如果你不搅动它，不让它移动，它就会硬化成某种形式。一旦它变硬，就很难再让它变得流畅。因此，刺激心灵是非常重要的。它最大的刺激来自于内识，因为当心灵为内识服务时，它不断地受到新想法和新经历的刺激，并要求根据事物与当前的相关性来重新评估。这可以说是不断地搅动心灵，使其保持流动。它使心灵保持年轻、新鲜和活跃。如果允许心灵变硬，它对新影响、新信息和新关系的反应能力就会受到严重阻碍。过了某个点，它就根本无法对新事物做出反应。这时心灵就不再是一个活的有机体。这时，与心灵建立健康的关系变得非常、非常困难。

If the mind is following Knowledge—which means that your mind is attending to a Greater Power within you, a Greater Power that it can neither design nor harness—it is required to rethink things over and over again. Without service to a Greater Power, people will not rethink their ideas. They will only fortify their position. Rethinking means that you must redefine your position and in some cases abandon it altogether. Rethinking is a necessary part of education. Certainly, when you think of your education, even in a formal sense in your schooling, you will realize that the courses or programs of study that were most stimulating required you to rethink and to entertain different perspectives and points of view, consider new facts and alter your position or take no position at all.

如果心灵在追随内识——这意味着你的心灵在关注你体内的一种更伟大的力量，一种它既不能设计也不能驾驭的更伟大的力量——它就需要一次又一次地重新思考事情。如果不服务于一种更伟大的力量，人们就不会重新思考他们的想法。他们只会强化自己的地位。反思意味着你必须重新定义你的立场，在某些情况下完全放弃它。反思是教育的一个必要部分。当然，当你想到你的教育，甚至在学校教育的正式意义上，你会意识到，那些最具有刺激性的课程或学习计划要求你重新思考，接受不同的观点和看法，考虑新的事实，改变你的立场或根本不采取任何立场。

In order for the mind to be able to rethink, it must have something beyond itself to which it is responding and which it is serving. The only thing that this can be is Knowledge within you. Therefore, the mind’s healthy relationship is with Knowledge, which is like the “real you” behind you, the real Being behind the temporary person. This sets things in right order. This sets things in the right order with yourself physically as well, for the body is meant to serve the mind, and the mind is meant to serve Knowledge, or Spirit. This is a tremendous change from being in an individual human state of mind, where the mind is made to serve the body and spirituality is thought to serve the mind, if it is thought of at all. Therefore, to develop a healthy relationship with the mind, you must focus on Knowledge and allow the mystery of Knowledge to exist within you.

为了使心灵能够重新思考，它必须有超越自身的东西，它要对这些东西作出反应，并为其服务。这唯一的东西就是你内心的内识。因此，心灵的健康关系是与内识的关系，它就像你身后的”真正的你”，是临时人背后的真正存在。这使关系有了正确的顺序。这让你的身体也有了正确的秩序，因为身体是为了服务心灵，而心灵是为了服务内识或精神。这是一个巨大的改变，因为在人类个体的心智状态中，心灵是为身体服务的，精神是为心灵服务的，如果它被认为是这样的话。因此，要发展与心灵的健康关系，你必须专注于内识，让内识的神秘性存在于你的里面。

The mind needs certain things that are concrete in order to establish a foundation or a belief system. Without a belief system, the mind is in a state of chaos and cannot be focused in any direction. This is what insanity is—when the structure of the mind, or the structure of thinking, has broken down to a point where even the will of Spirit cannot work through it. Here the mind has fallen into disarray and dysfunction. Therefore, the mind needs certain assumptions and familiar surroundings, at least to a certain point, in order to function effectively. Just like the body needs food, water, shelter and clothing and a certain amount of soothing, the mind needs reassurance, compatible relationships, a stable environment, at certain points, and new ideas. These are its needs. Neglect these needs, and the mind will fall into disarray, and you will not be able to have a healthy relationship with it.

