Chapter 8: Your Purpose and Destiny

Your Purpose and Destiny – Finding Purpose in Life – Greater Purpose
你的目的和天命——在生命中寻找目的——更伟大的目的

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on January 23, 2008 in Boulder, CO
2008年1月23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

There is a greater purpose for you in the world, a greater purpose that has brought you into the world, a greater purpose that is meant to serve the world that you see and the world to come. The reality of this purpose—its meaning and its expression—exists beyond the grasp of your intellect. It is something that resides deep within you. God has placed it deep within you, within a deeper Intelligence within you, an Intelligence that is called Knowledge.

你在这个世界上有一个更伟大的目的，一个把你带到这个世界上的更伟大的目的，一个旨在为你看到的世界和未来的世界服务的更伟大的目的。这个目的的现实——它的意义和它的表达——超出了你的智力所能掌握的范围。它是存在于你内心深处的内识。上帝把它放置在你的内心深处，放置在你的内心一个更深层次的智能中，一个被称为内识的智能。

Your attempt to understand this purpose with your intellect will always fall short of the mark, for the intellect was not designed to comprehend things of this magnitude. Trying to understand the deeper Mind of Knowledge is like trying to understand the Mind of God. It is better not to try.

你试图用你的智力来理解这个目的，总是会落空，因为智力不是被设计来理解这种程度的事情。试图理解内识的更深层次的心智就像试图理解上帝的心智。最好不要尝试。

What is important is to bring your life into a connection with this deeper Intelligence, into alliance with this deeper connection. This will give your mind, your intellect, all the work it could possibly assume.

重要的是使你的生命与这个更深层次的智能联接起来，与这个更深层次的联系结盟。这将赋予你的心灵，你的智力，它所能承担的一切工作。

People have lost their connection to God. Even people who claim to have religion have now created an understanding of God or have adopted it from their cultures, from their traditions that does not capture the real essence of the matter. It does not capture the mystery and the power and the potency of what your greater purpose really is. It represents the mind attempting to understand the reality of the Spirit. This attempt and this understanding will always be incomplete, will always be an approximation only.

人们已经失去了与上帝的联接。即使是那些声称有宗教信仰的人，现在也创造了一种对上帝的理解，或者从他们的文化中，从他们的传统中采用了这种理解，但却没有抓住问题的真正本质。它没有抓住你更伟大目的的神秘性、力量和效力。它代表了试图理解精神现实的心灵。这种尝试和理解永远是不完整的，永远只是一个近似值。

It is important that you understand this, for you will try to understand, and perhaps you have already adopted many ideas. Perhaps you believe in things fervently regarding the reality of your deeper life, your connection to God and your greater purpose in the world. But the reality will always be beyond your grasp here.

重要的是你要理解这一点，因为你会尝试去理解，也许你已经采用了许多想法。也许你热切地相信关于你更深层次的生命的现实、你与上帝的联接和你在这个世界上的更伟大目的的事情。但现实将永远超出你在这里的掌握。

But it is not beyond your experience, for it speaks through your experience. It is expressed through your experience. And in many cases, this kind of experience will be inexplicable, beyond comprehension, beyond definition.

但它没有超越你的体验，因为它通过你的体验来表达。它在你的体验中得以体现。在许多情况下，这种体验是无法用言语解释的，它超出了理解力的范围，是无法定义的。

Therefore, it is necessary to always allow part of your life to be mysterious and to treat this with reverence and with wonder, with expectation. You may feel you have a firm grasp on your affairs, your interactions with people, your work in the world, your duties, your activities, your obligations and so forth. But you must always remain wondrous of the mystery of your life. If you lose this sense of wonder, then you have lost your connection, your most vital connection, your lifeline to God and, temporarily at least, the possibility of experiencing and expressing a greater purpose in your life.

因此，有必要始终允许你生命的一部分是神秘的，并以敬畏、惊奇、期待的心态对待这一点。你可能觉得你对你的事务、你与人的互动、你在世上的工作、你的职责、你的活动、你的义务等等都有牢固的把握。但你必须始终保持对你生命的神秘性感到惊奇。如果你失去了这种惊奇感，那么你就失去了你的联接，你最重要的联系，你与上帝的生命线，至少暂时失去了体验和表达你生命中更伟大目的的可能性。

The world that you see will call this purpose out of you when you are ready. It is not just anything in the world. It will be something very specific. A situation, a set of circumstances, a very unique relationship, a great difficulty, a great and pressing need in the world will speak to you most profoundly, most directly. And every time you think of it, every time you re-experience it, it has the same deeper resonance with it.

当你准备好的时候，你所看到的世界会从你身上召唤出这个目的。它不是世界上的任何东西。它将是非常具体的事情。一种情况，一组环境，一种非常独特的关系，一个巨大的困难，世界上一个巨大而紧迫的需求，都会最深刻、最直接地向你诉说。每当你想起它，每当你重新体验它，它都会与你产生同样深刻的共鸣。

It is as if you have found something with your name on it, something that speaks to you directly, something that stirs a greater sense of commitment within you. Again, you can imagine and believe you have a purpose, and perhaps this will change many times over. But it is not the same, you see.

它就好像你找到了一些写着你名字的事情，一些能直接与你对话的事情，一些能激起你内心深处更大的承诺感的事情。同样，你可以想象并相信你有一个目的，也许这将会改变许多次。你看，但这是不一样的。

Many people have given their ideas all the credibility and have forgotten the value and the meaning of their own experience. They just try to experience their ideas now. They want their experience to confirm their ideas, to validate their ideas, to demonstrate the truth and the efficacy of their ideas. But this is not it, you see.

