Chapter 1: The Pure Religion

The Pure Religion – A Mystery Inside the Human Heart
纯粹的宗教——人类心中的一个谜

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on March 23, 2013 in Boulder, CO
2013年3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

It is a great misfortune that people have been so discouraged by the state of religion and the history of religion in this world—all of the violence that it has produced, corruption, misunderstanding and confusion. It is a demonstration of what people do with God’s Revelations when they are not guided by the power of Knowledge within themselves. Here religion becomes a tool of the state, a resource for ambitious people, another distinction that one tribe will use to overwhelm or overcome another.

人们对宗教的现状和宗教在这个世界上的历史——它所产生的暴力、腐败、错误理解和混乱——如此灰心丧气，这是一个巨大的不幸。这表明，当人们不被自己内心深处的内识力量所引导时，他们会如何对待上帝的启示。在这里，宗教成为国家的工具，成为野心家的资源，成为一个部落用来压倒或战胜另一个部落的另一个区分。

Of course, this has driven people away and has traumatized people, even in current times, to the point where God’s New Revelation must be given in a pure form, notwithstanding the great value, depth and wisdom of God’s earlier Revelations and their importance in building human civilization in the world.

当然，这也驱赶了人们，给人们造成了创伤，甚至在当代也是如此，以至于必须以一种纯粹的形式给出上帝的新启示，尽管上帝之前的启示具有伟大的价值、深度和智慧，以及它们在世界上建立人类文明的重要性。

But God must speak again, for the Message must be clarified. The purpose of religion must be clarified. And the meaning and purpose of your life must be elevated and clarified. Otherwise, religion becomes a great problem in the world, whereas it was meant to be a great solution at the outset.

但上帝必须再次讲话，因为讯息必须得到澄清。宗教的宗旨必须得到澄清。而你生命的意义和目的也必须得到提升和澄清。否则，宗教就会成为世界上的一个大问题，而宗教从一开始就应该是一个伟大的解决方案。

If you look at this without condemnation, you will see the great need for Knowledge [the deeper spiritual Mind] within yourself. For without Knowledge, you will misuse everything. You will misuse nature; you will misuse your mind; you will misuse your body because you are operating from a position of confusion. Uncertain who you are, why you are here and what you are doing, you will be governed by foreign powers and outside influences. Such is the tragedy of living in Separation [from your Source], a tragedy that exists throughout the universe.

如果你不带谴责地看待这个问题，你就会发现自己内心对内识（更深层次的精神心灵）的巨大需求。因为没有内识，你们就会滥用一切。你们就会滥用大自然；你会误用你的心灵；你会误用你的身体，因为你是在一个混乱的位置上运作。不确定你是谁，你为什么在这里，你要做什么，你会被外来的力量和外部的影响所支配。这就是生活在[与你的源泉]分离中的悲剧，这个悲剧存在于整个宇宙。

So a great clarification must be given for religion and every aspect of religion—a great clarification about God; a great clarification about redemption and what that means and how it is achieved; a great clarification that unites all the world’s religions, for they have a common Source.

因此，宗教及其各个方面都需要得到一次伟大的澄清——关于上帝的伟大澄清；关于救赎及其意义和实现方式的伟大澄清；将世界上所有宗教联合起来的伟大澄清，因为它们共享一个共同的源头。

What is religion? Why is it necessary? Why is it impossible to extinguish it from the human heart and mind completely? Religion represents the expression of your deeper nature and the need of your deeper nature to have this expression in life, to give voice and form to this, which is so essential and elemental to who you are, where you have come from and what you will be returning to when you leave this world. It is fundamental to your deeper nature and to everything you really are—everything that can be seen and not seen, both the manifestation and the mystery of your life.

宗教是什么？为什么宗教是必要的？为什么宗教不可能从人类的内心和心灵中完全熄灭？宗教代表着你更深层次的自然表达，以及你更深层次的自然在生命中表达的需求，赋予它声音和形式，这对于你是谁，你从哪里来，你离开这个世界后将回到哪里，都是如此重要和不可或缺。它是你更深层次自然的基础，也是你真正一切的基础——一切可见和不可见的基础，既是你生命的显现，也是你生命的神秘。

Religion is not an ideology. Religion is not a building or an organization or a hierarchy of organizations. In essence, it is the movement of God within you and between you and others functioning in the world. For God serves the world, working through people from the inside out.

