Chapter 3: The Limits of Space Travel

The Limits of Space Travel – Rules and Hazards
太空旅行的局限性——规则和危险

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on June 11, 2008 in Boulder, CO
2008年6月11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

As has been previously indicated, travel in space is relatively slow. And inter-dimensional travel has proven to be disastrous for most races who have attempted it. Though travel in space is extremely rapid by your standards and by the degree of your own scientific development, getting around is still very difficult and time consuming. Because travel and trade are so restricted in highly developed parts of the universe where there is a great concentration of advanced nations, movement is restricted and restrained. You cannot go anywhere you want under these kinds of circumstances without violating others’ territories or without violating the rules of travel and trade.

正如之前所指出的，太空旅行相对缓慢。而且对于大多数尝试过的种族来说，跨维度旅行已经被证明是灾难性的。虽然按照你们的标准和你们自己的科学发展程度，太空旅行是非常迅速的，但四处走动仍然非常困难与耗费时间。由于旅行和贸易在宇宙中高度发达的地区受到限制，那里有大量的先进国家集中，行动受到限制和约束。在这种情况下，如果不侵犯其种族的领土或不违反旅行和贸易的规则，你就不能去任何你想去的地方。

Going from one end of the galaxy to the other is just simply out of the question. It is a fantasy to think that this would be the case. Traveling through dimensions has proven so hazardous that there are very few races in the universe who even attempt it at this point, for those who enter these thresholds never return and are never accounted for, and there is no way to go find them and learn what happened to them. The dimensionality of space is so complete and the boundaries between dimensions are so significant that to explore these kinds of things has proven to be overwhelmingly difficult. Even where it has succeeded, races have emerged in other races’ territories or have entered hostile physical environments and have never been able to find their way back.

从银河系的一端到另一端是不可能的。这种想法简直是天方夜谭。事实证明，穿越维度是非常危险的，以至于目前宇宙中很少有种族会尝试这样做，因为那些进入这些门槛种族的生命永远不会回来，也永远不会有下落，而且没有办法去找到他们，了解他们发生了什么。空间的维度是如此完整，维度之间的界限又是如此重要，以至于探索这些界限被证明是非常困难的。即使在已经成功的地方，也有种族在其他种族的领土上出现，或者进入敌对的物理环境，并且再也找不到回去的路。

The galaxy as a whole is uncharted. Only regions within it are charted. Only regions where there is a great deal of trade, travel and the existence of evolved technological nations are charted. Beyond this, you have uncharted territories, sometimes immensely huge, where any traveler could become lost without known reference points.

银河系作为一个整体是未知的。只有其中的一些地区被绘制了地图。只有那些有大量贸易、旅行和进化的技术国家存在的地区才有地图。除此之外，你还有未知的领土，有时是巨大的，任何旅行者都可能在没有已知参考点的情况下迷路。

Ships that travel use fuel. Fuel has limits. Even fuels that are derived from solar energy have limits. Even fuel that is derived from nuclear power has limits. If you go too far, you cannot return. If your exploration takes you too far afield, you cannot return. If you enter an uncharted region, you will face physiological hazards and the possibility of entering another’s territory who could prove to be hostile to your presence. You certainly could become lost in uncharted territories, as many travelers have.

旅行的飞船只使用燃料。燃料是有限度的。即使是来自太阳能的燃料也是有限度的。即使是来自核能的燃料也有限制。如果你飞得太远，你就无法返回。如果你的探索把你带到太远的地方，你就不能返回。如果你进入一个未知的区域，你将面临生理上的危险，并有可能进入其他种族的领地，而这些原住民可能证明对你的存在有敌意。你当然可能在未知的领土上迷失方向，就像许多旅行者一样。

To extend one nation’s reach is also very difficult because any establishment that you make far away must be reinforced. Even if you position yourself in an environment that is relatively inhabitable from both a physiological and a biological standpoint, reinforcing foreign establishments is very difficult and requires a tremendous amount of travel and resources. Distant mining colonies are very vulnerable to piracy. They are very vulnerable to breakdown. They must be sustained with a great deal of effort even if the resources they are discovering prove to be of immense value. As a result, most traveling nations stay fairly close to home and rely upon trade to gain distant resources and rely upon local commerce to gain what they need.

扩大一个国家的影响也是非常困难的，因为你在远方建立的任何机构都必须得到加强。即使你把自己安置在一个从生理和生物角度来看都比较适合居住的环境中，加强星球外的机构也是非常困难的，需要大量的旅行和资源。遥远的采矿殖民地非常容易受到海盗的攻击。他们非常容易崩溃。即使他们所发现的资源被证明具有巨大的价值，他们也必须用大量的努力来维持。因此，大多数旅行国家都离家很近，依靠贸易来获得远方的资源，并依靠当地的商业来获得他们需要的资源。

Of course, human beings with their wonderful imagination conjure up all kinds of wonderful ways to travel around the universe almost effortlessly, using energy that is somehow derived from physics and can sustain unlimited travel, even collapsing time and space. But for those who live in the real universe, they have had to face the limits of technology. In some cases, these limits are quite severe.

