Faith, Work and Higher Purpose

As received by Marshall Vian Summers on January 12, 2009 in Boulder, Colorado
2009年1月12日，在科罗拉多州博尔德(Boulder, Colorado)，向上帝的信使马歇尔・维安・萨默斯(Marshall Vian Summers)揭示

People have a great deal of confusion regarding faith. Faith for many people has become a kind of replacement for cultivating their own abilities and for assuming greater responsibilities. They do not want to do very much, but they have faith that things will work out. They have faith that success will be theirs. They have faith that they will be able to avoid difficulty and calamity.

人们对信仰有许多困惑。对许多人来说，信仰已经成为培养他们自身能力和承担更大责任的一种替代品。他们并不想做很多事情，但他们相信事情会成功。他们相信成功会属于他们。他们相信他们能够避免困难和灾难。

They are not really responding to the signs that are being given to them from the world and from the deeper Knowledge that lives within them. They are just going to settle in and have faith, so they do not have to worry about things, so they do not have to mount a greater effort or bring a greater discernment to bear.

他们并没有真正回应来自世界和他们内在更深刻内识的迹象。他们只是安顿下来并拥有信仰，这样他们就不必担心事情，这样他们就不必付出更大的努力或带来更大的辨识力。

While faith is celebrated in most cultures—it is valued, it is considered meaningful and real—it is really not being used responsibly, and its real value is being lost.

尽管信仰在大多数文化中受到推崇——它被重视，被认为是有意义的和真实的——但它实际上并没有被负责任地使用，它的真正价值正在被丧失。

People may feel they are working too hard, but often it means they are working inefficiently, and they are losing energy to problems that are remaining unresolved. Or they are losing energy and time to people who really are not doing their part. Or they are losing energy and time to habits and obsessions that are fundamentally unhealthy for them.

人们可能会觉得他们工作太辛苦了，但这往往意味着他们的工作效率低下，他们的能量被那些仍未解决的问题所消耗。或者他们把能量和时间浪费在了那些实际上没有尽到责任的人身上。或者他们把能量和时间浪费在了从根本上不利于健康的习惯和执着上。

To live successfully in the world requires a lot of work. You have to make your peace with this. If you try to avoid this, then you will be depending upon the productivity of others. You will be giving up your responsibility and, with it, your ability to develop courage, skill, vision and determination.

要在这个世界上成功地生活，需要做大量的工作。你必须接受这个事实。如果你试图逃避这一点，那你就会依赖他人的生产力。你将放弃你的责任，从而放弃培养勇气、技能、远见和决心的能力。

Trying to work as little as possible is assuring yourself of future failure and desperation. And along the way, you will lose your self-respect. You will lose your self-confidence. You will lose your ability to problem solve in the world and to adapt to changing situations. Along the way, you will become dishonest with yourself, relying upon excuses and justifications instead of facing the reality of your situation and the reality of your own abilities.

尽量少工作就是在确保你自己将来会失败和绝望。在这条路上，你会失去自尊。你会失去自信。你会失去在世界上解决问题和适应不断变化的环境的能力。一路走来，你会对你自己不诚实，依赖于借口和理由，而不是面对现实的处境和你自己的能力。

Faith attends great work, but it does not replace great work. To assume a higher purpose in life, which Knowledge within you, the deeper intelligence that God has given you, will reveal to you over time—if you desire it and are willing to work for it—this higher purpose will require a determination, a courage and an ability to problem solve and make things happen that far exceed what the vast majority of normal forms of employment will require.

信仰伴随着伟大的工作，但它不会取代伟大的工作。为了承担起生命中一个更高的宗旨，这个目的，你内在的内识，上帝已经赋予你的更深层次的智能，将随着时间的推移向你揭示——如果你渴望它并愿意为它努力——这个更高的宗旨将需要一种决心、一种勇气和一种解决问题并让事情发生的能力，它要求你付出的努力远远超过大多数常规工作的要求。

Yet people dream about having a higher purpose. Or they think their pleasurable hobby is a higher purpose, or they give themselves a title: “I am an artist, I am a musician, I am a teacher.” And they call that a higher purpose. But it is not, you see, because it does not come from a greater Source. And the person, in almost all cases, has never developed the determination, the capacity or the ability to assume a greater role in life. A part of this failure is the unwillingness to work to resolve dilemmas in one’s life and to learn how to bring your work to a greater focus and efficiency.

然而，人们梦想拥有更高的宗旨。或者他们认为他们令人愉悦的爱好就是更高的目的，或者他们给他们自己起了一个头衔：“我是一名艺术家，我是一名音乐家，我是一名教师。”他们称其为更高的目的。但事实并非如此，因为它并非来自更伟大的源泉。而且，在几乎所有情况下，人们从未培养出承担生命中更伟大角色的决心、能力或才能。这种失败的一部分原因是人们不愿意努力解决生命中的困境，也不愿意学习如何使工作更加专注和高效。

Clearly, there are people working very hard but not getting anywhere. Sometimes, in the case of poverty, that is circumstantial. They are facing the misfortune of their circumstances. But, except in extreme cases of poverty, even here people are losing energy and vitality to things of little meaning in their personal lives. They are involved in relationships that are unhealthy for them. They are trying to take care of people who will not take care of themselves. They are not in the process of building their strength, their skills and their self-determination. And so they are stuck in unhealthy circumstances, and they feel helpless and they feel hopeless, but they have faith, you see. But faith here is really not helping them very much because it cannot replace their own responsibilities.

