13 改變意識，夢想成真

Physical science is responsible for the marvelous age of invention in which we are now living, but spiritual science is now setting out on a career whose possibilities no one can fortell. 我們正置身於物理科學發展蓬勃、充滿發明創造的美好時代，而靈性科學才正蓄勢待發，誰也無法預測未來的可能性。

Spiritual science has previously been the football of the uneducated, the superstitious, the mystical, but men are now interested in definite methods and demonstrated facts only. We have come to know that thinking is a spiritual process, that vision and imagination preceded action and event, that the day of the dreamer has come. The following lines by Mr. Herbert Kaufman are interesting in this connection. 靈性科學自古一向被貼上神祕的標籤，是那些迷信、未受過教育的人的玩物，不過現代人已經開始對各種明確的方法和已獲證明的事實感興趣。我們已經明白，思想是一種精神過程，在行動和事件發生之前，必須先有願景與想像，夢想家的時代來臨了。

"They are the architects of greatness, their vision lies within their souls, they peer beyond the veils and mists of doubt and pierce the walls of unborn Time. The belted wheel, the trail of steel, the churning screw, are shuttles in the loom on which they weave their magic tapestries. Makers of Empire, they have fought for bigger things than crowns and higher seats than thrones. Your homes are set upon the land a dreamer found. The pictures on its walls are visions from a dreamer's soul. They are the chose few -- the blazers of the way. Walls crumble and Empires fall, the tidal wave sweeps from the sea and tears a fortress from its rocks. The rotting nations drop off from Time's bough, and only things the dreamer's make live on." 美國政治科學家赫伯特．考夫曼（Herbert Kaufman）說過一段話，他以有趣的說明如此形容夢想家：「他們是偉大的建築師，他們的願景深藏在靈魂之中，他們的雙眼則看穿懷疑的紗幕和薄霧，突破未來時間的城牆。裝甲的車輪、鋼筋的拖痕與鉸緊的螺絲，都是他們用以編織神奇魔毯的梭針。他們是帝國創建者，總是為了比皇冠更偉大、比皇位更崇高的目標奮力戰鬥。你的住所建立在夢想家所發現的國土，壁上懸掛的圖像來自夢想家靈魂中的願景。他們是精挑細選的少數幸運兒，是引路者。城牆會崩塌、帝國會崩壞，大海波浪潮起潮落，撕扯岸邊城堡的岩塊城磚，破爛城堡隨著時間消逝一一傾毀，唯有夢想家親手創造的一切得以留存。」

Part Thirteen which follows tells why the dreams of the dreamer come true. It explains the law of causation by which dreamers, inventors, authors, financiers, bring about the realization of their desires. It explains the law by which the thing pictured upon our mind eventually becomes our own. 接下來第十三週的課程會告訴你為何夢想家終將圓夢，文中將闡釋所有夢想家、發明家、作家、金融家成功逐夢的因果法則，詳述它如何促成我們心智描繪的精神圖景化為現實，為我們所擁有。