许多人已经给了他们的想法所有的可信度，并且忘记了他们自己体验的价值和意义。他们现在只是试图去体验他们的想法。他们希望他们的经历能证实他们的想法，验证他们的想法，证明他们想法的真理和效力。你看，但这不是内识。

It is people’s fundamental insecurity that leads them to identify with their thoughts to this degree, that leads them to base their life on beliefs and assumptions, losing all the while the sense of mystery and uncertainty and expectation that comes with living close to life.

正是由于人们缺乏基本的安全感，才使他们在如此程度上认同自己的感想，并将生命建立在信仰和假设之上，而在此过程中，他们失去了与生命紧密相连所带来的神秘感、不确定性和期待感。

Here you must be without complete definition. Your life must be open. The possibilities must exist. Here you recognize that your ideas and beliefs are only helpful. They are not the absolute. They are only there to assist you in navigating the world. They are not there to define the world. They are only there to help you understand life, not to define life.

在这里，你必须没有完整的定义。你的生命必须是开放的。可能性必须存在。在这里，你认识到你的想法和信仰只是有帮助。它们不是绝对的。它们只是为了帮助你在这个世界上航行。它们不是用来定义世界的。它们只是为了帮助你理解生命，而不是为了定义生命。

Here your sense of security must reach deeper, beyond the scope of your beliefs and assumptions and ideas to something much more sound and fundamental within you.

在这里，你的安全感必须达到更深层次的程度，超越你的信仰、假设和想法的范围，达到你内心深处更健全和基本的内识。

You may believe fervently in God. You may believe fervently in the dictates of your religion, but this does not mean you have found this deeper foundation. This foundation is demonstrated and represented by Knowledge within you—the deeper Intelligence that the Creator of all life has placed there to guide you, to protect you and to lead you to a greater life and to a greater purpose in the world.

你可能狂热地相信上帝。你可能狂热地相信你的宗教指令，但这并不意味着你已经找到这个更深层次的基础。这个基础是由你内心深处的内识所展示和代表的——是所有生命的创造者放置在内心深处的更深层次的智能，以指导你，保护你，并引领你走向更伟大的生命以及在世界上的一种更伟大的目的。

If you are circumscribed by your beliefs, how can God move you to do anything? As soon as your thinking or your activities begin to go beyond the boundaries you have set for yourself, you will feel frightened; you will feel anxious; you will feel uncertain. Your sense of identity will be shaken. You will be unsure of what you are doing. And you will likely withdraw, back into the safety, back into the confinement of your beliefs and assumptions.

如果你被你的信仰所限制，上帝怎么能推动你去做任何事情呢？一旦你的思维或活动开始超出你为自己设定的界限，你会感到害怕；你会感到焦虑；你会感到不确定。你的身份感将会被动摇。你将不确定你在做什么。而你很可能会退缩，回到安全的地方，回到你的信仰和假设的禁锢之中。

It is pure arrogance to think that you understand God, that you understand what righteousness is, that you assume that you know God’s Will and Purpose for you and for all of humanity. Yet many people make these assumptions and advocate these assumptions and condemn others for not agreeing with them.

认为自己理解上帝，理解什么是正义，认为自己知道上帝对自己和全人类的意志和目的，这纯粹是一种傲慢。然而，许多人却做出这些假设，鼓吹这些假设，并谴责不同意这些假设的其他人。

If you are to have any hope of finding your greater purpose in the world and to move beyond the boundaries and the confinement of your own beliefs and assumptions, then you must open the door to life. You cannot live in a room of your own definitions. For this room becomes like a prison—a prison without windows where you cannot see out.

如果你想有任何希望找到你在这个世界上的更伟大的目的，并超越你自己的信仰和假设的界限和禁锢，那么你必须打开生命的大门。你不能生活在一个你自己定义的房间里。因为这个房间变得像一座监狱——一座没有窗户的监狱，你无法看到外面。

The door must be open. The windows must be open. The room gives your life definition and stability, but it must be open to life. Your understanding of God must evolve, must develop. To do so, you must be willing to go through periods of profound doubt and uncertainty as you go from one set of ideas or one level of understanding to another.

门必须被打开。窗户必须被打开。这个房间赋予你生命的定义和稳定，但它必须向生命开放。你对上帝的理解必须进化，必须发展。要做到这一点，你必须愿意体验深刻的怀疑和不确定的时期，因为你会从一套想法或一个理解层面进入另一个层面。

It is like the man on the trapeze. To go from one bar to another, he must let go. For a moment, he will not be holding on to anything, you see. But he has confidence that he can reach out and find the next bar, which will be waiting for him.

它就像空中飞人。要从一个横杆来到另一个横杆，他必须放手。你看，在那一瞬间，他什么也抓不住。但是，他有信心伸出手去，找到下一个横杆，而那个横杆会在那等待着他。

This is like your evolving understanding. To be a student, you cannot assume to be the master. To be a student, you must be willing to learn what you do not know already and to question your own assumptions.

这就像你不断发展的理解。要成为一名学生，你不能假设自己是大师。要成为一名学生，你必须愿意学习你不知道的课程，并质疑你自己的假设。

But many people do not want to do this, for they think their beliefs are the truth. They think their beliefs are who they are and define their lives and give them certainty and stability in an uncertain world.

但是很多人不愿意这样做，因为他们认为他们的信仰就是真理。他们认为他们的信仰就是他们自己，并定义他们的生活，在一个不确定的世界中给他们带来确定性和稳定性。

God has placed a greater purpose and a greater Intelligence within you. If you are to experience this, if you are to understand the messages that it sends to you, the signs that it gives you, and if you are to be able to follow the pathway it sets out for you, then you must be willing to go forward beyond the boundaries of your understanding, beyond the conventions of your culture or religion, beyond the expectations of others.