显然，有些人非常努力工作，却一无所获。有时，在贫困的情况下，这是偶然的。他们正面临着不幸的境遇。但是，除了极端贫困的情况外，即使在这种情况下，人们也会因为他们个人生命中毫无意义的事情而失去能量和活力。他们卷入了对他们不利的关系。他们试图照顾那些不会照顾他们自己的人。他们没有在锻炼他们的力量、技能和自决能力。所以他们被困在不健康的环境中，他们感到无助和绝望，你看，但他们拥有信仰。但这里的信仰对他们真的没有多大帮助，因为信仰不能取代他们自己的责任。

There are wealthy people that are working very hard and not getting anywhere because their work is not properly focused. It is not engaged in the right activities, and they too are losing energy to their habits, their hobbies, their destructive relationships and their internal conflicts.

有钱人工作很努力，却一事无成，因为他们的工作没有重点。他们没有从事正确的活动，他们也因习惯、爱好、破坏性关系和内心冲突而浪费能量。

Part of what makes your higher purpose redeeming is it does not give you the freedom or the time to engage in things of little value. You do not have time; you cannot afford it. You cannot afford to break down and feel self-pity or convince yourself that you are unwell. You cannot fall down on the job because it is too great and too demanding and too important, you see.

你的更高宗旨之所以具有救赎性，部分原因在于它不给你自由或时间去做一些无用的事情。你没有时间；你负担不起时间。你负担不起崩溃、自怜或说服你自己身体不适。你不能因为工作太伟大、要求太高、太重要而放弃。

You are going to have to give it more effort, and more intelligent effort, than you would any normal employment.

你必须付出比任何普通工作更多的努力，更聪明的努力。

How different this is from what people consider to be a higher purpose, which is a joyful work, a pleasant work, a work that is inspiring, a work that is fulfilling, a work that they love to do.

这与人们所认为的更高宗旨有多么不同，更高的宗旨是一项快乐的工作、愉快的工作、鼓舞人心的工作、令人充实的工作、他们喜欢做的工作。

You can love a greater purpose, you can be fulfilled by a greater purpose, but it is going to take everything you have to do it. It is going to unite you within yourself out of necessity. It is going to demand everything. It is going to require more of you than you feel you can give or even want to give.

你可以热爱一种更伟大的目的，你可以因更伟大的目的而得到满足，但要实现它，你需要付出一切。它需要你内心的团结。它需要你付出一切。它需要你付出比你认为你能付出甚至想要付出的更多。

This is what redeems you, you see. This is what makes your life whole and focused and complete. This is what gives you the strength and the necessity to leave aside meaningless things, to disengage from relationships that have no future and no purpose, and to get whatever help you need to resolve your inner difficulties because you have a greater mission now to fulfill.

你看，这就是救赎你的工作。这就是让你的生命完整、专注和圆满的工作。这就是给你力量和必要性的工作，让你抛开毫无意义的事情，摆脱没有未来、没有目的的关系，并获得解决内心困难所需的任何帮助，因为你现在有一个更伟大的使命要完成。

There is dreaming about a higher purpose, and then there are the demands of living a higher purpose. A higher purpose will require risk-taking, uncertainty, disappointment, other people failing. It is not an easy task, you see, not a task for the ambivalent or the faint of heart or those who are self-obsessed, losing all their life force over things that they cannot or will not resolve.

有些人只是在梦想着更高的宗旨，而有些人则是在应对活出更高宗旨的种种挑战。一种更高的宗旨需要冒险、面对不确定性、失望，以及他人的失败。你看，这并不是一项轻松的任务，它不是为那些优柔寡断、缺乏勇气的人准备的，也不是为那些沉迷于自我、将所有生命力都消耗在无法解决或不愿解决的问题上的人准备的。

Your purpose will shape you, it will strengthen you, it will make you wise and compassionate. For you will see how much it requires to really be a real person in the world and to fulfill your mission and destiny here. It is not even the amount of work; it is the quality of the work; it is the intention of the work; it is the whole-heartedness of the work; it is the wisdom of its application.

你的目的会塑造你，会增强你的力量，会让你变得睿智和富有同情心。因为你会看到，要真正成为一个真正的人，并实现你在这里的使命和天命，需要付出多少努力。这甚至不是工作量的问题；而是工作的质量；是工作的意图；是工作的全心全意；是应用工作的智慧。

All these things must be there, you see. It is not about surrendering your life and just being guided along as if you were a trailer and God was the truck pulling you. You cannot be pulled along like a little child, for God is requiring you to be competent and effective and powerful and self-determined in this world to accomplish the tasks that are yours to accomplish. It is not about surrendering and becoming pliable, and you are just going to be there until God wants you to do something. That is ridiculous. That is a kind of spiritual welfare.

你看，所有这些都必须具备。它并不是要你放弃你的生命，只是被引导着前行，就好像你是一辆拖车，而上帝是拉着你的卡车。你不能像小孩子一样被拉着前行，因为上帝要求你在这个世界上有能力、有效、强大和自决，去完成你应该完成的任务。它并不是要你放弃并变得顺从，你只是待在那里，直到上帝要你做某事。这太荒谬了。这是一种精神福利。

People want to go on welfare so they do not have to worry about their work, their money, their health or their relationships. They are just going to be guided now. But it will not be God that will guide them. It will be other forces in the universe. It will be their own indolence that will guide them. It will be their fear that will guide them. It will be their sense of inadequacy that will guide them. It will be their feelings of guilt that will guide them. It will be their resentment of others and their fear of failure that will guide them.