宗教不是一种意识形态。宗教不是一座建筑、一种组织或一个组织的等级制度。从本质上讲，宗教是上帝在你内心深处的运动，以及你与他人之间的运动，运作于世界之中。因为上帝为世界服务，通过人们由内而外地工作。

God does not manage the weather or the geological forces of Earth. God has set all that in motion at the beginning of time. It is all operating on its own. Your challenge is to adapt to it and to utilize it meaningfully and beneficially, for yourself and for others. This, of course, would be impossible if Knowledge had not been given to you—the great endowment to guide you, protect you and prepare you for a greater life.

上帝并不管理天气或地球的地质力量。上帝在时间之初就设定了这一切。这一切都在自行运作。你的挑战是适应它，并有意义地、有益地善用它，为你自己和他人服务。当然，如果没有赋予你内识——指导你、保护你、为你准备一个更伟大生命的伟大禀赋，这是不可能实现的。

The fact that Knowledge has been forgotten, or is unknown in this world to such a large extent, creates the dilemma for religion because without Knowledge, religion becomes rules and prescriptions, admonitions, and invariably turns into a form of great oppression for the people. Given at the outset perhaps to help them organize their thinking and their lives, it becomes a yoke to harness them, and the spiritual light goes out of their lives.

在这个世界上，内识已经被遗忘，或者在很大程度上不为人知，这个事实给宗教带来了困境，因为没有内识，宗教就变成了规则、处方、训诫，并且无一例外地变成了对人们的巨大压迫。一开始，宗教或许是为了帮助人们整理他们的思维和生命，但最终宗教变成了束缚他们的枷锁，精神之光从他们的生命中消失了。

This is not God’s intention. God’s intention is that people will discover the great endowment of Knowledge that the Lord of the universe, the Lord of countless religions and races in the universe, has bestowed upon this world. But when Knowledge is lost, fear and imagination take over. Confusion reigns. People are corralled to work and to live in servitude. Such has been the case throughout the history of the human family.

这不是上帝的意图。上帝的意图是让人们发现宇宙之主、宇宙中无数宗教和种族的主，赐予这个世界的内识的伟大禀赋。但是，当内识丢失时，恐惧和想象力就会占据上风。混乱统治一切。人们被奴役着工作和生活。在人类大家族的整个历史中，情况就是如此。

So God has given now a pure Message and has provided the Steps to Knowledge as its foundation so this will not be merely another belief to compete with existing beliefs, another ideology that must be defended and debated and used to overwhelm or oppress others.

因此，上帝现在赐予一条纯净的讯息，并提供了《内识的进阶》作为其基础，使其不再仅仅成为与现有信仰竞争的另一个信仰，也不是必须捍卫和争论的另一种意识形态，更不会被用来压制或征服他人。

For God has given the Steps to Knowledge not to one race or tribe or group, not to one region alone, but to all the peoples of the world, to be used in all the faith traditions of the world, to be recognized as the key Message of God to God’s Creation living in Separation in the physical reality.

因为上帝已经赋予《内识的进阶》并非专属于某一个种族、部落或群体，也不仅限于某一地区，而是赐给世界上所有的人们，让它在所有信仰传统中得以运用，并被视为上帝传达给生活在物质现实中、处于分离状态的上帝创造的关键讯息。

So what is religion as an institution or a body of teachings? In essence, its purpose is to create an environment and an encouragement for people to experience the Presence, the Power and the Grace of God within themselves, their lives, within each other and within the world.

因此，作为一个机构或一种教导体系，宗教是什么呢？从本质上讲，宗教的目的是创造一种环境，并鼓励人们在自己的内心、他们的生命、彼此之间以及世界中，去体验上帝的存在、力量和恩典。

What does this mean? This means that the purpose of religion is to bring people to the great endowment, to the endowment of Knowledge, for this is how God will guide you and move you and restrain you—carrying you forward, holding you back, a greater force beyond words or expression. Beyond the realm and the reach of the intellect it is.