当然，人类以其美妙的想象力，变出了各种奇妙的方法，几乎毫不费力地在宇宙中旅行，使用的能量以某种方式来自物理学，可以维持无限的旅行，甚至是崩溃的时间和空间。但是对于那些生活在现实宇宙中的生命来说，他们不得不面对技术的局限性。在某些情况下，这些限制是相当严重的。

Races who travel generally create their own food sources, but even this requires the input of resources. Everyone in the physiological realm must still eat and take in energy in one form or another. They must use energy and gain the resources for producing this energy. They must rely upon technology, which must be reinforced and supported. If they travel very far from their home planet or their home base of operations, they face a tremendous number of logistical difficulties.

旅行的种族一般都会创造自己的食物来源，但即使这样也需要资源的投入。生理领域的每个生命仍然必须以某种形式进食和吸收能量。他们必须使用能量并获得生产这种能量的资源。他们必须依靠技术，而技术必须得到加强和支持。如果他们离开他们的母星或他们的行动基地非常远，他们将面临巨大的后勤困难。

In areas of space where there are not high concentrations of advanced nations, you have tremendous difficulties with piracy. You have tremendous difficulties with becoming lost or becoming subjected to hostile local influences or responses to your presence. There are regions in space that are simply considered too dangerous to travel in because of these reasons. Even areas that are sparsely inhabited, where routes and coordinates have been established for travel, even here there are extreme hazards. Over the course of time, nations and even small empires establish a stability that they maintain and sustain on their own base of resources and influence.

在先进国家不高度集中的太空区域，你有巨大的海盗困难。你有巨大的困难，因为你会迷路或受到当地的敌对影响或对你的存在的反应。由于这些原因，太空中有些地区被认为是太危险了，不能去旅行。即使是人烟稀少的地区，在已经建立了旅行路线和坐标的地方，即使在这里也有极端的危险性。随着时间的推移，国家甚至小帝国建立了一个稳定的局面，他们在自己的资源和影响力的基础上保持局面和维持局面。

There is no great empire that rules the galaxy. That is a complete fantasy. There are very strong local powers and associations of power, often established through trade unions or governing bodies that oversee trade routes. But immense empires that govern vast regions simply do not work, for there is no way to maintain control over the course of time, and there are too many challenges to disrupt a structure of this size. Yet there are empires that contain dozens of planets, star systems and so forth. This is considered fairly large, particularly in your local environment.

不存在统治银河系的大帝国。那完全是一种幻想。有非常强大的地方势力和权力联合体，通常通过贸易联盟或监督贸易路线的管理机构建立。但是统治广大地区的庞大帝国根本行不通，因为没有办法在一段时间内保持控制，而且有太多的挑战来破坏这种规模的结构。然而，有一些帝国包含了几十个行星、恒星系统等等。这被认为是相当大的，特别是在你们的本地环境中。

In the universe, if you extend your influence, you must control that influence and you must sustain that influence. You must sustain it through technology. You must sustain it through resources. And you must sustain it through constant effort to maintain foreign establishments. Beyond a certain point, this proves to be too difficult, too draining of a nation or even a collection of nations to support and to sustain.

在宇宙中，如果你扩大你的影响，你必须控制这种影响，你必须维持这种影响。你必须通过技术来维持它。你必须通过资源来维持它。你必须通过不断的努力来维持它，以维持星球外的机构。超过一定程度，这被证明是太困难了，太耗费一个国家或甚至一个国家的集合来进行支持和维持。

As a result, there are large regions of the galaxy that have been unexplored and rarely ever visited by anyone. Though there are races existing within these regions, they tend to be non-technological. If they are technological, then they tend to be extremely limited in their range. Unable to trade or gain advanced technology from other nations through the avenues of trade and commerce, they remain extremely isolated.

因此，银河系中有许多地区一直未被开发，也很少有种族进行访问。虽然这些地区存在一些种族，但他们往往是非技术性的。如果他们是技术性的，那么他们的范围往往极其有限。由于无法通过贸易和商业途径与其他国家进行贸易或获得先进技术，他们仍然非常孤立。

This is the universe that you live in—a universe of magnificent creations, but also a universe of tremendous restraints. Resource acquisition is a problem for all advancing nations. Technology requires resources. The greater the technology, the greater the resources that are required. The larger one’s sphere of influence, empire or ownership of property, the greater the requirement for resources.

这就是你所生活的宇宙——一个有着宏伟创造的宇宙，但也是一个有着巨大限制的宇宙。资源获取是所有先进国家的一个问题。技术需要资源。技术越大，需要的资源就越多。一个势力范围、帝国或财产所有权越大，对资源的需求就越大。

Nations that are forced to depend upon trade lose much of their self-determination in the process. Unable now to provide for themselves adequately, they must rely upon foreign provisions as well as foreign political influence to sustain them. For a nation that seeks to be free and self-sufficient, the problem of trade and dependence upon others is extremely great. That is why the three fundamental requirements to be free and self-sufficient in the universe are unity, a united population, self-sufficiency and extreme discretion.

