Building Spiritual Community
As received by Marshall Vian Summers on October 14, 1994 in Boulder, Colorado
1994 年 10 月 14 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
In contrast to the ideals and beliefs of the cultures and societies here in the world, it must become a tacit understanding that you need others to help you, not only to do things but to learn things and to realize things as well. One of the steps you will encounter in Steps to Knowledge is the idea that alone you can do nothing. This is a statement of complete truth although you will likely only partially believe it. From a state of separation, people believe that they can determine their lives, that they can provide a context for their reality and that they can provide purpose, meaning and direction for themselves. That is what gave rise to separation in the first place, and that is what maintains it.
与这个世界上的各种文化和各个社会的理想和信仰相反，它必须成为一种心照不宣的理解，即你需要他人的帮助，不仅是为了做事，也是为了学习和领悟。你在内识进阶中会遇到的步骤之一就是，你一个人什么也做不了。这是一个完全正确的陈述，尽管你可能只会部分相信它。从分离的状态来看，人们相信他们可以决定他们的生命，他们可以为他们自己的现实提供一个背景，他们可以为他们自己提供目的、意义和方向。这就是导致分离的原因，也是维持分离的原因。
The idea that alone you can do nothing runs headlong into the very foundation of a separate point of view and, in fact, the whole idea of separation altogether. This is a revolutionary idea, but like all great ideas it must be properly understood and approached. You cannot simply deny it or believe it. You must learn what it means and how it can be wisely applied in real situations that you will encounter in your life.
你独自一人什么也做不了的想法与分离观点的根基背道而驰，事实上，这与整个分离的想法背道而驰。这是一个革命性的想法，但与所有伟大的想法一样，必须正确理解和对待它。你不能简单地否认它或相信它。你必须学习它的含义，以及如何明智地将它应用于你将在生命中遇到的实际情况中。
The idea that you are separate is based on the assumption that you can provide for yourself better, guide yourself better and determine your destiny better than the Creator. This fundamental belief is the wellspring of all ideas that reinforce it, and it is the fountain of all miseries that plague humanity. It is the great veil over the mind of humanity that keeps it in a state of confusion and darkness. This veil covers the mind to such an extent that the mind cannot differentiate between what is real and what is imagined, what is recognized and what is believed, what is good and what is hoped for, what is not good and what is feared. Here the mind creates a shell around itself, and everywhere it looks it sees its own ideas. As it looks out into the world, it can barely see what is occurring.
你是分离的这个想法是基于这样的假设：你比造物主更能养活你自己、更能引导你自己、更能决定你的天命。这个基本信念是所有强化它想法的源泉，也是困扰人类的所有痛苦的根源。它是笼罩在人类心灵之上的面纱，使人类处于一种混乱和黑暗的状态。这层面纱将心灵遮蔽到如此程度，以至于心灵无法区分什么是真实的，什么是想象的，什么是认识到的，什么是相信的，什么是好的，什么是希望的，什么是不好的，什么是恐惧的。在这里，心灵在它自己周围筑起了一个外壳，它所看到的到处都是它自身的想法。当它看向外面的世界时，它几乎看不到正在发生的事情。
If it were not for the instincts of the body and for the presence of Knowledge, you would not even be able to function in the physical world, so dominated you would be by your thinking, your assumptions and your past. You can function here, yet you do not function very effectively in a state of separation.
如果不是因为身体的本能和内识的存在，你甚至无法在物质世界中运作，因为你将被你的思维、你的假设和你的过去所主宰。你可以在这里运作，然而你在分离状态下无法非常有效地运作。
When you look at the natural world around you, you will see a demonstration of the idea that alone you can do nothing. All the plants and all the animals work in a great network of interaction called nature. You cannot take a plant or an animal out of its natural environment and have it flourish or even survive, unless you attempt to replicate its environment, because it is connected to everything else, as are you. The loneliness, the sense of isolation, the fear of life and death, the suspicion of all promising ideas, the allegiance to one’s beliefs, the clinging to one’s few possessions, the identification with the body to the exclusion of the mind—all are a result of this point of view of separation. It is a complete belief system. By complete, we mean that it regenerates itself. It gives birth to itself every moment.
当你观察周围的自然世界时，你会看到一个例证，那就是你一个人什么也做不了。所有的植物和动物都在一个叫做自然的巨大互动网络中工作。除非你试图复制它的环境，否则你无法将一株植物或一只动物从其自然环境中带走，让它繁茂生长甚至生存下来，因为它和你一样，与其他一切都息息相关。孤独、孤立感、对生死的恐惧、对所有有承诺的想法的怀疑、对信仰的忠诚、对自己少数财产的执着、对身体的认同而排斥心灵——所有这些都是这种分离观点的结果。它是一个完整的信仰体系。我们所说的完整，是指它会自我再生。它每时每刻都在重生。
How can you know this is real? We will give you an example. When you practice the Greater Community meditations, once you are able to bring your mind into a focused state, you will see how afraid you are of the Mystery. You will see how afraid you are to go beyond your ideas. You will feel your hesitation and your restraint. And you will have moments of stillness, but you will not be able to linger there for very long because you do not have the capacity yet to experience this for any length of time. You will see how afraid you are of the Creator and of the Unseen Ones, even though you need them desperately. You will see how your mind is guarded by fear and suspicion and all of the layers and layers of ideas, beliefs, customs, rituals and traditions which support this basic fear of life and mistrust of the Divine.
你如何知道这是真的？我们给你举个例子。当你练习大社区冥想时，一旦你能够让你的心灵进入一种专注的状态，你就会看到你是多么害怕神秘。你会看到你是多么害怕超越你的想法。你会感到你的犹豫和你的克制。你会有片刻的静止，但你无法在那里停留很长时间，因为你还没有能力长时间地体验这一点。你会看到你是多么害怕造物主和不可见者，尽管你迫切需要他们。你会看到你的心灵是如何被恐惧和怀疑以及支持这种对生命的根本恐惧和对神圣的不信任的层层想法、信仰、习俗、仪式和传统所守护的。
All people have this to some degree or they would not be in the world. This world is a place where people come to learn to join. They cannot join everything because they do not have the capacity for that yet, and for most people here being able to join with another human being meaningfully represents the paramount challenge. A few are able to join people at the level of group. A rare individual is able to join humanity at the level of humanity. A remarkable person is able to join life at the level of life in this world.
所有人都或多或少地具备这种特质，否则他们就不会来到这个世界上。这个世界是人们学习加入的地方。他们无法融入一切，因为他们还没有这种能力，而对于这里的大多数人来说，能够与另一个人有意义地结合是最大的挑战。少数人能够在群体层面上与人结合。极少数人能够在人性的层面上与人类结合。一个杰出的人能够在这个世界的生命层面上与生命结合。
Therefore, your main challenge is to be able to join another meaningfully. Do not think that you can embrace the Divine and become one with all life if you cannot even establish a meaningful and working relationship with one other. With others you will see your real capacity and affinity regardless of what great ideals and beliefs you may have about your capacity to join life in a larger arena. Here you humble one another, as you should. Here you temper each other’s grandiose ideas. And here you encourage each other to regain self-confidence.
