第一章：觉醒

Chapter 1: The Awakening

The Awakening – Discover the Deeper Mind that’s in the World but not of the World
觉醒——发现存在于世界中，但不属于世界的更深层次的心灵

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on October 20, 2008 in Boulder, CO
2008年10月20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

Regardless of your circumstances or nationality or cultural heritage, there are certain questions that are fundamental to your existence here. And once certain requirements of life have been met—the basic requirements of food, clothing, shelter and security; and some psychological requirements of relationship, companionship and employment—then you come upon a greater set of needs.

无论你的环境、国籍或文化传统如何，有一些问题是你在这里存在的基础。一旦生命的某些要求得到满足——食物、衣服、住所和安全的基本要求；以及关系、伴侣和就业的一些心理要求——你就会遇到一系列更大的需求。

Some people will only come upon these greater needs later in life, after they have tasted the pleasures and the sorrows of the world sufficiently that they realize there is no fulfillment there for them. While work and relationships and family are important, there is something more important that begins to emerge in their lives.

有些人只有在生命的后期才会遇到这些更大的需求，在他们充分品尝了世界上的快乐和悲伤之后，他们认识到世界没有满足他们的需求。虽然工作、关系和家庭都很重要，但有一些更重要的东西开始出现在他们的生活中。

For certain people, these questions arise much earlier in the formation of their personality and their establishment in the world at the outset. They are preoccupied with a deeper set of needs. They need to have a real sense of why they are in the world, what they are here to do, who they are here to meet and what they must cultivate and develop within themselves to experience and to express a greater purpose in life.

对某些人来说，这些问题在他们的人格和他们一开始在这个世界上立足的时候就已经出现了。他们对一系列更深层次的需求斤斤计较。他们需要真正意识到他们为什么在这个世界上，他们在这里要做什么，他们在这里要遇见谁，以及他们必须在自己内心培养和发展什么，以体验和表达更伟大的生命目的。

Clearly, in the world there is a struggle for survival. There is a struggle for social acceptance. There is a struggle to make a living and have a sustainable job or career. There is a struggle to establish oneself and to maintain stability within the changing circumstances of life. All of these are very fundamental and represent a set of needs, but there is a deeper set of needs, needs that not only fulfill the basic requirements of life, but really establish a greater sense of purpose, meaning and destiny in life.

显然，在这个世界上有一场生存的斗争。有一场争取社会接受的斗争。有为谋生和拥有一个可持续的工作或职业的斗争。在不断变化的生活环境中，存在着建立自我和保持稳定的斗争。所有这些都是非常基本的，代表了一系列的需求，但还有更深层次的需求，这些需求不仅满足了生命的基本要求，而且真正建立了更伟大的生命目的、意义和天命的感觉。

These questions are not questions that the intellect alone can resolve. You may have theories or ideas, or be entertaining the ideas of great thinkers or philosophers or other influential people that you might be aware of, but really these questions must be taken to a greater authority within you.

这些问题不是仅靠智力就能解决的问题。你可能有理论或想法，或者正在接受伟大的思想家或哲学家或其他你可能知道的有影响力的人的想法，但实际上这些问题必须被带到你内心深处的更大权威。

The intellect that you think with every day, that determines your experience to such a great extent, this is a product of your being in the world. It has been developed over time into a sophisticated mechanism for communication and evaluation.

你每天思考的智力，在很大程度上决定了你的经历，这是你在这个世界上的产物。随着时间的推移，它已经发展成为一个复杂的沟通和评估机制。

But your deeper purpose was created before you came into the world. Your destiny was established before you came into the world. It is not the providence of the intellect.

但是，你更深层次的目的是在你来到这个世界之前就被创造出来的。你的天命在你来到这个世界之前就已经确立了。它不是智力的天意。

Your intellect will have to concern itself with how you are going to set your life in a higher direction and all the particulars that will have to be considered and dealt with along the way. But the meaning, the purpose and direction of this greater purpose are established at a deeper level.

你的智力将不得不关注你如何将你的生命设定在一个更高的方向上，以及沿途必须考虑和处理的所有具体问题。但是，意义、目的和方向建立在更深的层面上，建立在更伟大的目的之上。

This inquiry cannot be momentary. It cannot merely arise at times of great disappointment, confusion or disillusionment because it is a very great inquiry. It is not something you can entertain for a week or a month and hope to really gain momentum and progress here.

这种探索不能是一时的。它不能仅仅出现在巨大的失望、困惑或幻灭的时候，因为它是一个非常伟大的探索。它不是你可以在一个星期或一个月内就能得到的结果，并希望在这里真正获得动力和进展。

This requires a kind of shift within yourself as if an invisible switch has been thrown, and all of a sudden another door has opened in your inner experience and you are entertaining things that before perhaps you only thought of intermittently or very infrequently, and now they become an abiding set of questions and concerns.

这需要你内心深处的一种转变，就好像一个无形的开关被摁下，突然间，你的内心体验打开了另一扇门，你开始考虑一些事情，而在此之前，你可能只是断断续续地或很少地想到这些事情，而现在，这些事情成了你长期关注的问题。

There is a deeper Knowledge within you, a deeper Intelligence that is not the product of your being in the world, that is not a construction of social influences and patterns of thought and behavior. It is Intelligence that is in the world, but not of the world. We call this Knowledge because it is related to your experience of profound insight and awareness.

在你的内心深处有一种更深层次的内识，一种更深层次的智能，它不是你在这个世界上的产物，不是社会影响和思想行为模式的构造。它是存在于世界中的智能，但不属于世界。我们称其为内识，因为它与你的深刻洞察力和觉知的经历有关。

Your need for this Knowledge will grow once you begin to entertain a deeper set of questions about your life. You will realize that the intellect has only ideas, and even if they seem to be very well considered ideas, or ideas with a long tradition with many commentators, they are still only ideas.

