The Age of Women

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on November 14, 2007 in Boulder, CO
2007年11月14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 New Message from God in the world, and one of the things that it calls for is the emergence of women leaders, particularly in the area of spirituality and religion. It is time now for certain women to be called into these greater roles and responsibilities, and it is important around the world in different cultures and in different religious traditions that this be allowed.

上帝向世界传达了一条新的讯息，它所要求的事情之一就是女性领袖的出现，特别是在精神性和宗教领域。现在是时候让特定的女性担负起这些更重要的角色和责任了，这一点在世界各地不同的文化和不同的宗教传统中都很重要。

It will be interesting perhaps for you to consider that in advanced nations in the universe, advanced nations in the Greater Community of intelligent life in which you live, where there is a distinction between men and women, or male and female—in those particular races, the races that are not androgynous in nature—that the female is usually given priority in matters of conscience and spirituality.

或许对你来说，考虑一下这个问题会很有趣：在宇宙的先进国家中，在你们所生活的智能生命大社区的先进国家中，凡是存在男人和女人，或者男性和女性的区别——在那些特定的种族中，那些本质上不是雌雄同体的种族——女性通常在良知和精神性问题上被优先考虑。

This represents an advancement and a practical wisdom as well, for leaders within this context must essentially be providers, and they must essentially be maintainers. The role of being a religious leader in whatever context it may exist—whether it is within a formal tradition, whether it is within a hierarchy of leadership or whether it is much more informal, dealing with smaller groups of people—it is in all cases a role primarily focused on providing and maintaining.

这代表着一种进步和一种实践智慧，因为在这种背景下，领导者本质上必须是提供者，他们本质上必须是维护者。无论在何种背景下，宗教领袖的角色——无论是在正式的传统中，无论是在领导层级中，还是在非正式的、与较小群体打交道的环境中——在所有情况下，它都是一种主要专注于提供和维护的角色。

To be creative in the area of religion is only appropriate if it is to meet practical needs of people and to adapt a religious teaching to changing circumstances. Even here it must be carried out with great care, for people like to change what has been given and alter it to meet their needs, their preferences, their desires and their own self-interest. So creativity in the area of religion is actually extremely hazardous.

在宗教领域中，只有为了满足人们的实际需要，使宗教教义适应不断变化的环境，才可以发挥创造力。即使在这里，也必须非常谨慎地进行，因为人们喜欢改变既有的事物，并根据他们的需求、喜好、欲望和他们自己的利益进行修改。因此，在宗教领域中发挥创造力实际上是极其危险的。

But religion itself, in whatever context it exists, must change and evolve. It must have a greater capacity to serve people who are undergoing change in their personal lives and change at the level of nations and societies as well. Indeed, even as the environmental conditions of this world change in the face of the Great Waves of change that are coming to the world, religion will have to adapt and change as well.

但宗教本身，无论它存在于何种背景下，都必须改变和发展。它必须有一种更伟大的能力去服务那些在个人生命和国家与社会层面上经历改变的人们。事实上，即使这个世界的环境条件在即将降临世界的变革巨浪面前发生变化，宗教也必须适应和改变。

But essentially the role of religious leaders in nearly all situations is to be providers and maintainers. What they are providing is not really of a material nature as much as of a spiritual nature, within the realm of a deeper experience and recognition that is possible for all human beings and other races within the Greater Community. For God has placed a deeper mind within all sentient beings—a mind that is called Knowledge in the New Message.

但本质上，宗教领袖在几乎所有情况下的角色都是提供者和维护者。他们所提供的其实并非物质性的，而是精神性的，属于大社区内所有人类和其他种族都可能拥有的一种更深层次的体验和认知的范畴。因为上帝在所有有情众生的内心深处都放置了一种更深层次的心灵——在新讯息中，这种心灵被称为内识。

Clearly, women in many societies have been taking greater roles, but there is still considerable resistance, and in some traditions it is not allowed at all. But there must be a greater recognition here of the inherent strength of women and the natural capacity they can serve in this regard. For even in current traditions, women may not serve as the recognized leaders, but they are in most cases the backbone of the religious organization and tradition itself.

很明显，许多社会中的女性已经在承担更大的角色，但仍然存在相当大的阻力，而在某些传统中，这甚至完全不被允许。然而，在这个方面必须有一种更伟大的认知，认识到女性固有的力量以及她们在这方面能够发挥的天然能力。因为即使在当前的传统中，女性可能并未被认可为领导者，但在大多数情况下，她们却是宗教组织和传统本身的支柱。

Men should not be threatened by this, for it is an assumption of natural abilities. And while men will continue to be religious leaders, the opportunity for women should be greatly expanded. For if an individual, a woman in this case, has developed her skills in learning of the deeper mind and responding to it appropriately, in carrying out its direction responsibly—without altering it or redefining it for herself or for the expectations of others—then as she gains this maturity and this responsibility, she can assume a greater and more natural role as a religious leader.

男性不应该因此受到威胁，因为这是对自然能力的一种假设。虽然男性将继续担任宗教领袖，但女性的机会应该得到极大拓展。因为如果一个人（在这种情况下是女性）已经发展了她在学习更深层次心灵方面的技能，并能恰当地回应这种心灵，能够负责任地执行其指引——而不去改变或重新定义它，无论是为她自己还是为他人的期望——那么，随着她获得这种成熟度和责任感，她就能够承担起更伟大且更自然的宗教领导角色。

Clearly, if you look in the past century, you have seen in all of society’s evolution, in many places in the world, the rise of women to roles of prominence that were previously only assumed by men. This is a natural evolution and should be continued.

