The Great Challenge Awaiting Humanity

As received by Marshall Vian Summers on January 31, 1997 in Boulder, Colorado
1997年1月31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

There are very many people throughout the world today that feel a great change is upon humanity. They base this not only upon the substantive change they see in their societies and cultures, but also in terms of their deepest feelings. Some are hopeful; many are fearful; some only speculate that greater rewards and success await humanity, while others forecast a great calamity is coming.

当今世界，有许多人都感觉到人类将迎来一场伟大的变革。他们的依据不仅是他们在社会和文化中看到的实质性变化，还有他们最深切的感受。有些人充满希望，也有许多人心存恐惧；有些人只是猜测人类将获得更大的回报和成功，而另一些人则预测一场巨大的灾难即将来临。

Many people in the world today are very worried. This is all the result of living in a period of transition, a period of great change. Throughout history during these periods, many great spiritual proclamations have been made: some predicting it is the beginning of a golden age, others the downfall and end of human existence. These kinds of prophecies and the legitimate concerns that people have are all part of living at a great turning point.

当今世界许多人都非常担忧。这都是生活在过渡时期、伟大变革时期的结果。纵观历史，在这些时期，人们做出了许多伟大的精神宣言：一些人预言这是一个黄金时代的开始，另一些人预言这是人类存在的衰落和终结。这些预言和人们的合理担忧都是生活在一个伟大转折点的一部分。

In response to this, many people try to retreat into ancient traditions, trying to recapture and relive what they believe was a golden or more pure era of human existence. Others become lost in fantasy, unable to deal with their own inner experiences or the substantive experience of change around them. Still others attempt to move forward, bravely going they know not where, but trying to move beyond the past and all that it represents.

对此，许多人试图回归古老的传统，试图重温他们认为是人类存在的黄金时代或更纯粹的时代。其他人则迷失在幻想中，无法处理他们自己的内心体验或周围变化的实质性体验。还有一些人试图向前迈进，勇敢地走向他们不知道的地方，但试图超越过去和它所代表的一切。

These three responses demonstrate that humanity is living at a great turning point. The evidence of this is everywhere if you but look. But where is humanity going? What is really occurring? What is propelling the momentous change that people experience around them? And why are people restless and uncertain? What is generating this anxiety, this concern and this excitement?

这三种回应表明人类正处在一个伟大转折点上。只要你留心观察，就会发现这方面的证据随处可见。但人类将走向何方？究竟发生了什么？是什么推动了人们所经历的伟大变化？为什么人们会感到不安和不确定？是什么导致了这种焦虑、这种担忧和这种兴奋？

To find the answer to these questions, you must look beyond the hopes and fears of the human family. You must look beyond the prescriptions for unbridled success or complete downfall that many people [predict]. In all of the different forecasts in between these two extreme perceptions, you must look beyond yourself first into the Greater Community.

要找到这些问题的答案，你必须超越人类大家庭的希望和恐惧。你必须超越许多人预测的无节制的成功或彻底的失败。在这两种极端看法之间的所有不同预测中，你必须首先超越你自己，进入大社区。

It is quite evident that people have not looked towards their destiny in the Greater Community. For many of the forecasts for the future that you read about or are aware of in the world today do not contain any mention of the Greater Community because many people believe that humanity will merely continue in its state of isolation, trying to overcome its problems, trying to capitalize on its strengths, trying to adjust to the difficult change at hand and the difficult change to come.

显然，人们还没有展望他们在大社区中的天命。因为你在当今世界读到的或意识到的许多未来预测都没有提及大社区，因为许多人相信人类将仅仅继续处于孤立状态，努力克服它的问题，努力利用它的优势，努力适应眼前的艰难变化和即将到来的艰难变化。

Where do you see, in all the bright and dismal prospects for the future, any mention of the Greater Community, any mention that humanity’s age-old isolation is coming to an end? People are still thinking in a state of isolation. They are projecting their ideas, their beliefs and their aspirations within a state of isolation.

在所有光明和黯淡的未来前景中，你在哪里看到任何关于大社区的提及，任何关于人类古老孤立状态即将结束的提及？人们仍然在孤立状态下思考。他们在孤立状态下投射他们的想法、他们的信仰和他们的愿望。

Most people in the world today do not realize that their isolation is over and that the Greater Community is here. But day by day, the evidence grows that something important is happening, something significant is changing, something that is not the product of human error or human invention. Something beyond what the human family is creating is generating a great change.

当今世界上的大多数人没有意识到他们的孤立已经结束，大社区已经到来。但日复一日，越来越多的证据表明，一些重要的事情正在发生，一些重大的事情正在改变，一些并非人类错误或人类发明的产物。一些超越人类大家庭所创造的事情正在引发一场巨变。

Day by day the evidence grows. Day by day more people are becoming aware. But there is still tremendous ignorance and denial. There is still tremendous manipulation of the evidence. It is very hard for people to gain any reliable information now.

证据一天天增多。越来越多的人开始意识到这一点。但仍然存在着巨大的无知和否认。证据仍然被大量操纵。现在人们很难获得任何可靠的信息。

The governments of the world will not tell you what they know. The religious institutions of the world cannot help you. People are filled with superstition. They are filled with hope. They are filled with wild expectancy. But who can see clearly? Whose thoughts are clear and unaffected by the prevailing attitudes and beliefs of society?