一旦你开始对你的生命提出更深层次的问题，你对这种内识的需求就会增加。你会意识到，智力只有想法，即使它们看起来是经过深思熟虑的想法，或者有许多评论家的悠久传统的想法，它们仍然只是想法。

But you are living with something like a living Presence within yourself that is not really the product of ideas. You will have ideas about it. You will try to understand it. You will try to look for evidence or commentary regarding it from other important people, and that is appropriate. But you are still dealing with something beyond the realm of the intellect—a deeper manifestation, a deeper sense of purpose, a deeper and greater set of forces.

但你内心深处确实存在着一种像活生生的存在，这不是实际想法的产物。你会有关于它的想法。你会试着去理解它。你会试着从其他重要的人那里寻找关于它的证据或评论，这都是适当的。但是，你所面对的仍然是超越智力范畴的内识——一种更深层次的显现，一种更深层次的目的感，一种更深层次和更大的力量集合。

Here you must accept the mystery of your life and accept that you will feel a little out of control regarding it. You will feel a little insecure regarding it because it is something greater that you can only follow and learn from. Do not tax your mind trying to encompass this reality, for you will not be able to do so. As it grows in scope and experience for you, you will see that it will constantly transcend and overwhelm your ideas and assumptions.

在这里，你必须接受你生命的神秘性，并接受你会对内识感到有些失控。你会对内识感到一些不安，因为它是一种更大的存在，你只能跟随并从中学习。不要用你的心灵试图涵盖这个现实，因为你将无法做到这一点。随着它的范围和经历的增长，你会发现它将不断超越和压倒你的想法和假设。

You must approach this not as a consumer, not as someone who is trying to get what they want, but instead approach this in a sacred manner, for now you are dealing with a sacred power. This requires an emphasis on giving yourself as opposed to taking things for yourself.

你必须以一种神圣的方式来面对这一切，而不是作为一个消费者，或者作为一个试图获取自己想要东西的人。因为现在你所面对的是一种神圣的力量。这要求你注重奉献自己，而非为自己获取利益。

The needs of the soul must be met by a greater set of powers. Who you are, and why you are here at this time, and why you are designed the way you are, with all of the uniqueness of your mind and characteristics, is connected to a greater purpose, and this purpose is not your invention.

灵魂的需求必须由一套更伟大的力量来满足。你是谁，你为什么会在这个时间来到这里，为什么你被设计成这样，你的心灵和特征都是独一无二的，都与一个更伟大的目的有关，而这个目的不是你的发明。

Here you are not creating your reality. You are allowing your reality to emerge within you. And you are learning about it step by step, in stages, and shifting your life to accommodate this greater power so that it may move within you and express itself through you.

在这里，你不是在创造你的现实。你是在允许你的现实在你的内心深处出现。而你正在一步步地、分阶段地了解它，并转变你的生命以适应这种更伟大的力量，以便它可以在你的内心深处移动并通过你表达它自己。

This is not a form of entertainment. This is not an intellectual pursuit. This is not a hobby or a fascination. This is the real current of your life, a deeper current that runs beneath the realm of the intellect, like a golden thread that passes through a complex fabric. It is like the copper wire that carries the current even though the wire itself is greatly concealed by all that encases it.

这不是一种娱乐的形式。这不是一种智力追求。这不是一种爱好，也不是一种迷恋。这是你生命中真正的水流，是在智力领域下面流淌的的一种更深层次的水流，就像穿过复杂织物的金线。它就像承载电流的铜线，尽管铜线本身被包裹它的一切大大掩盖了。

You will begin to feel a deeper need to know, not just to understand but to know something. Your life is passing you by. The clock is ticking. You are using up your time, your energy, your life force. It is being spent often recklessly, sometimes inappropriately. It is being spent rapidly. This time is precious. Your energy and life force are precious, and you are spending them rapidly. What are you doing? Are you just passing the time trying to stay stimulated and happy and comfortable, or is your time really being invested wisely and appropriately?

你会开始知道并感受到一种更深层次的需求，不仅仅是去理解，而是去真正知道一些事情。你的生命正在悄然流逝。时间在滴答作响。你正在耗费你的时间、能量和生命力。它经常被不加思索地挥霍，有时甚至是不恰当的挥霍。它正在快速消耗。而这段时间是宝贵的。你的能量和生命力是宝贵的，而你正在迅速消耗它们。你在做什么？你只是在打发时间，试图保持刺激、快乐和舒适，还是你的时间真的得到了明智而恰当的投资？

Are you living the life you know you were meant to live? If not, then this requires a deep evaluation, a self-examination, an objective review of your activities, your relationships, your involvements—where you live, who you are with; your activities, your goals, your hobbies, everything. Put everything out to be reconsidered. For they are all drawing energy from you. You are spending rapidly for them.

你是否过着你知道你本应过的生命？如果不是，那么这就需要进行深入的评估、自我检查，对你的活动、你的关系、你的参与——你住在哪里，你和谁在一起；你的活动、你的目标、你的爱好，一切都进行客观的审查。把一切都拿出来重新考虑。因为它们都在从你身上吸取能量。你正在为它们迅速花费。

Are you where you need to be? Are you with the people you really need to be with? Is your work serving your development or supporting your development appropriately? Are your relationships moving in the direction that you really need to move? Do you share a higher purpose with the people you are now associated with? Are you taking care of your mental and physical health appropriately? Are you in the right place with the right people for the right purpose? These are all very useful questions to help you carry out this deep evaluation.

你在你需要的地方吗？你是否与你真正需要的人在一起？你的工作是在为你的发展服务，还是在适当地支持你的发展？你的关系是否朝着你真正需要的方向发展？你是否与现在与你有联系的人共享一个更高的宗旨？你是否适当地照顾了自己的身心健康？你是否为了正确的目的与正确的人在正确的地方？这些都是非常有用的问题，可以帮助你进行这种深度评估。

Here it is important not to look for consensus or agreement with other people, for if they are not feeling this deeper movement, they will not understand it. They will not agree to it. They will question you. They will cast doubt upon you. They will say, “What is the matter with you? You used to be such a fun person and now you are so serious.” And they will want you to do the things that you did with them before, or things that they want you to do for their sake. They will not recognize and honor the deeper stirrings in your soul. Do not share your experiences with them. Do not share your inspiration with them, for in most cases they will discourage you.