心灵需要某些具体的东西，以便建立一个基础或信仰体系。如果没有信仰体系，心灵就会处于混乱状态，无法专注于任何方向。这就是精神错乱——当心灵的结构，或思维的结构，已经崩溃到连精神的意志都无法通过它工作的地步。在这里，心灵已经陷入混乱和功能失调。因此，心灵需要某些假设和熟悉的环境，至少在某种程度上，以便有效地运作。就像身体需要食物、水、住所和衣服以及一定量的安抚一样，心灵需要保证、相容的关系、稳定的环境，在某些时候，以及新的想法。这些都是心灵的需要。忽视这些需求，心灵就会陷入混乱，你将无法与它建立健康的关系。

You can have certain ideas that the mind holds to, and this is fine. You can have certain relationships that stimulate the mind, and this is necessary although few people, indeed, have this as a benefit. But you must have something that the mind can serve, that stimulates it and that exists beyond it. This keeps the mind fluid, which allows rethinking to occur. This allows the mind to be active and alive. This enables you to establish a healthy relationship with the mind. Unless this relationship is being cultivated, you cannot work with the mind. You will either try to take it over or you will be running from it.

你可以有某些想法，让心灵坚持，这很好。你可以有某些刺激心灵的关系，这也是必要的，尽管确实很少有人将此作为一种好处。但你必须有一些心灵可以服务的东西，刺激它，并存在于它之外。这使心灵保持流动，这使重新思考得以发生。这使心灵能够活跃和有活力。这使你能够与心灵建立一种健康的关系。除非这种关系得到培养，否则你无法与心灵合作。你要么试图接管它，要么你就会逃避它。

Let us bring this into the realm of spiritual practice, for here is where you encounter the mind directly. When you are learning the way of stillness, which produces an environment in which Knowledge can emerge within you, you realize that the mind is constantly thinking, constantly moving, distracting you, taking you away, and so forth. You find here that as it is doing this, you are actually within your mind, for your reference point is still in your mind, and so wherever it goes, you go. In practice, you are trying to bring yourself back to a position of objectivity and observation, but the mind takes off, and it takes you with it. It goes here, there and everywhere. It thinks about things that are grand, and it thinks about things that are ridiculous, and it imagines all kinds of scenarios—little dramas in which you then find yourself. It is like a television that is running all the time.

让我们把这一点带入精神练习的领域，因为这里是你直接接触心灵的地方。当你在学习静止的方法时，它产生了一种环境，使内识能够在你的内心涌现，你意识到心灵在不断地思考，不断地移动，让你分心，把你带走，诸如此类。你在这里发现，当它这样做的时候，你实际上是在你的心灵中，因为你的参考点仍然在你的心灵中，所以无论它去哪里，你都会去。在实践中，你试图把自己带回到一个客观和观察的位置，但心灵起飞了，它带着你。它在这里，在那里，在任何地方。它想的东西很宏大，它想的东西很荒谬，它想象出各种场景——小剧情，然后你发现自己在其中。它就像一台一直在运行的电视。

So, in spiritual practice, how do you deal with the television running all the time? Here you set a certain focal point for yourself. It is like tuning the television into one kind of frequency or channel. You have to learn to do this, and only practice will enable you to do it. You have to have a focal point, and your mind has to have a focal point as well. In the Steps to Knowledge program, there are many different focal points that are introduced. For instance, you are asked to focus on the word RAHN. The mind continues to go all over the place, but you bring it into focus on this word and this sound. There are other focal points: the Fire of Knowledge within you, a still point within you, your breathing, a part of your body. You can do this with your eyes closed or with your eyes open. This brings the mind into focus, which amplifies its power and establishes for you a position outside the mind. Focusing establishes and enables you to experience this position outside the mind.

那么，在精神练习中，你如何处理一直运行的电视？在这里，你为自己设定一个特定的焦点。这就像把电视调到一种频率或频道。你必须学会这样做，只有练习才能使你做到。你必须有一个焦点，而你的心灵也必须有一个焦点。在内识的阶梯课程中，有许多不同的焦点被介绍。例如，你被要求专注于RAHN这个词。心灵继续到处乱转，但你把它集中在这个词和这个声音上。还有其他焦点：你体内的内识之火，你体内的一个静点，你的呼吸，你身体的一部分。你可以闭着眼睛或睁着眼睛做这个。这使心灵成为焦点，放大了它的力量，并为你建立了一个心灵之外的位置。专注建立并使你能够经历到这种心灵外的位置。