上帝在你的内心深处放置了一个更伟大的目的和更高的智能。如果你要体验这一点，如果你要理解它向你发出的讯息，它给你的迹象，如果你要能够遵循它为你设定的道路，那么你必须愿意超越你理解的界限，超越你的文化或宗教传统，超越他人的期望，继续前进。

If you seek consensus for your views, you will always set your sights too low. You will always assume a lower set of standards for yourself. This is not your destiny, you see—to enter into the world and to become solidified in the world and the world’s beliefs and expectations and so forth.

如果你为你的观点寻求共识，你将总是把你的目标定得太低。你将总是为自己假设一套较低的标准。这不是你的天命，你看——进入这个世界，并在这个世界及其信仰和期望等方面变得固执。

You are here to build a foundation for this greater purpose to be experienced, to be followed and to be expressed. This is your fundamental responsibility, and it will be your fundamental sense of fulfillment. For nothing else will fulfill the deeper need of your soul. Wealth, pleasure, indulgences, romance, accomplishment, recognition—none of these things will fulfill the deeper need of the soul, for this is the deeper need of your life.

你在这里是为了这个更伟大的目的建立一个基础，以便被体验、被遵循和被表达。这是你的基本责任，也将是你的基本成就感。因为没有其他事情能满足你灵魂深处的需求。财富、快乐、放纵、浪漫、成就、认可——这些东西都不会满足灵魂深处的需求，因为这是你生命更深层次的需求。

Even if you are successful in garnering the wealth and the accolades of the world, your soul will remain hungry, its need unfulfilled, and you will be restless and anxious. Your successes and accomplishments will be very temporary and fleeting. Your restlessness will increase. Your sense of disappointment will grow. And you will see the shallowness of these successes. You will see that they do not fulfill you. They do not answer your deeper need, your deeper questions.

即使你成功地获得了世界的财富和荣誉，你的灵魂仍然是饥饿的，它的需求没有得到满足，你会感到不安和焦虑。你的成功和成就将是非常暂时和短暂的。你的不安会增加。你的失望感会增加。而且你会看到这些成功的浅薄。你会看到它们不能满足你。它们没有回答你更深层次的需求，你更深层次的问题。

These can only be answered by the power and the presence that God has placed within you, a power and presence that you cannot control, that you cannot fully define, that you cannot use to gain what you want out of life.

这些只能由上帝放置在你内心深处的力量和存在来回答，这种力量和存在是你无法控制的，你无法完全定义，你无法使用它来获得你想要的生命。

In your heart, you know of what We speak of here. It is like a door you are afraid to open. It is like a stillness within you that you are afraid to experience. It is like the Presence that stands behind you that you are afraid to turn and to face—caught up in the world now with all of its conflicts and issues and campaigns, caught up in your work and your relationships with hardly a moment to reflect.

在你的内心，你知道我们在这里说的是什么。它就像一扇你害怕打开的门。它就像你内心深处的静止，你不敢去体验。它就像站在你身后的存在，而你却不敢转身面对——在这个世界上，你被所有的冲突、问题和活动所困，被你的工作和关系所困，几乎没有时间来思考。

All of this waits for you. Whether you are conservative or progressive, whatever your political ideas and position, whatever your grievances and admonitions against others, this mystery, this calling, awaits you.

所有这一切都在等待着你。无论你是保守派还是进步派，无论你的政治观念和立场如何，无论你对他人有什么不满和告诫，这个神秘的内识，这个召唤，都在等待着你。

Perhaps you think at this moment, “Well, this is not the problem. I can face this. I know what this is. I can be with this.” But when you begin to really respond, you will see how much resistance you have. You have been out of relationship with yourself for so long that now you are afraid of it. You resist it. It creates a sense of anxiety for you.

也许你此刻会想：“好吧，这不是问题。我可以面对这个。我知道这是什么。我可以与内识同在。”但当你开始实际回应时，你会看到你有多少阻力。你已经与自己脱离关系如此之久，现在你会害怕它。你会抵制它。它为你创造了一种焦虑感。

God, whether you believe in God or not, is still profoundly unsettling. As an experience rather than just an idea, God is profoundly unsettling—unsettling to your plans, to your goals, to your establishments, to your attachments.

上帝，无论你是否相信上帝，仍然让人深感不安。作为一种体验，而不仅仅是一种想法，上帝是令人深感不安的——对你的计划、你的目标、你的建立、你的依恋都是不安的。

There is shame there because you have done things you know are not right. You have regrets. You have things you do not want God to see, things you do not want to bring into this primary relationship. And so there is resistance.

你会感到羞愧，因为你做了一些明知不对的事情。你会有遗憾。你有不想让上帝看到的事情，你不想把这些事情带入这个主要的关系。因此，就有了抵触情绪。

You can attach yourself to the idea of God, but to the experience, well, that is another matter altogether. You may pray to God for what you want or to protect you or to protect those you love, but can you actually be with the relationship, the experience itself, without running away, without going and hiding somewhere?

你可以把自己依附在上帝的想法上，但对于体验，那完全是另一回事。你可以向上帝祈求你想要的东西，或保护你，或保护你所爱的人，但你能否真正与这种关系、这种体验本身在一起，而不逃避，不躲藏起来吗？

People worship. They pray to God. They fall down on their knees. But they are afraid of the experience, the connection, the Presence, the Grace.

人们做礼拜。他们向上帝祈祷。他们跪倒在地。但他们害怕这种体验、这种联系、这种存在、这种恩典。

You come to God with your hands open. You come to God without assumptions, without admonitions, without declarations. In your prayers, in your meditations, whatever your spiritual practice, you bring yourself there as you are—with regrets, with anxiety, with uncertainty, with frustration—as you are, you bring yourself there.