因此，你面临的主要挑战是如何与他人建立有意义的关系。如果你连与他人建立有意义的工作关系都做不到，就不要认为你可以拥抱神圣，与所有生命融为一体。与他人在一起，你会看到你真正的能力和亲和力，无论你有多么伟大的理想和信念，认为你有能力在更大的舞台上与生命融为一体。在这里，你们互相谦让，这是你们应该做的。在这里，你们缓和彼此的宏伟想法。在这里，你们互相鼓励，重拾自信。
Having false notions about yourself and having grand ideas are directly related to a lack of self-confidence because there is a basic distrust of Knowledge, and so there must be a great compensation for this. Here people build themselves up in their own estimation, but fundamentally they are unsure. They must convince other people that they are what they think they are because they do not know. They must get others’ approval and reinforcement constantly because their own foundation is weak and fallible. They are without Knowledge in their evaluations; therefore, they need constant reassurance.
对你自己有错误的认识和有宏伟的想法与缺乏自信直接相关，因为人们对内识存在着基本的不信任，因此必须对此做出巨大的补偿。在这里，人们根据他们自己的评价来塑造他们自身，但从根本上说，他们并不确定。他们必须说服其他人，他们就是他们所认为的那样，因为他们不知道。他们必须不断获得他人的认可和支持，因为他们自己的基础薄弱且容易出错。他们的评价中没有内识；因此，他们需要不断的安慰。
The man or woman of Knowledge does not need this. They do not need constant approval. They do not need to have others always speaking of their greatness and how wonderful they are. They do not need to have their specific abilities touted and celebrated. They do not need to be the center of attention.
拥有内识的男人或女人不需要这些。他们不需要不断的认可。他们不需要他人总是谈论他们的伟大和他们有多么了不起。他们不需要他人吹捧和庆祝他们的特殊能力。他们不需要成为关注的中心。
With Knowledge comes real certainty, and with Knowledge comes real relationship. You cannot fully establish your relationship with Knowledge without establishing a meaningful relationship with another. And the meaning of this relationship is based upon a greater purpose and a greater meaning in life. For you already have relationships that help you negotiate the mundane activities of your life. Perhaps they are not strong relationships. Perhaps they are not dedicated relationships. Perhaps they are relationships that represent futility and dependence and are based on need more than Knowledge.
内识带来真正的确定性，内识带来真正的关系。你无法充分建立你与内识的关系，除非你与另一个人建立了有意义的关系。这种关系的意义基于生命的一个更伟大目的和一种更伟大意义。因为你已经拥有了帮助你应对生命中平凡活动的关系。或许它们不是牢固的关系。或许它们不是专注的关系。或许它们代表着徒劳和依赖，更多是基于需求而非内识。
However, the relationship that we are speaking of is a relationship based upon Knowledge. This relationship serves a greater purpose. It enables you to enter the wilderness of life. It enables you to embark on the second great stage of your existence here. Only a companion who recognizes the deeper value and meaning in you can support you in this way, encourage you to go forward and give you the freedom to do so. Only such a companion will respect your needs, your uncertainty and your courage.
然而，我们谈论的关系是一种基于内识的关系。这种关系服务于一个更伟大目的。它使你能够进入生命的荒野。它使你能够在这里开启你存在的第二个伟大阶段。只有一个认识到你内在更深层次价值和意义的同伴，才能以这种方式支持你，鼓励你前进，并赋予你这样做的自由。只有这样的同伴才会尊重你的需求、你的不确定性和你的勇气。
When you are in the wilderness, you will realize that you cannot go very far on your own, for your ideas and your beliefs will not give you certainty now. You are in new territory. You see people around you, and they do not understand your experience. They do not seem to be feeling the things you are feeling or thinking the things you are thinking. They are not troubled by the things that trouble you. They are not having the experiences that you are having. They do not have the same criteria or priorities that you are developing now. They are still around you, but it is as if you were in a different world. You are entering the wilderness. They are still far behind, in a world where everything is determined for them, and only their ideas, beliefs and conditioning from the world give them whatever certainty and assurance they have.
当你身处荒野时，你会意识到你无法独自走得太远，因为你的想法和你的信念现在不会给你确定性。你处在新的领域。你看到你周围的人，他们不理解你的体验。他们似乎没有感受到你正在感受的事情，没有思考你正在思考的事情。他们没有被困扰你的事情所困扰。他们没有你正在经历的事情。他们没有你现在正在发展的相同标准或优先事项。他们仍然在你身边，但你仿佛身处一个不同的世界。你正在进入荒野。他们仍然远远落后，身处一个一切都为他们决定的世界，只有他们的想法、信仰和来自世界的制约给予他们他们所拥有的确定性和保证。
In the wilderness you need a new kind of relationship. Only Knowledge will carry you here. Only Knowledge will direct you here. Only Knowledge knows where you are going and why you must go there. Only Knowledge knows what it means to enter the second great stage of life. Only Knowledge knows what real foundation building means and why it is essential. Only others who share what Knowledge knows can support you now and be a real asset to you. This does not necessarily mean that they are strong with Knowledge, but they understand that you must do what you are doing even if they cannot explain why. They support what you are doing because they know they must. They relate to your experience because of what they are experiencing themselves. They provide you comfort because they need comfort. They provide you reassurance because they need reassurance.
在荒野中你需要一种新的关系。唯有内识能带你来到这里。唯有内识能指引你来到这里。唯有内识知道你要去哪里以及你为何必须去那里。唯有内识知道进入生命的第二个伟大阶段意味着什么。唯有内识知道真正的基础建设意味着什么以及它为何必不可少。唯有分享内识的其他人现在才能支持你并成为你的真正财富。这并不一定意味着他们拥有强大的内识，但他们理解你必须做你正在做的事情，即使他们无法解释原因。他们支持你正在做的事情，因为他们知道他们必须这样做。他们与你的体验产生共鸣，因为他们自己也在经历着内识。他们为你提供安慰，因为他们需要安慰。他们为你提供保证，因为他们需要保证。
In the wilderness there is a greater need for interdependence. Here you rely upon each other—not for personal gain, not for personal glory, not to involve yourself in your romantic fantasies, but for Knowledge, certainty and confirmation. Real community becomes possible in the wilderness because it is needed and valued and its greatest assets are recognized. Before this, community is only something you join to gain a personal advantage of some kind, and you never join it fully because it is considered a weakness to belong to anything. Devotion is seen as a sign of weakness in a society that worships heroes and heroines.
在荒野中，相互依赖的需求更大。在这里，你们相互依赖——不是为了个人利益，不是为了个人荣耀，不是为了让你自己陷入浪漫的幻想，而是为了内识、确定性和确认。真正的社区在荒野中成为可能，因为它是被需要和重视的，它的最大资产得到了认可。在此之前，社区只是你为了获得某种个人优势而加入的关系，你永远不会完全加入它，因为归属于任何人都被认为是一种弱点。在一个崇拜英雄和女英雄的社会里，奉献被视为软弱的标志。
Consider the religions of your world, for example. Many people are more comfortable idealizing Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed than they are in really involving themselves in the teachings of these traditions. The hero worship takes the place of their own personal work and endeavor, and so these teachers become idols of worship. This is common, and you can see it all around you. Look at how people are idolized in your athletic events, in your cinema. Everyone is looking for someone to believe in as if believing in someone provides real hope and impetus for change. So it is a curious thing that while people are terrified to give themselves to anything, they would worship other people without a second thought. Worshipping and idolizing others is not the same as joining them. In fact, you place them above yourself where they are out of reach. Beauty, power, excellence, expertise—these are the criteria for heroes and heroines. They are the gods of your world. They evoke more devotion and more attention than the Creator or all those who serve the Creator, both within the world and beyond the world.
