Chapter 19: What is religion?

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on October 30, 1993 in Boulder, CO
1993年10月30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

In many teachings in the world it is thought that religion is an attempt to answer or resolve the fundamental problem of human suffering. In this sense and in this understanding, religion is a plan to enable human beings to escape their condition and attain a greater state of mind and a far better condition, either within the world or beyond, though beyond the world is usually what is emphasized.

在世界上的许多教义中，人们认为宗教是一种试图回答或解决人类痛苦这一根本问题的努力。从这个意义上去看，并以这种理解来解释，宗教是一个计划，使人类能够摆脱他们的现状，达到更大的心智状态和更好的状态，无论是在世界范围之内还是在世界之外，尽管通常强调的是世界之外。

Religion is seen as an attempt to define what human suffering is, to determine its causes and to establish an approach where these causes can be reversed or overturned in some way so that human suffering can be remedied, providing humanity a greater comfort and a greater destiny. However, let us redefine the purpose of religion so that religion can have a new meaning and a new application in your life.

宗教被视为一种尝试，以界定什么是人类的痛苦，确定其原因，并建立一种方法，使这些原因能够以某种方式被扭转或颠覆，从而使人类的痛苦得到补救，为人类提供更大的安慰和更大的命运。然而，让我们重新定义宗教的目的，使宗教在你的生命中能有新的意义和新的应用。

In a Greater Community context, the purpose of religion is to enable Knowledge to be discovered and expressed in whatever world religion is being cultivated. Religion, then, is a means to bring about an important end. Its purpose here in this world is not to end human suffering or to resolve the human dilemma. Its purpose is not even to bridge the great and seemingly incomprehensible gulf that exists between your human mind and the mind of God. It is not an attempt to wholly unite physical life and spiritual life. In a Greater Community context, religion is the means for the discovery and application of Knowledge. Ultimately, this resolves your relationship with God and with everything else in the universe. This ends suffering. This unravels the causes of suffering and makes their existence no longer necessary. But this occurs only in an ultimate sense.

在大社区背景下，宗教的目的是使内识能够在任何世界宗教中被发现和表达。因此，宗教是实现一个重要目的的手段。它在这个世界上的目的不是为了结束人类的痛苦或解决人类的困境。它的目的甚至不是为了弥合存在于你的人类心智和上帝心智之间的巨大和似乎不可理解的鸿沟。它不是试图将物质生活和精神生活完全结合起来。在大社区背景下，宗教是发现和应用内识的手段。最终，这解决了你与上帝以及与宇宙中其他生命的关系。这就结束了痛苦。这就解开了痛苦的原因，使其不再有必要存在。但这只是在终极意义上发生的。

If you have the viewpoint that your world is the only inhabited world in the universe, then you will think that you must achieve the ultimate reality right away. However, you do not understand here that you will miss all of the steps in between—steps that you cannot see, steps that you do not think exist but which in reality await you. From a Greater Community perspective, the progress and evolution of life and the evolution of awareness are much greater, with many more steps and stages of development. This offers you a larger panorama in order to see what it means to live a spiritual life and what religion can mean and must mean. With this new definition of religion, many new possibilities open up. Here you are given an entirely new starting point in your understanding of what spiritual calling and spiritual reality mean while you are living in the world.

如果你有这样的观点：你的世界是宇宙中唯一有人居住的世界，那么你会认为你必须马上实现终极现实。然而，你在这里不明白，你将错过中间的所有步骤——你看不到的步骤，你认为不存在但实际上在等待你的步骤。从大社区的角度来看，生命的进步和进化以及意识的进化要大得多，有更多的步骤和发展阶段。这为你提供了一个更大的全景图，以便看到精神生活的意义，以及宗教可以意味着什么，也必须意味着什么。有了这种对宗教的新定义，许多新的可能性就打开了。这里给你一个全新的起点，让你理解当你生活在这个世界上时，精神上的召唤和精神上的现实意味着什么。

Your purpose here is not to escape the world. Your purpose here is not to leap into the ultimate reality. Your purpose here is not to completely unite your existence in the world with that ultimate reality. These things only have meaning and context in an ultimate sense, which is beyond your scope and need here. Your existence in the world is but one stage in a long process, one part of a great journey. This stage has many unique problems, yet it is part of something much greater. If you cannot appreciate this, then you will assume and expect incredible things from yourself and incredible things from your God. This will lead you to attempt to make associations and compromises and to unite things that are dissimilar in such a way that even your ability to be in the world will become impaired. Here your ability to deal with practical things will become confused and out of focus.

你在这里的目的不是为了逃避世界。你在这里的目的不是要跃入最终的现实。你在这里的目的不是将你在世界上的存在完全与那个终极现实结合在一起。这些事情只有在终极意义上才有意义和背景，而这超出了你在此时此地的范围和需求。你在这个世界上的存在不过是一个漫长过程中的一个阶段，是伟大旅程的一部分。这个阶段有许多独特的问题，然而它是更大现实的一部分。如果你不能理解这一点，那么你将对自己和你的上帝抱有不可思议的期望。这将导致你试图做出不相容的关联和妥协，试图将不相似的现实结合在一起，以至于你在世界上的生存能力将受到损害。在这里，你处理实际事务的能力将变得混乱并失去焦点。

The world is one reality. Your Ancient home is another reality. You cannot unite them. However, you can bring something into the world from your Ancient home. This has meaning here. This is appropriate. The real role of religion is to provide a context, a method, a structure and the direction to enable this to happen. This will give you the encouragement, the strength, the determination and the assistance you will need to find the Greater reality which lives within your Knowledge and to be able to express it specifically according to your nature and purpose here in life.

