Knowledge of The Higher Worlds 崇高灵性的知识 Chapter II

 Continued from Chapter I : How is knowledge of the Higher Worlds Attained?
文接自：第一章  如何造就崇高无上的知识？

The Stages of Initiation / 第二章 启蒙的阶段

Follow the method strictly and earnestly then only will progress further in training.

The information given in the following chapters constitutes steps in an esoteric training, the name and character of which will be understood by all who apply this information in the right way. It refers to the three stages through which the training of the spiritual life leads to a certain degree of initiation. But only so much will here be explained as can be publicly imparted. These are merely indications extracted from a still deeper and more intimate doctrine. In esoteric training itself a quite definite course of instruction is followed. Certain exercises enable the soul to attain to a conscious intercourse with the spiritual world. These exercises bear about the same relation to what will be imparted in the following pages, as the instruction given in a higher strictly disciplined school bears to the incidental training. But impatient dabbling, devoid of earnest perseverance, can lead to nothing at all. The study of Spiritual Science can only be successful if the student retain what has already been indicated in the preceding chapter, and on the basis of this proceed further.

以下章节的资讯是内修的次第。正确依方法练习的人，都会了解这些名相与其特质。这三次第是指经由内修（对灵性生命的训练）引领学生至某层次的启蒙。不过能够公开解说的当然是有限的，只有更深、更详细的学说摘要。内修有着非常明确的教程。某些功课能令灵魂达到意识清醒的与灵界交流。以下讲的这些功课就像先修班与正规班的功课，难度有所不同，但本质是一样的。总之还是要有诚心有毅力依方法做功课才会引领你至正宗的内修，如果没有耐心的三天打鱼两天晒网是没有用的。特别要注意的是，上一章提到的例如“尊崇恭敬心”“心中全静，不执着于任何境界的现起”等的修持乃是往后一切修持能成功的基础，要继续维持。

(1)Preparation  (2)Enlightenment (3)Initiation… are the steps arranged in order.

The three stages which the above-mentioned tradition specifies, are as follows: (1) preparation; (2) enlightenment; (3) initiation. It is not altogether necessary that the first of these three stages should be completed before the second can be begun, nor that the second, in turn, be completed before the third be started. In certain respects it is possible to partake of enlightenment, and even of initiation, and in other respects still be in the preparatory stage. Yet it will be necessary to spend a certain time in the stage of preparation before any enlightenment can begin; and, at least in some respects, enlightenment must be completed before it is even possible to enter upon the stage of initiation. But in describing them it is necessary, for the sake of clarity, that the three stages be made to follow in order.

启蒙的三次第为预备、开悟及启动。这三次第虽有其前、后性，但并非一定要完成第一步才能进入第二步。不过为了能清楚说明起见，还是用以下的次序说明这三步骤。

Preparation 预备 Preparation consists in a strict and definite cultivation of the life of thought and feeling, through which the psycho-spiritual body becomes equipped with higher senses and organs of activity in the same way that natural forces have fitted the physical body with organs built out of indeterminate living matter. 前行包括了严格明确地培养「想」(thought)与「受」(feeling)的生命。经由这些功课，人的精神体便会产生出高等层次的感官。就像自然界配合生命的物质赋予肉体各种器官，一样的道理。

Be observant to every detail in life.  Fully focus a single event and feel the happening, changing, evolving or diminishing.

To begin with, the attention of the soul is directed to certain events in the world that surrounds us. Such events are, on the one hand, life that is budding, growing, and flourishing, and on the other hand, all phenomena connected with fading, decaying, and withering. The student can observe these events simultaneously, wherever he turns his eyes and on every occasion they naturally evoke in him feelings and thoughts; but in ordinary circumstances he does not devote himself sufficiently to them. He hurries on too quickly from impression to impression. It is necessary, therefore, that he should fix his attention intently and consciously upon these phenomena. Wherever he observes a definite kind of blooming and flourishing, he must banish everything else from his soul, and entirely surrender himself, for a short time, to this one impression. He will soon convince himself that a feeling which heretofore in a similar case, would merely have flitted through his soul, now swells out and assumes a powerful and energetic form. He must now allow this feeling to reverberate quietly within himself while keeping inwardly quite still. He must cut himself off from the outer world, and simply and solely follow what his soul tells him of this blossoming and flourishing.

首先，将灵魂的注意力放在身外的两类事件。 第一类是所有发芽中、成长中、盛开中的事件(例如花开); 第二类则是所有衰退中、枯萎凋谢中、变灭中的事件(例如花谢)。 学生可以同时观察到这两种常见的现象。一般我们在每一瞬间都会见到，并且很自然的产生出感受与想法，只是我们没有特别去投入，而匆匆地由这个印象跳到下一个印象。所以我们必须刻意的，有意识的去注意这些现象。当学生看到这种盛开、绽放的现象时，他一定要短暂的摒除心灵中所有对其它事件的注意力，专注于这一件事给他的感受与印象。他会很快发现，这种在以往轻易飞掠过心灵的感受，现在渐渐扩大为一种极有力的能量，内心依然是全面静止的，让这种感受在心中静静回荡。他一定要切断一切其它外在事物所带来的感受，让他的灵魂告诉他这种绽放、盛开究竟是怎么样的一种感受。