被迫依赖贸易的国家在这个过程中失去了大部分的自决权。他们现在无法为自己提供足够的食物，必须依靠外来的供应和外来的政治影响来维持他们的生活。对于一个寻求自由和自给自足的国家来说，贸易和依赖他人的问题是极其严重的。这就是为什么在宇宙中实现一个自由和自给自足的三个基本要求是团结，团结的人口，自给自足和极度谨慎。

If you have wealth in the universe, others will want it. They will either want to take it from you or they will want to trade for it. If they trade for it, they will try to seduce you or convince you that what they have to offer is something you really need, even if you do not really need it. The problem with having wealth—whether it be biological wealth, technology that others do not have, ownership of a strategic world or, as is the case with Earth, a world of tremendous biological diversity—is that maintaining control is difficult if others are aware of you. This becomes impossible if you depend upon others for your fundamental resources.

如果你们在宇宙中拥有财富，其他种族会想要它。他们要么想从你们这里拿走它，要么想用其他东西来交换。如果是交换，他们会试图引诱你或说服你，他们所提供的是你真正需要的东西，即使你并不真正需要它。拥有财富的问题——无论是生物财富、他人没有的技术、对一个战略世界的所有权，还是像地球的情况一样，一个具有巨大生物多样性的世界——如果其他种族察觉到你们，维持控制是很困难的。如果你们依赖其他种族的基本资源，自由将变得不可能。

Where there is trade, there is influence. The extension of influence in the Greater Community has reached very great degrees of sophistication and potency. For a young emerging race such as humanity, the Greater Community represents a very hazardous environment. The wealth of your world, from which you have benefited for so long and from which you benefit today, gives you a greater vulnerability to foreign interest and influence. And because humanity is so easily influenced, by Greater Community standards, this puts you in tremendous jeopardy.

哪里有贸易，哪里就有影响力。在大社区中，影响力的扩展已经达到了非常复杂和强大的程度。对于人类这样一个年轻的新兴种族来说，大社区是一个非常危险的环境。你们的世界如此富有，你们长期以来一直从中受益，今天你们也从中受益，这使你们更容易受到外来利益和影响的冲击。由于人类很容易受到影响，按照大社区的标准，这使你们处于极大的危险之中。

Therefore, your expectations of trade and travel must be constrained by the realities themselves. You will be able to travel freely within this solar system as long as you do not try to discover anyone’s foreign establishments here. But if you move beyond this solar system, you are entering a larger arena of intelligent life where territories and routes of travel have been long established. You will not be able to go wherever you want, to visit wherever you want or to take whatever you want. The idea that humanity will go out and search an empty universe for resources is completely false and really represents a very dangerous and even fatal assumption.

因此，你们对贸易和旅行的期望必须受到现实本身的限制。只要你们不试图在这里发现任何种族的外星机构，你们将能够在这个太阳系内自由旅行。但是，如果你们走出这个太阳系，你们就进入了一个更大的智能生命领域，那里的领土和旅行路线早已确立。你们将不能去你们想去的地方，访问你们想访问的地方，或去拿走你们想拿走的资源。认为人类将出去在空旷的宇宙中寻找资源的想法是完全错误的，真的代表了一个非常危险甚至是致命的假设。

As long as you are weak and powerless, others will not try to defend themselves against you. But if you become aggressive and ambitious, then you will run into tremendous problems. For in the environment of space in which your world exists, there are longstanding contracts and arrangements that you will not be able to change. Should you violate them, you will have to face a whole array of opponents far beyond your skill and ability to contend with.

只要你们是软弱无力的，其他种族就不会试图抵御你们。但是，如果你们变得有侵略性和野心，那么你们将遇到巨大的问题。因为在你们的世界所处的太空环境中，有一些长期的合约和安排，你们将无法改变它们。如果你们违反了它们，你们将不得不面对一系列的对手，远远超过你们的技术和能力可以对抗的。

That is why maintaining self-sufficiency on Earth is so fundamentally necessary to preserve humanity’s freedom and self-determination. If you can thwart inappropriate interventions in the world, provide for yourself adequately, not be overly greedy or ambitious and be satisfied with the splendor of what the world provides you, then you can have great immunity here, and others will respect this. But if you continue to violate the world—destroying its fundamental resources, using up its wealth, creating greater instability and conflict and driving the life-sustaining biological systems into instability—then others will feel compelled to intervene here to save this world for themselves. Indeed, this is what is happening today.