你张开双手来到上帝面前。你来到上帝面前，没有假设，没有告诫，没有宣言。在你的祈祷中，在你的冥想中，无论你的精神练习是什么，你都以真实的自我前往——带着遗憾、焦虑、不确定和沮丧——带着真实的自己，你来到上帝面前。

You be with the silence. You learn to be with that silence. It is in this silence that Knowledge will speak to your mind, that God will communicate to you through the Intelligence that God has placed deep within you. It is here that you will learn to be patient and observant rather than nervous and demanding.

你与寂静同在。你要学会与寂静相伴。正是在这种寂静中，内识才会与你的心灵说话，上帝才会通过放置在你内心深处的智能与你交流。正是在这里，你将学会耐心和观察，而不是紧张和苛求。

People want the answer to their lives: “Just tell me what my life is. Just show me what I have to do.” But they are afraid of the relationship and the connection that will make this genuine and possible and effective in the future. Without the connection, you are still functioning at the level of ideas and assumptions.

人们希望得到他们生活的答案：“只要告诉我，我的生命是什么。只要告诉我，我必须做什么。”但他们害怕这种关系和联接，而这种关系和联接会让这一切变得真实、可能和有效。没有这种联接，你就还停留在想法和假设的层面上。

You have to wait and receive, not receive all the things that you want necessarily, but to receive the presence and the connection—to let this slowly reshape your life, to re-orient your priorities, to set your values into some kind of coherence and unity within you.

你必须等待和接纳，并不是必然地接纳所有你想要的事情，但是，要接纳内识的存在和联接——让这慢慢地重塑你的生命，重新调整你的优先事项，使你的价值观在你内心深处形成某种一致性和统一性。

For you cannot live a greater life based upon your life at this moment. You cannot jump from where you are to a different state of mind and awareness and participation in the world. There must be a profound shift within you, and this represents the inner work that must take place—inner work that is really mysterious, you see.

因为你无法在此刻的生命基础上过上更伟大的生命。你不能从你所在的地方跳到一个不同的心灵状态和觉知以及参与世界的状态。你的内心深处必须有一个深刻的转变，这代表了必须进行的内在工作——你看，内在工作真的很神秘。

You may have a concept of it. You may value it. You may see it as necessary. But how it really takes place is beyond the grasp of the intellect entirely. It is the work of God within you.

你可能对它有一个概念。你可能重视它。你可能认为它是必要的。但它是如何真正发生的，完全超出智力的掌握。它是上帝在你内心深处的工作。

You cannot simply adopt a program or an idea and say, “This is my higher purpose.” For you are still the same old person with the same old ideas, expectations, habits and perceptions. These things will not allow you to assume a greater life. These things will keep you making the same mistakes over and over. These things will keep you right where you are.

你不能简单地采用一个程序或一个想法，然后说：“这是我的更高宗旨”。因为你仍然是同一个人，有着同样的旧想法、期望、习惯和看法。这些东西不会让你承担更伟大的生命。这些东西会使你一次又一次地犯同样的错误。这些东西会让你停留在原地。

You cannot simply adjust your wardrobe or do something cosmetic and claim that your life has changed, that you have changed, though people try to do this all the time. A new set of ideas, a new set of circumstances, perhaps new relationships, and they think their life is transformed. But nothing has really happened on the inside yet.

你不能简单地调整你的衣柜或做一些美容，然后声称你的生命已经改变，你已经改变，尽管人们一直试图这样做。一套新的想法，一套新的环境，也许是新的关系，他们认为他们的生命已经改变。但是，内部还没有发生任何实质性的变化。

So at the outset, taking the Steps to Knowledge—beginning your journey to a higher purpose in life—is very mysterious. It does not look like anything is happening on the outside, necessarily, and you are impatient. You want results. You want to have your activities validated. You want to achieve your goals today, tomorrow.

因此，在一开始，开展内识的进阶——开始你的旅程，通往生命的更高宗旨——是非常神秘的。外面看起来什么都没有发生，而你却很不耐烦。你想要结果。你想让你的活动得到验证。你想在今天、明天就实现自己的目标。

But something is moving on the inside of you—imperceptible hour to hour, even day to day, but week to week and month to month, oh yes, something is really changing. And it is changing at a level that you cannot really understand. Do you have the patience and the perseverance to stay with this and to allow this change to happen?

但是，内识在你的内部移动——虽然每小时、每天的变化几乎无法察觉，但每周、每月，哦，是的，确实有一些事情在实际改变。而这种改变发生在一个你无法完全理解的层面上。你是否有耐心和毅力去坚持下去，允许这种变化发生呢？

You see, it is like cooking bread in the oven. Well, if you are taking it out every ten minutes to see if it is done, it will not cook. It will not go through its transformation. It will not become something edible and useful and beautiful.

你看，它就像在烤箱里烤面包。好吧，如果你每隔十分钟就拿出来看看面包熟了没有，面包就不会熟。它将不会经历它的转变。它不会变成可食用的、有用的和美味的食物。

That is like you. You need to let God create the change within you—the change of heart, the change of mind, the change of values and priorities, the willingness to change your circumstances, even your relationships. And you do this because you have a deep need, a great need—a need to know who you are and why you are here, what your life is for and what your life is about.

它就像你一样。你需要上帝在你的内心深处创造改变——内心的改变、心灵的改变、价值观和优先权的改变，愿意改变你的环境，甚至你的关系。你这样做是因为你有一个深刻的需求，一个伟大的需求——需要知道你是谁，你为什么在这里，你的生命是为了什么，以及你的生命是关于什么。

So most of the work at the outset is on the inside. It is to build a foundation within you, to create a shift within you. Otherwise, the assumption of higher purpose is just simply cosmetic. It is like wallpapering your room. It is creating a different appearance only.

