Chapter 6: Relationships and the Great Waves

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on June 3, 2008 in Boulder, CO
2008年6月3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

You have Four Pillars in your life, the Pillars that uphold your life. They give it strength, balance and certainty. These are the Pillar of Relationships, the Pillar of Work, the Pillar of Health and the Pillar of your Spiritual Development. Like the four legs of a table, they uphold your life. The strength of your life and the ability of your life to undergo change and uncertainty depend in great part upon these Pillars. While you have Knowledge, the deeper intelligence that God has given you to guide you, to protect you and to lead you to your greater accomplishments, the emphasis must still be on building these Four Pillars.

你的生命中有四大支柱，它们是支撑你生命的支柱。它们赋予生命力量、平衡和确定性。它们是关系支柱、工作支柱、健康支柱以及你精神上发展的支柱。它们就像桌子的四条腿，支撑着你的生命。你生命的力量以及你生命经历变化和不确定性的能力在很大程度上取决于这些支柱。虽然你拥有内识，即上帝赐予你的更深层次的智能来指引你、保护你并引领你取得更大的成就，但重点仍然必须放在建立这四根支柱之上。

This chapter discusses the Pillar of Relationships. This includes all of your relationships, how you participate in relationships, your strengths and weaknesses in relationships, the quality of relationships that you have with others—who in your life is strengthening you and who in your life is making you weaker. This primarily is regarding your relationship with individuals, but in a more complete sense, it also includes your relationship with your possessions, your home, your mind, your body, your nation, the Earth, your relationship with nature and so forth. This Teaching will focus on your relationship with individuals because they have the greatest impact upon your thinking, awareness and abilities.

本章讨论的是关系支柱。这包括你所有的关系，你如何参与关系，你在关系中的长处和短处，你与他人关系的质量——在你的生命中谁在加强你，谁在使你变弱。这主要是关于你与个人的关系，但在更完整的意义上，它也包括你与你的财产、你的家庭、你的心灵、你的身体、你的国家、你与地球的关系，以及你与大自然的关系等等。本教学将重点关注你与个人的关系，因为他们对你的思维、觉知和能力有最大的影响。

It must be understood at the outset that the quality of your relationships with others will largely determine the kind of life you will have, what will be available to you, the vision you will have and the degree of courage you will have to follow the movement of Knowledge within yourself. Here Knowledge cannot move you in your life. It cannot guide you or protect you if your Pillars are too weak. In this case, if there are people who depend upon you remaining as they want you to be, who are afraid of any kind of change or emergence within your life, who would suspect or denounce any kind of deeper inclination you might have to the degree that it would threaten their interest in you, they will hold you back. They will influence you. They will discourage you. They will cast doubt upon you even if they are wonderful and loving people. If they do not recognize the reality of the deeper nature within themselves, then they will regard it within you with suspicion and uncertainty. They will not trust it. They will not know it. It will seem strange, confusing and threatening to them. And whatever they are doing with you in life will seem to be cast in doubt.

首先必须明白，你与他人关系的好坏将在很大程度上决定你将拥有什么样的生命，你将获得什么，你将拥有什么样的视野，你将在多大程度上有勇气追随自己内心内识的运动。在这里，内识不能在你的生命中推动你。如果你的支柱过于脆弱，它就无法指导你或保护你。在这种情况下，如果有人依赖你保持他们所希望的样子，害怕你生活中的任何变化或出现，怀疑或谴责你可能有的任何一种更深层次的倾向，以至于会威胁到他们在你身上的利益，他们就会阻止你。他们会影响你。他们会阻碍你。他们会对你产生怀疑，即使他们是优秀的、充满爱心的人。如果他们不承认自己内心深处自然的真实性，那他们将以怀疑和不确定的态度看待你内心的自然性。他们不会信任它。他们也不会知道它。内识对他们来说似乎是陌生的、混乱的和威胁性的。而无论他们在生活中与你做什么，似乎都会被抛在怀疑之中。

Who you are with and who is influencing you has a great bearing on what you will know and your ability to follow what you know, the ability to follow the greater intelligence that God has placed within you. Contemplating the Great Waves of change that are coming to the world, the very difficult reality of comprehending humanity’s emergence into the Greater Community of life in the Universe and the Intervention that is occurring in the world today will show you who amongst your friends and relatives will support you in this inquiry and who will share this interest with you. Not everyone who encourages you will share this interest, so they do not need to have this interest to support you. But you will see at the outset who will stand with you and who will oppose you, who will discourage you and who will encourage you. This is very important to see.

