Chapter 24: What is Steps to Knowledge?

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on November 5, 1993 in Boulder, CO
1993年11月5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

Learning Greater Community Spirituality requires preparation of a very unique kind. This preparation must take you into the very heart of what spirituality means, and yet it must enable you to face the world realistically and practically, without denial or deception. It must be able to cultivate your strengths, while minimizing the risks of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. It must aim you high, but not so high that you cannot reach your goal. It must nurture your own inner authority, while you gain a sense of the greater authority in life that transcends your own domain. It must establish a context where all of your relationships can have a meaningful involvement and can be understood. This, then, requires a very unique approach, something that can bypass, to the greatest degree possible, your former beliefs, ideas and conditioning by the world.

学习大社区精神性需要一种非常独特的准备。这种准备必须把你带入精神性意义的核心，同时必须让你能够现实且实际地面对世界，不逃避或欺骗。它必须能够培养你的长处，同时尽量减少误解和曲解的风险。它必须设定一个高目标，但不能高到你无法达到的地步。它必须培养你自己的内在权威，同时让你感受到超越你自身领域的更大权威。它必须建立一个背景，使你所有的关系都能有意义地参与，并能被理解。因此，这就需要一种非常独特的方法，这种方法可以在最大程度上绕过你以前的信仰、想法和世界的影响。

To learn Greater Community Spirituality you need to learn a way to it—a way to Knowledge. Everything that we have spoken of in this book and in all of the Books of Knowledge aims you towards Knowledge itself. This is the very essence of your spirituality. This is your True Self as you exist in physical life. This is your bond with all life and with the life that has sent you into the world to serve and to realize a greater purpose.

要学习大社区的精神性，你需要学习通往它的道路——通往内识之路。我们在这本书和所有内识之书中所谈到的一切，都是为了让你走向内识它本身。这是你精神性的实质。这是你在物质生命中存在的真我。这是你与所有生命的纽带，也是让你来到这个世界服务并实现更伟大目的的生命纽带。

There must be a way to Knowledge. To follow the way, you must take the steps. You cannot leap. You cannot rush. You cannot run to Knowledge. It is too great, and there are too many things to learn and to unlearn along the way. There are too many things to evaluate and to re-evaluate. There are too many great realizations to acquire. Therefore, you must take the steps to Knowledge.

必须有一条通往内识的道路。要遵循这条道路，你必须迈出步伐。你不能跳跃。你不能急于求成。你不能奔向内识。它太伟大了，一路上有太多的事情需要学习和解除学习。有太多的事情需要评估和重新评估。有太多伟大的领悟需要获得。因此，你必须采取内识的阶梯。

If you were climbing a great mountain, you would need to follow a path. You cannot simply rush up its embankments. And you need a preparation that will orient you to every condition that you are going to meet. You need a preparation that will prepare you for new experiences and new difficulties, and that will give you a greater perspective and the patience and reassurance that you will need to follow your way and to continue onward. You will only fail in this preparation if you do not honor yourself or if you lose sight of your greater goal.

如果你在攀登一座大山，你需要沿着一条路径。你不能只是匆忙爬上山坡。你需要一种准备，这种准备会让你适应即将遇到的每一种情况。你需要一种准备，这种准备会让你为新的经历和新的困难做好准备，并给你更大的视角，以及你在追随自己的道路和继续前行时所需的耐心和信心。只有在不尊重你自己或失去更大目标的情况下，你才会在这种准备中失败。

When you are on the mountain, you can rarely see the summit. All you see are your immediate surroundings. All you feel are the changing circumstances of your journey. Rarely will you see your ultimate destination. But if you continue, you will come to know the mountain itself. You will come to learn the way by following the way up the mountain. And you will come to realize what each step means as you take each step. Holding back, judging and evaluating will never reveal anything of any meaning to you in this regard. You must make the journey, and to make the journey you must take the steps, one by one. In this way, your progress will be slow and steady. In this way, everything you learn will be deeply experienced and digested. In this way, you will not miss anything that is really essential for your development and well-being.

当你在山上时，你很少能看到山顶。你所能看到的只是你眼前的景象。你所感受到的是你旅程中不断变化的环境。你很少能看到你的最终目的地。但是，如果你继续前进，你就会逐渐知道到山本身。你将通过沿着上山的道路来学习这条路。每走一步，你都会逐渐意识到每一步的意义。犹豫不前、判断和评价在这方面不会给你带来任何有意义的发现。你必须进行这次旅程，而进行旅程的唯一方法就是一步一步地走。在这个过程中，你的进展将会缓慢而稳定。这样，你所学到的一切都会被深刻地体验和消化。这样，你就不会错过任何对你的发展和福祉真正至关重要的一步。

As you proceed, you will also learn to cultivate the necessary abilities that you will need to face life, to give to life and to understand your way in life. These abilities are patience, perseverance, compassion, discernment and discretion. These great abilities are necessary for any achievement in any field, yet to realize a greater purpose in life and to be able to experience it and apply it effectively, these greater abilities will be called upon even more, and you will need to rely upon them.