这意味着什么呢？这意味着宗教的宗旨是把人们带到伟大的禀赋，带到内识的禀赋，因为这就是上帝引导你、推动你、约束你的方式——带着你前进，牵着你后退，这是一种超越语言或表达的更伟大的驱动力。它超越了智力的领域和范围。

This is the pure religion. It has been the religion of the saints, the great creators and humanitarians. Moved by a greater power and force in their lives, beyond the ordinary things that determine people’s lives and experiences, they have been moved by a greater force, like a spiritual gravity, moving them to do extraordinary things for the benefit of others, beyond mere kindness and doing favors or service for people, by setting an example and encouraging and igniting the power of Knowledge in others.

这就是纯粹的宗教。它一直是圣人、伟大的创作者和人道主义者所遵循的宗教。在他们的生命中，有一种更伟大的力量和驱动力在推动着他们，超越决定人们生命和经历的普通事物，他们被一种更伟大的驱动力所推动，就像一种精神引力，促使他们为他人的利益做非同寻常的事情，超越单纯的善意和为人们提供恩惠或服务，而是通过树立榜样，鼓励并点燃他人内在的内识的力量。

You can forget the name of famous generals and leaders of nations, famous politicians, famous artists even, but the names of the great saints will prevail because their contribution has been the greatest and the most lasting and profound. They serve even today, their great gifts resonating continually through the human heart and mind, reminding people that who they are is greater than their minds and their bodies, reminding people that they are part of a Greater Reality, beyond what their senses can report.

你可以忘记那些著名将军、国家领导人、知名政治家甚至著名艺术家的名字，但伟大圣人的名字将永垂不朽，因为他们的贡献是最伟大、最持久且最深远的。他们至今仍在服务，他们的伟大礼物不断地在人类的内心和心灵中产生共鸣，提醒人们他们是谁，比他们的心灵和身体更伟大，提醒人们他们是一个更伟大现实的一部分，超越他们的感官所能报告的。

This is the pure religion at work, you see, because God redeems you through the power and presence of Knowledge working in your life. To the degree to which you can recognize it, yield to it and follow it intelligently, this is how God will redeem you.

你看，这就是纯粹的宗教在工作，因为上帝通过内识的力量和存在，在你的生命中工作来救赎你。只要你能认识到它，屈服于它，并明智地追随它，这就是上帝救赎你的方式。

For Knowledge is not bound by your culture or your beliefs. Knowledge is not bound by tradition. It moves beyond these things. In this way, people can do things that are extraordinary and mysterious, creating value and benefit that is beyond human understanding. They become a demonstration of the great endowment.

因为内识不受你的文化或信仰的约束。内识不受传统的约束。它超越了这些事情。通过这种方式，人们能够做出非凡而神秘的事情，创造出超越人类理解的价值和利益。他们成为伟大禀赋的展示。

Ritual and ideology are valuable, however, in setting a precedent or a pathway. People need this to get started and to use it to help them balance their lives, to give them structure and orientation. It is like preparing to fly, preparing to fly the aircraft. You have to study first. You have to become oriented first. You have to learn about the physics, the environment, the winds and aviation before you can take the helm of the aircraft. This is what ritual and ideology are for, to orient you, to prepare you for flight.

然而，仪式和意识形态在开创先例或开辟道路方面是有价值的。人们需要这些来入门，并利用它们帮助自己平衡生命，给予他们结构和方向。它就像准备飞行，准备驾驶飞机。你必须先学习。你必须先变得有方向性。你必须先学习关于物理、环境、风向和航空的知识，然后才能掌舵飞机。这就是仪式和意识形态的作用，帮助你定位，让你为飞行做好准备。

But the experience of flying is a different matter. Here you step beyond the boundaries of intellectual understanding and enter into the Mystery—the Mystery that is pure and uncontaminated by the world, the Mystery that is not governed by magic or romance and the search for power. This is the pure Mystery. This is the pure religion because here you are engaging with God directly in ways that are essential and elemental to you.

