38. Stages on the Path of Self-realization
38. 自身本性證悟之路的階段

We see that in the words of philosophers, mystics, sages, thinkers, and prophets, great importance is given to self-realization. If I were to explain what self-realization is, I would say that the first step to self-realization is God-realization. The one who realizes God in the end realizes self, but the one who realizes self never realizes God. And that is the difficulty today with those who search after spiritual truth intellectually. They read many books about occultism, esotericism, and mysticism; and what they find most emphasized is self-realization. Then they think that what they have to do is to attain that self-realization and that they can just as well omit God.

我們可以看到，在哲學家、祕士、聖哲、思想家與先知的話語中，對自身本性的證悟都受到極大的重視。如果要我說明什麼是對自身本性的證悟，我會說，通往自身本性證悟的第一步，是對神的證悟。證悟神的人，最終會證悟自身的本性；然而，只求證悟自身本性的人，卻永遠無法證悟神。這正是今日那些以理智追尋靈性真理者所面臨的困難。他們閱讀許多關於神祕學、祕傳學與神祕主義的書籍，而其中最常被強調的，是對自身本性的證悟。於是他們以為，自己所要做的就是達到這種證悟，而神則大可略去。

But in reality God is the key to spiritual perfection. God is the stepping-stone to self-realization, God is the way which extends over the knowledge of the whole of creation; and if God is omitted then nothing can be reached.

然而事實上，神是靈性圓滿的鑰匙。神是通往自身本性證悟的踏腳石；神也是那條道路，循著它，我們得以通達對整個受造界的認識。若將神略去，便什麼也無法達成。

There is a wrong method in use today in many so-called cults, which often proves to be a failure, and which consists in teaching the beginner on the spiritual path to say, “I am God’: a thoughtless phrase, a word of insolence, a thought which has no foundation. It leads him nowhere except to ignorance. To the prophets and thinkers, to the sages who taught their followers the ideal of God, it had a meaning, a purpose. But today people do not recognize these, and being anxious to find a shortcut, they omit the principal thing in order to come to the realization of self.

今日許多所謂的宗派採用一種錯誤的方法，而這種方法往往以失敗告終：他們教導剛踏上靈性道路的人說：「我是神。」這是一句欠缺思考的話，是狂妄之言，也是一個毫無根基的念頭。它除了把人引向無知之外，哪裡也去不了。對那些教導追隨者建立對神的理想觀念的先知、思想家與聖哲而言，這句話原本有其意義，也有其目的。然而今日的人不明白這些，只因急於尋找捷徑，便略去了最根本之事，企圖直接抵達對自身本性的證悟。

Once a man went to a Chinese sage and said to him, “I want to learn the occult laws. Will you teach me?” The sage said, “You have come to ask me to teach you something, but we have so many missionaries in China who come to teach us.” The man said, “We know about God, but I have come to you to ask you about occult laws.” The sage said, “If you know about God you don’t need to know anything more. God is all that is to be known. If you know Him you know all.”

曾有一個人去見一位中國聖哲，對他說：「我想學習神祕的法則。你願意教我嗎？」聖哲說：「你來請我教你一些東西，但我們中國已有那麼多傳教士前來教導我們。」那人說：「關於神，我們已經知道了；我來找你，是想請教神祕的法則。」聖哲說：「如果你真正認識神，就不需要再知道任何別的事。神就是一切所需要知道的；若你認識祂，你便認識了一切。」

In this world of commercialism there is a tendency, an unconscious tendency, even for a person who wants to promote the spiritual truth, to cater for the taste of the people. Either because of a commercial instinct, or with the desire to have a success, there is a tendency to cater for what people want. If people seem to be tired of the God-ideal, those who have that tendency want to give them occultism; they call it that or mysticism, because the God-ideal seems so simple. And as there is a fashion in everything there is even a fashion in belief. Man thinks that the ideal of God is old-fashioned, something of the past. In order to create a new fashion he abandons the method which was the royal road trodden by all the wise and thoughtful of all ages, the method which will surely take men to perfection. Safety and success are sure in that path.