在前行的过程中，你也将学会培养必要的能力，你将需要面对生命，为生命付出，理解你的生命方式。这些能力是耐心、毅力、同情心、洞察力和谨慎。这些重要能力是任何领域取得成就的必要条件，然而为了实现生命的更伟大目的，并能够有效地体验和应用它，这些重要的能力将被更多地调用，你将需要依靠它们。

These greater abilities are necessary because you will not have great realizations every moment. You will not have wonderful experiences every moment. You will not feel confident and self-assured every moment. In fact, there may be great gaps between these experiences. Here you must rely upon your determination and perseverance. Here you must cultivate a greater perspective and understanding that transcends your immediate sensations, emotions and experiences. As in climbing a great mountain, you will have moments of great joy and moments of great difficulty. You will have moments of real certainty and moments of uncertainty. You will have the challenges of life placed in your way. And you will have important decisions to make—decisions that will affect the outcome of your journey and that will determine the consequences of your life and the lives of others.

这些更大的能力是必要的，因为你不会每时每刻都有伟大的领悟。你不会每时每刻都有美妙的经历。你不会每时每刻都感到自信和自负。事实上，这些经历之间可能有很大的差距。在这里，你必须依靠你的决心和毅力。在这里，你必须培养一种更大的视角和理解力，超越你眼前的感觉、情绪和经历。如同攀登一座伟大的山峰，你将有巨大的喜悦和巨大困难的时刻。你会有真正确定的时刻和不确定的时刻。你会有生命的挑战摆在你的面前。你将有重要的决定要做——这些决定将影响你旅程的结果，并将决定你和他人生命的结果。

Therefore, take the steps to Knowledge. Follow them slowly. Move consistently. Neither race ahead nor fall behind. Consistency here is important, for consistency enables you to learn at a pace that keeps you moving forward. Here you will not exceed your capabilities. Here you will not miss anything that is important. Here you will not be sluggish, idle or inconsistent. Consistency in following the steps to Knowledge, in following a preparation that you did not invent or design for yourself, will give you greater consistency in all other aspects of your life and will enable you to be one person, the same person, in all situations. Then you will no longer be a conglomeration of splinter personalities any more. You will become one person with one focus and one orientation.

因此，开展通往内识的阶梯。慢慢地遵循它们。持续前进。既不要争先恐后，也不要掉队。这里的一致性很重要，因为一致性使你能够以一种保持前进的速度学习。在这里，你不会超越你的能力。在这里，你不会错过任何重要的一步。在这里，你不会变得迟钝、无所事事或不连贯。在遵循内识的步骤方面，在遵循不是你自己发明或设计的准备方面的一致性，将使你在生活的所有其他方面有更大的一致性，将使你在所有情况下成为一个人，同一个人。然后你将不再是一个分裂的人格的集合体。你将成为一个人，有一个焦点和一个方向。

Words cannot describe what an experience this is, how much strength and ability it will give you and how it will liberate you from so many debilitating distractions and allurements that only frustrate and aggravate you now. Here the real depth of your nature, the real depth and purpose of your ability and the importance of your mind and your body will become fully realized through experience. Here your mind will not need to create a great philosophy about life, for you will be living life and will be close to life. Only when you are removed from life and separated from it do you need a great deal of ideas and idealism with which to justify and direct your experience. However, when you are close to life and when your life is genuine and real, your mind is free of this great burden. A free mind is a mind that can refocus itself. It is a mind that can rethink its thoughts and can respond to the environment. It is a mind that can gain greater insight and application.

语言无法描述这是一种怎样的经历，它将给你带来多大的力量和能力，以及它将如何把你从许多使人衰弱的分心和诱惑中解放出来，这些分心和诱惑现在只会让你感到沮丧和痛苦。在这里，你本性的真正深度，你的能力的真正深度和目的，以及你的心灵和身体的重要性将通过经历完全实现。在这里，你的心灵将不需要创造关于生命的伟大哲学，因为你将生活在生命中，并将接近生命。只有当你远离生命，与之分离时，你才需要大量的思想和理想主义来证明和指导你的经历。然而，当你接近生命，当你的生命是真正的、真实的，你的心灵就没有这个巨大的负担了。一个自由的心灵是一个能够重新聚焦自己的心智。它是一个能重新思考自己的想法并能对环境做出反应的心智。它是一个能够获得更大洞察力和应用的心灵。

So what are the steps to Knowledge? How do they work? Where do they take you? And how can they be followed successfully? Steps to Knowledge is a preparation that represents the translation of The Greater Community Way of Knowledge into human experience and the human world. This translation calls upon the greater spirituality which you carry within your Knowledge.

