高我、低我与面具
《心路指南讲座》第14讲｜1957年10月11日
The Higher Self, the Lower Self, and the Mask
Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 14 | October 11, 1957
14.1 Greetings in the name of the Lord. Blessed is this hour in which I am permitted to speak to you, my friends.
以神之名问候你们。这个我获准与你们交谈的时刻，是受到祝福的，我的朋友们。
14.2 I have promised to talk to you tonight about how we in the spirit world see the entire human personality, the complete unit. You all know that you have not only a physical body, but also various subtle bodies, each representing something different. You also know that your thoughts have definite spiritual forms, and that such forms are created not only by thoughts, but also by feelings, since a feeling is really just an “unthought thought” not yet made conscious. Although thought creates a different form than a feeling does, nevertheless, both create very definite and substantial forms. Each subtle body, as well as the physical body, has an aura: the vibration and emanation of that body. Thought-forms or feeling-forms reflect their image in the aura. These forms really do exist in the spirit. The auras, therefore, are not the images themselves, only reflections of the images. These forms create the spheres in the spirit world and, according to the intensity of the thoughts or feelings, are vague and weak, or definite, strong, and durable. In other words, all these forms fluctuate and change since everything in spirit is in perpetual motion.
我承诺过今晚会跟你们讨论一个主题：我们在精神世界里，如何看待完整的人类人格——这个整体。你们都知道你不仅有一个物质身体，还拥有不同的精微体，它们各代表不同的东西。你们也知道，你的思想拥有它们相应的、明确的精神形态，这些形态不仅仅由人的思想创造出来，也会被人的感觉创造出来，因为感觉实际上不过是一个“未及思想之思想”，它尚未被意识觉察。即便思想创造出的形态与感觉有别，但两者所创造出的形态都是非常清晰、实际的。各种精微体，包括物质身，都有其光环：即该身体的震动与放射。思想形态或感觉形态会把它们的形象反映在光环中。这些形态在精神层面是真实存在的。因此，那些光环并不是这些形象本身，而只是这些形象的映像。这些形态，根据它们相应的思想或感觉的强度，会在精神世界创造出不同位面，这些位面有的模糊而微弱，有的明确、坚固并且持久。换句话说，所有这些形态都会波动和变化，因为在精神世界里一切事物都处于永恒的运动之中。
14.3 The aura of the physical body shows physical sickness or health, and all other conditions of the physical being. The emotional, intellectual, or spiritual reactions show in the aura of the respective subtle body.
物质身的光环会显示出人的疾病或健康，以及其他有关物质存在的所有情况。而情绪、智力和精神层面的反应，会分别显示在其相应的精微身里。
14.4 Each living being has a higher self or divine spark. This is the finest and most radiant of the subtle bodies, with the quickest frequency of vibration, because the higher the spiritual development, the quicker the vibration. Since the fall of the angels, the higher self surrounded itself slowly and gradually with various layers of denser matter, not quite as dense as the physical body, but infinitely denser than the higher self. Thus did the lower self come into existence. From your perspective, these layers are of subtle matter which you cannot see with your physical eye.
每个活着的存在都有一个高层自我，或叫“神圣火花”。这是所有精微身中最精致、最灿烂的。它具有最快的震动频率，因为精神发展层次越高，震动就越快。从天使堕落之后，高层自我缓慢、逐步把自己用许多层次的更致密物质包裹起来了。这些物质不如肉体的物质致密，但却比高层自我致密很多。就这样，低层自我就此形成。从你们的视角来看，这些层次是由精微物质构成，你们通过肉眼无法观察到它们。
14.5 The aim of spiritual development is to eliminate the lower self so that the higher self becomes free again of all outer layers it has acquired. In your own life, you will be able to sense quite easily, with yourself or others, that certain parts of the higher self are already free, while other parts are still hidden. How much is free or hidden, and how thickly it is hidden depends on the overall development of the respective person. The lower self consist not only of the common faults and the individual weaknesses that vary with each person, but also of ignorance and laziness. It hates to change and conquer itself; it has a very strong will that may not always manifest itself outside, and wants its way without paying the price. It is very proud and selfish, and always has a great deal of personal vanity. It is the ego with all its manifestations. All these characteristics are generally part of the lower self, regardless of other individual faults. There are many shades and possible forms however, in which the lower self can display these general trends. Such manifestations depend on various other factors, such as the personal faults which can have different effects on these common traits of the lower self. The qualities of the higher self, as well as various other circumstances, also influence the outer manifestation, intensity, degree, and direction that these general trends may take.
精神发展的目标，在于消除低层自我，从而使高层自我再度摆脱它之前获得的一切外部层次。在你们自己的生活里你能很容易地感觉到，不管是自己还是别人，某些特定部分的高层自我已经自由了，而其他部分仍然隐藏着。这里面有多少是自由或者隐藏的，以及它隐藏得有多厚实，取决于相关个人的总体发展程度。低层自我不仅包含着因人而异的普通缺点和个性化弱点，还包括普遍性的无知和懒惰。它不愿意改变并征服自己，它有很强的意愿但可能不总是表露在外，并且它想要事情以它的方式运行而不付出代价。它非常骄傲和自私，并且总有相当强的个人虚荣心。它就是“小我”以及它的种种表现。不考虑其它个人缺点，上述这些特征都是低层自我的一部分。但是低层自我展现这些一般性趋势的程度和可能形态有很多。这些外部显现取决于许多其他因素，比如说每个人各自不同的缺点，会在这些普通的低层自我特征基础上产生不同的效果。而高层自我的品质，以及许多其他情况，也会影响这些一般性趋势可能采用的外部显现、强度、程度和方向。
14.6 We see both the higher self and the lower self. However, not all spirits can see all the subtle bodies of a creature; only those can who have attained a certain level of development. In other words, the mere fact that a spirit leaves its physical body behind does not indicate that it can necessarily see more than any of you. A spirit who has attained a certain level of development will not only be able to interpret the lower self, but will also be able to see through it to discover the higher self in all its splendor, because dense or physical matter does not represent an obstacle for our spiritual eyes and perception. So we can determine very well which thought-forms come from the higher self, and which from the lower self. We can also determine which wishes and endeavors of the higher self may be mixed in with tendencies from the lower self, the original shade twisted, colored, or dirtied.