这就是为什么在地球上保持自给自足对于维护人类的自由和自决是如此根本性的必要。如果你们能挫败对世界的不适当干预，充分供养自己，不过分贪婪或野心，对世界提供给你们的辉煌感到满意，那么你们在这里可以有很大的免疫力，其他种族也会尊重这一点。但是，如果你们继续侵犯这个世界——破坏它的基本资源，耗尽它的财富，制造更大的不稳定和冲突，使维持生命的生物系统陷入不稳定，那么其他种族就会感到不得不在这里进行干预，为自己拯救这个世界。事实上，这就是今天正在发生的事情。

Do not think then, should you deplete the world, that you will be able to go out and get whatever you want from other splendid worlds such as this, for they will be inhabited, controlled or overseen by others. And you are in no position to mount a conflict with other nations in your region.

那么不要认为，如果你们耗尽了这个世界的资源，你们将能够走出这个星球，可以去其他像这样辉煌的世界里获得任何你们想得到的资源，因为它们已经被其他种族所居住、控制或监督。而且你们没有资格与你们所在地区的其他国家发生冲突。

In well-established and well-inhabited regions of space, war is very rare. Internal conflicts certainly do erupt, and there are changes in leadership and administration in various worlds, sometimes even through violent means. But conflict between worlds that trade and interact with each other is very rare.

在完善的和居住良好的太空区域，战争是非常罕见的。内部冲突当然会爆发，而且各个世界的领导和管理都会发生变化，有时甚至通过暴力手段。但是，贸易和互动的世界之间的冲突是非常罕见的。

Over long periods of time, war is seen as mutually destructive and literally is prevented from occurring between nations, particularly nations that have important resources and who are powerful within their regions. This tempers ambitions and the desire for conquest, for such ambitions prove to be a detriment to everyone involved. Should you prove to be ambitious, desiring conquest, others will amass against you to such a degree that you can never oppose them.

在很长一段时间内，战争被看作是相互破坏的，而且实际上被阻止在国家之间发生，特别是那些拥有重要资源和在其区域内强大的国家。这就抑制了野心和征服的欲望，因为这种野心被证明是对每个种族都是有害的。如果你们被证明是野心勃勃的，渴望征服，其他种族将对你们进行集结，以至于你们永远无法反对他们。

Stability is more important here than the advancement of one’s empire—stability and the steady flow of resources—a kind of status quo, you might say, that has proven to be beneficial over a long period of time. For a young, aggressive race such as humanity, it is hard to understand this. Humanity is like a wild adolescent who has great passions, great ambitions and great plans, but is reckless and self-destructive. Humanity has not yet emerged into a mature environment where such passions and recklessness are not tolerated.

在这里，稳定比一个种族的帝国的发展更重要——稳定和资源的稳定流动——一种现状，你可以说，在很长一段时间内被证明是有益的。对于像人类这样年轻、好斗的种族，很难理解这一点。人类就像一个狂野的青少年，有着巨大的激情、巨大的野心和巨大的计划，但却不计后果，自我毁灭。人类还没有出现在一个成熟的环境中，这种激情和鲁莽是不被容忍的。

You live in a universe full of restraints. It is not a place where there are no limits, where you can be anything, do anything, harm anything, gain anything or conquer anything. You must understand this. Even in a sparsely inhabited region of space, you would not be able to do this for long.

你生活在一个充满约束的宇宙之中。它不是一个没有限制的地方，在这里你不能试图成为一切，做任何事情，伤害任何生命，获得任何资源或征服任何世界。你必须明白这一点。即使在一个人烟稀少的太空区域，你也不可能长久地这样做。

Your neighbors are powerful. You do not want to fight against them. It will be enough to protect the borders of your world from inappropriate intrusion—from resource explorers and economic collectives, from opportunistic groups who want to establish influence here and who want to establish trade here. To protect your borders will be difficult enough. No one is going to come and take the world by force unless you prove to be so aggressive, so destructive and so destabilizing to the local region of space that you prove to be too great a security problem for other worlds.

你们的邻居们很强大。你们不想与他们作战。保护你们的世界的边界不受不适当的入侵——来自资源探险家和经济集体，来自想在这里建立影响和想在这里建立贸易的机会主义团体，这就足够了。保护你们的边界将是足够困难的。没有人会来用武力夺取这个世界，除非你们被证明是如此具有侵略性，如此具有破坏性，如此破坏当地太空区域的稳定，以至于你们被证明对其他世界是一个太大的安全问题。

However, the possibility for this is long into the future and humanity has great problems here to face at home—problems which will determine its ability to unite and to remain viable stewards of this world. You have the Great Waves of change to face and all that this will require of your nations and your peoples. You have to offset the Intervention that is occurring in the world today, that is being carried out by resource explorers—by groups that are not well respected in this region of space, by those who travel around trying to take advantage of whomever and whatever they can. These groups do not represent established worlds or established powers, for these powers do not conduct their affairs in this manner.