但飞行的体验是另外一回事。在这里，你超越了智力理解的界限，进入了神秘——纯粹的、未受世界污染的神秘，这个神秘并不受魔法、浪漫或权力追求的支配。这就是纯粹的神秘。这就是纯粹的宗教，因为在这里，你与上帝直接接触的方式对你来说是不可或缺的要素。

You cannot use this power for yourself. It is not there for you to govern or to direct. Indeed, it is there to govern you and to direct you. But it requires your intelligence. It requires your self-awareness. It requires responsibility and restraint and true compassion for others, or it will not emerge.

你无法为自己使用这种力量。它不是由你来管理或指挥的。事实上，它在这里是为了管理你和引导你。但它需要你的智能。它需要你的自我觉知。它需要责任、克制和对他人的真实同情，否则它就不会出现。

That is why the ambitious are never chosen. That is why the great Messengers throughout time have been reluctant, accepting reluctantly the great task set before them. While everyone else might want to use religion for power or benefit, the true Messengers are reluctant. They are honest. They are simple. They are prepared for great service.

这就是为什么雄心勃勃的人从未被选中。这也是为什么古往今来的伟大信使都是不情愿的，不情愿地接受摆在他们面前的伟大任务。当其他人可能都想利用宗教获取权力或利益时，真实的信使是不情愿的。他们是诚实的。他们是简单的。他们为伟大的服务做好了准备。

Beyond ideology and belief and arguing about these things, and the constant and endless debate over these things in the attempt to understand with your mind something that exists beyond the mind’s realm and reach, you must enter the pure religion. Whether you are a Christian, a Buddhist, a Jew, a Muslim or of any other tradition, or of no tradition at all, the pathway to God is open to you.

除了意识形态、信仰和对这些事情的争论，以及对这些事情不断进行的无休止的辩论，试图用你的心灵去理解那些存在于心灵领域和范围之外的事情，你必须进入纯粹的宗教。无论你是基督徒、佛教徒、犹太人、穆斯林，还是其他任何传统的人，或者根本没有任何传统的人，通往上帝的道路都向你敞开。

God has spoken again now to give a clear pathway, to give clarity to people of all faiths and nations and to illustrate the central importance of the great endowment, the endowment of Knowledge. For you cannot come to God based upon belief alone. You cannot truly improve your life or the lives of others on belief alone, for not everyone will share these beliefs.

上帝现在再次讲话，为所有信仰和国家的人们指明了一条清晰的道路，并说明伟大的禀赋、内识禀赋的核心重要性。因为你不能仅仅依靠信仰来接近上帝。你不能仅仅依靠信仰来真正改善你或他人的生命，因为不是每个人都会分享这些信仰。

God knows that not all people will follow one teaching or adhere to one teacher, no matter how great they are. God knows this, but people are confused.

上帝知道，并非所有的人都会遵循一种教导，也并非所有的人都会追随一位老师，无论他有多么伟大。上帝知道这一点，但人们却感到困惑。

This is the antidote to all of the misuse of religion in the world. This is the antidote to human greed, confusion and oppression carried out in the name of religion. Here God is desecrated. God’s Will and Purpose are maligned. Here everything that is sacred and profound becomes lost and degraded.

这是世界上所有滥用宗教行为的解药。这是对以宗教名义进行的人类贪婪、混乱和压迫的解药。在这里，上帝被亵渎了。上帝的意志和宗旨被诋毁。在这里，一切神圣而深刻的事物都变得迷失和堕落。

You who seek to know your greater purpose in life and the meaning for your being here must have a new experience of the Divine if you are suffering under these results and consequences.

如果你正在遭受这些结果和后果的折磨，寻求知道自己生命更伟大的目的和存在意义的你就必须对上帝有新的体验。

That is why God has spoken again, not to replace the world’s religions, but to elevate them and to prepare them for the great change that is coming to the world, and for humanity’s encounter with a universe of intelligent life. For none of God’s previous Revelations can do this, you see. It is part of a Greater Plan that will always be far beyond human understanding and comprehension.

这就是为什么上帝再次讲话，不是为了取代世界上的宗教，而是为了提升它们，让它们为即将到来的世界巨变做好准备，为人类与宇宙中智能生命的相遇做好准备。你看，因为上帝之前的启示都无法做到这一点。它是一个更伟大计划的一部分，这个计划将永远远远超出人类的理解和人类的理解力。

This is the Mystery. God lives in the Mystery. People live in the manifestation. They try to make the Mystery a manifestation. But the Mystery is always the Mystery.