我们既看到了高层自我也看到了低层自我。然而，不是所有魂灵都能看到一个造物的所有精微身；只有那些取得了一定发展层次的魂灵才能看到。换言之，一个魂灵离开了它的物质身这个简单事实不足以说明它比任何人看到的东西更多。一个已经获得了特定发展层次的魂灵不仅能够解读低层自我，而且有能力看穿它并发现处于壮阔光辉之中的高层自我，因为致密的或者说物质的东西对我们灵性的眼睛和觉察能力来说并不构成一种障碍。所以我们能很清楚地分辨出哪些思想形态出自高层自我，哪些出自低层自我。我们也可以判定哪些愿望和努力出自高层自我，却与来自低层自我的趋势掺杂起来，导致原本的形态受到扭曲、着色，并被染污。
14.7 When messages from the higher self are tainted with lower-self motives, a disorder is created in the soul that makes its bearer emotionally ill. All the various tendencies have different colors and, in many cases different tones and scents. For example, a person may want something selfish and because he or she does not want to admit that this is selfishness, begins to rationalize the selfish desire and fool himself or herself about it. We can see all this very clearly, and, indeed, this kind of self-deception is very common among human beings. The forms of the higher self have an entirely different character than those of the lower self.
当来自高层自我的信息被来自低层自我的动机染污时，灵魂中就会产生一种失调，导致承受它的人发生情绪障碍。各种各样的倾向全都有不同的颜色，很多情况下还有不同的声调和气味。比如，一个人可能想要某种自私的东西，却因为他或她不想承认这是自私的，所以把自私的欲望进行合理化，以此来蒙骗他或她自己。我们可以很清楚地看到这一切，而事实上，这种类型的自我欺骗在人类中非常普遍。来自高层自我的形态与来自低层自我的形态拥有完全不同的本性特征。
14.8 There is another layer that is, unfortunately, not yet recognized sufficiently among human beings for its full significance, and that is what I might term the mask self. The mask self is created in the following way: When you recognize that you may get into conflict with your surroundings by giving in to your lower self, you may still not be ready to pay the price for eliminating the lower self. This would mean first of all that you would have to face it as it really is, with all its motives and drives, since you can conquer only that which you are fully aware of. This means taking the narrow path, the spiritual path. Many people do not want to think that deeply; instead they react emotionally without thinking about facing the lower self. The subconscious feels it necessary to present a different picture of the self in order to avoid certain difficulties, unpleasantness, or disadvantages of all sorts. Thus people create another layer of the self which has nothing to do with reality, either with that of the higher self, or with the temporary reality of the lower self. It is what you might call phony or false; it is unreal.
除此之外还有一个层次，不幸的是，人们还没有充分意识到它的全部重要性，这就是我称之为面具自我的层次。面具自我是由如下过程被创造出来的：当你意识到你可能因为屈服于自己的低层自我，而与周围环境发生冲突时，你可能仍然没有准备好付出消除低层自我所需要的代价。消除低层自我意味着，首先你必须实事求是地面对它，这包括它所有的动机和驱动力，因为你只能征服那些自己完全了解的东西。而这意味着走狭窄的道路，也就是精神/心灵的道路。许多人不想思考得那么深；相反他们会在没有考虑去面对低层自我的情况下直接做出情绪反应。人的潜意识头脑认为有必要展示出一个不同的“自我”的画面从而避免某些困难、不愉快或者各种各样的缺点和不利之处。因此人们创造出“自我”的另一个层次，这个层次跟现实没有任何关系，它既不是高层自我，也不是低层自我的短暂存在。它是你们可能会称为伪造或虚假的东西；它是不真实的。
14.9 I will return to the above example. The lower self dictates to the person to be quite ruthless about a selfish desire. It is not difficult for anyone of even the most limited intelligence to realize that by giving in to this desire he or she will be ostracized, or disliked by others—an outcome no one wants. Instead of overcoming selfishness by the slow process of development, people often act as though they were already unselfish. But they actually are selfish, and feel the selfishness. They hate the pressure of their higher selves to act contrary to the desires of their lower selves, but feel compelled to put on an act, which disturbs their inner peace, since it does not agree with their still predominant lower-self feelings. Their giving and their generosity are just a sham. In other words, the right act is entirely unsupported by the unpurified feelings, and therefore the person is at war within. The proper act becomes an act of necessity, of compulsion, instead of free choice. With such superimposed goodness does not count in the real sense. While you may give something, you may hate the idea. Not only do people remain convinced that they need to be selfish, but are also untrue to their nature, violating their reality and living a lie. I am by no means suggesting that it is advisable to give in to one’s lower nature; one must fight for enlightenment and strive for development in order to purify one’s feelings and desires. But if this is not accomplished, there should at least be no self-deception. One should have at least a clear and true picture about the discrepancy between feelings and actions. In this way, no mask self can form.
我会回到上面的例子。低层自我会支配一个人在某些自私欲望方面变得相当冷酷无情。任何人，哪怕是智力极为有限的人，都不难意识到如果向这种欲望屈服，他或她会受到排斥，或者会被其他人厌恶——没人想要这样的结果。然而，与选择通过缓慢的发展过程来克服自私性的做法相反，人们通常表现得好像他们已经不自私了一样。但他们实际上是自私的，并且能感觉到这自私。他们讨厌自己的高层自我与低层自我行事方式相反所带来的压力，但又觉得必须要装出一副样子，这种假装会干扰到他们内心的平静，因为这种假装跟他们内心仍然处于支配地位的低层自我的感觉相左。他们的给予和慷慨不过是一个骗局。换句话说，这种“正确”的行为是没得到自己心中那些（仍然处于支配地位的）不纯净感觉支撑的，因此这个人内心处于战争之中。“合适”的行为就变成了一种必要的、强迫性的行为，而不是出于自由选择。这种勉强的善良在真正意义上是不作数的。虽然你可能给出了某些东西，实际上你可能讨厌这类做法。人们不仅仍然相信他们有必要保持自私，而且还对自己的本性不忠实，因而违反他们内心的现实，并生活在谎言中。我绝不是在暗示说屈服于自己的低层本性的做法是可取/明智的；人必须为获得觉悟而奋斗，并努力发展自己，从而净化自己的感觉和欲望。但是如果还没有达成这一步，至少也不应该有自我欺骗。人起码应该对（自己的）感觉和行为之间的差距有一个清楚而真实的认知。这样，就不会形成面具自我。
14.10 However, too often people try to believe in their own unselfishness and in that way fool themselves about their real feelings and motives by not showing them, and not wanting to look at them. After a while the evil will sink into the subconscious where it will ferment and create forms that have their effect and cannot be eliminated, because the person is unaware of them. The example of selfishness is merely one instance; there are many other traits and tendencies that go through the same process, my friends.
