Humanity's origins and future
埃德加·凯西：人类的起源和未来
by Kevin Williams
凯文·威廉斯著

The following is humanity's origins and future as revealed by the Cayce readings:

以下是凯西解读中所透露的人类的起源和未来：

People demand a beginning and a boundary, so in the beginning there was a sea of spirit, and it filled all space. It was static, content, aware of itself, a giant resting on the bosom of its thought, contemplating that which it was.

人类需要一个开始和一个界限，所以，在一开始，有一个灵之海，它充满整个空间。它宁静、完满、能感知它自己的存在，它是一个在自己思想的怀抱中休息的巨人，它在沉思自己是什么。

Then it moved. It withdrew into itself, until all space was empty, and that which had filled it was shining from its center, a restless mind. This was the individuality of the spirit; this was what it discovered itself to be when it awakened; this was God.

然后它开始运动。它退回到自己之内，直到所有空间空无一物，曾经充满它自身的不安的心灵在它的中心闪光。这就是灵的个性；这就是当它苏醒时它所发现的自我；这就是上帝。

God desired to self-expression, and desired companionship. Therefore, God projected the cosmos and souls. The cosmos was built with the tools which humans calls music, arithmetic, and geometry; harmony, system, and balance. The building blocks were all of the same material, which humans calls the life essence. It was a power sent out from God, which by changing the length of its wave and the rate of its vibration became a pattern of differing forms, substance, and movement. This created the law of diversity which supplied endless designs for the pattern. God played on this law of diversity as a person plays on a piano, producing melodies and arranging them in a symphony.

上帝渴望自我表达，渴望伴侣。因此，上帝投射了宇宙和灵魂。宇宙是用人类称作音乐、数学和几何学的工具创造出来的；和谐、系统而且平衡。都是用同样的材料建构，人类称之为生命元素。这是一种上帝发出的力量，这种力量通过它的波长和振动频率的变化而变成不同的形式、物质和运动的模式。这创造了多样性的法则，它为此模式提供了无止境的设计。就像一个人弹奏钢琴一样，上帝弹奏着多样性的法则，谱出各种旋律，并将它们组合成一部交响乐。

Each design carried within it, inherently, the plan of its evolution, which was to be accomplished by movement, growth, or as humans calls it, change. This corresponds to the sound of a note struck on a piano. The sounds of several notes unite to make a chord; chords in turn become phrases; phrases become melodies; melodies intermingle and move back and forth, across and between and around each other, to make a symphony. The music ends as it began, leaving emptiness, but between the beginning and the finish there has been glorious beauty and a great experience.

在它之内，每个设计自然而然地运行着它的进化计划，实现这个计划要通过运动、成长、或正如人类所说的改变来达成。这相当于在钢琴上敲出一个音符。数个音符连起来就成了一个和音；和谐的和音成为乐句。乐句成为乐曲；乐曲相互交融、前后移动、交叉、连接、环绕而成为一部交响乐。音乐此起彼伏、停歇，但在起伏之间有着荣耀之美和伟大的经验。

(The terms "light", "heat," and "electricity" with regard to the cosmos are of no use in this type of discussion, since they are effects observed three-dimensionally through the physical senses. The physical senses do not operate in the same manner in other dimensions, such as in the spirit world. At death, the sun might be to the surviving individuality an idea, an influence, or even an angel.)

（与宇宙相关的“光”、“热”、和“电”等词语在这样的讨论中毫无用处，因为它们是通过三维的生理感官感知的印象。生理感官在其他维度并不以同样方式运作，比如，灵的世界。死亡时，对于续存的灵魂来说，太阳或许会是一个观念、一种影响、或甚至是一个天使。）

Everything moved, changed, and assumed its design in various states of form and substance. Activity was begun and maintained by the law of attraction and repulsion: positive and negative, attracting each other and repelling themselves, maintained the form and action of all things.

一切都以不同的状态和物质形式移动、变化、展现它的设计。活动是由吸引和排斥法则启动和维护的：正和负、互相吸引和排斥，维持着一切事物的形式和行动。

All this was a part of God, an expression of God's thought. Mind was the force which propelled and perpetuated it: mind did everything God imagined; everything that came into being was an aspect, a posture, of mind.

所有这一切都是上帝的一部分、上帝思想的一种表达。心灵是使其行进和不朽的动力：心灵实现上帝想象的一切；一切存在都是心灵的一个方面、一种心境。

Souls were created for companionship with God. The pattern used was that of God's very Being: spirit, mind, individuality; cause, action, effect. First there had been spirit; then there had been the action which withdrew spirit into itself; then there had been the resulting individuality of God.

灵魂被创造出来是为了与上帝相伴。所采用的形式是上帝存在的形式：灵、心灵、个性；原因、行动、结果。开始先有灵；然后有行动，它使灵退回至它自身之中；然后有作为结果的上帝的个性。

In building the soul there was spirit, with its knowledge of identity with God; there was the active principle of mind; and there was the ability to experience the activity of mind separately from God.

