RULE VI · Abandon Ideology

The healthy, dynamic, and above all else truthful personality will admit to error. It will voluntarily shed—let die—outdated perceptions, thoughts, and habits, as impediments to its further success and growth. This is the soul that will let its old beliefs burn away, often painfully, so that it can live again, and move forward, renewed. This is also the soul that will transmit what it has learned during that process of death and rebirth, so that others can be reborn along with it. Aim at something. Pick the best target you can currently conceptualize. Stumble toward it. Notice your errors and misconceptions along the way, face them, and correct them. Get your story straight. Past, present, future—they all matter. You need to map your path. You need to know where you were, so that you do not repeat the mistakes of the past. You need to know where you are, or you will not be able to draw a line from your starting point to your destination. You need to know where you are going, or you will drown in uncertainty, unpredictability, and chaos, and starve for hope and inspiration. For better or worse, you are on a journey. You are having an adventure—and your map better be accurate. Voluntarily confront what stands in your way. The way—that is the path of life, the meaningful path of life, the straight and narrow path that constitutes the very border between order and chaos, and the traversing of which brings them into balance. Aim at something profound and noble and lofty. If you can find a better path along the way, once you have started moving forward, then switch course.

健康、有活力、尤其是真诚的人格一定会承认错误。这种人格会自愿地褪去过时的认知、想法和习惯，而这些是其持续成功和成长的阻碍。

这种灵魂会用火灼烧和风化旧的信念，尽管非常痛苦，而因此它才能重生、向上、自新。在此死亡与新生的进程中，这种灵魂会将其所学传递传承，其他人因此也能获得新生。

瞄准某件事。选择你能想到的最好目标。朝它一路跌撞前行。注意你一路上错误的行为与观念，直面它们，矫正它们。讲清楚你的故事。过去、现在、将来 - 同等重要。你需要描绘路之所向。

你需要了解曾经的所在，故能不再重复过往的迷误。

你需要了解如今身处何方，否则你将无法画出起点到终点的线。

你需要了解去往哪里，否则你将沉溺于不确定、不可测与一片混沌之中，渴求希望与启发。

无论怎样，你已身在旅程之中。你正在经历一场冒险 - 而你的地图最好准确无误。

主动面对路程上的障碍。这条路是生命之径，生命意义之径，又直又窄的一条路，由秩序与混乱的界限组成，而穿行其中的过程也让两者归于平衡。

瞄准某种艰深、高贵、崇高的事物。启程之后，当你发现找到更好的路线，切换之。

RULE XII · Be Grateful in Spite of Your Suffering

IF you fail to understand evil, then you have laid yourself bare to it. You are susceptible to its effects, or to its will. If you ever encounter someone who is malevolent, they have control over you in precise proportion to the extent that you are unwilling or unable to understand them. Thus, you look in dark places to protect yourself, in case the darkness ever appears, as well as to find the light. There is real utility in that.

假使不能理解邪恶，便等于将你委身于邪恶之爪。你会受其影响、任其摆布。

如果你遇到过满怀恶意的人，他们能操控你的程度，全然取决于你不愿意去了解或者对其缺乏理解的程度。

因而，当黑暗将临，你会到暗处去保护自己，一线光明也同样能从暗处觅得。这样做是切合实际的。

So, you might love people despite their limitations, but you also love them because of their limitations. That is something very much worth unerstanding. Doing so may help you see how gratitue remains possible. Despite the fact that the world is a very dark place, and that each of us has our black elements of soul, we see in each other a unique blend of actuality and possibility that is a kind of miracle: one that can manifest itself, truly, in the world, in the relationships we have that are grounded in trust and love. That is something for which you can be courageously thankful. That is something in which you can discover part of the antidote to the abyss and the darkness.

所以，尽管他人有局限，你仍会爱他们，但你对他们的爱也正因这些局限。这是非常值得去体会的。这样做能帮你看见表达感激的可能。尽管这个世界非常黑暗，毋庸置疑，我们每个人灵魂中都有黑暗的部分，我们从彼此身上看到这样一种独特的现实性与可能性的奇迹般交融：在这个世界上，人可以通过扎根于信任和爱的关系，真诚地显现出来。这一点是值得你去勇于感激的。从中你也可以获得对付深渊和黑暗的一部分解药。