然而，人们往往试图相信自己的无私，并以此自欺，不愿坦呈他们真实的情感和动机，更不愿审视它们。久而久之，这些恶便会沉入潜意识，在那里发酵滋长，形成种种难以消除的执念与业障——因其始终未被觉察，故始终无从化解。自私之例仅为其中一端；朋友们，其它诸多心性习气，也是同样的道理。
14.11 When people are emotionally sick, it is always a sign that in one way or another a mask self has been created. They do not realize they are living a lie. They have built a layer of unreality that has nothing to do with their real being. Thus they are not being true to their real personality. As I said before, being true to oneself does not mean that you should give in to your lower self, but that you should be aware of it. Do not fool yourself if you still act according to the necessity to protect yourself and not out of enlightened vision and inner conviction. Be aware that your feelings are still unpurified in this or that respect. Then you have a good basis from which to start. It will be easier for you to face yourself in this manner when you realize that underneath the layers of your lower self lives your higher self, your ultimate and absolute reality which you must eventually reach. In order to reach it, you must first face your lower self, or your temporary reality, instead of covering it up, because that puts an even greater distance between you and absolute reality, or your own higher self. To face the lower self you must at all costs tear down the mask self. You can bring yourself to do so when you visualize the three selves I am presenting here.
当人心生郁结，往往意味着某种虚妄之相已然成形。你们浑然不觉自己正活在谎言之中，你所筑起的虚幻外壳与真实本性全然无关，由此背离了本真自我。我曾说过，忠于本真并非纵容劣性，而是对其保持觉知。若你行事仍出于自我保护之需，而非明悟与内在信念，则切莫自欺。当觉察自身情志尚有未净之处，你便有了修持的根基。若能了悟：在层层劣性之下，自有崇高本我栖居——那终将抵达的究竟真实，如此直面自我便容易得多。欲臻此境，须先正视劣性之暂存，而非遮掩逃避。因遮掩只会令你与绝对实相（即崇高本我）愈发疏离。要直面劣性，必须不计代价撕破虚妄之相。若你能观想我所揭示的这"三重自我"，便可得此勇毅。
14.12 To lie to oneself and not think about one’s emotions and true motives at all, but merely let the emotions react without thinking, may appear at times adequate, but it is not. The person who wants to become happy, healthy, and at peace inwardly, needs, in order to truly fulfill this present life and be in harmony with God and thus with the inner self, to find the answer to these questions once and for all: What is the actual me? What is my higher self? What is my lower self? Where may there be a mask, a falsehood?
自欺，并且全然不考虑自身情感与真实动机，仅放任情绪不假思索地反应，这种做法或许偶尔奏效，但终非正道。凡是想到达到内心喜乐安康、平和无扰之境的人，为求此生圆满无憾，为求与神明和谐共契、进而与真我和解，就应当找到这些问题的答案：何为实相之我？何为崇高本我？何为低层自我？面具会长在哪里，则虚妄何存？
14.13 Many, many people wear a mask, at least in some respects. This mask self presents to us a very ugly color, my dear friends. It is not dark, black, or sinister as are the trends of the lower self in different variations; the colors of the mask self are sickeningly sweet. If you are an artist or are artistically inclined, you know how to determine a good, genuine color or an unreal, sweetly artificial coloring. You even have created a word for bad art and bad coloring: you call it kitsch. It is the same with the tones and the odor of the mask self: they are sickly and nauseating. We spirits prefer the emanation and effects of the lower self, unpleasant as they may be for us, but at least they are honest.
多少人戴着面具而活，至少在某些情况下如此。这副面具向世人展示的色彩着实令人不适——它不像低层自我那般呈现出幽暗、阴郁或险恶的种种形态；面具的色调反而甜腻得令人窒息。若您身为艺术家，或具有艺术感知力，定能分辨何为真实纯粹的色彩，何为虚伪造作的甜艳。世人甚至为这种拙劣艺术和涂色创造了一个精准的称谓：媚俗。面具自我的声调与气息也是如此：甜腐得令人作呕。我们灵体宁愿直面低层自我的浊气——纵使令人不快，至少真实不伪。
14.14 It is important for all of you to try to train your inner eye to see yourselves and other human beings from that point of view. The more you become spiritually awake, the easier it will be for you to accurately perceive yourselves and others. When you come in contact with the higher self once your intuition has awakened through your personal spiritual development, you will feel a distinct difference between the mask and the higher self. You will feel the nauseating manifestations of the mask self, first of all of your own, no matter how pleasant the mask may appear to be.
你们要勤修内观之眼，由这个视角，再去审视自己、观照他人。灵性觉醒愈深，则洞悉自我与他者就能更加明澈。当你的灵性修持渐渐打开直觉，能够遇到高我，就自然能够分明辨察面具与崇高本我之间的明显分别。不管面具之相是多么赏心悦目，你也必定会先觉察自己的面具自我的表现——令人作呕。
14.15 If your psychologists, psychoanalysts, and psychiatrists would begin to view their patients from this viewpoint, they could accomplish a lot more. They would have success where they are still unsuccessful. The time will come when this knowledge will be theirs. When they are mature and courageous enough to include spiritual reality in their thinking, they will discover all this and prove the truth by their success with their patients. They will solve problems with their patients’, even though they cannot see what we can and what so far has appeared impossible to solve. The mere knowledge of these three parts of the human personality will make a tremendous difference in the results they will obtain, because they will, after some practice and study, determine easily which part of the self they are dealing with at a certain phase of the treatment. They will develop different means to deal with the different selves, and would know how to instruct the conscious and will-directing part of the person to use this information. It will make a great deal of difference. If a person is ready to accept help in that respect, the conscious and will-directing part of the self is on the proper road. What then remains to be accomplished is to penetrate the subconscious layers of the personality with these truths as well, so that all inner resistance will be overcome. This can be done only by the person himself.
