聖靈是什麼？

課程中對聖靈的種種描述，原讓我既困惑又想望，
食衣住行大小事務皆可諮詢建議，好像是個高級守護靈一樣。

真是如此嗎？
形而上之境，除非以象徵的形式來比擬，
否則對已信了分裂的我們來說，是無從想像的。
因此無論是上主、小我還是聖靈，
都不會真的是任何類人的形態，能說能唱，
而可能更接近一種心念或狀態。

聖靈究竟是什麼，
既非我能判斷，或許也不是非常重要。
但現在我願將聖靈看成一個正念、一個愛的念頭，
一個充滿愛心的可能性。
如此，也免除了我對「耶穌」的種種投射，
既渴望祂的關愛眷顧、又懼怕祂的神聖光環。
相反地，小我也不再是具有恐怖力量的魔鬼，
而僅是個沒有愛心的念頭。
我似乎稍微更願意重新選擇，
也更能寬和地看待自己的錯誤選擇。

說到底，世間的種種形式不都也是象徵嗎？
眼見的一切都呼應著生出世界的那一念。
只是，還有另一個全然不同的可能性，
永遠都在那兒，靜靜的，
直到我們視它為一個選項為止。
那時它便能透過我們進入形式，
與小我之念化作形式的方式完全相同。

這個愛的念頭，
有時好似讓我感到如摯愛兄長或朋友的陪伴與接納，
但我不再輕易以崇敬的眼光來看它了。

【肯恩影片】砍柴挑水日日道

【砍柴挑水日日道】

"Chop Wood, Carry Water"

今天早上我們要討論一句諺語：「砍柴挑水日日道」(Chop wood, carry water) (註1)，我想這是來自佛教傳統的一句東方諺語。一位靈修者向上師問道：「我應如何精進修為，才能開悟呢？」上師回答：「砍柴、挑水」。也就是說，日常的工作必須得做，沒有任何事是無關靈性、且不配你去做的；靈修的進展，便發生在我們每日與這世界的互動中。而這與課程的概念也不謀而合。

We're going to speak this morning about the phrase "Chop wood, carry water." This comes from the east...I think it is a Buddhist tradition. And the story typically goes that a spiritual aspirant goes to the guru and asks "How can I advance and become enlightened?" and the guru answers "Chop wood, carry water." Meaning you have to do the daily work and that there's nothing behavioral that is beneath you, that is non-spiritual...that it's in our daily interactions with our world that our spiritual advancement occurs, and the Course would certainly concur.

我經常喜歡提起第 193 課結尾的一句話：上主會親自踏出最後的一步。不要拒絕祂要你為祂所踏出的每一小步；第 161 課也談到，只要看見這一點我們便受用不盡。課程的諸多片段中皆亦提及，若真心渴望從夢中醒覺，解除與小我的認同，並否認罪真實存在 (正面的否認)，我們就必須去做這些日常的工作：監看心靈、警覺小我的所有念頭，並意識到自己的抗拒，認清自己是多麼不願寬恕、放棄判斷。同時，也須避免：「昨天耶穌告訴我如此這般」、「我經歷了上主的啟示，聽見祂對我說話」、「我體驗到何等美妙的光與愛」此類冠冕堂皇的靈性光環。這些體驗不是不真實可靠，而是很可能對你有所不利，使你在靈性的道路上誤入歧途。

There's a line I frequently like to refer to that comes at the end of Lesson 193 that says God will take the final step Himself. Do not deny Him the little steps He asks you take to Him. Lesson 161 speaks about how we see a little to learn a lot. And what this refers to, as well as many, many other passages in the Course, is that if we truly want to awaken from the dream and undo our identification with the ego and deny the reality of guilt (denial in a positive sense), then we have to do our daily work of monitoring our mind, being vigilant for all of our ego thoughts, for being aware of our resistance...how much we don't want to forgive, how much we don't want to let go of judgments. And to avoid all of the kind of highfalutin spiritual stuff that people get caught in...Jesus told me this yesterday, I had this revelation and God spoke to me, I had this wonderful experience of light, and on, and on, and on. Not that any of these experiences are necessarily not valid or not authentic, but they can be really detriments and can really derail you on your spiritual journey.

你所要做的，就是砍柴及挑水這樣的日常工作。你要留意，在高速公路上駕駛時自己是多麼批判他人、餐廳中的服務員不照你的期待行事時是多麼容易生氣、家中或工作事務不順時，自己有多焦躁；留意你多快便失了平安，又歸咎於自己身外的種種理由。這些都是日常工作的內容，在每一天、甚至每分每秒警覺自己的小我，不要對耶穌告訴海倫的各種情況 (正文前段) 得過且過，隨時隨刻勿輕縱心靈神遊。

What you want to work with is that you want to chop wood and carry water. You want to notice how judgmental you are of people who drive on the highway or freeway. You want to notice how easily irritated you get if a waiter or a waitress at your restaurant doesn't act the way you think he or she should act. How annoyed you get when things don't go quite right at home or at work. And how quickly you lose your peace and attribute that loss of peace to factors external to you. It's in the daily working...it's in the day in and day out, minute by minute, even second by second, vigilance for your ego and not tolerating any of what Jesus told Helen early on in the text...not tolerating any of your mind wanderings.