PART THIRTEEN

1. It has been the tendency, and, as might be proved, a necessity for science to seek the explanation of everyday facts by a generalization of those others which are less frequent and form the exception. Thus does the eruption of the volcano manifest the heat which is continually at work in the interior of the earth and to which the latter owes much of her configuration. 當今的科學界傾向透過解釋罕見的例外事件來進行「概括化」，以說明解釋各種日常事件。例如，火山爆發呈現了地球內部的熱能運動，正是緣於地球內部的熱能運動，才會形成現在的地表外貌。
2. Thus does the lightning reveal a subtle power constantly busy to produce changes in the inorganic world, and, as dead languages now seldom heard were once ruling among the nations, so does a giant tooth in Siberia, or a fossil in the depth of the earth, not only bear record of the evolution of past ages, but thereby explains to us the origin of the hills and valleys which we inhabit today. 同理，閃電現象也代表一種經常改變無機世界的微妙能量。或許也可以這樣比喻，某一種已經消亡的古老語言可能曾經一度風行某個國家，或是西伯利亞發現一顆巨齒、在地球深處找到一塊化石等，這些事跡不僅僅記錄了過往的歲月變遷，也同樣解釋了今日我們居住的山陵、河谷發源地。
3. In this way a generalization of facts which are rare, strange, or form the exception, has been the magnetic needle guiding to all the discoveries of inductive science. 針對罕見、陌生或特殊例外的事實，我們採用概括化的方式，就好比手握指南針，讓它引導我們歸納科學的全體發現。
4. This method is founded upon reason and experience and thereby destroyed superstition, precedent and conventionality. 這套方法立足於推理和經驗的基礎，因此可以打破迷信、常規與先例。
5. It is almost three-hundred years since Lord Bacon recommended this method of study, to which the civilized nations owe the greater part of their prosperity and the more valuable part of their knowledge; purging the mind from narrow prejudices, denominated theories, more effectually than by the keenest irony; calling the attention of men from heaven to earth more successfully by surprising experiments than by the most forcible demonstration of their ignorance; educating the inventive faculties more powerfully by the near prospect of useful discoveries thrown open to all, than by talk of bringing to light the innate laws of our mind. 十七世紀的英國哲學家法蘭西斯．培根（Francis Bacon）爵士首推這套研究方法，幾百年來文明國家的物質繁榮、知識進步大多歸功於此。它淨化我們心中狹隘的偏見、根深柢固的執迷念頭，比最尖銳嚴苛的冷嘲熱諷還要有成效；它揭示令人目瞪口呆的實驗結果，而非咄咄逼人地批判無知，因此得以成功地將人們的目光由天堂轉移至地上；這種方法把最新穎、最管用的發現結果公諸於世，而非高談闊論我們腦中原本就固有的理念，反而能更有效地傳授我們發明創造的本領。
6. The method of Bacon has seized the spirit and aim of the great philosophers of Greece and carried them into effect by the new means of observation which another age offered; thus gradually revealing a wondrous field of knowledge in the infinite space of astronomy, in the microscopic egg of embryology, and the dim age of geology; disclosing an order of the pulse which the logic of Aristotle could never have unveiled, and analyzing into formerly unknown elements the material combinations which no dialectic of the scholastics could force apart. 培根的手法成功捕捉偉大古希臘哲學家的精神，並套用全新時空賦予的全新觀察方式，使這種方法發揚光大。由此，上自天文學無垠浩瀚的空間、下至地理學模糊久遠的年代、小至生物胚胎學微不可見的卵細胞，我們得以逐步揭露一門偉大奇妙的知識領域。古希臘哲學家亞里斯多德（Aristotle）的邏輯學無法推演出的脈搏跳動的規律；這種研究方式可以將化合物分解成我們從前一無所知的細小分子，這是任何擅長辯證法的老學究們辦不到的成就。
7. It has lengthened life; it has mitigated pain; it has extinguished diseases; it has increased the fertility of the soil; it has given new securities to the mariner; it has spanned great rivers with bridges of form unknown to our fathers; it has guided the thunderbolt from heaven to earth; it has lighted up night with the splendor of day; it has extended the range of human vision; it has multiplied the power of the human muscles; it has accelerated motion; it has annihilated distance; it has facilitated intercourse, correspondence, all friendly offices, all dispatch of business; it has enabled men to descend into the depths of the sea, to soar into the air, to penetrate securely into the noxious recesses of the earth. 人類的壽命得以延長、痛楚因此減輕、疾病漸漸被根治、大地的產出增加，航海員出航也更加安全了。先人從未目睹的大橋橫跨江河、好似白晝的光明照亮漆黑的夜晚；它拓寬人類的視野、數倍提高人們的肌腱能力；加速行動、消除距離；促進各地商務辦公室與政府機構交流、通訊；它也讓人們自由遨遊天際，安心潛入大海深處闖蕩幽微暗黑的地球洞穴。