那么，内识的阶梯是什么？它们是如何运作的？它们会把你带到哪里？以及如何成功地遵循它们？通往内识的阶梯是一种准备，它代表着将大社区内识之路转化为人类经验并进入人类的世界。这种转换需要你内识中所包含的更大的精神性。

Steps to Knowledge is given in a series of advancing programs. They are well delineated and mapped out. They give you a great freedom of experience. The main emphasis is to follow each step as it is given—without altering it in any way, by consistently applying yourself and by being determined to finish the stage that you are in. This will be a great enough challenge in and of itself because you may be tempted to change the preparation to satisfy your current ideas, to reassure yourself or to keep things in a familiar framework. However, Steps to Knowledge will take you beyond the familiar into new arenas, beyond where you are today into something greater for tomorrow, beyond your current abilities and understanding into a greater set of abilities and a greater understanding.

内识的阶梯是由一系列推进计划组成。它们都有明确的划分和规划。它们给了你极大的自由体验。主要的重点是按照所给出的每一个步骤去做——不以任何方式改变它，持续地应用自己，并决心完成你所处的阶段。这本身就是一个巨大的挑战，因为你可能会想改变准备工作，以满足你目前的想法，让自己安心，或让准备工作保持在一个熟悉的框架内。然而，内识的阶梯将带领你超越熟悉的领域，进入新的领域，超越你今天所处的位置，进入明天更大的领域，超越你目前的能力和理解，进入一套更强的能力和更强的理解。

Here you must be willing to go beyond your fixed ideas and cherished beliefs. Here you will enter into a new experience where you are not sure who you are, why you are here or what you are doing. However, this uncertainty is not permanent. It represents a transition from one understanding to another. You will go through many of these transitions as your mind gains a greater and greater vantage point in life. Using the analogy of the mountain, you will not have a vantage point at every moment where you can see where you are going and where you have been. Instead, at most times you will need to focus on taking the steps in front of you and negotiating the journey itself, and you will not always have reassurance about where you stand at any given moment.

在这里，你必须愿意超越自己固有的观念和珍视的信仰。在这里，你将进入一种新的体验，在这种体验中，你不确定自己是谁，为什么来到这里，在做什么。然而，这种不确定性并不是永久性的。它代表着从一种理解到另一种理解的过渡。随着你的心灵在生命中获得越来越高的制高点，你将经历许多这样的过渡。用山来比喻，你不会每时每刻都有一个观测位置，可以看到你要去的地方和你曾经去过的地方。相反，在大多数时候，你需要集中注意力走好眼前的每一步，并与旅程本身进行谈判，而你并不总能在任何特定时刻对自己所处的位置感到安心。

Here Knowledge is your guide. Knowledge is strong and consistent. It is pure and unaffected by the world. It gives you a greater strength, a greater motivation and a greater ability in life—so much greater that nothing can compare with it. And of its many great rewards, the greatest is the reunion within yourself, for at last you will feel like your life is real and that you are doing what you came here to do. However inexplicable your way might seem and however confusing the events of your life might be, you are taking the steps to Knowledge. You are coming closer to your inner reality. You are becoming able to engage with the world more realistically, more soberly, more effectively and more compassionately. Your compassion will be born of your experience of taking such a journey, for here you will realize what really holds people back. You will realize what freedom really means and how it must be earned and secured in life.

在这里，内识是你的向导。内识是强大而一致的。它是纯粹的，不受世界的影响。它给你更大的力量，更大的动力和更大的生命能力——如此之大，没有什么能与它相比。在它的许多巨大回报中，最伟大的是你内心的重聚，因为你终于会感到你的生命是真实的，你在做你来这里要做的事。无论你的路看起来多么莫名其妙，无论你生活中的事件多么令人困惑，你都在迈向内识。你正在接近你的内在现实。你正变得能够更现实地、更清醒地、更有效地和更有同情心地与世界打交道。你的同情心将源于你走过这样一段旅程的经历，因为在这里你将意识到什么是真正阻碍人们的因素。你将意识到自由的真正含义，以及它必须在生命中赢得和保证。

The steps to Knowledge are specific. They are presented to you in the program Steps to Knowledge. You need to only follow them and not change them. And as you learn to follow them, you will learn to follow them at their pace, which may be a faster and more consistent pace than what you are used to, but it will be a pace that you can follow. It will not be beyond your abilities although it will exceed what you have accomplished thus far.