如果你们的心理学家、精神分析师与精神科医师，能够从这样的角度去观照病患，他们的工作就可能更有成效。从前束手无策的事，都可以得到解决。他们具备这种认知的时刻一定会来临。当他们足够成熟、有足够的勇气把精神现实融入到他们的思考中时，他们就会发现所有这些情况，并通过在病人身上的成功证明其中的真实性。尽管他们看不到我们能看见的东西，他们会解决病人的问题和那些目前看来似乎不可能解决的问题。单纯这份对于人类人格中这三个部分的存在的知识就会对他们能得到的结果造成巨大的影响，因为经过一些实践和学习后，他们将能轻易地判断出某个治疗阶段中是在跟自我的哪个部分打交道。他们会开发出不同手段来应对不同层次的自我，并且会知道如何指导一个人的清醒的、表层的、对意志进行支配的那部分头脑来利用这个信息。这会带来巨大的不同。如果一个人准备好在这方面接受帮助，那么清醒的、意志支配的自我部分就走在合适的道路上了。剩下要做的就是让这些真理也去穿透个性中那些潜意识的层次，从而使一切内部阻力都得到克服。这些工作只能由当事个人自己去完成。
14.16 If you want to walk this path and be cured of your emotional sicknesses, it is important for you to understand all this. Even if you are not what is called a neurotic, and there are only minor deviations from the law within you, it will be very useful for you to understand all this and to meditate on it. It may explain why it frequently happens that a person undergoing psychoanalysis with a doctor who rigidly follows a school of thought that does not admit to any spiritual truth, and who is not very intuitive about such things, may plunge into a crisis in which his state of mind becomes worse than before treatment. Of course, there may also be doctors possessing good intuition and a strong sense of guidance, in which case the undesirable outcome may not happen quite so often or so strongly. But when the mask has been torn down and the patient is confronted with the lower self, the experience may be so shattering that the patient will break down completely, leave therapy, and suffer even more serious consequences. On the other hand, if this person were told what I am telling you here, and thus prepared for what to expect, so much hardship, and often even tragedy, could be avoided. If a patient knew that he or she has to face the lower self, which exists in every human being, and also knew that this lower self, unpleasant as it may be, is not the ultimate “I” or true self, and that the higher self, which is perfection, waiting to grow out of these layers of imperfection, is the true self, then this shock would not occur. Therefore, this knowledge is important for your psychologists and doctors of all kinds, as well as for all teachers and parents. It will help a great deal. Perhaps you have questions on this subject, my dear friends.
如果你想要走上这条道路并治愈你情绪和情感的疾病，那么对你来说重要的是要理解所有这些内容。哪怕你不是一个所谓的“神经质”，而且你内心只有对法则轻微的偏离，去理解这一切并且对此进行冥想仍然会是对你很有帮助的。它能够解释为什么经常会发生这样的事：一个人去接受一个医生的精神分析，这个医生刻板地遵循一种不承认任何精神真理的学派，而且对相关事情没有什么直觉领悟，而病人会突然陷入危机之中，此时他的头脑状态会比治疗前更糟糕。当然，也有情况是医生拥有很好的直觉和很强的引导感，这种情况下不理想的结果可能不会如此频繁或者以如此的强度发生。但是，当面具被撕下，病人直面低级自我时，这种体验可能会如此地具有破坏性，以至于病人会完全崩溃，离开心理治疗，并且遭受甚至更加严重的后果。另一方面，如果这个病人能听到我在这里告诉你们的东西，并因此做好准备，产生合理预期，那么如此多的艰难情况、甚至通常是悲剧，就能够被避免。如果病人知道“他或她必须面对低级自我，而这种东西存在于所有人类内心；并且知道低级自我，尽管它很令人不愉快，并不是最终的‘我’或真实自我；而高级自我作为完美的存在，等待着突破这些不完美的层面生长出来，而它才是真正的自我”这个情况的话，那么这种震惊就不会发生了。因此，这份知识对你们的心理医生和各种医生以及所有的老师和父母都很重要。它会提供极大的帮助。也许你们对这个话题有问题要问，我亲爱的朋友们。
14.17 QUESTION: What is the metaphysical explanation of allergies? For instance, people are often allergic to things they love.
问题：过敏症状的超物理层面解释是什么？比如说，人们通常对他们喜爱的东西过敏。
14.18 ANSWER: There may be different explanations for this. Generally speaking, it may be simply that the true personality is not allowed to evolve, that a mask is put over the personality and the inner reaction; or a revolt by the higher self may create certain physical symptoms in order to wake up the person and find out the reason. This is only one possibility; there may be others. Another possibility is that very often the human soul is torn apart by conflicting desires—one part of the personality wants to go in one direction, and another part in the opposite direction. These desires pull alternately. By keeping the conflict in the subconscious, the soul has failed to make peace with itself. There is a great strain and friction. As long as these currents are not brought into consciousness, so as to be examined and dealt with, as long as their true meaning and motive is not understood, the inner fight cannot be settled. However, the lower self works against bringing anything out into the open. And as long as the conscious and will directing part of the personality does not take charge, the inner fight and friction goes on. Since all this takes place in the unconscious, what comes out are the symptoms, which may be tiredness, allergies, and various other physical symptoms. These conflicts actually create a short circuit in the soul.