因此，一开始的大部分工作是在内部。它是为了在你的内心深处建立一个基础，在你的内心深处创造一种转变。否则，对更高宗旨的假设只是简单的表面现象。它就像给你的房间贴墙纸一样。它只是在创造一个不同的外观。

To have a greater purpose in your life means you must have the foundation of Knowledge within you established, or you will run off into the world with your big ideas about who you are and why you are here. And God will not be able to help you. Only disappointment and disillusionment will bring you back to your senses, will bring you back to your humility, will bring you back to God.

要想在你的生命中拥有更高的目的，意味着你必须在你内心建立起内识的基础，否则你就会带着你对自己是谁和为什么在这里的大想法跑到世界上。而上帝将无法帮助你。只有失望和幻灭才能使你恢复理智，使你恢复谦卑，使你回到上帝身边。

As you begin to experience the evidence that there is a greater purpose for you, you will see that there have been signs all along the way—things holding you back, things discouraging you, things preventing you from having immediate gratification or immediate relationships with others, signs that indicated certain things about you that are relevant to your greater purpose: orientations in your life, unique and even peculiar kinds of interests.

当你开始体验到你有一个更伟大的目的的证据时，你会看到一路上都有一些迹象——阻碍你的事情，使你气馁的事情，阻止你立即得到满足或立即与他人建立关系的事情，这些迹象表明你的某些事情与你的更伟大的目的有关：你生命中的取向，独特甚至奇特的兴趣。

You resonate with certain things profoundly, even illogically, for these are the signs. And they have been with you all along, all the way back into your childhood, you see, indicating something about you—a natural orientation, a natural interest or resonance that speaks to your future accomplishments and the possibility for living a greater life.

你与某些事情产生了深刻的共鸣，甚至是不合逻辑的，因为这些都是迹象。而且它们一直伴随着你，一直追溯到你的童年，你看，表明了一些关于你的事情——一个自然的方向，一个自然的兴趣或共鸣，说明了你未来的成就和过上更伟大生命的可能性。

To begin to respond here, to move in a true direction and to allow your life to be reshaped and redirected by Knowledge within you gives you great joy and confirmation. At last, you begin to feel like you are one person instead of a group of divided and contentious factions—wanting different things, going in different directions, pulled by different forces.

在这里开始回应，朝着一个真实的方向前进，并允许你的生命被你内心深处的内识重塑和重定向，给你极大的快乐和确认。最后，你开始觉得自己是一个人，而不是一群分裂和有争议的派别——想要不同的东西，走向不同的方向，受到不同力量的牵引。

You begin to feel like you have some kind of foundation within yourself, a center to your Being, that you are anchored somewhere genuine, instead of attached to circumstances, to people and to places alone. And this gives a great sense of strength and permanence.

你开始感觉到你自己有某种基础，你的存在有一个中心，你被固定在某个真正的地方，而不是仅仅依附于环境、人和地方。这给人一种伟大的力量和持久性的感觉。

For the sense of meaning of your life is purely an experience. Perhaps only later in hindsight will you really understand, but in the moment, it is an experience. And this allows you to settle down within yourself. This allows you to become still and observant within yourself. This teaches you the value of patience. It teaches you the meaning of waiting for things to come about, for the bread to cook in the oven, for things to take their course.

因为你生命的意义感纯粹是一种体验。也许只有在事后回顾时你才会真正理解，但在当下，它就是一种体验。这使你能够在自己的内心安定下来。这让你在自己的内心深处变得安静并保持观察。这教给你耐心的价值。它教给你等待事情发生的意义，比如等待面包在烤箱中烘烤，等待事情的发展。

Over time, you will understand how change really takes place within people, how this greater shift occurs. What are its signs? What are the dangers that can prevent it from occurring? You will see these things because you will have experienced them yourself sufficiently that you can begin to gain a real understanding.

随着时间的推移，你会理解变化是如何真正发生在人们内心深处的，这种更伟大的转变是如何发生的。它的迹象是什么？有哪些危险会阻止它的发生？你会看到这些事情，因为你自己已经充分经历到了，你可以开始获得真正的理解。

Here you must forego the idea of perfection and mastery, for those are obsessions. Those are ideas in the mind. If you are truly responding to the power and presence of Knowledge within you, then you will realize you must forego these things. You do not know what mastery is. You do not know what perfection is. These things must be shown to you over time.

在这里，你必须放弃完美和掌握的想法，因为这些是执着。这些都是心灵中的想法。如果你真正回应了内识在你内心深处的力量和存在，那你就会意识到你必须放弃这些想法。你不知道什么是掌握。你不知道什么是完美。这些事情必须随着时间的推移展示给你。

The assumptions you have made based upon the values of your culture or your religion, well, God will take you beyond them to a greater understanding. But you must be willing to go. And when you go, you realize you really do not understand. What you thought you knew, what you thought was correct, now you are not sure.

你基于你的文化或宗教的价值观所做的假设，好吧，上帝会带你超越它们，达到更高的理解。但你必须愿意去。当你去的时候，你会意识到自己其实并不真的理解。你曾以为知道的事情，以为正确的事情，现在你却不再确定了。

Many people will not leave the shore here. They will not venture out in the open water. They want to stay firmly planted on the ground of their belief and understanding. To get on the boat that is floating, well, it is too scary for them. They will pitch their flag on the land. They will not venture out into the open water. And the world beyond their shores will remain unknown to them. And the journey that is for them, they will not undertake.