这就是神秘。上帝生活在神秘之中。人们生活在显现之中。他们试图使神秘成为一种表现形式。但神秘始终是神秘。

You must have strength and courage, then, to go beyond the manifestations of religion. You must be very honest. Your motives must be clear, or you will not be able to proceed. The pure religion requires a clarity and a purity of intention if you are to enter there.

因此，你必须有力量和勇气，超越宗教的表现形式。你必须非常诚实。你的动机必须明确，否则你将无法继续前进。纯粹的宗教需要清晰和纯净的意图，如果你要进入纯粹的宗教。

Do not demean religious traditions and ceremonies and teachings and practices, for they are for people at the outset. Though they may be misused and misunderstood, they are providing structure at the outset, which can be very helpful for many people. But unfortunately these things become religion itself.

不要贬低宗教传统、仪式、教导和实践，因为它们一开始就是为人们服务的。尽管它们可能被误用和误解，但它们在一开始就提供了结构，这对许多人来说是非常有帮助的。但不幸的是，这些结构变成了宗教本身。

People teach that if you do not believe according to a certain prescription or a teaching from antiquity, you will not be received in Heaven. Yet God presides over a universe of countless races and religions, so clearly it is not belief or ideology that brings you across the threshold into the Divine Presence.

人们教导说，如果你不按照某个处方或古代的教导去相信，你就不会被天堂接纳。然而，上帝主持着一个由无数种族和宗教组成的宇宙，因此，显然不是信仰或意识形态将带你越过门槛，进入神圣的存在。

God will not punish you for failing because God knows that without Knowledge, you could only be in confusion and make mistakes, even terrible mistakes.

上帝不会因为你的失败而惩罚你，因为上帝知道，如果没有内识，你只能处于迷茫之中，犯下错误，甚至是可怕的错误。

That is why taking the Steps to Knowledge is so fundamental to what religion really is and what it must be, for God redeems you here—not in your mind, not in your thoughts, not in your beliefs. For if you ever do return to your Ancient Home, which you will eventually, you will find people there with all kinds of beliefs, coming from beliefs that are totally different, coming from other worlds, coming throughout the universe. Can you imagine such a thing? You cannot. You cannot.

这就是为什么开展内识的进阶对于宗教真正是什么和宗教必须是什么是如此基本，因为上帝在这里救赎你——不是在你的心灵中，不是在你的思想中，不是在你的信仰中。因为如果你真的回到你的古老家园，你最终会回到古老家园，你会发现那里的人们有着各种各样的信仰，来自完全不同的信仰，来自其他世界，来自整个宇宙。你能想象这样的事情吗？你不能。你无法想象。

But the Mystery is in your life. It is in your heart. You cannot divorce yourself from it entirely. People try. They are very busy all the time. They do not want to sit still for a moment. They do not want to really feel what they feel about their lives, or they will have a crisis. Because the Presence is always there, waiting, calling with a natural attraction.

但神秘就在你的生命中。它就在你的心里。你无法完全置身事外。人们尝试过。他们总是非常忙碌。他们不愿意静坐片刻。他们不想真正感受他们对自己生命的感受，否则他们就会有危机感。因为存在总是在那里，等待着，以一种自然的吸引力召唤着。

This is the pure religion. But to even consider this is possible or beneficial, you must have faith in the human heart. If you think people are fundamentally evil and prone to evil, then you will think of religion as a way to harness and corral them, to crack the whip over them and to threaten them with damnation and all manner of torture and misery if they do not follow what you tell them. People think this is how God is.

这就是纯粹的宗教。但是，要想认为这是可能的或有益的，你就必须对人的内心抱有信仰。如果你认为人从根本上是邪恶的，是容易作恶的，那你就会认为宗教是一种驾驭和控制他们的方式，是一种鞭打他们的方式，是一种威胁他们的方式，如果他们不按照你说的去做，你就会让他们下地狱，让他们遭受各种折磨和痛苦。人们认为这就是上帝的样子。

An all-merciful God is all merciful. An all-knowing God is all knowing. God knows without the power and presence of Knowledge, you cannot lead your life truly. So God gives you the Steps to Knowledge. They were given before in ancient times, but forgotten or dismissed, for those who ruled over religion did not trust the human heart.