显然，如果你回顾一下上个世纪，你就会发现在所有的社会演变过程中，在世界许多地方，女性都在崛起，担任以前只有男性才能担任的重要角色。这是一种自然的演变，应该继续下去。

There are now heads of state who are women, but they are still blocked from becoming religious leaders in many, many traditions and in many cultures. They can become the president of a nation, but not a priest or a rabbi or an imam, in many circumstances.

现在有女性担任国家元首，但在许多传统和文化中，她们仍然无法成为宗教领袖。在许多情况下，她们可以成为国家总统，但不能成为牧师、拉比或伊玛目。

If humanity could learn from advanced races in the universe, you would see what an error this is. You would see what other races of beings have had to learn and how they have had to cultivate their native wisdom and skills in surviving and in functioning within a Greater Community environment, which by its very nature is extremely competitive and complex. If you could learn from these examples, then you would see the wisdom of what We are saying here.

如果人类能够向宇宙中的先进种族学习，就会看到这是一个多么大的错误。你们会看到其他种族的生命存在必须学习什么，以及他们必须如何培养他们与生俱来的智慧和技能，以便在本质上极具竞争性和复杂性的大社区环境中生存和运作。如果你能够从这些例子中学习，你就会看到我们在这里所说的智慧。

In many advanced societies, as We mentioned, women are the priests; they are the religious authorities. The female: in this case, in races very different from your own, the feminine is recognized as being more receptive to the direction of Spirit, or God, while men in general, or in most situations, the male aspect is more competent in physical or practical measures.

正如我们提到的，在许多先进的社会中，女性是祭司，她们是宗教权威。女性：在这种情况下，在与你们自己截然不同的种族中，女性被认为更容易接收精神或上帝的指引，而男性一般来说，或者说在大多数情况下，男性在身体或实际措施方面更有能力。

This is not simply a human phenomenon or a historical precedent within this world alone. It is something that holds true throughout the universe. In certain advanced races, the male and the female have been joined into one being to gain access to the skills that both of these aspects of Creation can provide. But that is not humanity’s reality, nor need it be. For the male and the female, the masculine and the feminine, both have tremendous assets and qualities to be cultivated, and which must be cultivated.

这不仅仅是人类的现象，也不仅仅是这个世界的历史先例。这是整个宇宙中都存在的现象。在某些先进的种族中，男性和女性已经合二为一，以获得造物主这两个方面所能提供的技能。但这并不是人类的现实，也没有必要如此。因为男性和女性，阳刚和阴柔，都拥有极大的财富和品质需要培养，而且必须加以培养。

Therefore, that is why this could be called the Age of Women, the rise of women—not only to positions of political prominence, not only to positions of leadership in business or commercial affairs, but really in the realm of religion and spirituality.

因此，这就是为什么我们可以将这个时代称为女性的时代，女性的崛起——不仅在政治上占据重要地位，不仅在商业或商业事务中占据领导地位，而且真正在宗教和精神性领域也是如此。

While women possess great strengths, they also have weaknesses and liabilities within the human family. They are very prone to persuasion. They are very prone to the influences of social cohesion and consent. They are very prone to the difficulties of facing disagreement and disapproval. And their anger and their issues can be over extremely petty and insignificant matters. But in spite of all this, they have a natural ability to resonate, to care for, to sustain and to maintain, and to provide the greater resources of life, which are non-material in nature.

虽然女性拥有伟大的力量，但她们在人类大家庭中也有一些弱点和缺陷。她们很容易被说服，容易受到社会凝聚力和一致性影响。她们也很容易面对分歧和不赞同的困难。而且她们的愤怒和问题可能源自一些非常琐碎和微不足道的事情。但尽管如此，她们拥有一种与生俱来的能力去共鸣、关爱、维持和维护生命的更伟大资源，这些资源是非物质的。

For all human beings have material needs and spiritual needs. Spiritual needs cannot be met by meeting material needs, but until material needs are met, spiritual needs cannot seriously be entertained by most people. But they are different, you see. Once you have satisfied certain physical requirements of life regarding food, water, shelter, security and so forth, then you begin to entertain a greater set of needs. These are perhaps psychological and emotional in nature, but psychological needs bridge to your deeper spiritual needs.

因为所有人类都有物质需求和精神需求。精神需求不能通过满足物质需求来满足，但在物质需求得到满足之前，大多数人都无法认真对待精神需求。但你知道，它们是不同的。一旦你满足了生命中关于食物、水、住所、安全等方面的特定物质需求，你就会开始有一种更伟大的需求。这些需求可能是心理和情感方面的，但心理需求是你更深层次精神需求的桥梁。

Ultimately, the greatest spiritual need is the same within all people, and that is to find and to fulfill your specific mission in coming into the world. This holds true regardless of your culture, your religion, your family circumstances, your economic situation and so forth. But to be able to entertain this seriously and responsibly, you must have certain material needs met. That is the first requirement.

归根结底，所有人内心最大的精神需求都是一样的，那就是找到并完成你来到这个世界的特定使命。无论你的文化、宗教、家庭环境、经济状况等等如何，这都是正确的。但是，为了能够认真负责地履行这个使命，你必须满足特定的物质需求。这是首要条件。

Because material providership historically has fallen primarily on men, women have been able to cultivate providership at other levels—at the psychological and emotional and spiritual levels to a far greater degree, and they are naturally endowed to do this. It would be foolish to think that women are going to displace men in the provision of material needs. While women’s greatest power is the power of empathy, the power of service, they face the same problems of fear, desire and preference that men do, but they still have these natural assets in great abundance. To deny them opportunities in the realm of religion and spirituality is a great mistake and a costly one at that.