以你们世界的宗教为例。许多人更愿意将耶稣、佛陀和穆罕默德理想化，而不是真正投入到这些传统的教导中。英雄崇拜取代了他们自身的个人工作和努力，因此这些老师成为崇拜的偶像。这种情况很常见，你可以在你周围看到。看看你们在体育赛事、电影中如何将人们偶像化。每个人都在寻找一个可以相信的人，好像相信某人能带来真正的希望和改变的动力。因此，奇怪的是，虽然人们害怕为任何事情献身，但他们会毫不犹豫地崇拜别人。崇拜他人、将他人视为偶像并不等于加入他们。事实上，你把他们置于你自己之上，让他们遥不可及。美貌、力量、卓越、专业——这些是英雄和女英雄的标准。他们是你们世界的神。他们比造物主或所有服务于造物主的存在（无论是在世界之内还是在世界之外）唤起了更多的虔诚和关注。
There are no heroes or heroines in The Way of Knowledge. There are beginning students. There are advanced students. And there are people who cannot be students at all. There are people who struggle against Knowledge. There are people who support Knowledge. There are practitioners, and there are the allies of practitioners, those people who cannot study but still support the great cause of Knowledge.
在内识之路中，没有英雄或女英雄。有初学者。有先进的学生。也有根本不能成为学生的人。有与内识抗争的人。也有支持内识的人。有修行者，也有修行者的盟友，这些人虽然不能学习，但仍支持内识的伟大事业。
One of the things that makes the wilderness so incomprehensible is that you must enter alone, and the basis that you used to establish for relating to others no longer applies here. This creates a feeling of estrangement and isolation. But in reality, you are simply becoming honest about the condition of separation. When the pretenses are taken away, when the false assumptions are removed, when you are placed in a situation where your ideals and your beliefs cannot substantiate reality, then you will see how vulnerable and how alone you are. This exposes your situation as it really is, but it does far more than this. It also makes it possible for you to experience the reality of Knowledge and the real purpose and meaning of relationship with another.
荒野之所以如此难以理解，原因之一是你必须独自进入，你过去为与他人建立关系而建立的基础在此不再适用。这制造了一种疏远和孤立感。但在现实中，你只是开始诚实地面对分离的状况。当伪装被拿走，当错误的假设被移除，当你被置于一个你的理想和信仰无法证实现实的境况中时，你将看到你是多么脆弱和孤独。这揭露了你真正的境况，但它的作用远不止于此。这也让你有可能体验内识的现实以及与他人关系的真正目的和意义。
A foundation for Knowledge cannot be built alone, for it is a group endeavor. This means you need allies and companions in The Way of Knowledge. Remember, this is not about becoming a hero or a heroine. It is about gaining a greater capacity and experience of life.
内识的基础无法独自建立，因为它是一项集体事业。这意味着你需要内识之路上的盟友和同伴。记住，这并不是要成为英雄或女英雄。而是要获得更伟大的能力和生命经验。
In the wilderness, sooner or later you will realize that you need others. And you will need them for the right reasons. You will need them to substantiate what you know. You will need them to support and to encourage your greater incentive in life. You will need them to echo your deeper inclinations. You will need them to demonstrate courage while you are learning courage. And you will need them to take courage where you yourself have demonstrated courage.
在荒野中，你迟早会意识到你需要他人。而且你需要他们的理由是正当的。你需要他们来证实你所知道的内识。你需要他们来支持和鼓励你生命中更伟大的动机。你需要他们来呼应你更深层次的倾向。你需要他们在你学习勇气时展示勇气。你需要他们在你自己已经展示勇气的地方带去勇气。
Here you build a network of support, not simply for the mundane activities of your life—to make money, to buy food, to have shelter, to take care of all the little errands of daily existence—but support for entering and participating in the wilderness, support for feeling, finding and following Knowledge, support for experiencing and clarifying the sense of calling and urgency that moves you forward and that will not let you return to your comfortable though false life. These are people who can know you. These are people who will stand up for you as long as they can stand up for Knowledge within themselves.
在这里，你建立了一个支持网络，它不只是为了你生命中的日常活动——赚钱、买食物、有住处、处理日常生活中所有琐碎事务——但支持你进入和参与荒野，支持你感受、发现和追随内识，支持你体验和明确推动你前进的召唤感和紧迫感，这种召唤感和紧迫感不会让你回到舒适而虚假的生命中去。这些人可以知道你。这些人将为你挺身而出，只要他们能够捍卫他们自己内在的内识。
To build a foundation for learning and living The Way of Knowledge, you will need a community. This does not mean that you need to run off with others and try to live in some kind of philosophical arrangement. It means that you become reliant upon others who are with you in the wilderness. At first, this reliance may be seen as a burden and as an infringement upon your freedom. You may say, “I don’t want anybody dependent on me! I want to be free to do what I want when I want to. I don’t want to be accountable to anyone else.” And yet that is only your personal mind being fearful to give up its control. What freedom does it have except to be chaotic? What is freedom to the personal mind except the right to surround itself with more and more layers of deception and to offset its sense of isolation and misery with fruitless and desperate attempts at happiness?
要为学习和生活在内识之路打下基础，你需要一个社区。这并不意味着你需要和其他人一起逃走，并试图生活在某种哲学安排中。这意味着，你需要依赖在荒野中与你同行的其他人。起初，这种依赖可能被视为一种负担，是对你自由的侵犯。你可能会说：“我不想让任何人依赖我！我想自由地做我想做的事。我不想对任何人负责。”然而，这只是你的个人心灵害怕放弃它的控制权。除了混乱之外，它还有什么自由？除了用越来越多的欺骗层层包围它自己，用毫无结果的、绝望的幸福尝试来抵消心灵的孤独感和痛苦感，个人心灵的自由又是什么呢？
The very burden that the personal mind complains about is the very thing that gives you meaning in life. Alone you have no meaning. There are no meaningful individuals in the universe. An individual is a potential for relationship. It is the relationships that are important. It is what you are connected to and who you represent that gives meaning to your existence here. It is what you belong to—not as in a political party or a social club, but who in your heart you are joined with—that gives meaning and substance to your existence. No matter how great and glorious you may become as an individual, no matter how esteemed and worshipped you may be in your society, you are only a potential human being until you have given your life to another. As a potential human being, you will not find your fulfillment. You will not fully experience your meaning or your purpose in the world or the direction that you must go in life. And you will need more and more adulation in order to offset the terrible sense of isolation that you feel.