Over and over, you practice hundreds and thousands of times, like practicing musicians who must practice scales over and over again. They never give up this practice. You must practice focusing the mind in your spiritual practice. As you do this over time, the mind becomes less chaotic. It becomes more uniform and more compliant to whatever you ask it to do. It also demonstrates its needs to you so that you can recognize what it needs. For example, the mind needs a certain amount of similarity. It can’t be dealing with new things all the time. It needs to rest on things that are familiar. At the same time, the mind needs new ideas and new stimulation. The mind needs to fall in line behind Knowledge. These things all have to be balanced together, and this will require skill and Wisdom on your part. If you ask the mind to have new experiences all the time, you will wear it out and it will not be able to function. It cannot integrate new information continuously and will end up going into revolt against you if you are too oppressive with it.

你一遍又一遍地练习，成百上千次，就像练习音乐的人必须一遍又一遍地练习音阶。他们从未放弃过这种练习。你必须在你的精神练习中练习集中心智。当你长期这样做的时候，心灵就会变得不那么混乱了。它变得更加统一，更加顺从于你要求它做的任何事情。它也会向你展示它的需求，以便你能识别它的需求。例如，心灵需要一定量的相似性。它不可能一直在处理新事物。它需要在熟悉的事物上休息。同时，心灵需要新的想法和新的刺激。心灵需要在内识后面排成一列。这些东西都必须一起平衡，这需要你的技巧和智慧。如果你要求心灵一直有新的经历，你会使它疲惫不堪，它将无法发挥作用。它不能持续地整合新的信息，如果你对它过于压制，最终会对你产生反感。

So, there is a question of balance here. Knowledge provides this balance because Knowledge provides new information and stimulation and then long periods of stillness. During these periods of stillness, the mind is allowed time to integrate itself. Rethinking is allowed and encouraged. There is stimulation, and there is time for adjustment, rethinking and reassociation. In this way, like taking steps, the mind can grow and progress while maintaining its inner stability. Then, even its most familiar and cherished ideas are able to grow slowly. They are not blown apart. These adjustments are made slowly and carefully, as if you were building something with a very conscientious approach. Then, in time, the mind begins to think for you. It has a foundation upon which to exist. Its needs are being honored and served, and it is being kept stimulated and redirected.

所以，这里有一个平衡的问题。内识提供了这种平衡，因为内识提供了新的信息和刺激，然后是长期的静心期。在这些静心期间，允许心灵有时间来整合自己。允许并鼓励重新思考。有刺激，就有时间进行调整、重新思考和重新联想。通过这种方式，就像迈开步子一样，心灵可以成长和进步，同时保持其内心的稳定。然后，即使是它最熟悉和最珍惜的想法也能够慢慢成长。它们不会被吹散。这些调整是缓慢而谨慎地进行的，就像你在用非常认真的方法建造什么东西一样。然后，随着时间的推移，心灵开始为你思考。它有一个赖以生存的基础。它的需求得到了尊重和服务，它被不断地刺激和重新引导。

Consider another example: Consider that your mind is like a government that is not functioning very well, as most governments in your world are not. If you want to change the government and you want it to be more productive, more kind, more efficient, and more stable, how will you approach this? Will you march in with your armies and conquer it and force every aspect of it into submission? This is how certain people approach their minds when they undertake spiritual practice. Or will you neglect it and say, “Well, it will forever be a great inefficient body and all you can do is try to live with its inefficiencies and do the best you can.” You do that and what changes? Nothing.

考虑另一个例子。考虑到你的心灵就像一个运作不畅的政府，就像你们世界上大多数政府一样，运作不畅。如果你想改变这个政府，你想让它变得更有生产力、更善良、更有效率、更稳定，你将如何处理这个问题？你会带着你的军队进军并征服它，迫使它的每个方面都服从吗？这就是某些人在进行精神练习时，如何对待他们的心灵。或者你会忽视它，说：”好吧，它将永远是一个强大的低效率的身体，你所能做的就是试着与它的低效率共处，并尽你所能。”你这样做，有什么变化？什么都没有。