世界各国政府不会告诉你他们所知道的事情。世界各国宗教机构也无法帮助你。人们充满迷信。他们充满希望。他们充满疯狂的期待。但谁能看得清楚？谁的思想清晰，不受社会主流态度和信仰的影响？

The answer is both outside of you and within you, not just one or the other. You must look into the world, at the greater movement of the world. You must look beyond the human inventory of hope, belief, fear and aspiration. You must look beyond the human family to find that humanity is no longer alone, even within its own world; to find that the Greater Community is here and that your isolation is over; to find that the world of [humanity] is preparing for a great turning point, a turning point that will forever change the destiny of humanity and the outcome of human endeavor.

答案既在你的外在，也在你的内在，不只是其中之一。你必须看向世界，看向世界的更广大运动。你必须超越人类的希望、信仰、恐惧和渴望。你必须超越人类大家庭，才能发现人类不再孤独，即使在人类自己的世界里；才能发现大社区就在这里，你们的孤立已经结束；才能发现人类世界正在为一个伟大转折点做准备，这个转折点将永远改变人类的天命和人类事业的结果。

You must look into the world with new eyes, not with eyes of hope and longing, not with eyes of fear and trepidation, but look to see what is there, to take the time and the energy to really look and see what is there. Most people will not give this time. They are too afraid of their own uncertainty. They do not want to experience the confusion that anyone would experience as they are trying to penetrate the mysteries of life. They will simply choose a position that is agreeable and maintain that blindly and without thought or consideration.

你必须用新的眼光看待这个世界，不是用希望和渴望的眼光，不是用恐惧和不安的眼光，而是去看看世界有什么，花时间和精力去真正地观察和看看世界发生的事情。大多数人不会花这个时间。他们太害怕他们自己的不确定性。他们不想经历任何人在试图探究生命的神秘时都会经历的困惑。他们只会选择一个令人满意的立场，并盲目地、不加思考地维持下去。

Look into the world. Feel what is happening there. Ask yourself, “Are we alone in the world? Is humanity alone in the world? Is humanity now fully in charge of its destiny?”

放眼世界。感受世界正在发生的事情。问问你自己，“世界上只有我们吗？世界上只有人类吗？人类现在是否完全掌握了它自己的天命？”

And look within yourself—not to what you think and believe, but deeper, into your deeper mind, into the mind of what is truly known within you. Here you will find the substantiation as well, for what is most true within you is connected to what is most true outside of you, just as what is untrue or false within you is connected to what is untrue and false outside of you.

审视你自己的内心——不是审视你所想和所信的事情，而是更深层次的，进入你更深层次的心灵，深入你内心真正知道的心灵。在这里你也会找到证据，因为你内心最真实的内识与你外部最真实的内识是相连的，就像你内心不真实或虚假的东西与你外部不真实和虚假的东西是相连的一样。

But to look in this way, you must look and be patient. You will not have the answer immediately. You must penetrate; you must go deeper; you must understand; you must take the time. This is necessary even to begin to comprehend and to experience what is happening and to prepare for a future that will be so unlike the past. Who will give this time and consideration to the meaning and destiny of their life and to the reality and destiny of humanity as a whole?

但要以这种方式去看待，你必须观察并保持耐心。你不会立刻得到答案。你必须洞察；你必须走得更远；你必须理解；你必须花时间。这甚至是开始理解和体验正在发生的事情并为一个与过去截然不同的未来做准备所必需的。谁会把这个时间和考虑放在他们生命的意义和天命以及整个人类的现实和天命上呢？

To see in this way, you must have young eyes. If you are trying to substantiate a life full of learning and ideas, you will primarily seek to substantiate what you already believe and what you already hold to be true. If you look out into the world, but your mind is made up about the nature of reality and the destiny of humanity and the causes for human change and evolution, you will not see the evidence even though it is all around you.

要以这种方式看待问题，你必须拥有年轻的眼睛。如果你想要证实一种充满学习和想法的生命，你首先会试图证实你已经相信的事情和你已经认定为真实的事情。如果你放眼世界，但你的心灵已经确定了现实的自然、人类的天命以及人类改变和进化的原因，那么你将看不到证据，尽管它就在你身边。

To see truly, you must see with open and young eyes. That does not mean that you have to be young, but it does mean that you have to be willing to be shown something you have never seen before, to see something you have never seen before, to feel and experience something you have never seen and experienced before and to have your own ideas challenged, no matter how much you have invested in them.

要真正地看待问题，你必须用开放而年轻的眼光去看待问题。这并不意味着你必须年轻，而是意味着你必须愿意看到你从未见过的事情，看到你从未见过的事情，感受和体验你从未见过和体验过的事情，接受你自己想法的挑战，无论你为之付出了多少。

If you cannot see, you cannot know. If you cannot know, then you will not know how to respond correctly and appropriately. If you do not know how to respond, then you will respond like everyone else, in a predetermined and prescribed manner, according to your conditioning or according to the influences that influence you even at this moment.

