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To be fully aware of the present is an extraordinarily difficult task because the mind is incapable of facing a fact directly without deception. Thought is the product of the past and therefore it can only think in terms of the past or the future; it cannot be completely aware of a fact in the present. So long as thought, which is the product of the past, tries to eliminate contradiction and all the problems that it creates, it is merely pursuing a result, trying to achieve an end, and such thinking only creates more contradiction and hence conflict, misery and confusion in us and, therefore, about us. 要全然地觉察现在是一个相当艰难的任务，因为头脑无法真实不虚地直面事实。思想是过去的产物，因此它只能着眼于过去或未来，它无法全然彻底地觉察当下的事实。只要思想，即时间的产物，试图消除矛盾及其造成的所有问题，它就只是在追求一个结果，试图达到一个目的，这样的思考方式只会造成更多的矛盾，造成我们身心内外更多的冲突、痛苦和混乱。 To be free of contradiction, one must be aware of the present without choice. How can there be choice when you are confronted with a fact? Surely the understanding of the fact is made impossible so long as thought is trying to operate upon the fact in terms of becoming, changing, altering. Therefore self-knowledge is the beginning of understanding; without self-knowledge, contradiction and conflict will continue. To know the whole process, the totality of oneself, does not require any expert, any authority. The pursuit of authority only breeds fear. No expert, no specialist, can show us how to understand the process of the self. One has to study it for oneself. 要从矛盾中解脱，就必须不作选择地觉察现在。当你面对事实，怎么会需要选择？显然，只要思想抱持成为什么、改变什么的心思来处理事实，就不可能了解事实。因此，自我认识就是了解的开端；没有自我认识，矛盾和冲突就会继续。要认识整个过程，了解自我的全部，并不需要任何专家、任何权威。追求权威只会滋生恐惧。没有专家可以告诉你，怎样了解自我运作的过程。我们必须自己来探究。 You and I can help each other by talking about it, but none can unfold it for us, no specialist, no teacher, can explore it for us. We can be aware of it only in our relationship - in our relationship to things, to property, to people and to ideas. In relationship we shall discover that contradiction arises when action is approximating itself to an idea. The idea is merely the crystallization of thought as a symbol, and the effort to live up to the symbol brings about a contradiction. 你我可以通过交谈、讨论来帮助彼此，但没有人可以为我们揭示它，没有专家、没有老师可以为我们进行探索。我们只能在关系中觉察——在我们与物品、财产、他人和观念的关系中来觉察。在关系中，我们会发现，如果行动去迎合观念，就会产生矛盾。观念是思想的结晶，是一个符号，遵照符号而活的努力就会造成矛盾。 Thus, so long as there is a pattern of thought, contradiction will continue; to put an end to the pattern, and so to contradiction, there must be self-knowledge. This understanding of the self is not a process reserved for the few. The self is to be understood in our everyday speech, in the way we think and feel, in the way we look at another. If we can be aware of every thought, of every feeling, from moment to moment, then we shall see that in relationship the ways of the self are understood. Then only is there a possibility of that tranquillity of mind in which alone the ultimate reality can come into being. 因此，只要抱持一种思维模式，矛盾就会继续。要结束模式，结束矛盾，就必须认识自我。认识自我并非少数人的专利。我们可以在每天的谈话中、在我们的思考和感受方式中、在我们看待他人的方式中认识自我。如果能一刻接一刻地觉察每一个念头、每一丝情绪，就可以看到自我的习性在关系中得到了了解。只有那时，心才可能宁静，只有在宁静的心中，绝对的真相才会出现。 The First and Last Freedom， 'Contradiction' 《最初和最终的自由》之“矛盾” |
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