世界是一个现实。你的古老家园是另一个现实。你无法将它们结合起来。然而，你可以从你的古老家园把一些礼物带到这个世界上。这在这里有意义。这是很恰当的。宗教的真正作用是提供一种背景、一种方法、一种结构和方向，以使其发生。这将给你鼓励、力量、决心和帮助，你将需要找到生活在你内识中的更大现实，并能够根据你的本性和生命目的来具体表达它。

The purpose of religion in this context is not to answer the ultimate questions of life. These questions can only be understood and resolved as you progress through the stages of development, many of which exist far beyond the scope of your life in the world. Here it is very important to have a Greater Community perspective. With this perspective, you will be able to see what is relative and what is ultimate. You will be able to see how a pathway through this world can lead in a greater direction for a greater purpose. Here you will see that the end of your life in the world is not the end of your progress and development. Here you will see that God is not preoccupied with the world and that the world is not the ultimate test of your will and dedication. Here you will see that there is something very important for you to do here and that you do not want to have to return because you failed to realize or to carry out your greater purpose here. Then you will come to understand that the greater questions in life concern the whole universe and not simply your personal existence in the world at this time.

在这种情况下，宗教的目的不是为了回答生命的终极问题。这些问题只能在你发展的各个阶段得到理解和解决，其中许多问题的存在远远超出了你在这个世界上的生命范围。在这里，拥有一个大社区的视角是非常重要的。有了这个视角，你将能够看到什么是相对的，什么是终极的。你将能够看到通过这个世界的途径如何能够通往一个更大的方向，达到一个更大的目的。在这里你将看到，你在这个世界上生命的结束并不是你进步和发展的结束。在这里你会看到，上帝并不专注于这个世界，世界也不是对你意志和奉献的最终考验。在这里你会看到，有一些非常重要的事情要你在这里做，你不希望因为你没有实现或执行你在这里的更伟大的目的而不得不返回。然后你会明白，生命中更大的问题涉及整个宇宙，而不仅仅是你个人此时在世界上的存在。

From a Greater Community perspective, you will see that the range of your relationships and associations far exceeds the scope of your current friendships. From a Greater Community perspective, these things become self-evident. However, from a human perspective, with an anthropocentric emphasis, these things seem incomprehensible, impossible, unattainable or avoidable.

从大社区的角度来看，你将看到你的关系和关联的范围远远超过了你目前的友谊的范围。从大社区的角度来看，这些关系变得不言自明。然而，从人类的角度来看，以人类为中心的强调，这些事情似乎是不可理解的、不可能的、无法实现的或是可避免的。

You cannot resolve ultimate questions in a temporary reality. You cannot resolve the problem of human suffering within the context of this life alone. This is not because you need to come back into the world again and again, but because your life in the Greater Community involves a much larger process. When you leave this world and no longer need to return here, you will be a beginner in the next stage of development. That stage involves recognizing the identities of the universe. It involves participating in the Greater Community. That is why we bring Greater Community understanding, perspective and Wisdom into the world at this time. We do this not only to prepare you for your encounters with Greater Community forces but because you need a religious foundation that is far greater, more expansive and more inclusive than what you have cultivated thus far. This is not to replace your world’s religions but to give them greater scope, a greater perspective and a new foundation.

你无法在一个暂时的现实中解决终极问题。你不能仅在今生的范围内解决人类的痛苦问题。这并不是因为你需要一次又一次地回到这个世界，而是因为你在大社区的生命涉及一个更大的过程。当你离开这个世界，不再需要回到这里，你将成为下一个发展阶段的初学者。这个阶段涉及认识宇宙的特性。它涉及到参与大社区。这就是为什么我们在这个时候把大社区的理解、观点和智慧带到这个世界。我们这样做不仅是为了让你准备好与大社区的势力相遇，而且是因为你需要一个比你迄今所培养的更大、更广阔、更包容的宗教基础。这并不是要取代你们世界的宗教，而是要给它们更大的范围、更大的视角和新的基础。

You cannot see the great panorama of life from where you stand. You must go to a higher vantage point. You cannot see where you have been, where you are and where you are going and understand these things from your current position. You must attain a higher vantage point, where these things are obvious. You have no perspective at this moment to understand the greater questions of your life. You cannot even understand what Knowledge is, what higher purpose is and what true relationship is from your current position. Pose as many answers and explanations as you wish, yet you will not have the answer, and your questioning will not be resolved. The only resolution to your questioning is to take the journey because this takes you to the higher vantage point where you can look back and see where you have been within the context of what you are trying to do within the larger scheme of life. This is the only way that purpose and Knowledge can really be understood, and that is why you must advance. Without advancement, there is no real understanding. All understanding in place of advancement is only a form of false self-assurance. It has no meaning or foundation.