然而，这种可能性要到很久以后，人类在这里有巨大的问题要面对，这些问题将决定其团结的能力和保持这个世界可行的管理人。你们要面对大社区的生命，以及这将要求你们的国家和人民的一切。你们必须抵消今天世界上发生的干预，这些干预是由资源勘探者进行的——由那些在这个太空区域不受尊重的团体进行的，由那些到处旅行试图利用任何种族和任何他们可以利用的种族的探索者进行。这些团体并不代表已建立的世界或已确立的权力，因为这些权力并不以这种方式处理他们的事务。

You can see here how humanity has not established its collective maturity and has not reined in its destructive tendencies and its ambitious behaviors, its greed and so forth. You can see here that you are like a wild teenager, but you live in a neighborhood of established adults. Yet there are predatory forces in your local universe who will try to take advantage of your recklessness and your naiveté to their own advantage. We shall speak of this in later teachings.

你可以在这里看到人类是如何没有建立起集体的成熟度，没有控制它破坏性的倾向和野心勃勃的行为、贪婪等等。你可以在这里看到，你们就像一个野蛮的少年，但你们生活在一个成熟的成年人的社区。然而，在你们当地的宇宙中存在着掠夺性的力量，他们会试图利用你们的鲁莽和你的们天真来为他们自己谋利。我们将在以后的教导中讲到这一点。

For now, you must come to accept that there are severe limitations to what humanity can do in your local universe. As you grow and expand, if you are able to withstand the Great Waves of change that are occurring in your world, you will have to contend with other races who have been established for a very long period of time and who have established rules of engagement, rules of travel and rules of trade that have taken a very long time to establish and that are well fixed.

现在，你必须接受的是，人类在你们本地宇宙中能做的事情有严重的限制。随着你们的成长和扩张，如果你们能够抵御发生在你们世界的变革巨浪，你们将不得不与其他种族进行抗衡，这些种族已经建立了很长一段时间，他们已经建立了交战规则、旅行规则和贸易规则，这些规则花了很长时间才能建立起来，而且已经固定下来。

You have to grow up and become responsible and, if you can, maintain as much self-sufficiency in this world as possible. For if you lose your self-sufficiency, you lose the great possibility and the promise of being a free and independent race. To become part of larger networks of trade, you will be influenced by these networks, and they will determine to a great degree what you can do and what you cannot do. You will have to pay a very high price for engaging in trade with them, for they will influence you and, in certain cases, try to take advantage of you. You represent a newcomer—a weak and unstable race, a race that is easily persuaded and manipulated. For even very stable nations will seek to take advantage of weak emerging races such as your own for their own benefit and stability.

你们必须长大，成为负责任的人，如果你们能，在这个世界上尽可能地保持自给自足。因为如果你们失去了自给自足，你们就失去了成为一个自由和独立种族的巨大可能性和承诺。而成为更大的贸易网络的一部分，你们将受到这些网络的影响，它们将在很大程度上决定你们能做什么，不能做什么。你们将不得不为与他们进行贸易而付出昂贵的代价，因为他们会影响你们，而且在某些情况下，试图利用你们。你们代表着一个新来者——一个软弱和不稳定的种族，一个容易被说服和操纵的种族。因为即使是非常稳定的国家也会为了自己的利益和稳定而寻求利用脆弱的新兴种族，比如你们。

Such is the nature of life in the physical reality. Whether you are a native living in the world or whether you are living in an advanced nation in the universe, it is the same reality. It is the same problem of competition and survival, of persuasion and influence. The rigors and the difficulties of manifest life do not end by cultivating advanced technology. In fact, cultivating advanced technology complicates your life, makes it in many ways more difficult and more challenging and invites the interest and influence of others who you must then contend with. This is a fact of life throughout the universe. It is a reality of physical life itself.

这就是物理现实中生活的自然性。无论你是生活在这个世界上的原住民，还是生活在宇宙中的先进国家，这都是同样的现实。这是同样的竞争和生存问题，说服和影响问题。这表明生活的严峻和困难并不因培养先进的技术而结束。事实上，培养先进技术会使你的生活复杂化，在许多方面变得更加困难和更具挑战性，并招致其他种族的兴趣和影响，然后你们必须与之抗衡。这是整个宇宙生命的一个事实。它是物质生活本身的一个现实。

The wealth that you have you do not want to flaunt. You do not want to show off in the Greater Community. You will have to learn to be extremely discreet about whom you engage with, the nature of that engagement, who can visit your world, what they can do here and so forth—all things you are not doing now that you will have to do in the future.

你们所拥有的财富，你们不想炫耀。你们不想在大社区里炫耀它。你们将不得不学会在与谁进行交往、交往的性质、谁可以访问你们的世界、他们可以在这里做什么等等方面非常谨慎——所有你们现在不做的事情，你们将来都必须做。

It is like growing up as an individual person—young and reckless, thinking you can be anything, have anything and do anything, being out of control and unaccountable. You then enter a mature environment, and you begin to face the kinds of restraints that exist there. You find out that not everyone is interested in you, not everyone likes you and you cannot do whatever you want. To accomplish anything takes a great deal of planning and work. If you want to be an honest and happy individual, you must restrain certain kinds of passions and tendencies within yourself. You must become aware of certain seductions in your environment that can undermine your integrity and weaken you as a person.