你和谁在一起，谁在影响着你，这对你将会知道以及你跟随你所知道内识的能力、跟随上帝放在你内心的更伟大智能的能力有着极大的影响。思考一下即将降临世界的变革巨浪，思考一下理解人类出现在宇宙中生命大社区这一非常困难的现实，思考一下当今世界正在发生的干预，你就会知道在你的亲朋好友中，谁会支持你进行这一探索，谁会与你分享这一兴趣。并不是每个鼓励你的人都会与你有同样的兴趣，所以他们并不需要有同样的兴趣来支持你。但是，一开始你就会知道谁会支持你，谁会反对你，谁会劝阻你，谁会鼓励你。看到这一点非常重要。

People are often shocked to discover that their closest friends or their nearest relatives really did not support the emergence of Knowledge or their entertaining deeper questions about their lives and about the world. They were such good friends on a personal level, but beyond that level, they had so little in common. It is as if they didn’t really know each other at all. They only shared interests and hobbies and simple innocuous dialogue, but beyond that there was not a deeper connection between them.

人们常常震惊地发现，他们最亲密的朋友或最亲近的亲戚真的不支持内识的出现，不支持他们对自己的生命和世界进行更深层次的提问。在个人层面上，他们是如此要好的朋友，但在此之外，他们几乎没有共同之处。就好像他们根本就没有真正知道过对方。他们只有共同的兴趣和爱好以及简单无伤大雅的对话，但除此之外，他们之间没有更深层面的联系。

One of the first great thresholds you will have to face is sharing with others your awareness of the Great Waves of change, your inquiry into the Greater Community of life and your focus on building your connection to the mystery and the power of Knowledge within yourself. Be prepared, for the response may not be what you want it to be. That is to be expected, for if your closest friends and your closest relatives really supported Knowledge within you, they would have been doing it all along. It would have been a focus in their relationship with you. They would have encouraged it. They would have encouraged you to be true to yourself, to search your feelings and to discern your deeper inclinations. If that has not been the case, then it is likely that they will not support your deeper inquiry now, and they will not understand what you are doing and why you are concerning yourself with such difficult and important questions.

你将不得不面对的第一道巨大门槛之一，就是与他人分享你对变革巨浪的觉知、你对生命大社区的探究，以及你对建立自己与神秘和内识力量之间联系的关注。做好心理准备，因为回应可能不是你想要的。这是意料之中的，因为如果你最亲密的朋友和亲人真的支持你的内识，他们就会一直这样做。这将是他们与你关系中的一个重点。他们会鼓励你这样做。他们会鼓励你忠于你自己，探索自己的感受，辨别自己在更深层面的倾向。如果不是这样，那他们现在很可能就不会支持你进行更深层面的探索，他们也不会理解你在做什么，为什么你要关心这些困难而重要的问题。

Here you must be willing to continue even if others fall away. And in certain cases, you will have to leave even longstanding relationships, for they can only hinder you now in your greater journey. They can only pull you back to the way you used to be, the way they want you to be, the way they are used to your being. But do not condemn them for this, for they do not yet have the awareness. Yet be grateful that the awareness is coming to you because this gives you time to learn and to prepare, and perhaps one day you will be able to help them in their inquiry. But at the outset, you must gain your own strength. You are not strong enough to teach others and to encourage others. You do not have the skill. You do not have the certainty. You have not traveled far enough up this mountain to be able to guide others, even at the outset.

在这里，即使其他人离开了，你也必须愿意继续下去。在某些情况下，你甚至必须离开长期的关系，因为它们只会阻碍你现在更伟大的旅程。他们只能把你拉回到你过去的样子，他们希望你成为的样子，他们习惯你的样子。但不要因此而谴责他们，因为他们还没有觉知到这一点。然而要感谢这种觉知正在向你走来，因为这给了你时间去学习和准备，也许有一天你将能够帮助他们进行探索。但一开始，你必须获得自己的力量。你还没有足够的力量去教导他人和鼓励他人。你没有这种技能。你没有确定性。你还没有在这座山上走的足够远，即使在一开始，你也无法指导他人。

Here you must be willing to journey alone and face loneliness because it is better to be alone than it is to be engaged in relationships that cannot journey with you in The Way of Knowledge. It is better to face loneliness than it is to engage with people who really have nothing to offer you—no wisdom, no encouragement and no insight. Before, you were really just spending your time mindlessly, and now you must spend it wisely. And relationships take a great deal of time.