在这里，重要的是不要寻求与其他人达成共识或一致，因为如果他们没有感受到这种更深层次的运动，他们就不会理解它。他们不会同意它。他们会质疑你。他们会对你产生怀疑。他们会说：”你是怎么了？你曾经是一个如此有趣的人，现在你却如此严肃”。他们会希望你做你以前和他们一起做的事情，或者他们希望你为了他们而做的事情。他们不会承认和尊重你灵魂中更深层次的激荡。不要与他们分享你的经历。不要与他们分享你的灵感，因为在大多数情况下他们会使你灰心。

You must seek now a different kind of relationship with people who are undergoing a very similar process of awakening within themselves, people who are beginning to stir from a long and troubled sleep. You need them now to bear witness to the process that is happening within yourself. Your life is being stirred by a deeper set of needs and by the emergence of a greater purpose.

现在，你必须寻求一种不同的关系，与那些内心深处正经历着非常相似的觉醒过程的人，那些正开始从漫长而不安的睡眠中苏醒过来的人建立联系。你现在需要他们来见证你内心的觉醒过程。你的生命正在被更深层次的需求和更伟大的目的所激发。

It will change your values. It will change your priorities. Instead of constant stimulation and avoidance, you will want to experience yourself and where you are. You will seek quiet more than stimulation, honesty in relationships more than entertainment. You will want to know instead of seeking to escape from what you know.

它将改变你的价值观。它将改变你的优先事项。与其不断地刺激和回避，你会想要体验你自己和你所在的地方。你会寻求安静而不是刺激，寻求关系中的诚实而不是娱乐。你会想要知道而不是寻求逃避你所知道的。

It is as if you have turned 180 degrees and now everything feels different, and your relationship and position with everything is different. A deeper set of needs is emerging, and they require your attention and support. They require others who are capable of honoring this within you, without giving it definition or explanation.

仿佛你已经转了180度，现在一切都感觉不同了，你与一切事物的关系和立场也不同了。一系列更深层次的需求正在出现，它们需要你的关注和支持。它们需要其他人能够尊重你内心深处的这种需求，而不需要给它定义或解释。

It is as if you have turned a corner in life. Somehow you turned a corner and now you are moving in a slightly different direction. And even though you appear to be the same, and perhaps your circumstances have not changed very much, something inside has really changed, has reset your life and has altered your relationship with the universe in some small, but very significant way.

这就像你在生命中转了个弯。不知何故，你转过了一个角落，现在你正朝着一个稍微不同的方向前进。尽管你看起来是一样的，也许你的环境也没有什么变化，但内心的某些东西真的改变了，重新设定了你的生命，并以某种微小但非常重要的方式改变了你与宇宙的关系。

Many people talk about great change in their lives, but really when great change happens, it is imperceptible. And you know that a great change has occurred because you are feeling so very different about everything. Otherwise, change is a momentary experience. It generates a lot of conversation, a lot of excitement perhaps, but nothing really has changed.

许多人都在谈论他们生活中的巨大变化，但实际上当巨大的变化发生时，它是难以察觉的。而且你知道发生了巨大的变化，因为你对一切的感觉都开始不同。否则，变化是一种瞬间的体验。它引发了许多话题，或许也带来了许多兴奋，但实际上什么都没有改变。

The big change is imperceptible. It happens at a deeper level. It is not just a re-evaluation or a new experience. Something really has shifted on the inside at a level beyond the realm of the intellect, and now the intellect must catch up and re-adapt itself and re-adjust.

大的变化是难以察觉的。它发生在一个更深的层面。它不只是一个重新评估或新的经验。有些东西真的在内部发生了转变，其层面超出了智力的范畴，而现在智力必须跟上，重新适应自身，重新调整。

Much of what you will be going through within these early stages is a readjustment to a change that has already taken place. Now you are trying to give it expression. You are trying to comprehend it and accept it—accept the fact that a shift has occurred and you are feeling differently about so many things.

在这些早期阶段，你将经历的大部分事情是对已经发生的变化的重新调整。现在你正试图把它表达出来。你正试图理解它并接受它——接受这样一个事实：一个转变已经发生，你对许多事情的感觉都不同了。

It is now that you must gain a greater experience of Knowledge and recognize that it is a deeper Mind within you, a Mind that is not a product of culture or religion. It is a Mind in the world, but not of the world. It is in stark contrast to your intellect—your social mind that is a product of your social conditioning and adaptation to a changing world.

现在，你必须获得更多的内识体验，并认识到这是你内心深处的一个心灵，一个不是文化或宗教产物的心灵。它是世界上的一个心灵，但不属于世界。它与你的智力——你的社会心智形成了鲜明的对比，后者是你的社会条件和适应不断变化的世界的产物。

This deeper Mind is free. It is not subject to manipulation or seduction by the outside world, and that is why it is so very powerful and reliable within you. But it moves mysteriously. It is like the water beneath the ground, moving in a determined fashion but out of sight. Its waters are pure and uncontaminated.

这个更深层次的心灵是自由的。它不受外部世界的操纵或诱惑，这就是为什么它在你的内心深处是如此强大和可靠。但它的行动是神秘的。它就像地下的水，以一种坚定的方式流动着，但不为人所知。它的水是纯净的，没有被污染。

To take the Steps to Knowledge now is to build a connection between your surface, social mind and the deeper Mind of Knowledge within you. For you are beginning to respond to Knowledge, and that is what has created the shift within you. Now you must build a conscious connection so that you can gain a greater awareness and be able to move more effectively with less restraint in the direction that you are really meant to go.

现在开展内识的进阶，就是在你的表面、在社会心智和你内心深处的更深层次的内识心智之间建立联接。因为你正开始对内识做出回应，这就是你内心深处产生转变的原因。现在你必须建立一种有意识的连接，这样你就能获得更多的觉知，并能更有效地朝着你真正要去的方向前进，少受束缚。

It is in building this connection that you will find the strength and the self-trust and self-acceptance to make real change in your life—not just a cosmetic change, not just a makeover of your current existence, but a real shift in where you live, how you live and who you are with.