回答：这个现象可能有不同的解释。通常来说，这可能单纯是因为真实人格没有被允许进化，并且在人格个性和内心反应上戴了一个面具；或者说高级自我做出的反抗可能会造成特定的身体症状，以此来唤醒这个人并找出其中的原因。这只是一种可能；也会有其他的可能性存在。另一种可能是通常人类灵魂会被互相矛盾的欲望撕扯——人格的一部分想要朝一个方向走，而另一部分朝相反方向。这些欲望变换地朝不同的方向牵引。因为人的这些冲突矛盾保持在潜意识中，所以灵魂就没法与自己和平相处。这就会产生强大的张力和摩擦。只要这些涌流还没有被带入显意识，从而得到检查和处理，只要它们的真实意义和动机还没有被理解清楚，那么内心斗争就不能解决。然而，低级自我十分努力地反对把任何东西带到公开的位置。而且只要人格中的显意识和支配意志的部分还没有掌管起控制权，那么内心斗争和摩擦就会持续下去。因为所有这些都发生在无意识领域，表现在人格浅表的都是症状，这些症状可以是疲劳感、过敏以及许多其他身体症状。这些冲突实际上在灵魂中造成了短路。
14.19 A third alternative is that there may be a shock reaction in the life of a person. This person has put the original incident into the subconscious, and does not consciously remember it at all. A food, plant, animal or some such thing may have been involved, even indirectly. Since the person has this association, he or she reacts accordingly. The incident may have occurred in childhood, or earlier in infancy, or perhaps in a previous incarnation. It is not always necessary to remember the actual incident, although this can help, too. The main point is that the wrong inner reaction that has created this evil should be cleared away. Whenever anything is repressed into the unconscious, you can be quite sure that some sort of inner wrong reaction has taken place.
第三种可能性是人生命中可能有一个休克反应。这个人把最初的事件放入了潜意识中，而显意识上一点都不记得它了。这件事里涉及到了某种食物、植物、动物或者某个这类的东西，而且不一定是直接涉及的。因为这个人有这样一种关联/联系，他或她就会做出相应反应。这件事可能发生在童年时期，或者是更早的婴儿时期，或者可能发生在之前的降世中。没有必要一定想起那件实际的事情，尽管这会有帮助。重点在于制造这种邪恶状况的那个错误的内部反应需要被清除掉。每当任何事情被压抑到无意识领域时，你可以很确定的是某种错误的内部反应已经发生了。
14.20 Generally speaking, any of these alternatives or their variations may be responsible for allergies. There may also be other possibilities, but it is quite impossible for me to go into all the details now. I am just giving you a general overview.
通常来说，这些可能性的任何一个或者它们的变种都有可能造成过敏。也可能有其他的原因，但是要我讨论所有那些细节是几乎不可能的。我只是在给你一个一般性概述。
14.21 QUESTION: There is a lot of hypocrisy in this world, which is of course the mask self. It is encouraged by the world, because the world wants to see good. From the viewpoint of the whole world, is it not preferable to do and act right, even if it is a mask, than to remain in one’s lower self when one cannot eradicate it?
问题：这个世界上有很多伪善和虚伪，这些当然都属于面具自我。这些行为受到了社会的鼓励，因为人们想看到好的东西。从全世界的角度来看，以正确方式（哪怕这是一个面具）去做事和行事的情况是不是优于当人们（暂时）没法消除低级自我因而只好停留在低级自我的水平上的情况？
14.22 ANSWER: Everybody can eradicate it, if they really want to do so. It is only a question of how much can be eradicated in the present incarnation. However, enough can be eradicated so that you will not commit crimes or do harmful things to others. Besides, one does not have to choose between giving in to the lower self and creating a mask self. As I have explained it, even if the feelings cannot be purified at once, because this takes quite a long time and a combination of effort and patience, you can become aware of your own imperfections, unclean desires, and lower nature. At the same time you can still act in accordance with the standards of your society, as opposed to believing that the mask self is your true nature and real self, thus fooling yourself and creating an inner lie. In other words, you do not have to choose between becoming a cannibal, if this is your lower self, and becoming hypocritical and fooling yourself. Even if you cannot or will not do what is needed to transform yourself, you should be aware of your lower self and know that you act according to necessity and your own convenience while your feelings are still unpurified and not always in accordance with your outer actions. Although you are taking the path of purification, you will not have any measure of success until you are willing to wait and work, work and wait. In the meantime, self-honesty is absolutely essential as a necessary requisite for any success in this most wonderful venture. But even if you are unwilling to take this road, it is infinitely better to have no self-illusions than to create this unhealthy and sickly aura.
回答：如果人们真心想的话，每个人都可以消除它。问题在于在目前降世中能消除多少。然而，人可以消除足够多的低级自我使他或她不会犯罪或者做一些伤害别人的事情。另外，人不需要在“向低级自我屈服”和“创造面具自我”之间做出选择。如我之前解释的，就算感觉和情绪不能一下子得到净化（因为这个过程需要相当长的时间，以及努力与耐心的综合作用），你可以意识到自己的不完美之处、不洁的欲望和低级本性。与此同时，你仍然可以以符合社会标准的方式行为处事，而不用相信面具自我是你的真实本性和真正自我，从而欺骗自己并创造出内心谎言。换句话说，你不需要在“成为一个食人族”（如果这是你的低级自我的话）与“成为一个假心假意的人并愚弄自己”之间做出选择。就算你不能或者不愿做出必要的事情来转化自己，你也应该意识到你的低级自我的存在，并且认识到，当你的感觉仍然没有完全净化并且不总是与你的外部行为保持一致时，你是在根据必要性和自己的便利性行事。尽管你选择了净化的道路，在你愿意做出（足够多的）等待和劳作，劳作和等待之前，你是不会得到任何程度的成功的。在这期间，自我诚实作为一个在这个最奇妙的冒险中达到任何成功的必要需求是绝对至关重要的。而就算你不愿意选择这条道路，不制造自我幻象仍然要比创造出这种不健康的、病态的光环要好无数倍。
14.23 QUESTION: How is it possible to undo what your lower self has manifested in the way of physical illness?
问题：人为什么有可能把低级自我以身体疾病形式做出的外在表现抵消掉？
14.24 ANSWER: In the first place, my dear friend, you should not try to eliminate the consequences first; that would be too easy. If your lower self has created an illness, the illness has to be accepted first. You should go about finding the roots or the part of your lower self that has created this illness. The lower self has to be met and completely explored. Your aim must be purification and perfection for its own sake. You do it for the love of God that you have in you, and not in order to avoid putting up with a discomfort. True, it takes a lot of overcoming and inner strength to sufficiently purify the motives first, but that is the necessary foundation. While doing this, you are at the same time learning a lot of other things. Thus spiritual strength grows as you learn to apply absolute self-honesty. Once your motives are pure, the sickness will not matter half as much as the state of your soul. To the degree that the ego and the comfort of all that goes with it loses importance, you will have followed a very important spiritual law. Thus health will be gradually restored. This law has to do with the giving up of the ego-self which Jesus taught. Only thus will you win your life.