人们希望领取救济金，这样他们就不必担心他们的工作、他们的金钱、他们的健康或他们的关系。他们现在只是在寻求指引。但指引他们的不是上帝，而是宇宙中的其他势力。指引他们的是他们自己的懒惰。指引他们的是他们的恐惧。指引他们的是他们的不足感。指引他们的是他们的内疚感。指引他们的是他们对他人的怨恨和对失败的恐惧。

Greater purpose is redeeming because you cannot afford to fail. Failure is not an option. And that is what gives you the strength to realize you have no choice. You cannot drop the ball and go home. You cannot give it up and go sit on the beach somewhere and be happy about yourself. You have assumed a reality and a responsibility that you cannot deny, you cannot forfeit for love or for money, for beauty, wealth or pleasure.

更伟大的目的是救赎，因为你承受不起失败。失败不是一种选择。而这给了你力量去意识到你别无选择。你不能放弃然后回家。你不能放弃然后去某个海滩坐下并为你自己感到高兴。你已经承担了一种你不能否认的现实和责任，你不能为了爱情或金钱、美丽、财富或快乐而放弃它。

Some people will look at this and think that, “Oh, this is just too much. I wouldn’t be free. I’d give up my freedom.” But what they are really giving up is their ambivalence, and their conflict, and their pain, and their suffering, and their inadequacy, and their self-delusions, and their self-obsessions. That is what they are giving up here.

有些人看到这些会想：“哦，这也太夸张了吧。我不会自由的。我会放弃我的自由。”但他们真正放弃的是他们的矛盾心理、他们的冲突、他们的痛苦、他们的苦难、他们的不足、他们的自我欺骗和他们的自我痴迷。这就是他们在这里放弃的东西。

Your greater purpose will forge you and force you to be one person with one goal and one deeper orientation within yourself. If your purpose is true and is guided by Knowledge, it will forge you into a much more powerful person than you are today. It will burn away what is impure within you. It will give you a very high bar. It will require great things of you. It will require consistency, determination and courage.

你的更伟大目的将锻造你，迫使你成为一个拥有一个目标、一个内在更深层次取向的人。如果你的目的是真实的，并受到内识的指引，它将把你锻造成一个比现在更强大的人。它将烧毁你内在的不纯洁。它将给你一个非常高的标准。它将要求你做伟大的事情。它将要求你坚持不懈、决心和勇气。

Without these things, faith is an excuse. It is a replacement. It is a justification. It becomes a self-deception. Here people say, “Well, I won’t worry about it. Things always work out.” Yes, things work out, producing incredible tragedy and disappointment for people. If you do not direct your life, someone else will. If you give your life up to circumstances, circumstances will determine the outcome. And this is rarely favorable for people.

如果没有这些事情，信仰就只是一种借口。信仰就只是一种替代品。信仰就只是一种辩解。信仰变成了一种自欺欺人。人们会说：“好吧，我不会担心它。事情总会有结果的。”是的，事情总会有结果的，但往往会给人们带来难以置信的悲剧和失望。如果你不引导你的生命，其他人就会替你引导它。如果你把你的生命交给环境，环境就会决定结果。而这对人们来说很少是有利的。

The truth is is that God will ask a lot of you. You want God to speak to you? You want God to direct you? You want God to be a part of your life? God will ask a lot of you. Oh, so much, it will take you to your limits.

真理是，上帝会向你提出许多要求。你希望上帝与你对话吗？你希望上帝指引你吗？你希望上帝成为你生命的一部分吗？上帝会对你有很高的要求。哦，非常高，它会让你达到你的极限。

People come to God with their laziness, their indolence, their confusion, their obsessions, their goals, their ambitions, their preferences, their resentments, their hostilities—everything.

人们带着他们的懒惰、怠惰、困惑、执念、目标、野心、喜好、怨恨和敌意——带着一切来到上帝面前。

So the work of the Divine is to deconstruct these things. And one of the best ways to do that is to give the person something really challenging to do that is completely different from their goals and ambitions and their plans to fulfill themselves and acquire wealth, pleasure and happiness.

因此，神圣的工作就是去解构这些事情。而最好的方法之一就是让人们去做一些真正具有挑战性的事情，这些事情与他们的目标、野心以及实现自我、获取财富、快乐和幸福的计划完全不同。

No, God is going to give them something else to do very different, much more difficult, but unifying and uniting and empowering. Go over to this country and feed this village. Figure out how to do that. Go over and help these people. Support this organization. Advocate for this need in society. Preserve this forest. Speak out against injustice and work diligently for that.

不，上帝会给他们一些其他的事情去做，这些事情非常不同，困难得多，但却能让他们统一、团结并赋予他们力量。去这个国家，为这个村庄提供食物。想办法做到这一点。去帮助这些人。支持这个组织。倡导社会的这种需求。保护这片森林。大声反对不公正，并为此努力工作。

There is no spiritual fulfillment apart from these things. There is no escaping the wheel of life and death. You were sent into the world to accomplish something. What is this escaping for? It is like running away from home. It is like dropping out of school. It is like abandoning your wife and children. Your role and focus in spirituality is not to get back to God. You will be going back to God, in due course. You do not even want to go back to God, you are so committed to being in the world.

