Harmful Influences

As received by Marshall Vian Summers on May 13, 2011 in Boulder, Colorado
2011年5月13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

The world is a beautiful place, particularly this world, a jewel in the universe of barren worlds. But the world is also a hazardous place, a place of many perils, a place of many difficulties.

这个世界是一个美丽的地方，尤其是这个世界，它是荒芜世界宇宙中的一颗明珠。但这个世界也是一个危险的地方，一个充满风险的地方，一个充满困难的地方。

It is so unlike your Ancient Home, from which you have come and to which you will return. It is a place of Separation. It is a place of disassociation. It is a place where people are distinct from one another and, though perhaps in close proximity, they seem to be worlds apart—cast into the darkness of their own isolation, cast in a world full of fear and uncertainty.

世界与你的古老家园是如此不同，你来自古老家园，也将返回古老家园。世界是一个分离的地方。它是一个脱离关系的地方。它是一个人们彼此不同的地方，尽管也许很接近，但他们似乎相隔世界——被抛入他们自己孤立的黑暗中，被抛入一个充满恐惧和不确定性的世界。

That is why God has given you Knowledge, the greater Intelligence, to guide you, to protect you and to lead you to a greater life—a greater life of service and fulfillment.

正因为如此，上帝赋予你内识，更伟大的智能，来指引你，保护你，引领你走向一种更伟大的生命——一种更伟大的服务和成就的生命。

Yet the world is still hazardous, even for those who have responded to a greater calling. They especially must pay attention to the hazards and the influences of the world that are harmful. They especially must see what strengthens them and what weakens them, what enables them to respond and what overshadows or undermines this response. For those who feel a greater calling, they must pay attention to these things.

然而世界依然危险，甚至对那些回应了更伟大召唤的人来说也是如此。他们尤其必须关注世界的危险和有害的影响。他们尤其必须看清什么强化了他们，什么削弱了他们，什么使他们能够回应，什么遮蔽或破坏了这个回应。对于那些感受到更伟大召唤的人来说，他们必须关注这些事情。

They will realize over time that they will need guidelines to help them so their mind may be renewed and uncontaminated by the world around them. This does not mean they withdraw completely from the world, for that only is rarely asked for, only for certain individuals who are going to lead a monastic life. But for the vast majority of people, they have been sent into the world to be in the world, to be involved in the world and to be of service to the world.

随着时间的推移，他们会意识到，他们需要一些指导方针来帮助他们，这样他们的心灵才能焕然一新，不受周围世界的污染。这并不意味着他们完全退出世界，因为很少有人要求这样做，只有某些打算过修道院生活的人才会这样做。但对于绝大多数人来说，他们被派到这个世界上来是为了融入世界、参与世界并为世界服务。

For everyone was sent into the world for a greater purpose, and the purpose is specific. Yet to respond to this and to prepare for this, you need to be aware of the hazards around you and the influences in the world, and even within yourself, that are harmful.

因为每个人被派到世界上都是为了一个更伟大的目的，这个目的是特定的。然而为了回应这个目的并为此做好准备，你需要察觉到你周围的危险以及世界上、甚至你自己内心的有害影响。

For those who are beginning to respond and to take the journey to Knowledge and the Steps to Knowledge, certain hazards will become apparent to them that are not apparent to others. Certain influences out in the world, and even more subtle influences in the mental environment, will begin to impinge upon them. And it is important that they become aware of these things.

对于那些开始做出回应并踏上内识之旅和内识进阶的人来说，某些危险将会对他们变得明显，而其他人则不会。世界上的某些影响，甚至心理环境中更微妙的影响，将开始影响他们。重要的是，他们要察觉到这些影响。

You have two minds. You have a worldly mind and a deeper Mind. God has created the deeper Mind. And your experience in the world and your response to the world from the past have created your worldly mind and influence it still to a very great degree.