许多人不会离开这里的岸边。他们不会在开放的水面上冒险。他们想牢牢地扎根在他们的信仰和理解的地面上。登上漂浮的船，好吧，这对他们来说太可怕了。他们会在陆地上插上自己的旗帜。他们不会冒险进入开放的水域。而他们海岸之外的世界对他们来说仍然是未知的。而对他们来说的旅程，他们也不会去承担。

For when you leave that shore, you are without a firm foundation, it seems, for awhile. You are depending upon the raft that will take you to the further shore, and the further shore you cannot see. It is too far away.

因为当你离开这个岸边时，你似乎有一段时间没有坚实的基础。你只能依靠木筏将你带到更远的海岸，而更远的海岸你还看不到。它太遥远了。

You must leave the life that you have known for a new life. But to get there, you will be out on the open water, and Knowledge will be your raft. And those relationships that are strong with Knowledge, that remind you of Knowledge, will be your companionship and your assurance.

你必须离开你所知道的生命，过一种新的生命。但是为了到达那里，你将在开阔的水面上，而内识将是你的木筏。而那些与内识紧密相连的关系，使你想起了内识，他们将成为你的伴侣和保证。

Though you may have great doubt and may want to return to the shore from which you have left, there will be something in you that will keep urging you onward: “Keep going. Do not stop. Keep heading out. Do not turn back.”

尽管你可能会有极大的怀疑，可能会想回到你离开的岸边，但在你内心深处的内识一直在催促你前进：”继续前进。不要停止。继续向外走。不要回头。”

And you will be afraid: “Oh, I left behind so many things. Maybe I’ve made a terrible mistake. And I’ve given up these things. Oh, my God, I should have them back. What am I doing?” But something within you says: “Keep going forward. Do not go back. You cannot go back.”

而你会感到害怕：“好吧，我落下了如此多的东西。也许我犯了一个可怕的错误。而我已经放弃了这些东西。哦，我的上帝，我应该把它们找回来。我在做什么？”但是，你内心深处的内识说：“继续向前走。不要回头。你不能回头。”

God is trying to take you somewhere, you see, from inside you. There is no voice on high commanding you now. It is the certainty that God has placed within you—a certainty that you cannot change, that you cannot bargain with, that you cannot argue with, that you cannot alter according to your fears and preferences.

上帝正在试图带你去某个地方，你看，这是来自你内心深处的声音。现在没有高高在上的声音在命令你。这是上帝放置在你内心深处的确定性——一种你无法改变、无法讨价还价、无法争辩、也无法根据你的恐惧和偏好来调整的确定性。

Some people think that their higher purpose is becoming fully engaged in what they really want. But this is rarely the case, you see, for what they think they want is really a substitute for something else, and they want God to validate their substitution. They want to use religion and spirituality to confirm that what they want is really what they should have and is the truth for them.

一些人认为他们的更高宗旨是全心投入于自己真正想要的事物。但实际上，这种情况很少见，因为他们认为自己想要的东西往往只是某种其他东西的替代品，他们希望上帝验证他们的替代品。他们想利用宗教和精神性来证明自己想要的东西确实是他们应该拥有的，并且对他们来说是真理。

But, you see, you cannot change the direction that God has given you in life. You can only change your response to it. You will have to alter your expression of it given the circumstances of the world and adapt its expression to a certain extent, but you cannot change what it really is, you see. This is what gives you freedom—the freedom to finally be who and what you are, to follow the life that you were meant to live.

但是，你看，你不能改变上帝在生命中给你的方向。你只能改变你对它的回应。鉴于世界的环境，你将不得不改变你对它的表达方式，并在某种程度上适应它的表达方式，但你不能改变它真正的表达，你看。这就是给你的自由——最终成为你是谁和你是什么的自由，遵循你本应过的生命。

People think this is a loss of freedom when they cannot invent their life for themselves—be whatever they want, have whatever they want and do whatever they want, without any sense of responsibility. And though they may try a thousand things, they are still lost and frustrated and unfulfilled.

人们认为，当他们无法创造自己的生命时——成为自己想要的样子，拥有自己想要的东西，并做自己想做的事情，而没有任何责任感时，这是一种自由的丧失。尽管他们可能尝试了成千上万的事情，但他们依然感到迷茫、沮丧和不满足。

What your purpose is is something waiting to be discovered. The signs are there. You must allow it to change your life, even to put into question things you firmly believe you really want or must have for yourself. Even these things must be put in doubt, for there is something greater that is calling you—something greater than the satisfaction of your desires.

你的目的是什么，是等待被发现的内识。迹象就在这里。你必须允许它改变你的生命，甚至质疑你坚信自己真正想要或必须拥有的关系。即使是这些关系也必须存疑，因为有更伟大的内识在召唤你——比满足你的欲望更伟大的目的。

If you have the courage and integrity to respond to this, then you are beginning to have a real foundation in your life—something that cannot be seduced by the world, something that cannot be governed by the demands or expectations of others, something that will not be given away for convenience or for personal acquisition, something you do not bargain with, you see.

如果你有勇气和正直来回应这一点，那么你就开始在你的生命中拥有一个真正的基础——你看，这个基础不会被世俗所诱惑，不会被他人的要求或期望所左右，不会为了方便或个人利益而放弃，你不会与之讨价还价。

This is what gives you your strength, your power and your integrity. This is what inspires others. This is what makes the rendering of your true gifts possible, meaningful and effective.

这就是给你的力量，你的权力和你的完整性。这就是激励他人的内识。这就是使你真实的礼物的呈现成为可能、有意义和有效的原因。

Some people think they have already arrived: “This is my purpose. I am doing my purpose,” when in fact they are only a quarter way up the mountain itself, perhaps moving in the right direction, but they have a long way to go. They think they have arrived, but really, they have only turned one of many corners. They must keep going. Knowledge will not let them become complacent or self-satisfied.

