What is the Greater Community?

As received by Marshall Vian Summers on January 30, 1997 in Boulder, Colorado
1997年1月30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 Greater Community is an environment in which you live. It represents the greater physical and spiritual universe into which humanity is now emerging. You have always lived in the Greater Community, but your relative isolation in this world has not given you the experience of the greater context into which you are now emerging. It is this greater context that will give you the clarity and the understanding that you will need to discover the greater purpose that has brought you into the world.

大社区是你们所生活的环境。它代表了人类现在正逐渐融入的更大物质与精神宇宙。你们一直生活在大社区中，但你们在这个世界上的相对孤立并没有让你们体验到你们现在正在进入的更大背景。正是这个更大的背景将为你提供必要的清晰度和理解，让你发现促使你来到这个世界的更伟大目的。

The Greater Community into which humanity is now emerging represents a vast network of communities and cultures in the physical universe. This vast network represents the evolution of intelligent life in all of its manifestations, from the very primitive to the very advanced. It encompasses cultures that possess a wide array of values, motivations, beliefs and associations.

人类现在正逐渐融入的大社区代表着物质宇宙中一个庞大的社区和文化网络。这个庞大的网络代表着智能生命所有显现形式的进化，从最原始到最先进的显现形式。它涵盖了拥有各种价值观、动机、信仰和关联的文化。

The Greater Community is not united. It is diverse and often contentious, yet magnificent beyond what you can now possibly imagine. An emergence into the Greater Community will not be the result of your journeys into space but rather the result of visitors coming to the world. Many of these visitors are in the world today. They represent different organizations and associations. In essence, they are competing for influence in the world.

大社区并不是统一的。它是多样化的，往往充满争议，但其壮丽超出了你现在所能想象的范围。融入大社区并不会是你们进入太空旅行的结果，而是来访者来到这个世界的结果。许多这样的来访者如今就在这个世界上。他们代表着不同的组织和协会。实质上，他们正在争夺这个世界上的影响力。

Humanity’s emergence into the Greater Community represents the greatest threshold that humanity has ever faced as a race. It poses tremendous risks; however, it offers the possibility and the opportunity for humanity to unite and to gain a greater vantage point in life.

人类融入大社区，代表着人类作为一个种族所面临的最伟大门槛。它带来了极大的风险；然而，它也为人类提供了团结，以及获得一种更伟大生命视角的可能性和机会。

As you enter into these pages, you will begin to learn about the reality of the Greater Community, a reality that is very different from what many people in the world believe in today. And you will come to see that humanity is at a great threshold, and that you are connected to this threshold. Here your spiritual life and your spiritual reality will become illuminated and will finally have the context necessary for you to realize why you have come, who you must meet and what you must do.

当你进入这些页面时，你将开始学习关于大社区的现实，这个现实与当今世界上许多人所相信的非常不同。你将看到人类正处在一个伟大的门槛，而你与这个门槛是相互联接的。在这里，你的精神生命和精神现实将被照亮，并且终于拥有了必要的背景，让你意识到为什么你会来到这里、需要遇见谁以及必须做什么。

When you look out into the skies above you at night and you imagine how vast it is, it is important to understand that this universe is full of life. It is not that life only exists in remote and rare outposts amidst a vast desert of emptiness. Though there are many, many worlds that are uninhabited and uninhabitable, life has anchored itself and established itself throughout the Greater Community.

当你在夜晚仰望头顶的天空，想象它的辽阔时，重要的是要理解这个宇宙充满了生命。生命并不仅存在于浩瀚空虚中的偏远和稀有前哨。尽管有许许多多的世界是无人居住和不适合居住的，但生命在整个大社区中已经扎根并建立了它自身的存在。

Therefore, answer for yourself once and for all the question of whether you are alone in the universe. How impossible this is. How preposterous to even think that this could be the case. This kind of thinking is born of the fact that humanity has evolved in a state of relative isolation and has not had the advantage of direct contact with intelligent life from beyond the world, except recently.

因此，请为你自己明确回答这个问题：你们在宇宙中是否是唯一的生命。这种想法是多么的不可能，甚至想到这一点都是荒谬的。这种思维源于人类在相对孤立的状态中进化，并且在很长一段时间内没有直接与来自世界之外的智能生命接触，直到最近才开始出现这种情况。

In ancient times, Greater Community explorers came to your world to gather biological resources and, in rare situations, to hide things. Their encounters with native peoples were quite rare, for they were not here for that purpose.