你拥有两个心灵。你拥有一个世俗的心灵和一个更深层次的心灵。上帝创造了更深层次的心灵。而你在这个世界上的经历以及你过去对世界的反应，塑造了你的世俗心灵，并且至今仍对它有着很大的影响。

It is to bring your worldly mind under the guidance of your deeper Mind—the Mind that can respond to the Creator of all life—that represents the focus and the goal of all spiritual practice, in all traditions. This is made clear in God’s New Revelation for the world, for part of the purpose of the Revelation is to bring clarity and clarification to the meaning of your spirituality and the greater direction that your life is meant to follow.

正是将你的世俗心灵置于你更深层次心灵的指导之下——这个心灵能够回应所有生命的创造者——这代表了所有传统中所有精神实践的重点和目标。上帝对世界的新启示明确了这一点，因为启示的部分目的是澄清和阐明你精神性的意义以及你的生命应该遵循的更伟大方向。

While you are not being asked to withdraw completely from the world, you must become aware of its harmful influences and to protect yourself from these influences and to separate yourself from them when that is necessary.

虽然没有要求你完全脱离这个世界，但你必须察觉到它的有害影响，并保护你自己免受这些影响，并在必要时与它们分离。

The tragedies of the world, the difficulties of the world, human failure, human corruption, human aggression, human cruelty—all these things will make it more difficult for you to experience the presence of Knowledge within yourself and to respond to its guidance and to its direction.

世界的悲剧，世界的困难，人类的失败，人类的腐败，人类的侵略，人类的残忍——所有这些，都将使你更难以体验你内在内识的存在，并回应它的指引和它的指导。

This is not to say you are to deny these things or to reject them, for that would be to become dishonest. That would mean you would cease to become compassionate and aware of the world. But it does mean that there has to be insulation, for your mind now is becoming more sensitive, more penetrating in its perception as you take the Steps to Knowledge. And you must look upon these things carefully, with a greater awareness.

这并不是说你要否定或拒绝这些事情，因为这样做就会变得不诚实。这意味着你将不再保持同情心，也不再对这个世界保持觉察。但是，这意味着你必须有所隔离，因为你的心灵现在变得更加敏感，感知更加敏锐，这种感知力在你踏上内识进阶时会逐渐增强。你必须更加谨慎地看待这些事物，以一种更伟大的觉知来看待它们。

At the beginning, you are like a tender shoot. You are becoming sensitized to your deeper nature. You are beginning to open up within yourself. During this period, you must take reprieve—from the hazards of the world, from the tragedies of the world, even from the news of the world—for a period of time so you can gain a greater inner strength, the strength that Knowledge provides.

一开始，你就像一棵嫩芽。你开始对你更深层次的自然变得敏感。你开始打开你自己内心的大门。在此期间，你必须暂时远离世界的危险、世界的悲剧，甚至世界的新闻，这样你才能获得一种更伟大的内在力量，即内识提供的力量。

That is why you must have a very limited exposure to the media, particularly if you have been overexposed to the media. Now you must limit this exposure or your mind will constantly be aggravated, stimulated and directed by the world around you.

这就是为什么你必须尽量少接触媒体，特别是如果你已经过度接触媒体的话。现在你必须限制这种接触，否则你的心灵将不断受到周围世界的刺激和指挥。

The world is captivating. Its tragedy has its own attraction. Its difficulties arouse constant uncertainty, judgment and grievance. The failures of others, the tragedy of others, are all very compelling, you see. And you see people around you constantly compelled by these things.

这个世界令人着迷。它的悲剧本身就具有吸引力。它的困难不断引发不确定性、评判和不满。你看，其他人的失败、其他人的悲剧都非常引人注目。你会看到周围的人不断被这些事情所吸引。

But this becomes a hazard for you now as you are attempting to gain a connection with the Power and the Presence that God has placed within you. What seem like the normal influences and events of the day now can be seen as harmful to your purpose and to your progress.