正是在建立这种联接的过程中，你将找到力量、自我信任和自我接受，在你的生命中做出真正的改变——不仅仅是表面上的改变，不仅仅是对你目前的存在进行改造，而是在你生活的地方、你的生活方式和你与谁在一起方面的真正转变。

In reality, God is calling you, and you must bring yourself into the clear so you can respond and continue to respond as if you are taking now a whole new journey in life.

在现实中，上帝正在召唤你，你必须把自己带入清晰的状态，这样你就能回应并继续回应，就好像你现在正在进行一个全新的生命旅程。

Perhaps you felt these inclinations previously, but now something has changed, and you have entered a different phase of your life here. You still want a lot of the same old things, but your feelings have changed. Your orientation has changed. Now the deeper needs of the soul are competing with your personal desires, fears and obligations. And you will have to choose again and again, even every day perhaps, which direction you will go, what set of needs are more pressing and important.

也许你以前感觉到了这些倾向，但现在有些东西已经改变了，你在这里已经进入了你生命的不同阶段。你仍然想要很多老一套的东西，但你的感觉已经改变。你的方向已经改变。现在，灵魂深处的需求正在与你的个人欲望、恐惧和义务相竞争。而你将不得不一次又一次地选择，甚至可能每天都要选择，你将往哪个方向走，哪一组需求更紧迫且更重要。

This struggle within yourself is very real, and it is particularly intense at certain turning points of your life because now you are going against your social conditioning. You are going against the expectations of others. Perhaps you will have to break some obligations and associations, and you will feel afraid and unsure. And perhaps you will wonder if you are going mad, but you are not going mad. You are just responding to a greater calling. This sets in train a greater momentum and a deeper sense of commitment, but to things unseen and unrecognized. That is why it is mysterious and difficult to explain, and why you cannot explain it to your friends and family.

你内心的这种挣扎是非常真实的，而且在你生命的某些转折点上特别激烈，因为现在你正在违背你的社会条件。你正在违背他人的期望。也许你将不得不打破一些义务和关联，你会感到害怕和不确定。也许你会怀疑自己是否在发疯，但你并没有发疯。你只是在回应一个更伟大的召唤。这将带来更伟大的动力和更深层次的承诺感，但却是对看不见和摸不着的内识的承诺。这就是为什么它是神秘的，难以解释的，以及为什么你不能向你的朋友和家人解释它。

Only rarely will your friends or family and a special person here be able to recognize and to encourage you, for they recognize the power of freedom and that there is a deeper freedom that certain people must follow. If you have such an ally in life, you are blessed. But you will still have to struggle against all the forces that have been placed upon you by your culture, your family, your religion perhaps, even your nation because it is a struggle for allegiance.

只有在极少数情况下，你的朋友或家人以及这里的一个特殊的人才能认识到并鼓励你，因为他们认识到自由的力量，认识到有一种更深层次的自由是某些人必须遵循的。如果你在生命中有这样的盟友，你是幸运的。但是，你仍然必须与你的文化、你的家庭、你的宗教，甚至你的国家施加在你身上的所有力量进行斗争，因为这是一场效忠的挣扎。

If you are to follow the deeper Intelligence that God has placed within you, then this will create a real change in your allegiance and your attachment and commitment to other things. If you have children, you will still have to raise them, and you may have to take care of aged parents. But beyond this, your first responsibility is to Knowledge, for this is God moving your life.

如果你要追随上帝放置在你内心深处的更深层次的智能，那么这将在你的忠诚和你对其他事物的依恋和承诺方面产生真正的改变。如果你有孩子，你仍然要抚养他们，你可能要照顾年迈的父母。但除此之外，你的首要责任是对内识，因为这是上帝正在推动你生命的方式。

You must follow this calling without understanding it or being able to explain it even to yourself. It is your ability to do this—which is an ability you build on a daily basis as you take the Steps to Knowledge—that breaks the hold of your social conditioning, breaks the domination of other people and their expectations, frees you from fear and attachment and from obligation to things that no longer represent your greater needs.

你必须跟随这个召唤，哪怕你无法理解它，甚至无法向自己解释它。正是你能够做到这一点的能力——这是你每天在内识之路中建立的能力——打破了社会条件对你的束缚，打破了他人及其期望对你的支配，使你从恐惧和依恋中解放出来，以及那些已不再代表你更大需求的事物的义务。

In this sense, freedom is not free. It requires a great effort on your part, a growing commitment, a liberation. You cannot follow a greater purpose and have everything else you want in life, for that is trying to move in many directions at once. And that just holds you in place, stuck, as if you were chained to a wall—unable to choose, unable to move, unable to change your circumstances or your agreements with others.

在这个意义上，自由并不自由。它需要你付出巨大的努力，需要不断增长的承诺，需要解放。你不能追随一个更伟大的目的，并拥有你在生命中想要的一切，因为那是试图同时向许多方向前进。而这只是把你固定在原地，无法摆脱，就像你被锁在墙上一样——无法选择，无法移动，无法改变你的环境或你与他人的协议。

What you need now is stillness, inner listening. You must gain a stronger connection to the deeper current of your life. Instead of it being a fleeting and infrequent moment of experience, you need now to connect with it and to build the connection as if you are building a bridge from one shore to another. And bridges are not built in a day. They require much effort and consistent application.

你现在需要的是静心，内心的聆听。你必须与你生命中更深层次的水流获得更强的联接。与其说它是一种转瞬即逝的、不常见的经历时刻，你现在需要与它连接，并建立这种连接，就像你正在建造一座从一个海岸到另一个海岸的桥梁。而桥梁不是在一天之内建成的。它们需要大量的努力和持续的应用。

That is why taking the Steps to Knowledge is so important. You do not do this in leaps and bounds, or your bridge will never be strong or sure. Ultimately, you want to have one foot in this world and one foot in your spiritual reality, knowing that each shore is different, recognizing how much they are different, but how one serves the other in a unique way.