因为物质供给历史上主要由男性承担，女性能够在其他层面上培养供给能力——在心理、情感和精神层面上，她们在这方面有着更大的发展，并且天生具有这种能力。认为女性会取代男性在物质需求提供中的角色是愚蠢的。虽然女性的最大力量是同理心的力量，是服务的力量，但她们也面临着与男性相同的恐惧、欲望和偏好问题，但她们仍然拥有这些天然的财富。如果剥夺女性在宗教和精神性领域的机会，那将是一个重大的错误，而且是一个代价高昂的错误。

The affairs of the Spirit are different than the commercial and material affairs of people and should not be confused. In no case should the state and religion be the same. That has proven to be disastrous in history. The great casualty of attempting to join those two is religion itself, which becomes a tool of the state, which becomes used as a form of manipulation and persuasion, of self-righteousness and condemnation of others.

精神事务不同于人们的商业和物质事务，不应混为一谈。在任何情况下，国家和宗教都不应混为一谈。这在历史上已被证明是灾难性的。试图将两者结合起来的最大牺牲品就是宗教本身，它成为国家的一种工具，被用作一种操纵和说服、自以为是和谴责他人的形式。

People try to simplify things and make everything the same, but things are not the same, you see. Nature expresses itself differently within different contexts. And while there will still be women who will be marvelous leaders of commerce and political leaders, and there will still be men who will be superb at being religious teachers and leaders, there is a natural orientation that gives the feminine, the woman, the advantage.

人们试图把事情简单化，使一切变得相同，但事实并非如此。自然在不同背景下会以不同的方式表达它自己。虽然仍然会有女性成为出色的商业领袖和政治领袖，仍然会有男性成为出色的宗教教师和领袖，但有一种自然倾向赋予女性，女性的优势是自然的。

Do not think, however, that if women led religion, the world would be magically transformed, for this is not the case. But the opportunities to maintain religion and to maintain the spirit of religion in all traditions would be enhanced.

但是，不要认为如果女性领导宗教，世界就会发生神奇的变化，因为事实并非如此。但是，在所有传统中维护宗教和维护宗教精神的机会将会增加。

You still need people to run organizations and to deal with financial necessities and to maintain infrastructures and all of this, but the spirit of religion becomes lost when it is united with commercial and practical needs exclusively. Its ethical foundation erodes away; its spiritual emphasis erodes away; it becomes formalized, rigid, governed by rules and regulations; it becomes constrained by the governance of the state, of political powers, economic powers, and the life goes out of it. It becomes stale and static and oppressive as a result.

你仍然需要人来经营组织、处理财务需求、维护基础设施和所有这些，但是当宗教精神完全与商业和实际需求结合在一起时，它的精神就会丧失。它的伦理基础也会被侵蚀；它的精神重点会逐渐消失；它变得形式化、僵化、受制于规章制度；它受到国家、政治权力、经济权力的制约，它的生命力会消失殆尽。结果，它变得陈旧、呆板、压抑。

There is a natural ascendancy for women in the realm of religion and politics. That is not to say that all women will ascend there, or that that will be the purpose of all women. Certainly not, but those who are naturally given—who have purpose, real purpose, in this arena— should be allowed the opportunity to assume a greater role.

女性在宗教和政治领域具有天生的优势。但这并不意味着所有女性都会获得优势，也不意味着所有女性的目的都是如此。当然不是，但那些天生具有优势的女性——在这个领域拥有目的、拥有真正目的的女性——应该有机会承担一个更伟大的角色。

Within this context of religion and spirituality, you have administrators, you have providers and you have seers. Let us spend a moment speaking on this.

在宗教和精神性的背景下，有管理者、有提供者、也有预言者。让我们花点时间来谈谈这个问题。

Certainly administrators are those who run organizations, who meet the practical and financial needs of organizations, who are involved in promoting the teaching or the opportunities or the benefits of an organization.

当然，管理者是指那些管理组织的人，他们满足组织的实际需求和财务需求，参与促进组织的教学、机会或福利。

Providers are those who serve people in more fundamental emotional, psychological and spiritual needs, within a spiritual or religious context.

提供者是指那些在精神或宗教背景下为人们提供更基本的情感、心理和精神需求服务的人。

Seers, however, are a very rare role and require a very special preparation. If someone who has the gift of vision is not well grounded as a human being, is not strong in the Four Pillars of their life—their relationships, their health, their work and their spiritual development—their vision can be greatly misapplied and misinterpreted.

然而，预言者是一种非常稀有的角色，需要特殊的准备。如果一个拥有预知礼物的人没有扎实的人类基础，未能在生命的四大支柱——他们的关系、他们的健康、他们的工作和他们的精神发展上保持强大，那么他们的预知能力就会被极大地误用和曲解。

Over the centuries, men have been so afraid of the power of women and the possibility of women ascending within society and culture that they really have denied themselves the assets and the benefits of these skills. And civilization as a whole has been retarded and restrained, its full potential not realized because of this.

几个世纪以来，男性一直惧怕女性的力量，惧怕女性在社会和文化中崛起的可能性，以至于他们真的剥夺了他们自己从这些技能中获得的财富和利益。而整个文明也因此受到了阻碍和束缚，未能实现其全部潜力，正是因为这一点。

There are very few individuals who can be seers and not all of them will be women, but these gifts have been given to the feminine in far greater abundance, and there are women today who are meant to be seers. That is their purpose. That is their mission.

能够成为预言者的人非常少，而且并非所有预言者都是女性，但这些礼物被赋予了女性，而且女性的数量要多得多，而且当今有许多女性注定要成为预言者。这就是她们的目的。这就是她们的使命。

But perhaps within their cultures and societies they are assigned simply maintenance tasks within a family. They are held back by their own local religion and cultural customs. And their greater purpose is not being realized. Their great opportunity is closed to them.