这就像成长为一个独立的人——年轻和鲁莽，认为你可以成为任何人，拥有任何关系，做任何事情，不受控制，不负责任。然后你进入一个成熟的环境，你开始面对那里存在的各种约束。你发现，不是每个人都对你感兴趣，不是每个人都喜欢你，你不能为所欲为。要完成任何事情都需要大量的计划和工作。如果你想成为一名诚实和快乐的人，你必须克制自己内心的某些种类的激情和倾向。你必须察觉到你环境中的某些诱惑，这些诱惑会破坏你的诚信，削弱你作为一个人的力量。

The analogy here is very strong. It is very appropriate. The hazards that a young adult person faces in the world—the seductions they will face, the influences they will face, the restraints they will have to deal with—are very much like humanity’s position in space now. You will have to face restraints, influences, seductions and difficulties. And yet, as growing up for a young person is necessary, important and holds some great advantages and opportunities, so growing up as a human family holds great advantages and great opportunities.

这里的比喻非常有力。它是非常恰当的。一个年轻的成年人在世界上面临的危险——他们将面临的诱惑，他们将面临的影响，他们将不得不处理的约束——非常像人类现在在太空中的位置。你们将不得不面对约束、影响、诱惑和困难。然而，正如对一个年轻人来说，成长是必要的、重要的，并拥有一些巨大的优势和机会，作为一个人类大家庭的成长也拥有巨大的优势和巨大的机会。

To establish unity in this world and to end tribal conflict will be an immense accomplishment for humanity, allowing you to devote your energies to more productive and creative endeavors. Being a part of the Greater Community, you will learn wisdom from the Greater Community, wisdom that will enhance you both on an individual level and on a collective level. For while there is much competition and freedom is rare in the universe, there is much wisdom there. The New Message for humanity is bringing wisdom from the Greater Community to you in such a way that you can understand it and apply it within your own individual life.

在这个世界上建立团结，结束部落冲突，将是人类的一个巨大成就，使你们能够将能量投入到更有成效和创造性的工作中。作为大社区的一部分，你将从大社区学到智慧，这些智慧将在个人层面和集体层面上提升你们。因为虽然在宇宙中存在很多竞争，自由也很罕见，但那里有很多智慧。给人类的新讯息是以这样一种方式将来自大社区的智慧带给你，使你能够理解它并在自己的个人生活中应用它。

In understanding that all races must seek resources, you can begin to understand why anyone would come to your world. They either want to enhance their security, or they are here to gain and acquire resources. There is no other reason to go visit worlds. Do not think there is a lot of tourism in the Greater Community. Perhaps between trading nations there may be. It is the problem of biological hazards. You may travel to another world to visit a museum or some kind of natural feature of that world, but because you are not of that world, there is always the problem of biological contamination. And this problem has not been universally solved. Between nations or worlds that have regular contact, it can be controlled. But for an outsider to enter these realms would either be prohibited or extremely restricted. So you must understand that anyone who comes to your world comes either to enhance their security or to gain present or future access to resources.

在理解所有种族都必须寻求资源的情况下，你可以开始理解为什么会有种族来到你们的世界。他们要么是想加强自己的安全，要么是在这里开发资源并为自己获得资源。没有其他原因可以解释为什么他们要来你们的世界。不要认为在大社区中有很多旅游业。也许贸易国之间可能有。这是生物危害的问题。你可能会去另一个世界参观博物馆或该世界的某种自然景观，但因为你不属于那个世界，所以总是存在生物污染的问题。而且这个问题还没有得到普遍的解决。在经常接触的国家或世界之间，这个问题可以得到控制。但对于一个外来者来说，进入这些领域要么被禁止，要么受到极大的限制。所以你必须明白，任何来到你们世界的种族，要么是为了加强他们的安全，要么是为了获得现在或将来的资源。

In the Greater Community, you are dealing with an adult environment where the need for resources is ever present and is extremely pressing. No one is going to come to this world on holiday. No one is going to come to this world for a science project, leading a classroom of students as on a field trip. This world is far too hazardous for any foreign nation to do that.

在大社区，你们面对的是一个成人的环境，对资源的需求永远存在，而且极其迫切。没有一个种族会来到这个世界进行度假。没有一个种族会为了一个科学项目来到这个世界，带领一教室的学生进行实地考察。这个世界对任何外星种族来说都太危险了，无法做到这一点。

You can see here already the degree to which your assumptions and expectations are out of keeping with the reality of the situation, how your expectations regarding contact with extraterrestrial life in the universe must really be based upon a different foundation and that there are criteria that must be created in order for this contact to be really beneficial to everyone involved.

你在这里已经可以看到你们的假设和期望与现实情况脱节的程度，你们对与宇宙中的外星生命接触的期望必须真正建立在不同的基础之上，而且必须建立一些标准，以便这种接触能够真正对每个生命都有利。

You must then look at the stars not as a place of escape and not as a wondrous environment where you will be free of the difficulties and restraints of life here on Earth. You must look at the stars and space not as a refuge, but as a representation of life on a larger scale. Much of what you face here on Earth you will face in space, but on a much larger scale and in more extreme ways.