你不能从你所站的地方看到生命的伟大全景。你必须去到一个更高的观测位置。你不能从你目前的位置看到你已经在哪里，你在哪里，你要去哪里，并理解这些事情。你必须达到一个更高的观测点，在那里这些事情是显而易见的。此刻你没有任何视角来理解你生命中的更大问题。你甚至不能从你目前的位置理解什么是内识，什么是更高宗旨，什么是真实的关系。你想提出多少答案和解释都可以，然而你不会有答案，你的质问也不会得到解决。解决你的疑问的唯一方法是去旅行，因为这将你带到更高的观测位置，在那里你可以回顾并看到你在更大的生命计划中试图做什么的背景下你已经在哪里。这是能真正理解目的和内识的唯一途径，这就是为什么你必须进步。没有进步，就没有真正的理解。所有代替进步的理解只是一种虚假的自我保证。它没有任何意义和基础。

We bring The Greater Community Way of Knowledge to you to enable you to have this greater understanding and to recognize and climb the mountain that is yours to climb in life. Ultimate questions and ultimate answers are found along the way. You cannot understand them standing where you are now. You must make the journey. You must prepare in The Way of Knowledge and find out firsthand what Knowledge is, what it means and where it takes you.

我们把大社区内识之路带给你，使你能够有这种更多的理解，并认出和攀登属于你的生命之山。终极问题和终极答案都是在这一路上找到的。你不能站在你现在的位置上理解它们。你必须踏上旅程。你必须在内识之路上做好准备，亲身发现内识是什么，它意味着什么，它能把你带到哪里。

What enables you to do this is religion. Here we must separate the word “religion” from the many associations that you may have with it. Religion is not just a church and a congregation. It is not a minister. It is not a bible. It is greater than these. We are speaking from a Greater Community perspective now. We are redefining the word “religion” for you so that it can have a new meaning and be relevant to your life, your needs and your deeper understanding.

使你能够做到这一点的是宗教。在这里，我们必须把”宗教”这个词与你可能有的许多联想分开。宗教不仅仅是一个教堂和一个会众。它不是一个牧师。它不是一本圣经。它比这些更大。我们现在正从大社区的角度说话。我们正在为你重新定义”宗教”这个词，以便它能有一个新的含义，并与你的生命、你的需求和你更深的理解相关。

Religion is education. Religion is experience. Religion is the means of preparation. It is not something you simply believe in or adhere to in order to gain some future salvation. It is not something that you invest in, that you sign up for or that you buy into as if you were buying lottery shares in heaven. It is not a forgiveness or a dispensation. Religion is a means. It is a method. It is a way. It is a way to advance. It is a way to prepare. It is a way to get you up that mountain and to enable you to make the journey. Religion provides the instruction, the curriculum and the companionship that you will need to make it up the mountain and to find that vantage point where you can look out on your life and really see what it is, where you have been and where you are now.

宗教是教育。宗教是经历。宗教是准备的手段。它不是你为了获得某种未来的救赎而简单相信或坚持的信仰。它不是你投资的财产，不是你注册的工会，也不是你购买的股票，就像你购买天堂的彩票份额一样。它不是一种宽恕，也不是一种免除。宗教是一种手段。它是一种方法。它是一种方式。它是一种进步的方式。它是一种准备的方式。它是一种让你上山的方法，让你能够完成这个旅程。宗教提供指导、课程和陪伴，你将需要这些准备来登上山峰，找到那个观测的位置，在那里你可以展望你的生命，真正看到生命是什么，你曾经在哪里，你现在在哪里。

Until you gain this greater vantage point, you can have as many definitions, theories and philosophies as you like. However, you will not know the way, and you will not know the meaning of the way. These things can only be found by making the journey itself—by entering new thresholds of understanding, by entering greater and greater rooms of experience and by gaining Wisdom. From each new threshold of experience, you will go on to take on something greater, to broaden your perspective, to continue to open your mind, to rethink your thoughts and to re-evaluate your position. This is what religion is for. This is what religion is.

在你获得这个更高的观测位置之前，你可以有很多定义、理论和哲学，只要你愿意。然而，你不会知道道路，你也不会知道道路的意义。这些意义只有通过旅行本身才能找到——通过进入理解的新门槛，通过进入越来越大的经验房间，通过获得智慧。从每一个新的经验门槛中，你将继续接受更大的生命，拓宽你的视野，继续打开你的心智，重新思考你的想法，重新评估你的立场。这就是宗教的作用。这就是宗教是什么。

The Greater Community Way of Knowledge is religion because it is a means for fulfilling your purpose here. It is a means for assisting you in climbing the great mountain of your life. It is a means for you to gain access to Knowledge and to learn what Knowledge is through proper application and understanding. In the Greater Community, this is religion. In The Way of Knowledge, there are areas of study, there are devotional experiences, there are invocations and so forth. However, the essence of The Way of Knowledge is its purpose, not its form.