在古代，来自大社区的探险者来到你们的世界，是为了采集生物资源，在极少数情况下，也是为了隐藏东西。他们与原住民的接触相当少，因为他们并不是为了这个目的而来到这里的。

From a Greater Community standpoint, your world is like a greenhouse, a great biological storehouse in the universe, and this is rare. For this reason, it has been used over the span of time as a place where biological resources could be gathered. Yet visitations were rare and the native peoples, though they witnessed some of these visitations, were not the primary focal point of the visitors.

从大社区的角度来看，你们的世界就像一个温室，是宇宙中一个巨大的生物储藏库，这是罕见的。出于这个原因，它长期以来一直被用作收集生物资源的场所。然而，探访却很少见，尽管土著人民目睹了一些探访，但他们并不是探访者的主要焦点。

A great turning point for humanity came in ancient times with the seeding of greater intelligence through interbreeding. This is what gave rise to modern man in a very short period of time and set the stage for humanity to emerge within this world as the predominant race and species, and to develop slowly the world civilizations that you see here today. This was largely the result of Greater Community intervention, an intervention that was destined to happen and has given you many of the great advantages that you experience here today, and many of the great problems that you face now as a race.

人类的伟大转折点出现在远古时代，当时通过杂交播种了更伟大智能的种子。这使现代人在非常短的时间内得以崛起，并为人类作为主导种族和物种出现在这个世界奠定了基础，并缓慢地发展出你今天在这里看到的世界文明。这在很大程度上是大社区干预的结果，这种干预注定会发生，它给你们带来了今天在这里体验到的许多伟大优势，也给你们作为一个种族现在面临的许多伟大问题。

When We say relative isolation, We mean that [though] you have grown up in a world preoccupied with human ideals, human values and human endeavors, the Greater Community has had a profound effect upon your evolution and development. Yet this has not been part of your experience, for humanity has seemed to evolve alone in the universe, drifting through space, unaware of the greater forces that are shaping life and are shaping the destiny even of this world.

当我们说相对孤立时，我们的意思是尽管你是在一个专注于人类理想、人类价值和人类事业的世界中成长的，但大社区对你们的进化和发展产生了深远的影响。然而，这并不是你们体验的一部分，因为人类似乎在宇宙中孤独地进化，漂流于太空之中，没有察觉到那些正在塑造生命、甚至正在塑造这个世界天命的更强大势力。

In this way, you are like villagers deep in the jungle. Your religions reflect the range of your perception and understanding. Yet you are largely unaware of the greater forces that are functioning in your world and will likely be greatly unprepared for the coming of visitors from that world.

在这种情况下，你们就像是丛林深处的村民。你们的宗教反映了你们的感知和理解范围。然而，你们在很大程度上没有察觉到你们世界上正在运作的更强大的势力，并且很可能会对来自大社区世界的来访者没有准备。

Using this analogy, you can begin to see the great predicament that humanity is in at this time, for you are like villagers in a remote jungle who are about to be discovered by the outside world. Humanity is about to be discovered by divergent forces from the Greater Community who are here for their own purposes. Here your isolation will be rudely interrupted, and the discovery that you are not alone in the universe, or even within your own world, will come in shocking waves of revelation.

使用这个类比，你可以开始看到人类此时所处的巨大困境，因为你们就像是一个偏远丛林中的村民，即将被外界发现。人类即将被来自大社区的不同势力发现，他们来到这里是出于他们自己的目的。在这里，你们的孤立状态将被粗暴打破，你们将在令人震惊的启示浪潮中发现，你们在宇宙中并不孤单，甚至在你们自己的世界中也不孤独。

Many people feel there is a great movement in the world today, that [they] are at a great turning point. Some speculate that this will lead to a great disaster for humanity, others to a great awakening. It is as if the ground is moving beneath your feet, and within yourself you feel a great turbulence, as if something is driving you forward towards an unseen and unknown destiny.