这样，你就不能把星空看作是一个逃避的地方，也不能把它看作是一个奇妙的环境，在那里你可以摆脱地球上生活的困难和束缚。你不能把恒星和太空看成是避难所，而应该把它们看成是更大范围内生命的代表。你在地球上面临的许多问题，在太空中也将面临，只不过规模更大，方式更极端。

For example, the lack of freedom that exists in many parts of the world will be even more extreme in the Greater Community. The strenuous struggle for resources that you experience in the world, particularly amongst poorer people, will be more extreme in the Greater Community. The need to control societies and individual behavior is more extreme in the Greater Community. The problems in trade, travel and negotiations are more extreme and difficult in the Greater Community. The necessity to restrain war and conflict is more extreme in the Greater Community. The Greater Community is a bigger version of your life here, bigger in all ways.

例如，世界上许多地方存在的缺乏自由的情况，在大社区将更加极端。你在世界范围内所经历的对资源的激烈争夺，特别是在较贫穷的人之间，在大社区将更加极端。控制社会和个人行为的需要在大社区中更加极端。贸易、旅行和谈判中的问题在大社区中更加极端和困难。克制战争和冲突的必要性在大社区中更加极端。大社区是你在这里的生活的一个更大的版本，在各方面都更大。

The problem of maintaining physical health is more extreme in the Greater Community, where you are confronting beings who have evolved in completely different biological environments or who have evolved in sterile environments. The problem of contamination is extreme. Someone could come to this world, contract a virus or a set of viruses, take them home and infect their entire planet, wiping out most if not all of the inhabitants of that world. That is how potent the problem of contamination really is. Advanced medical technology has not erased this risk.

保持身体健康的问题在大社区中更加极端，在那里你面对的是在完全不同的生物环境中进化的生命，或者在无菌环境中进化的生命。污染的问题是极端的。有生命可能来到这个世界，感染一种病毒或一组病毒，把它们带回家并感染他们的整个星球，毁灭该世界的大部分甚至全部的居民。这就是污染问题的真正威力。先进的医疗技术并没有消除这种风险。

The care that one must bring to one’s life and affairs is more extreme in the Greater Community. The problem of getting around is more difficult in the Greater Community. The problem of getting along with others who are different from you is more extreme in the Greater Community because the differences between you and them are so much greater. The problem of communicating to others is more extreme in the Greater Community, where differences in nature, temperament and appearance are so great.

在大社区里，人们必须对自己的生活和事务给予更多的关心。在大社区里，出行的问题更加困难。在大社区里，与不同于你种族生命相处的问题更加极端，因为你和他们之间的差异是如此之大。与其他种族沟通的问题在大社区里更加极端，因为自然、气质和外表的差异如此之大。

Therefore, do not look to the stars as an escape from life. Do not look at the prospect of space travel as a wonderful adventure into uncharted and uninhabited regions. Do not think that you can go anywhere you want and that you will develop over time a technology for traveling quickly through all the dimensions of life, zipping around the universe as if it were your own neighborhood. Do not think your conveyances will take you anywhere you want in the blink of an eye. Such notions are to be expected from young races full of imagination and hopeful expectation. But they do not fit into the reality of life as it has evolved over a much longer period of time.

因此，不要把星空看成是对生活的一种逃避。不要把太空旅行的前景看成是进入未知和无人居住地区的美妙冒险。不要认为你们可以去任何你想去的地方，你们会随着时间的推移发展出一种技术，快速穿越生命的所有维度，在宇宙中飞驰，就像在你自己的街区一样。不要认为你的交通工具会在眨眼间带你到任何你想去的地方。这种观念是充满想象力和希望的年轻种族所期望的。但它们并不符合生命的现实，因为它已经演化了很长一段时间。

There are nations in your local universe that have been in existence for twenty or thirty thousand years. They have established a level of conformity that is very strict. They are not engaged in social innovation, and most of them have no notion of individual freedom whatsoever. You would find living within them to be extremely difficult, if not intolerable.

在你的本地宇宙中，有些国家已经存在了两三万年。他们已经建立了一套非常严格且一致性的层级。他们不参与社会创新，而且他们中的大多数国家没有任何个人自由的概念。你会发现生活在其中是非常困难的，甚至是无法忍受的。

Free nations are rare and very distinct. They do not travel around trying to plant their flags in other worlds. If they engage in planetary commerce, it is to a very limited degree. And they do not welcome visitors to their worlds. They remain isolated and discreet and guard their boundaries very carefully.