大社区内识之路是宗教，因为它是实现你在这里的目的的一种手段。它是协助你攀登生命大山的一种手段。它是一种手段，让你获得内识，并通过正确的应用和理解，学习什么是内识。在大社区里，这就是宗教。在内识之路中，有学习的领域，有虔诚的体验，有祈求等等。然而，内识之路的本质是其目的，而不是其形式。

The Greater Community Way of Knowledge comes from Knowledge—Knowledge of the universe, a Knowledge far more inclusive and far more expansive than anything that you can conceive of at this moment or even anything that you could experience throughout your whole life in this world. It is The Greater Community Way of Knowledge’s purpose that gives its methodology true efficacy and meaning. This is religion. Here religion is a means of preparation. Religion is what points you in the right direction. Religion is what defines your true goals within your relative reality in a way that you can experience and appreciate at the deepest level of yourself.

大社区内识之路来自于内识——对宇宙的内识，这种内识比你此刻所能想象的任何东西，甚至比你在这个世界上的整个生命所能经历的任何关系都更有包容性，更广阔。正是大社区内识之路的目的赋予了它的方法论真实的功效和意义。这就是宗教。在这里，宗教是一种准备的手段。宗教也为你指出正确的方向。宗教是在你的相对现实中确定你的真正目标，以一种你能在自己的最深层面上体验和欣赏的方式。

When people hear the word religion, they think of their religious experiences—experiences of going to a church, a synagogue or a place of worship, or experiences of somebody attempting to educate them in a certain faith or faith tradition. Perhaps the word religion is associated with feelings of pain, guilt, shame or remorse. Yet to understand what we are presenting here, you must take the idea of religion and separate it from your past associations to the best of your ability. You cannot bring these past associations, this past referencing, into a new understanding.

当人们听到宗教这个词时，他们会想到他们的宗教经历——去教堂、犹太教堂或礼拜场所的经历，或有人试图在某种信仰或信仰传统中教育他们的经历。也许宗教这个词与痛苦、内疚、羞耻或悔恨的感觉有关。然而，要理解我们在这里提出的内容，你必须把宗教的概念与你过去的联想分开，尽你所能。你不能把这些过去的联想，这种过去的参照，带入新的理解。

Religion is important because you need this new understanding. Gaining this new understanding is what religion is for. This is what religious experience brings to you. You would not be reading these words and you would not be valuing them, certainly, unless you have had a religious experience. However, religious experience has nothing to do with a church or with how you were raised as a child. It has to do with gaining access to a Greater Mind within you and a greater range of experience that stands in contrast to your normal experience of the world. It establishes something that can be known rather than something you simply think, speculate about, sense or touch. It is something greater and deeper. It is something unique and meaningful, even if you cannot understand its uniqueness and its meaning as yet.

宗教是重要的，因为你需要这种新的理解。获得这种新的理解是宗教的目的。这就是宗教经历带给你的东西。除非你有过宗教经历，否则你不会阅读这些文字，你也不会重视它们，当然。然而，宗教经历与教堂或你小时候的成长方式无关。它与进入你内在的更大心智和更大范围的经历有关，与你对世界的正常经历形成对比。它建立了可以被知道的内识，而不是你简单地思考、猜测、感觉或触摸的想法。它是更伟大、更深刻的内识。它是一种独特和有意义的理解，即使你还不能理解它的独特性和意义。

Religion in the Greater Community is not one belief system over another. It is not one allegiance to a hero or a heroine over another. It is not one theological understanding over another. In the Greater Community, religion is methods of preparation, initiation, experience and accomplishment. Sometimes ceremonies are needed for this. Sometimes no ceremonies are needed. Sometimes there are great edifices built. Usually no great edifices are built.

在大社区中，宗教不是一种信仰体系胜过另一种信仰体系。它不是对一位英雄或女英雄的效忠胜过对另一位英雄或女英雄的效忠。它不是一种神学理解胜过另一种神学理解。在大社区中，宗教是准备、启动、经历和成就的方法。有时需要为此举行仪式。有时不需要仪式。有时需要建造宏伟的建筑。通常的情况下，并不需要建造宏伟的建筑。

In the Greater Community, religion and religious education are usually carried out in a clandestine fashion because they represent a greater devotion and dedication, a greater recognition of power and a greater allegiance than can be given to any worldly power or government. That is why in highly organized and advanced societies, religion is something that is strictly controlled by the ruling powers. Therefore, in order to provide the real preparation, the religious expressions are subtle. There are rarely great edifices established in The Way of Knowledge. Rarely will you find real religion to be a part of the government of any world. Its teaching and practices are usually carried out with great care, discernment and discretion. In this, there is no great show or pageantry. There is only quiet work and preparation, quiet contribution and selfless endeavor.