如果你看不见，你就无法知道。如果你不知道，那么你就不知道如何正确和恰当地做出回应。如果你不知道如何回应，那么你就会像其他人一样，按照预先确定和规定的方式做出反应，根据你的条件或根据此刻影响你的影响。

It is incredible that people are not free, but they think they are free. They believe they are free, but they are not free. Just because you are not in prison; just because someone is not standing guard at your door; just because you have some rights within your society does not mean you are really free.

令人难以置信的是，人们并不自由，但他们却认为他们是自由的。他们相信他们是自由的，但他们并不自由。仅仅因为你没有被关在监狱里；仅仅因为你家门口没有人守卫；仅仅因为你在社会中拥有一些权利，并不意味着你真的自由。

If you cannot see; if you cannot know; if you cannot experience what you most deeply experience; if you cannot see what is happening in the world around you, in the bigger picture beyond your own little personal sphere; if you cannot see these things and feel these things, you are not yet free. And freedom is calling for you.

如果你看不见；如果你不知道；如果你无法体验你最深刻的感受；如果你无法看到你周围的世界正在发生的事情，无法看到超越你自己小圈子的更广阔的世界；如果你看不到这些事情，感受不到这些事情，你就还没有自由。而自由正在向你召唤。

The challenge for you is to see and to know and to act and to build a foundation for Knowledge within your life, a foundation for your spiritual reality, a new foundation. Here you do not embellish what you already know, you build a new foundation. You start anew.

你所面临的挑战是看见、知道和行动，去构建你生命中内识的基础、你精神现实的基础、一个新的基础。在此你不会修饰你已经知道的事情，而是构建一个新的基础。你重新开始。

Only what you can bring forward that will be helpful will be part of your future. Everything else, stage by stage, bit by bit, will be left behind. This is your challenge. You do not do this only for yourself. You do it for humanity. For yourself alone, you will not mount the effort; you will not make the commitment; you will not face the difficulties and the uncertainties. But for humanity, there is a greater calling and a greater responsibility.

只有你能提出的、对你有帮助的事情才会成为你未来的一部分。其他的一切，一步一步，一点一点，都将被抛在身后。这是你的挑战。你这样做不只是为了你自己。你是为了人类。单单为了你自己，你就不会付出努力；你不会做出承诺；你不会面对困难和不确定性。但对人类来说，有更伟大的召唤和更伟大的责任。

That is your challenge. But that is not all. Because your inner reality is connected directly to your outer reality, you must find out what is happening and learn how to prepare. You must learn about the Greater Community. You must learn what Greater Community Knowledge and Wisdom really mean. You must experience Greater Community Spirituality to find your own and bring this into your traditions and into your experiences of daily life. You must learn about the Greater Community, and you must take the Steps to Knowledge. That is the great challenge awaiting anyone who is prepared to meet their great challenge.

这是你的挑战。但这不是全部。因为你的内在现实与你的外在现实直接相连，你必须发现正在发生的事情并学会如何做好准备。你必须学习大社区。你必须学习大社区的内识和智慧的真正含义。你必须体验大社区精神性，以找到你自己的精神性，并将其带入你的传统和日常生命体验中。你必须学习大社区，你必须开展内识的进阶。这是等待任何准备好迎接伟大挑战的人的伟大挑战。

Often people want the result: “Well, I just want to know what my purpose is, and I will do it. Maybe.” They do not want to go through the process of finding out, which is the critical thing. They just want to have the answer. They want to have the result. So they give themselves the answer. They prescribe for themselves a result. And it is based upon their vacillating feelings, their hopes, their fears, their desires, their concerns.

人们往往想要结果：“好吧，我只想知道我的目的是什么，然后我会实现它。也许吧。”他们不想经历寻找答案的过程，而这才是关键。他们只想要答案。他们想要结果。所以他们给他们自己答案。他们为他们自己规定一个结果。而这个结果是基于他们犹豫不决的感情、希望、恐惧、欲望和担忧。

They cannot make a commitment to anything, for they have no foundation to make a commitment upon. And so today they firmly want this, but next week, well, it changes. And then a month later it is something else. And they cannot become focused, and they cannot choose a direction and move there clearly with wisdom and discernment.

他们无法对任何事情做出承诺，因为他们没有做出承诺的基础。所以今天他们坚定地想要这个，但下周，事情就会改变。一个月后又变成了别的事情。他们无法集中注意力，无法选择方向，无法智慧而有辨别力地朝着清晰的方向前进。

The great challenge facing humanity is to prepare for its emergence into the Greater Community, to prepare to deal with the reality that its isolation is over and it must now contend with other races who are themselves interested in what humanity values, and in the resources and opportunities within this world.

人类正面临的伟大挑战，是为它向大社区的迈进进行准备，为应对这个现实进行准备：人类的孤立已结束，现在它必须与其他种族展开竞争，这些种族本身也对人类的价值以及这个世界上的资源和机会感兴趣

But to meet this challenge, people like you—people who are reading this book, people who are responding—must take the challenge within themselves. Here you do not follow a leader. Here you do not idolize a teacher. Here you do not assume a rigid form of belief or set of precepts.