这就是为什么开展内识的进阶是如此重要。你不能一蹴而就，否则你的桥将永远不会牢固或确定。最终，你要一只脚在这个世界上，一只脚在你的精神现实中，知道每一个岸都是不同的，认识到它们有多大的不同，但其中一个是如何以独特的方式为另一个服务的。

This awareness and education is not the product of speculation but of an aggregate of wisdom based upon experience. It is the foundation of wisdom. It is not an elaborate set of ideas.

这种觉知和教育不是猜测的产物，而是基于体验的智慧的集合。它是智慧的基础。它不是一套精心设计的想法。

Wisdom is like a foundation of stone. Philosophy is like a foundation of sticks. Here the whole creation of your idealism can fall apart with a great shocking experience of life, a great disappointment, a great illness. A building made of sticks can burn up in an hour or collapse under weight or pressure or the movement of the world.

智慧就像石头的地基。哲学就像树枝的地基。在这里，你的理想主义的整个创造可以随着一次重大的震惊的生命经历、一次极大的失望、一次严重的疾病而分崩离析。树枝做的建筑可以在一小时内烧毁，或者在重量、压力或世界的运动下坍塌。

But your foundation in Knowledge is a connection beyond the world. It is deep and profound. It can be shaken and challenged because your allegiance to it is not yet complete or whole, but within itself, it can withstand anything.

但是，你在内识中的基础是一种超越世界的联接。它是深刻的、深远的。它可以被动摇和挑战，因为你对它的忠诚还不完全或完整，但在它本身，它可以经受住任何考验。

It is building your connection to Knowledge that is fundamental. It is allowing questions to be unanswered. It is recognizing the things you know today and abiding with them, but with an open mind.

建立你与内识的联接，它是你的基础。它是允许问题不被回答。它是认识到你今天所知道的事情，并遵守它们，但有一个开放的心灵。

You build your connection to Knowledge by supporting the things that you really know, and by protecting them from the doubt and accusations of others. For at the outset, you are not strong enough to endure the social pressures and criticism that will be brought to bear upon you if you are indiscreet regarding the deeper experience you are having.

你通过支持你实际知道的事情，以及保护它们不受他人的怀疑和指责，来建立你与内识的联接。因为在一开始，你还没有强大到足以承受社会压力和批评，如果你对你正在进行的更深层次的体验不慎重的话，这些压力和批评会对你造成影响。

Knowledge holds for you a greater destiny, but first it must have your allegiance. First, you must go through, in stages, a process of reorienting your life and re-evaluating your ideas, your priorities and your values. And this can take quite a bit of time. The longer it takes, the more suffering there is, but in essence it still takes time to go through these stages of reorienting your life.

内识为你带来了更伟大的天命，但首先它必须得到你的效忠。首先，你必须分阶段经历一个重新定位你的生命和重新评估你的想法、你的优先事项和你的价值观的过程。而这可能需要相当多的时间。时间越长，痛苦越多，但本质上还是需要时间来经历这些调整你生命方向的阶段。

For now, you are still the same person. You look the same to everyone else. Perhaps you look the same, although you may be acting a little strangely, but really something monumental has happened within you. And now you are trying to deal with it and accept it and follow it.

现在，你仍然是同一个人。在其他人看来，你还是一样的。也许你看起来是一样的，虽然你的行为可能有点奇怪，但实际上你的内心深处已经发生了重要的事情。而现在你正试图处理它，接受它并跟随它。

But it requires that you dismantle much of your old life because you cannot just put a new life on top of an old life. It is more like building a bridge to a new life. But you do not know what that new life is yet. Your connection to the other shore is not strong enough yet. You have not gotten that far yet. Now you are following the impulse to build that bridge, without knowing its ultimate purpose or its ultimate form.

但这需要你拆除你大部分旧的生命，因为你不能只是把新的生命放在旧的生命之上。它更像是为新的生命搭建一座桥梁。但你还不知道这个新生命是什么。你与彼岸的连接还不够强。你还没有走到那一步。现在你正跟随冲动去建造这座桥，却不知道它的最终目的或最终形式。

This requires that your mind yield to a greater power. You cannot be in charge of everything, being in control of everything, having everything explained, because you are following a greater power. There must be a yielding here, and perhaps this yielding will occur gradually, incrementally, but there must be a yielding here. At a certain point, you realize that to deny this deeper movement is to deny the essence and meaning of your life, and even if you cannot understand it or control it or define it, you must follow it.

这需要你的心灵向更伟大的力量屈服。你不能掌管一切，控制一切，拥有一切解释，因为你正在跟随一种更伟大的力量。这里必须有一个屈服，也许这个屈服会逐渐发生，渐进地发生，但这里必须有一个屈服。在某一点上，你意识到否认这种更深层次的运动就是否认你生命的实质和意义，即使你不能理解它、控制它或定义它，你也必须跟随它。

If you do not try to seize it, or do something with it, or give it a form or a definition, then it can lead you safely, with power and stability. But if you try to harness it, to use it, to control it, to stop it, then your life will be in such a state of conflict. And there is no amount of pleasure or personal escape that can relieve you of this conflict. The only way you can overcome this is by following the power and the presence within you.

如果你不试图抓住它，或用它做什么，或给它一个形式或定义，那它就可以安全地引导你，有力量和稳定性。但如果你试图驾驭它，利用它，控制它，阻止它，那么你的生命就会处于这种冲突状态。而没有任何快乐或个人的逃避可以解除你的这种冲突。你能克服这个问题的唯一方法就是跟随你内心深处的力量和存在。

There will be more thresholds down the way where you will have to choose again because this is a journey with many stages. You only need to attend to the stage you are in. You have not reached certain places along the way. There are more rivers for you to cross, but you are not there yet, so do not concern yourself with that.