灵凭着它是与上帝同一的知识构造灵魂；存在着积极的心灵原则；存在着经历与上帝分离的心灵活动的能力。

Thus a new individual, issuing from and dependent upon God, but aware of an existence apart from God, came into being. To the new individual there was given, necessarily, the power to choose and direct its own activity; without free will it would remain a part of the individuality of God. Mind, issuing as a force from God, would naturally fulfill God's thoughts, unless directed otherwise. The power to do this - to direct otherwise the force of mind - is what humans calls his free will. The record of free will is the soul. The soul began with the first expression which free will made of its power, through the force of mind. The first thought which it generated of itself, the first diversion of mind force from its normal path, was the beginning of the soul.

就这样，一个新的个人出现了，它来自于上帝、依赖于上帝，但能知觉一种独立于上帝的存在。这个新的个人必须被给予选择和指导它自己活动的力量；如果没有自由意志，它就依然是上帝个性的一部分。作为一种来自上帝的力量的心灵，会自然地去完成上帝的思想，除非被导向其他方向。这种行动的力量——导向其他方向的心灵力量——就是人们所谓的他的自由意志。自由意志的记录就是灵魂。随着自由意志运用心灵力量产生第一个表达，灵魂就开始了。它自己产生的第一个思想、心灵力量从其正常道路的第一次背离，就是灵魂的开始。

The nucleus of the soul was in balance, positive and negative force in equal power, producing harmonious activity: the positive initiating, impregnating, thrusting forward; the negative receiving, nourishing, ejecting. The steps of this action were the stages of thought: perception, reflection, opinion.

灵魂的核子处于平衡中，正负力量相当，产生和谐的活动：正面力量发动、孕育、推进；负面的力量接收、滋养、逐出。这个行动的步伐就是思想的阶段：感知、思考、判断。

Thus the soul consisted of two states of consciousness: that of the spirit, bearing a knowledge of its identity with God, and that of the new individual, bearing a knowledge of everything it experienced.

因此，灵魂由意识的两种状态构成：一部分是灵，具有它与上帝是同一的知识，一部分是新的个人，具有关于它经验到的一切的知识。

The plan for the soul was a cycle of experience, unlimited in scope and duration, in which the new individual would come to know creation in all its aspects, at the discretion of will. The cycle would be completed when the desire of will was no longer different from the thought of God. The consciousness of the new individual would then merge with its spiritual consciousness of identity with God, and the soul would return to its source as the companion it was intended to be.

灵魂的计划是经验的一个循环，范围和期间是无限的，在其中，新的个人会凭借意志的判断力认识创造的各个方面。当意志的愿望不再与上帝的思想相违背时，循环就会完成。新的个人的意识就会将其灵性意识与上帝相认同，灵魂会作为上帝期许的伴侣回到它的源头。

In this state the soul would retain its consciousness of separate individuality and would be aware that of its own free will it now acted as a part of God, not diverting mind force because it was in agreement with the action toward which this force was directed. Until this state was reached the soul would not be a companion in the true sense of the word.

在这种状态中，灵魂会保持其分离的个性意识，并了解它自己的自由意志，它现在是作为上帝的一部分而行动，而不是使心灵力量背道而驰，因为它与心灵力量所指向的行动是一致的。直到达成这种状态，灵魂才在真正意义上成为一个伴侣。

The idea that a return to God means a loss of individuality is paradoxical, since God is aware of everything that happens and must therefore be aware of the consciousness of each individual. Thus the return of the soul is the return of the image to that which imagined it, and the consciousness of an individual - its record, written in mind - could not be destroyed without destroying part of God. When a soul returns to God it becomes aware of itself not only as a part of God, but as a part of every other soul, and everything.

回归上帝的观念意味着失去个性是荒谬的，因为上帝知道所发生的一切，并因而必定知道每个个人的意识。因此，灵魂的回归就是意象向意象想象者的回归，如果不摧毁个人意识——它写在心灵中的记录——中的上帝的部分，它就无法被毁灭。当一个灵魂回归上帝，它认识到自己不仅是上帝的一部分，而且是每一个其他灵魂和一切事物的一部分。

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What is lost is the ego - the desire to do other than the will of God. When the soul returns to God the ego is voluntarily relinquished; this is the symbology behind the crucifixion of Christ.

失去的只是自我——做上帝意志以外的事情的愿望。当灵魂回归上帝，自我被自动放弃；这就是基督受难背后的象征意义。
The plan for the soul included experience of all creation, but it did not necessarily mean identification with a participation in all forms and substance. Nor did it mean interference in creation by souls. It did not mean that they were to spin their own little worlds, twisting and bending laws to make images of their dreams.

灵魂的计划包括所有创造的经历，但这并不一定意味着要去认同对所有形式和物质的参与。这也不意味着干涉灵魂的创造。这并不意味着它们应该去旋转它们自己的小世界、去扭曲法则以造就它们梦中的意象。

But these things could happen. The soul was the greatest thing that was made; it had free will. Once free will was given, God did nothing to curb it; however it acted, it had to act within God's reality; by whatever route, the soul had to return to God.

但这些事情可以发生。灵魂是最伟大的创造物；它具有自由意志。上帝一旦给予它自由意志，上帝就对它不加控制；不论它如何行动，它必须在上帝的现实之中行动；无论走哪条路线，灵魂必须回归上帝。

The fact that man's body is a speck of dust on a small planet leads to the illusion that humans are a small creation. The measure of the soul is the limitless activity of mind and the grandeur of imagination.