除了这些事情之外，无法获得精神上的满足。没有办法逃脱生与死的轮回。你被派遣来到这个世界上是为了完成某些事情。逃避又是为了什么呢？它就像是离家出走。它就像是辍学。它就像抛弃你的妻子和孩子。你在精神上的角色和重点不是回到上帝身边。你会在适当的时候回到上帝的身边。你甚至不想回到上帝身边，因为你是如此执着地存在于这个世界。

What is important is to do what you were sent here to do, what you know in your heart you are here to do, which is usually very different from your goals, your ambitions, your desires, your fantasies and all of that. This is the difference between reality and fantasy, between spirituality as an excuse and a justification and spirituality as an inspiring and empowering force in your life.

重要的是做你被派到这里要做的事情，做你内心深处知道你来这里要做的事情，这通常与你的目标、抱负、愿望、幻想等等截然不同。这就是现实与幻想之间的区别，是精神性作为借口和辩护与精神性作为你生命中鼓舞人心和赋予力量之间的区别。

You will see the evidence of people’s fantasies regarding spirituality in the emphasis on enlightenment. They are going to meditate for thirty years and become enlightened. That would only be meaningful if they spent most of their time feeding people and taking care of people. Enlightenment has to translate into service if it is to be real and meaningful. You have to serve real people, real situations, real living things. You cannot serve ideas and beliefs and concepts.

你会在强调开悟的过程中看到人们对精神性幻想的证据。他们将冥想三十年并获得开悟。只有当他们大部分时间都用来喂养和照顾他人时，这才有意义。开悟必须转化为服务，才能成为一个真正的、有意义的人。你必须服务于真实的人、真实的情况、真实的生物。你不能服务于想法、信仰和概念。

You were sent into the world to do something specific. Knowledge within you knows what this is and is trying to guide you and move you into a position where you can recognize this and meet those individuals who will be a part of your greater service and accomplishment here. Along the way, Knowledge is building your strength, building your discernment and building your courage.

你被派到这个世界来做某件特别的事情。你内在的内识知道这是什么，并试图引导你，让你进入一个可以认识到这一点的位置，并遇见那些将成为你在这里更伟大服务和成就的一部分的人。一路上，内识正在建立你的力量、建立你的辨别力和建立你的勇气。

But it faces great obstacles all along the way, of course. For you live in cultures that are driven by greed and fear, by anger and hostility, by conflict and partisanship. If you live in a wealthy nation, you are constantly being distracted by pleasure, power, beauty and wealth. So there are tremendous obstacles. And then there are your own preferences, your own unforgiveness of your past and the decisions you made in childhood that you are still living out unconsciously.

但当然，它一路上都面临巨大的障碍。因为你生活在被贪婪和恐惧、愤怒和敌意、冲突和党派偏见所驱动的文化中。如果你生活在一个富裕的国家，你就会不断被享乐、权力、美丽和财富所分散注意力。所以存在巨大的障碍。还有你自己的偏好、你对过去的不宽恕以及你童年时做出的决定，你仍然在无意识地践行着这些决定。

So most of the spiritual work is deconstructing your confinement, your disabilities, your fantasies, your obsessions and your delusions to help you divorce yourself from your weakness and to unite you with your strength. It takes faith to do this because you do not really know where it is taking you. You do not really know the outcome. God is not dangling a prize out there for you.

因此，大部分精神工作都是要解构你的禁锢、你的缺陷、你的幻想、你的执念和你的妄想，帮助你摆脱你的弱点，将你与你的力量结合起来。这需要信仰，因为你真的不知道它会把你带向何方。你真的不知道结果。上帝并没有在那里为你悬着奖品。

You do this because you know you must do this. Because in your heart, you know you must take this journey. You do not do this to satisfy the goals of the mind, or your ideas of enlightenment or [because] you are going to become a saint, or you are going to become a goddess, or any of this foolishness.

你这样做是因为你知道你必须这样做。因为你内心深处知道你必须踏上这段旅程。你这样做不是为了满足心灵的目标，也不是为了满足你的启蒙想法，更不是因为你要成为圣人、女神或任何这些愚蠢的想法。

You take the journey because you must. And this is what returns you to God because here you are following what God has put within you to follow. You do not know where it is taking you. It is taking you away from your past. It is deconstructing that which is imprisoning you. It is building your strength, your confidence and your ability to discern the power and the presence of Knowledge within you.

你踏上旅程是因为你必须这样做。这让你回归上帝，因为在此你追随上帝让你追随的内识。你不知道它要带你去哪里。它带你远离你的过去。它解构了囚禁你的枷锁。它构建了你的力量、你的信心和你辨识你内在内识的力量和存在的能力。

You take this journey without a big ideology, without a complex cosmological understanding. That is why anyone can take the great journey to a higher purpose. A poor farmer or a villager might do better than someone in the university, for they may have less to deconstruct. They may have less to set aside. They may have less that is holding them back.

你踏上这段旅程时，不需要宏大的意识形态，也不需要复杂的宇宙观。这就是为什么任何人都可以踏上通往更高宗旨的伟大旅程。一位贫穷的农民或村民可能比大学里的人做得更好，因为他们可能没有如此多的枷锁需要解构。他们可能没有如此多的想法需要放弃。他们可能没有如此多的障碍阻碍他们的前进。

You take this journey because you know you must take this journey. That is where faith is real. You do not have faith that everything is going to work out and that things are going to be fine. That is foolishness. Without the greater work, there is disaster, there is suffering, there is calamity. Things do not just work out. Perhaps one or two people will benefit from the outcome, while others will suffer for it.