回答：从一开始，我亲爱的朋友，你就不应该首先试着消除后果；如果那样有效的话事情就太容易了。如果你的低级自我创造了一个疾病，那么这个疾病就要先得到承认和接受。你应该先去尝试找到创造出这个疾病的根源或者相应的低级自我的部分。低级自我需要被直面，并且彻底地探索清楚。你的目标必须是为了净化和完善本身而去做这件事。你为了存在于自己内心的上帝的爱而这么做，而不是为了避免应付某个不适。确实，人需要拿出很多的内心力量，做出很多自我克服，才能首先充分净化自己的动机，但这是必要的基础工作。当你这样做的时候，你同时也在学习很多其他事情。因此在你学习应用绝对的自我诚实时，你的精神力量得到了生长。一旦你的动机纯粹了，疾病本身的重要性就连你灵魂所处状态的重要性的一半都不及了。当“小我”和所有伴随它的东西失去它们的重要性时，在与之相当的程度上，你已经遵守了一条非常重要的精神/心灵法则。因此健康就会逐渐恢复。这条法则与耶稣教导的放弃“小我”有关。只有这样你才能赢得自己的生命。
14.25 So begin by meeting your lower self with courage, optimism, humility, and in a spirit of warfare, so to speak. Once you discover your lower self, and shed all the masks and all the covering layers, you will begin to work on the different aspects of the lower self. You do this by daily observation and self-testing, observing again and again how far your inner currents still deviate from what you wish them to be. As you do so, and become master over your lower self, you learn real self-honesty, and your motives for development become purer and purer. Your vision will widen, enlightenment will be given to you, and your illness will gradually disappear.
所以，开始的时候，先以勇气、积极谦逊的态度以及（某种意义上的）战斗的心态来面对你的低级自我。当你发现了自己的低级自我，并撕碎了所有的面具和掩饰的层面，你会开始在低级自我的不同方面展开工作。你通过每天自我观察和自我测验来做到这一点，一次又一次地观察到你的内部涌流以多远的距离偏离了你希望它们处在的地方。当你这样做，并且成为自己低级自我的主宰的时候，你就学会了真正的自我诚实，而你对于发展的动机就会变得越来越纯净。你的视野会变宽，启迪会被给予你，而你的疾病会逐渐消失。
14.26 So you should not even think of your illness first, but of the root of the problem. That will be the only lasting success—the only one, my dear! If your wish is recognized in the spirit world, if you truly want to purify yourself, not merely rid yourself of unpleasant consequences that are most visible or noticeable to you, help and guidance will come to you, so that you can do battle with your lower self, since no one can do it alone.
所以你根本不应该首先考虑你的疾病，而是要考虑问题的根源。那才是唯一持久的成功——唯一的，我亲爱的！如果你的愿望在精神世界被识别清楚了，如果你真心想要净化自己，而不仅仅是消除那些最为显著、最为明显的令人不愉快的后果的话，你就会得到帮助和指导，使你能与自己的低级自我战斗，因为没有人能独自这样做。
14.27 QUESTION: I asked last time why Hindu philosophy does not have the fall of the angels. You promised that you would answer it tonight.
问题：我上次提问到为什么印度哲学中没有提到天使的堕落。你承诺今天晚上会回答这个问题。
14.28 ANSWER: There are about three reasons for that, and each reason is a good one.
回答：其中大概有三个原因，每一个都理由充分。
14.29 The first reason is that Eastern philosophy rightly puts spiritual progress above all. Everything else that has ever happened in creation is only of secondary importance, and this is very true, my friends. However, it is useful in some cases that light be shed on certain facts that occurred in the distant past, because the reason of existence on earth, the reason for evil, and answers to other questions are necessary for some people to know. The understanding of certain facts, even if they can only convey a very general and broad picture, will eliminate doubts that may stand in the way when deciding on the path of perfection and purification. For the most part, the souls incarnated in the East do not feel as strong an urge to probe and search in this respect as does the Western mind. Therefore, they say: We do not need to know anything else; the important thing is how we develop.
第一个原因是东方哲学很正确地把精神/心灵进步放在首位。宇宙造物中一切其他东西只是第二重要的，而这是很对的，我的朋友们。但是，在某些情况下说明在遥远的过去发生的某些事情是有用的，因为地球上（生命）存在的原因、邪恶背后的原因和一些其他问题的答案对有些人来说是有必要知道的。对于某些事实的理解，哪怕它们只能传达一个非常一般性的、宽泛的图景，至少也能够消除一些人们在完善和净化道路上做决定时可能遇到的疑虑。很大程度上来说，在东方降世的灵魂们在这方面没有如此强烈的进行探索和搜寻冲动，这一点与西方不同。因此，他们说：我们不需要知道任何其他的东西；重要的是我们怎样发展。
14.30 The second reason is a little bit more complicated to convey to you. I once gave a lecture about the two main aspects of God: the active or male aspect and the passive or female aspect. I explained that in the active aspect God is personality: active, thinking, planning—the Creator. In the female aspect God is in a state of being. From the explanation in that lecture it will be easy for you to recognize that Eastern teachers and philosophers have experienced God in the female and passive manifestation. That is a partial answer to this question. The fall of the angels shows the events in creation where God manifested as Creator and therefore in his male aspect. In this tragedy God was enacting and creating new conditions whereby the return to Him would be assured eventually to all creatures. It is, therefore, understandable that a philosophy experiencing God in the female aspect would be less likely to receive enlightenment regarding God’s male aspect; while Western philosophy, open to the experience of God’s personality aspect that is active, would be blind to the experience of the female side of God and enlightenment in the Eastern sense.