个人心灵所抱怨的负担正是赋予你生命意义的内识。孤身一人，你毫无意义。宇宙中不存在有意义的个体。个体是关系的潜力。关系才是重要的。你与之相连的关系和你代表的精神家庭赋予了你在此的存在意义。你所属的关系——不是政党或社交俱乐部，而是你内心与谁结合——赋予了你存在的意义和实质。无论你作为个体变得多么伟大和光荣，无论你在社会中多么受人尊敬和崇拜，你都只是一个潜在的人，直到你把你的生命交给另一个人。作为一个潜在的人，你将无法找到你的满足感。你将无法充分体验你在世界上的意义或目的，或者你在生命中必须走的方向。你需要越来越多的奉承来抵消你感受到的可怕的孤立感。
You are now escaping this hell, for this is hell. Isolation is hell. Heaven is total inclusion, but there is a long journey between heaven and hell. You must have the desire for heaven and the capacity for heaven. Knowledge within you will take you there because this is its only purpose.
你现在正在逃离这个地狱，因为这就是地狱。孤立就是地狱。天堂是完全包容的，但天堂与地狱之间还有很长的路要走。你必须有进入天堂的渴望和能力。你内在的内识会带你去那里，因为这是它唯一的目的。
Here you do not go from total isolation to total inclusion. Instead, you bridge the gap between yourself and another. And once this is done, you can bridge the gap to another and then to another. One by one you build a bridge. Your foundation for Knowledge is not your own creation because it is shared by others. If you went off to live alone someplace in the world where you had no access to others and you tried to build a foundation for Knowledge, it would not stand until another could help you build it. It would still be in the realm of your ideas. You would believe you had built a foundation, but what kind of foundation would you build in a state of isolation? It is not possible, for obvious reasons. How can you establish the Pillar of Work without working with others? How can you establish the Pillar of Health without becoming meaningfully engaged with others? How can you establish the Pillar of Relationship when you are all alone? And how can you establish your Pillar of Spiritual development when you have not learned to join with anyone?
在这里，你不是从完全孤立走向完全包容。相反，你要在你自己和另一个人之间架起一座桥梁。一旦做到了这一点，你就可以弥合与另一个人之间的鸿沟，然后再架起你和他人之间的桥梁。你一座接一座地架起桥梁。你的内识基础不是你自身的创造，因为它是与其他人共享的。如果你独自一人生活在这个世界上的某个地方，在那里你无法接触到其他人，而你又试图建立内识的基础，那么在其他人帮助你建立内识的基础之前，你的内识基础是无法建立起来的。它仍然会在你的想法领域里。你会相信你建立了一个基础，但在孤立状态下你会建立什么样的基础？出于显而易见的原因，这是不可能的。你如何在不与他人合作的情况下建立工作支柱？你如何在不与他人进行有意义的参与的情况下建立健康支柱？当你孤身一人时，你如何建立关系支柱？当你还没有学会与任何人结合时，你如何建立你的精神发展支柱？
The road to Heaven is through relationships. It is a road of relationships. You may try your hardest to feel whole and joined with life, and you will have experiences of this now and then, but until you can be joined to another, give yourself and dedicate your resources in conjunction with another’s dedication, you are only flirting with reality.
通往天堂的道路是通过关系。这是一条关系之路。你可以尽最大努力去感受生命的完整和融入，你也会时不时地有这样的经历，但除非你能加入另一个人，给予你自己和奉献你的资源，并与另一个人一起奉献，否则你只是在与现实调情。
Do not attempt to have a romance with reality, for you are meant to have relationship. A romance may be very intense and very enticing, but it has no foundation and cannot last. It will end in bitterness and confusion unless it can lead to meaningful relationship. You have seen this in your own experience with other people.
不要试图与现实谈恋爱，因为你注定要建立关系。恋爱可能非常强烈、非常诱人，但它没有基础，无法持久。除非它能带来有意义的关系，否则它将以痛苦和困惑告终。你在与另一人相处的经历中已经看到了这一点。
Your community now is a network of support. That is the beginning of community. As community evolves, it becomes something greater.
你的社区现在是一个支持网络。这就是社区的开始。随着社区的发展，它会变得更伟大。
Let us speak now about a community of Knowledge. A community of Knowledge is based upon recognition, affinity and shared activity in the world. It is distinct from all the other communities in the world that you see. In a community of Knowledge, people are together because they know they must be together, and they are willing to face the difficulties of being together and the difficulties of their life together because they have this inner certainty. In all the other communities in the world, which are communities of law, people are together for a temporary advantage, and their rules and their regulations establish order and stability.
现在让我们来谈谈内识社区。内识社区基于世界上的认知、亲和力和共同活动。它与你所见的世界上所有其他社区都不同。在内识社区中，人们聚在一起是因为他们知道他们必须在一起，他们愿意面对在一起的困难和共同生活的困难，因为他们有这种内在的确定性。在世界上所有其他社区中，即法制社区，人们聚在一起是为了暂时的利益，他们的规则和条例建立了秩序和稳定。
A community of Knowledge is based on devotion and dedication. A community of law is based on opportunity, convenience and adherence. A community of Knowledge is reinforced with truth. A community of law is reinforced with punishment and laws. There is a great difference between these two realities and these two experiences of participating with people.
内识社区以奉献和奉献精神为基础。法制社区以机会、便利和遵守为基础。内识社区以真理为支撑。法制社区以惩罚和法律为支撑。这两种现实以及这两种与人参与的体验之间存在巨大差异。
When problems arise in a community of Knowledge, they are settled together in the community to find what is known, correct and appropriate for the community. In a community of law, the law is the arbiter of truth. It is the final measure upon which decisions are based, for people do not have certainty about what to do or what is right, so they go to the law, which says, “This must be” and “That must not be.” This is understandable because a community of Knowledge at this level of reality can only happen between small numbers of people. Great nations of people must be communities of law. Large business organizations, even great religious bodies, must all be communities of law because of their size and because of the lack of contact that their participants have with each other. That is understood. There is no blame here.
当内识社区出现问题时，社区会共同解决这些问题，以找到社区已知的、正确的和适当的方法。在法制社区中，法律是真理的仲裁者。它是决策的最终依据，因为人们不确定该做什么或什么是对的，所以他们求助于法律，法律说：“这必须是”和“那一定不是”。这是可以理解的，因为这种现实层面的内识社区只能在少数人之间发生。伟大的人民国家必须是法制社区。大型商业组织，甚至伟大的宗教团体，由于其规模以及参与者彼此之间缺乏联系，都必须是法制社区。这是可以理解的。这里没有责备。
A community of Knowledge, however, must be small, close, intimate, connected and intact. It only uses rules and regulations to enable it to keep itself together so that its main purpose may be supported and fulfilled. Its laws provide support rather than restraint. Its laws keep things focused and moving in the right direction. Rules are for convenience, and they are welcome here because they help build a foundation for participation together and they eliminate confusion. But these rules are based upon what is needed and what is correct. A community of law attempts to do the same thing, but it does not have the devotion and dedication behind it. In a community of Knowledge, laws are recognized as a benefit rather than a restraint or a form of punishment.
然而，内识社区必须是小的、紧密的、亲密的、相互联系的和完整的。它只使用规则和规章来使它自己保持团结，以便其主要目的能够得到支持和实现。它的法律提供支持而不是限制。它的法律使关系保持专注并朝着正确的方向发展。规则是为了方便，它们在这里受到欢迎，因为它们有助于建立共同参与的基础并消除混乱。但这些规则是基于需要和正确的内识。一个法制社区试图做同样的事情，但它没有背后的奉献和奉献精神。在内识社区，法律被视为一种福利，而不是一种限制或一种惩罚形式。
A community of Knowledge seeks to live the truth. A community of law seeks to coexist with others. The emphasis is different. The motives are different. They both seek stability but for different purposes. Their rules and guidelines are made for different reasons and have a different impact and enforcement.