你踏上这段旅程是因为你知道你必须踏上这段旅程。这就是真正的信仰。你不能相信一切都会解决，一切都会好起来。这是愚蠢的。没有更伟大的工作，就会有灾难，就会有痛苦，就会有灾祸。事情不会一帆风顺。也许一两个人会从结果中受益，而其他人会因此而受苦。

If you want to have an impact on the world, you are going to have to work very hard for it. If you want to make a difference being here, if you want your life to really produce something of value, of lasting value, and impact the lives of others in meaningful ways, you are going to have to really work for that.

如果你想对世界产生影响，你就必须为此付出巨大的努力。如果你想在这里有所作为，如果你想让你的生命真正产生有价值的事情，持久的价值，并以有意义的方式影响他人的生命，你就必须为此付出巨大的努力。

You will have obstacles on the inside of yourself. You will have obstacles all around you. You cannot allow yourself to capitulate to your own pathetic feelings or to the criticism of others. You have to be more powerful than those things that dissuade you within yourself and those people who might dissuade you on the outside.

你内心会遇到障碍。你周围也会遇到障碍。你不能让你自己屈服于你自己的可悲感受或他人的批评。你必须比那些劝阻你内心的事物和那些可能劝阻你的外在的人更强大。

At this moment you may not have this power, but you are going to have to develop it, and that is why the journey is long. And you do not get the reward right away because the truth is, you are not ready. You do not have the vision; you do not have the skill; you do not have the power. So building the skills, the vision, the power, the capacity, the tolerance, the forgiveness, the wisdom and the discernment—this is really what the journey is about.

此刻你可能还没有这种力量，但你必须去发展它，这就是这段旅程漫长的原因。而你不会马上得到回报，因为事实是，你还没有准备好。你没有远见；你没有技能；你没有力量。因此，培养技能、远见、力量、能力、宽容、宽恕、智慧和辨别力——这才是这段旅程的真正意义所在。

You do not just get something important to do in life. Even if you could foresee what that could be for you, there is a great gulf between where you are now and where you would have to be to really do that work effectively. You cannot be a person who is just guided by the consensus of your friends, who is driven by social conventions, who is driven by the approval of others, who is dominated by other people and their opinions. You cannot be a person who is a slave to society and its shallow values.

你的生命不可能随随便便就有重要的事情要做。即使你能预见到这对你来说可能是什么，但你现在所处的位置与你真正有效地完成这项工作所必须达到的位置之间存在着巨大的鸿沟。你不能成为一个只受朋友共识引导、受社会习俗驱使、受他人认可驱使、受他人及其意见支配的人。你不能成为一个被社会及其浅薄价值观奴役的人。

You are standing at the bottom, but you need to get to the top of the mountain. You do not dream yourself there. There is no magic carpet to take you up. There is no elevator. There is no helicopter. You have to make this journey. It is faith that you have to make this journey. It is the faith you place in what is motivating you to take this journey. That is the faith. Not the faith that everything will work out, everyone will be taken care of, everything will be fine. That is not faith. That is delusion.

你站在山脚下，但你需要到达山顶。你不是在梦中到达那里。没有魔毯带你上山。没有电梯。没有直升机。你必须踏上这段旅程。你的信仰是你必须踏上这段旅程。你对内识有信仰，你才会踏上这段旅程。这就是信仰。而不是相信一切都会解决，每个人都会得到照顾，一切都会好起来。这不是信仰。这是妄想。

Humanity is living at a time of great danger. Great Waves of change are coming to the world. Times will become more difficult for everyone. You are facing a world of declining resources. You are facing a world of environmental decline, violent weather and growing economic and political instability. Do you think that is all just going to work out fine without immense human effort to mitigate these problems and to set a different course for humanity and for its future? Do you think that that is just going to be taken care of by government leaders or by clever scientists or by a few saintly individuals?

人类正处在一个极其危险的时期。变革的巨浪正在向世界袭来。对每个人来说，生活都会变得更加艰难。你们正面临着一个资源日益减少的世界。你们正面临着一个环境恶化、恶劣天气和经济政治日益不稳定的世界。你认为这一切会在没有大量人类努力去缓解这些问题、为人类及其未来设定不同方向的情况下就能顺利解决吗？你认为这一切都会由政府领导人、聪明的科学家或少数圣人来解决吗？

You cannot take anything for granted. There is no assurance of success for you or for all of humanity. You must have the courage to face the great threats to human civilization, the Great Waves of change that are coming over the horizon. These will motivate you correctly if you have the courage to face them and if you do not capitulate to your own fear or sense of helplessness.

你不能认为任何事情都是理所当然的。你和全人类都没有成功的保证。你必须有勇气面对人类文明面临的巨大威胁，面对地平线上即将到来的变革巨浪。如果你有勇气面对它们，如果你不屈服于你自己的恐惧或无助感，它们就会正确地激励你。

You cannot replace this awareness with faith. Do you think God is going to intervene in the eleventh hour and correct all the errors of humanity? History has shown you that God does not do that. This is your arena. God has given you Knowledge to guide you, to protect you and to prepare you for a greater life. You already have the gift. Do not sit idly by and hope for miracles.