在这里，你必须愿意独自旅行，面对孤独，因为孤独总是比与那些不能与你一起在内识之路上旅行的人交往要好。面对孤独总是比与那些真正不能为你提供任何帮助的人打交道要好——没有智慧，没有鼓励，没有洞察力。以前，你只是在漫不经心地消磨时间，而现在你必须明智地善用它。而关系需要大量的时间。

Here you will be looking for deeper qualities in people. Beauty, charm and wittiness will be seen as having no real value now. You want depth and honesty. You want earnestness. You want clarity. You are looking for a deeper resonance with others. You want others who are looking at the world, responding to the world and who are beginning to respond to Knowledge as you are beginning to respond to Knowledge. You want people who can resonate with you and encourage you now, for you will need this.

在这里，你会在人们身上寻找更深层面的品质。美貌、魅力和机智在现在看来没有任何实际价值。你需要的是深度和诚实。你想要真诚。你想要清晰。你希望与他人产生更深层次的共鸣。你想要的其他人，他们现在正观察着这个世界，正对这个世界做出回应，并且开始对内识做出回应，就像你开始对内识做出回应一样。你想要那些现在能与你产生共鸣并鼓励你的人，因为你现在就需要这样的人。

Breaking free of others who cannot do this and breaking free compassionately and wisely is not easy. In some cases, it will seem heart wrenching. It will be so confusing to you that they cannot see what you see and feel what you feel and know what you know. Not only are they not experiencing these things, they will not even seem to value them. They will say, “What is wrong with you? You used to be such a fun person, and now you are so serious. Why are you concerning yourself with these things? It is too fearful. It is too extreme.” They will question your motives. They will question your insights. They will weaken your confidence.

摆脱那些无法做到这一点的人，并以同情和智慧的方式摆脱他们，并非易事。在某些情况下，它似乎令人心碎。他们无法看到你所看到的、感受到你所感受到的、知道你所知道的，这让你感到非常困惑。他们不仅没有经历这些事情，甚至似乎并不重视这些事情。他们会说：”你是怎么了？你曾经是一个如此有趣的人，而现在你是如此严肃。你为什么要关注这些事情呢？这太令人恐惧了。它太极端了”。他们会质疑你的动机。他们会质疑你的洞察力。他们会削弱你的信心。

Nearly everyone has to face this at the outset, and sometimes it can be very disappointing. Yet you still must journey on. You have a greater purpose in life to discover. You have to take the steps to Knowledge. You have to find out within the context of the world why you are really here. What are your gifts? What does the world need from you specifically that you are equipped to provide? You have a greater journey to take now. It will change your relationships, it will change your priorities, and it will change what you look for in other people.

几乎每个人一开始都要面对这个问题，有时会令人非常失望。然而，你仍然必须继续前行。你有更伟大的目的需要去探索。你必须迈出通往内识阶梯的步伐。你必须在这个世界的背景下找出你在这里的真正原因。你的礼物是什么？世界特别需要你提供什么？你现在有一段更伟大的旅程要走。它将改变你的关系，改变你的优先事项，改变你对他人的要求。

This is entirely natural. This is the result of growing up. Even if there were no Great Waves of change, even if humanity remained isolated in the Universe, you would still have to take these great steps to mature as a person—to build character within yourself, to learn about your mind and your inclinations, your strengths and your weaknesses and to embark upon a deeper evaluation of your life.

这是完全自然的。这是成长的结果。即使没有变革的巨浪，即使人类仍然孤立于宇宙之中，你仍然必须采取这些伟大的步骤，使自己成熟起来——在自己的内心建立品格，学习关于自己的心灵和倾向，学习关于自己的长处和短处，并开始对自己的生命进行更深入的评估。

The Great Waves of change add tremendous urgency to this deep evaluation, but in and of itself, it is an entirely natural and necessary process. That others are not responding does not mean that it is not meant for you. That others are not growing up does not mean that you should not grow up. That others are remaining foolish, ignorant and self-obsessed is not a reason for you to do the same.

变革的巨浪为这种深度评估增添了巨大的紧迫性，但就其本身而言，这完全是一个自然而必要的过程。其他人没有响应，并不意味着它不是为你准备的。其他人没有长大，并不意味着你不应该长大。其他人仍然保持着愚昧、无知和自恋，并不意味着你也要这样做的理由。

You are both blessed and burdened now—blessed because you have been forewarned, blessed because the spark of Knowledge has been ignited within you, blessed because at last after so many years of searching and emptiness, you are beginning to find something—something you can experience and follow, something that will give you a greater direction and a greater connection to life.

你现在既受到祝福又担有责任——祝福是因为你已经得到了预先的警告，祝福是因为内识的火花已经在你内在点燃，祝福是因为在经过这么多年的寻找和空虚之后，你开始发现内识——一种你可以经历和追随的关系，一种将会给你带来更大方向和更大生命连接的经历。

Yet it is also a burden. For now you must consider things that you would not consider before. Now you must look courageously out into the world, and you must look courageously within yourself. You must begin the great evaluation, and you must be willing in life to chart a different course—not a course that you have fantasized about, not a course that represents your former goals and ideals, but something deeper and more genuine, something natural to you, but at the same time something with which you are unfamiliar.