但现在这对你来说却是一种危险，因为你正试图与上帝放置在你内心深处的力量和存在建立一种联接。现在看似正常的影响和事件可能会被视为对你的目的和进步有害。

When you become more aware of your inner nature, you become more aware of the world around you. You become sensitized in all directions. That is why you must limit your exposure to the events of the world and even to the tragedies and difficulties of people around you, or you will be captivated by their circumstances and situation, drawing you ever away from the source of strength and certainty within yourself.

当你更加察觉你的内在自然时，你就会更加察觉周围的世界。你会变得对各个方向都很敏感。这就是为什么你必须限制你对世界事件的关注，甚至限制你对周围人的悲剧和困难的关注，否则你就会被他们的境遇和处境所吸引，让你远离你自己内心的力量和确定性的源泉。

Likewise, it is a harmful influence to be drawn into the world even in service to the world until you have been really prepared and strengthened for this. You are not ready to serve the world. You are not ready to become truly engaged in solving problems or becoming an advocate, for this will draw you away from the center and source of your strength and power.

同样，在你真正为此做好准备并得到强化之前，被卷入世界，甚至服务于世界，也是一种有害影响。你还没有准备好服务世界。你还没有准备好真正参与解决问题或成为一名倡导者，因为这将把你拉离你的力量和能量的中心和源泉。

Only later can you return to the world, being inner directed now with the strength of Knowledge to support you. But even in this later stage of development, wisdom will show you that you must be very careful what you expose yourself to and what you give yourself to.

只有在以后，你才能回到这个世界，在内识力量的支持下，你现在受到内在的引导。但即使是在这个发展的后期阶段，智慧也会告诉你，你必须非常谨慎地对待你所接触到的和你所付出的一切。

The mind can only entertain so many things. It only has so much capacity at any given moment. It can only solve so many problems and address so many things. It will be filled with the world and with the difficulties of others until you can begin to take the Steps to Knowledge, which requires time and energy and focus.

心灵只能容纳这么多的事物。它在任何时刻的容量都是有限的。它只能解决这么多的问题，处理这么多的事情。心灵会被这个世界以及他人的困难所填满，直到你能够开始开展内识的进阶，而这需要时间、能量和专注。

Here you are taken into your inner world to find the source of your strength and direction. Here you can begin to recognize what is beneficial in your outer life and what is distracting, confusing or aggravating. Here you are not seeking peace. You are seeking to make a fundamental connection that will make inner peace possible in the future.

在这里，你被带入你的内在世界，找到你的力量和方向的源泉。在这里，你可以开始认识到你的外在生命中什么是有益的，什么是分散注意力、令人困惑或令人恼火的。在这里，你不是在寻求和平。你在寻求建立一种基本的联接，这种联接将使未来的内心平静成为可能。

Here you are not escaping the world. You are preparing yourself for the world, for you are not ready to assume a greater purpose yet. You do not have the strength. You do not have the wisdom. You do not yet have the discernment and the discretion that this higher purpose will require.

在这里，你不是在逃避世界。你是在为世界进行准备，因为你还没有准备好承担一种更伟大的目的。你没有力量。你没有智慧。你还没有这个更高宗旨所要求的辨别力和谨慎。

Though it may seem edifying and socially approving to be helpful to others, to be of service to others, in this formative stage, you must withdraw. You must withdraw from people who are not making progress in life. You must withdraw from human tragedy. You must withdraw from people who are consuming attention around them, even if their needs are legitimate, for this will occupy your mind and take you away—out, back into the outer world.

尽管在表面上，帮助他人、为他人服务看起来是令人钦佩且社会上认可的行为，但在这个成长的阶段，你必须退出。你必须远离那些在生命中没有进展的人。你必须远离人类的悲剧。你必须远离那些不断吸引周围注意力的人，尽管他们的需求可能是正当的，因为这些都会占据你的心灵，将你带走——带回外部的世界。

If you are to be a bridge between the Divine and the mundane, as you were designed to be, if you are to have this greater connection and this greater strength and be able to carry it successfully in the world, you will have to have a foot on either shore, like a bridge, anchored at either end. This requires a different use of the mind, a different understanding, a different way of seeing the world and responding to the world.