但要应对这个挑战，像你这样的人——正在阅读本书的人、正在回应本书的人——必须从内心接受挑战。在这里，你不会追随领导者。在这里，你不会盲目崇拜老师。在这里，你不会固守某种僵化的信仰或戒律。

Instead, you begin the mysterious and fundamental journey towards Knowledge. You take the Steps to Knowledge. You learn The Way of Knowledge. You become a student of Knowledge. You seek the preparation that you yourself cannot provide for yourself. You take responsibility for your development. You respond to the calling within you. You do not accept the passive and idle assumptions that people all around you will make and are making now.

相反，你开始了通往内识的神秘而根本的旅程。你踏上内识的脚步。你学习内识之路。你成为内识的学生。你寻求你自己无法提供的准备。你为你自己的发展负责。你回应你内心的召唤。你不接受你周围的人现在和将来会做的消极而无谓的假设。

Humanity is made up of individuals, and humanity has always been furthered by the determined effort of a small percentage of its populations. What furthers humanity is men and women of good will and true inspiration joining together to carry out important tasks to meet problems that are existing and to prepare for problems that are emerging on the horizon.

人类是由个体组成的，人类的发展总是靠着一小部分人的坚定努力。人类发展的动力来自那些心怀善意、真正有灵感的男男女女齐心协力，共同完成重要任务，解决现有问题，并为即将出现的问题做好准备。

Humanity does not simply prepare. It is the individuals who prepare. Do not look to your government. Do not look to your religious institutions. Do not look to your social service organizations. Do not say, “Somebody should do something about this!” It is you. The calling is for you. The calling is for anyone who can respond, and who can prepare, and who can accept the challenge, and who can meet the responsibilities.

人类并非只是在做准备。做准备的是个人。不要指望你的政府。不要指望你的宗教机构。不要指望你的社会服务组织。不要说：“有人应该对此做点什么！”，它是你的。这个召唤是为你的。这是任何能够作出回应、能够做好准备、能够接受挑战、能够承担责任的人的召唤。

Yes, they are great, but this is the way you find greatness within yourself. You never find greatness living a little life preoccupied with little things. You find a greater life by taking on a greater challenge and responsibility, by calling upon a greater power and energy within yourself and by staying with it and moving through the thresholds of learning, developing your skills and your awareness.

是的，他们是伟大的，但这是你发现你自己伟大之处的方式。过着只顾琐事的小日子，你永远不会找到伟大之处。通过承担更伟大的挑战和责任，通过唤醒你自己内心更伟大的力量和能量，通过坚持下去，通过学习、发展技能和觉知，你会发现更伟大的生命。

As We have said, humanity is not prepared for the Greater Community. It is not prepared intellectually; it is not prepared psychologically or emotionally; and it is not prepared spiritually. You cannot call upon human institutions or human traditions to provide this preparation, for the real preparation will go beyond what they have achieved thus far to meet a new set of circumstances.

正如我们所说，人类没有为大社区做好准备。它没有在智力上做好准备；它没有在心理上或情感上做好准备；它没有在精神上做好准备。你不能要求人类机构或人类传统来提供这个准备，因为真正的准备将超越他们迄今为止为应对一系列新情况所取得的成就。

Here it is essential to realize that what the great Teachers provided millennia ago cannot fully be sufficient to meet a new set of circumstances. That is why the evolution of religion constitutes a successive wave of new Revelations. They do not happen every day or every year, but rather every century or every millennium. And they occur to meet the changing circumstances of life and to prepare for the future.

在这里，必须意识到，伟大的老师们在千年前提供的智慧并不能完全满足新环境的需要。这就是为什么宗教的演变构成了一波又一波的新启示。它们不是每天或每年都会发生，而是每个世纪或每个千年都会发生。它们的出现是为了应对不断变化的生命环境，并为未来做好准备。

The Christianity or the Buddhism or the Islam of 2000 years ago [or 2500 years ago], or 1500 years ago, of antiquity cannot meet the challenges of today without a new wave of Revelation. The Revelation is here. It is the teaching about the Greater Community. It is the means for learning Greater Community Spirituality. It is The Greater Community Way of Knowledge.

如果没有新一轮的启示，2000年前[或2500年前]或1500年前的基督教、佛教或伊斯兰教都无法应对当今的挑战。启示就在这里。它是关于大社区的教导。它是学习大社区精神性的方法。它是大社区的内识之路。

This is what will breathe new life into the ancient traditions here. This is what gives new promise to humanity. But the real responsibility still rests upon you the individual. What will you do? Knowledge knows what you must do, but you do not yet know what Knowledge knows. That is your opportunity. Knowledge has the power and the strength and the wisdom to guide you towards your fulfillment, but you must have the courage to take such a journey.

正是这些将为这里的古老传统注入新的活力。正是这些将为人类带来新的承诺。但真正的责任仍然落在你个人身上。你会做什么？内识知道你必须做什么，但你还不知道内识知道什么。这是你的机会。内识有力量、实力和智慧来引导你走向成就，但你必须有勇气踏上这样的旅程。

Humanity is emerging into a far greater arena of intelligent life. And everyone will feel a little smaller as a result. This is always the price you pay for moving into a larger context. Instead of being an important person in your village, you are now a small person within a larger community.

