逃不出“一切万有”的手掌心

?此段摘自《灵魂永生》第二十一章  宗教的意义

在这个关键点上，内在的神变成了外在的神。

人试着创造一个新的领域，想要获得一种不同的焦点和认知。他的意识转个弯到自己的外面去了。为此，他越来越不专注于内在实相，因而只有当内在实相被向外投射进物质世界时，人才会开始去处理它。

之前，人和所有生物一样明白自己的内在统一性，毫不费力地创造环境并感知它。为了开始这场新的探险，人就必须假装这内在的统一性并不存在。否则，新的意识便总要跑回家以求安适。所以，好像必须切断所有的桥梁，当然这只是个游戏而已，因为内在实相始终须臾不离。这类新的意识只是必须不去看内在实相，才能维持最初的独立焦点。

在此我多少是以历史的说法来讲的。但你们必须明白这个过程与你们所知的时间完全无关。这种特别的意识探险，以前曾发生过，用你们的话来说，还将再次发生。

但是，人对外在宇宙的感知因而改变了，对感知者来说，它看上去好像是陌生而且与自己分离的东西。

因此，上帝变成了投射出去的概念，与个人无关，与自然也分了家。祂变成人正在浮现的“自我”的反映，带着自我所有的光辉、野蛮、力量，还有掌控的企图。纵然有明显的弊端，但这个探险却是极具创造性的，它代表了意识的“进化”，丰富了人的主观经验，并切实增加了实相本身的维度。

但是，为了要被有效地组织起来，内在和外在经验就必须表现为分开的、不相关联的事件。在历史上，上帝的特征随着人类“自我”的改变而改变。而“自我”的这些特征却是由强烈的内在改变所支持的。

内在特征最初向外推进而形成了“自我”，这可以与浩瀚星辰的诞生相比拟——一个起源于主观层面与内在实相的事件，产生了不可估量的后果。

因此，由内而生的“自我”，必须总是炫耀其独立性，同时却又不得不维持对内在根源的确信。

“自我”对它的处境感到害怕，生怕溶回它所来自的“内我”。但它的出现给了“内我”一种新的回馈，为“内我”提供了一个观察自己的新角度；而且从这个新角度看出去，“内我”还可以瞥见自己从前意识不到的种种发展的可能性。用你们的话来说，到了基督时代，“自我”对其地位已很笃定，因而投射出的上帝的画面开始能有所变化了。

“内我”处于一个不断成长的状态，因此，每个人的内在部分都把这知识向外投射。这种需求——人类心理与精神上的需求——要求内在与外在两方面的重大改变。尘封已久的慈悲与理解的品性现在能露面了。它们不仅单独地，而且整体性地涌现，增加了一个新的动力，并带来了一个自然的“新”方向——开始将所知自己的所有部分召集到一起。

因此当“自我”认识到它对内在实相的依赖时，上帝的概念开始改变，但这场戏必须在目前的架构里解决。伊斯兰教从根本上是如此暴力，恰恰因为基督教从根本上是如此温和。并不是说基督教就没有掺杂暴力，或伊斯兰教就完全缺乏爱。而是心灵在发展过程中与自己作斗争，否认某些感觉与特征而片面强调了其他，因而历史上的外在宗教剧代表并追随了这些内在的渴望、奋斗与探索。

现在给出的所有资料必须与以下事实一同考虑，即在这些发展的背后存在着一种不可否认的亲密力量，它带有永恒的面向与创造的特性。也就是说，一切万有代表了我们所有人源自的那个实相。一切万有天生就超越了活动、意识或实相的所有维度，同时却又是每个维度的一部分。

有一个面孔在所有面孔的背后，但这并不表示每个人的面孔不是自己的。我曾经提到的进一步的宗教剧，用你们的话说还尚未发生，它代表了内在与外在戏剧的另一个阶段，在其中，逐渐浮现的“自我”对其传承更加觉察了。在维持住自己地位的同时，它也能与自己的其他部分有更多交往，而且也为内我提供了觉察的机会，那是内我靠自己所无法获得的。

因此，神的旅程代表了人类自己的意识向外投射的旅程。然而，一切万有在每一个这样的探险中。它的意识、它的实相在每个人之内，也在人所创造的众神之内。最后一个词（神，gods）用小写， “神”（gods）应该总是小写。“一切万有”（ALL THAT IS）才应该用大写。

当然，神也获得了一种心灵的实相。我并不是说他们因而不是真的，我是多多少少在为其实相的本质下定义。以下这句话从某种意义上讲是对的：“当心你所选择的神，因为你们会相互加强。”

这种人神联盟建立起了某些“引力场”。一个执着于某个神的人，必然多半执着于自己的投射。对你们来说，有些投射是创造性的，有些是破坏性的，虽然后者很少被认为是破坏性的。

但是，对于“一切万有”的开放性概念，在很大程度上把你们从自己的投射中解放出来，并容许你们与所知实相背后的灵性进行更有效的接触。

Now: At this point, the god inside became the god outside.