如果你要成为神圣与世俗之间的桥梁，就像你本来被设计成的那样，如果你要拥有这种更伟大的联接和更伟大的力量，并能够成功地将其带入世界，你就必须像桥一样，脚踏两岸，锚定两端。这需要一种不同的心灵、不同的理解、不同的看待世界和回应世界的方式。

Right now you are lost in the world, and you are lost in your own thoughts about the world. You are captivated, and you are a stranger to yourself. You know not of your deeper nature and the movement and the power of Knowledge within yourself sufficiently yet to be able to carry this strength out into the world and to contribute your gifts to the world where they are truly meant to be given.

现在你迷失在这个世界上，你迷失在你自己对这个世界的感想中。你被迷住了，你对你自己来说是个陌生人。你还不知道你更深层次的自然、你自己内在内识的运动和力量，以至于无法将这种力量带到这个世界，将你的礼物贡献给这个世界，而这些礼物正是你真正应该给予世界的。

You are not ready, regardless of what you think or believe. Even if you feel that God wants you to do something, and you are oriented in that way, you are still not ready.

无论你怎么想或相信什么，你都还没有准备好。即使你感觉到上帝希望你去做某件事情，而且你也正朝着这个方向努力，你仍然没有准备好。

God knows this. And that is why the Steps to Knowledge have been provided. And that is why the New Revelation is here, for humanity is facing great peril in the future. For you to navigate the uncertain and difficult times ahead, you will need this greater strength and deeper orientation.

上帝知道这一点。正因为如此，内识进阶才被提供。正因为如此，新启示才会在这里，因为人类在未来将面临巨大的危险。为了让你们渡过未来的不确定和艰难时期，你们将需要这种更伟大的力量和更深层次的定位。

Do not think that the world will not overtake you, for it has overtaken you already. And as things become more difficult and there is greater instability, greater difficulty and greater human suffering, it will overtake you even more completely.

不要认为世界不会超越你们，因为它已经超越了你们。随着事情变得越来越困难，不稳定因素越来越多，困难越来越大，人类遭受的苦难也越来越多，它将更加彻底地超越你们。

Be careful what you read. Feed your mind only that which can support you in taking the Steps to Knowledge. Put aside the newspaper. Even put aside the novel because that captures you and takes you away at a time when it is of the utmost importance for you to engage with your deeper nature and with the Power and Presence that God has placed within you.

小心你所读的内容。只给心灵提供那些能够支持你开展内识进阶的内容。把报纸放在一边。甚至把小说放在一边，因为当你需要与你的更深层次自然以及上帝放置在你内在的力量和存在进行互动时，它会吸引你并带你离开。

Turn off the television, even the radio, to become reacquainted with yourself, to become observant of your different states of mind, to become accepting of your experience and discerning what experience is truly beneficial and what is not. You cannot do this if you are constantly drawn away back out into the world.

关掉电视，甚至关掉收音机，重新认识你自己，观察你不同的心灵状态，接受你的体验，分辨哪些经历是真正有益的，哪些是无益的。如果你总是被外面的世界所吸引，你就无法做到这一点。

Even if you lived a life of service with the acclaim of others, if Knowledge is not strong within you, you are still weak and do not really know your way.

即使你一生致力于服务他人，受到他人的赞誉，但如果你内在的内识不够强大，你仍然是软弱的，无法真正知道你的道路。

Refrain from alcohol and drugs that alter your state of mind. You are trying to become aware of your state of mind and observant of it objectively, even dispassionately. How can you do that when it is fogged and clouded by taking these things?

避免酗酒和服用会改变心灵状态的药物。你正试图察觉到你的心灵状态，并客观地、甚至冷静地观察它。当你因为服用这些药物而变得模糊不清时，你又如何能做到这一点呢？

You want your eyes to be clear. You want your ears to hear and your eyes to see. You want to escape the fog of unknowing and all of the suffering and confusion and ambivalence that that creates within you.