然而，这也是一种负担。因为现在你必须考虑你以前不会考虑的事情。现在，你必须勇敢地放眼世界，你也必须勇敢地审视自己的内心。你必须开始进行深刻的评估，你必须愿意在生命中规划一条不同的路线——不是你幻想过的路线，不是代表你以前的目标和理想的路线，而是更深刻、更真实的道路，对你来说是自然的道路，但同时也是你所不熟悉的道路。

Here you are not creating your reality. You are allowing your reality to emerge within you. You will have to create a place for it to emerge. You will have to create an environment for it to emerge, but its emergence is natural and essential for you, for this is who you really are. Beyond your personality, beyond your beliefs and ideas, beyond your memories of the past, this represents your greater identity that is now beginning to emerge in your life. It has been called because you have reached a point in your life where it becomes necessary, and you are being called by the world, for the world is calling you. The signs of the world are calling you to prepare—to awaken from your dreams of self-fulfillment, to prepare for the Great Waves of change and to prepare for the Greater Community.

在这里，你不是在创造你的现实。你是在允许你的现实在你内心中展现。你将不得不为它的出现创造一个地方。你将不得不为它的出现创造一个环境，但它的出现对你来说是自然的和必要的，因为这才是真正的你。超越你的个性，超越你的信念和想法，超越你对过去的记忆，这代表着你现在生命中开始显现的更大的身份。这是因为你已经达到了生命中必需的一个点，世界正在召唤你的存在，因为世界正在召唤你。世界的迹象正在呼唤你做好准备——从自我实现的梦境中醒来，为变革的巨浪做好准备，为大社区的到来做好准备。

This is a very important point, you see, because while the answer is within you, the calling is not. It is beyond you. It is out in the world. What calls you to a greater purpose is out in the world. The answer to this calling is within you, but the calling is out there. Because the Great Waves of change are coming and are beginning to influence and affect the lives of ever-increasing numbers of people, the calling of the world is there. It is powerful. It is engaging. It is essential.

这一点非常重要，因为答案就在你的心中，而召唤却不在你的内心。它在你之外。它在这个世界上。召唤你实现更伟大目的的是外面的世界。这种召唤的答案就在你的内心，但召唤却在外面。因为变革的巨浪正在袭来，并开始影响到越来越多的人的生活，世界的召唤就在这里。它是强大的。它是有吸引力的。它是必不可少的。

That is why you are responding now. That is why you have been feeling a greater sense of anxiety about the future and a greater concern for what you are here to do in your life, what is really important in your life and what you are here to accomplish. It is this calling, you see. You have been feeling it for some time, and now the revelation of the New Message is showing you what you are experiencing. It is bearing witness to your experience. It is advocating for this experience to increase and to emerge within you. It is a confirmation of Knowledge within yourself and what you yourself must learn to see, to know and to do for this Knowledge to emerge and to express itself fully through you.

这就是你现在做出回应的原因。这就是为什么你对未来感到更加的焦虑，更加关心你在这里要做什么，什么是你生命中真正重要的，什么是你在这里需要完成的。你看，这就是召唤。你感受到它已经有一段时间了，现在，新讯息的启示正在向你展示你正在经历的一切。它正在为你的经历做见证。它主张这种经验在你内心增加和涌现。这是对你自己内识的确认，也是你自己必须学会去看、去知、去做的事情，以便使内识可以出现，并通过你充分表达它自己。

This is not a time to look for romance. This is not a time to try to get married. This is not a time to commit yourself to someone or to a set of circumstances because you are building a fundamental relationship with yourself, and you are undertaking a deep evaluation of your life. It is better now that there be no one else competing for your attention. If someone is, it will make this evaluation far more difficult and confuse your situation terribly. Even if they are the right person for you, they must wait. And if they are the right person, they will wait.

这不是一个寻找浪漫的时间。这不是一个尝试结婚的时间。这不是一个将自己交付给某人或一套环境的时间，因为你正在与自己建立一种基础的关系，你正在对你的生命进行深入的评估。现在最好是没有其他人来争夺你的注意力。如果有人，就会大大增加评估的难度，并使你的处境变得非常混乱。即使他们是适合你的人，他们也必须等待。如果他们是合适的人，他们也会等待。

You need time now to get your bearings, to see where you are, to see what you know, to evaluate your relationships with people, places and things and to discern the direction that you must follow. There should be no one else competing for your attention, and you should hold yourself back. Do not give yourself over now. That would be a terrible mistake. It would be bypassing an essential step in your life.