人类正在进入一个更加广阔的智能生命舞台。结果，每个人都会感到自己渺小了一点。这始终是你们进入更大环境所付出的代价。你们不再是村子里的重要人物，而是更大社区里的小人物。

Everyone will feel very small and vulnerable as they come to realize that their isolation is over and that the Greater Community is here. They will recognize their helplessness. They will see that they cannot control events. They will see that they cannot even control their responses. And that is why there is so much denial in the world today. People want to maintain their sense of control and authority even though the circumstances of their lives have changed dramatically.

当每个人开始意识到他们的孤立已经结束、大社区已经到来时，他们都会感到非常渺小和脆弱。他们将认识到他们的无助。他们将看到他们无法控制事件。他们将看到他们甚至无法控制他们的反应。正因为如此，当今世界存在如此多的否认。人们想要维持他们的控制感和权威感，尽管他们的生活境况已经发生巨大变化。

Who can face this? Who can face this with the understanding that this is a saving grace? It is easy to become afraid. It is more difficult to engage with your own courage.

谁能面对这一切？谁能在面对这一切时理解这是一种拯救的恩典？害怕是很容易的。但更难的是鼓起你自己的勇气来面对这一切。

Humanity is way behind schedule in its preparation for the Greater Community. It was hoped by the greater Spiritual Forces that are overseeing the well-being of humanity that more progress would have been made. But humanity is lagging. Its self-preoccupation is so complete that it cannot see beyond itself.

人类在为大社区做准备方面远远落后于计划。监督人类福祉的更伟大的精神势力原本希望人类能取得更多的进步。但人类却落后了。它过于关注自我，以至于看不到它自身以外的生命。

For instance, it has only been in recent years that it has finally taken any responsibility that it lives in an environment that must be rejuvenated and protected. There are individuals who for centuries have known this. Every good agriculturist knows this. Every good woodsman knows this. But finally there is a collective sense of responsibility. And how long has it taken for this to come about? And how late is its emergence?

例如，直到最近几年，人类才终于承担起责任，意识到自己生活在一个必须恢复活力和保护的环境里。几个世纪以来，有些人已经知道这一点。每个优秀的农学家都知道这一点。每个优秀的樵夫都知道这一点。但最终还是出现了一种集体的责任感。而这种责任感的出现花了多长时间？它出现得有多晚？

If you feel restless, if you feel something is moving within you and you cannot get comfortable, and no matter how many pleasures and enjoyments you give yourself, you cannot seem to settle down. If this is the case for you, then you know something, and you are responding to something. And perhaps there is a sense of urgency within you that you cannot account for personally because you seem to have enough in most arenas to be a relatively satisfied person.

如果你感到不安，如果你感到内心有什么东西在动，你无法感到舒适，无论你给你自己多少快乐和享受，你似乎都无法安定下来。如果你的情况就是这样，那么你知道一些事情，你正在对一些事情做出回应。也许你内心有一种紧迫感，你无法亲自解释，因为你似乎在大多数领域都拥有足够的东西来成为一个相对满意的人。

Why the restlessness? Why the sense of urgency? Why the care and the caution? Why the disturbing feelings and emotions? Is it because you are fundamentally flawed? Is it because you had an unhappy childhood? Is it because your life is not perfect?

为什么焦躁不安？为什么有紧迫感？为什么小心谨慎？为什么有不安的感觉和情绪？是因为你存在根本缺陷吗？是因为你有一个不快乐的童年吗？是因为你的生命不完美吗？

No. Look beyond. Look deeper. You feel that you are responding to something. This is what it means to be responsible: to be able to respond. And it is responding to something within yourself very deep and something beyond yourself way beyond the parameters of your personal life.

不。看得更远。看得更深。你感觉你在回应某些事情。这就是负责任的含义：能够回应。而且这是对你内心深处的内识的回应，是对你个人生命范围之外的内识的回应。

Before it begins to storm, the animals in the forest become quiet and seek refuge. They change their behavior. They respond even though the storm has not begun. You respond, too, but your responses often go unheeded and unfelt. This is your natural homing device that keeps you connected to your environment, but within modern peoples especially, this natural instinct, this natural capability, has been greatly diminished and damaged. It goes unrecognized.

在暴风雨来临之前，森林里的动物们会安静下来，寻找避难所。它们会改变他们的行为。即使暴风雨还没有开始，它们也会做出回应。你也会做出回应，但你的回应往往被忽视和感觉不到。这是你与周围环境保持联系的自然归宿装置，但在现代人中，尤其是在现代人中，这种自然本能、这种自然能力已被大大削弱和破坏。它被忽视了。

People will go about their daily lives as if nothing is happening even though the entire circumstances of their lives have changed. People do not prepare for the future. They do not prepare for growing older. They do not prepare even for the necessities of their lives because they are not responding to the signs and the cues that they need to respond to.

尽管人们生活的整个环境已经发生了改变，但他们仍会像什么事都没发生一样继续过着日常生活。人们没有为未来做准备。他们没有为变老做好准备。他们甚至没有为生活必需品做好准备，因为他们没有对需要做出回应的迹象和提示做出反应。

The Greater Community is in the world today. It is hidden, but it leaves its evidence everywhere. It is there for you to find, but you must look. You will not see it in your newspapers, for they are not allowed to print such things by and large. There is a general amnesia over human society, particularly in the more developed nations that one would think would be more educated and more well-informed.