人的身体是一颗小行星上的一粒尘埃，这一事实使人类产生自己是一个渺小的造物的幻觉。衡量灵魂的标准是心灵的无限活动性和伟大的想象力。

At first there was little difference between the consciousness of the new individual and its consciousness of identity with God. Free will merely watched the flow of mind, somewhat as humanity watches his fancy disport in daydreams, marveling at its power and versatility. Then it began to exercise itself, imitating and paralleling what mind was doing. Gradually it acquired experience, becoming a complementary rather than an imitative force. It helped to extend, modify, and regulate creation.

一开始，新的个人意识与它和上帝是同一的意识之间并无区别。自由意志只是看着心灵的流动，有点像人看着他的想象在白日梦中玩耍，惊讶于它的无所不能。然后，他开始自己练习，模仿和比照心灵的所作所为。它逐渐获得经验，成了一个互补的、而不是模仿的力量。它帮助扩大、修改和调节创造。

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Certain souls became bemused with their own power and began to experiment with it. They mingled with the dust of the stars and the winds of the spheres, feeling them, becoming part of them. One result of this was an unbalancing of the positive-negative force, by accentuating one or the other; to feel things demanded the negative force; to express through things, and direct and manage them, required the positive force. Another result was the gradual weakening of the link between the two states of consciousness - that of the spirit and that of the individual. The individual became more concerned with, and aware of, it's own creations than God's. This was the fall in spirit, or the revolt of the angels as described in the Bible.

某些灵魂对它们自己的力量感到困惑，开始试验这种力量。它们与星尘和天体的风相混合、感觉它们、成为它们的一部分。这样的一个后果是正负力量的不平衡，不是强调这一种力量，就是强调了另一种力量；感觉事物要求负的力量；通过事物进行表达，并指导和处理它们，要求正的力量。另一个结果是意识的两种状态——灵的意识和个人的意识之间的联系逐渐减弱。个人变得关注、了解它自己的创造更甚于上帝的创造。这是灵的降落，或是圣经中描写的天使反叛。

To move into a portion of creation and become part of it, a soul had to assume a new, or third aspect of consciousness - a method of experiencing that portion of creation and translating it into the basic substance of mind by means of thought. Humanity refers to this aspect of awareness as the "conscious mind". It is the device by which he experiences earth: the physical body, the five senses, the glandular and nervous systems. In other worlds, in other systems, the device differed. Only the range and variation of man's own thoughts can give an idea of the number of these other worlds and systems and the aspects of divine mind which they represent.

要进入创造物并成为它的一部分，一个灵魂必须采取一种新的意识或意识的第三种形态——经验创造物的那个部分并通过思想将它转译为头脑的基本元素。人类把这种知觉形态称作“有意识的头脑”。这是他经验地球的装置：肉身、五官、腺体和神经系统。在其他世界中，在其他系统中，装置是不同的。只有人类自己的思想的广度和多样性可以想象这些其他世界和系统的数量以及它们所代表的神圣心灵的各个方面。

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When a soul took on the consciousness of a portion of creation it separated itself temporarily from the consciousness of its own individuality, and became even further removed from the consciousness of its spirit. Thus, instead of helping to direct the flow of creation and contributing to it, it found itself in the stream, drifting along with it. The farther it went from the shore, the more it succumbed to the pull of the current and the more difficult was the task of getting back to land.

当一个灵魂以作为造物的一部分的意识呈现时，它暂时将自己与它自己个性的意识相分离，并更加远离它的灵的意识。这样，不是帮助指引创造的潮流，并对此做出贡献，相反它发现自己身处潮流之中，随波逐流。它越是远离岸边，它越是无力与潮流抗争，越是感到难以回到岸上。

Each of the systems of stars and planets represented, in this manner, a temptation to the souls. Each had its plan, and moved toward it through the activity of a constant stream of mind. When a soul leaped into the stream (by immersing itself in the system through which the stream was flowing) it had the force of the current to contend with, and its free will was hampered. It was very easy, under these circumstances, to drift with the current.

每个恒星和行星系统都以这种方式来诱惑灵魂。每个系统都有它自己的计划，并通过持续不断的心灵流动向它靠近。当一个灵魂跳入潮流（通过投身于这个流动的系统中）它具有与潮流抗争的力量，它的自由意志受到阻碍。在这些环境中，它很容易随波逐流。

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Each solar system also represented an opportunity for development, advancement, and growth toward the ideal of complete companionship with God - the position of co-creator in the vast system of universal mind.

每个太阳系也代表着一个通往与上帝完全相伴的理想的发展、进步和成长的机会——在宇宙心灵的广大系统中的共同创造者的地位。

Our solar system attracted souls, and since each system is a single expression, with its planets as integral parts, the earth came into the path of souls.

我们的太阳系也吸引灵魂，因为每个系统都是一个单独的表达——行星为整体密不可分的一部分，地球就是灵魂的道路。

The planets of the solar system represent the dimensions of consciousness of that system - its consciousness as a whole. There are nine dimensions to the consciousness of our solar system. The earth represents the third dimension.