但是，也许在她们的文化和社会中，她们在家庭中被分配的任务仅仅是维护。她们被她们自己当地的宗教和文化习俗所束缚。她们的更伟大目的没有被实现。她们的伟大机会向她们关闭了。

Just because you are born with a purpose does not mean the world will allow you to assume it. That is why freedom is so important—the freedom to think, the freedom to express, the freedom to create. But ultimately it is the freedom to find your purpose and to fulfill it.

仅仅因为你生来就有一个目的，并不意味着世界会允许你承担它。这就是自由如此重要的原因——思考的自由、表达的自由、创造的自由。但最终，它是找到你的目的并实现它的自由。

Slowly, over the past century in particular, women have been arising, [representing] the ascendancy of women in many cultures—not all cultures but many cultures. This is a natural evolution, as We have said. It must happen. And the human race will be far better for it. To hold women back and assign them domestic duties alone is a great mistake. It will deny the human family far greater resources that would be available otherwise.

尤其是在过去的一个世纪里，女性逐渐崛起，代表着许多文化中女性地位的上升——不是所有文化，但许多文化都是如此。正如我们所说，这是一种自然的演进。它必然会发生。人类将因此而变得更加优秀。限制女性并让她们独自承担家务是一种巨大的错误。它将剥夺人类大家庭原本可以获得的更多资源。

The confusion about male and female roles, the masculine and the feminine, has led to a great retardation in human development and great abuse of people throughout the ages in many cultures. To limit women to child raising and domestic duties and minimal employment opportunities is a great mistake, and wherever that exists in any culture, that culture will suffer as a result.

关于男性和女性角色、男性气质和女性气质的混淆，导致了人类发展的严重滞后，以及古往今来许多文化中对人的严重虐待。将女性限制于抚养孩子、家务劳动和最基本的就业机会是一种巨大的错误，无论在哪种文化中，只要存在这种现象，该文化就会因此而遭受损失。

Until recently, in most societies in the world, women were considered to be simply the possession of men—a valuable possession, but a possession, something you could buy or sell or trade, or destroy—and that is one of the reasons that human civilization has progressed so very slowly.

直到最近，在世界上的大多数社会中，女性还仅仅被看作是男性的财产——一种有价值的财产，但只是一种财产，一种可以买卖、交易或毁灭的财产——而这也是人类文明进步如此缓慢的原因之一。

Why has it taken humanity so long to really make advancements? It is not simply energy and technology, the limits there, that have held you back. It is the restraint upon the roles of men and women. It is the weight of history and tradition. It is the expectations of children.

为什么人类花了如此长时间才能真正取得进步？阻碍人类进步的不仅仅是能源和技术，还有这些方面的限制。还有对男女角色的限制。还有历史和传统的负担。还有对孩子的期望。

So for a woman who is destined to become a provider within religion and spirituality, how will her talents ever be recognized in a culture that does not allow her to assume any roles within this context? And will she not suffer as a result of being unable to meet her culture’s expectations and demands?

因此，对于一个注定要成为宗教和精神性供养者的女性来说，在一个不允许她在此背景下担任任何角色的文化中，她的才能如何能够得到承认呢？她会不会因为无法满足其文化的期望和要求而遭受痛苦呢？

There are many unhappy and dysfunctional people today around the world who have ended up in these conditions because their natural evolution has been stifled and repressed. And what cost to society to have dysfunctional people? What cost to society to have to pay the price of addiction and people’s many actions of self-destruction? What cost to society?

当今世界上有许多不快乐和功能失调的人，他们之所以陷入这种境地，是因为他们自然的进化受到了抑制和压制。而功能失调的人让社会付出了多大的代价？社会要为成瘾和人们自我毁灭的行为付出多大的代价？而社会付出的代价又是什么？

But the greater cost that has not been recognized is that these individuals have not been able to provide and to express their own purpose in being here and the gifts that would issue from this, which are not simply their personal creations but are actually gifts of Spirit, gifts of God.

但是，更大的代价还没有被认识到，那就是这些个体无法提供和表达他们自己来到这里的目的，以及由此产生的礼物，这些礼物不仅仅是他们个人的创造，实际上是精神的礼物、上帝的礼物。

Now, many women may out of ambition or insecurity aspire to be in these greater roles, but this may not be meant for them. That is a matter of recognition and should not be constrained by tribal or religious or political restraints.

现在，许多女性可能出于野心或不安全感而渴望担任这些更重要的角色，但这可能并不适合她们。这是一个认知的问题，不应受到部落、宗教或政治限制的制约。

In many advanced cultures in the universe, seers are recognized amongst the Ancients and are chosen and specially trained for their future roles. Providers, the same. People with technical abilities, the same. Their talents are recognized at an early age, and they are all given different forms of education to prepare them to express and to use their natural abilities.

在宇宙中的许多先进文化中，预言者在古老的文明中受到认可，他们会被选中并接受特殊训练，以适应未来的角色。提供者也是如此。拥有技术能力的人也是如此。他们的才能在很小的时候就被识别出来，他们都会接受不同形式的教育，以帮助他们表达和使用他们的自然能力。

Another very unfortunate aspect in restraining the ascendancy of women is that boys and girls are put together way too early. They tend to mimic each other. They compete with each other. And they are urged to assume traditional roles with each other, restraining both the young boys and the young girls from cultivating and recognizing their own natural abilities and inclinations.

阻碍女性地位提升的另一个非常不幸的方面是，男孩和女孩过早地走在了一起。他们倾向于互相模仿。他们相互竞争。他们被敦促扮演彼此的传统角色，从而限制了男孩和女孩培养和认识他们自己自然的能力和倾向。

Everyone is expected to mate and to raise families and to have romance. So children are programmed to have romance when they are five-years-old through the media and through all the images of the culture. This is true in so many places today.