自由国家是罕见的，而且非常独特。他们不会到处旅行，试图在其他世界插上他们的旗帜。如果他们参与行星贸易，那也是在非常有限的程度上。他们也不欢迎游客来到他们的世界。他们保持孤立和谨慎，非常小心地保护他们的边界。

As We said at the outset, much of this revelation will be different from your ideas and perhaps very disappointing to your expectations, even to the point where you will not want to accept what is being presented here. You may still want to have your hopes and your dreams and your fantasies. But, alas, the universe represents all the problems and the difficulties of physical life, the problems and difficulties of living in separation—in a separated state, separate from God. These problems exist here and everywhere in the physical reality. No one has been able to escape them entirely. Even races that have established a very stable self-sufficiency, even they have real problems in governance and in dealing with outside forces. And they must be very vigilant regarding their encounters and the influences they might receive from the Greater Community itself.

正如我们在一开始所说的，这个启示的大部分内容将与你的想法不同，可能会对你的预期感到非常失望，甚至会让你不想接受这里所呈现的一切。你可能仍然想拥有你的希望、你的梦想和你的幻想。但是，可惜的是，宇宙代表了所有的问题和物质生活的困难，代表了生活在分离中的问题和困难——分离的状态，与上帝分离。这些问题在这里存在，在物理现实中无处不在。没有生命能够完全摆脱它们。即使是那些已经建立了非常稳定的自给自足的种族，在管理和与外部力量打交道时也会遇到真正的问题。他们必须对自己的遭遇和可能受到的来自大社区本身的影响保持高度警惕。

So emerging into a Greater Community of intelligent life, you are emerging into a vast and complex demonstration of life that is in many ways similar to what is required of you here on Earth. What is different is that there are many different participants who are very different from one another and very different from you. And the complexity of engagement, trade and commerce is great and requires tremendous sophistication, great care and great vigilance. Yet the possibilities for one’s own world can be significant, if one proceeds without aggression and ambition and if one recognizes that freedom and stability are of far greater value in the universe than conquest or expansion.

因此，出现在一个由智能生命组成的大社区中，你们就进入了一个巨大而复杂的生命展示，许多方面类似于地球上对你们的要求。不同的是，有许多不同的参与者，他们彼此之间非常不同，与你们也非常不同。而且接触、贸易和商业的复杂性是巨大的，要求极大的复杂性、极大的谨慎和极大的警惕。然而，如果一个种族没有侵略性和野心，如果他认识到自由和稳定在宇宙中的价值远远大于征服或扩张，那么他自己世界的可能性是巨大的。

Civilizations and nations that have been able to survive over time have come to these conclusions. Those that seek to expand and conquer have found themselves in the end destroyed or overtaken by others, for their behavior could not be sustained in a Greater Community environment, where there are many races seeking to maintain stability and security.

那些能够长期生存的文明和国家都得出了这些结论。那些寻求扩张和征服的种族最终发现自己被摧毁或被其他种族所超越，因为他们的行为在一个大社区的环境中无法持续，在这里有许多种族寻求维持稳定和安全。

The greatest threats to even the most established nations in the universe are: the loss of resources, biological contamination and environmental collapse. These three things affect the behavior of stable and evolved nations more than anything else. While war and conflict are rare in many regions of space, competition and influence are abundant. And this threatens the sovereignty of nations and their access to necessary resources.

即使是宇宙中最成熟的国家，最大的威胁也是：资源的损失、生物污染和环境崩溃。这三样威胁比其他任何威胁都更能影响稳定和发展国家的行为。虽然战争和冲突在太空的许多地区是罕见的，但竞争和影响却十分激烈。而这威胁到国家的主权和他们对必要资源的获取。

Therefore, what concerns the established nations in your neighborhood in space are different from what preoccupies the nations of Earth who are focused on growth and expansion in a world of declining resources. Your circumstances will require you to mature or to fail. Stability and security will become ever more the emphasis of your peoples, your nations and your leaders. The idea of conquest will become ever more dangerous, destructive and counterproductive in your affairs with one another. And the need to secure your resources will become the predominating focus of this century and of the times to come. It is because you are emerging into a Greater Community and because you have grown in the world to such a degree that this emphasis now becomes your focal point.

因此，在你们附近的太空中，关注已建立的国家与关注地球上的国家是不同的，后者在一个资源减少的世界中专注于增长和扩张。你们的环境将要求你们成熟或失败。稳定和安全将越来越成为你们的人民、你们的国家和你们的领导人的重点。征服的想法将在你们彼此的事务中变得更加危险、具有破坏性和适得其反。确保你们资源的需要将成为本世纪和未来时代的主要焦点。正是因为你们正在成为进入一个大社区，也因为你们在世界中已经成长到如此程度，这一重点现在成为你们的焦点。

Unbeknownst to you, you are preparing for the Greater Community. Facing a world of declining resources, you are actually preparing for the Greater Community, where the problem of securing resources will be continuous and ongoing and is being universally experienced. Real freedom, if it can be established and maintained, will require unity, self-sufficiency and great discretion—here and everywhere.

你们不知道的是，你们正在为大社区做准备。面对一个资源不断减少的世界，你们实际上是在为大社区做准备，在那里，确保资源的问题将是持续不断的，而且正在普遍经历。真正的自由，如果能够建立和维持，将需要团结、自给自足和极大的谨慎——在这里和在任何地方。