许多人感受到当今世界正在发生一场伟大的运动，他们正处于一个伟大的转折点。一些人推测这将导致人类的一场大灾难，而另一些人则认为这将导致一次伟大的觉醒。它就好像你脚下的大地正在移动，在你自己的内心深处，你感受到了一种巨大的动荡，仿佛有什么东西正驱使着你，推动你走向一个不可见和未知的天命。

In response to this great movement, people project their ideas, their beliefs, their hopes and their fears. And from their perspective, the world is either filled with angels or with demons, as they speculate that the great times of change will fulfill the ancient prophecies or will begin new ones.

为响应这个伟大的运动，人们表达了他们的想法、他们的信仰、他们的希望和他们的恐惧。从他们的角度来看，这个世界要么充满天使，要么充满魔鬼，因为他们推测，伟大的变革时代将实现古老的预言或开启新的预言。

This is the result of people experiencing the evolution of the world, of experiencing living at a time of great change. This is the result of people experiencing the world’s emergence into the Greater Community. Yet how few people in the world today really understand what they are experiencing.

这是人们经历世界进化、生活在伟大变革时代的结果。这是人们感受到世界逐渐融入大社区的结果。然而，当今世界上真正理解他们所经历的是什么的人却少之又少。

Humanity is emerging out of its isolation now. It is emerging into a Greater Community of life. It is entering a larger physical and spiritual universe, of which it has always been a part.

人类现在正从孤立中走出来。它正在融入一个生命的大社区。它正在进入一个更大的物质与精神宇宙，而人类一直是其中的一部分。

Here you will encounter the reality of other forms of intelligent life, but they will not be angelic, and they will not be demonic. They will be races of individuals who are facing the same problems of survival and competition, advancement and control that humanity is struggling with within the world. Though their technology seems to be beyond comprehension, that does not mean that they have magical powers. They are here for their own purposes, very little of which has anything to do with human reality or human history.

在这里，你们将遭遇其他形式的智能生命的现实，但他们将不会是天使，他们将不会是恶魔。它们将是由个体组成的种族，面临着人类在世界上挣扎的生存与竞争、进步与控制等同样的问题。尽管它们的技术似乎难以理解，但这并不意味着他们拥有神奇的力量。它们来到这里是出于他们自己的目的，这些目的与人类的现实或历史几乎没有任何关系。

The Greater Community is in the world today. When We say this, We mean that there are a few groups who are here. They certainly do not represent the entire Greater Community. Yet their presence here brings with it the reality that life will change forever within the world, and that all that humanity has developed in its life in isolation will undergo a profound change and challenge, tremendous growth.

大社区现在就在这个世界中。当我们这样说时，我们的意思是，这里只有少数几个小组。他们当然不代表整个大社区。然而，它们在这里的存在带来了一个现实，生命将在这个世界中永远改变，而人类在孤立中发展的一切将经历深刻的改变和挑战，以及极大的成长。

This is the most difficult thing that could happen to humanity at this time, and yet it is the most beneficial. For it will take the presence of the Greater Community to finally bring humanity to realize that it must unite, that it must preserve the world, that it must protect its citizens, and that it must become strong and capable in order to function within a Greater Community environment.

这对人类来说是此时可能发生的最困难的事情，然而同时也是最有益的。因为唯有大社区的存在，才能使人类最终认识到它必须团结，必须保护这个世界，必须保护其公民，并且必须变得强大和有能力，以便在一个大社区环境中有效运作。

Why is the Greater Community here in the world today? The Greater Community has been called here and brought here for different reasons and different motivations, but primarily each group is responding to humanity’s development and the prospect of humanity’s emergence into the Greater Community. Some are here to gain advantage in the world. Some are here to observe you. Some are here to offset your dangerous and aggressive tendencies. And some are here because they support your emergence into the Greater Community, and they value your existence and they wish to assure your advancement.

大社区为何出现在当今世界？大社区因不同的原因和动机而被召唤至此，但最主要的是，每个群体都是为了响应人类的发展和人类崛起成为大社区的前景。有些种族来到这里是为了在世界上获得优势；有些种族来到这里是为了观察你们；有些种族来到这里是为了抵消你们的危险和侵略性倾向。有些种族来到这里是因为他们支持你们融入大社区，他们珍视你们的存在，并希望确保你们的进步。

Clearly, you can begin to see that you are entering a very complicated environment, a very complex situation. You are entering an environment where humanity is not the primary race, is not the strongest participant, is not the ruling party, and this gives rise to fear and anxiety.