有些人认为他们已经到达了：“这是我的目的。我正在实现我的目的。”而事实上，他们只是在山的四分之一处，也许正朝着正确的方向前进，但他们还有很长的路要走。他们认为自己已经到达了，但实际上，他们只是转过了许多弯道中的一个。他们必须继续前进。内识不会让他们变得自满或自我满足。

For there is much further to go, and your circumstances and the expression of what you are doing may change. So even if you think you have arrived, you have only really just begun.

因为还有很多路要走，你的环境和你所做的事情的表现可能会改变。因此，即使你认为你已经到达，你也只是刚刚开始。

This journey is what renews and rekindles your soul—the deeper joy and sense of confirmation about your life, the sense of belonging in life rather than simply being someone who’s wandering around the world—aimless, directionless, like a rudderless ship out on the ocean, being blown by whatever wind and current exists at that moment, crashing on the shores, out of control.

这个旅程是更新和重新点燃你的灵魂——更深层次的喜悦以及对自己生命的确认感，对生命的归属感，而不是简单地成为一个在世界范围内徘徊的人——漫无目的，没有方向，就像一艘在海上的无舵船，被那一刻存在的任何风和水流吹动，在岸边坠落，失去控制。

Knowledge is your rudder. Knowledge is what keeps you moving in the right direction—weathering the storms of the world, weathering uncertainty, weathering self-doubt, weathering other people’s disappointment in you.

内识是你的方向舵。内识是使你朝着正确方向前进的基础——抵御世界上的风暴，抵御不确定性，抵御自我怀疑，抵御其他人对你的失望。

So, you see, instead of talking about higher purpose in terms of the end result, We talk about the process of discovery and the journey you must follow because this is what matters.

所以，你看，我们不是从最终结果的角度来谈论更高宗旨，而是谈论发现的过程和你必须遵循的旅程，因为这才是最重要的。

You must be willing to go without knowing what the other shore is going to look like, how it is going to be for you. If you do not have this courage and this commitment, you will not get on the boat. You will not get on that ship to the New World. You will hesitate. You will fall back.

你必须愿意在不知道彼岸会是什么样子、对你来说会是什么样子的情况下出发。如果你没有这种勇气和这种承诺，你就不会登上这艘船。你不会登上那艘通往新世界的船。你会犹豫不决。你会退缩。

The ship is leaving. You will not get on it. You will stay in your little life with your little ideas. You will stay in your cell even though the door is open. You will close the doors and the windows because you do not want to look out. You will become like a person living in a little shell, encased in one’s own ideas, identified with the past, identified with what you are accustomed to. And within you, your heart and soul will be starving and unfulfilled.

这艘船正在离开。你不会上船。你将停留在你的小生命和你的小想法中。你会呆在你的牢房里，尽管门是开着的。你会关闭门窗，因为你不想往外看。你会变得像一个生活在小贝壳中的人，被包裹在自己的想法里，认同于过去，认同于你所习惯的东西。而在你的内心深处，你的心和灵魂将是饥饿和不满足的。

This is not what God intended for you, but it is a risk. It is the risk of being captivated by the world. It is the risk of becoming lost within yourself. It is the risk of being disconnected from the Source of your life and from the meaning and direction of your life. These risks are real and profound. Look around you, and you will see this to be the case.

这不是上帝为你准备的，但这是一种风险。它是被世界迷住的风险。它是迷失在自己内心的风险。它是与你的生命之源、与你生命的意义和方向脱节的风险。这些风险是真实而深刻的。看看你的周围，你会发现情况就是这样。

Here you cannot look for consensus because if you are really responding, you may be the only person you know who is responding. Here your commitment to the truth must be greater than your obligation to others or your need for validation or approval from others.

在这里，你不能寻求共识，因为如果你真的在回应，你可能是你知道的人中唯一在回应的人。在这里，你对真理的承诺必须大于你对他人的义务，或被他人认可与赞同的需求。

God’s calling will call you out, call you out of line with other people. And you shall take a path that others do not seem to be taking. And your fear of loneliness could be profound, but you will not be alone for long on this journey. You will have to take that risk. Here you are giving up bondage and submission to others for something great. But in the moment, it may not look like that at all, you see.

上帝的召唤会把你拉出人群，使你与其他人格格不入。而你要走一条其他人似乎不走的道路。你对孤独的恐惧可能是深刻的，但你在这个旅程中不会孤独太久。你将不得不承担这个风险。在这里，你正在放弃对他人的束缚和服从，以换取伟大的内识。但在这一刻，你看，情况可能完全不是这样。

To be called is to be called out of line with others. Of course, they cannot follow. They are not being called at that moment. Even those who you think are spiritually educated may not be able to go with you, may not even understand what you are doing. Here you will begin to see the difference between ideology and inspiration, between self-definition and a greater purpose in life.

被召唤就是被引导到与他人不同的道路上。当然，他们无法跟随。因为他们在那个时刻并没有被召唤。即使是那些你认为精神上受过教育的人，也可能无法与你同行，甚至可能不理解你在做什么。在这里，你将开始看到意识形态与灵感之间的区别，以及自我定义和更伟大的生命目的之间的区别。

Great change is coming to the world. You have to be there for that. Great difficulty is coming for humanity. You have to be prepared to provide your service to the world. You cannot take forever to make up your mind or to drag yourself along, for you are trying to get somewhere, and the hour is late. To make your contribution to the world has to be done in time—at the right place with the right people.