一个全能的上帝是全然仁慈的。一个全知的上帝是无所不知的。上帝知道，如果没有内识的力量和存在，你就无法真正领导你的生命。因此，上帝给了你内识的进阶。它们以前在古代就已经被赋予，但却被遗忘或抛弃了，因为那些统治宗教的人不相信人心。

But now humanity is literate. It is aware of the greater world it lives in to a certain extent. You are not isolated, primitive tribes anymore. Though your tendencies may still be primitive and self-destructive, you are aware of greater things.

但现在人类已经识字。并在一定程度上察觉到自己所处的广阔世界。你们不再是孤立的、原始的部落。尽管你们的倾向可能仍然是原始的和自我毁灭的，但你们已经觉察到更大的世界。

God must prepare you for the world and for life beyond the world and for the degree of unity that will have to happen naturally between people if humanity is to preserve this world as a livable place and preserve its freedom and self-determination in the universe, where freedom is very rare.

上帝必须让你们为世界和世界之外的生命做好准备，为人与人之间必须自然发生的一定程度的团结做好准备。唯有如此，人类才能保住这个世界作为宜居之地，并在宇宙中维护自身的自由和自主权——在那里，自由是非常稀有的。

It is your deepest needs and the need of the world itself that have brought God’s New Revelation to the world. It is the first Revelation of this kind in over 1400 years.

正是你们最深的需求和世界本身的需求，把上帝的新启示带到了这个世界。这是 1400 多年来的第一次启示。

You are living at a time of Revelation. But you must understand the different levels of religion. There is religion to take care of people and feed them. There is religion to organize culture and society basically. There is religious belief, which can help people, to a certain degree. But then there is the pure religion, which brings people into the engagement with Knowledge within themselves and the Greater Powers in the universe that the God of the universe directs for the welfare of all peoples and nations.

你正生活在一个启示的时代。但你必须理解宗教的不同层面。有的宗教是为了照顾人们，供养人们。有的宗教基本上是为了组织文化和社会。有的宗教信仰，可以在一定程度上帮助人们。但是，还有一种纯粹的宗教，它将人们带入与自己内心深处的内识和宇宙中更伟大的力量的接触之中，而宇宙的上帝引导着这些力量，为所有的人和国家的福祉服务。

When you enter the mystery of this, you have to leave behind your fixed beliefs, your ideology. You have to have the strength and faith and courage to do this, or you will be left outside the inner sanctum of the temple. For belief will not bring you to the God of all life. It will take a greater engagement, a more profound engagement, and a life guided by the great endowment, which lives within you at this moment.

当你进入其中的神秘时，你必须抛开你的固定信仰，你的意识形态。你必须拥有力量、信心和勇气来做这件事，否则你将被留在圣殿的外殿。因为信仰不会把你带到所有生命的上帝面前。它将需要一种更伟大的参与，一种更深刻的参与，以及由伟大的禀赋所引导的生命，此刻内识就生活在你的内心深处。

People will argue against this. They say, “Humans cannot be trusted. They are evil. They are corrupted. They have fallen from grace.” This is ridiculous. Separation was created because part of Heaven wanted to experience it, and so here you are. It is too great and profound to ever comprehend.

人们会对此提出异议。他们说：“人类不可信。他们是邪恶的。他们是腐败的。他们已经从恩典中堕落”。这太荒谬了。分离之所以被创造出来，是因为天国的一部分想要体验它，所以你就来了。它太伟大了，又是如此深奥，以至于无法完全理解。

You have left God, but God has not left you. You are lost in your thoughts, your fears, your desires and your preoccupations, but the Presence goes with you. For there is a part of you that has never left God, and this is the part of you that is called Knowledge.