显然，你可以开始看到你们正在进入一个非常复杂的环境，一个极其复杂的局势。你们正在进入一个人类不是主要种族、不是最强大的参与者、也不是统治方的环境，这引发了恐惧和焦虑。

Humanity’s great world wars in this century [20th century] and the development of nuclear weapons have given a great signal to those in the Greater Community who are aware of humanity’s existence that their intervention must take place now. This is also stimulated by the deterioration of the natural environment here, an environment which is highly valued by others. With the exception of those few races who are aware of humanity, who seek to assure and protect your advancement, all the other races are here to serve their own interests, to preserve the world for their own uses. They are here primarily to control humanity.

人类在20世纪经历的世界大战以及核武器的发展，向那些察觉到人类存在的大社区成员发出了一个重要信号，表明它们的干预必须现在进行。这也受到这里自然环境恶化的刺激，这种环境在其他种族中被高度重视。除了少数察觉到人类、寻求确保和保护你们进步的种族外，所有其他种族都是为了他们自己的利益而来，为他们自己的利益而保护这个世界。他们来到这里主要是为了控制人类。

Within the Greater Community, you have allies, you have enemies, and you have competitors. Your allies are not here directly. They are not here to control humanity. They do not wish to take over or to influence human government or human affairs. Instead, they wish to present something that will enable humanity to prepare for the Greater Community and to learn to gain wisdom and discernment in this larger arena of life that at the outset seems so daunting, so immense and so confusing. They watch you from afar, and they send their counsel to those who can receive them. They do not represent great military forces, for that is not their strength and their wisdom.

在大社区中，你们有盟友、有敌人，也有竞争对手。你们的盟友并不直接在这里。他们来这里不是为了控制人类。他们也不希望接管或影响人类政府或人类事务。相反，他们希望呈现一些东西，使人类能够为融入大社区做好准备，并学习在这个一开始看起来如此令人生畏、如此庞大和如此令人困惑的更大生命舞台上获得智慧和辨别力。他们从远处观察你们，并将他们的忠告传递给那些能够接收的人。他们并不代表强大的军事力量，因为这不是他们的力量和智慧所在。

In the Greater Community you have enemies. That is not to say you have enemies at this moment, but there are those who will oppose your ventures into space, and they will certainly oppose your ventures beyond this solar system when that threshold is reached.

在大社区中，你们有敌人。这并不是说你们现在就有敌人，但将会有势力反对你们进入太空的冒险事业，尤其是在你们跨越这个太阳系的门槛时，他们肯定会反对你们的探索。

According to Greater Community values, at least amongst nations that trade and interact, a world such as yours can claim dominion over its own solar system but not beyond. Given human values and the generally anthropocentric view that the universe is there for the taking, this will create great problems for humanity in the future and will create adversity. You are only a century away from being able to go beyond your solar system, a very short period of time in the larger scheme of things.

根据大社区的价值观，至少在进行贸易和互动的国家之间，像你们这样的世界可以声称对它自己的太阳系拥有主权，但不能超越这个范围。鉴于人类的价值观和普遍的人类中心主义观点，即宇宙是可以被征服的，这将在未来给人类带来巨大的问题，并将造成逆境。你们距离能够超越太阳系仅有一个世纪的时间，从更大的范围来看，它只是一段非常短暂的时间。

Your enemies will oppose you because they have their own interests, which they wish to protect, and because they do not regard the aggressive nature of human communities as they exist today in a positive way. Those who are potential enemies of humanity that live within the proximity of this world beyond your solar system are aware of your existence and will seek to defend themselves against humanity if it becomes necessary. They have no interest in human affairs except to defend themselves against it.

你们的敌人将会反对你们，因为他们有他们自己的利益，他们希望保护他们自己的利益，并且他们对当今人类社会的侵略性并不持积极态度。那些生活在你们太阳系之外的这个世界附近、潜在的敌对种族，已经察觉到你们的存在，并将在必要时寻求保护他们自己免受人类的威胁。他们对人类事务没有任何兴趣，只想保护他们自己免受人类侵害。

Next, you have competitors. These represent races of beings who want to have some kind of interaction with you, but for their own purposes. Some will seek to establish trade; some will compete with you for the resources of this world. None of them will have your best interests at heart except insofar as it serves their own purposes. They will collaborate only for advantage, and they will oppose you and attempt to manipulate you if you are competing for the same things. They are not enemies in the sense that this will generate warfare, but it creates very subtle forms of adversity, with which humanity is quite unprepared to contend.