大社区就在当今世界。它是隐藏的，但它的证据无处不在。它就在那里等着你去发现，但你必须去寻找。你不会在报纸上看到它，因为报纸一般不被允许刊登这类事情。人类社会普遍失忆，特别是在人们认为更受教育、更见多识广的较发达国家。

The great challenge awaiting humanity is not only the presence of the Greater Community, but the requirement that humanity begin to account for its changing circumstances and to become aware of the elements in its environment and circumstances that are producing such a fundamental change. This leads you right to the Greater Community.

人类面临的伟大挑战不仅是大社区的存在，而且要求人类开始考虑其不断变化的境况，并察觉到其环境和境况中哪些因素正在产生如此根本性的改变。这将引领你们走向大社区。

It leads people everywhere to consider something they have never had to consider before. Your parents did not have to consider this. Your ancestors did not have to consider this. They had other problems, some of which you no longer experience. But you have problems that they never had to experience.

它让世界各地的人们去考虑一些他们以前从未考虑过的事情。你的父母不必考虑这一点。你的祖先也不必考虑这一点。他们有其他问题，其中一些你不会再遇到。但你却有他们从未经历过的问题。

To be able to respond internally, you must go beyond all of the conditioning that you have received in your education and in your life in the world, which is very substantial. You have to rise above it. You have to go deep beneath it to find that responsibility within yourself.

为了能够在内心深处做出回应，你必须超越你在教育和生命中所接受的所有条件，而这些限制是非常可观的。你必须超越它们。你必须深入其中，才能找到你自己内心的责任。

The Greater Community brings great risk to humanity, but it also brings the saving grace requiring a greater education, a greater spiritual attunement and a greater set of abilities. It puts everyone in the world in the same boat—rich or poor. No matter what country you are from, you are faced with the same problem. This equalizes the inequities that exist and provides a foundation for cooperation that simply did not exist substantially enough before.

大社区给人类带来巨大的风险，但它也带来了救赎，需要一种更伟大的教育、一种更伟大的精神协调和一系列更伟大的能力。它让世界上的每个人都处于同一条船上——无论贫富。无论你来自哪个国家，你都面临着同样的问题。这平衡了存在的不平等，并为合作提供了基础，而这种合作以前根本就不存在。

The reality of the Greater Community, the need to create a Greater Community understanding and perspective and the need to learn Greater Community Spirituality are the very things that will provide the foundation for cooperation for humanity. It is not simply that humanity everywhere is facing a grave threat; it is also that you have now the opportunity to develop the foundation that will solve most of the world’s problems today and will prepare and enable you to deal with the greater problems that are awaiting humanity in its emergence into a Greater Community of life.

大社区的现实、创造大社区理解和视角的需求以及学习大社区精神性的需求，正是为人类合作提供基础的因素。这不仅仅是因为人类在世界各地都面临着严重威胁；还因为你现在有机会发展基础，这将解决当今世界大多数问题，并将为你做好准备，使你能够应对人类在迈向生命大社区时面临的更伟大问题。

If you respond to the Greater Community just with fear and anxiety, you will not be in a position to know. Yet if you respond to the Greater Community with unbounded optimism—thinking that everything will work out fine, it is just a process, God is in charge of everything, I just have to play my part, and it will all be fine—you will not be able to know, and you will not be able to prepare.

如果你只是带着恐惧和焦虑来回应大社区，你将不会在一个知道的位置。然而如果你带着无限乐观来回应大社区——认为一切都会好起来，这只是一个过程，上帝掌管一切，我只需发挥我的一部分，一切都会好起来——你将无法知道，你将无法做好准备。

Instead, you must take the middle ground. Fear and hope have their own attractions, but they both have grave liabilities. The man or woman of Knowledge does not indulge themselves in either but takes the middle ground so that they can see clearly. They find the balancing point within themselves. They stand over the fulcrum of balance, and they look, and they discern.

相反，你必须采取中间立场。恐惧和希望各有各的吸引力，但它们都存在严重的缺陷。内识的男女不会沉溺于其中任何一种，而是采取中间立场，这样他们才能看得清楚。他们在他们自己的内心找到了平衡点。他们站在平衡的支点上，观察，辨别。

Look around you. You will see that people are vacillating between unbounded enthusiasm and complete anxiety. They go from one extreme to the other. They do not know how to find the middle ground.

看看你周围，你会看到人们在无限的热情和极度的焦虑之间摇摆不定。他们从一个极端走向另一个极端。他们不知道如何找到中间地带。

From a position of fear, optimism looks wonderfully liberating, so you go there. “Everything is going to be fine. Everything works out fine. We can deal with this. God is in charge. I can relax. It’s not as bad as I think. In fact, it is all wonderful.” And you live there for a while and you find out, “Well, that does not really match my experience of reality at all,” and so you sink back into anxiety and apprehension.