通往内识的步骤是具体的，它们在内识的阶梯课程中向你呈现。你只需按照这些步骤来进行，不要改变它们。当你学会遵循这些步骤时，你会学会按照它们的节奏来进行，这个节奏可能比你习惯的更快、更一致，但这是你能够跟上的节奏。尽管它会超越你迄今为止所取得的成就，但它不会超出你的能力范围。

Every bit of progress you make in following Steps to Knowledge will have an immediate impact on your life and circumstances. For if you develop certainty and ability in one area, then they will eventually transfer over into the other areas of your life. You do not want to live a life of contradiction. You will increasingly want your life to be a uniform expression of truth and meaning. This will enable you to translate Knowledge and Wisdom into more and more aspects of your life. As you do this, you will become stronger and stronger with Knowledge, for Knowledge will be emanating from you, not just here and there, not just in this circumstance or that circumstance, but increasingly and more completely.

你在遵循通往内识步骤中所取得的每一点进展都会对你的生命和环境产生直接的影响。因为如果你在一个领域发展了确定性和能力，那么这些确定性和能力最终会转移到你生命的其他领域。你不希望过一种矛盾的生活。你会越来越希望你的生命成为真理和意义的统一表达。这将使你能够将内识和智慧传递到你生命的越来越多的方面。当你这样做时，你在内识上的力量将会越来越强，因为内识将从你身上散发出来，不只是局部的或偶尔的，而是越来越全面和完整。

Knowledge is the Great Presence that you carry within you. And as you open yourself to it and allow it to demonstrate its reality to you, you will become an expression of its life, which is your genuine life in the world. Here you give yourself to the Greater reality within you. Here you surrender to that which is the only thing that you can surrender to and the only thing that you can devote yourself to, which is Knowledge in yourself and Knowledge in others. This is the truth that permeates all manifest life and holds true throughout the universe in all dimensions and realities. This is the truth that restores to you what you came here to give and what you came here to realize.

内识是你在自己内心携带的伟大存在。当你向它敞开自己，允许它向你展示它的现实，你将成为它生命的表达者，这是你在这个世界上的真正生命。在这里，你把自己交给你内在的更大现实。在这里，你向内在自己唯一能屈服的内识投降，它也是唯一能让你全身心投入的关系，那就是你自己的内识和他人的内识。这是渗透到所有显现生命中的真理，在整个宇宙的所有维度和现实中都是如此。这是一个真理，它使你恢复了你来这里要给予的礼物和你来这里要实现的目的。

The way is simple but difficult. It is simple because you need only follow the steps. Here you are given a map up the mountain. And you are asked not to deviate from this map but to follow it surely and consistently. However, it is difficult because people are not used to following something without altering it to meet their past references. It is difficult because you must give yourself to your preparation, and you must trust your preparation. Both at those times when it is wonderful and at those times when it is difficult, you must approach it with the same trust and the same consistency. This generates tremendous power within you. This enables you and indeed requires you to exercise your own individual authority over your thinking and endeavors. This is necessary in order to live a real and meaningful life. And this is what will bring you to your greater calling and purpose, for this lays the foundation for this calling and purpose to arise.

这条道路很简单，但也很艰难。它简单是因为你只需要遵循步骤。这里给你一张上山的地图。而你被要求不要偏离这张地图，而要坚定不移地遵循它。然而，它是困难的，因为人们不习惯在不改变它以满足他们过去的参考的情况下遵循地图的道路。它是困难的，因为你必须把自己交给你的准备，你必须信任你的准备。无论是在美妙的时刻还是在困难的时刻，你都必须以同样的信任和同样的一致性来对待它。这在你内心产生了巨大的力量。这使你能够，事实上也要求你对自己的思考和努力行使自己的个人权威。为了过上真实而有意义的生命，这是必要的。这也是将你带到你更伟大的召唤和目的的原因，因为这为这个召唤和目的的产生奠定了基础。

As you advance and become more mature in your understanding and participation, then, and only then, will your calling slowly take shape. It will not be a definition. And it will not be something that will be revealed to you all at once. It will be something that you will find as those things that are unnecessary or lack meaning in your life fall away or are given up. What is left is what is essential. Then you are free to find your way to that which you must realize. This is the way you find it, for it cannot be found in any other way. You must not only come to the great realizations about your life; you must learn the way to them, for learning the way to them will teach you how to help others find the way to their great realizations in life. You must learn the way in order to show the way and to share the way, to strengthen those who are behind you and to recognize those who are far ahead.