8. This then is the true nature and scope of induction. But the greater the success which men have achieved in the inductive science, the more does the whole tenor of their teachings and example impress us with the necessity of observing carefully, patiently, accurately, with all the instruments and resources at our command the individual facts before venturing upon a statement of general laws. 這就是歸納法的真實本質與範疇。但是，人類科學的成就越是卓越，我們越是應該透過科學的教導和各種例證強化一個觀念：在我們總結出普遍法則的論點之前，應該活用一切的工具和資源，仔細、耐心、正確地觀察個體事例。
9. To ascertain the bearing of the spark drawn from the electric machine under every variety of circumstances, that we thus may be emboldened with Franklin to address, in the form of a kite, the question to the cloud about the nature of the lightning. To assure ourselves of the manner in which bodies fall with the exactness of a Galileo, that with Newton we may dare to ask the moon about the force that fastens it to the earth. 我們應該鼓起勇氣和美國政壇有名的科學家班傑明．富蘭克林（Banjamin Franklin）站在一起，他為了釐清為何在各種不同的情況下，電動機械都會冒出火花，因此斗膽在風雨天拉起風箏向滿天烏雲詢問閃電的性質；我們也應該勇於和英國科學家艾薩克．牛頓（Isaac Newton）並肩而立，學習他為了確知義大利天文學家伽利略．伽利列（Galileo Galilei）的自由落體實驗，向天上明月提問與地球相繫的力量為何。
10. In short, by the value we set upon truth, by our hope in a steady and universal progress, not to permit a tyrannical prejudice to neglect or mutilate unwelcome facts, but to rear the superstructure of science upon the broad and unchangeable basis, of full attention paid to the most isolated as well as the most frequent phenomena. 簡而言之，透過我們建立的真理價值，基於我們殷切期盼穩定和普遍的進步，我們不容許暴虐的偏見去忽視或詆毀不受歡迎的事實；而是應該把科學的上層建築，往下扎根在寬廣不可動搖的基礎上，不僅應該關注所有常見的現象，也要留意諸多罕見的現實。
11. An ever-increasing material may be collected by observation, but the accumulated facts are of very different value for the explanation of nature, and as we esteem most highly those useful qualities of men which are of the rarest occurrence, so does natural philosophy sift the facts and attach a pre-eminent importance to that striking class which cannot be accounted for by the usual and daily observation of life. 經由仔細觀察，我們便可蒐集越來越多的資料，但是要解釋自然規律時，這些累積的大量事實會有不同的意義和價值。正如我們會重視人類品性中有用處的特質，它們是自然演化中珍貴的進步象徵；同理，自然哲學也會對所有事實進行篩選，並重視那些我們在日常生活中不易觀察到的現象。
12. If then, we find that certain persons seem to possess unusual power, what are we to conclude? First, we may say, it is not so, which is simply an acknowledgment of our lack of information because every honest investigator admits that there are many strange and previously unaccountable phenomena constantly taking place. Those, however, who become acquainted with the creative power of thought, will no longer consider them unaccountable. 倘若我們發現某些人天生擁有異於常人的能力，我們會因此得出什麼結論呢？首先，我們可能會說：「這種事不可能發生。」會說出這種話的人就是在承認自己的無知，因為任何誠實的探索者都會承認，世界上確實常有稀奇古怪、前例無法解釋的現象發生；但是，熟知思想創造力的人卻絕對不會認為這些現象永遠無法解釋。
13. Second, we may say that they are the result of supernatural interference, but a scientific understanding of Natural Laws will convince us that there is nothing supernatural. Every phenomenon is the result of an accurate definite cause, and the cause is an immutable law or principle, which operates with invariable precision, whether the law is put into operation consciously or unconsciously. 其次，我們可能會說：「這些都是超自然現象干預產生的結果。」但我們若理解自然法則的科學原理就會明白，沒有什麼事情是所謂的超自然現象，一切現象之所以會發生必定有其原因，而且這項原因肯定源於某一既定法則或原理。這條法則或原理無論是自發自覺或是無意識運作，必然講求恆定的精準度。