一路上还会有更多的门槛，你必须再次做出选择，因为这是一段有许多阶段的旅程。你只需要关注你所处的阶段。你还没有到达沿途的某些地方。还有更多的河流等待着你去跨越，但你还没有到达，所以不要关心这些。

Practice stillness. Practice inner listening. Set aside your insecurity and need for answers. Be observant. Be as objective as you can. Look at other people, not with ridicule or condemnation, but see whether their lives are demonstrating a greater Knowledge or not. Whether they be rich or poor, advantaged or disadvantaged, look and see if there is the evidence of Knowledge moving them.

练习静心。练习内心的聆听。把你的不安全感和对答案的需求放在一边。要有观察力。尽可能地客观。观察其他人，不是嘲笑或谴责，而是看他们的生活是否展示了更伟大的内识。无论他们是富人还是穷人，是优势还是劣势，都要看一看，看看是否有内识的证据在推动他们。

This will give you entirely different criteria upon which to discern the intentions and the reality of other people. And they will teach you dramatically the consequences of living life without this guiding presence within yourself. Their problems, their pursuits, their obsessions, their addictions, their depression, their confusion will all give you great encouragement if you can see their situation objectively, looking for Knowledge.

这将给你提供完全不同的标准，据此来辨别其他人的意图和现实。他们将戏剧性地告诉你，如果你的生活中没有这种指导性的存在，那么你的生命将产生什么样的后果。他们的问题、他们的追求、他们的痴迷、他们的成瘾、他们的抑郁、他们的困惑都会给你极大的鼓励，如果你能客观地看待他们的情况，寻找内识。

For in life, there is only Knowledge and the need for Knowledge. That is really all life can show you. There is freedom in this way or subjugation.

因为在生命中，只有内识和对内识的需求。这确实是生命能够向你展示的全部。在这种方式中，有自由，也有征服。

When you have made further progress in following the mysterious power of Knowledge within yourself and have allowed your life to go through phases of change, you will look at other people as if they are in chains. Their lives will appear to be slavish and subdued with very little creativity and imagination, a kind of servitude to their ideas, their beliefs and their obligations to others. Even if they are wealthy and can enjoy luxuries, they will look slavish to you, as if they were a group of convicts walking down the road in chains.

当你在追随自己内心深处神秘的内识力量方面取得更大的进展，并允许你的生命经历了各个阶段的变化之后，你再看其他人，就会觉得他们好像被套上了枷锁。他们的生活会显得很奴性，很压抑，几乎没有创造力和想象力，是对自己的想法、信仰和对他人的义务的一种奴役。即使他们很富有，可以享受奢侈品，他们在你眼里也会显得很奴性，就像一群带着枷锁走在路上的囚犯。

This is how the Angelic Presence looks upon the condition of humanity. But they look with compassion, for they are seeking to free those individuals who are ready to be free, who are ready to discover the power and presence of Knowledge within themselves.

这就是天使的存在看待人类的状况。但他们是带着怜悯之心看的，因为他们正在寻求解放那些准备好要自由的人，那些准备好要在自己内心深处发现内识的力量和存在的人。

And the liberation is not a political liberation or just an escape from unhealthy circumstances. It runs much deeper than this. It is a shift in the authority of your life. Either you are following the social mandates and contracts that have shaped your mind and thoughts and beliefs [or] the mysterious power of Knowledge that is here to initiate you into your greater purpose and into a greater set of relationships in life.

而这种解放不是政治上的解放，也不仅仅是摆脱不健康的环境。它比这要深刻的多。它是你生命权威的转变。你要么跟随塑造了你的心灵、你的感想和信仰的社会任务和契约，[要么]跟随内识的神秘力量，它在这里引导你进入你更伟大的目的，进入生命中更伟大的一组关系。

This is a journey and a process. You need strong companions. You need someone to bear witness to what is occurring within you. It is much too difficult to do this alone, particularly if you are under pressure from your friends and family to conform to what they have conformed to. Here you will find much doubt and perhaps discouragement. But every person who has had to break new ground within themselves has had to face this kind of adversity in one way or another.

这是一段旅程，也是一个过程。你需要强大的同伴。你需要有人来见证你内心深处正在发生的事情。仅凭一己之力是很难做到的，特别是如果你受到来自你的朋友和家人的压力，让你顺应他们所顺应的。在这里，你会发现很多疑虑，也许还有灰心丧气。但是每一个不得不在自己内心深处开辟新天地的人都不得不以某种方式面对这种逆境。

Find a quiet place where you can practice your inner listening. Practice your Steps to Knowledge because it will teach you how to still your mind and to listen for Knowledge beyond your mind, and how to become used to silence and to recognize silence as the environment for contact within yourself. Instead of just a dark and empty and spooky place, it now becomes a refuge where your mind can be refreshed, your energy can be renewed and your mind can rest. You seek this as comfort and refuge now, not as a duty or a burden or an obligation. And even if your mind is tormenting you in your times of practice, the fact that you are there to pay attention is important.

找一个安静的地方，你可以练习你的内心聆听。练习你的内识进阶，因为它将教会你如何静下心来，倾听超越你心灵的内识，以及如何习惯于沉默，并认识到沉默是与自己内心接触的环境。它不再只是一个黑暗、空旷和诡异的地方，现在变成了一个避难所，在这里你的心灵可以得到恢复，你的能量可以得到更新，你的心灵可以得到休息。你现在寻求的是安慰和庇护，而不是一种责任、负担或义务。然而，即使在练习时你的心灵也在折磨你，你在这里关注的事实也是重要的。

If you cannot still your mind here, then use your mind to contemplate certain things, important questions. Employ your mind. Do not be its slave. Direct your mind. Do not let it rule you. In your practice, either focus on stillness, using an object or an idea or an image as a focal point for your mind, allowing yourself to sink beneath the surface of the mind. And if you cannot do this, then use your mind to contemplate something important.

如果你不能在这里静止你的心灵，那就用你的心灵去思考某些事情，重要的问题。运用你的心灵。不要成为它的奴隶。指导你的心灵。不要让它统治你。在你的练习中，要么专注于静止，用一个物体或一个想法或一个图像作为你心灵的焦点，让自己沉入心灵的表面之下。如果你不能这样做，那就用你的心灵去思考一些重要的事情。

Consider, for example, the question of how you can trust and follow Knowledge within yourself, and to what extent would you follow Knowledge? And what circumstances would discourage you, dissuade you or defeat you in this regard?