接下来，你们有竞争对手。这些代表着想要与你们进行某种互动的种族，但出于他们自己的目的。有些种族会寻求建立贸易；有些种族则会与你们争夺这个世界的资源。他们中的任何一方都不会真心为你们着想，除非这能服务于他们自己的目的。它们只会为了获得优势而合作，如果你们在争夺同样的资源，它们将会反对你们并试图操纵你们。他们不是那种会引发战争的敌人，但这会造成非常微妙的逆境，人类还没有做好与之抗衡的准备。

Within the great scope of the Greater Community, there are very, very few races who are aware of humanity’s existence. By very few, let Us say 20 or 30. Very few.

在大社区的巨大范围内，察觉到人类存在的种族是非常、非常稀少的。若用数字来说明，可以说大约只有20到30个种族。非常少。

For the Greater Community is vast. Space travel is relatively slow. It takes a long time to get around. The distances are vast. There are huge areas that are unexplored and uncharted. [In] the Greater Community, large regions are called sectors. Within a sector, there may be several thousand solar systems, many of which are uninhabited.

因为大社区是广袤无垠的。太空旅行相对缓慢，需要很长时间才能到达目的地。距离非常遥远。有大量区域尚未被探索和测绘。在大社区中，大范围地区被称为区域。在一个区域内，可能有数千个太阳系，其中许多是无人居住的。

The sector that your world exists in is very densely inhabited. What that means is that if 12-15% of solar systems are inhabited, that is considered densely populated in the Greater Community. So your world, rather than being in some far corner of the universe, is actually right in the thick of things. This means that humanity will have to contend with the realities of Greater Community trade, commerce, cooperation and competition to a far greater extent than if your world were in a remote and uncharted region of the Greater Community.

你们世界的所在区域是人口非常稠密的。这意味着，如果12%-15%的太阳系有种族居住，它在大社区中就被认为是高度聚集的。因此，你们的世界并不处于宇宙的某个偏远角落，而实际上正处于中心地带。这意味着人类将不得不更大程度上面对大社区的贸易、商业、合作与竞争的现实，比起如果你们的世界位于大社区的偏远和未探索区域时要更加显著。

Greater Community forces are in the world today because humanity is destroying the world and because humanity is at the threshold of emerging into space. Here humanity is suddenly thrust into a greater environment representing greater forces, some of which are even competing with each other for influence here.

大社区的势力存在于当今世界，因为人类正在破坏这个世界，并且人类正处于走向太空的门槛上。在这里，人类突然被推入一个代表着更强大势力的更大环境，其中一些势力甚至在这里相互竞争，争夺这里的影响力。

It is like the remote villagers finding themselves within a larger human community representing forces, empires and nations of which they are totally unaware. Yet how much more inexplicable will the Greater Community seem to you than the outside world of humanity would seem to the remote villagers who are finally discovered.

它就像是偏远村民突然发现他们自己身处一个更大的人类社区，而这个社区代表着他们完全不知道的势力、帝国和国家。然而，大社区对你们而言会显得更加难以理解，这与那些最终被发现的偏远村民所感受到的人类外部世界相比，复杂程度不可同日而语。

This is the great turning point. This is the great threshold. This is why you have come into the world—to be a part of this, to learn about this and to make a positive contribution to humanity and to the world.

这是一个伟大的转折点。这是一个伟大的门槛。这就是你来到这个世界的原因——成为这个世界的一部分，学习这个世界，并为人类和这个世界做出积极的贡献。

And yet how far and beyond human comprehension, human concern and human belief are the very things that shape and will shape and have always shaped human destiny and human evolution.

然而，那些塑造并将继续塑造、一直以来塑造人类天命和人类进化的事物，却远远超出人类的理解、人类的关注和人类的信仰。

Humanity’s encounter with the greater forces is imminent now and is being greatly felt by many people around the world. Some retreat into their ancient religions, prophesying the end or the beginning. Others go into a state of prolonged confusion and ambivalence and are unable to function, even in the affairs of daily life. And others try to move forward, try to break the bonds of the past and enter a greater and new understanding.