每个人都被期望结婚生子，拥有浪漫的爱情。因此，孩子们从五岁起就通过媒体和文化中的各种形象被灌输浪漫的观念。今天在许多地方，这种情况都是真实存在的。

How can people’s individual talent and ability ever be recognized under influences like this? It is like preparing all boys to be soldiers and nothing else. And the loss to society is incalculable—the loss of talent, the loss of inspiration, the loss of people’s natural direction.

在这样的影响下，人们的个人才华和能力怎么可能被识别？这就好比把所有男孩都培养成士兵，而没有其他选择。这对社会造成的损失是无法估量的——人才的流失、灵感的流失、人们自然方向的流失。

Young men and women should have very little contact with each other until they have had time to understand themselves and have time to consider their own inclinations and strengths and sense of direction in life. To throw them together and to influence them to have social behaviors with one another prematurely is extremely destructive. It is difficult enough for young people to deal with all of the contrary influences of society at large than to have to deal with the opposite sex at such an early age.

年轻男女应该很少相互接触，直到他们有时间理解他们自己，有时间考虑他们自己的爱好、优势和生命的方向感。过早地把他们放在一起并影响他们彼此之间的社交行为是极具破坏性的。对于年轻人来说，要面对整个社会的各种不利影响已经够困难了，还要在这么小的年纪就面对异性的影响。

For parents everywhere, it is important over time, instead of casting expectations and demands on the performance of their children, they should look to see what signs are being given to them from their children about their children’s inclinations and strengths, weaknesses and natural abilities. Sometimes this cannot be discerned until a person reaches young adulthood.

对于世界各地的父母来说，重要的是，随着时间的推移，他们不要对孩子的表现施加过多的期望和要求，而应该观察孩子们表现出的迹象，了解他们的倾向、优点、弱点和自然能力。有时，直到一个人成年时，这些迹象才能够被分辨。

But to give a young person the encouragement and to teach them to learn The Way of Knowledge so they can gain access to this greater intelligence that God has given them is perhaps the greatest gift a parent can give a child, beyond providing for their basic material needs.

但给予年轻人鼓励并教导他们学习内识之路，以便他们可以获得上帝赋予他们的更伟大智能，这也许是父母除了满足孩子的基本物质需求之外，能够给予孩子的最伟大礼物。

The world today would look different if women were allowed to ascend. It would not be magically wonderful; it would have many problems still. But you would have fewer people in the world today and would be better prepared for the Great Waves of Change that are coming to the world—the deterioration of your natural environment, the change in your climate, the diminishing resources of the world and so forth.

如果女性被允许提升，当今世界将会有所不同。它不会变得神奇美妙；它仍然会有许多问题。但当今世界的人口将会减少，也会为即将到来的变革巨浪做好更充分的准备——你们自然环境的恶化、你们气候的改变、世界资源的减少等等。

There would be greater and wiser leadership within the realm of religion and spirituality. This is naturally taking place now as women seek to gain these opportunities, if they are available to them at all.

宗教和精神性领域将会出现更伟大、更明智的领导者。现在这种情况自然而然地发生了，因为女性正在努力争取这些机会，如果这些机会对她们来说可能存在的话。

The New Message from God encourages women to ascend and to take these greater roles of responsibility. It is not power that is the emphasis here; it is responsibility. You seek greater responsibilities, not greater power. Power without responsibility is destructive. It is arrogant. It is self-serving. And it leads to great harm.

来自上帝的新讯息鼓励女性提升并承担起这些更伟大的角色责任。这里强调的不是权力，而是责任。你寻求的是更伟大的责任，而不是更大的权力。没有责任的权力是破坏性的。它是傲慢的。它是自私自利的。它会导致巨大的伤害。

There will of course be great resistance from many men who have always been afraid of women and are afraid of what the rise of women could mean for them. But there is a natural ascendancy here. It is not meant to displace men or disenfranchise men or make men less than who they really are, for they have greater responsibilities too that have not yet been recognized and reclaimed.

当然，许多男性会有很大的抵触情绪，他们一直害怕女性，害怕女性的崛起对他们意味着什么。但这里存在着一种自然的优势。它并不是要取代男性，也不是要剥夺男性的权利，更不是要让男性逊色于他们的实际角色，因为他们也肩负着更伟大的责任，而这些责任尚未被承认和重新承担。

The wisdom of women must come to the fore if society is to advance, if humanity is to adapt to the changing conditions of the world and if greater competition, conflict and war are to be avoided. These natural endowments must be given the freedom to emerge, not only for the well-being of the individuals involved, but for the well-being of the whole world and all of humanity.

如果社会要进步，如果人类要适应世界不断变化的条件，如果要避免更激烈的竞争、冲突和战争，女性的智慧就必须得到彰显。必须让这些自然禀赋自由地发挥出来，这不仅是为了个人的福祉，也是为了整个世界和全人类的福祉。

Women must become unchained, and they must unchain themselves from pettiness and ignorance and arrogance. They must learn to control their emotions. They must learn the wisdom of discernment. They must have opportunities for education. They must gain greater responsibilities in areas that were previously denied them. There must be enough trust between men and women to allow this natural emergence to take place.

女性必须摆脱束缚，她们必须摆脱琐碎、无知和傲慢。她们必须学会控制她们自己的情绪。她们必须学会明辨是非的智慧。她们必须有受教育的机会。她们必须在以前被剥夺的领域承担更大的责任。男女之间必须有足够的信任，才能让这种自然的崛起得以实现。

The New Message emphasizes this because it is an important part of giving each person the opportunity to make a connection with Knowledge, the deeper intelligence that God has placed within each person. Today, most people are unaware of the presence of Knowledge and cannot respond to the guidance and protection that Knowledge provides.