So, how do you regovern a government? How do you regovern the mind? These questions are similar. The mind has many aspects that interact with one another. So does a government. The mind will go into disarray unless it has a greater purpose and a greater set of priorities to serve. So will a government. The mind has tremendous power and affects the quality of your life. So does a government. The mind needs a wise ruler. So does a government. The mind has different voices and different aspects, which must be recognized and brought together into an efficient working relationship. So does a government. The similarities go on and on. Therefore, if you become wise in your relationship with your mind and in working with your mind, you become a wise leader, a wise governor, so to speak. This means that you have compassion and respect for that which you govern. You try to take into account all aspects of that which you govern and serve everything to the greatest degree possible. This means that you must balance things constantly, that you cannot be too radical regarding one or two ideas while neglecting everything else. That is why following The Greater Community Way of Knowledge creates leadership, both internally and externally. It creates balance and Wisdom, a wise government internally and a wise government externally. That is why it is the path of resolution and the path of fulfillment.

那么，你如何治理一个政府？你如何治理心灵？这些问题是相似的。心灵有许多方面，它们相互影响。一个政府也是如此。除非有一个更大的目的和一套更大的优先事项来服务，否则心灵会陷入混乱。一个政府也会如此。心灵有巨大的力量，影响着你的生命质量。一个政府也是如此。心灵需要一个明智的统治者。政府也是如此。心灵有不同的声音和不同的方面，必须认识到这一点，并将其整合为一种有效的工作关系。政府也是如此。这些相似之处不胜枚举。因此，如果你在与心灵的关系和与心灵的合作中变得明智，你就会成为一个明智的领导者，可以说是一个明智的管理者。这意味着你对你所管理的事物有同情心和尊重。你试图考虑到你所治理的事物的所有方面，并尽可能地服务于一切。这意味着你必须不断地平衡关系，你不能在一两个想法上过于激进，而忽略了其他一切。这就是为什么遵循大社区内识之路会创造出领导力，无论是内部还是外部。它创造了平衡和智慧，对内是一个明智的政府，对外是一个明智的政府。这就是为什么它是解决之路，也是成就之路。

Many people want to govern their outer lives more effectively, but their inner lives are chaotic. That is like saying, “We’ll leave the government alone, but we will make the city look more beautiful. We’ll plant trees.” People try to make their outer life look more benign or more pleasurable or more harmonious, but unless they regovern themselves and assume responsibility for the government of their minds, nothing will change. They will have nicer scenery perhaps, but the real state of things will be the same.

许多人想更有效地管理他们的外在生活，但他们的内在生活是混乱的。这就像说：”我们不会管政府，但我们会让城市看起来更漂亮。我们会种树。”人们试图使他们的外在生活看起来更良性、更愉悦或更和谐，但除非他们自我管理，对他们的心灵管理承担责任，否则什么都不会改变。他们也许会有更漂亮的风景，但内在的真实状况将是一样的。

As I speak of these things, perhaps you will say, “My God! This is too enormous for me! How can I possibly do all this?” Well, the truth is that you do part of it and Knowledge does part of it. Day by day, moment to moment, you learn to address the mind and work with the mind, and you give it things to focus on that are productive, just like you learn to do with your physical body. Yet part of the mind is governed by something greater. So, you have a range of responsibilities and Knowledge has a range of responsibilities. You are responsible for what you think and what you do with what you think, but Knowledge is responsible for giving the mind its purpose, meaning and direction. Here you are like a wise manager, but you do not govern the state. Recognizing this enables you to have a greater resource of Wisdom to carry out your range of responsibilities, which is quite enormous. The fact that people cannot manage their lives or their minds is evident, and so anyone who can do it to any degree has progressed and has a great advantage in life.

当我谈到这些事情时，也许你会说：”我的上帝！这对我来说太庞大了！”。这对我来说太庞大了!我怎么可能做到这一切？”好吧，事实是，你做了其中的一部分，内识做了其中的一部分。日复一日，时时刻刻，你学会处理心灵，与心灵一起工作，你让它专注于有成效的事情，就像你学会处理你的身体一样。然而，心灵的一部分是由更伟大的内识支配的。所以，你有一系列的责任，内识也有一系列的责任。你对你所想的和你用你所想并做的负责，但内识负责赋予心灵以目的、意义和方向。在这里，你就像一个明智的管理者，但你并不管理国家。认识到这一点，你就能拥有更大的智慧资源来履行你的职责范围，而这一范围是相当巨大的。人们无法管理自己的生活和心灵，这一事实是显而易见的，因此，任何能够在任何程度上做到这一点的人都已经进步了，在生活中具有很大的优势。