Man tried to form a new realm, attain a different kind of focus and awareness. His consciousness turned a comer outside of itself. To do this he concentrated less and less upon inner reality, and therefore began the process of inner reality only as it was projected outward into the physical world.

Before, the environment was effortlessly created and perceived by man and all other living things, knowing the nature of their inner unity. In order to begin this new venture, it was necessary to pretend that this inner unity did not exist. Otherwise the new kind of consciousness would always run back to its home for security and comfort. So it seemed that all bridges must be cut, while of course it was only a game because the inner reality always remained. The new kind of consciousness simply had to look away from it to maintain initially an independent focus.

I am speaking here in more or less historic terms for you. You must realize that the process has nothing to do with time as you know it, however. This particular kind of adventure in consciousness has occurred before, and in your terms will again.

Perception of the exterior universe then changed, however, and it seemed to be alien and apart from the individual who perceived it.

God, therefore, became an idea projected outward, independent of the individual, divorced from nature. He became the reflection of man’s emerging ego, with all of its brilliance, savagery, power, and intent for mastery. The adventure was a highly creative one despite the obvious disadvantages, and represented an “evolution” of consciousness that enriched man’s subjective experience, and indeed added to the dimensions of reality itself.

To be effectively organized, however, inner and outer experience had to appear as separate, disconnected events. Historically the characteristics of God changed as man’s ego changed. These characteristics of the ego, however, were supported by strong inner changes.

The original propulsion of inner characteristics outward into the formation of the ego could be compared with the birth of innumerable stars — an event of immeasurable consequences that originated on a subjective level and within inner reality.

The ego, having its birth from within, therefore, must always boast of its independence while maintaining the nagging certainty of its inner origin.

The ego feared for its position, frightened that it would dissolve back into the inner self from which it came. Yet in its emergence it provided the inner self with a new kind of feedback, a different view not only of itself; but through this, the inner self was able to glimpse possibilities of development of which it had not previously been aware. In your terms, by the time of Christ, the ego was sure enough of its position so that the projected picture of God could begin to change.

The inner self is in a state of constant growth. The inner portion of each man, therefore, projected this knowledge outward. The need, the psychological and spiritual need of the species, demanded both interior and exterior alterations of great import. Qualities of mercy and understanding that had been buried could now surface. Not only privately but en masse they surged up, adding a new impetus and giving a natural “new” direction —beginning to call all portions of the self, as it knew itself, together.

So the concept of God began to change as the ego recognized its reliance upon inner reality, but the drama had to be worked out within the current framework. Mohammedanism was basically so violent precisely because Christianity was basically so gentle. Not that Christianity was not mixed with violence, or that Mohammedanism was devoid of love. But as the psyche went through its developments and battled with itself, denying some feelings and characteristics and stressing others, so the historic religious exterior dramas represented and followed these inner aspirations, struggles, and searches.

All of this material now given must be considered along with the fact that beneath these developments there are the eternal aspects and creative characteristics of a force that is both undeniable and intimate. All That Is, in other words, represents the reality from which all of us spring. All That Is, by its nature, transcends all dimensions of activity, consciousness, or reality, while being a part of each.

Behind all faces there is one face, yet this does not mean that each man’s face is not his own. The further religious drama of which I have spoken, in your terms still to come, represents another stage in both the internal and external dramas in which the emergent ego becomes aware of much of its heritage. While maintaining its own status, it will be able to have much greater commerce with other portions of the self, and also to offer to the inner self opportunities of awareness that the inner self on its own could not procure.

The journeys of the gods, therefore, represent the journeys of man’s own consciousness projected outward. All That Is, however, is within each such adventure. Its consciousness, and its reality, is within each man, and within the gods he has created. That last is in small letters, and gods shall always be in small letters. All That Is is capitalized.

The gods attain, of course, a psychic reality. I am not saying therefore that they are not real, but I am to some extent defining the nature of their reality. It is to some extent true to say: “Be careful of the gods you choose, for you will reinforce each other.”

Now: Such an alliance sets up certain fields of attraction. A man who attaches himself to one of the gods is necessarily attaching himself largely to his own projections. Some, in your terms, are creative, and some destructive, though the latter are seldom recognized as such.

The open concept of All That Is, however, frees you to a great extent from your own projections, and allows a more valid contact with the spirit that is behind the reality that you know.