人类与更强大势力的遭遇即将到来，目前在世界各地已被许多人深刻感受到。一些人退回到他们古老的宗教中，预言着终结或新的开始。另一些人则陷入长时间的困惑和矛盾之中，甚至无法在日常生活中正常运作。而其他人则试图向前迈进，试图打破过去的束缚，进入一种更伟大和全新的理解。

These represent the three primary responses that any person can have to great change, and they are demonstrated on a mass level. Faced with great change, you can either go away from it, you can go against it or you can go towards it.

这代表了任何人面对伟大变革时可能产生的三种主要回应，他们在大众层面上得到体现。面对伟大的变革，你可以选择远离它，你可以选择抵抗它，你也可以朝着它前进。

To go away from great change is to enter fantasy and confusion and to become preoccupied with little things to the exclusion of everything else. This represents all of the addictive behavior of humanity and the many manifestations of human preoccupation.

远离伟大的变革就会陷入幻想和困惑，专注于琐碎之事而忽略其他一切。这代表了人类的所有成瘾行为以及人类专注的多种表现形式。

To go against great change means to hold fast to old ideas and to oppose the emergence of change, to fight against the tides of change, to completely identify with something in the past and use it to resist the present and the future.

反对伟大的变革意味着坚持旧的想法，反对变革的出现，奋力与变革潮流作斗争，完全认同过去的某些事物，并借此抵制现在和未来。

To go towards great change requires that one break free of the bonds of the past sufficiently to be able to gain a new understanding, to break new ground psychologically and emotionally, and to attempt to extend and to open to new possibilities.

要走向伟大的变革，就需要一个人充分摆脱过去的束缚，以便获得一种新的理解，在心理和情感上开辟新的天地，并尝试扩展和开启新的可能性。

Each of these three responses is inherent within each person, yet one will always be predominant. That is to say, people are capable of responding in any one of these ways to great change, but they will tend to respond primarily in one way.

这三种回应在每个人身上都是固有的，但其中一种总会占据主导地位。也就是说，人们能够以这三种方式中的任何一种来应对伟大的变革，但他们往往倾向于以其中一种方式为主。

Each of these responses has certain benefits and certain liabilities. Each has great risks. That is why it is necessary to learn The Way of Knowledge and to develop the wisdom to experience Knowledge and to express Knowledge.

每种回应都有一定的好处，也有一定的弊端。每一种都有很大的风险。这就是为什么有必要学习内识之路，并培养智慧来体验内识和表达内识。

It is essential now that you accept that your world is emerging into a Greater Community and to accept that this is beyond your comprehension and to accept that you are not prepared for it.

现在至关重要的是，你要接受这个事实：你们的世界正在走向一个大社区，同时也要承认这一切超出了你的理解力，并且接受你对此尚未做好准备。

This realization, which is so fundamental and essential for your well-being and your ability, may give rise to great anxiety. But if seen correctly, it will give rise to great promise, and will call forth your greater abilities, and will enable you to prepare for a new life in a greater world. This is the great challenge and the great opportunity that faces you and that faces people everywhere.

这个认知，对于你的福祉和你的能力而言是如此根本和不可或缺，它可能会引发巨大的焦虑。但如果正确看待它，它将带来伟大的承诺，将激发你更伟大的能力，并将使你能够为在更大世界中的一种新生命做好准备。这是你以及世界各地的人们共同面临的伟大挑战和伟大机会。

Humanity will be led forth by the few who can respond and who can prepare. Everyone else will become victims of change rather than the beneficiaries. They will succumb rather than advance. Your history has proven this again and again at times of great upheaval.

人类将由少数能够回应并做好准备的人引领前行。其他所有人都将成为变革的受害者，而不是受益者。他们将屈服于变革而非向前迈进。你们的历史在大动荡时期一次又一次地证明了这一点。

It is for this reason that there is a great calling in the world today, a spiritual calling—calling people forth out of their fantasies, out of their ancient beliefs, out of their fixed viewpoints, to gain a greater vantage point and a greater position in life, and from here to be able to prepare for the changing of the world and the coming of the Greater Community. It is this calling that this book represents. Take courage, then, and enter into these pages with the desire to learn and with the confidence that Knowledge within you, the great knowing Mind, will respond.