太阳系的行星代表了这个系统中意识的各个维度——它作为一个整体意识。对应于我们太阳系的意识有九个维度。地球代表第三个维度。

The earth was an expression of divine mind with its own laws, its own plan, its own evolution. Souls, longing to feel the beauty of the seas, the winds, the forest, the flowers, mixed with them and expressed themselves through them. They also mingled with the animals, and made, in imitation of them, thought forms: they played at creating; they imitated God. But it was a playing, an imitating, that interfered with what had already been set in motion, and thus the stream of mind carrying out the plan for earth gradually drew souls into its current. They had to go along with it, in the bodies they had themselves created.

地球是以它自己的法则、它自己的计划、它自己的进化对神圣心灵的一种表达。灵魂渴望感受海洋、风、森林、花儿的美丽，就身处它们之中，并通过它们来表达他们自己。他们也与动物相处，并模仿它们创造思想形式；他们享受创造之乐；他们模仿上帝。但这是一种游戏、一种模仿，这干涉了已经置于运动中的事物，因此执行地球计划的心灵潮流逐渐将灵魂吸收进来。他们必须在他们创造出来的身体中随波逐流。

This entanglement of souls in what humanity calls matter was a probability from the beginning, but God did not know when it would happen until the souls, of their own choice, had caused it to happen.

人们把这种灵魂的纠缠称作物质，这自开始起就是一种可能性，但上帝并不知道它何时会发生，直到灵魂根据它们自己的选择使它发生。

Of the souls which God created - and God created all souls in the beginning; none has been made since - only a comparative few have come into the experience of our solar system, though many have gone through or are going through a similar entanglement in other solar systems.

在上帝创造的灵魂之中——上帝在开始时就创造了所有的灵魂；自此以后再也未创造过灵魂——只有较少的一部分进入了我们太阳系经历，尽管许多灵魂在其他太阳系已经经历或正在经历一种相似的纠缠。

A way of escape for the souls which were entangled in matter was prepared. A form was chosen to be a vehicle for the soul on earth, and the way was made for souls to enter earth and experience it as part of their cycle. Of the forms already existing on earth, one of the anthropoid apes most nearly approached the necessary pattern. Souls descended on these apes - hovering above and about them rather than inhabiting them - and influenced them to move toward a different goal from the simple one they had been pursuing. They came down out of the trees, built fires, made tools, lived in communities, and began to communicate with each other. Swiftly, even as humanity measures time, they lost their animal look, shed bodily hair, and took on refinements of manner and habit.

灵魂逃脱物质纠缠的方式已经准备好。地球上的灵魂选择了一种作为载体的形式，为灵魂安排好了进入地球并在其中经历的方式，作为它们循环的一部分。在已经存在于地球上的形式中，有一种类人猿最为接近所需要的模式。灵魂降至这些类人猿——在它们之上或周围盘旋，而不是居住于它们体内——并影响它们向一个不同于它们原先所追求的简单目标的方向发展。它们离开树林，使用火，制造工具，生活于团体中，开始互相交流。它们很快就失去了它们的动物长相，褪去了体毛，开始有文雅的举止和习惯。

All this was done by the souls, working through glands, until the body of the ape was an objectification - three dimensional - of the soul that hovered above it. Then the soul descended into the body and earth had a new inhabitant: man.

所有这些都是由灵魂通过腺体的运作完成的，最后猿的身体成为盘旋其上的灵魂的三维客体。然后灵魂降至身体中，于是地球有了新居民：人类。

Humanity appeared as a consciousness within an animal, a consciousness which was felt on the earth in five different places at the same time, as the five races. When the soul first incarnated into flesh, this began the first incarnation of the divine consciousness into an animal. Cayce referred to this divine consciousness as the "Christ Consciousness" and the evolved human that resulted was the human referred to in the Bible as "Adam".

人类显现为动物之内的一个意识，它分成五个人种同时分布在地球的五个不同的地方。当灵魂开始投生至肉身中，神圣的意识进入动物的第一次投生就开始了。凯西将这个神圣意识称作“基督意识”，由此进化而来的人类就是圣经中的“亚当”。

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The problem was to overcome the attractions of the earth to the extent that the soul would be as free in the body as out of it. Only when the body was no longer a hindrance to the free express of the soul would the cycle of earth be finished.

问题是要克服地球的吸引，使灵魂在体内可以像在体外一样自由。只有当身体不再是灵魂自由表达的障碍时，地球上的循环才会结束。

In a smaller field this was the drama of free will and creation. In a still smaller field each atom of the physical body, being a world in itself, is a drama of free will and creation. The soul puts life into each atom, and each atom is a reflection in flesh of the soul's pattern.

在更小的范围，这是自由意志和创造的戏剧。在更加小的范围中，肉身的每一个原子——它自身就是一个世界——都是自由意志和创造的一场戏剧。灵魂将生命放入每一个原子，每一个原子都是灵魂模式的一个肉身反映。

Humans became aware, with the advent of consciousness, that sex meant something more to them than to the animals. It was the door by which new souls entered the earth, a door unnecessary elsewhere in the solar system. It was the only means the trapped souls had of getting out of their predicament - through the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. They represented the ideal vehicle for the soul on earth.