例如，考虑一下你如何在自己的内心信任和追随内识的问题，你会在多大程度上追随内识？在这方面，什么情况会让你气馁、放弃或失败？

Here you are giving your mind something useful to think about. Instead of running on and on in all of its anxiety and insecurity, in all of its pursuits and ideas and imaginings, you are giving it something really important to do in service to Spirit, in service to Knowledge.

在这里，你正在给你的心灵一些有用的东西来思考。与其在所有的焦虑和不安全中不断奔跑，在所有的追求、想法和想象中不断奔跑，你正在给心灵一些真正重要的事情来为精神服务，为内识服务。

Ultimately, when you have achieved a higher position on the mountain of life and have gained a greater strength and self-confidence and a greater foundation of wisdom, you will see that the mind should either be still or should be serving a higher purpose. But at that point, Knowledge has become the foundation of your life, and you are operating from a position of Knowledge to a far greater extent than you are doing at this moment.

最终，当你在生命之山上取得了更高的位置，获得了更大的力量和自信，有了更大的智慧基础，你就会看到，心灵要么应该静止，要么应该为更高的宗旨服务。但在那个时候，内识已经成为你生命的基础，你从内识的位置上运作，其程度远远超过你此刻所做的。

The needs of the soul are fundamental. You cannot satisfy this with pleasure, with hobbies or distractions, with entertainment, with romance, with sexuality, with intoxication. For the need of the soul is for you to recognize, to experience and to express a greater purpose in life and to adopt the life and the associations that will make this discovery and expression possible. Nothing else will satisfy the deeper need of the soul.

灵魂的需求是根本的。你不能用快乐、用爱好或分心、用娱乐、用浪漫、用性爱、用陶醉来满足它。因为灵魂的需求是让你认出、体验和表达生命中更伟大的目的，并采用能使这种发现和表达成为可能的生命和关联。没有其他事情能满足灵魂更深层次的需求。

This purpose you create will be in association with certain other people, and perhaps you will only take a supporting role in this purpose that you share. But that is enough. You do not have to be a superstar or a leader or an innovator here. That is very rare.

你所创造的这个目的将与其他一些人联系在一起，也许你在这个你们共同的目的中只扮演一个辅助角色。但这就足够了。在这里，你不必成为一位超级明星、领导者或创新者。那是非常罕见的。

Your Spiritual Family has sent others into the world who will share your purpose and destiny with you. Some of them will be with you for a lifetime; some for only very brief periods. But you need to find these people, and that represents your deeper searching for relationships. It is not just a need to avoid loneliness or to have companionship or to have friendship or marriage. It is the search for those you are destined to meet. Search for them first. Do not create a life apart from this, or that will all have to be thrown into question once your deeper calling emerges, and that is much more difficult to deal with.

你的精神家庭已经把其他成员送入世界，他们将与你分享你的目的和天命。他们中的一些人将与你相伴一生，而另一些人则只有很短的一段时间。但你需要找到这些人，这代表你对关系的更深层次的探索。这不仅仅是为了避免孤独、拥有伴侣、友谊或婚姻的需求。它是寻找那些你命中注定要遇见的人。先寻找他们。不要在此之外创造生活，否则一旦你更深层次的召唤开始出现，这一切都将不得不被抛开，而这是更难处理的。

Develop your inner life. Look at your mind objectively. Recognize the degree to which it is controlled by your social conditioning, and how afraid it is of life and of the future.

发展你的内心生活。客观地看待自己的心灵。认识到它在多大程度上被你的社会条件所控制，以及它对生命和未来有多害怕。

For the personal mind is based upon insecurity. Born of Separation, it feels it has no real foundation. It has no greater support. It is weak. It identifies with the body, and so it thinks it is mortal and will face endless prospects of loss and deprivation. It is really pathetic until it can serve a greater purpose. And then its real strength, power and capabilities will become discovered and experienced.

因为个人的心灵是建立在不安全的基础上。诞生于分离，它觉得自己没有真正的基础。它没有更大的支持。它是软弱的。它认同身体，所以它认为自己是凡人，将面临无尽的损失和匮乏的前景。它真的很可怜，直到它能为一个更伟大的目的服务。然后，它真正的力量、权力和能力将被发现和体验。

As a vehicle of communication, your mind is magnificent. It can do incredible things. But it makes a very poor god. Weak, unstable, prone to extremism, adamant, self-destructive, destructive of others, cruel, dominating, subservient—whatever role it takes, it is born of a fundamental fear and insecurity. Treat it like a child who needs a strong, guiding hand—a loving, guiding hand—and that guiding hand is the power and presence of Knowledge within you.

作为沟通的工具，你的心灵是值得赞扬的。它可以做不可思议的事情。但心灵是一个非常可怜的神。脆弱、不稳定、容易极端化、固执、自我毁灭、破坏他人、残酷、支配、服从——无论它扮演什么角色，它都是由基本的恐惧和不安全感产生的。对待心灵就像对待一个孩子，需要一只强有力的引导之手——一只充满爱的指引之手——而这只指导之手就是内心深处的内识的力量和存在。

You may pray fervently to God for guidance and for deliverance, but God has given you Knowledge to guide you, to protect you and to prepare you and lead you to a greater life within the world, within the very circumstances that are emerging now.

你可以热切地祈求上帝的指引和解救，但上帝已经给了你内识来引导你，保护你，准备你，引领你在这个世界上，在现在正在出现的环境中过上更伟大的生命。

This re-establishes your relationship with the world, with God, with your purpose for coming here. Here you begin to see the value of your mind and your body as vehicles of communication. Here you start to understand your unique nature as being appropriate and valuable for the real purpose you are here to serve and to discover.