正是因为这个原因，当今世界存在着一种伟大的召唤，一种精神的召唤——召唤人们走出幻想、走出他们的古老信仰、走出他们的固定观点，去获得一种更伟大的视角和一种更伟大的生命位置，从这里开始为世界的改变和大社区的到来做好准备。这本书所代表的就是这种召唤。因此，请鼓起勇气，带着学习的渴望和自信进入这些页面，相信你内在的内识，伟大的知道心灵，将会做出回应。

What you will learn here you will not be able to learn in any other book, for this is a teaching about the Greater Community. This is the preparation for the Greater Community. It is a spiritual teaching because it calls upon the greater powers within you that you have brought with you into the world from your Ancient Home. And yet it is a teaching about how to be in the world, how to live life every day, how to deal with all the mundane manifestations of life, and at the same time how to penetrate the great mysteries that will reveal to you your purpose in coming here and what must be accomplished by you specifically.

在这里你将学到的知识是其他任何书籍中都无法获得的，因为这是关于大社区的教导。这是为大社区做准备的精神教导，因为它召唤你内在更伟大的力量，这个力量是你从古老的家园带入这个世界的。同时，这也是一门关于如何在世界中存在、如何在生命中度过每一天、如何应对生命中所有世俗的表现形式的教导，此外，还涉及如何深入探寻伟大的神秘，从而揭示你来到这里的目的以及你特定需要完成的任务。

It is with this understanding that you will come to see that the Greater Community represents a very practical form of salvation for humanity. For without emergence into a larger arena of life, humanity would simply deteriorate here in the world, unable to overcome its deficiencies and its conflicts, its history and its cultural adversities. The Greater Community, with all of its challenges and all of its problems, provides the context for humanity to recognize that it is one, and that it must unite, and that it must preserve and develop its resources if it is to survive and to advance in a greater arena of life.

正是凭借这个理解，你将看到大社区代表着人类一种非常实用的救赎形式。因为人类如果没有出现在更大的生命舞台上，人类将只会在这个世界上衰败，无法克服它的缺陷和冲突、它的历史和它的文化逆境。大社区，带着它的所有挑战和所有问题，为人类提供了一个背景，使其能够认识到人类的统一性，它必须团结起来，它必须维护和发展它的资源，如果人类想在一个更大的生命舞台上生存和进步的话。

If you are a person who has become aware that you are undergoing a spiritual development, you have also come to realize that spiritual development often is most greatly furthered through experiences of difficulty and adversity. You have had the opportunity to learn that some of the greatest gifts come amidst the most difficult and challenging times.

如果你察觉到你正在经历精神发展，你也会意识到，精神发展往往通过经历困难和逆境而得到最大程度的推进。你有这个机会来学习，一些最伟大的礼物往往是在最困难和具有挑战性的时期获得的。

This is how intelligence is strengthened and expanded. This is how spirituality is discovered and expressed. This is how individuals everywhere, both within your world and throughout the Greater Community, are able to rise beyond their personal self-preoccupations to enter a greater life and a greater service.

这就是智能得到加强和拓展的方式。这就是精神性被发现和表达的方式。无论是在你们的世界里，还是在整个大社区中，个人都能通过这种方式超越他们个人的自我专注，进入一种更伟大的生命和一种更伟大的服务。

We invite you, therefore, to take this great step forward, to learn about the meaning of your life, your purpose for coming to the world, the evolution of the world and the coming of the Greater Community.

因此，我们邀请你迈出这伟大的一步，去学习关于你生命的意义、你来到这个世界的目的、世界的进化以及大社区的到来。

Take this step with courage and with humility. Take this step realizing that you are at the beginning of a great journey. Take this step realizing and recognizing the tremendous limitations under which you currently live. And take this step with the understanding that the opportunity unlike any other is presented before you to become a greater human being in a greater world in a greater universe. It is from this point forward that you can begin your education in The Greater Community Way of Knowledge.

以勇气和谦逊迈出这一步。迈出这一步时，要意识到你正处在一段伟大旅程的开端。迈出这一步时，认识到你当前生活在极大的局限性下。迈出这一步时，要理解，你面前有前所未有的机会，它让你有可能成为一个更伟大的人类存在，在一个更广阔的世界和宇宙中。从这一点开始，你可以开始你大社区内识之路的教育。