随着你的前进，在你的理解和参与中变得更加成熟，那么，也只有在那时，你的召唤才会慢慢形成。它不会是一个定义。它也不会是一下子就能揭示给你的启示。当那些在你的生活中不必要的或缺乏意义的关系消失或被放弃时，你会发现它。剩下的是必不可少的关系。然后你就可以自由地找到你必须实现内识的方法。这是你找到它的方式，因为它不能以任何其他方式找到。你不仅要找到关于你生命的伟大实现；你还必须学习通往它们的方法，因为学习通往它们的方法将教会你如何帮助他人找到通往他们生命中伟大实现的方法。你必须学习这条道路，以便展示和分享这条道路，加强那些在你后面的人，并认出那些在前面的人。

Steps to Knowledge, therefore, is both easy and difficult. It is easy because it is direct. It is easy because you do not need to define the way. It is easy because it saves you from many mistakes and calamities that could only thwart your attempt and lead you into failure or disaster. However, the simple way is difficult because people are not simple. Being simple means to be trusting and to be able to discern that which warrants your trust from that which does not. Being simple means to be wholehearted and to be able to take control of your life and to manage it effectively. Being simple means to have a focused and free mind that is not burdened with unnecessary evaluations and that is not trying to carry the great weight of other people’s experiences or expectations. Your mind will function at a much higher level when it is unencumbered by these things.

因此，内识的阶梯既简单又困难。它是容易的，因为它是直接的。它很容易，因为你不需要定义道路。它之所以简单，是因为它使你免于许多错误和灾难，这些错误和灾难只会挫败你的尝试，使你陷入失败或灾难。然而，简单的方法是困难的，因为人们并不简单。简单意味着信任，并且能够辨别值得你信任的关系和不值得你信任的关系。简单意味着全心全意，能够控制你的生命并有效地管理它。简单意味着有一个专注和自由的心灵，不被不必要的评价所累，不试图承担其他人的经历或期望的巨大重量。当你的心灵不受这些关系的束缚时，它将在一个更高的水平上运作。

As this happens, your relationships will become refined and redefined, and those individuals who are your true companions will find their way to you. And you will be able to recognize them and receive them, for you will be taking the way yourself. This will show you how to discern meaning in relationships, for meaning in relationships can only be discerned by following something of a greater importance and magnitude in life.

随着这种情况的发生，你的关系将会被净化和重新定义，那些真实的同伴将会找到你。而你将能够认出他们并接纳他们，因为你自己也走在这条道路之上。这将教会你如何辨别关系中的意义，因为关系中的意义只有通过追随生命中更重要且更伟大的内识才能辨别出来。

Discernment, then, becomes not a matter of judgment and criticism but a means for recognition. Instead of good or bad, it becomes yes or no. You know what to follow and what not to follow. You know who to be with and who not to be with—all without judgment and condemnation. How simple this is and how direct and natural. How life confirming this is for you who can receive it. Yet how difficult this can seem if you are used to trying to negotiate your life, to make your own goals or to establish your own way based upon your preferences and your fears. How difficult this is when you are trying to manipulate your own mind and the minds of others.

因此，辨别不再是判断和批评的问题，而是一种识别的方式。它不再是好或坏，而是变成了是或不是。你知道要跟随什么，不跟随什么。你知道要与谁在一起，不与谁在一起——所有这些都不需要判断和谴责。这是多么简单、直接和自然。这对能够接收它的你来说，这是多么肯定生命的确认。然而，如果你习惯于尝试协商你的生命，制定你自己的目标，或根据你的喜好和恐惧建立你自己的方式，这看起来是多么困难。当你试图操纵你自己的心智和别人的心智时，这又是多么困难。

The Greater Community Way of Knowledge will teach you to become simple and powerful. It will relieve you of being cunning and weak. The Way of Knowledge will teach you to become strong and penetrating in your abilities. It will free you from the burden of being shallow and diffracted.

大社区内识之路将教你变得简单而有力。它将解除你的狡猾和软弱。内识之路将教你在能力上变得强大和透彻。它将把你从浅薄和散漫的负担中解脱出来。

The steps to Knowledge are mysterious. You will not be able to understand them until you are far ahead and can look back and see where they have taken you. Just as in climbing a great mountain, what meaning does each step have until you see where it has taken you and what it has given you?