14. Third, we may say that we are on "forbidden ground," that there are some things which we should not know. This objection was used against every advance in human knowledge. Every individual who ever advanced a new idea, whether a Columbus, a Darwin, a Galileo, a Fulton or an Emerson, was subjected to ridicule or persecution; so that this objection should receive no serious consideration; but, on the contrary, we should carefully consider every fact which is brought to our attention; by doing this we will more readily ascertain the law upon which it is based. 第三，我們可能會改口說自己誤闖「禁區」，因為可能有些事情我們根本就不應該知道。在每一次人類進步的歷程中，這種反對聲浪總是會屢見不鮮。義大利海上探險家克里斯多福．哥倫布（Christopher Columbus）、達爾文、伽利略、美國蒸汽輪船發明人羅伯特．富爾頓（Robert Fulton）或愛默生等提出全新理念的前輩，都曾經歷諸如此類的冷嘲熱諷，甚至殘酷迫害。所以說，這些反對聲浪根本不值一顧。不過，反過來說，我們應當仔細思考任何一件引起關注的事實，唯有如此，我們才能更容易發現其中的基本法則。
15. It will be found that the creative power of thought will explain every possible condition or experience, whether physical, mental or spiritual. 我們會發現，思想的創造力可以解釋一切的經歷或際遇，無論是屬於生理、心理還是心靈層面。
16. Thought will bring about conditions in correspondence with the predominant mental attitude. Therefore, if we fear disaster, as fear is a powerful form of thought, disaster will be the certain result of our thinking. It is this form of thought which frequently sweeps away the result of many years of toil and effort. 思想會帶給我們與主導心態步調一致的際遇，因此，假使我們懼怕疾病，像「恐懼」這種強而有力的思想形式，就會使疾病成為這種恐懼意念的必然結果。就是這種思想形式讓我們多年的辛苦努力付之一炬。
17. If we think of some form of material wealth we may secure it. By concentrated thought the required conditions will be brought about, and the proper effort put forth, which will result in bringing about the circumstances necessary to realize our desires; but we often find that when we secure the things we thought we wanted, they do not have the effect we expected. That is, the satisfaction is only temporary, or possibly is the reverse of what we expected. 假使我們一心想著物質財富，那我們就會獲得這些財富。我們只要集中意念思考需要的情境，並付出相當的努力，付出適當的努力，就可以實現自己夢寐以求的際遇。不過，我們卻常常發現，每當我們獲得夢寐以求的目標時，卻感受不到原本期望的欣喜。那是因為，滿足感轉瞬即逝，有時甚至還會與期望截然相反。
18. What, then, is the proper method of procedure? What are we to think in order to secure what we really desire? What you and I desire, what we all desire, what every one is seeking, is Happiness and Harmony. If we can be truly happy we shall have everything the world can give. If we are happy ourselves we can make others happy. 若此，此一過程的正確做法為何？我們該如何思考，才能實現真正的夢想？你、我所擁有的夢想，正是全體人類懷抱的夢想，也是每個人嚮往追求的目標，那就是「幸福」與「和諧」。要是我們可以獲得真正的幸福，就能牢牢握住世界給予的一切；如果我們可以為別人帶來幸福快樂，我們自己也才能真正體會幸福。
19. But we cannot be happy unless we have, health, strength, congenial friends, pleasant environment, sufficient supply, not only to take care of our necessities but to provide for those comforts and luxuries to which we are entitled. 但是除非我們擁有健康、力量、知己、舒適的環境，吃得飽、穿得暖，否則根本甭提幸福快樂；也就是說，我們不僅要能夠滿足自身的日常所需，還要能夠擁有一切的舒適、奢華，因為我們完全有資格擁有。
20. The old orthodox way of thinking was to be "a worm," to be satisfied with our portion whatever it is; but the modern idea is to know that we are entitled to the best of everything, that the "Father and I are one" and that the "Father" is the Universal Mind, the Creator, the Original Substance from which all things proceed. 老一輩的保守思維方式就是要像一隻「蟲」，滿足於眼前所得到的一切，不管究竟得到什麼；但當代的理念卻是，充分瞭解我們被賦予天地萬物間最好的一切，也明白「造物主與我合而為一」，以及「造物主」就是宇宙心智、就是創造者，也就是一切物種進化的源起。
21. Now admitting that his is all true in theory, and it has been taught for two thousand years, and is the essence of every system of Philosophy or Religion, how are we to make it practical in our lives? How are we to get the actual, tangible results here and now? 現在讓我們真心坦承，上述所有說法在理論上都站得住腳，兩千年多來我們也一直接受這樣的教誨，而這些理論也是一切宗教或哲學體系的精華結晶，我們該如何在生活中付諸實踐？而且如何可以馬上看到實際可見的結果？