你现在需要时间来确定自己的方向，看清自己所处的位置，看清自己所知道的事情，评估你与人、地方和事物的关系，并辨别你必须追随的方向。此时不应该有其他人争夺你的注意力，你应该克制自己。现在不要把自己交出去，这将是一个严重的错误，这将会绕过你人生中至关重要的一步。

If you are a person who has relied upon being in relationship with others, this might seem difficult—to be on your own like this, to withhold your affections, to keep yourself out of any kind of intimate engagement with anyone. If someone is trying to seduce you or to overcome your inclinations, if someone is trying to persuade you to be in relationship with them, then you can be sure that they do not respect the deeper movement of your life. This will likely mean that they are not appropriate for you, either now or at any time. Do not let anyone’s desires or expectations overtake you now. You must have this restraint. You must establish these boundaries.

如果你是一个依赖与他人发生关系的人，这可能会让你觉得很难——像这样独自一人，扣留你的感情，让自己不与任何人有任何形式的亲密接触。如果有人试图引诱你或克服你的倾向，如果有人试图说服你与他们建立关系，那你可以肯定，他们并不尊重你在生命中更深层面的运动。这很可能意味着他们不适合你，无论是现在还是任何时候。现在不要让任何人的欲望或期望超越你。你必须有这种克制力。你必须建立这些界限。

You will need time, and quite a bit of time actually, to discern your real direction. There should be no distractions from this—no one pulling you to the side, no one pulling you back, no one trying to win you over, no one trying to encourage you to be in relationship with them. No distractions. If you are going to take this great step in your life, there must be no distractions.

你需要时间，而且实际上需要相当长的一段时间，来辨别你真正的方向。在此期间，不应有任何干扰——没有人拉扯你，没有人拉你后退，没有人试图说服你，没有人来说服你与他们建立关系。绝对不能有任何干扰。如果你要在生命中迈出这重要的一步，就必须保持专注，毫无干扰。

If you are in a relationship with someone now, you may have to withdraw for a period of time. If they can support this, that is good. If they cannot support it, then you know that they will not be able to take this journey with you, regardless of your affection for each other, regardless of what you have created together. Fundamentally, they will not move in the direction in which you must now move, and there is nothing you can do about it.

如果你目前与某人有一段关系，你可能需要暂时退出一段时间。如果他们能支持这一决定，那很好。如果他们无法支持，那你就会知道，无论你们之间有多么深厚的感情，无论你们共同创造了什么，他们将无法与你共同踏上这段旅程。从根本上讲，他们不会朝着你现在必须迈向的方向前进，而你对此也无能为力。

This is where Knowledge becomes your first responsibility. Before, you were giving your life away to other people. You were giving your life away to your own desires. You were giving your life away to your own fears. You were giving your life away to what the culture was telling you that you should be, do and have. But now you are allowing Knowledge within yourself to set the direction, to set the boundaries, to say yes to this and no to that, to give you clarity, to give you back to yourself and to give you a direction and steps to follow.

这时候，内识成为你的首要责任。之前，你把自己的生命交给了其他人。你把自己的生命交给了你自己的欲望。你把自己的生命交给了你自己的恐惧。你把自己的生命交给了文化告诉你应该成为、做什么以及拥有什么。但现在，你正在允许内在的内识来设定方向，设定界限，对这个说是，对那个说不，给你清晰度，让你重新找回你自己，给你一个方向以及需要遵循的步骤。

For some people, this will be the most difficult threshold, and many will not pass through this threshold. They will turn away from Knowledge. They will turn away from the signs of the world and the signs of their own deeper experience to protect what they have, to please the one they are trying to please, to hold on to their financial security, to hold on to their social position. They will fall back into the shadows, and Knowledge will remain latent within them—waiting for the moment when it might emerge again, waiting for the time when they will question their assumptions, their attachments and their commitments.

对某些人来说，这将是最艰难的门槛，许多人将无法跨越这道门槛。他们会远离内识。他们会远离世界的迹象以及他们自己更深层次的经验的迹象，为了保护他们所拥有的，为了取悦他们试图讨好的人，为了守住他们的财务安全，为了守住他们的社会地位。他们将重新陷入阴影之中，而内识将继续在他们内心潜伏——等待着再次浮现的时机，等待着他们质疑自己的假设、执念和承诺的时刻。

But for you, you must establish this foundation within yourself before you can commit yourself to anyone or anything. Your first priority is to become strong with Knowledge and to engage yourself in a deep evaluation about your life, relationships and activities. In your heart, you know this to be true. If you feel you have been alone and have done this evaluation, and yet you do not have a clear direction, if you do not know what steps to follow, then you have not really done this. You have just been alone.