人类以其意识开始明白人类的性意味着比动物的性更多的东西。它是新灵魂进入地球的门户，在太阳系其他地方这种门户是不必要的。这是受困的灵魂脱离它们困境的唯一方式——通过出生、死亡和再生。它们代表了地球上灵魂的理想载体。

The plan for the earth cycle of souls was a series of incarnations, interlarded with periods of dwelling in other dimensions of consciousness in the solar system - the planets, until every thought and every action of the physical body, with its five senses and conscious mind, was in accord with the plan originally laid out for the soul. When the body was no longer a hindrance to the free expression of the soul - when the conscious mind had merged with the subconscious, and the atomic structure of the body could be controlled so that the soul was as free in it as out of it - the earth cycle was finished and the soul could go on to new adventures. This conquest of the physical body could not be attained until there was perfection in the other dimensions of consciousness in the solar system, for these made up, with the earth, the total expression of the sun and its planets. Whichever state of consciousness the soul assumed became the focal point of activity. The other states of consciousness receded to the position of urges and influences.

灵魂的地球循环计划是一系列的轮回，其中夹杂着有些时候居住于太阳系中其他意识维度——行星上，直到肉身以其五官和意识头脑作出的每个思想和行动都与原来为灵魂安排的计划相一致。当身体不再是灵魂自由表达的障碍时——当意识头脑与潜意识融为一体，身体的原子结构可以被控制，因而灵魂在体内与在体外一样自由——地球循环就结束了，灵魂可以去进行新的探险。直到太阳系的其他意识维度存在完美，征服肉身才有可能达成，因为它们和地球一起拼凑成了太阳及其行星的完整表达。无论意识处于哪种状态，灵魂都成为活动的焦点。意识的其他状态都退至促进和影响的地位。

The race of humanity was fostered by a soul which had completed its experience of creation and returned to God, becoming a companion to Him and a co-creator. This is the soul human known as the "Christ", or the "anointed one" as described in the Bible. Adam, the first incarnation of the Christ Consciousness in flesh, was the first incarnation of the divine consciousness. Jesus, the final incarnation of that same soul, was the first human to fully manifest the Christ Consciousness in the flesh.

人类是由一个已经完成了它的创造经历并回归上帝的灵魂养育的，它已成为上帝的陪伴者和共同创造者。这个灵魂就是人们熟知的圣经中描述的“基督”或者“圣人”。亚当，基督意识的首次肉身轮回，是这个神圣意识的第一次投生。耶稣，同一个灵魂的最后一次投生，是第一个以肉身完全表明基督意识的人。

The Christ soul was interested in the plight of its brother souls trapped in earth, and after supervising the influx of human souls into flesh, the Christ soul took form itself, from time to time, to act as a leader for the people.

基督灵魂对它的陷于地球的兄弟灵魂感兴趣，在指导人类灵魂流入肉体之后，基督灵魂时而自己投生为人，以领导世人。

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Though at first the souls but lightly inhabited bodies and remembered their identities, gradually, life after life, they descended into earthiness, into less mentality, less consciousness of the mind force. They remembered their true selves only in dreams, in stories and fables handed down from one generation to another. Religion came into being: a ritual of longing for lost memories. The arts were born: music, numbers, and geometry. These were brought to earth by the incoming souls; gradually their heavenly source was forgotten, and they had to be written down, learned, and taught to each new generation.

虽然起初灵魂只是稍微居住于体内，并记得它们的身份，但是渐渐地，一生又一生之后，它们沉沦于世俗生活，越来越没有灵性，头脑的意识力量越来越小。他们只在梦中、在世代流传的故事和传说中记得他们真正的自我。宗教产生了：一种对失去记忆的渴望的仪式。艺术产生了：音乐、数字和几何学。这些是由来到地球的灵魂带来的；他们的天堂起源逐渐被遗忘了，每一代新人都必须将它们记下来，了解和学习。

Finally humans were left with a conscious mind definitely separated from his own individuality. Humans now call this individuality the subconscious mind; awareness of the physical world is the conscious mind. The subconscious mind influenced the conscious mind - gave it, in fact, its stature, breath, and quality. It became the body under the "suit of clothes." Only in sleep was it disrobed.

最终，人类只剩下与他自己个性截然分离的意识头脑。人类现在将这种个性称作潜意识头脑；感知物质世界的则是意识头脑。潜意识头脑影响着意识头脑——事实上，为它提供了它的才干、呼吸和特质。它成了“外衣”之内的身体。只有在睡眠时它才脱去衣服。

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With his conscious mind humans reasoned (for all mind, left to itself, will work out the plans of God). Humans built up theories for what they felt - but no longer knew - to be true. Philosophy and theology resulted. Humans began to look around and discover, in the earth, secrets which they carried within themselves but could no longer reach with consciousness. The result was science.

人类以他的意识头脑思考（因为所有头脑，它自身都会执行上帝的计划）。人类根据他们感到什么是正确的来建立理论——但他们不再知道。哲学和神学产生了。人类开始察看地球，发现他们自身所包含的秘密，但不能再以意识获得答案。结果就是科学。

The plan of humanity went into action. Downward humanity went from heavenly knowledge to mystical dreams, revealed religions, philosophy and theology, until the bottom was reached and humanity only believed what they could see and feel and prove in terms of their conscious minds. Then they began to fight their way upward, using the only tools they had left: suffering, patience, faith, and the power of mind.