新讯息强调这一点，因为这是给予每个人机会与内识建立联接的一个重要部分，内识是上帝放置在每个人内心深处的更深层次的智能。今天，大多数人都没有察觉到内识的存在，也无法回应内识提供的指引和保护。

So taking the Steps to Knowledge is essential and represents the fundamental focus of all real spiritual development and religious education. To teach someone to recite the Scriptures or to praise God is not really meeting their spiritual needs. It may be important for their future role, it may be significant for them individually, but fundamentally the purpose of all spiritual development and religious education in its truest sense is to build a connection between your thinking mind, which is a product of all the world’s influences, and the deeper mind within you that God has created within you—to protect you, to guide you, to keep you from harm and to lead you to the greater purpose that has brought you into the world, a purpose that only Knowledge itself knows and understands, being beyond the grasp of the intellect, beyond the grasp of human speculation, human ambition, human theology.

因此，开展内识的进阶是至关重要的，它代表了所有真正的精神发展和宗教教育的基本焦点。教人背诵经文或赞美上帝并不能真正满足他们的精神需求。这可能对他们未来的角色很重要，对他们个人来说可能也意义重大，但从根本上讲，所有精神发展和宗教教育的目的，在其最真实的意义上，是建立一种连接，连接你的思考心灵（它是世界上所有影响的产物）与上帝在你内心深处创造的更深层次的心灵——保护你、引导你、让你免受伤害并引领你走向将你带到这个世界的更伟大目的，这个目的只有内识本身知道和理解，它超越了智力的掌握，超越了人类的猜测、人类的野心和人类的神学的掌握。

The mind must serve Spirit, not the other way around, in the true hierarchy of your Being. Your body serves your mind, your mind serves Spirit, your Spirit serves God, which it is naturally designed and inclined to do. That is it.

在你存在的真实层级中，心灵必须服务于精神，而不是相反。你的身体服务于你的心灵，你的心灵服务于精神，你的精神服务于上帝，这是它天生的设计和倾向。就是这样。

But if the mind tries to use Spirit, the mind then becomes the false leader. It cannot provide real purpose, meaning and direction. It can only reinforce structure and rules, which may be necessary, but in this sense become overbearing and oppressive. Belief takes the place of inspiration. Obedience takes the place of service. Adherence takes the place of recognition.

但是，如果心灵试图利用精神，心灵就会成为虚假的领导者。它无法提供真正的目的、意义和方向。它只能强化结构和规则，这些结构和规则可能是必要的，但从这个意义上讲，它们会变得专横和压迫。信仰取代了灵感。服从取代了服务。遵守取代了认知。

That is why in the world today religion, in so many ways, is not serving its fundamental purpose, which is to bring people closer to God. To bring people closer to God means you are bringing them closer to what God has put within them—not to an ideal God, not to a belief in God, not to a traditional belief in God necessarily, but actually to what God has placed within them, which in the New Message is called Knowledge.

这就是为什么在当今世界上，宗教在很多方面都没有达到其根本目的，即让人们更接近上帝。让人们更接近上帝，意味着你要让人们更接近上帝放置在他们内心深处的内识——不是理想中的上帝，不是对上帝的信仰，也不一定是对上帝的传统信仰，而实际上是上帝放置在他们内心深处的内识，在新讯息中被称为内识。

Only Knowledge knows who you are and why you are here, who you are seeking to find in the world, what you are seeking to accomplish, where your gift must ultimately be given, the steps that you must take along the way, the attractions you must avoid, the opportunities you must respond to, the places to go, the places not to go, the people to meet, the people not to associate with, the temptations to deny and the deeper temptation to follow within yourself—temptation given by God.

唯有内识知道你是谁、你为什么来到这里、你要在这个世界上寻找谁、你要达成的目标、你的礼物最终必须被给予的地方。它知道你在这一路上必须迈出的每一步，知道你应避免的吸引力，知道你必须抓住的机会，知道你该去的地方和不该去的地方，知道你要结识的人和不该结交的人，知道你要拒绝的诱惑，以及你自己内心深处要跟随的更深层次的诱惑——由上帝赋予的诱惑。

This challenge faces men and women equally. The obstacles to taking the Steps to Knowledge face men and women equally. But women, in most places, have a greater disadvantage in that the opportunity, the value of their Knowledge, is not placed very high at all. They are merely being used as tools of their families, of their culture, of their villages, of their tribes, of their nations.

男性和女性同样面临着这个挑战。在开展内识进阶的道路上，男性和女性面临着同样的障碍。但是，在大多数地方，女性处于更大的劣势，因为她们的机会、她们内识的价值根本没有被放置在很高的位置。她们只是被当作家庭、文化、村庄、部落和国家的工具。

This must change, or humanity will not advance. You will remain a primitive, tribal culture unable to function within the world of diminishing resources; prone to competition, conflict and war; and your religions will continue to be a tool of the state—bound by history and tradition and stifling to the true expression of Spirit.

这种情况必须改变，否则人类将无法进步。你们仍将保持原始的部落文化，无法在资源日益减少的世界中正常运作；容易引发竞争、冲突和战争；你们的宗教将继续成为国家的工具——受历史和传统的束缚，扼杀精神的真实表达。

Certainly, religion today is extremely important in its ethical teachings and in maintaining and providing a pathway to experience the Divine nature of each person and what that Divine nature asks of each person. But religion has fallen, in so many places, under the domination of the state and, in some cases, even united with the state. That cannot be. That is essentially unhealthy.

毫无疑问，当今的宗教在其伦理教导中极为重要，宗教提供了一条通向每个人神圣自然的道路，并引导每个人认识到这种神圣自然对他们的要求。然而，在许多地方，宗教已经沦为国家的工具，有时甚至与国家合为一体。这是不可以的，这本质上是不健康的。

All the true Messengers from God that have come into the world were Messengers that in almost all cases were free of the state. Whether they were viewed as saints or heretics, they had to operate freely from the dictates of government and culture. Perhaps they adapted their teachings so they could have an opportunity to teach and to provide, but they were operating under a very different guidance system—an inner guidance system that God has placed within them, an inner guidance system that lives within each person as their greatest potential.