对于你而言，你必须在承诺任何人或任何事之前，在自己内心建立这个基础。你的首要任务是在内识的引导下成为内识的强者，并深入评估你的生命、关系和活动。在你的心中，你知道这是真实的。如果你觉得自己一直是孤独的，并且已经做了这个评估，但你仍然没有明确的方向，如果你不知道该遵循什么步骤，那你实际上还没有真正做到这一点。你只是孤独而已。

Perhaps you are not asking the right questions or listening deep enough for the power and presence of Knowledge within yourself. Perhaps you are not looking at the Great Waves of change. Perhaps the idea of humanity’s emergence into the Greater Community had never occurred to you, or you only thought about it occasionally. Whatever the case may be, the deep evaluation must be deep enough to be effective. It must be substantial, and it must show you what is coming over the horizon of the world, for this will give you certainty. This will give you motivation, for you will realize you cannot stay where you are. You are not living in the past anymore. The world that you are accustomed to will change dramatically. You cannot rest on any former presumptions or assurances. There is no safe and secure place to hide from the vicissitudes of life now.

也许你还没有问出正确的问题，或者没有足够深入地倾听内心的内识的力量和存在。也许你还没有观察到变革的巨浪。也许人类进入大社区的想法从未触及你，或者你只是偶尔想到过。无论情况如何，这种深度评估必须足够深入才能有效果。它必须是实质性的，它必须向你展示世界地平线上的未来，因为这会给你确定性。这会激励你，因为你会意识到你不能停留在原地。你已经不再生活在过去。你习以为常的世界将会发生巨大变化。你不能依赖任何以往的假设或保证。现在已经没有安全和稳定的避难所可以躲避生活的种种变幻了。

If you can face this, you will gain courage. If you can face this without denial, without preference, without projecting your own ideas, hopes and wishes, you will gain clarity and objectivity. Courage, clarity and objectivity—so rare they are in the human experience, and yet so absolutely necessary to provide certainty, direction and balance in one’s life.

如果你能面对这一切，你就会获得勇气。如果你能面对这一切，不否认，不偏爱，不将自己的想法、希望和愿望投射进去，你就会获得清晰和客观。勇气、清晰以及客观——它们在人类的经验中是如此罕见，但它又是绝对必要的，它能为一个人的生命提供确定性、方向和平衡。

It is better to be with one person who will encourage you than it is to have a whole host of friends and family around you who have no idea what is moving your life. You must face this. You must have the strength to say no to others. You must have the courage to carry on the deep evaluation of your life. Otherwise, you will not know yourself. You will not know your experience. And you will be too afraid to look out over the horizon.

与一个会鼓励你的人在一起，总是比你身边有一大堆不知道内识在推动你生命的朋友和家人要好。你必须面对这一点。你必须有力量对其他人说不。你必须有勇气对你的生命进行深度评估。否则，你将不知道你自己。你将不知道你的经验。而你将太过害怕，不敢眺望世界的地平线。

This is the condition of so many people, especially the wealthy people. They really do not want to look out on the horizon. Most of them are too afraid of how they must change, what they must let go of, what they must reconsider—so engulfed they are in their pursuit of happiness and pleasure, wealth and power. It is very sad. Their wealth has done nothing for them and, in fact, has made them weaker and less able to respond to life.

这就是许多人的现状，尤其是富人。他们真的不想眺望世界的地平线。他们中的大多数人都太害怕他们必须如何改变，他们必须放下的东西，他们必须重新考虑的关系——所以他们沉浸在对幸福和快乐、财富和权力的追求中。这是非常可悲的。他们的财富没有为他们带来任何益处，事实上，财富使他们变得更加虚弱，对生命的回应能力变弱。

Therefore, do not envy them. Their tragedy is not something you want to have. In the future, owning a lot of things will be a real burden. Having great wealth will be a real burden. How will you protect it? How much will it govern your life? The Great Waves will create a set of circumstances that will make being very wealthy extremely hazardous, with all those hungry faces looking at you. No, no, that is not the way.

因此，不要羡慕他们。他们的悲剧不是你想拥有的。未来，拥有大量资源将成为真正的负担。拥有巨额财富将成为真正的负担。你将如何保护它？它将在多大程度上支配你的生命？变革的巨浪将创造一系列环境，让拥有巨额财富变得极其危险，所有那些饥饿的眼神都会盯着你。不，这行不通，这不是正确的道路。

You will need great companions in The Way of Knowledge. You will need others who are strong enough to face the Great Waves of change and who are willing to begin to look ahead at the Greater Community and humanity’s future and destiny there. You must have others who are beginning to take the same kind of journey you are taking.