在大社区中，宗教和宗教教育通常是以秘密的方式进行的，因为它们代表着更大的奉献和投入、更大的力量认可以及超过任何世俗权力或政府的忠诚。这就是为什么在高度组织化和先进的社会中，宗教是由统治力量严格控制的。因此，为了提供真正的准备，宗教的表达是微妙的。在内识之路中很少会建立宏伟的建筑。你很少会发现真正的宗教是任何世界政府的一部分。它的教学和实践通常是以极大的谨慎、辨别力和隐秘性进行的。在这一点上，没有大张旗鼓或盛大仪式。只有安静的工作和准备，安静的贡献和无私的努力。

Real religion gives you the greatest opportunity for self-realization. This gives you the greatest possibility to fully experience your purpose, to remember those who gave you this purpose and to experience your design and the One who designed you. You can see that religion as we are describing it here is very different from what you may have experienced in the past. And it is very different from what you see demonstrated in the world.

真正的宗教给你自我实现的最大机会。这给了你最大的可能性来充分体验你的目的，记住那些给你这个目的的存在，经历你的设计和设计你的内识。你可以看到，我们在这里描述的宗教与你过去可能经历的非常不同。而且它与你在世界范围内看到的表现非常不同。

Because religion represents many stages in the initiation of Knowledge—the Knowledge of God, the experience of God, the experience you share with God, the Knowledge that you share with God—it goes beyond all definitions. It exceeds all historical pageantries and traditions. It is spirituality that transcends the boundaries of religion as you know it.

因为宗教代表了内识启动的许多阶段——对上帝的内识、对上帝的体验、你与上帝分享的经历、你与上帝分享的内识——它超越了所有的定义。它超越了所有的历史庆典和传统。它是超越你所知的宗教界限的精神性。

You see, religion and spirituality are different. Spirituality is the essence and the substance. Religion is the method and the means. In the Greater Community, because of the diversity of life, there is never just one way. The differences in nature, temperament, orientation, belief and communication in intelligent life in the Greater Community are so great that no one way could suffice for all beings. This is true in your world as well, though many people still try to make their way the only way in order to dispel their own disbelief and to give themselves false assurances. In the Greater Community, you rarely find this kind of arrogance and competition. Here religion is taken far more seriously than it is in this world. Religion in the Greater Community does not offer vast social programs. It does not promise relationships and love. It is not a means for making money. It is something that is taken very seriously, often at great risk.

你看，宗教和精神性是不同的。精神性是本质和实质。宗教是方法和手段。在大社区里，由于生命的多样性，从来都不是只有一种方法。大社区的智慧生命在性质、气质、方向、信仰和交流方面的差异是如此之大，以至于没有一种方式可以满足所有的生命。这在你的世界也是如此，尽管许多人仍试图使他们的方式成为唯一的方式，以消除他们自己的怀疑并给自己虚假的保证。在大社区中，你很少会发现这种傲慢和竞争。在这里，宗教比在这个世界上被更严肃地对待。大社区的宗教不提供庞大的社会计划。它不承诺关系和爱。它不是一种赚钱的手段。它是一项非常严肃的工作，往往要冒很大的风险。

Very few races which engage in space travel have religion as we are describing it. The emphasis in most advanced societies is on social cohesion. They regard with suspicion and even hostility the idea of the uniqueness of the individual, the idea of independent thinking and the idea of following a greater but mysterious power. These things are threatening to a highly developed social order. That is why The Way of Knowledge is taught in a very secret manner.

很少有从事太空旅行的种族拥有我们所描述的宗教。大多数先进社会的重点是社会凝聚力。他们以怀疑甚至敌视的态度看待个人的独特性、独立思考的想法和追随一个更大但神秘的力量的想法。这些事情对高度发达的社会秩序是一种威胁。这就是为什么内识之路是以一种非常秘密的方式传授的。

The Greater Community Way of Knowledge attracts those who have a sincere and serious approach and who are capable of applying themselves consistently. It is not for the thrill seeker. It is not a lifesaver for those who are in trouble or turmoil. It is not a temporary relief or expedient. It is not something that is used to glorify oneself or to set oneself above others. Even though all these things are evident in the world, they are not part of the real meaning of religion and of spirituality. Given all of the pageantries, traditions, edifices, beliefs and theologies that have been created and defended in the world, even up to this moment, the real experience of purpose, Knowledge and Wisdom far exceeds what these things alone can contain. A pageantry, a tradition, a theology, a ceremony or a rite of passage can only speak of something greater that far exceeds its definition and scope. Only those who cultivate Knowledge can treat these things as a means and not as an end, as a method and not as a final solution. Only those who are developing real Knowledge and a depth of understanding can realize and use religion as a means and a pathway.

大社区内识之路吸引了那些有诚意和认真态度的人，他们能够持续地应用自己。它不适合寻求刺激的人。它不是那些陷入困境或动荡的人的救命稻草。它不是一种暂时的救济或权宜之计。它不是用来颂扬自己或使自己凌驾于他人之上的工具。尽管所有这些事情在世界范围内都很明显，但它们不是宗教和精神性的真正意义的一部分。鉴于世界上所有的庆典、传统、建筑、信仰和神学都被创造和捍卫，甚至到现在为止，目的、内识和智慧的真正经验远远超过这些事情本身所能包含的。一个庆典、一个传统、一个神学、一个仪式或一个仪式只能说明更大的现实，远远超过其定义和范围。只有那些培养内识的人，才能把这些东西当作一种手段而不是目的，当作一种方法而不是最终解决方案。只有那些正在发展真正的内识和理解深度的人，才能意识到并使用宗教作为一种手段和途径。

The mountain of life is very great. There are different pathways. No one is quicker than the other. The question is which one is right for you. The only way you will know which one is genuinely right for you is because Knowledge will take you there. Your ambitions will not take you there. Your goals and desires will not take you there. Your quest for love or money will not take you there. Only Knowledge will take you there. There are false paths, and many of them, because of all the things that motivate people that are not Knowledge. There are many wasted endeavors and wasted lives because of all the things that motivate people which are not born of Knowledge.