人类的计划被付诸行动。人类从天堂的知识向下走到神秘的梦、显现的宗教、哲学和神学，一直到达谷底，人类只相信他们看得见、感觉得到、和可以以他们的意识头脑证明的东西。然后他们开始奋力向上走，运用他们剩下的唯一的工具：受苦、忍耐、信仰和心灵的力量。

The Christ soul helped humanity. As the Biblical characters named Adam, Enoch, and Melchizedek, the Christ soul took on flesh, to teach and lead. Enoch and Melchizedek experienced neither birth nor death. The Christ soul realized after these assumptions of human flesh that it was necessary to set a pattern for humanity, to show them the way back to God. The Christ soul assumed this task and was born of a woman, beginning voluntarily a new individuality, a new soul record; though behind this new individuality shone the pure Christ soul. But once born as a human, the separation of consciousness from subconsciousness occurred and the Christ soul began his pilgrimage. The Christ soul's last incarnation was as the humble carpenter from Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, triumphant over death and the body, became the way, laying down the ego of the will, accepting the crucifixion, and returning to God. He is the pattern to follow. The perfect life lead as Jesus and his subsequent unjust murder, reversed the negative karma that came from his first incarnation as Adam.

基督灵魂帮助了人类。作为圣经人物，他的名字是亚当、伊诺克和梅尔凯兹迪克，基督灵魂投生地球，以教导和领导世人。伊诺克和梅尔凯兹迪克既未经历出生也未经历死亡。基督灵魂在这些肉身投生之后，认识到有必要为人类设立一个模式，以向他们显示回归上帝之路。基督灵魂承担起这个任务，他由一个女人诞生，自愿开始一个新的个人，一个新的灵魂记录；尽管在这个新的个人之后闪耀着纯粹的基督的灵魂。但一旦生而为人，与潜意识分离的意识发生了，基督灵魂开始了他的朝拜。基督灵魂最后一次投生是作为加利利(巴勒斯坦北部一多山地区)的卑微的木匠，拿撒勒的耶稣。耶稣战胜了死亡和肉身，成就了这种道，他放弃了意志的自我，接受在十字架上受难，并回归上帝。他是人们追随的榜样。基督所过的完美生活以及他后来的不公正的被害，扭转了他第一次作为亚当的轮回所带来的负面的羯磨。

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At present, humanity is in a state of great spiritual darkness - the darkness which precedes dawn. Humanity has carried their skepticism to the point where it is forcing them to conclusions they know intuitively are wrong. At the same time humanity has carried their investigation of natural phenomena to the point where it is disproving all it seemed to prove in the beginning. Free will is finding that all roads lead finally to the same destination. Science, theology, and philosophy, having no desire to join forces, are approaching a point of merger. Skepticism faces destruction by its own hand.

如今，人类正处于一种巨大的精神黑暗的状态——这是黎明前的黑暗。人类的怀疑论已到了他们被迫得出他们直觉所了解的知识都是错误结论的地步。同时，人类对自然现象的调查已到了它正在反证它一开始所证明的一切的地步。自由意识正在发现，所有道路都最终通向相同的终点。科学、神学和哲学，它们原本互不相容，现在正趋向于相互融合。怀疑论正面临自掘坟墓的境地。

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Humanity is at all times the total of what they have been and done, what they have fought and defended, what they have hated and loved. In the three dimensional consciousness of earth every atom of the human body is a reflection of the soul - a crystallization of their individuality. Their emotional and nervous structures, their mental abilities, their aptitudes, their aversions and preferences, their fears, their follies, their ambitions, their character, are the sum of what they have done with their free will since it was given. So every personality - the earthly cloak of an individuality - is different from every other personality.

人类从来都是他们曾经所是和所为的一切，他们曾经争斗过的和抵抗过的一切，他们所仇恨和热爱过的一切。在地球的三维意识中，人类身体的每一个原子都是灵魂的一种反映——他们个性的一种结晶。他们的情感和神经系统、他们的心理能力、他们的才智、他们的好恶、他们的恐惧、他们的罪恶、他们的野心、他们的性格，就是自获得自由意志起他们以此所做的一切的总和。因此每个人格——个性的一种世间外壳——都与每一个其他人格不同。

This has been true from the beginning. The first independent thought of each soul was a little different from the first independent thought of every other soul.

从一开始就是这样。每一个灵魂的第一次独立思考就不同与其他灵魂的第一次独立思考。

So people are different in their likes and dislikes, in their desires and dreams. The law of karma - which is the law of cause and effect - likewise makes them different in their joys and sorrows, in their handicaps, their strengths, their weaknesses, their virtues and vices, their appreciation of beauty, and their comprehension of truth. Transgression incurred in the flesh must be met in the flesh: earth's natural law, not humanity or God, demands an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

所以人们的好恶、他们的欲望和梦想是不同的。羯磨法则——即因果法则——同样使他们的悲欢各不相同，他们的残障、他们的力量、他们的弱点、他们的美德和恶行、他们对美的鉴赏力、以及他们对真理的理解也有所不同。肉身遭受的侵犯必须还之以肉身：地球的自然法则、而不是人类或上帝的法则，要求以眼还眼、以牙还牙。

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The same law applies to groups of people, as they act together. There is karma for families, for tribes, for races, for nations. When the souls who committed a war die and are born again into the physical world, a war will be committed upon that nation. Only when defeat is endured by a nation with humility and understanding, only when victory is dispensed by a nation with justice and mercy, will the karma of war be lifted from them.