22. In the first place, we must put our knowledge into practice. Nothing can be accomplished in any other way. The athlete may read books and lessons on physical training all his life, but unless he begins to give out strength by actual work he will never receive any strength; he will eventually get exactly what he gives; but he will have to give it first. It is exactly the same with us; we will get exactly what we give, but we shall have to give it first. It will then return to us many fold, and the giving is simply a mental process, because thoughts are causes and conditions are effects; therefore in giving thoughts of courage, inspiration, health or help of any kind we are setting causes in motion which will bring about their effect. 第一步，我們必須實踐所學的知識，除了實踐別無他法。運動員終其一生可能必須大量閱讀體育訓練方面的書籍和課本，但除非在實際訓練中付出大量體力，否則永遠也不可能鍛鍊出更強壯的體魄。他的最終收穫完全與他付出的努力成正比。這就是先苦後甘的道理。同理也適用在我們身上，我們種下什麼因就會得什麼果，但先決條件是我們必須先付出，最終的收穫可能遠超過付出的好幾倍。付出不過就是一個精神過程，因為思想是起因、境遇是後果。由此可知，只要付出勇氣、激情、健康或助人等各種思想，我們就是種下行動的起因，日後將得到相應的後果。
23. Thought is a spiritual activity and is therefore creative, but make no mistake, thought will create nothing unless it is consciously, systematically, and constructively directed; and herein is the difference between idle thinking, which is simply a dissipation of effort, and constructive thinking, which means practically unlimited achievement. 思想是一種靈性活動，因此具有創造性。不過，請不要想歪了，它要是未曾獲得自發自覺、系統化、建設性的引導，就不會創造任何成就。這就是胡思亂想與建設性思考之間的區別，前者徒然蹉跎光陰、浪費精力，後者則意味著永不受限的成就。
24. We have found that everything we get comes to us by the Law of Attraction. A happy thought cannot exist in an unhappy consciousness; therefore the consciousness must change, and, as the consciousness changes, all conditions necessary to meet the changed consciousness must gradually change, in order to meet the requirements of the new situation. 我們已經知道，自己所經歷的一切遭遇都遵循吸引力法則發生，如果你的意識充滿不快樂，就不可能產生快樂的念頭。因此，意識必須改變。隨著意識改變，所有境遇都會為了適應質變的意識跟著逐步轉變，以便適應全新境遇所產生的全新需求。
25. In creating a Mental Image or an Ideal, we are projecting a thought into the Universal Substance from which all things are created. This Universal Substance is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient. Are we to inform the Omniscient as to the proper channel to be used to materialize our demand? Can the finite advise the Infinite? This is the cause of failure; of every failure. We recognize the Omnipresence of the Universal Substance, but we fail to appreciate the fact that this substance is not only Omnipresent, but is Omnipotent and Omniscient, and consequently will set causes in motion concerning which we may be entirely ignorant. 我們在創造精神圖像或理想的過程中，會將自己的意念投射到創造萬物的宇宙物質中。宇宙物質無所不在、無所不能、無所不知，那麼我們何必多此一舉，告知無所不知的宇宙物質如何實現我們的需求？能力有限的人類如何有能耐指導力量無邊的大宇宙呢？這正是導致每一次失敗的起因。我們雖然體認到宇宙物質無所不在，但卻拒絕接受它不單單是無所不在，更是無所不知、無所不能的事實，下場就是我們常常在行動中種下自己全然一無所知的起因。
26. 【本週練習】We can best conserve our interests by recognizing the Infinite Power and Infinite Wisdom of the Universal Mind, and in this way become a channel whereby the Infinite can bring about the realization of our desire. This means that recognition brings about realization, therefore for your exercise this week make use of the principle, recognize the fact that you are a part of the whole, and that a part must be the same in kind and quality as the whole; the only difference there can possibly by, is in degree. 我們透過認識宇宙心智的無限能量和無限智慧，維護了我們自身的利益，也就是說，我們採用這種方式就可以打通無限力量實現願望的管道。這意味著，「認知」會帶來「實現」，所以本週你的功課就是應用這個原理，體認到自己就是整體的一部分，而且這個一部分和整體在本質、屬性都一模一樣，唯一可能存在的差異可能是程度有別。
27. When this tremendous fact begins to permeate your consciousness, when you really come into a realization of the fact that you (not your body, but the Ego), the "I," the spirit which thinks is an integral part of the great whole, that it is the same in substance, in quality, in kind, that the Creator could create nothing different from Himself, you will also be able to say, "The Father and I are one" and you will come into an understanding of the beauty, the grandeur, the transcendental opportunities which have been placed at your disposal. 一旦這項偉大的事實開始滲入你的意識，一旦你真正地開始認識自己，我指的是自我那一部分，而非身體，這個「我」就是會思考的心靈，它將是偉大整體中不可分割的組成部分，在實質、特質和性質上，造物者給予你的一切與祂本身所擁有的一切毫無不同之處。你也將可以這樣說：「天父與我合而為一」，然後你會開始體悟，所有美好、宏偉、神奇的機遇都聽命於你。