通往内识的阶梯是神秘的。只有当你远远地走在前面，回过头来看看它们把你带到了哪里，你才能理解它们。就像攀登一座大山一样，在你看到它把你带到了哪里以及它给你带来了什么之前，每一步又有什么意义？

Therefore, as you take the steps to Knowledge, do not judge them. Some you will like, and some you may not like. Some will seem familiar, and some will seem new. However, do not judge them, for you cannot understand them until you realize where they are taking you. And you cannot find where they are taking you unless you follow them. This is the way through the jungle of life. The path is narrow. It is specific. It takes you through dangerous situations. It takes you through allurements. It takes you through disassociation. It takes you through all forms of distraction. It takes you through them and beyond them. Therefore, to understand the steps to Knowledge you must see where they are taking you and you must go where they are taking you.

因此，当你迈出通往内识的阶梯时，不要评判它们。有些你会喜欢，有些你可能不喜欢。有些会看起来很熟悉，有些会看起来很新鲜。然而，不要评判它们，因为你无法理解它们，直到你意识到它们要把你带去哪里。除非你跟随他们，否则你无法找到他们要带你去的地方。这就是穿越生命丛林的道路。这条路是狭窄的。它是特定的。它带你穿过危险的环境。它带你穿过诱人的地方。它带你通过分离。它带你通过所有形式的分心。它带你穿过它们并在它们之外。因此，要理解内识的阶梯，你必须看到它们要带你去到哪里，你必须去它们要带你去的地方。

Steps to Knowledge and The Greater Community Way of Knowledge are something entirely new and different. Whoever you are and whatever you think you have accomplished and learned in life, you will have to start here as a beginner. Forget what you have learned and begin anew. Do this and you will learn the most that can be learned. If you do not do this, you will merely try to evaluate everything that happens and every step you take according to your past references. This will keep you in the past and prevent you from coming into the present and moving into the future. Steps to Knowledge frees you from the past by giving you a way out of your past and out of the world’s past. For nothing from the past can lead you into the future effectively.

内识的阶梯和大社区的内识之路是一种全新的、不同的教育。无论你是谁，无论你认为自己在生活中取得了什么成就，学到了什么知识，你都必须从这里开始，成为一名初学者。忘记你已经学到的教育，重新开始。做到这一点，你就能学到更大的教育。如果你不这样做，你将只是试图根据你过去的参照来评估所发生的一切和你所走的每一步。这将使你停留在过去，阻止你走进现在，走向未来。通往内识的阶梯将你从过去中解放出来，给你提供了一条走出你的过去和世界的过去的道路。因为过去的一切都不能有效地引导你进入未来。

The Greater Community Way of Knowledge represents the present and the future. It is a preparation to live fully in the present and to prepare fully for the future so that you will have the opportunity to live in the present in the future. This is why what is easy seems difficult. To follow what is easy, you must become simple and find escape from the complexities of your life that only keep you chained to the past and to a state of ambivalence. To journey into life you must follow a different way.

大社区内识之路代表了现在和未来。它是为充分活在当下做的准备，同时也为未来做好准备，这样你在未来就有机会活在当下。这就是为什么简单的关系看起来很难。为了追随简单的关系，你必须变得简单，从你生活的复杂性中找到逃脱的方法，这些复杂性只会让你被锁在过去和矛盾的状态中。要进入生命之旅，你必须遵循不同的方式。

Therefore, begin as a beginner. Do not assume you know a great deal, for indeed you do not know a great deal. Do not assume that you have great abilities, for within a larger context of life you do not have great abilities. Accept your condition humbly, without condemnation. In this way, you open yourself to learn what can only be learned by opening yourself. Do not judge the steps, for you cannot judge them. They are taking you out of your past. They are not a confirmation of your past.

因此，要像一个初学者一样开始。不要假设你已经知道很多，因为实际上你并不知道很多。不要以为自己有很强的能力，因为在更大的生命背景下，你并没有很强的能力。虚心接受自己的状况，不加谴责。通过这种方式，你打开自己，学习只有通过打开自己才能学到的内识。不要评判这些步骤，因为你无法评判它们。它们正在把你带出你的过去。它们不是对你过去的确认。

Your past is what is behind you. The future is what is ahead for you. The present is how you experience your relationship to the past and to the future. To experience the present, you must have a correct relationship with both the past and the future or you will never be able to enter the present fully. Knowledge is in the present at every moment. It represents a completely present state of mind. It is the only present state of mind. The closer you are to Knowledge, the more present you are to life. And yet your present state of mind is fully united with the movement of the world and with the future of the world. It is not something you invent for yourself as a psychological exercise or as a form of escape from a world that you cannot accept or experience. That only leads to disillusionment and greater disassociation from life.