在内识之路上，你需要伟大的同伴。你将需要其他一些人，他们有足够的力量面对变革的巨浪，愿意开始展望大社区以及人类在那里的未来和天命。你必须有其他人开始踏上与你相同的旅程。

This is not about romance and marriage now. That may come later. That is not the emphasis now. Break the addiction to romance. Do not become sexually engaged with anyone during this initial period. Do not give yourself away to anyone. You will have to bring everything to bear here—all of your attention. It must be the great focus of your life. That is how serious it is, and that is what is required. In time, others will come to join you.

现在不是谈论浪漫和婚姻的时候。这些可能会在以后出现。现在的重点不在这里。打破对浪漫的依赖。在这个初期阶段，不要与任何人发生性关系。不要把自己交给任何人。你必须全神贯注地投入其中。它必须是你生命的最大焦点。这就是它的严肃性，这也是它的要求。随着时间的推移，其他人会加入你。

You will be tempted by romance. You will be tempted by relationship, beauty, charm and wealth. They will all still have certain degrees of attraction for you. But Knowledge within you will not be impressed at all by them and will not respond to them. And the stronger you are with Knowledge, the more immune you become to these seductions and attractions.

你会受到浪漫的诱惑。你会被关系、美貌、魅力和财富所吸引。它们仍然会对你有一定程度的吸引力。但是你内心的内识不会被它们所打动，也不会对它们作出回应。而你的内识越强大，你就越能抵御这些诱惑和吸引力。

But you are not there yet. You must take this journey to gain that strength, that immunity and that freedom. Oh, what a freedom it is to be free from seduction. When you are free, everyone else looks like they are in chains, like they are slaves to their wishes, their desires, their fears and their inappropriate engagements with other people. But to gain this freedom requires a kind of struggle within yourself and real self-determination.

但你还没走到这一步。你必须踏上这段旅程，获得这种力量、免疫力和自由。Oh，摆脱诱惑是一种怎样的自由呢。当你自由时，其他人看起来就像被枷锁束缚着，就好像他们是他们的愿望、欲望、恐惧以及与他人的不适当约定的奴隶。但是，要想获得这种自由，就必须在自己的内心深处进行一种挣扎，需要真正的自我决定。

Beyond the sphere of your personal relationships, you will need to gain the expertise of people who are looking at the Great Waves—people who have different skills, different talents, different professions. You will need to learn about the Great Waves—what they really mean, how they are unfolding. What are the possible outcomes for humanity? You must do this with as much objectivity as possible. It does not have to become an obsessive investigation, but it is part of your education overall.

在你的个人关系之外，你将需要获得关注变革巨浪的人的专业知识——那些拥有不同技能、不同天赋、不同职业的人。你将需要了解变革的巨浪——它们的真正含义，它们是如何展开的。对人类来说，可能会有哪些结果？你必须尽可能地客观地做这件事。它不必成为一项痴迷的调查，但它是你整体教育的一部分。

Therefore, you will have to become a student of the world as well as a student of Knowledge—studying what is really important. What is really important for you to study now, regarding the world in all of its conflicts and distractions, all of its seductions and tragedies? What should you be looking for there?

因此，你既要成为世界的学生，也要成为内识的学生——研究真正重要的问题。关于世界上所有的冲突和分心，所有的诱惑和悲剧，什么才是你现在真正要研究的？你应该在世界寻找什么？

There are a few things that are important. You must become aware of situations around the world regarding the availability of food and water. You must become aware of changes in climate and its effect upon food production in the world and its effect upon the well-being of people in both urban and rural environments. You must be aware of political and economic instability and how it is manifesting in certain places. You must be aware of the outbreaks of pandemic illnesses. And you must be aware of conflicts that continue to exist and conflicts that may emerge in the future. When you look at the world, look for these things. Just bear witness to them and see if there are any signs. Not everything you will look at is important. Not everything you look at will be a sign.

有几件事情是重要的。你必须察觉到世界各地有关食物和水供应的情况。你必须察觉到气候的变化及它对世界粮食生产的影响，以及对城市和农村环境中人们福祉的影响。你必须察觉到政治和经济的不稳定以及它在某些地方的表现。你必须察觉到大流行病的爆发。而且你必须察觉到继续存在的冲突和未来可能出现的冲突。当你观察世界时，寻找这些迹象。只要见证它们，看看是否有任何征兆。并不是你看到的每件事都很重要。也不是你看到的每件事都会有征兆。

You look and you watch with Knowledge, which is looking without preference or judgment. It is just looking. You listen without preference or judgment. It is just listening. If you find a real sign, it will impress itself upon you particularly. It will not just be an emotional response of sadness or grief, remorse or anger. It will be something that will ring within you. That is important. Write it down—what you heard, where you heard it, how it impressed you. And stay with that, for a sign is more important than stimulation.