生命之山是非常伟大的。有不同的途径。没有哪一条比另一条更快。问题是哪一条是适合你的。你知道哪一条真正适合你的唯一方法是，内识将带你到那里。你的野心不会带你到那里。你的目标和欲望不会带你到那里。你对爱情或金钱的追求不会带你到那里。只有内识会带你到那里。有一些错误的道路，而且很多，因为所有激励人们的想法都不是内识。有许多浪费的努力和浪费的生命，因为所有激励人们的想法都不是从内识中产生的。

Essentially, religion is The Way of Knowledge, in whatever tradition it is placed. It emphasizes real understanding. Real understanding of direction, purpose and meaning in life is born of a deeper and more profound experience, of a greater association and sense of inclusion and of yielding to a Greater Power that is active and alive in your life. You can be a Catholic, a Buddhist or a tribesman and have this experience. You could be anyone in the world and have this experience. If you continue to have this experience, open yourself to it and seek instruction and companionship, you will be following The Way of Knowledge. You will be living a religious life within a larger context of understanding. This is the meaning and value of all religions in the world. This is the essence that gives them meaning and value.

从本质上讲，宗教是内识之路，无论它被置于何种传统之中。它强调的是真正的理解。对生命方向、目的和意义的真正理解源于更深刻的经历，源于更大的关联和包容感，源于对活跃在你生命中的更大力量的屈服。你可以是一个天主教徒、一个佛教徒或一个部落的人，也可以有这种经历。你可以是世界上任何一个人，都有这种经历。如果你继续拥有这种经历，向它敞开自己，并寻求指导和陪伴，你将遵循内识之路。你将在一个更大的理解范围内过着宗教生活。这就是世界上所有宗教的意义和价值。这就是赋予它们意义和价值的本质。

In the Greater Community, essence is more important than form because religion must be translatable from one culture to another, from one race to another and from one world to another. What is pure and essential about religion is what is translatable within it—what can be given from one mind to another and from one world to another, spanning the great differences in nature, culture, temperament, environment and so forth that exist in the Greater Community.

在大社区里，本质比形式更重要，因为宗教必须可以从一种文化转化为另一种文化，从一个种族转化为另一个种族，从一个世界转化为另一个世界。宗教的纯洁性和本质是其内在的可转换性——可以从一个心灵到另一个心灵，从一个世界到另一个世界，跨越大社区中存在的自然、文化、气质、环境等方面的巨大差异。

In Greater Community Spirituality, suffering is escaped through meaningful activity in life. However, even meaningful activity has its trials and tribulations, its failed expectations, its disappointments and its genuine losses. A genuine life in the world is not a life without suffering. But what lessens the impact of suffering, what overshadows it, what puts it in the background and what makes it relative is that a greater purpose and association are being emphasized. Most of the miseries that confound and imprison the human mind are escaped as one advances in The Way of Knowledge, but not all suffering is escaped. Life continues to be difficult and problematic. Your body has its aches and pains. Your mind has its problems and troubling thoughts, feelings and experience, but they do not dominate your attention now, and as you advance they cannot hold you back or limit your experience.

在大社区精神性中，痛苦是通过有意义的生活活动来摆脱的。然而，即使是有意义的活动也有其磨难，有其失败的期望，有其失望和真正的损失。在这个世界上，真正的生命不是没有痛苦的生活。但是，减轻痛苦的影响，掩盖它，把它放在背景中，使它成为相对的，是强调一个更伟大的目的和关联。随着人们在内识之路中的进步，大多数困惑和禁锢人类心灵的苦难都被摆脱了，但不是所有的苦难都被摆脱了。生活仍然是困难和问题重重。你的身体有它的痛楚和疼痛。你的心灵有它的问题和麻烦的想法、感觉和体验，但它们现在并没有支配你的注意力，随着你的进步，它们不能阻碍你或限制你的经验。

The world is a difficult learning situation. There is no easy way to be here if you are being honest with yourself. However, there is a way to be here when something meaningful is being done and being accomplished. Then when you leave, you leave with the memory of what has been done and what has been accomplished. Think of it like this: If you think of any former time in your life when you were doing something special or unique, you’ll remember it by what you accomplished and what you experienced. You won’t remember all the little details, all the moment-to-moment experiences, all the conversations that took place or all the activities that were carried out. What will you remember? You will remember what was done and if anything real happened in terms of your relationships with others. If something did happen or something did not happen in this regard, this alone will be the content of your memory.