所有来自上帝的真实信使几乎都是脱离国家权力而来的。无论他们被视为圣人还是异端，他们都必须在政府和文化的支配之外自由地行动。也许他们会调整他们的教义，以便能够有机会进行教导和提供指引，但他们所遵循的是一种截然不同的指导系统——一种上帝放置在他们内心深处的内在指导体系。这种内在指导系统也存在于每个人的内心深处，作为他们最大的潜能。

One of the great tragedies of human poverty, which is so rampant in the world today and which has the risk of growing ever greater in the future, is that the great assets of these people will never be discovered, will never be allowed to emerge. The great scientists, the great thinkers, the great politicians, the great religious leaders, the great servants of humanity will all be kept under the yoke of poverty.

当今世界，人类贫困现象猖獗，而贫困现象在未来有愈演愈烈的危险，其中最大的悲剧之一就是，这些人的伟大财富将永远不会被发现，也永远不会被允许出现。伟大的科学家、伟大的思想家、伟大的政治家、伟大的宗教领袖、伟大的人类公仆都将被困在贫困的枷锁之下。

And not only will their lives be sacrificed and held in a miserable state, but their societies will suffer as well. For the wisdom that societies need to advance and to progress will be denied. This, beyond human suffering, is the tragedy of poverty.

不仅他们的生命将被牺牲，陷入悲惨的境地，他们的社会也将遭受苦难。因为社会进步所需的智慧将被剥夺。这不仅是人类的苦难，更是贫困的悲剧。

You are entering the Age of Women. It is time for the emergence of women—responsible, ethical, wise women. But they too must learn The Way of Knowledge. They too must hear the New Message from God, to understand really what is motivating them to take a greater role in life. This understanding exists in certain places in the world already, but it is not accessible to most people. It is rare. It is invaluable. Do not underestimate its potency.

你们正在进入女性的时代。现在是女性崛起的时候了——有责任感、有伦理、有智慧的女性。但她们也必须学习内识之路。她们也必须聆听来自上帝的新讯息，真正理解是什么在激励她们在生命中扮演更伟大的角色。这种理解在世界上的某些地方已经存在，但大多数人却无法获得。它是稀缺的。它是无价之宝。不要低估它的效力。

Many of the great leaders in the future for humanity will have to be women. It is their destiny. It is what they must do. If this is denied, then humanity will not progress. It will remain captive to history, to tradition, to conflict and war.

人类未来的许多伟大领袖都将是女性。这是她们的天命。这是她们必须做的事。如果否认这一点，人类就不会进步。人类将继续受制于历史、传统、冲突和战争。

Being providers and maintainers, women are more given to establishing peace and cooperation. In a traditional sense, they have to make families work, they have to hold families together, they have to take care of people directly, intimately. Do you see the advantages here?

作为提供者和维护者，女性更倾向于建立和平与合作。从传统意义上讲，她们必须让家庭运转起来，她们必须把家庭维系在一起，她们必须直接、亲密地照顾人们。你看到这里的优势了吗？

Within the realm of religion and spirituality, this is where the great skills come forth. However, this occurs within a larger context. Women can still have families, but they have a greater charge to take care of people in whatever specific arena they are destined to serve.

在宗教和精神性领域，这就是伟大技能的诞生地。然而，这是在一个更大的背景下发生的。女性仍然可以成家立业，但她们肩负着一种更伟大的责任，要照顾她们注定要服务的特定领域中的人们。

Because the New Message from God has come through the Messenger, who is a man, should not discourage you from the Message that is being given here. For this man, this Messenger, recognizes the need for the power of women.

因为来自上帝的新讯息是通过信使传达的，而信使是一位男性，这并不应该让你对这里传达的讯息而感到沮丧。因为这位男性，这位信使，认识到女性力量的必要性。

If you can separate true inspiration from personal ambition, you can see the meaning of this. If you can be free from the competition for power that grips so many men and women today regarding their relationship with one another, then you can see the wisdom in this. You can see the meaning of Our words.

如果你能将真实的灵感与个人野心区分开来，你就能看到其中的意义。如果你能从权力的竞争中解脱出来，而权力的竞争正是当今许多男女在彼此关系上的桎梏，那么你就能看到其中的智慧。你就能明白我们话语的含义。

For We speak not to your intellect, not to your social conditioning, not to your ambitions as a person, but We speak to your deeper nature, the nature that God has created within you—a nature which is not the product of social, political or religious conditioning but is the creation of the Divine within you. This is not simply a potential; it is a deeper intelligence, far wiser than your intellect.

因为我们不是在谈论你的智力，不是在谈论你的社会条件，不是在谈论你作为一个人的野心，而是在谈论你的更深层次的自然，上帝在你内心深处创造的自然——这个自然不是社会、政治或宗教条件的产物，而是你内在神圣的创造。这不仅仅是一种潜能；它是一种远比你的智力更明智的更深层次的智能。

But how few people have ever found this. How few people have ever recognized the difference between Knowledge and their thinking mind. For who you are is not your mind. It is not your ideas and beliefs. Your ideas and beliefs are just part of the way you navigate life. Who and what you are is beyond them. But how few people in the world understand this.

但很少有人能发现这一点。很少有人认识到内识和他们的思维心灵之间的区别。因为你是谁并不是你的心灵，你不是你的想法和信仰。你的想法和信仰只是你驾驭生命方式的一部分。你是谁、你是什么，这些问题都超越了它们。但世界上很少有人能理解这一点。

When you talk about having a relationship with yourself, you are talking about having a relationship with your mind and your body. What other self is there, but your true Self?