你的过去是你背后的阴影。未来是你的前方。现实就是你如何经历你与过去和未来的关系。要来到现在，你必须与过去和未来都有正确的关系，否则你永远无法完全进入现在。内识每时每刻都在当下。它代表了一种完全现在的心智状态。它是唯一的当下心境。你越接近内识，你就越能进入生命的当下。然而，你现在的心智状态与世界的运动和世界的未来完全结合在一起。它不是你为自己发明的一种心理练习，或作为一种逃避你不能接受或经历的世界的形式。这只会导致幻想破灭，与生命更加脱节。

Steps to Knowledge takes you into life as it is and as it will be. It takes you into your life as it is and as it will be. It enables you to engage with others as they are and as they will be. How simple this is, yet how seemingly difficult it can seem at the outset. As you learn to take the steps to Knowledge and to follow them effectively, your burden will become lighter, for your mind will become free of that which is unnecessary for its happiness and fulfillment. Your life will become free of damaging engagements and meaningless pursuits that have never given you what you have really sought.

通往内识的阶梯带你进入现在和未来的生命。它带你走进你的生命，因为你的生命是现在与未来。它使你能够与他人真实地互动，因为他们现在和未来都将是真实的。这是多么简单的道理，但在开始时却显得多么困难。当你学会采取内识的步骤并有效地遵循它们时，你的负担将会减轻，因为你的心灵将摆脱那些对幸福和满足无关紧要的关系。你的生命将摆脱有害的交往和毫无意义的追求，这些追求从未给予你真正所追求的关系。

These things fall away naturally. They are not taken from you. You leave them aside because you cannot take them with you into a greater experience of life. They are left at the door. You give them up voluntarily. Now you are unburdened. Then the way becomes simpler and greater. With this simplicity and greatness, your experience and understanding become deeper and more penetrating. Your mind becomes more focused and consistent. Your determination becomes stronger. Your discernment of others becomes clearer and more revealing. Your ability to abide with both truth and uncertainty becomes greater and greater. Here your capacity for relationship becomes far more expanded. This enables you to engage with the great relationships with which you are meant to be engaged in this life. This builds within you a greater capacity for relationship, which will open you to your relationship with the Creator and with the Greater Community of Worlds.

这些关系会自然消失。它们不是从你身上拿走的。而是你主动放下的，因为你不能把它们带入更大的生命经历之中。它们被放置在门口。你自愿地放弃了它们。现在你不再负担重担。道路也变得更加简单和伟大。伴随着这种简单和伟大，你的经验和理解将变得更深且更透彻。你的心灵变得更加集中和一致。你的决心变得更加强大。你对他人的辨别力变得更清晰，更有启示性。你与真理和不确定性共处的能力越来越强。在这里，你处理关系的能力变得更加广泛。这使你能够参与伟大的关系，这是你在这生命中注定参与的。这在你内心建立了更大的关系能力，这将打开你与创造与世界大社区的关系。

It may be difficult to begin, but if you can begin, you can proceed. If you can proceed, you can progress. If you can progress, you can advance. If you can advance, then you can understand all the stages that preceded this. Then you will understand what it means to begin. Then you will understand what it means to progress and to advance.

这可能很难开始，但如果你能开始，你就能继续。如果你能继续，你就能进步。如果你能进步，你就能前进。如果你能前进，那么你就能理解在此之前的所有阶段。然后你就会理解开始意味着什么。然后你就会理解什么是进步和前进。

Steps to Knowledge does not require that you worship any hero or any personality. It does not require that you accept a creation story about life that is implausible and impossible. It does not require that you believe in a pantheon of gods, images, symbols, rituals, pageants or personalities. It only brings you to the great question of what you really know. And it does not answer this question in words, but instead takes you into the experience of Knowledge itself, slowly, through many steps and stages of development. If you proceed, you will advance. If you advance, you will understand. If you understand, then you will know.

通往内识的阶梯并不要求你崇拜任何英雄或任何人物。它不要求你接受一个关于生命的创造故事，而这些故事是难以置信的，不可能的。它不要求你相信万神殿的神灵、图像、符号、仪式、庆典或人物。它只是把你带到一个伟大的问题，即你真正知道什么。它不会用语言回答这个问题，而是带你进入内识本身的经历，慢慢地，通过许多步骤和发展阶段。如果你继续，你就会进步。如果你前进，你就会理解。如果你理解了，那么你就会知道。

Steps to Knowledge will give you a new life—not a life that is foreign to you but a life that is home to you, not a life that is bonded to your past experiences and evaluations, but a life that is genuine in this moment and that has greater possibilities and greater relationships. This satisfies your most fundamental needs and deepest questions. It satisfies these by taking you to their fulfillment. To know what you must know, to see what you must see and to do what you must do, you must reach a greater vantage point in life. To reach this, you must take the journey, a journey of many steps. And the steps are in Steps to Knowledge.