变革的巨浪正在降临到这个世界。你必须参与其中。人类的巨大困难正在到来。你必须准备好向世界提供你的服务。你不能永远下定决心，也不能拖泥带水，因为你正试图到达某个地方，而时间已晚。要想为世界做出贡献，就必须及时行动起来，在正确的地点与正确的人一起行动。

If you are not in that place or with those people, then you are falling behind. For time here is of the essence. That is why there is always a sense of urgency around this. You are trying to get to a place of rendezvous with others who are meant to be with you, who are destined to be with you. You must get there yourself. If you are wandering around or falling down by the side of the road in doubt and confusion, you are not getting to your rendezvous.

如果你不在那个地方或与那些人在一起，那你就落后了。因为时间在这里是至关重要的。这就是为什么这周围总是有一种紧迫感。你正试图与那些注定要和你在一起的人会面，那些注定要和你在一起的人。你必须自己到达那里。如果你四处游荡或在怀疑和困惑中倒在路边，你就没有到达你的会合地点。

You have an appointment with the world, you see. You were sent here for an appointment with the world. You must make that appointment. In your heart and soul, you will be trying to get to that appointment, and though you may misinterpret all the signs of this, it is there nonetheless.

你看，你与这个世界有一个约定。你被派到这里，就是为了与世界的约定。你必须履行这个约定。在你的内心和灵魂深处，你将试图去赴约，尽管你可能误解了所有的迹象，但这个约定依然存在。

As you can see, there are many dangers and risks. There are many pitfalls. There are many self-deceptions. There are many other forces in the world that will pull you away or hold you back. But the reality of your greater purpose is the most powerful voice there is.

正如你所看到的，有许多危险和风险。有许多陷阱。有许多自欺欺人的行为。世界上有许多其他的力量会把你拉走或拖住你。但是，你更伟大目的的现实是最强大的声音。

But to know this, to experience this and to follow this, you must take this journey, you see, the journey of many steps. Taking the Steps to Knowledge—letting Knowledge reshape and reform your life; letting Knowledge take you into the future and build a new foundation; letting Knowledge take you to those circumstances, to those places, to those people that you need to connect with. For only Knowledge knows where the rendezvous will happen, when you must get there and how the journey can be undertaken.

但是，要知道这一点，要体验这一点，要遵循这一点，你必须踏上这段旅程，你看，这是一段许多步骤的旅程。开展内识的进阶——让内识重塑并改造你的生命；让内识带你走向未来，建立一个新的基础；让内识带你到那些环境，到那些地方，到那些你需要联系的人。因为只有内识知道在哪里会合，什么时候你必须到达，以及这段旅程如何进行。

Here you can only follow, but you must use your mind. You must use your talents. You must use your discernment and discretion. This will require you to gain as much strength as you can, to gather yourself together, to keep yourself together, to keep your focus intact, to keep your confidence intact, to keep moving in the right direction.

在这里你只能跟随，但你必须使用你的心灵。你必须使用你的才能。你必须使用你的辨别力和谨慎。这将需要你获得尽可能多的力量，把自己聚集在一起，让自己保持团结，保持你的注意力，保持你的信心，继续朝着正确的方向前进。

There is no passivity here. There is no hanging out here. It is living a committed life, and that commitment is what frees you—frees you from addiction; frees you from ambivalence; frees you from conflict; frees you from self-harm; frees you from danger; frees you from giving your life away for beauty, for wealth, for charm. Frees you from all these things, you see. It frees you from these things, and it frees you for something greater. For there is freedom from and freedom for. But to gain the freedom for, you must gain the freedom from.

这里没有被动。这里没有闲逛。它是过一种承诺的生命，而这种承诺让你自由——使你免于上瘾；使你免于矛盾；使你免于冲突；使你免于自我伤害；使你免于危险；使你免于为美丽、为财富、为魅力而付出生命。你看，内识把你从所有这些事情中解放出来。它使你从这些事情中解放出来，让你去做更伟大的事情。因为有“摆脱”的自由和“追求”的自由。但要获得“追求”的自由，就必须先获得“摆脱”的自由。

The power of Knowledge is calling you today. It is always calling you. No matter what you think about it, no matter what position you take regarding it, it is intact. It is powerful. It does not change. That is why it is the only reliable thing within you. It is the only thing trustworthy within you. It is the only thing that is certain within you.

今天，内识的力量正在召唤你。它一直在召唤你。无论你对它怎么想，无论你对它采取什么立场，它都是完整的。它是强大的。它不会改变。这就是为什么它是你内心唯一可靠的东西。它是你内心唯一值得信赖的东西。它是你内心唯一确定的东西。

Find that, then, that is certain, that is powerful, that has direction, that does not bargain or negotiate and follow that—taking the Steps each day, allowing your life to be re-arranged, allowing your values to change, allowing your mind to come into focus, allowing your true inclinations to take precedent over your distractions.

因此，找到这个确定的、强大的、有方向的、不讨价还价或谈判的内识，并遵循它——每天开展内识进阶，允许你的生命被重新安排，允许你的价值观发生改变，允许你的心灵成为焦点，允许你真实的倾向性优先于你的分心。

This is the great journey. This is what God wants for you. This is why God has placed Knowledge within you. This is what the world will need from you in the future. This is what your future relationships will be looking for in you: the evidence and the presence of Knowledge.

这就是伟大的旅程。这就是上帝对你的期望。这就是上帝将内识放置在你内心深处的原因。这就是世界在未来需要你做的事。这就是你未来的关系将在你身上寻找的东西：内识的证据和存在。

For you have an appointment with the world. You have a greater destiny in the world. And you have a greater purpose for being here. It is through this that you will know yourself and that you will know that God is in your life.

因为你与这个世界有个约定。你在这个世界上有一个更伟大的天命。而且，你在这里是为了一个更伟大的目的。正是通过这些，你才能认识自己，才能知道上帝就在你的生命中。