当你谈论与你自己的关系时，你是在谈论与你的心灵和身体的关系。除了你的真实自我，还有什么其他自我呢？

The challenge for women, in part, is not to fall prey to competition for power with men, for that is merely destructive. It is not about displacing or overwhelming men, for that is destructive. It is about assuming greater responsibilities. And in some cases this means that the woman, the individual, must go forth without a man, without a family. There are no guarantees in this regard.

女性面临的挑战，部分在于不要陷入与男性争夺权力的竞争中，因为这只是破坏性的。关键不在于取代或压倒男性，这同样是破坏性的。而是要承担更伟大的责任。在某些情况下，这意味着女性，作为个体，必须在没有男性、没有家庭的情况下继续前进。在这方面没有任何保证。

Your spiritual calling is your spiritual calling. You cannot make deals with it. Women who are called to a greater service must go unchaperoned into the future. They cannot take a man with them to protect them and to provide for them and to keep them small. Or perhaps they will have a great partnership with a man, and perhaps they will not. It is up to Knowledge and to their own individual design and calling.

你精神上的召唤就是你的精神召唤。你无法与它做交易。被召唤去从事更伟大服务的女性必须在无人陪伴的情况下走向未来。她们不能带着一位男性去保护她们，供养她们，让她们保持渺小。也许她们会与一位男性建立伟大的伙伴关系，也许不会。这取决于内识，取决于她们自己的设计和召唤。

We make this point here so that women will understand that they are putting relationships with men ahead of their greater calling. This is one of the weaknesses that women have, which has been socially conditioned into them, but also represents just a normal human need. But sometimes even normal human needs must be superseded by a deeper spiritual, Divine need. That must come first.

我们在这里提出这一点，是为了让女性理解，她们把与男性的关系放置在她们更伟大的召唤之上。这是女性的弱点之一，这已经成为她们的社会条件，但也代表了人类的正常需求。但有时，即使是正常的人类需求，也必须被一种更深层次的精神需求、神圣需求所取代。这种需求必须放置在首位。

This is true for both men and women. If you are going to find your calling in life, you must put that in the highest priority. If your purpose for coming here requires this, then it is of the greatest value. Fulfilling your social obligations or your biological urges are not as important as this, my God, for We are speaking of the need of the soul: the need of the soul is to find its purpose and fulfill it in the world, within the circumstances of the world.

这对男人和女人来说都是如此。如果你要找到你生命的召唤，你就必须把它放置在最优先的位置。如果你来到这里的目的需要这样做，那么它就具有最伟大的价值。履行你的社会义务或满足你的生理需求都没有这一点重要，我的上帝，因为我们谈论的是灵魂的需求：灵魂的需求就是在这个世界上，在这个世界的环境中找到它的目的并实现它。

This is what re-establishes your Divine nature. This is what fulfills your commitment to God. This is what ends conflict within you. This is where your true nature becomes integrated. This is where your body serves your mind and your mind serves your Spirit, as they were designed to do. This is where your life comes together. This is where you assume greater responsibilities. This is what satisfies the need of the soul.

这就是重新建立你神圣自然的召唤。这就是实现你对上帝的承诺的召唤。这就是结束你内心冲突的召唤。这就是你的真实自然得以整合的地方。在这里，你的身体服务于你的心灵，你的心灵服务于你的精神，正如它们被设计的那样。在这里，你的生命融为一体。这就是你承担更伟大责任的地方。这就是满足灵魂需求的地方。

You are entering the Age of Women. Accept this. Embrace this. Consider it. The New Message from God will teach you the great meaning of this and why it is so important for humanity at this point in its evolution.

你们正在进入女性的时代。接受这一点。拥抱这一点。思考这一点。来自上帝的新讯息将教导你其中的伟大意义，以及为什么在人类进化的这个阶段，它对人类如此重要。

For these are not the end times. These are the times for a new beginning. This is the era of human unity and cooperation, for only this will save humanity from the great peril it has created within the world and from competition from other forms of intelligent life in the universe around you. The New Message from God describes in detail what these two great phenomena mean and why they must be met with courage and commitment.

因为这不是末日。这是一个新时代的开始。这是人类团结与合作的时代，因为只有这样才能拯救人类免于它在世界上创造的巨大危机，以及来自周围宇宙中其他智能生命的竞争。来自上帝的新讯息详细描述了这两大现象的意义，以及为什么必须以勇气和承诺来应对它们。

The New Message has been sent into the world to prepare humanity for a future that will be unlike the past. Therefore, for women, they must have a future that has been unlike the past. And concurrently men must have a future that has been unlike the past. This is the age of human unity and cooperation because that is the great need of humanity at this time.

新讯息被发送到这个世界，是为了帮助人类为一个不同于过去的未来做好准备。因此，对于女性来说，她们必须拥有一个不同于过去的未来。与此同时，男性也必须拥有一个不同于过去的未来。这是人类团结与合作的时代，因为这是人类当前的伟大需求。

A growing humanity living in a world of diminishing resources will require this, and that is good. That is necessary. That is what will be required to minimize human suffering and to turn away from the great temptation of competition, conflict and war.

一个不断增长的人类生活在资源日益减少的世界中，这种团结与合作将是必需的，这也是一件好事。它是必要的，因为唯有如此，才能尽量减少人类的苦难，并避免陷入激烈的竞争、冲突与战争的巨大诱惑。

Women are meant to play a greater role in this great transition, to prepare the world to be restored and to prepare humanity for its future and destiny within the Greater Community, where human unity and cooperation and the emergence of women will be required.

女性注定要在这个伟大的转变中扮演一个更伟大的角色，为世界的重建做好准备，为人类在大社区里的未来和天命做好准备，而这需要人类的团结与合作，以及女性的崛起。