在這個商業主義的世界裡，即使是一個想要傳揚靈性真理的人，也容易產生一種迎合人們口味的傾向，而且往往是不自覺的。無論是出於商業本能，還是出於想要成功的願望，都可能使人傾向於迎合大眾所想要的東西。如果人們似乎已對「理想中的神」感到厭倦，有這種傾向的人便想給他們神祕學，或將它稱作神祕主義，因為「理想中的神」似乎顯得太簡單了。正如萬事都有流行，信仰也有它的流行。人以為，對神的理想觀念已經過時，是屬於過去的東西。為了創造新的潮流，他便拋棄那條歷代一切智慧而深思之人都曾走過的康莊大道——那條必然能引人走向圓滿的道路。沿著這條道路前行，安穩與成就是確然可期的。

There may be a man of devotion and of simple faith, religious and believing in God, who calls Him the Judge, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Protector, the Master of the Last Day, the Lord, the Forgiver, and so on. And there may be another man, perhaps an intellectual who has studied philosophy, and he says, “God is all, and all is God. God is abstract and it is the abstract which is God.’

可能有一個虔敬而信仰單純的人，有宗教信仰，也相信神；他稱神為審判者、造物主、維繫者、保護者、末日之主、主、寬恕者等等。也可能有另一個人，或許是一位研習過哲學的知識分子，他說：「神是一切，一切都是神。神是抽象的，而那抽象本身就是神。」

In point of fact the one has a God, even if only in his imagination, but the other has none; he has only the abstract. He calls it God because the others say God, but in his mind he has only the abstract. For instance when you say “space”, there is no personality attached to it, no intelligence recognized in it, no form, no distinct individuality or personality. It is the same thing with time. When you speak about “time” you do not imagine time to be something or somebody. You say it is time, which means a conception which you have made for your convenience.

事實上，前者有一位神，即使那位神只存在於他的想像之中；後者卻沒有神，他只有一個抽象概念。他之所以稱它為神，只因別人都說「神」，但在他的頭腦裡，實際上只有那個抽象概念。譬如，當我們說「空間」時，並不會賦予它某種人格，也不會認為其中有某種智慧；它沒有形體，也沒有明確的個體性或人格風範。時間也是如此。當我們談到「時間」，並不會想像時間是某個東西或某一個人。我們只說「這是時間」，而那不過是為了方便理解而形成的一個概念。

A man who says that the abstract is God, has no God. By this I do not mean to say that one or the other is right; what I wish to explain is that from a mental point of view the one has a God, even if it is only a God of his imagination, but the other has none, whether he admits it or not. Both are right, and both are wrong. One is at the beginning, and the other is at the end. The one who begins with the end will end at the beginning; and the one who begins with the beginning will end at the end.

一個說「抽象就是神」的人，其實並沒有神。我這樣說，並不是要斷言其中哪一個是對的；我想說明的是，從頭腦的層面來看，前者有一位神，即使只是他想像中的神；而後者卻沒有，無論他是否承認這一點。兩者都是對的，兩者也都是錯的。一個站在起點，另一個站在終點。從終點開始的人，最後會回到起點；而從起點開始的人，最後則會抵達終點。

We might think, why in this short life should we create for ourselves a kind of illusion, why should we only arrive at the truth at the end? Why not begin with it? But if truth were such that it could be spoken of in words, I would have been the first to give it to you. Truth is a thing that must discovered; we have ourselves to realize it, and it is that preparation which is called religion or occultism or mysticism. Whatever we may call it, it is that preparation. We prepare ourselves by one way or the other in order to realize truth in the end; and the best way, which all the thinkers and sages have adopted, is the way of God.

我們或許會想：人生如此短暫，為什麼還要為自己造出某種幻象？為什麼非得到了最後，才能抵達真理？為什麼不一開始就從真理出發？然而，如果真理是可以用言語說出的東西，我一定會是第一個把它交給你的人。真理是必須被發現的；我們必須親自證悟它。而宗教、神祕學或神祕主義，所指的正是這份準備。無論我們給它什麼名稱，它都是一種準備。我們以這樣或那樣的方式預備自己，好讓自己最終能證悟真理；而所有思想家與聖哲所採取的最佳道路，就是神之道。

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