你不能用信仰来取代这种觉知。你认为上帝会在最后一刻介入并纠正人类的所有错误吗？历史已经向你表明上帝不会这么做。这是你们的舞台。上帝赋予你内识来指导你、保护你并为更伟大的生命做好准备。你已经拥有了礼物。不要袖手旁观，希望奇迹发生。

Do you see the difference here? Some people want God to do everything. They just want to be on welfare to God. “Yes, God will take care of this problem for me. God will resolve this difficulty. God will save me from failure and deprivation.” And if by chance they do well in a difficult situation, they think that God has produced a miracle for them. But they cannot quite account for the fact that a whole lot of other people were devastated. They might say, “Oh, they didn’t believe enough. They didn’t have enough faith.” This is such a delusion, you see, a self-satisfying delusion.

你看出其中的区别了吗？有些人希望上帝包办一切。他们只想靠上帝的恩惠生活。“是的，上帝会帮我解决这个问题。上帝会解决这个困难。上帝会拯救我免于失败和贫困。”如果他们碰巧在困难的情况下表现良好，他们就会认为上帝为他们创造了奇迹。但他们无法完全解释为什么其他许多人都遭受了重创。他们可能会说：“哦，他们不够相信。他们没有足够的信仰。”你看，这是一种妄想，一种自我满足的妄想。

God is not going to fix the world. God has sent you here to fix the world, you and everyone else. Forget the Judgment Day. Forget the end of time. It is not going to happen, you see. It is all made up by people who have never really taken on the responsibility of engaging with their greater purpose for being here.

上帝不会修复这个世界。上帝派你来修复这个世界，你和其他人。忘记审判日。忘记世界末日。你知道，这不会发生。这一切都是由那些从未真正承担起责任、参与到他们来到这里的更伟大目的的人编造出来的。

God wants to see you put in the effort—develop the wisdom, develop the compassion, develop the forgiveness, develop the patience, develop the deeper capacity for recognizing people and serving people.

上帝希望看到你付出努力——培养智慧、培养同情心、培养宽恕、培养耐心、培养更深层次的认识他人与服务他人的能力。

You are going to have to go through some hell to get there. It is not going to be easy. You are going to have to climb that mountain. If you do not, God is not going to come and lift you up. You have to make the journey. You have to develop the will and the Knowledge and the awareness that you have to make this journey, and the faith that you have to make this journey.

你必须经历一番磨难才能到达目的地。这不会是件容易的事。你必须攀登这座山。如果你不这样做，上帝不会亲自来把你扶起来。你必须踏上旅程。你必须培养完成这段旅程所需的意志、内识和觉知，以及完成这段旅程所需的信仰。

People have faith in many things. They have faith in governments. They have faith in economies. They have faith in industry. They have faith in commerce. They have faith in medicine. Yet in the difficult times ahead, this faith will be challenged. Governments will seem incompetent and corrupt. Medicine will not be available to everyone. Commerce will prove unable or unwilling to serve the real needs of people. Economies will fail and falter, as they are doing at this moment.

人们对许多事情都有信仰。他们相信政府。他们相信经济。他们相信工业。他们相信商业。他​​们相信医学。然而，在未来的困难时期，这种信仰将受到挑战。政府将显得无能和腐败。医学将无法惠及每个人。商业将无法或不愿满足人们的实际需求。经济将失败和衰退，正如它们现在所经历的那样。

So where will you place your faith? This is a real crisis for people, you see, for the world is shifting underneath their feet. It is a real crisis. It is a crisis of faith. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a disillusionment, an immense disappointment, an outrage, a set of failures.

因此，你的信仰又将放置在哪里呢？你知道，这对人们来说是一场真正的危机，因为世界正在他们脚下发生改变。它是一场真正的危机。它是一场信仰的危机。它是一场信心的危机。它是幻灭，是极大的失望，是愤怒，是一系列的失败。

Fundamentally, you must have faith in Knowledge in yourself and in others. But you must cultivate the ability to recognize Knowledge and to follow Knowledge and the strength to carry out what Knowledge gives you to do. You must engage in a deeper re-evaluation of your life—where you are, who you are with, what you are doing, what you are committed to, your obligations, your relationships, your activities, everything. To see what is true and what is unnecessary. To see where you are losing energy in your life. To see what you are giving yourself to that has no promise, that is not going anywhere. What is holding you back? What is defeating you in your own thoughts and emotions? Who is defeating you on the outside?

从根本上来说，你必须对你自己和他人的内识抱有信仰。但你必须培养认出内识和遵循内识的能力，以及开展内识赋予你去做的事情的力量。你必须对你的生命进行一种更深入的重新评估——你在哪里，你和谁在一起，你在做什么，你承诺什么，你的义务，你的关系，你的活动，一切。看清什么是真实的，什么是不必要的。看清你生命中哪些地方正在流失能量。看看你在为哪些事情付出，而这些事情毫无希望，不会有任何结果。是什么在阻碍你？是什么在你自己的思想和情绪中击败了你？是谁在外面打败了你？

All these things, you see, they are all part of preparing for your greater purpose. They are all parts of clearing your mind. They are all parts of engaging with the deeper Intelligence that God has placed within you—to guide you, to protect you and to prepare you.

你看，所有这些事情，都是为你的更伟大宗旨做准备的一部分。它们都是清理你心灵的一部分。它们都是参与上帝放置在你内心深处的更深层次智能的一部分——来指引你、保护你和准备你。

But you must have a very clear mind to do this. You must be willing to work harder than you have ever worked, with greater determination and with greater self-discipline. You cannot be fooling around here. You will need other people in your life who are powerful, who are committed, who are determined, who are strong. You cannot hang out with a group of people who are doing nothing, going nowhere, for you will lose all your energy to them. Even if they are sweet and pleasant, they are stealing your life from you.