你希望你的眼睛是清澈的。你希望你的耳朵能够听到，你的眼睛能够看见。你希望逃离未知的迷雾以及由此在你内心造成的所有痛苦、困惑和矛盾。

Next, you must really ascertain who is in your life and what they influence within you. Everyone in this regard is either helping you or hindering you in responding to your deeper nature and to discovering your greater calling in life. Even the kind and loving person can be dissuasive, casting suspicion and doubt upon your greater pursuits and your greater purpose.

接下来，你必须真正确定谁在你的生命中，以及他们对你内心的影响。在这方面，每个人要么帮助你，要么阻碍你回应你更深层次的自然，发现你生命中的更伟大召唤。即使是和蔼可亲、充满爱心的人，也会对你产生劝阻，对你更伟大的追求和更伟大的目的产生怀疑和猜忌。

People who do not experience these things within themselves will not be able to help you regardless of their wonderful qualities. In fact, they will be a hindrance. You will need to withdraw from people who are jaded and cynical in their outlook. Who is in your life will determine what you will be able to know and your ability to follow what you know. And that is why the quality of your relationships is so very important.

那些没有在内心体验过这些事情的人，无论他们有多优秀，都无法帮助你。事实上，他们会成为你的阻碍。你需要远离那些观点陈旧、愤世嫉俗的人。你生命中的人将决定你能知道什么，以及你追随你所知道内识的能力。这就是为什么你的人际关系质量如此重要。

Even if you only had one person who could be a real ally for you and support your greater endeavor in taking the Steps to Knowledge, that would be more beneficial than a thousand friends, who will just occupy your time with superficial things. For much of human engagement is merely an escape from oneself.

即使只有一个人可以成为你的真正盟友，支持你更努力地开展内识的进阶，它也比一千个朋友更有益，因为那些朋友只会用肤浅的事情来占用你的时间。因为人类的大部分活动只是逃避自我。

You will need to exercise great focus to alter your thinking and to learn how to see clearly and to hear without distortion. The time and the energy for this must be available to you. If you are too busy, too caught up in the world, overly engaged with other people and their problems and needs, you will not have the ability to take stock of your own inner life. You will not have the strength to set your life on a true course of development.

你需要集中极大的注意力来改变你的思维，学会如何清晰地看待和倾听而不扭曲事实。你必须有时间和能量来做这些。如果你太忙，太沉浸于这个世界，过度关注他人及其问题和需求，你将没有能力审视你自己的内在生命。你将没有足够的力量将你的生命引导到真实的发展道路上。

We have been speaking of things that are apparent and that you can see in the world. You can see this through your own past and experience, and you can see it clearly in the behavior and in the obsessions and distractions of others. Look without condemnation and you will be able to see. And your understanding will strengthen your commitment to Knowledge.

我们一直在谈论那些显而易见的、你可以在世界上看到的事情。你可以从你自己的过去和经历中看到这些，也可以从他人的行为、执着和分心中清楚地看到这些事情。不带谴责地去看，你就能看到。而你的理解会增强你对内识的承诺。

For without Knowledge, you are adrift in the world—driven by the opinions of others, driven by the events of the world, driven by your own fear and desire, vacillating between laziness and panic. As you begin to observe your mind and see what is occupying it, what is distressing it, what is dominating it, you will see the influence of the world. And you will see the degree to which this is holding you back.

因为没有内识，你就会在世界上随波逐流——被他人的观点驱使，被世界上的事件驱使，被你自己的恐惧和欲望驱使，在懒惰和恐慌之间摇摆不定。当你开始观察你的心灵，看看是什么占据了它，是什么使它痛苦，是什么主宰了它时，你会看到世界的影响。你也会看到这种影响在多大程度上阻碍了你。

We have been speaking of things that are easy to discern, but there are forces in the mental environment that are more difficult to discern. With your eyes and your ears, your senses and your touch, you only experience a certain spectrum of life. There is life that is going on beyond what your senses can report.