神遊，也就是讓心靈從自家出走至世界。換言之，就是投射。我們經常將痛苦與疾病歸咎於自身以外的種種理由，而忽視心煩意亂的真正原因是自己選錯了老師。我的心靈早已選擇了小我，而不是耶穌或聖靈。這才是痛苦的唯一源頭；也是重新選擇對的老師之後，幸福平安的唯一源頭。然而，能幫助我們找到心靈內抉擇者的，便是砍柴與挑水的工夫。不要因世人推崇，就隨之起舞、大做文章。在未下基本工以前，別試著去成為一位偉大的靈性導師或心靈療癒大師。

Mind wanderings refers to when we let our minds wander from themselves out into the world. In other words, it's projection. And we kind of attribute all of our distress or disease to factors outside of ourselves...ignoring the fact that if I'm not happy, if I'm upset, it's only because I chose the wrong teacher. My mind chose the ego instead of Jesus or the Holy Spirit. That is always and only what is the source of our distress or the source of our happiness and peace when we make a different choice and choose the right teacher. But what helps us to do that...what helps us to get in touch with the decision-making part of our mind is to chop wood and carry water. Don't make a big deal about what the world calls a big deal. Don't try to become a great spiritual teacher, or a great spiritual healer without doing the basic work.

我還記得在課程發行的那段時間，甚至打從一開始，許多人往往在尚未閱讀課程前便開始教導課程。或者，可能讀過一兩次就開始教導，但卻未曾操練過基本的功課：透過寬恕他人的過程學習寬恕小我、並認清自己對判斷與特殊性投注了多少心力作為生活方式與身分認同，而不是將這一切視為防衛措施...心靈選擇了這樣的防衛措施來抵制我們想起自己的真實身分。

I am reminded how often in the history of the Course's publication...since the publication...even right from the beginning, people would start teaching the Course without having even read it. Or maybe reading it once or twice and then teaching it without doing the basic work of learning to forgive one's ego through the process of forgiving other people...of recognizing our tremendous investment in judgment and specialness as a way of life and our means of identification rather than see this as all a defense. It's a defense my mind is choosing against remembering the reality of who I really am.

我經常說，你若期盼成為偉大的鋼琴演奏家，也不可能才拿了貝多芬、蕭邦或巴哈琴譜便行雲流水地彈奏。你必須練習。腳踏實地練習、學習，操練日常的工夫；直到某一刻，你已然成為了演奏家。在紐約有個知名的故事，某人問了另一個人到卡內基音樂廳的路怎麼走，回答是：「練習、練習，再練習」。同樣的，由夢中醒覺回到天鄉的路該怎麼走？練習、練習，再練習。你得砍柴、得挑水；在些微不悅與勃然大怒之際監看心靈；寬恕重要的特殊關係，也寬恕點頭之交 (如教師手冊中所提到的第一層教學次第)...包括服飾店的店員、或曾不小心相撞過的路人這類一面之緣。

I frequently will tell people that if you have aspirations of being a great concert pianist, then you just can't pick up Beethoven, Chopin, or Bach and start playing it. You have to practice. You have to practice exercises and you have to study and you have to do the day in and day out work, which at one point might end up with you becoming a concert pianist. There's a famous story that takes place in New York city, someone asks someone how do you get to Carnegie Hall and the answer is practice, practice, practice. And so, how do you awaken from the dream and return Home to God...you practice, you practice, you practice. You chop wood and you carry water. You monitor your mind for the little upsets as well as the major upsets. You not only have to forgive the kind of life-long special relationships, but you have to forgive the casual acquaintances that you have, what early on in the manual Jesus refers to as the first level of teaching. People that we just meet once or twice...someone who sells us a shirt, or someone who bumps into us once.

簡言之，由於這裡的一切皆為幻相，凡事始於心靈、也終於心靈，無論我們投射什麼出去，必定是罪疚 (因心靈選錯老師而生) 的某個層面。因此無論事大事小、重要與否，皆可為己所用。每件事都是讓我們學習寬恕的機會，以成為回家道途的一顆鋪路石。

In other words, since everything out here is an illusion and everything begins and ends in our minds, no matter what we project out will always be some aspect of our guilt that comes from the mind's decision, again, for the wrong teacher. So big or small...significant or insignificant...everything is grist for the mill. And everything is an opportunity for us to learn how to forgive so we can indeed return Home.

註1：「開悟之前，砍柴挑水；開悟之後，砍柴挑水。」(Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.)