第二个原因要传达给你们有些困难。我曾经做过一次关于上帝的两个主要侧面的演讲：积极的或者男性侧面和被动的或者女性侧面。我解释说在积极的侧面上帝是一种人格个性：主动的、思考的、计划的——造物主。在女性侧面上帝是一种存在的状态。从那个演讲的解释中你们很容易意识到东方的老师和哲学家们已经在女性或者被动显现层面体验过上帝。那是对这个问题的一部分回答。天使的堕落展现出宇宙造物中的一些事件，其中上帝作为造物主和祂的男性侧面显现在其中。（当时）在这个悲剧中上帝制定并创造了新的条件，使所有生物最终向祂的回归都得到了保证。因此，可以理解的是一种在女性侧面体验上帝的哲学在关于上帝的男性侧面方面不太会受到启迪；而西方哲学，倾向于在上帝的积极人格侧面体验祂，就会对女性侧面的上帝经验和东方意义上的启迪比较盲目。
14.31 The third reason refers to the fall of the angels as having a great deal to do with the spirit of Jesus Christ. He plays a major part in the fall of the angels. Eastern religion, having received a number of emissaries of its own—often very great, very exalted, and very highly developed spirits—is reluctant to recognize that others, in many respects not as spiritually advanced as themselves, may have received an even greater one: in fact, the greatest of all created beings. This is understandable and typical of human nature. Your logical conclusions can be very limited, and then you miss the complete picture.
第三个原因指的是与耶稣基督的魂灵有很大关系的天使的堕落。他在天使的堕落中扮演着重要的角色。东方的宗教，本身接收了一定数量的使者——（他们）通常是非常伟大、非常高贵并且处于非常高的发展层次的魂灵——因此很不情愿去承认其他人，在很多方面不如他们自己的精神/心灵先进，却可能接收了一位更加伟大的（使者）：事实上，是一切造物存有中最伟大的。这是可以理解的，也是人类本性的典型表现。你们的逻辑结论可能是非常有限的，然后你们忽略了完整背景。
14.32 These three reasons together give the main explanation, or at least answer your question best. I do not doubt that other explanations may be found too, but these are undoubtedly the most important ones. Is that clear?
这三个原因结合起来给出了主要的解释，或者至少以最好方式回答了你的问题。我不怀疑其他的解释还能被找到，但是这些无疑是最重要的。清楚了吗？
14.33 QUESTION: I still do not understand. I understand that one of the reasons has to do with Jesus Christ, who played this important role in the Fall, but why don’t they have something similar to it?
回答：我仍然不理解。我理解到其中一个原因与耶稣基督有关，他在堕落中扮演了重要角色，但是为什么他们（东方人）没有类似的东西？
14.34 ANSWER: This is so because, as I said, the other reasons count too; because they do not consider it very important to know about these things; because they have experienced God differently and not in His active aspect. One reason plays into the other, one supports the other, and all three make a whole.
回答：这是因为，如我所说，其他原因也有相应的分量；因为他们不把了解这些事当做很重要的事情；因为他们以不同的方式体验上帝而不是祂的积极侧面。一个原因影响另一个，一个支持另一个，所以全部三个原因组成完整回答。
14.35 QUESTION: Is that perhaps the reason why the female aspect of God is recognized more there and the male aspect of God more in the West and that is why East and West ought to get together?
问题：也许那就是为什么东方更能认识到上帝的女性侧面而西方更能意识到上帝的男性侧面并且东发和西方应该组合起来？
14.36 ANSWER: Certainly. It also explains that in the East spiritual development is much farther advanced, and it is usually the woman who is spiritually more awake or easier to guide. In the West, technique and material progress are farther advanced because this, in turn, is typically a male aspect. It is again the creating, the doing, that are manifested. And the two should unite, because they complement each other and it would create a wonderful wholeness if they could exchange the knowledge each has in advance of the other.
回答：当然。它也解释了为什么东方的精神发展比西方超前很多，而通常女人在精神/心灵层面更加觉醒或更加容易引导。在西方，技术和材料进步更加超前，因为这一点，反过来说，是典型的男性侧面。再一次地，创造过程、行动过程得到了显现。这两者应该联合起来，因为它们能够互补，而如果它们能互相交换彼此领先于对方的知识，那就会创造出一种神奇的完整性。
14.37 QUESTION: Does that mean in general that the Eastern teachings have lived through a different phase of Brahman and want to go into finding the Brahman where all these things are one?
问题：这是不是意味着一般来说东方教导经历了婆罗门的一个不同阶段并且想要找到婆罗门中一切都为一体的地方？
14.38 ANSWER: Yes. And it should be. Again in this respect, as far as spiritual and religious teachings are concerned, the Western and the Eastern side should unite, because both sides will furnish the complete picture only when put together. Each has only a half now, and when they unite and “marry,” then humanity will have a great deal more understanding about spiritual truth, and more enlightenment is bound to follow.
回答：是的。而且它应该是这样的。同样在这一方面，就精神和宗教教导来说，西方和东方两边应该联合起来，因为双方都只有放在一起时才会提供完整的图片。现在每一方都只有一半，而当它们联合并“联姻”，那时人类就会对精神/心灵真理拥有更多的理解，之后一定会随之产生更多的启迪。
14.39 QUESTION: Is the fall of the angels within Maya?
问题：天使的堕落是在玛雅内部发生的吗？
14.40 ANSWER: Oh no. Oh no. Maya is a result of it, my friend.
回答：哦不。哦不。玛雅是它的结果，我的朋友。
14.41 QUESTION: How do the spirits learn language? And can they use languages not known to the medium?
问题：魂灵们怎样学习语言？它们能运用传导人不知道的语言吗？
14.42 ANSWER: I will answer both questions. The spirits in the spirit world do not use human languages among each other, of course. They do not need that, for we have the spiritual language. As I have explained, each thought creates automatically a form and becomes apparent. So that is our language. We spirits only learn languages for very definite and good purposes. In other words, if we have a task to fulfill with human beings, we need the knowledge of your human languages, not only in connection with mediumship. When a spirit has the task to guide a human being who is no medium at all, it still has to know the language its protege knows, although we see the thought of the respective human being too. Now, it may be the case, of course, that a spirit is chosen as a guardian who, remembering his last language on Earth, does not have to learn the language anew, and will be assigned to a person who speaks that same language. But there are special instances where the learning of a language becomes necessary and for that we have schools, just as you have schools. We have schools for many, many subjects, and language is one of them. But we learn them easier, because, here again, matter does not stand in our way and that even applies to languages. How that applies is impossible for you to imagine and I have no words to describe it. You just have to use your intuition, your feelings, and perhaps you will sense what I mean by this. So it is easier for us to learn languages than it is for human beings.