我们一直在谈论那些容易辨别的事情，但心理环境中有些力量更难辨别。用你的眼睛和耳朵、你的感官和你的触觉，你只能体验到生命的某个范围。有些生命正在发生，超出了你的感官所能报告的范围。

The mental environment has strong and powerful forces, extremely powerful in influencing people’s thoughts and emotions. Go into different homes and different places where people are congregated and you will experience the unique mental environment that exists there.

心理环境拥有强大而深远的力量，在影响人们的思想和情感方面极为强大。走进不同的家庭和人们聚集的地方，你将会体验到那里独特的心理环境。

Some places will feel good. Others will not, despite their appearances to the contrary. Everyone has experienced this. Even out in nature there are places where you might feel uncertain or unwelcome because even here there are subtle forces.

有些地方会让人感觉良好。而有些地方则不会，尽管表面上看起来并非如此。每个人都经历过这种情况。即使在大自然中，也有一些地方会让你感到不确定或不受欢迎，因为即使在这里也存在着微妙的力量。

People are sensitive to these things to varying degrees. But as you develop your sensitivity and as your senses become more refined, you will have greater experiences of the mental environment. And you will see even here there are things to avoid and things to be aware of.

人们对这些事物的敏感程度各不相同。但是，随着你的敏感度的提高，随着你的感官变得更加精细，你会对心理环境有更大的体验。即使在这里，你也会发现有些事情需要避免，有些事情需要警觉。

You will become more sensitive to your environment, and your vision will become deeper and sharper. This will alert you to other kinds of hazards and influences that you cannot really account for intellectually.

你会对环境变得更加敏感，你的视野也会变得更加开阔和敏锐。这将让你警觉到其他类型的危险和影响，而这些危险和影响是你无法从智力上真正解释的。

This is the natural result of refining your mind and focusing it, but with this greater sensitivity, there must be greater wisdom and greater self-restraint and self-discipline. Without this self-restraint and self-discipline, your sensitivity will make it more difficult for you to be with others and to function in the normal circumstances of life.

这是精炼你的心灵并专注的自然结果，但伴随着这种更大的敏感性，必须有更伟大的智慧、更强的自我克制和自律。没有这种自我克制和自律，你的敏感性会使你更难与他人相处，也会使你的生命在正常的环境中更难运作。

You will tend to withdraw and become isolated even further, unwilling or unable now to participate in life with any degree of ease or success. That is not the purpose of your preparation, for you are preparing to be in the world with a greater purpose in a more powerful way.

你会倾向于退缩，变得更加孤立，现在不愿意或无法以任何程度的轻松或成功地参与生命。这不是你准备的目的，因为你正在准备以一种更强大的方式带着更伟大的目的进入这个世界。

Even in the mental environment, there are hazards. There are presences, physical presences from the universe who are in the world today, seeking to take advantage of human weakness and division. They cast a powerful influence in the mental environment and can focus this influence on certain people to either draw them into their plans or to weaken their resistance. The wise know of these things. The unwise are merely influenced.

即使在心理环境中，也存在着危险。当今世界，有一些来自宇宙的存在、实体存在，试图利用人类的弱点和分裂。他们在心理环境中施加着强大的影响力，并能将这种影响力集中在特定的人身上，要么把他们拉进他们的计划，要么削弱他们的抵抗。智者知道这些事情。愚者只是受到影响。

To gain greater strength, you must gain greater responsibility. This means you are not only able to respond more completely to things, but you must exercise greater restraint about what you say and do. To the person who is not aware of these things, this will seem like a restriction of their freedom, but to the person who is taking the Steps to Knowledge, this will be seen as a great support and a great encouragement.