通往内识的阶梯将给你一个新的生命——不是一个对你来说陌生的生活，而是一个对你来说是家的生活，不是一个与你过去的经历和评价联系在一起的生活，而是一个在这一刻真正拥有更大可能性和更大关系的生活。这满足了你最基本的需求和最深的问题。它通过把你带到它们的实现中来满足这些。为了知道你必须知道的事情，看到你必须看到的关系，做你必须做的工作，你必须在生命中达到一个更大的观测位置。为了达到这个目标，你必须踏上旅程，一个有许多步骤的旅程。而这些步骤就在内识的阶梯之中。

We have provided the steps themselves to enable you to learn a Greater Community Way of Knowledge. They will take you to your destination, but you must follow them and be patient because there are many things for you to learn along the way, many of which you are not even aware of. And there are many things which you must acquire and strengthen along the way, things which you cannot see at the outset.

我们已经提供了这些步骤本身，使你能够学习大社区的内识之路。它们会把你带到目的地，但你必须跟着它们走，而且要有耐心，因为一路上有许多事情需要你学习，其中许多你甚至没有意识到。还有许多品质你必须在这一路上获得并加强，这些品质你在一开始是看不到的。

The Greater Community Way of Knowledge can be learned. It can be experienced. It can be integrated. It can be applied. And it can be lived. To make this possible, we provide the steps. Follow them, not blindly but with your eyes open. Follow them where they lead you, not with great assumptions about what they will do for you but with a present state of mind. Learn to walk the way and you will see that there are those ahead of you and those behind you. Those ahead of you will encourage you, show you the way and give you the strength and conviction that you must proceed whether you understand or not.

大社区内识之路可以被学习。它可以被经历。它可以被整合。它可以被应用。而且它可以被生活化。为了使之成为可能，我们提供了一些步骤。跟随它们，不是盲目的，而是睁大你的眼睛。跟着它们走，不是带着对它们将为你做什么的巨大假设，而是带着当下的心境。学会走这条路，你会看到有在你前面的人和在你后面的人。在你前面的人会鼓励你，给你指路，给你力量和信念，无论你是否理解，你都必须继续前进。

Steps to Knowledge will take you through those times of great transition when you are uncertain about what you are doing and who you are. It will take you beyond those points where you define yourself and your existence to a greater experience and realization. It will take you through those difficult moments when you must make difficult decisions. And it will take you into those wonderful moments when you will experience your relationship with yourself and others in an entirely new and permeating way.

通往内识的阶梯将带你度过那些巨大的过渡时期，当你对自己在做什么和自己是谁感到不确定时。它将带你超越那些你定义自己和你的存在的点，让你有更大的经验和领悟。它将带你度过那些你必须做出艰难决定的困难时刻。它将带你进入那些美妙的时刻，你将以一种全新的、渗透的方式经历你与自己和他人的关系。

Here you will realize that you are advancing and that others are advancing with you, not only in this world but in other worlds as well. For The Greater Community Way of Knowledge and Steps to Knowledge are being taught in many worlds—more than you can count. This represents the Greater Plan of the Creator and a greater purpose and mission in life to restore the universe to its state of pure union and simplicity.

在这里，你会认识到你在进步，别人也在和你一起进步，不仅是在这个世界，也在其他世界。因为大社区内识之路和内识的阶梯正在许多世界被教授——多得你无法计算。这代表了创造的伟大计划，也代表了生命中更伟大的目的和使命，即把宇宙恢复到纯粹的结合和简单的状态。

You, then, are following an Ancient rite of preparation, born of the Great Will of the universe. The preparation in The Greater Community Way of Knowledge is being provided for you and for your world—a way of Knowledge not only into the mystery of your life but into the greatness of the Greater Community into which your life is now emerging. This represents a greater possibility for you who are reading these words, for you are responding to a greater calling and meaning in life—a calling and meaning that you have brought with you, which reside within you and which must now be called forth from you.

你正在遵循一种古老的准备仪式，它源于宇宙的伟大意志。大社区内识之路的准备正在为你和你的世界提供——一种不仅引导你探索生命之谜的内识之路，还引导你进入你生命正在进入的大社区的伟大之中。这对正在阅读这些文字的你来说代表着更大的可能性，因为你正在回应生命中更伟大的召唤和意义——这种召唤和意义是你带来的，存在于你内心，现在必须从你身上被唤醒。