同样的法则适用于一起行动的群体。存在着家庭、部落、种族和国家的羯磨。当发动战争的灵魂阵亡后再投生至物质世界，这个国家就会遭受战争。只有当一个国家以卑谦和谅解来忍受战败，只有当一个国家以正义和仁慈而无须胜利，他们才会摆脱战争的羯磨。

Every person's life is shaped to some extent by karma: their own, that of their associates and loved ones, that of their nation and race, and that of the world itself. But these, singly or together, are not greater than free will. It is what the person does about these influences and urges, how they react to them, that makes a difference in their soul development. Because of karma some things are more probable than others, but so long as there is free will anything is possible.

每一个人的生命在某种程度上是由羯磨造就的：他们自己的羯磨、与他们一起生活的人和他们所爱的人的羯磨、他们国家和种族的羯磨、以及世界自身的羯磨。但这些羯磨，单独或一起，并不比自由意志更为巨大。一个人对这些影响和促进的所作所为，他对这些的反应，才会使他灵魂的发展有所不同。由于羯磨，一些事情比其他事情更具可能性，但只要具有自由意志，任何事情都是可能的。

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Thus free will and predestination coexist in a person. Their past experiences limit them in probability, and incline them in certain directions, but free will can always "draw the sword from the stone."

因此，自由意志和宿命同时存在于一个人之中。他们过去的经历限制他们在可能性之中，使他们倾向于某些方向，但自由意志总是可以“将剑从石中拔出。”

No soul takes on flesh without a general plan for the experience ahead. The personality expressed through the body is one of many which the individuality might have assumed. Its job is to work on one or several phases of the karma of the individuality. No task is undertaken which is too much for the personality to which it is assigned - or which chooses it. Some souls choose their own entrances and set their own tasks; others, having made too many mistakes and having become dangerously subject to earthly appetites, are sent back by law, at a time and under circumstances best suited to help them. The task is seldom perfectly fulfilled, and sometimes it is badly neglected.

没有哪个灵魂在投生之前不进行总体计划。人格通过身体展现的是这个个人可能已经设想的许多计划中的一种。他的工作是个人羯磨中的一个或几个方面。没有什么任务会远远超过这个已接受或选择它的人格的能力之上。有些灵魂选择他们自己的投生，设定他们自己的任务；还有些人，已犯下太多的错误，已危险地陷于世俗的欲望，根据法则，他们会在某个时候被送回对他们最有帮助的、最适宜的环境中去。任务很少被完满地完成，有时任务会被极大忽视。

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Choice of incarnation is usually made at conception, when the channel for expression is opened by the parents. A pattern is made by the mingling of the soul pattern of the parents. This sets up certain conditions of karma. A soul whose own karma approximates these conditions will be attracted by the opportunity presented. Since the pattern will not be exactly their own, they must consider taking on some of the karma of their parents.

投生的选择通常在怀孕时作出，这时由父母打开通往尘世的通道。一种模式是混合父母的灵魂模式构成。这为羯磨设定了某些条件。一个自己的羯磨与这些条件相适应的灵魂会为所提供的机会吸引。由于模式不可能完全符合他们，他们必须考虑接纳他们父母的一些羯磨。

Things other than pattern concern the soul in its selection of a body: coming situations in history, former associations with the parents, the incarnation, at about the same time, of souls it wishes to be with and with whom it has problems to work out. In some cases the parents are the whole cause of a soul's return - the child will be devoted to them and remain close to them until their death. In other cases the parents are used as a means to an end - the child will leave home early and be about its business.

除了模式之外，还涉及灵魂对身体的选择：历史将要出现的局势、与父母以前的关系、在这次轮回中将会遇到的他所希望在一起的灵魂、以及将要和对方一起解决羯磨问题的灵魂。在有些情形中，父母是灵魂回来的唯一原因——孩子深爱他们，并与他们关系密切，直至他们死亡。在另外的情形中，父母被用作达到某个目的的方式——孩子会很早离开家庭，去做他自己的事情。

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The soul may occupy the body as early as six months before birth, or as late as a month after birth, though in the latter case it has been hovering over the body since birth, deciding whether or not to occupy it. Once the decision is made and the occupation completed, the separation between the conscious mind and subconscious mind takes place between the new personality and the soul, and the earthly record of the child begins. The fact that a baby is born dead does not mean that it was refused as a vehicle for a soul. Just the opposite is true: the opportunity is taken away from the soul due to natural forces and no occupation of that body was possible.

灵魂会在早到出生前六个月就进入胎儿，或晚到婴儿出生后一个月才进入，但在后者的情形中，自婴儿出生起，它就在婴儿身体四周盘旋，它在决定是否进入。一旦作出决定，它就进入身体，在新的人格和灵魂之间，意识头脑和潜意识头脑就会分开，孩子的世间经历就开始了。一个出生时就死亡的婴儿并不意味着它被拒绝作为灵魂的载体。反过来说才对：由于自然力量，机会被从灵魂那里拿走了，不进入这个身体是可能的。

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The personality is a high-lighted portion of the individuality, experiencing three dimensional consciousness. The rest of the individuality remains in shadow, giving tone to the personality; urges, appreciations, tastes, avocations, and what is loosely termed "charm" - the background to which intuition responds.