You are given the means for your development. We provide The Greater Community Way. It is effective if people learn to follow it and are patient and wise. When people begin preparation, oh, they want big results right now. They are jumping up and down to have things resolved and accomplished in their lives, but in reality things happen in a more slow and progressive manner. This assures substantial and lasting results and true progress. If you jump ahead, you can fall back just as easily. When you jump up in the air, you come down right away. But when you follow a plan and a means that is more slow, gradual and constructive, then you truly advance, and you will not fall away or fall back so easily.

你被赋予了发展的手段。我们提供大社区之路。如果人们学会遵循它并有耐心和智慧，它是有效的。当人们开始准备时，哦，他们希望现在就有大的结果。他们上蹿下跳地想在生活中解决和完成一些事情，但实际上事情是以一种更缓慢和渐进的方式发生的。这保证了实质性和持久的结果和真实的进步。如果你往前跳，你也会很容易掉下来。当你在空中跳起时，你马上就会下来。但是，当你遵循一个更缓慢、渐进和建设性的计划和手段时，你就会真正进步，你就不会那么容易掉队或回落。

To prepare you to work with the mind and to have a genuine relationship with the mind as well as with the Greater Power within you, The Greater Community Way of Knowledge is being provided. Without this kind of preparation, you could not do it. Try as you may to have good behavior and positive thoughts, you would not be able to escape your dilemmas because you could not establish yourself outside of your mind effectively. You could not establish a new foundation, a new vantage point, a new position. This requires assistance beyond yourself, not just friendly encouragement from those who appreciate you, but real assistance from those who possess a greater spiritual power. They provide their presence, their inspiration and the practical means for your accomplishment.

为了让你准备好与心灵合作，与心灵以及与你体内的更伟大的力量建立真正的关系，我们提供了大社区内识之路。如果没有这种准备，你就无法做到这一点。尽管你尝试有良好的行为和积极的想法，但你将无法摆脱你的困境，因为你无法在你的心灵之外有效地建立自己。你无法建立一个新的基础，一个新的观测点，一个新的位置。这需要超越自己的援助，不只是来自那些欣赏你的人的友好鼓励，而是来自那些拥有更大精神力量的人的真正援助。他们提供他们的存在，他们的灵感和实际的手段让你完成。

You either choose to prepare or you do not. If you do not, you can only think about it and contemplate it. Here you are still staying within your own ideas. When you prepare, you encounter new ideas, which requires rethinking, readjustment and a new position with your mind. This gives your internal state direction and momentum to move forward. Without preparation, you are walking around but are going in circles. You cannot go anywhere new. Trying to teach yourself things is very slow, and the prospects for success are quite remote. You will tend to recycle old ideas. When people walk in a wide circle rapidly, it looks to them like they are going somewhere. Yet, they are just making themselves dizzy and are not covering any new territory. The mind is not rethinking. Rethinking doesn’t simply mean re-evaluating a position you have had or ideas with which you are familiar. Rethinking requires new information, new experiences and new challenges. These must come from beyond you. This activates your relationship with God and with your Spiritual Family. This provides an upward and outward movement for you.

你要么选择准备，要么不准备。如果你不做，你只能想一想，沉思一下。在这里，你仍然停留在你自己的想法中。当你准备时，你会遇到新的想法，这需要重新思考，重新调整，并与你的心灵有一个新的定位。这使你的内部状态有了方向和动力，可以向前迈进。没有准备，你就在走来走去，但却在绕圈子。你不能去任何新的地方。试图教自己学习是非常缓慢的，而且成功的前景相当遥远。你会倾向于循环使用旧的想法。当人们在一个大圈子里快速行走时，在他们看来，他们好像要去什么地方。然而，他们只是把自己弄得晕头转向，并没有覆盖任何新的领域。心灵没有重新思考。反思并不简单地意味着重新评估你曾经的立场或你所熟悉的想法。反思需要新的信息、新的经历和新的挑战。这些必须来自于你之外。这激活了你与上帝和你的精神家庭的关系。这为你提供了一个向上和向外的运动。