这重新建立了你与世界、与上帝、与你来这里的目的的关系。在这里，你开始看到你的心灵和身体作为沟通工具的价值。在这里，你开始理解你的独特天性对于你在这里服务和发现的真正目的来说是适当和有价值的。

Here you see your past as a demonstration of life without Knowledge, but you also see in your past that certain skills have been developed, certain talents have shown evidence of their existence. Your past becomes a useful resource now for the cultivation of wisdom, for this foundation of wisdom will give Knowledge within you the greatest avenue of expression.

在这里，你看到你的过去是没有内识的生命的展示，但你也看到在你的过去，某些技能已经被开发，某些才能已经显示出它们存在的证据。你的过去现在成为培养智慧的有用资源，因为这种智慧的基础将给你内心深处的内识提供最大的表达途径。

Instead of your past being filled with regrets, disappointments and self-recrimination, it now becomes a resource for wisdom. And other people’s lives become a resource for wisdom. And you seek for this wisdom. You need this wisdom. The greater your foundation in wisdom, the more powerfully Knowledge can communicate through you and the greater your service to others can be. Here you reap the harvest of your life even if it has been difficult.

你的过去不再充满遗憾、失望和自责，它现在成为了智慧的资源。而其他人的生活也变成了智慧的资源。而你寻求这种智慧。你需要这种智慧。你的智慧基础越强，内识就能通过你进行更有力的沟通，你对他人的服务也就越大。在这里，你收获了你的生命，即使它一直是困难的。

But you must proceed every day. Carry on your practice every day. Reinforce your allegiance to Knowledge every day. Learn to be tolerant and compassionate of others every day. Learn to be tolerant and compassionate with yourself every day. And hold fast to those things you most deeply know, for they are the bricks of your foundation. And the more you can honor what Knowledge has given you already, the more you will open yourself to what Knowledge has yet to give you and what Knowledge will give you as you proceed.

但你必须每天进行。每天进行你的练习。每天加强你对内识的效忠。每天学习对他人的宽容和同情心。每天学会对自己宽容和同情。坚守那些你最深知的事情，因为它们是你基础的砖块。你越能尊重内识已经给予你的东西，你就越能向内识尚未给予你的东西敞开心扉，以及在你继续前进时内识将给予你的东西。

This is following The Way of Knowledge, a greater journey. Here God will send to you a preparation once you are ready to commit yourself to a spiritual practice. This preparation will not simply be something that tantalizes your mind or ambitions, but something that speaks to your deeper nature powerfully. And others will come into your life who show a greater promise themselves, and they will teach you, through their wisdom and their errors, how to discern and to follow Knowledge within yourself.

这就是跟随内识之路，一个更伟大的旅程。在这里，一旦你准备好投身于精神练习，上帝会派人给你做准备。这个准备不会是简单地挑逗你的心灵或野心，而是有力地与你更深层次的自然对话的内识。而其他人将进入你的生命，他们自己显示出更伟大的承诺，他们将通过他们的智慧和错误，教你如何辨别和遵循自己内心深处的内识。

As you proceed, you will realize you have a greater destiny here, and it is not a product of your imagination. It is real and powerful and eternal, and it will restore to you your strength and integrity, which were lost to you before.

当你继续前进时，你会意识到你在这里有一个更伟大的天命，而且它不是你想象的产物。它是真实的、强大的、永恒的，它将恢复你的力量和完整性，这些都是你以前失去的。

God has sent you into the world to serve certain people under certain circumstances and to associate with certain people to discover this purpose and to fulfill it. And there will be certain people along the way who will inspire you and will help to point the way so that you do not lose yourself in the world, so that you do not take the wrong turn, for there will be many junctures.

上帝已经派你来到这个世界，在特定的环境下为一些人服务，并与一些人交往，以发现这个目的并实现它。一路上会有一些人激励你，帮助你指明方向，使你不会在这个世界上迷失自己，使你不会走错路，因为会有很多路口。

Your allegiance and experience of Knowledge are still very young. It has not grown strong enough to be able to correct every mistake. Even as you become advanced, you realize that the potential for error is still within you, and you will seek for assistance from others who are strong with Knowledge.

你对内识的效忠和体验还很稚嫩。它还没有强大到能够纠正每一个错误。即使你变得先进，你也会意识到错误的可能性仍然存在，你会向其他的内识强者寻求帮助。

You are bringing something rare and extraordinary into the world, something the world cannot itself provide because over this bridge that you have built will come the Power and the Presence of God into the world, and you will be a conduit and a channel for this. And though it may be expressed under very mundane circumstances—by feeding people, taking care of people, helping people, taking care of the environment, assuring the well-being of other species of animals and plants—whatever your specific area of contribution, you are bringing the Power and the Presence into the world, and with it the remembrance for everyone that they too were sent here for a greater purpose, and that it is real and powerful, and it will not abandon them.

你正在给世界带来一些稀有的、非同寻常的东西，一些世界本身无法提供的东西，因为在你搭建的这座桥上，上帝的力量和存在将进入这个世界，而你将成为这个的管道和渠道。尽管它可能在非常平凡的情况下被表达出来——通过给人们提供食物、照顾人们、帮助人们、照顾环境、保证其他动物和植物物种的福祉——无论你的具体贡献领域是什么，你都在把力量和存在带入世界，同时也让每个人记住，他们也是为了一个更伟大的目的被送往这里的，而且它是真实和强大的，它不会抛弃他们。

May Knowledge grow stronger within you each day. May you take each day as a process of learning about Knowledge and the need for Knowledge. May you put yourself in a position to benefit from your errors and the errors of others, and build your foundation of wisdom, and build your connection to the guiding presence and power in your life. And as you gain confidence and trust and ability, you will be able to give these to others, for the need in the world is immense.

愿内识在你的内心深处每天都更加强大。愿你把每一天当作学习内识以及对内识需求的过程。愿你把自己放在一个位置上，从你的错误和他人的错误中受益，建立你的智慧基础，建立你与你生命中的指导存在和力量的联接。当你获得信心、信任和能力时，你将能够把这些给予其他人，因为世界上的需求是巨大的。