世界是一个艰难的学习环境。如果你对自己诚实地面对，没有一种轻松的方式可以在这里生存。然而，当你在做一些有意义的事情并且取得成就时，这里就会有一种方式。当你离开时，你会带着你所做的事情和成就的记忆离开。这样想吧：如果你回想起你生活中的某个特殊或独特的时刻，你会通过你所完成的事情和所经历的事情来记住它。你不会记得所有的细节、每一个时刻的经历、所有的对话或所有的活动。你会记得什么？你会记得所完成的事情，以及在与你的关系中是否发生了什么真实的事情。如果在这方面确实发生了什么或没有发生什么，这将成为你记忆的全部内容。

This will be your memory after leaving this world. You will not remember all the moments, the hours, the days, the activities, the interests and the difficulties. You will not remember anything in your household. You will not remember what you said or what you did specifically. However, you will remember what you accomplished and what you did not accomplish, according to the greater purpose that had brought you into the world. This is what will be remembered after you leave here.

当你离开这个世界时，这将是你的记忆。你不会记得所有的瞬间、小时、天数、活动、兴趣和困难。你将不记得你家里的任何事情。你不会具体记得你说了什么或做了什么。然而，你会记得你完成了什么，你没有完成什么，根据把你带到这个世界的更伟大的目的。这就是你离开这里后将被记住的内容。

The purpose of religion, therefore, is to take you to your great accomplishment. That is why religion is important, because this accomplishment is the only thing that is important about being in the world. Everything else is just all the things that happen along the way. What is essential is what brought you here. What is essential is what will be remembered after you leave. What is essential is who you represent and what you represent through your experience, your communication and your accomplishment. Nothing else matters.

因此，宗教的目的是把你带到你的伟大成就中。这就是为什么宗教是重要的，因为这个成就是在这个世界上唯一重要的事情。其他一切都只是沿途发生的所有事情。重要的是什么把你带到这里。重要的是在你离开后什么会被记住。重要的是你代表谁，以及你通过你的经历、你的交流和你的成就代表什么。其他都不重要。

Have this greater priority in life and most of the problems that seem to beset and hinder people around you will rarely if ever be experienced by you. You will have a greater set of problems. Other people are beset with little problems, which arouse enormous reactions. Yet these little problems will only arouse in you a very small reaction because you will be reacting to something greater.

在生命中拥有这个更重要的优先权，大多数似乎困扰和阻碍你周围的人的问题将很少甚至永远不会被你所经历。你会有更多的问题。其他人被一些小问题所困扰，而这些问题会引起巨大的反应。然而这些小问题只会在你身上引起非常小的反应，因为你会对更大的问题做出回应。

Because you live in manifest life, the sense of greatness that you experience will depend on the greatness of the problems that you are solving. If you are only dealing with little things and you are not very successful, you will feel little and unsuccessful. If you are solving greater problems that have meaning and value, you will feel greater, and you will feel that your life has meaning and value. You are what you value. You are what you do. Essentially, you are what you resolve and accomplish while you are in the world because contribution is what brought you here. You did not get kicked out of heaven to be here. You are not in exile though you may feel like you are. You are here to do something important. You are here to engage with certain people for a certain purpose. You are here to find those people. You are here to find that purpose and to learn how to understand its meaning and its application.

因为你生活在显现的生命中，你所经历的伟大感将取决于你所解决的问题的伟大程度。如果你只是在处理小事，而且你不是很成功，你就会感到渺小和不成功。如果你正在解决有意义和价值的更大的问题，你会感到更伟大，你会感到你的生命有意义和价值。你就是你的价值所在。你就是你所做的。从本质上讲，你就是你在这个世界上时解决和完成的事情，因为贡献是把你带到这里的原因。你并没有被踢出天国而来到这里。你不是在流放，尽管你可能觉得你是。你在这里是为了做一些重要的事情。你在这里是为了某种目的与某些人接触。你在这里是为了找到那些人。你在这里是为了找到那个目的，并学习如何理解其意义和应用。

Religion is what enables you to do this, religion in its pure sense. Religion is teaching, learning, giving, sharing and applying Knowledge. In its pure sense, this is what it is. We give you this new and yet ancient understanding so that you may have a new approach and new beginning. You need a new approach and a new beginning because you cannot enter new territory with an old understanding. You cannot add on something new to something old, for something new will replace what is old. New experience replaces old experience. New understanding replaces old understanding. New avenues of life take you out of old avenues of life. New relationships replace old relationships. Therefore, you cannot enter into this greater preparation and this greater mission while holding on to everything you think, believe and want or while maintaining the memories of all the little things you have done, said, felt and valued. Remember, when you leave the world, none of these things will be important to you. Your only concern will be whether you completed your mission here and whether you found the people you needed to associate with. Everything else will be forgotten.