内识社区追求真理，法制社区追求与他人共存。两者的侧重点不同，动机也不同。两者都追求稳定，但目的不同。两者制定的规则和指导方针出于不同的原因，具有不同的影响和执行力。
You will need a community of Knowledge because you cannot learn Knowledge alone. Even if you are experiencing something and you feel very certain about it, how will you be able to tell if it is real? How can you be certain that you are not simply creating a wishful idea? How can you be certain that you are not running away from something? How can you be certain that you are not aiming yourself at catastrophe? You have fooled yourself many times before over and over because you had based your life on ideas rather than experience. Now you are attempting to base your life on experience rather than ideas, but the possibility for error seems as great here as it was before.
你需要一个内识社区，因为你无法独自学习内识。即使你正在经历某件事，并且对它非常确定，你又如何能分辨它是否真实呢？你如何能确定你不是在一厢情愿地创造一个想法呢？你如何能确定你不是在逃避某件事呢？你如何能确定你不是在自寻死路呢？你曾经一次又一次地欺骗你自己，因为你把生命建立在想法而非经验之上。现在你试图把生命建立在经验而非想法之上，但在这里，犯错的可能性似乎和以前一样大。
Only the confirmation of another, a genuine confirmation, can substantiate the experience of Knowledge within yourself. For you to recognize and to value this confirmation, there must be a foundation of trust. And this trust must be firm and solid. It cannot merely be an expediency.
只有另一个人的确认，一种真正的确认，才能证实你内在内识的体验。为了让你认识并重视这个确认，必须有一个信任的基础。而且这种信任必须坚定而牢固。它不能仅仅是一种权宜之计。
You will not fully know what to do, where to go or who to be with without the support of others. You will not be able to do anything physically in the world without the participation of others. You will not find your way through the wilderness without companions. You may enter the wilderness alone, but your Spiritual Family and the Unseen Ones are with you as you embark on this great journey. You will not build your foundation for learning and living The Way of Knowledge alone because you will share it with others. What you build, you will build together. And what this foundation is for, you will share together.
如果没有他人的支持，你将无法完全知道该做什么、该去哪里或该和谁在一起。如果没有他人的参与，你将无法在世界上做任何实际的事情。如果没有同伴，你将无法在荒野中找到你的路。你也许会独自进入荒野，但当你踏上这段伟大的旅程时，你的精神家庭和不可见者会与你同在。你不会独自为学习和生活在内识之路上奠定基础，因为你将与他人分享它。你所构建的基础，你们将共同构建。而这个基础的用途，你们将共同分享。
Here your spirituality is not to create a cathedral to yourself, but to create a hall for community. Here your spiritual development is not to become a saint or an avatar, but to find a way to be with people where your greatest strengths can be amplified. Here your endeavor in life is not to sanctify a state of separation, but to make that separation unnecessary.
在这里，你的精神实践不是为你自己建造一座大教堂，而是为社区建造一座大厅。在这里，你的精神发展不是成为圣人或化身，而是找到一种与人相处的方式，让你的最大优势得到放大。在这里，你生命的事业不是使分离状态神圣化，而是使这种分离变得不必要。
You will build community because you need it. And your ability to participate in community will reveal to you your strengths and your weaknesses. Yet even beyond this, it will show you what your real gifts are, which could never be fully assessed on your own. You will see that you are there because of what you have to give, not for what you can get. And your value, your role and your activities will be based upon your skills and your deeper inclinations, not upon your ideas or wishes for yourself. People build whole careers in life based upon their ideas and wishes for themselves only to find, whether they are successful or not, that they somehow missed the mark, that they somehow went in the wrong direction, that they gave all of their resources to something that could never bear fruit for them. Who can comfort them then?
你将建立社区，因为你需要它。你参与社区的能力将向你揭示你的长处和弱点。然而甚至除此之外，它还将向你展示你真正的礼物，而这些礼物永远无法靠你自己完全评估。你将看到你在那里是因为你必须给予的礼物，而不是为了你能得到的东西。你的价值、你的角色和你的活动将基于你的技能和你更深层次的倾向，而不是你对你自己的想法或愿望。人们根据他们对他们自己的想法和愿望建立整个生命事业，结果却发现，无论他们成功与否，他们不知何故错过了目标，不知何故走上了错误的方向，他们把所有的资源都交给了某种永远不会为他们带来成果的事业。那时谁能安慰他们呢？
Thus, for you who have entered the wilderness or feel you are near the wilderness, your life has been saved. You have found your way in time. Though perhaps you seem to be alone and isolated in your own feelings, you have great assistance now, for your next endeavor in life will draw your Spiritual Family to you and will call to you those other individuals in life who are meant to be your companions. And your next endeavors in life will reveal to you your weaknesses and your false ideas. Yet at the same time, they will call upon a greater strength within you, a strength you are not even sure you have, but a strength that you will have to exercise nonetheless.
因此，对于已经进入荒野或感觉自己接近荒野的你来说，你的生命得到了拯救。你及时找到了你的道路。尽管你似乎在你自身的感觉中是孤独和孤立的，但你现在得到了伟大的援助，因为你生命中的下一个努力将吸引你的精神家庭来到你身边，并将召唤那些注定要成为你同伴的生命中的其他个体。你生命中的下一个努力将向你揭示你的弱点和你的错误想法。然而与此同时，它们将召唤你内在的一股更伟大的力量，这一股你甚至不确定你是否拥有的力量，但无论如何你都必须运用这种力量。
Here you become reliant upon Knowledge. Here you enter a condition called relationship, which is when minds join to share a great endeavor. How can there be a great endeavor unless minds join? And how can minds join if there is not a great endeavor? This is the basis for participation in the world. This is the foundation for real relationships. This is what unites people. This is what evokes devotion. People are not devoted to each other because they like each other or because they are wonderful people or they find each other charming or entertaining. People are devoted to each other because they can do something important together and they need each other to do that which has brought them together in the first place.
在这里，你开始依赖内识。在这里，你进入一种被称为关系的状态，即心灵联合起来分享一项伟大的事业。除非心灵联合，否则怎么会有伟大的事业？如果没有伟大的事业，心灵又怎么能联合呢？这是参与世界的基础。这是真正关系的基础。这是将人们团结在一起的内识。这是唤起奉献的内识。人们彼此奉献，不是因为他们喜欢彼此，或因为他们是了不起的人，或他们觉得彼此迷人或有趣。人们彼此奉献，因为他们能够一起做一些重要的事情，他们需要彼此去做最初让他们走到一起的事情。
Do you see how different this is from the romantic ideal where people become captivated with each other’s personalities and appearance? It is all about how wonderful, beautiful and attractive you are, and life is a parade in which you are the star. People fall in love with images. People fall in love with sensations. People fall in love with promises. People fall in love with a look, a smile, an innuendo. Yet people also fall in love with ice cream and chocolate and other happy foods. People fall in love with dresses. People fall in love with cars. People fall in love with almost anything.