你已经离开了上帝，但上帝并没有离开你。你迷失在你的感想、你的恐惧、你的欲望和你的心事中，但上帝的存在与你同在。因为你有一部分从未离开过上帝，这是你的一部分，称为内识。

That is why God will redeem you in the end, and everyone else, because you cannot separate yourself from your Source. You can live in Separation. You can live in fantasy. You can live a life of degradation and crime and poverty and self-abuse, but you cannot break the connection.

这就是为什么上帝最终会救赎你，救赎每个人，因为你无法将自己与你的本源分离。你可以生活在分离之中。你可以生活在幻想之中。你可以过着堕落、犯罪、贫穷和自虐的生命，但你无法切断这种联接。

Someday, eventually, you will turn to the power within—exhausted, frustrated, overwhelmed. You will turn to this power, and it will begin a long process of redemption, putting you in service to others in the simplest and most humble ways so that your value and dignity and self-respect can be restored. For you cannot return to your Ancient Home a miserable, defiled creature. And you are not sent into the world merely to have your life be lost and wasted here.

总有一天，最终，你会转向内心深处的力量——在筋疲力尽、沮丧、不知所措之后。你将求助于这种力量，它将开始一个漫长的救赎过程，让你以最简单、最谦逊的方式为他人服务，以便你的价值和尊严以及自尊能够得到恢复。因为你不能以一个悲惨的、被玷污的生命回到你的古老家园。而你被派到这个世界上，也不仅仅是为了让你的生命在这里迷失和虚度。

The mind is an important tool, but it is not the platform for ultimate truth. Belief and ideology can be helpful at the beginning, but a hindrance towards the end. You must step beyond the pavement into the wilderness because God is there. You must learn to be still. You must learn to listen within yourself. You must restrain your passions and your grievances and your admonitions to give yourself this chance.

心灵是一个重要的工具，但它不是终极真理的平台。信仰和意识形态在开始时可能是有帮助的，但在结束时却是一种阻碍。你必须走出人行道，进入荒野，因为上帝就在那里。你必须学会静止。你必须学会倾听自己的内心。你必须克制自己的激情、不满和告诫，给自己这个机会。

It is a different way of being in the world. It is a blessed way of being in the world. And though you are confused and do not know what you are doing and things are changing, you have turned a corner. You are beginning the return.

它是一种不同的存在于世界的方式。它是一种受到祝福的处世方式。尽管你会感到困惑，不知道自己在做什么，事情正在发生变化，但你已经转过了一个弯。你正在开始回归。

God knows the way to God. People never know the way to God. But you do not need to know the way to God because God knows the way. You need only ask and pray with great determination that the engagement can begin for you, and to take the Steps to Knowledge that God has provided, and to teach you how to listen to the deeper voice within you—not the voice of your culture, your family, your greed or your fear, or the greed or the fear of the world or any force in the world that is unholy, but the true voice. It will be the most natural thing for you to do this.

上帝知道通往上帝的道路。人们从来不知道通往上帝的道路。但你不需要知道通往上帝的道路，因为上帝知道道路。你只需要带着极大的决心去请求和祈祷，希望你能开始参与，并开展上帝提供的内识进阶，教你如何倾听你内心深处的更深层次的声音——不是你的文化、你的家庭、你的贪婪或恐惧的声音，也不是世界的贪婪或恐惧或世界上任何不神圣的力量，而是真实的声音。对你来说，这样做将是最自然的事情。

This is the pure religion. It can be practiced within the mosque, the temple, or the church, or anywhere. It is waiting for you to respond. It is waiting for you to realize your great need for this, for only God can fulfill and direct you in the world. Whether you are religious or not, whether you practice a religion or not, whether you believe in a religion or not, God’s Plan will save you if you can respond.

这就是纯粹的宗教。它可以在清真寺、庙宇或教堂内，或任何地方进行实践。它在等待着你的回应。它在等待着你意识到自己对此的伟大需求，因为只有上帝才能在这个世界上满足并指引你。无论你是否有宗教信仰，无论你是否信奉宗教，无论你是否相信宗教，只要你能做出回应，上帝的计划就会拯救你。

Here there are no religious wars. Here there is no religious oppression. Here all faiths coexist because they are all means to the same end. They are all feeding the deeper yearning of the heart if they are true and authentic.