宗教是使你能够做到这一点的方法，是纯粹意义上的宗教。宗教是教导、学习、给予、分享和应用内识。在其纯粹的意义上，这就是它的本质。我们给你这个新的但又是古老的理解，以便你可以有一个新的方法和新的开始。你需要一个新的方法和新的开始，因为你不能用一个旧的理解进入新的领域。你不能把新的理解加到旧的理解之上，因为新的生命会取代旧的生命。新的经验取代了旧的经验。新的理解取代了旧的理解。生命的新途径使你脱离了生命的旧途径。新的关系取代了旧的关系。因此，你不能在坚持你所想、所信、所要的一切的同时，或在保持你所做的、所说的、所感受的和所重视的所有小事的记忆的同时，进入这个更大的准备和这个更大的使命。记住，当你离开世界时，这些事情对你来说都不重要。你唯一关心的将是你是否完成了你在这里的任务，以及你是否找到了你需要交往的人。其他一切都将被遗忘。

Having the emphasis while you are here that you will have after you leave is a great gift that is being given to you now. This is a gift that will give you extraordinary power and effectiveness and one that will liberate you from so many small things that torment you. This is what lifts the crown of thorns from around your mind. This is what frees your mind. What great fame or glory can there be in the world that is not but a crown of thorns—something that gives you false majesty but that torments you and limits you, binds you and restricts you. Take the crown of thorns off your head. It does not belong on you.

当你在这里时拥有你离开后将拥有的重视，是现在给你的一个伟大的礼物。这是一份将给你带来非凡力量和效力的礼物，也是一份将把你从这么多折磨你的小事中解放出来的礼物。这是解除你心灵周围的荆棘冠冕的礼物。这就是解放你心灵的内识。世界上有什么伟大的名声或荣耀不是荆棘的冠冕——给你虚假的威严，但却折磨你、限制你，束缚你、遏制你。把荆棘冠冕从你头上摘下来。它不属于你。

The world is emerging into the Greater Community. You need to learn the ways of the Greater Community. You need to learn the religion of the Greater Community because this religion represents God’s work, not only in one world, in one culture or in one language but in the entire universe. This will give greater meaning and scope to your world’s religions and will give them the unifying principle they now need to have a greater application and a greater relevancy in life. Without this, the world’s religions will fade away or be overwhelmed by the reality of the Greater Community. Yet the Greater Community by its very existence gives the world’s religions a greater impetus and opportunity.

世界正在向大社区涌现。你需要学习大社区的方式。你需要学习大社区的宗教，因为这种宗教代表了上帝的工作，不仅在一个世界、一种文化或一种语言中，而且在整个宇宙中。这将赋予你世界上的宗教更大的意义和范围，并给予它们现在需要的统一原则，以便在生命中有更大的应用和更大的相关性。没有这一点，世界上的宗教将逐渐消失或被大社区的现实所淹没。然而，大社区的存在给了世界各宗教更大的动力和机会。

The Greater Community Way of Knowledge is being presented into the world to give people like you who feel an inner need and a greater association in life an opportunity to discover, to apply and to contribute Knowledge. This is your purpose. This is what you have come here to do. What you will do specifically is unique to you and to those with whom you are destined to participate. You are meant to serve the greater movement of life in your own unique way. This is religion. Yet you will need to study religion in a Greater Community context in order to have this greater understanding.

大社区的内识之路被呈现在这个世界上，给那些在生活中感到内在需求和更大联系的人提供了一个发现、应用和贡献内识的机会。这就是你的目的。这就是你来到这里要做的事情。你将具体做什么，对你和你注定要参与的人来说是独一无二的。你是为了以你自己独特的方式为更伟大生命运动的服务。这就是宗教。然而你需要在大社区的背景下研究宗教，以便有这种更深的理解。

Do not, then, be afraid of religion. Do not associate it with your past. Do not associate it with all of the foolish manifestations that have been made in the world regarding it. See it anew as the means for you to regain your greater purpose in being here and with it a greater experience of destiny and companionship. Consider what you will remember from this life after you leave here, given the things that we have said. Then you will realize what is important, what is essential, what requires your attention and what your first priority must be. Then all other things will take their proper place in your life—not to be denied but to be properly oriented and properly placed.

因此，不要害怕宗教。不要将它与你的过去联系在一起。不要将它与世界上对宗教的各种愚蠢表现联系在一起。重新看待宗教，将其视为你重新获得在此的更伟大目的的途径，以及与之相关的对天命和同伴的更大经验。考虑一下，当你离开这个世界后，你会从这段生命中记住什么，鉴于我们所说的那些事情。然后你会意识到什么是重要的，什么是必需的，什么需要你的关注，什么必须是你的首要任务。然后，所有其他事情将在你的生命中找到它们合适的位置——不是被否定，而是被适当地导向和适当地放置。

Your attention should be on great things. This will enable you to solve small problems and keep them small. This will enable you to choose wisely in your relationships and in your career. This will enable you to choose according to Knowledge and not be dominated by what you want or are afraid of. When this is done, and done consistently, then you will be living a religious life and you will be having a religious experience. You will be living a religion that includes and yet transcends all that the world has ever known.

你的注意力应该放在伟大的事情上。这将使你能够解决小问题，并将它们保持在小范围内。这将使你能够在你的关系和事业中作出明智的选择。这将使你能够根据内识来选择，而不是被你想要或害怕的关系所支配。当你做到了这一点，并且持之以恒，你就会过上一种宗教的生活，你就会有一种宗教的经历。你的宗教生活将包含并超越世人所知的一切。