你是否发现这与人们迷恋对方的人格和外表的浪漫理想有多么不同？浪漫理想只关乎你有多美好、多美丽、多有魅力，生命是一场游行，你就是其中的明星。人们爱上形象。人们爱上感觉。人们爱上承诺。人们爱上一个眼神、一个微笑、一个暗示。然而，人们也爱上冰淇淋、巧克力和其他令人愉悦的食物。人们爱上裙子。人们爱上汽车。人们爱上几乎任何东西。
But what love is this? There is no dedication. There is no devotion. The emphasis is not on the value of the person and his or her contribution. The emphasis is not even on the other person. People are simply using each other so that they can find escape from their own life, from their own grim world that grows grimmer by the day.
但这是什么样的爱？没有奉献。没有忠诚。强调的不是人的价值和他或她的贡献。重点甚至不在对方身上。人们只是在利用彼此，以便他们能够逃避他们自身的生命，逃避自己日渐灰暗的世界。
In life, you are together and you value each other because you can do something together. In life, you become dedicated because you recognize each other’s value and purpose and you become dedicated to that purpose and to that value within the person. Here your love and your affinity will outlast the aging of your bodies. Here your love and affinity will outlast the romance of being with a new and exciting person. Here your love and affinity will endure the tribulations of being in the world. Here your love and affinity will grow as you learn to work together and as you build your foundation for a greater life together. Here your relationship will continue beyond this world, for you are Family now. This is not a romantic interlude. This is not a passionate moment. Here you build something that lasts forever, for great relationships are never ended.
在生命中，你们在一起，彼此珍视，因为你们可以一起做某事。在生命中，你们变得忠诚，因为你们认识到彼此的价值和目的，并忠诚于这个目的和这个人身上的价值。在这里，你们的爱和亲和力将超越你们身体的衰老。在这里，你们的爱和亲和力将超越与一个新奇的人在一起的浪漫。在这里，你们的爱和亲和力将经受住这个世界的磨难。在这里，随着你们学会一起工作，随着你们共同为一种更伟大的生命打下基础，你们的爱和亲和力将不断增长。在这里，你们的关系将超越这个世界，因为你们现在是一家人。这不是浪漫的插曲。这不是激情的时刻。在这里，你们建立了永恒的内识，因为伟大的关系永远不会结束。
This person, and the few individuals that you may have the great fortune to find in life, will constitute your community, and your community will come together to build a foundation for Knowledge and eventually to participate together in giving and receiving the gifts of Knowledge that can be placed upon this foundation. Your foundation for Knowledge is like a great altar upon which the gifts of Grace can be given, and these gifts of Grace will not simply be magical and wondrous things. They will more likely be simple endeavors that are imbued with a great power and a great love. And your lives will be the altar, the foundation and the platform for giving to occur.
这个人，以及你在生命中可能非常幸运地遇到的少数人，将构成你的社区，你们的社区将聚集在一起，为内识构建一个基础，并最终共同参与给予和接受可以放在这个基础上的内识礼物。你们的内识基础就像一个巨大的祭坛，在这个祭坛上，恩典的礼物可以被赐予，这些恩典的礼物不仅仅是神奇和奇妙的事情。它们更可能是简单的努力，却蕴含着伟大的力量和伟大的爱。而你的生命将是祭坛、基础和平台，让恩赐得以实现。
You will continue to carry on your mundane activities, but your experience of life will be very different. You will not be alone, and you will be able to trust and rely upon those who are with you because their participation with you is based upon something real, genuine and permanent. It is not based upon a momentary fantasy or a fleeting affection or to offset some kind of insecurity. You will have real relationships now, and your devotion to each other will be the highest expression of your love, for devotion is inherent in Knowledge.
你将继续进行你平凡的活动，但你的生命体验将非常不同。你将不再孤单，你将能够信任和依靠那些与你在一起的人，因为他们与你的参与基于一种真实、真诚和永久的内识。它并非基于一种短暂的幻想或一种转瞬即逝的感情或为了抵消某种不安全感。你现在将拥有真正的关系，你们对彼此的奉献将是你爱的最高表达，因为奉献是内识所固有的。
Knowledge is devoted to you. The Creator is devoted to you. Your Spiritual Family is devoted to you. As you learn to become devoted to them, you will feel the magnitude of your relationship, and you will see that relationship is not a thing but an environment—something real and magical within the physical and mental environments of your life. You will feel this presence and this certainty, and you will realize that you have something that is stronger than the world that will outlive your experience in the world. Here you gain a strength that others can only dream about. Yet it will not be your strength alone, and it will not be for you alone, for your strength is your relationship. Your strength is your bond, and your bond is your commitment.
内识奉献给你。造物主奉献给你。你的精神家庭奉献给你。当你学会奉献给他们时，你将感受到你们关系的重要性，你将看到关系不是一件东西而是一个环境——在你生命的物理环境和心理环境中，有一个真实而神奇的内识。你将感受到这种存在和这种确定性，你将意识到你拥有一种比世界更强大的内识，它将比你在世界上的经历更久远。在这里你获得一种其他人只能梦想的力量。然而这不会是你一个人的力量，这不会只属于你一个人，因为你的力量是你的关系。你的力量是你的纽带，你的纽带是你的承诺。
When people come together to carry on a great activity in service to the world, they are able to be with each other in a very mature way. They are able to overcome the little disputes and misunderstandings that come between people all the time. They are able to counter the divisive forces of the world which cast fear and confusion everywhere. They are able to weather the uncertainty and tribulations of life because they have a greater strength.
当人们齐心协力，共同为世界服务时，他们能够以非常成熟的方式相处。他们能够克服人们之间经常发生的小争执和误解。他们能够对抗世界上到处散布恐惧和混乱的分裂势力。他们能够经受住生命中的不确定性和磨难，因为他们拥有一种更伟大的力量。
What is a spiritual community? At a certain juncture in life, people will establish and formalize their community together because this will help it to become strong and enduring in the world, which always seems to be trying to tear it apart. Even those who are joined in Knowledge will feel the inducements of the world, the reminders of the world and the promises of the world that they can do, be and have everything on their own. Because you are part of community, because you are deeply bonded to another, does not mean that you do not feel the temptations of the world, for this is the physical and mental environment in which you live.
什么是精神社区？在生命的某个关头，人们将共同建立和正式化他们的社区，因为这将帮助它在似乎总是试图撕裂它的世界上变得强大和持久。即使那些在内识中结合的人也会感受到世界的诱惑、世界的提醒和世界的承诺，即他们可以自己做、成为和拥有一切。因为你是社区的一部分，因为你深深地与另一个人联结在一起，并不意味着你感受不到世界的诱惑，因为这是你生活的物理环境和心理环境。
While people are devoting themselves to their own personal fulfillment everywhere around you, giving all that they have and demanding that others give all that they have for their own personal glorification, you will feel this. You will feel the great sway of this. But you will know it is not real, and you will see where it leads because you can see this at the outset. You do not need to fully experience the errors of life to know where they lead because life all around you demonstrates this. All those people that you have criticized and been so disdainful of, do they not demonstrate the results of error to you? Do they not call upon your forgiveness and your gratitude for having shown you this and for having given you this essential part of your education?