但是，你必须有一个非常清醒的心灵才能做到这一点。你必须愿意比以往更加努力地工作，有更大的决心和更强的自律。你不能在这里胡闹。你需要身边有一些强大、有决心、坚定不移、坚强的人。你不能和一群无所事事、没有方向的人混在一起，因为你会把所有的能量都浪费在他们身上。即使他们很亲切、很讨人喜欢，他们也会偷走你的生命。

So the question is: “What is faith?” Faith is the willingness and the ability to follow what God has placed within you to guide you. It is not about religion. You can be a person who has no faith tradition and follow the path of redemption. You can be a person of any faith tradition and follow the path of redemption. You could be a person who does not even think there is a God and follow the path of redemption. It is not about belief or ideology. Belief is too weak. It is too fallible. It is too easily manipulated by governments and institutions, and clever and cunning leaders. It is too subject to your own fears and preferences to be the real foundation.

所以问题是：“信仰是什么？”信仰是愿意并有能力遵循上帝放置在你内心深处的内识来指引你。它与宗教无关。你可以是一个没有信仰传统的人，并遵循救赎之路。你可以是一个拥有任何信仰传统的人，并遵循救赎之路。你可以是一个甚至不认为有上帝的人，并遵循救赎之路。它与信仰或意识形态无关。信仰太脆弱了。它太容易犯错。它太容易被政府和机构以及聪明狡猾的领导人操纵。它太容易受到你自己的恐惧和偏好的影响，无法成为真正的基础。

You need a greater and stronger foundation than this. And God has given you this power and this foundation. Your task now is to discover it, to take the Steps to Knowledge, to begin to discern the evidence of Knowledge in your own life, and to distinguish and separate Knowledge from your compulsions, your beliefs and your fantasies. It is not easy. You will have to work very hard. You cannot sit down and have it all become clear one day.

你需要比这更伟大、更强大的基础。上帝已经赋予了你这种力量和基础。你现在的任务是发现它，开展内识的进阶，开始辨别你自己生命中内识的证据，并将内识与你的冲动、你的信仰和你的幻想区分开来。它并不容易。你必须非常努力的工作。你不能指望有一天坐下来，一切就会变得明朗。

God has already given you the answer. God has already given you a purpose. God has already given you a life, a chance to be in the world. Are you using it or are you wasting it? Where are you losing energy? Where are you losing focus? Look to your possessions, your relationships, your activities and what you tell yourself. You need a different blueprint, a different manual, a different pathway.

上帝已经给了你答案。上帝已经给了你一个目的。上帝已经给了你一个生命，给了你活在世上的机会。你是在使用它还是在浪费它？你在哪里浪费了能量？你在哪里失去注意力？看看你的财产、你的人际关系、你的活动和你告诉自己的话。你需要一个不同的蓝图、一本不同的手册、一条不同的道路。

Your mind does not know what Knowledge is because Knowledge exists beyond the realm and the reach of the intellect. But your mind needs to support this great journey. You need to think in harmony with the journey. You need to have faith that the journey is real and that you must follow it and take it.

你的心灵不知道内识是什么，因为内识存在于智力的领域和范围之外。但你的心灵需要支持这段伟大的旅程。你需要以与旅程和谐一致的方式思考。你需要信仰，旅程是真实的，并且你必须跟随它、踏上它。

This is faith well placed. It is no excuse. It is no compensation. It is not a justification. It is not a replacement for responsibility. It is what supports responsibility. It does not excuse you from the great work that must be done. It gives you confidence that the great work must be done.

这是信仰健康的位置。它不是借口。它不是补偿。它不是辩解。它不是责任的替代品。它支持责任。它不是你逃避必须完成的伟大工作的借口。它让你有信心必须完成伟大的工作。

You cannot sit idly by and hope that God will take care of things in your life. For the world will become darker and more difficult. The Great Waves of change are coming. You cannot escape them. If you deny them or avoid them, you are only weakening your position, making you less able to prepare and less able to navigate the uncertain and difficult times ahead.

你不能袖手旁观，希望上帝会照顾好你生命中的一切。因为世界将变得更加黑暗和艰难。变革的巨浪正在来临。你无法逃避它们。如果你否认它们或回避它们，你只会削弱你的位置，让你更无力准备，更无力驾驭前方的不确定和艰难时期。

You cannot sit around and wait for somebody to fix things for you—to make the world a better place, to offset the grave danger that humanity is now facing. Do not think that belief alone will lift you above these great difficulties. For faith can be dashed and destroyed in the face of grave disappointment. You will need something stronger than belief now to guide you, to be your raft, to be the source of your strength, to be your guide and your counsel.

你不能坐等他人为你解决问题——让世界变得更美好，抵消人类目前面临的严重危险。不要认为单凭信仰就能让你克服这些巨大的困难。因为信仰会在严重的失望面前破灭。你现在需要比信仰更强大的内识来指引你，成为你的救生筏，成为你的力量源泉，成为你的向导和你的顾问。

God saves the separated through Knowledge. But Knowledge is a taskmaster. It is committed. It is determined. It is not like your personal mind, which is all over the place. It is not conflicted. It is not afraid. It has not been corrupted by the world. It has not been compromised by the world. It is not seeking approval from others. It is not impressed by wealth, beauty and power. That is why it is the most powerful and reliable aspect of yourself—the greatest endowment that God has given to you and to humanity. It is your greatest strength.