"Increase in me that wisdom Which discovers my truest interest, Strengthen my resolution To perform that which wisdom dictates." —— Franklin

「加给我智慧， 让我知道我真正的利益所在， 加给我坚定的意志， 让我能够按智慧的引领行事。」

——富兰克林

Study Questions with Answers

1. What is the method by which natural philosophers obtain and apply their knowledge? To observe individual facts carefully, patiently, accurately, with all the instruments and resources at their command, before venturing upon a statement of general laws. Q1：自然哲學家獲取、應用知識的方法為何？A：在掌握所有工具和資源的前提下，先仔細、耐心、準確地觀察個別事實，然後才勇於提出普遍法則存在的論述。
2. How may we be certain that this method is correct? By not permitting a tyrannical prejudice to neglect or mutilate unwelcome facts. Q2：我們如何確保這種方法正確？A：不容許暴虐的偏見引導我們忽視或詆毀不受歡迎的事實。
3. What class of facts are esteemed most highly? Those which cannot be accounted for by the usual daily observation of life. Q3：我們高度珍視哪些類別的事實？A：那些無法以日常生活觀察結果解釋的事實。
4. Upon what is this principle founded? Upon reason and experience. Q4：這道原則的基礎為何？A：理性和經驗。
5. What does it destroy? Superstition, precedent and conventionality. Q5：它打破什麼？A：迷信、常規與先例舊規。
6. How have these laws been discovered? By a generalization of facts which are uncommon, rare, strange and form the exception. Q6：這些法則如何被發現？A：對各種罕見、陌生或特殊例外的現象進行概括化。
7. How may we account for much of the strange and heretofore unexplainable phenomena which is constantly taking place? By the creative power of thought. Q7：我們如何解釋許多一再發生的奇怪事件，以及迄今無法解釋的現象？A：借由思想的創造力。
8. Why is this so? Because when we learn of a fact we can be sure that it is the result of a certain definite cause and that this cause will operate with invariable precision. Q8：（承上題）何以如此？A：因為一旦我們瞭解事實，就可以確定它是某一個確定起因的後果，並依據講求恆定的精準度運作。
9. What is the result of this knowledge? It will explain the cause of every possible condition, whether physical, mental or spiritual. Q9：這種知識的結果為何？A：它將解釋每種可能境遇的原因，無論是生理、心理或是心靈層面。
10. How will our best interest be conserved? By a recognition of the fact that a knowledge of the creative nature of thought puts us in touch with Infinite power. Q10：如何保護我們的最佳利益 A：認清宇宙心智的無限能量和無限智慧，是維護我們自身利益的最佳方式。