这里没有宗教战争。这里没有宗教压迫。在这里，所有的信仰都是共存的，因为它们都是达到同一目的的方式。如果它们都是真实可信的，它们都在满足内心更深层次的渴望。

We bring you now to the pure religion so that you may embrace it and see how important it is and how central to your life and your destiny, your fulfillment and your true self-expression it really is. This is a gift of Heaven for you, a gift that comes from a greater Source—given now in terms you can understand and that can be translated into different languages effectively; given now with the Will and the Intention of Heaven.

我们现在把你带到纯粹的宗教中，以便你可以拥抱它，看到它是多么重要，对你的生命和天命、你的成就和你真实的自我表达有多么重要。这是天国给你们的礼物，这份礼物来自于更伟大的源头——现在以你们可以理解的术语被赋予，并能有效地翻译成不同的语言；现在以天国的意志和意图被赋予你。

You suffer because you do not know why you are sent and who sent you and what you have to do next to begin to reclaim this experience and understanding of your life. Rich or poor, this confusion will haunt you until you seek for true resolution.

你之所以痛苦，是因为你不知道为什么你被派来，是谁派你来的，以及你接下来要做什么，才能开始重新获得这种体验和对生命的理解。无论贫富，这种困惑都会一直困扰着你，直到你寻求真实的解决方案。

This begins the sacred engagement. This begins the sacred return. Here God does not take you away from the world, but brings you into the world in an entirely new way. Here you see the need for Knowledge everywhere around you, and you do not condemn people for their failures and mistakes. Here you become an expression of Heaven as you seek to strengthen Knowledge in others and to serve people in the most fundamental ways, wherever it is necessary for you to do so.

神圣的约定由此开始。神圣的回归由此开始。在这里，上帝没有把你从世界上带走，而是以一种全新的方式把你带入世界。在这里，你看到你周围到处都需要内识，你不会因为人们的失败和错误而谴责他们。在这里，你成为天国的表达，因为你寻求加强他人的内识，并以最基本的方式为人们服务，在你有必要这样做的任何地方。

If you have been abused by religion or confused by it, understand these words. See this great opening and opportunity for you. For your relationship with God is the most pivotal relationship in life, and the degree to which you can accept it and experience it and be part of it determines how far you can go in relationship with anyone. If you cannot be intimate with the power that resides within, how can you be really intimate with anyone? How can you be trusting if you cannot trust what is within you? How can you be open and allow your true affection to emerge if you do not have the guidance and power of Knowledge within yourself?

如果你曾受过宗教的伤害或因宗教而困惑，请理解这些话。看到这对你来说是一个伟大的契机和机会。因为你与上帝的关系是生命中最关键的关系，你能接受、体验并融入其中的程度，决定了你在与任何人建立关系时能走多远。如果你无法与居住在你内心深处的力量亲密无间，你又如何能与他人真正亲密无间呢？如果你无法信任你内心深处的内识，你又怎能信任他人呢？如果你内心没有内识的力量和指导，你又如何能开放，并允许自己真情流露呢？

This restores your true relationship with yourself, which fundamentally is your relationship with Knowledge. From this, you begin to have the basis and the foundation for the great relationships you are meant to have in life, which will come to you as you are prepared, as you are freed enough from the past to receive them and to understand their meaning.

这就恢复了你与自己的真实关系，从根本上说，这就是你与内识的关系。从这里开始，你将拥有建立伟大关系的基础和根基，这些关系是你生命中注定要拥有的。这些关系会在你准备好、从过去中解脱出来以便接纳它们并理解其意义时来到你身边。

Here you begin to live the pure religion in what you say and what you do and even what you think. This is a Power greater than the world and everything in the world—greater than nature, greater than the physical forces that move the world. For now you are finding that part of you that is timeless and changeless, which will give you freedom from death and a sense of your great permanence, even through your journey here on Earth.

在这里，你开始在你所说、所做甚至所想的事情中活出纯粹的宗教。这是一种比世界及世界万物更伟大的力量——比自然更伟大，比推动世界的物理力量更伟大。因为现在你正在发现你内在永恒不变的部分，它将赋予你摆脱死亡的自由，赋予你伟大的永恒感，即使在地球上的旅程中也是如此。