你带着内识去看，不带偏好或判断地去看。它只是观察。不带偏好或判断地倾听。它只是听。如果你发现了一个真正的迹象，它会给你留下特别深刻的印象。它将不仅仅是一种悲伤或难过、悔恨或愤怒的情绪反应。它将在你的内心产生共鸣。这一点很重要。把它写下来——你听到了什么，在哪里听到的，它给你留下了怎样的印象。坚持下去，因为迹象比刺激更重要。

You look for the signs. You do not have to become an expert in any of these areas. You do not have to study them in depth. But you need to look into them for the signs. For the signs will tell you how quickly the Great Waves are approaching. They will tell you how much time you have to carry out the things that you are trying to do even right now.

你要寻找这些迹象。你不必成为这些领域的专家。你不必深入地研究它们。但你需要研究它们的迹象。因为这些迹象会告诉你变革巨浪的速度有多快。它们会告诉你，你还有多少时间来执行你甚至现在就想做的事情。

Like the animals in the field and the birds in the air, you are watching and listening for changes in your environment. While others continue to be preoccupied and self-obsessed, carefree and careless, you must pay attention, and that is why there can be no competition for your attention now. Romance and relationship must wait. You must create space within your mind to listen, to look and to learn. You must slow your life down so that you can listen, look and learn. Beginning Steps to Knowledge will teach you how to still your mind and how to listen more deeply within your own experience, looking for the signs.

就像田野里的动物和空中的鸟儿一样，你正在观察和倾听环境的变化。当其他人继续全神贯注、自我陶醉、无忧无虑、漫不经心时，你必须注意，这就是为什么现在不能有任何竞争者来争夺你的注意力。浪漫和关系必须等待。你必须在你的心灵中创造空间，去倾听，去观察，去学习。你必须放慢你的生活节奏，以便你能够倾听、观察和学习。内识的开始步骤将教你如何静下心来，如何更深入地聆听自己的经历，寻找迹象。

It is your relationship with Knowledge now that is so fundamental and that must take precedence over any other relationship that you have. Even your children who will stay with you, even they cannot interfere with your relationship with Knowledge. The more that you build this relationship, the more you will be able to share it with your children and encourage it in them. For you can never be too young to learn about Knowledge—to learn how to recognize your deeper experience and be true to yourself.

现在，你与内识的关系才是最根本的，它必须优先于你所拥有的任何其他关系。即使是你的孩子，他们也不能干涉你与内识的关系。你越是建立这种关系，你就越能与你的孩子分享这种关系，并鼓励他们这样做。因为你学习内识永远不会太年轻——学习如何认识自己更深层面的经验并忠于真实的自己。

This is the way that God has laid out. It has always been this way. Religion and all of its emphasis and tragedy, the infusion of culture and history and the manipulation of leaders and institutions have not changed the fundamental nature of God’s Revelation—which is Knowledge within the individual and, through Knowledge, contribution to the world. It is fundamental. This is at the heart of every religion. Take away the miracles, take away the pageantry, take away the institutional guidelines, and you have the mystery of Knowledge within yourself, waiting to be discovered.

这就是上帝安排的道路。它一直都是这样的。宗教及其所有的强调和悲剧，文化和历史的注入，以及领袖和机构的操纵，都没有改变上帝启示的基础自然性——这就是个人内部的内识，并通过内识对世界做出贡献。它是根本的。这是每个宗教的核心。褪去神迹，褪去华丽的庆典，褪去机构的准则，你就会发现内识的神秘就在你的内心，等待着你去发现。

Now the world is calling for this, for Great Waves of change are upon the world, and humanity is now facing Intervention from the Greater Community itself. The world is forcing an advancement in human evolution. The world is calling Knowledge out of you, and it must respond. This is the power of your time, and it will give you work to do that will be fundamental and necessary, both within yourself and in the world.

现在，世界正在呼唤这一点，因为变革巨浪的浪潮正向世界袭来，人类现在正面临来自大社区它本身的干预。世界正在迫使人类的进化向前迈进。世界正在召唤你的内识，内识必须做出回应。这是你们时代的力量，它将为你提供在你自己以及在这个世界上都非常重要且必要的工作。