The transition from being governed by your mind to adhering to something greater is one that must happen slowly to enable you to maintain your stability. At a certain point, formal preparation is absolutely necessary. If it is avoided or neglected, you cannot proceed. It represents a commitment to change and to rearrange your relationship with your mind and your body and with everything around you. This requires courage. This requires openness. This requires a recognition of genuine need within you. Life will teach you this need. If you are being honest with yourself, you will realize how great it is. You can only do so much for yourself. Beyond this, things have to be done for you and given to you and shown to you. That is why it is necessary to seek a preparation that you did not invent for yourself. This is what takes you into new territory, allows genuine rethinking to occur and opens you up to greater possibilities, which would not be available to you otherwise.

从被你的心灵支配到坚持更伟大的内识，这个过渡必须慢慢发生，以使你能够保持稳定。在某一点上，正式的准备是绝对必要的。如果回避或忽视它，你就无法继续下去。它代表了一个改变的承诺，重新安排你与你的心灵和身体以及你周围一切的关系。这需要勇气。这需要开放性。这需要承认你内心真正的需要。生命会教会你这种需求。如果你对自己诚实，你会意识到它是多么伟大。你只能为自己做这么多。除此以外，还必须为你做一些事情，给你一些关系，向你展示。这就是为什么有必要寻求一种你没有为自己发明的准备。这就是把你带入新领域的原因，允许真正的反思发生，并把你打开到更大的可能性，否则你就无法得到这些。

Those who have undertaken the preparation in The Greater Community Way of Knowledge must exercise great perseverance and patience. People generally want things to move along quickly, to get to the resolution, to get to the realization, right now! Or they want to slow things down because things are moving too fast. “Oh, my God! I can’t handle it!” Over time you will realize that you have a certain pace that you can follow, for your mind must rethink and also restabilize itself. So, there is growth and there is integration and there is restabilizing yourself. Day to day, moment to moment, this can make things look very slow, but this is how growth is accomplished and how stability is achieved. Some people want to shoot out like a rocket. However, when the rocket lands, it blows itself to bits. If you do not want to be blown to bits, then do not shoot out like a rocket. Climb like the man or woman on the mountain who must move very slowly, who must understand each move and have great respect and consideration for the mountain itself. This is a good image and one that is worthwhile.

那些在大社区内识之路中进行准备的人，必须有极大的毅力和耐心。人们一般都希望事情进展迅速，马上得到解决，马上得到实现！或者他们希望事情进展缓慢，因为他们不知道该怎么办。或者他们想让事情慢下来，因为事情发展得太快了。”哦，我的上帝！我无法处理！我无法处理！”随着时间的推移，你会意识到，你有一定的节奏可以遵循，因为你的心灵必须重新思考，也必须重新稳定自己。因此，有成长，有整合，也有重新稳定自己。日复一日，每时每刻，这可能使事情看起来非常缓慢，但这就是成长的完成方式和稳定的实现方式。有些人希望像火箭一样射出去。然而，当火箭落地时，它把自己炸成了碎片。如果你不想被炸成碎片，那么就不要像火箭一样射出去。要像山上的男人或女人一样攀登，他们必须非常缓慢地移动，必须理解每一个动作，并对山本身有极大的尊重和考虑。这是一个很好的形象，也是一个很值得的形象。

If you begin the preparation that has been provided for you and follow it faithfully and patiently, if you allow rearrangement to happen in your outer life and rethinking to occur in your inner life, if you learn to recognize your range of responsibilities, which the preparation itself will make evident to you, and if you allow the greater range of responsibilities to exist for Knowledge to guide you, then you can proceed. Then you will learn not only to work with the mind but to appreciate its great benefits as well.

如果你开始进行为你提供的准备工作，并忠实而耐心地遵循它，如果你允许在你的外部生活中发生重新安排，允许在你的内心生活中发生重新思考，如果你学会认识到你的责任范围（准备工作本身会让你明白这一点），如果你允许更大范围的责任存在，让内识引导你，那么你就可以继续前进。然后，你将不仅学会与心灵合作，而且还能欣赏它的巨大益处。