人格是个性的最显著的一部分，它经历三维意识。个性的其余部分留在阴影中，为人格设定基调；欲望、鉴赏力、品位、爱好、以及笼统称作“魅力”的性格——直觉对其作出回应的背景。

The personality is shaped by three or four incarnations, the portions of the earthly experience on which the individuality wants to work. The emotions and talents of the person reflect these incarnations. The dreams, visions, meditations - the deep, closely guarded self-consciousness of the personality is the pattern of experience among the other states of consciousness within the solar system. The intellect is, roughly speaking, from the stars: it is the mind force of the soul, conditioned by its previous experience in creation outside the solar system, and dimmed or brightened by its recent experiences within the solar system.

人格是由三次或四次轮回造就的，这是个性希望解决的尘世经验的部分。个人的情感和才干反应了这些轮回。梦、显圣、冥想——深刻的、严密防范的人格的自我意识是在太阳系内的意识的其他状态中的经验模式。大体而言，智力来自于恒星：它是灵魂的心灵力量，受到它以前在太阳系以外的创造的经验的限制，并由它在太阳系中最近的经验而变得更暗淡或更明亮。

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Thus a personality is only an aspect of an individuality. A soul, deciding to experience earth again, might assume any of several personalities, each of which would express a portion of itself. As a soul approaches completion of the solar cycle the personality becomes more many-sided, expressing greater portions of the individuality. This is because each incarnation has less adverse karma, requiring less attention. Finally the personality is a complete expression of the individuality, and the cycle is completed.

因此，一个人格只是个性的一个方面。一个决定再次经历地球的灵魂会采用几个人格中的任何一个，他们中每一个都表达了它自己的一部分。当一个灵魂趋向于太阳循环的完成，这个人格就越来越多面化，表达出个性的更多部分。这是因为每一次轮回的不利羯磨在减少，所需要的关注也更少。最终，这个人格成了对个性的一种完整表达，于是循环就完成了。

As an individuality succumbs to earthiness, abandoning intellect for emotion and emotion for sensuality, it becomes more and more one-sided.

当个性屈从于尘世，放弃理智和感性，它就变得越来越片面。

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The incarnations which influence the personality reflect their patterns in the person's life. Sometimes they intermingle: a child's parents may re-create the environment of one experience, while his playmates will re-create the environment of another. Sometimes the influences work in periods: home and childhood may re-create the conditions of one incarnation, school and college those of another, marriage those of a third, and a career those of a fourth. Usually the people and the problems of the incarnations have interlocking relationships, so that the pattern of the personality's experience is a rational development, and the problems are presented to them as they are prepared to meet them. Because the incarnations only reflect their problems (their blessings as well as their handicaps), usually the karma of more than one can be undertaken in a single life; if the life is successful, considerable progress is made toward freedom from the flesh.

影响人格的轮回反映了它们在这个人生命中的模式。有时它们互相混合：一个孩子的父母会重新创造一种经验的环境，而他的玩伴则会重新创造另一种经验的环境。有时，这种影响在各个阶段发挥作用：家庭和童年会重新创造一个轮回的环境，学校和大学会重新创造另一个轮回的环境，婚姻会是第三个轮回的环境，职业会是第四个。通常轮回中的人和问题具有连锁的关系，这样，这个人格经验的模式是一种合理的发展，当他们作好解决问题的准备时，问题就会在他们面前出现。因为轮回只反映了他们的问题（他们的福报和孽报），通常在一个轮回中会承受不止一个轮回的羯磨；如果这一生是成功的，那么他在由肉身中解脱而获得自由方面就取得了很大的进步。

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When a life is finished the personality vanishes. Its pattern is absorbed into the individuality. Its record is retained, but it becomes a part of the individuality, which at all times is the sum total of what it has been: all it has thought, all it has experienced; all it has eaten, drunk, and felt through the ages.

当一生结束时，这个人格就消失了。它的模式被这个个性所吸收。它的记录被保留，但它成了个性的一部分，个性从来就是它曾经是的一切的总和：在所有时代中它所思、它所经历、它所吃的、喝的和感受的一切。

Here is an example of how extremes may meet. Both the atheist and the religionist seem to be right. The atheist says the personality does not survive after death; the religionist says the soul is judged after death and returns to its Creator. Substituting personality for soul, both are expressing a truth. The personality is judged, returns to its creator - the individuality - and is absorbed, giving up its own independent existence.

这里是极端状况下的一个例子。无神论者和宗教人士似乎都是对的。无神论者说死后人格并不续存；宗教人士说灵魂在死后接受审判并回归它的创造者。如果以人格来替代灵魂，两者都表达了一个真理。这个人格受到审判，回归它的创造者——这个个性——并被吸收，放弃它自己的独立存在。

The general plan for perfecting the individuality in its experience of this solar system then proceeds. Another state of consciousness is assumed, as a trial or as a means of reinforcing the character of a future personality.

太阳系的个性在它的经历中完善自己的总的计划在继续进行。作为一种尝试或加强一个未来人格的性格的一种方式，意识呈现出另一种状态。

So the problems of individualities, the problems of groups, the problems of races and nations, are worked upon time and again until, by free will, they are solved, and the souls go on to other worlds, other solar systems, other universes.

因此个性的问题、团体的问题、种族和国家的问题被一次又一次地予以解决，直到自由意志解决了所有问题，灵魂就去往其他世界，其他太阳系、其他宇宙。