当你周围的人们都在为实现他们自己的个人成就而献出他们所拥有的一切，奉献他们所拥有的一切，并要求他人为他们的个人荣耀奉献他们所拥有的一切时，你将感受到这一点。你将感受到这一点的巨大影响。但你将知道这不是真实的，你将看到它会导致什么，因为你一开始就能看到这一点。你不需要充分体验生命的错误就能知道它们会导致什么，因为你周围的生命就证明了这一点。所有那些你批评过、如此鄙视过的人，难道他们没有向你展示错误的结果吗？难道他们没有请求你的原谅和感激，感谢他们向你展示了这一点，感谢他们给了你教育的这个基本部分吗？
Human failure is manifest all around you. You will feel its inducements and its pain. But if you can get through the wilderness and begin to build your foundation in Knowledge where you experience Knowledge enough that it becomes an abiding presence in your life, then you will have a foundation that cannot be shaken. This does not mean that you cannot be persuaded and seduced by the world, but it does mean that you have one foot in reality. This does not guarantee you will not fail, but it gives you the foundation for success.
人类的失败随处可见。你会感受到它的诱惑和痛苦。但是如果你能穿越荒野，开始在内识中建立你的基础，在那里你体验到足够的内识，使它成为你生命中持久的存在，那么你将拥有一个不可动摇的基础。这并不意味着你不会被世界说服和诱惑，而是意味着你有一只脚踏在现实中。这并不能保证你不会失败，但它为你的成功奠定了基础。
In a formal community of Knowledge, one person is the initiator. One person is the seed person. He or she is the seed because they are experiencing union with the Divine, and this union must find expression in the framework of human relationships. The seed person must join fully with another in order to initiate true spiritual community. They must bond completely. This is the beginning of community. A community starts with two, but it is seeded by one person.
在正式的内识社区中，一个人是发起者。另一个人是种子人。他或她是种子，因为他们正在经历与神圣的结合，而这种结合必须在关系的框架中得到表达。种子人必须与另一个人完全结合，才能发起真正的精神社区。他们必须完全结合在一起。这是社区的开始。一个社区始于两个人，但它是由一个人播种的。
Why, you might ask, is this the case? Why is it not seeded by many people? Because this is how it works. Others add to it and give it life and new dimensions, but one person is the seed person for spiritual community, and that one person must join with another, and that is the seed relationship. Then they must join with a handful of people, and that becomes the foundation relationship.
你可能会问，为什么会这样？为什么没有很多人来播种？因为这就是它的运作方式。其他人为它增添内容，赋予它生命和新的维度，但一个人是精神社区的种子人，这个人必须与另一个人结合，这就是种子关系。然后他们必须与少数人结合，这成为基础关系。
Remember, there are no great men and women in The Way of Knowledge. There are only great relationships. Greatness in a human being is the ability to join the right person for the right reason at the right time in the right way. That is the demonstration of human greatness.
记住，在内识之路上，没有伟大的男人和女人。只有伟大的关系。人类的伟大之处在于能够在正确的时间以正确的方式，以正确的理由与正确的人结交。这就是人类伟大的体现。
There are many spiritual communities that are not spiritual communities. They are simply an environment where one person is worshipped, and everyone else is subservient. You are aware of the examples of this. That is because people are fixated on hero worship and do not know how to join with each other meaningfully.
许多精神社区其实并不是精神社区。它们只是一种崇拜一个人的环境，其他人都唯命是从的环境。你知道这种例子。这是因为人们执着于英雄崇拜，不知道如何有意义地相互加入。
As much as people may hate the idea of having heroes and heroines because of the great disability that it promotes for everyone else, they still long to have a hero or heroine nonetheless, someone who is beyond the mundane difficulties and human failures that they see all around them. For example, people love to think of the risen Jesus instead of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit is a relationship. It is a challenge. It is Knowledge. But, oh, it is much more ecstatic and a much more wonderful fantasy to think of the risen Jesus blazing in light. These are the things that movies are made of and great romantic novels—the ecstasy and the fantasy that seem to lift you above life, rather than engage you with it, and take you away to a beautiful place where there is no pain and sorrow.
尽管人们可能讨厌英雄和女英雄的想法，因为这会给其他人带来巨大的缺陷，但他们仍然渴望拥有一位英雄或女英雄，一位能够超越他们周围所见的世俗困难和人类失败的人。例如，人们喜欢想到复活的耶稣，而不是圣灵的存在。圣灵的存在是一种关系。它是一种挑战。它是内识。但是，哦，想象复活的耶稣在光芒中闪耀，这更令人欣喜，更美妙。这些都是电影和伟大的浪漫小说的素材——狂喜和幻想似乎让你超越生命，而不是让你参与其中，带你去一个没有痛苦和悲伤的美丽地方。
The Creator offers you Knowledge. Knowledge is the foundation for relationship, and relationship is the foundation for success and fulfillment. You return to the Creator through a great network of relationships which are all bonded in Knowledge. Here you re-enter and re-experience the great fabric of life where everything is interwoven, but in a certain pattern and way. Here you will learn that you cannot join with anyone you want. You cannot be united with anyone you want. You cannot call anyone you like or love a member of your Spiritual Family, for you are destined to be with certain people and not with others, regardless of your attraction or affection. For it is true, is it not, that you can love dearly many individuals that you could never live with or participate with in any meaningful way. You may love them intensely. But you cannot function together. How often this is demonstrated in the tragic disappointments that people feel in their relationships with one another.
造物主为你提供内识。内识是关系的基础，关系是成功和成就的基础。你通过一个伟大的关系网络回归造物主，这些关系全都与内识紧密相连。在这里，你重新进入并重新体验生命的伟大结构，其中一切都交织在一起，但以某种模式和方式。在这里，你将学习到你无法与任何你想要的人结合。你无法与任何你想要的人联合。你无法称任何你喜欢或爱的人为你精神家庭的成员，因为你注定要和某些人在一起，而不是和其他人在一起，无论你的吸引力或感情如何。因为这是真的，不是吗，你可以深爱许多你永远无法与之生活或以任何有意义的方式参与的人。你可以强烈地爱他们。但你们无法共同运作。这在人们在彼此关系中感受到的悲剧性失望中得到了多么频繁的体现。
Real relationship and real community, which is the larger network of relationships, all must serve a greater purpose and a greater cause and be motivated by a greater reality within people. The cause and the motivation must be there.
真正的关系和真正的社区，即更大的关系网络，都必须服务于一种更伟大的目的和一种更伟大的事业，并受到人们内心更伟大现实的激励。事业和动机必须存在。
The greater cause facing humanity today is the world’s emergence into the Greater Community, which will overshadow all of humanity’s problems and issues in the future. This will require humanity to join as one race and to become the wise and careful stewards of the world’s resources. Surely this must be a sufficient challenge and provide sufficient meaning at all levels of human existence. Therefore, there is no lack of a great cause. You are designed to participate in this great cause in a specific way. And should you find the others who have come into the world who share your purpose and who share your design in a complementary way, you will realize that you are all here for that purpose. But you must all be prepared in The Way of Knowledge in order to know each other and to accept what your relationship will really mean.