上帝通过内识拯救分离者。但是内识是一个监工。它坚定。它坚决。它不像你的个人心灵，无所适从。它不冲突。它不害怕。它没有被世界腐蚀。它没有被世界妥协。它不寻求他人的认同。它不受财富、美貌和权力的吸引。正因为如此，它是你自己最强大、最可靠的一面——上帝赋予你和人类的最伟大馈赠。它是你最伟大的力量。

It is in this that you must place your faith, and you must place your faith in yourself to follow Knowledge, to undertake the deep re-evaluation of your life, to prepare for a greater purpose in the world, to follow the Steps one by one without demanding to control the process or have certainty of the outcome. In this way, you do surrender your mind to a Greater Power. But you do not surrender your responsibilities. And you do not avoid the requirements that will be revealed before you as you proceed.

你必须将你的信仰寄托于此，你必须将你的信仰寄托于你自己，去追随内识，去深度地重新评估你的生命，去为世界上的一个更伟大目的做好准备，按照步骤逐一进行，而不要求控制这个过程或确定结果。这样，你就将你的心灵交给了一种更伟大的力量。但你并没有放弃你的责任。你也没有逃避在你前进过程中将要揭示在你面前的要求。

This will clarify your mind. But you may be confused at the outset because it will require many different thoughts to change. It will require a different approach and a re-evaluation of where you have been and what you have done—an honest evaluation of your life.

这会让你的心灵清晰。但一开始你可能会感到困惑，因为这需要改变许多不同的想法。它需要一种不同的方式，需要重新评估你曾经走过的路和做过的事——对你生命进行一种诚实的评估。

For in your heart you know where you are succeeding and where you are failing. Begin with that. Do not require conclusions. Do not require answers. Do not require solutions. That all represents the anxiety of your mind and your own insecurity. Instead, commit yourself to the pathway that God has set within you and before you.

因为在你的心中，你知道你在哪些方面是成功的，在哪些方面是失败的。从这一点开始。不要求结论。不要求答案。不要求解决方案。这些都是你内心焦虑和不安的表现。相反，要致力于上帝在你内心和在你面前设定的道路。

Do not condemn others, but use that energy to commit yourself to learning from their mistakes, which will always tell you the importance of Knowledge and which will reinforce your commitment. Here even people’s great failures, tragedies and errors will encourage you towards Knowledge. For in the world, there is only Knowledge and the need for Knowledge. That is all you will find in the world.

不要责备他人，而是使用这种能量致力于从他人的错误中汲取教训，这将永远告诉你内识的重要性，并增强你的承诺。在这里，即使是人们的巨大失败、悲剧和错误也会鼓励你追求内识。因为在这个世界上，只有内识和对内识的需求。这就是你在世界上能找到的一切。

Here the way is simple, but incomprehensible. Your intellect cannot understand it. Your intellect can only support it and take the journey. Here that which is holding you back will be deconstructed as you proceed, and you will find where your real strength resides and how God really works in your life. You will find your strength, your confidence, your determination and a greater courage that you naturally possess.

在这里，道路是简单的，但难以理解。你的智力无法理解它。你的智力只能支持它并踏上旅程。在这里，随着你的前行，阻碍你前进的障碍将被解构，你将发现你真正的力量所在，以及上帝如何在你的生命中实际的工作。你将发现你的力量、你的信心、你的决心，以及你自然拥有的一种更伟大勇气。

Have faith in Knowledge in yourself and in others. But know that you must find this Knowledge, you must discern it, you must follow it and you must live it. You must see this in others, and you must forgive them for their failures, as God forgives them for their failures.

对你自己和他人的内识要有信仰。但要知道，你必须找到这种内识，你必须辨别它，你必须遵循它，你必须活出它。你必须在他人身上看到这一点，你必须原谅他们的失败，就像上帝原谅他们的失败一样。

Do not condemn the world, for it is a place where Knowledge has not been discovered. It is a place where people are not yet redeemed. How can you expect them to be successful, peaceful, loving and forgiving? It is a place of error. It is also a place of correction. It is a place where people can choose again. And their promise here is assured because God has placed Knowledge within them.

不要谴责这个世界，因为这是一个内识尚未被发现的地方。这是一个人们尚未得到救赎的地方。你怎么能期望他们成功、和平、有爱心和宽恕呢？这是一个错误的地方。这也是一个改正的地方。这是一个人们能够重新选择的地方。他们在这里的前景是有保证的，因为上帝将内识置于他们的内在。

The only question is: How long will it take? How great is the need? Knowledge is there. The need for Knowledge is everywhere. It is in you; it is in others; it is everywhere. Feel this and it will take you to the answer that God has placed within you. And the answer will not be an idea or a belief but a pathway you must follow. Knowledge will be committed to helping you follow this pathway. And with it, you will find the strength to do so.

唯一的问题是：这需要多长时间？需求有多大？内识就在这里。对内识的需求是无处不在的。它就在你的心中；也在他人的心中；它无处不在。感受它，它将带你找到上帝放置在你心中的答案。而答案将不是一个想法或信仰，而是一条你必须遵循的道路。内识将致力于帮助你遵循这条道路。有了它，你就会找到这样做的力量。