回答：两个问题我都会回答。在精神世界中魂灵们互相之间不使用人类的语言，这是当然的。他们不需要那样做，因为我们有精神语言。如我之前解释的，每个思想都会自动创造一个形状并变得很明显。所以那就是我们的语言。我们魂灵们只会因为非常明确而合理的原因而学习语言。换句话说，如果我们有与人类相关的任务要完成，我们就需要有对你们人类语言的知识，不仅是为了与传导人连接。当一个魂灵收到任务去引导一个根本不是传导人的人类时，它仍然需要知道要保护的人熟悉的语言，尽管我们也能看到相关个人的想法。当然，有可能的情况是一个魂灵被选中作为守护者，想起了它之前在地球上的语言，就不需要再从新学习这种语言了，并且会被分配给一个说同种语言的人。但会有特殊情况，这里学习一门语言成为必要的事情，对此我们有学校，就像你们有学校一样。我们有许多，许多主题的学校，语言是其中之一。但是我们学习它们会更加容易，因为，这里同样的，物质不会阻挡我们的道路，这个情况在语言方面也适用。其中的原理是你们不可能想象的，而我没有词语来描述它。你们只能利用自己的直觉和感觉，也许你们能感受到我这里的意思。所以对我们来说学习语言要比人类学习语言简单。
14.43 As far as your second question is concerned—whether a spirit can speak through a medium in a language the medium does not know—the answer is yes. And it has happened many times. But there is a very definite and distinct type of mediumship necessary for that. There are many different types of mediumship, even of trance-mediumship alone, not to speak of all the others. There may be “direct voice mediumship,” when you hear the actual voice of the spirit in a different part of the room. There may be materialization, levitation, and many more phenomena that I cannot even enumerate here. One such phenomenon is—and the Bible refers to it too, using the word “tongues” for languages—that a language is spoken through a medium that he or she does not know. But for all these different types of mediumship, a special training of the medium, as well as for the spirits in connection with the medium, is necessary. It is a different form of materialization or transfiguration. There are, for instance, mediums whose actual faces take on an entirely different shape, even a different bone structure. This is what may be called “transfiguration.” The speaking of foreign tongues is an auditory transfiguration. But as I said, different conditions have to be fulfilled with each of these types of mediumship.
至于你的第二个问题——一个魂灵能否使用传导人不知道的语言通过传导人说话——答案是可以。这种情况发生过很多次。但对此有一种必要的非常确定而特殊的传导种类来应对这种情况。有很多不同类型的传导种类，哪怕关于催眠传导这一类也有很多种类，不要说所有其他类型的了。可以有一种“直接语音传导，”这种情况下你能在房间的另一部分听到魂灵的实际声音。可以有现形、悬浮和更多其他的现象，以至于我甚至没法在这里列举。有一种这类别的现象是这样的——而《圣经》中也提到过它，其中使用“tongues（口音）”表达语言的意思——一种语言通过一个不懂这种语言的传导人说出来。但是对于所有这些不同种类的传导形式，都需要对于传导人和与之进行接触的魂灵进行必要的训练。这是一种不同形式的现形或者变形。比如说，有些传导人的实际面庞呈现出一种完全不同的形状，甚至一种不同的骨骼结构。这是可以被称为“变形”的现象。对外语的讲话是一种声觉的变形。但如我所说，每种不同的传导形式都有对应的条件需要满足。
14.44 The spirit world of God is a world of order. When it is recognized here that a human being can fulfill a task as a medium, it will first be determined for what type of mediumship this person’s particular talent is best; what may be the most important task for the living conditions and surroundings of that particular person; and according to all these considerations—and the most important consideration from our viewpoint is always what is best for spiritual development and what serves the Great Plan most efficiently and not what may be sensational and phenomenal—forces are set in motion to train this particular medium for his or her task. Once this task has been chosen and worked for, it is unlikely that there will be any changes in the type of mediumship, unless there is a real, good, and spiritual reason for it. Thus works the world of God which, as I said, is above all, a world of order.
上帝的精神世界是一个充满秩序的世界。当这里的存有们认识到一个人能够完成作为传导人的任务时，首先被确定的是：这个人的特殊天赋最适合进行哪种形式的传导工作；对这个特别个体的生活条件和环境而言，什么样的工作是最为重要的；根据这些因素考虑——而从我们的观点来看最重要的考虑因素永远都是“什么是对精神/心灵发展最有益的”以及“什么东西能最高效地为宏伟计划服务”，而不是“什么东西有轰动效应并且现象显著”——各种行动就会有序展开来训练这位特定的传导人为他或她的任务做准备。当这项任务已经被选定并被运作后，就不太可能再有对传导类型的改动了，除非是有真实、有益的精神层面的原因。上帝的世界就是这样运作的，这个世界，如我所说，最重要的，是一个秩序的世界。
14.45 QUESTION: I wanted to know what the spiritual world thinks about this new planet Sputnik?
问题：我想知道精神世界如何看待这颗新的星球Sputnik？
14.46 ANSWER: That, my dear, depends entirely on the spiritual, moral, ethical attitude of all concerned. The thing itself is of no importance as far as we are concerned. Nothing in itself is, from our point of view, of any importance. The only importance is what you human beings make of it.
回答：这个问题，我亲爱的，完全取决于所有相关方面的精神、道德和伦理态度。这件事情本身在我们看来没有重要性。没有什么事情就它本身而言，从我们的角度，有任何重要性。唯一的重要性是你们人类怎样处理它。
14.47 And with that, my friends, I leave you with the blessings of the Lord. Go your way in peace; know that God is present within you, and try to find Him. Do not let the clouds of the powers of darkness destroy your sight and your sense of truth that every so often touches your heart. Be in God.
说到这，我的朋友们，我离开你们并留下主的祝福。在平静中走你们的路；认识到上帝在你们内心存在，并试着找到祂。不要让黑暗力量的乌云破坏你们的视线和经常触碰到你们内心的对于真理的感觉。与上帝同在。