从恐惧的角度看，乐观主义看起来是一种美妙的解放，所以你会这样想：“一切都会好起来的。一切都会顺利的。我们可以处理好这件事。上帝掌管一切。我可以放松了。事情没有我想象的那么糟糕。事实上，一切都很美好。”你在这种状态中生活了一段时间，结果发现，“嗯，这根本不符合我对现实的体验”，于是你又陷入了焦虑和忧虑之中。

You must find the middle ground. This is where clarity is achieved. This is where balance exists. It is not running from one set of emotions or expectations to another. It is finding the middle ground. This is following The Way of Knowledge, for Knowledge is not captivated by promises of hope and prosperity and happiness. And Knowledge is not captivated by the dark [draw] of fear or the attractions of anxiety.

你必须找到中间地带。这就是实现清晰的地方。平衡就在这里。它不是从一种情绪或期望奔向另一种情绪或期望。它是找到中间地带。这就是遵循内识之路，因为内识不会被希望、繁荣和幸福的承诺所俘虏。内识也不会被恐惧的黑暗[吸引]或焦虑的诱惑所俘虏。

Fear is easy. It takes very little effort to experience it. Optimism is a little harder, but it too is easy because you can fill your mind with wonderful expectations and tell yourself all kinds of things about reality around you and within you. But Knowledge is harder. Finding the balance point is more difficult. It requires determination, effort and preparation.

恐惧是容易的。体验它只需付出很少的努力。乐观稍微困难一些，但它也是容易的，因为你可以让你的心灵充满美好的期望，并告诉你自己各种关于你周围和你内心的现实的事情。但内识更难。找到平衡点更难。它需要决心、努力和准备。

Within these pages, We are giving you a clear view of the bigger picture, a clearer view than you will find anywhere else. We do not say all this to overwhelm you, but to incite a deeper response and a deeper knowing within you, a knowing that you already have. We are calling upon what you know, not giving you something new to believe. This is part of the great challenge awaiting humanity.

在这些页面中，我们将向你清晰地展示更大的全景，比你在其他任何地方都更清晰的全景。我们说这些并不是为了让你不知所措，而是为了激发你内心更深层次的回应和一种更深层次的知道，这是你已经拥有的知道。我们召唤你知道的内识，而不是给你一些新的事物去相信。这是人类面临的伟大挑战的一部分。

It is a curious thing in human society and in many other societies in the Greater Community that there is a propensity for letting things deteriorate to a point where resolution becomes absolutely necessary, beyond everyone’s expectations and preferences. People allow conditions to deteriorate, and then they are forced to do something, but by that time their actions become desperate and are very costly and often are not very effective.

奇怪的是，在人类社会以及大社区的许多其他社会中，人们倾向于让事情恶化到绝对需要解决的地步，超出所有人的预期和偏好。人们允许情况恶化，然后被迫采取行动，但到那时他们的行动就变得绝望，代价高昂，而且往往效果不佳。

Whereas the man or woman of Knowledge seeks to eliminate the problem once it is first recognized, the person without this great foundation will allow things to deteriorate and then will make drastic efforts to address it, often without good results.

拥有内识的人一旦认识到问题就会努力消除问题，而缺乏良好基础的人则会任由事态恶化，然后再竭尽全力去解决它，但往往不会取得好的结果。

This propensity demonstrates a lack of responsibility and a lack of inner awareness. It demonstrates a lack of social cohesion in human societies and a lack of respect for the great impact of your environment—your mental environment and your physical environment.

这种倾向表明缺乏责任感和缺乏内在的觉知。它表明人类社会缺乏社会凝聚力，缺乏对环境——你的心理环境和你的物质环境——的重大影响的尊重。

The coming of the Greater Community will change all this. It will require it. When people simply want something, well, that is not quite enough, but when it must be done, it must be done. That creates the impetus. The man or woman of Knowledge is governed by what must be, not by what they want or prefer. Desires are weak and vacillating. Preferences are based upon personal wishes. They are not based upon the realities of life or the movement of Knowledge within the person.

大社区的到来将改变这一切。它将要求人类这样做。当人们只是想要某样东西时，好吧，这还远远不够，但当它必须完成时，它就必须完成。这创造了动力。有内识的男人或女人受制于必须做的事，而不是他们想要或喜欢的事。欲望是软弱的、摇摆不定的。偏好基于个人的意愿。它们并非基于生命的实现或个人内在内识的运动。

The great challenge is this: Humanity must prepare for the Greater Community, and must gain a greater and more pure spiritual foundation, and must establish a basis for cooperation and union amongst the human family if it is to survive and maintain its self-determination in the Greater Community.

伟大的挑战就是这样的：人类必须为大社区做好准备，必须获得一种更伟大、更纯粹的精神基础，必须为人类大家庭之间的合作和团结建立一个基础，如果它要在大社区中生存并保持自决的话。

It is a must situation. It is not something where you say, “Well, it is a problem, but we will get to it some day.” With that approach, by the time people wake up, it will be too late, and the damage will already have been done.