为了获得更伟大的力量，你必须承担更伟大的责任。这意味着你不仅能够更全面地回应事物，而且你必须对你的言行更加克制。对于没有察觉到这些事情的人来说，这似乎是对他们自由的限制，但对于正在开展内识进阶的人来说，这将被视为一种伟大的支持和伟大的鼓励。

That is why if you are taking the Steps to Knowledge, it would be very difficult to have close relationships with people who are not taking this greater journey in life. Even if they have good intentions, they will not be able to recognize and honor your deeper nature and the deeper calling that is drawing you towards the center and source of your strength.

正因为如此，如果你正在开展内识进阶，你与那些没有踏上生命中这个更伟大旅程的人建立亲密关系将非常困难。即使他们怀有善意，他们也无法认出和尊重你更深层次的自然，以及吸引你走向你力量中心和源泉的更深层次的召唤。

They will be dissuasive. They will become a harmful influence for you now. And though you may not reject them completely if they are members of your family or someone who has been close to you in the past, you will have to exercise greater discretion and caution around them.

他们会劝阻你。他们现在会对你产生有害的影响。如果他们是你的家人或过去与你关系密切的人，你可能不会完全拒绝他们，但你必须在他们身边更加谨慎和小心。

The power of Knowledge is with you. The Presence is with you. But everything in the world that has dominated you in the past and that dominates you now is also with you. And these things are leading you in different directions.

内识的力量与你同在。存在与你同在。但世界上过去主宰过你和现在主宰着你的一切事物也与你同在。这些事物正引领你走向不同的方向。

Therefore, during your time of preparation, particularly at the outset, you will have to limit your exposure to people, places and certain things. This will require great restraint and great discretion, things that most people do not possess, for they do not have the strength to exercise these things.

因此，在你的准备期间，特别是在开始的时候，你必须限制你接触到的人、地点和某些事物。这将需要极大的克制和极大的谨慎，而这些是大多数人所不具备的，因为他们没有足够的力量来做到这一点。

Here even your hobbies or your recreation must be reconsidered. Is it truly beneficial for you mentally and physically? Does it really give you reprieve? Does it really give you rest? Does it support your engagement with Knowledge? Or is it a form of escape, a running away? Many things actually fit this category and serve this purpose.

在这里，即使是你的爱好或娱乐活动也必须重新考虑。它真的对你的身心有益吗？它真的能让你得到缓解吗？它真的能让你休息吗？它支持你参与内识吗？或者它是一种逃避、一种逃离？许多事物实际上都属于这个类别，并服务于这个目的。

Refrain from going to the movies, as they imprint you and fill your mind with powerful images that will make it more difficult for you to still your mind and begin to explore your inner life.

不要去看电影，因为它们会给你留下深刻的印象，并在你的心灵中充满强烈的画面，让你更难平静你的心灵，并开始探索你的内在生命。

See what music does for you. Rather than playing it all the time, see what kind of emotions, thoughts and feelings it arouses. Is it truly beneficial for you? Or does it remind you of your suffering, your longing, your desires, your disappointments?

看看音乐对你有什么影响。与其一直播放音乐，不如看看它能激起什么样的情绪、思想和感受。它对你真的是有益的吗？还是它让你想起了你的痛苦、你的渴望、你的欲望、你的失望？

All these things must be re-evaluated because everything is having an influence upon you, and that influence is either helpful or a hindrance. Understanding this, then, gives you the criteria to re-evaluate all the things, people, places and influences in your life in a more objective manner, with greater clarity and discernment.

所有这些事情都必须重新评估，因为一切都会对你产生影响，而这种影响要么是有益的，要么是阻碍的。理解这一点，你就有了重新评估你生命中所有事物、人、地点和影响的标准，以更客观、更清晰和更有辨别力的方式进行评估。

If you are to have the freedom to live a life of greater purpose and integrity, you must gain this freedom, which has been lost to so many things. You must re-evaluate who you are with and what you do, how you spend your time and where your mind tends to go, and the influence and the effect of your activities upon you. Here you will see that many things that before seemed innocuous, or even pleasurable, really are a hindrance.