当今人类面临的更伟大事业是世界迈向大社区，这将掩盖人类未来所有的问题和事务。这将要求人类团结成一个种族，成为世界资源的明智和谨慎的管家。这肯定是一个足够的挑战，并在人类存在的所有层面提供足够的意义。因此，不缺乏伟大的事业。你被设计成以一种特定的方式参与这个伟大事业。如果你发现来到这个世界的其他人与你有共同的目的，以互补的方式分享你的设计，你将意识到你们都是为了这个目的而来。但你们都必须在内识之路上做好准备，以便相互知道，并接受你们的关系真正意味着什么。
This is why we build the foundation for Knowledge, within you and around you, between your mind and your heart, and between your mind and other minds. This is entirely natural. There is nothing artificial here. This is allowing nature to carry on its great work within you and around you. This is being close to life and experiencing life, both in its mundane physical manifestations and in the greater Wisdom behind the mechanism of life itself.
这就是为什么我们构建内识的基础，在你的内在和你的周围，在你的心灵和你的内心之间，在你的心灵和他人心灵之间。这是完全自然的。这里没有任何人造的东西。这是允许自然在你内在和你周围继续它的伟大工作。这是贴近生命和体验生命，既在它平凡的物理表现中，也在生命机制本身背后的更伟大智慧中。
When you come to the teaching in Steps to Knowledge that declares that alone you can do nothing, recognize this both as a challenge and as a great gift. It challenges your thinking and the thinking of the world at all levels, but it also points the way to the resolution of your great dilemmas in life and to the fulfillment of your greater purpose here. This is what enables you to begin to build a foundation and to find those who can build a foundation with you, for your foundation is not for you alone and cannot be built by you alone.
当你接触到内识进阶中的教导，它宣告你独自一人无法做任何事情时，认识到这既是一个挑战，也是一份伟大的礼物。它挑战你的思维以及世界各个层面的思维，但它也指明了解决你生命中巨大困境和实现你在此的更伟大目的的道路。这让你能够开始构建一个基础，并找到那些能够和你一起构建基础的人，因为你的基础不仅仅属于你一个人，也不可能由你一个人构建。
You have been sent into the world for a purpose. You do not need to define this for yourself, for it is intact within you. You do not hold all the pieces of this purpose, for you must find your true companions in order to realize this. These true companions represent relationships at many levels. They are not all husbands and wives. Indeed not, for you will need more than one person to realize your calling in life. Your calling calls to you. Your preparation calls to you. Those who are looking for you in the world call to you. Your Spiritual Family calls to you. And the Unseen Ones watch over you silently.
你被派到这个世界是为了一个目的。你不需要为你自己定义这个目的，因为它在你内心完整无缺。你并不掌握这个目的的所有部分，因为你必须找到你真正的同伴才能实现它。这些真正的同伴代表着许多层面的关系。他们并非都是丈夫和妻子。确实不是，因为你需要不止一个人来实现你生命中的召唤。你的召唤在召唤你。你的准备在召唤你。那些在世界上寻找你的人也在召唤你。你的精神家庭在召唤你。不可见者也在默默地注视着你。
Within your restlessness and your discontent, you are responding to this calling. Within your anxiety and your vain attempt to bring happiness into your life, you will feel this calling. It is not a calling that you will experience in your thoughts as much as in your heart and throughout your being. You will feel that you need to be somewhere, to do something, to meet someone.
在你的焦躁不安和不满中，你正在回应这种召唤。在你的焦虑和徒劳地试图将幸福带入你的生命时，你会感受到这种召唤。这种召唤不只是你思想中体验到的，而是你内心和整个存在中体验到的。你会觉得你需要去某个地方，做某事，见某个人。
Look at the world and you will realize that the situation of the world is growing more grave and more difficult. Look at people and you will see that they are not responding. They are still looking for a way out. They cannot feel what is occurring in life. The world’s emergence into the Greater Community is something they can neither believe nor experience. They are consumed by their own interests and priorities. They are dead to the world at this time. And they hope for a romance that might solve their great need, but eventually they will find out that there is no promise here.
看看这个世界，你就会意识到世界的处境正变得越来越严峻和困难。看看人们，你就会发现他们没有做出回应。他们仍在寻找出路。他们无法感受到生命中正在发生的事情。世界向大社区的迈进是他们既不能相信也不能体验的事情。他们被他们自身的利益和优先事项所吞噬。他们此时对世界麻木了。他们希望一段可能解决他们伟大需求的浪漫，但最终他们会发现这里没有承诺。
At some point, you will see something or hear something or read something that will affect the deepest part of you. You will stop thinking and you will feel something that seems new but old, that seems incomprehensible but deeply known. You will have these little touchpoints more frequently because you are being called to begin the second great stage of your life, and you will begin the second great stage of your life by building a foundation for Knowledge, by building the Four Pillars of life, and by establishing relationships that can support this great activity and that can represent it as well.
在某个时刻，你会看到、听到或读到一些影响你内心最深处的内识。你会停止思维，你会感受到一些看似新却又陈旧的内识，看似难以理解却又深为人知的内识。你会更频繁地拥有这些小的接触点，因为你被召唤来开始你生命的第二个伟大阶段，你将通过建立内识的基础、建立生命的四大支柱、建立能够支持这个伟大活动并同样能够代表它的关系来开始你生命的第二个伟大阶段。
Here you will soon realize that the foundation must be built before anything can be built upon it. You will see this because you will recognize your limitations and your propensity for error. You will see this because you realize that what you are building is much greater than what you previously had thought possible. You will see that building the foundation will not glorify you in the eyes of others, but only confirm you in the eyes of your Spiritual Family. And you will find relationships that represent your Spiritual Family in the world.
在这里，你很快就会意识到，必须先建立基础，然后才能在其上进行任何建设。你会看到这一点，因为你将认识到你的局限性和你的犯错倾向。你会看到这一点，因为你意识到你正在构建的基础比你先前认为可能的事情要伟大得多。你将看到，构建基础不会让你在他人眼中得到荣耀，而只会在你的精神家庭中得到确认。你将找到在世界上代表你精神家庭的关系。
It is then that Knowledge, which before seemed hidden and mysterious, will become a growing presence and force in your life. Its protection and its guidance for you will find expression in your awareness because your awareness will be coming closer to its reality. At some point you will study Steps to Knowledge. Then you will learn to see with the eyes of Knowledge and hear with the ears of Knowledge and think with the mind of Knowledge because Knowledge is your Greater Mind and Greater Self, a Self that is not apart from life. You will have relationship, and if you advance, you will have community because communities of Knowledge are the natural environments for contribution and for fulfillment. They are the real demonstrations that the Creator is at work in the world today.
正是那时，以前看似隐秘而神秘的内识，将成为你生命中不断增长的存在和力量。它对你的保护和指导将在你的觉知中得到表达，因为你的觉知将越来越接近它的现实。在某个时刻，你将学习内识进阶。然后你将学会用内识的眼睛去看，用内识的耳朵去听，用内识的心灵去思考，因为内识是你的更伟大心灵和更伟大自我，一个与生命密不可分的自我。你将拥有关系，如果你进步，你将拥有社区，因为内识社区是贡献和实现的自然环境。它们是造物主在当今世界工作的真实体现。