这是必然情况。你不会说：“好吧，这是个问题，但我们总有一天会解决的。”如果采用这种方式，等到人们醒悟过来时已经太迟了，损失已经造成了。

It is the same challenge in so many other areas of human life—the degradation of the natural environment, the extent of poverty and social unrest in the world, the improper distribution of resources. These are all problems that are growing in scope day by day, and there is not enough responsibility in the human family to fully face and resolve them. The torch of truth is being carried by individuals who are ignited with the truth, but their numbers, though growing, are still not strong and great enough.

人类生命的许多其他领域也面临着同样的挑战——自然环境的恶化、世界贫困和社会动荡的程度、资源分配不合理。这些问题的范围日益扩大，而人类大家庭却没有足够的责任来充分面对和解决这些问题。真理的火炬由那些被真理点燃的个人高举，但他们的数量虽然在增加，但仍然不够强大和庞大。

The great challenge awaiting humanity is not simply the challenge to become aware of something, to become aware of the Greater Community, but the challenge to prepare and the challenge to act. This must come from a clear understanding of the situation at hand, and it must be powered by Knowledge to be truly effective and to have truly beneficial results.

人类面临的伟大挑战不仅仅是觉察某种事情，觉察大社区的挑战，而且是做好准备和采取行动的挑战。这必须源自对眼前状况的清晰理解，它必须由内识驱动，才能真正有效并产生真正有益的结果。

This great challenge facing humanity is the same as the great challenge facing you—the challenge to find who you are, to find what you came here to do, to find the foundation of truth within you, and to begin to live it.

人类面临的这个伟大挑战与你面临的伟大挑战相同——寻找你是谁，寻找你来此要做什么，寻找你内在真理的基础并开始实践它。

You were born with the Knowledge of what you must do, where you must go and what you must become. It is time to find that Knowledge and begin to live it. That is the great challenge facing you. It is the same as the great challenge facing humanity.

你生来就知道你必须做什么、必须去哪里、必须成为什么样的人。现在是时候去寻找内识并开始实践内识了。这是你面临的伟大挑战。这与人类面临的伟大挑战是一样的。

There are greater things for you to do in your life. There are greater things for humanity to do. There are greater things for you to become aware of. There are greater things for humanity to become aware of. There are important things for you to know and to realize. There are important things for humanity to know and to realize.

在你的生命中，有更伟大的事情等着你去做。有更伟大的事情等着人类去做。有更伟大的事情等着你去察觉。有更伟大的事情等着人类去察觉。有重要的事情正等待着你去知道和意识到。有重要的事情正等待着人类去知道和意识到。

It all begins with the individual. Do not look to your governments and institutions. They are paralyzed by the past. They are paralyzed by their belief in the past, and often they are not free to respond to the future, for they are being influenced and dominated themselves. It comes from the individual. This is where innovation occurs. Whoever you are, wherever you work, whatever your circumstances in life, this is your great challenge.

一切都始于个人。不要指望你的政府和机构。他们被过去所束缚。他们被对过去的信仰所束缚，往往无法自由地应对未来，因为他们自己也受到影响和支配。创新来自个人。创新就在这里发生。无论你是谁，无论你在哪里工作，无论你的生命环境如何，这都是你面临的伟大挑战。

The Greater Community is in the world today. It is seeking to gain influence to establish itself here. It is affecting people in the mental environment, and it is genetically attempting to bond with humanity. It will take advantage of the conflicts in human governments and the contradictions in human religions to gain influence here, to pacify those who have greater strength and ability and to maintain the current illusions of humanity so that it may continue to build its presence here without human intervention.

大社区就在当今世界。它寻求获得影响力以在此立足。它在心理环境中影响人们，它在基因上试图与人类建立纽带。它将利用人类政府之间的冲突和人类宗教之间的矛盾来在此获得影响力，安抚那些拥有更伟大力量和能力的人，并维持人类当前的幻想，这样它就能在没有人类干预的情况下继续在此构建它的存在。

Yet you also have Allies in the Greater Community, and We shall speak on them later in this book and their importance to you as an individual and to humanity as a whole. For you will not be able to emerge into the Greater Community without their assistance, and you will not be able to prepare for your new life in a greater arena of intelligence without finding the preparation that will make this possible.

然而你们在大社区里也有盟友，我们将在本书后面讲述他们，以及他们对你个人和整个人类的重要性。因为没有他们的帮助，你们将无法进入大社区，如果没有找到让这一切成为可能的准备，你将无法为你们在更广阔的智能舞台上的新生命做好准备。

Let Us now focus on the preparation itself and what it involves, what it requires and the great rewards that it offers you. To be aware of something is not enough. You must prepare to meet its challenge and its opportunity. Then you will be able to deal with the Greater Community and benefit from its presence, and use it to gain strength and integrity, and use it as a foundation for union and cooperation in the human family. And you shall use it to build relationships that are strong and focused and are not governed by personal desires and fears. This is all the result of preparation, and this is what We will address now.

现在让我们聚焦于准备本身，以及它涉及什么、它需要什么以及它为你提供的伟大回报。仅仅察觉到某件事是不够的。你必须准备应对它的挑战和机会。然后你将能够应对大社区，受益于它的存在，使用它获得实力和完整性，使用它作为人类大家庭团结与合作的基础。你将使用它建立强大而专注的关系，不受个人欲望和恐惧的支配。这都是准备的结果，这也是我们现在要讨论的。