如果你想拥有自由，过上一种更有目的、更完整性的生命，你就必须获得这种自由，这种自由已经被许多事情所剥夺。你必须重新评估你和谁在一起，你在做什么，你如何度过你的时间，你的心灵倾向于去哪里，以及你的活动对你的影响和效果。在这里，你会看到许多以前看起来无害甚至令人愉悦的事情，其实是一种阻碍。

This is really about becoming truly honest with yourself. It is not about having one perspective versus another perspective. This is not about having one belief or set of beliefs versus other sets of beliefs. It is really about becoming honest with yourself, honest at a deeper level.

这实际上是要对你自己的真正诚实。它并不是一种观点与另一种观点的对立。它并不是一种信仰或一套信仰与另一套信仰的对立。这实际上是要对你自己诚实，一种在更深层次层面上的诚实。

What is really the truth about your involvement with this person or this activity or this form of engagement with the world? To be really honest, you will see if something is beneficial or not, and you will see how and even if you must be engaged with it.

要看到关于你与这个人、这项活动或这种与世界互动的方式之间，真正的真理？你就要做到真正的诚实，你将看到某件事是否对你有益，你会看到如何甚至是否必须参与其中。

Taking the Steps to Knowledge is a process of becoming truly honest with yourself and as a result honest with others—honest in your pursuits, honest in your values, honest in your communication with others, honest in what goals you set for yourself and why you set them. Honest.

开展内识的进阶是一个对你自己变得真正诚实的过程，因此，也是一个对他人诚实的过程——诚实对待你的追求，诚实对待你的价值观，诚实对待你与他人的交流，诚实对待你为你自己设定的目标以及设定这些目标的原因。诚实。

Knowledge is deep and simple because it is wholly honest. You are complex and confused because you are not yet wholly honest. Knowledge is strong, focused and powerful. Your mind is diffused, confused and set in opposing directions because you are not yet fully honest. You have not really come to terms with what you most deeply know and your true direction in life, which is all the product of becoming truly honest.

内识深刻而简单，因为它完全诚实。你复杂而困惑，因为你还不是完全诚实。内识强大、专注而有力。你的心灵是分散的、困惑的，并朝着相反的方向发展，因为你还不是完全的诚实。你还没有真正接受你最深刻知道的内识以及你生命中的真实方向，而这一切都是变得真正诚实的结果。

It is not about having a better belief system. It is not about perspective. It is not about opinions and ideas, for that is all at the surface of the mind.

它不是关于拥有一种更好的信仰体系。它不是关于视角的。它不是关于观点和想法的，因为这些都只是心灵表面的现象。

We are speaking of something that is far deeper than the surface of your mind, something that is intrinsic to your nature—that which has brought you into the world and that which you will reflect upon once you leave this world, that which is most elemental and fundamental to your being here.

我们谈论的是远比你心灵表面更深层次的内识，是与你的自然息息相关的内识——它把你带到了这个世界，当你离开这个世界时，你会对此进行反思，内识对于你在这里的存在来说是最不可或缺且最重要的基础。

As you take the Steps to Knowledge, you will have [the] opportunity to extend your honesty into new areas and to reconsider things you have always assumed or believed in without question. It is a very deep evaluation.

当你开展内识的进阶时，你将有机会将你的诚实延伸到新的领域，并重新考虑你一直毫无疑问地假设或相信的事情。它是一种非常深度的评估。

Here you will begin to see that which is harmful and that which is helpful. Here you will value simple pleasures. And you will see the danger and the hazard of giving your mind and life away to things that have no real promise or purpose for you.

在此你将开始看到什么是有害的，什么是有益的。在此你将珍视简单的乐趣。你将看到将你的心灵和生命交给那些对你没有真正承诺或目的的事情的危险和危害。

Let this be your understanding.

让这成为你的理解。