WE WERE HIGH up in the mountains and it was very dry. There had been no rain for many months, and the little streams were silent. The pine trees were turning brown, and some were already dead, but the wind was among them. The mountains stretched out, fold after fold, to the horizon. Most of the wild life had gone away to cooler and better pastures; only the squirrels and a few jays remained. There were other smaller birds, but they were silent during the day. A dead pine was bleached white after many summers. It was beautiful even in death, graceful and strong without the blur of sentiment. The earth was hard and the paths were rocky and dusty.
我们在山顶上，空气非常干燥。 好几个月没有下雨了，溪水无声。 松树正在变成棕色，有些已经死了，风却从中穿过。 山脉绵延，一层又一层地折叠，直至地平线。 大多数野生动物已经消失在更凉爽和更好的牧场； 只剩下松鼠和几只鸦。还有其他较小的鸟类， 但它们白天保持沉默。 一棵死去的松树在经历了许多个夏季之后，被晒得发白。 即使在死亡中，它也很美，优雅而强壮，没有模糊的情绪。 大地坚硬，山路崎岖而多尘。
She said that she had belonged to several religious societies, but had finally settled down in one. She had worked for it, as a lecturer and propagandist, practically all over the world. She said she had given up family, comfort and a great many other things for the sake of this organization; she had accepted its beliefs, its doctrines and precepts, had followed its leaders, and tried to meditate. She was regarded highly by the members as well as by the leaders. Now, she continued, having heard what I had said about beliefs, organizations, the dangers of self-deception, and so on, she had withdrawn from this organization and its activities. She was no longer interested in saving the world, but was occupying herself with her small family and its troubles, and took only a distant interest in the troubled world. She was inclined to be bitter, though outwardly kind and generous, for she said her life seemed so wasted. After all her past enthusiasm and work, where was she? What had happened to her? Why was she so dull and weary, and at her age so concerned with trivial things?
她说，她曾属于几个宗教团体， 但最终在某个宗教机构中安顿了下来。她曾为它工作， 担任讲师和宣传员，几乎跑遍了世界各地。 她说，为了这个机构， 她放弃家庭、舒适和其它的许多东西； 她接受它的信仰、教义和戒律， 追随它的领袖，并试图冥想。 她受到成员和领导人的高度评价。 现在，她继续说，听了我说的 关于信仰、机构、自我欺骗的危害等等， 她已经退出了这个机构和它的活动。 她不再对拯救世界感兴趣， 而是忙于她的小家庭和它的麻烦， 疏远了这个麻烦的世界。 她有些抱怨，尽管外表上看起来善良和大方， 因为她说，她的生命似乎被浪费了。 毕竟她曾拥有过热情和工作，曾经的她去哪儿了？ 她怎么了？为什么她如此沉闷和疲惫， 在她这个年纪，为何如此关心琐碎的小事？
How easily we destroy the delicate sensitivity of our being. The incessant strife and struggle, the anxious escapes and fears, soon dull the mind and the heart; and the cunning mind quickly finds substitutes for the sensitivity of life. Amusements, family, politics, beliefs and gods take the place of clarity and love. Clarity is lost by knowledge and belief and love by sensations. Does belief bring clarity? Does the tightly enclosing wall of belief bring understanding? What is the necessity of beliefs, and do they not darken the already crowded mind? The understanding of what is does not demand beliefs, but direct perception, which is to be directly aware without the interference of desire. It is desire that makes for confusion, and belief is the extension of desire. The ways of desire are subtle, and without understanding them belief only increases conflict, confusion and antagonism. The other name for belief is faith, and faith is also the refuge of desire.
我们是多么轻易地摧毁了我们微妙的敏感性。 无休止的纷扰和挣扎、焦急的逃避和恐惧， 很快把头脑和心灵弄得迟钝； 失去了生活中的敏感性，狡猾的头脑很快找到了它的替代品。 娱乐、家庭、政治、信仰和神灵取代了清明和爱。 清明因知识和信仰而丧失，爱因感觉而丧失。 信仰会带来清明吗？ 被包裹在严实的信仰之墙内，会带来理解吗？ 有必要去信仰吗，难道它们没有使已经拥挤的头脑变得昏沉吗？ 理解现状，不需要信仰，而是直接地感知 —— 在没有欲望干扰的情况下直接感知。 是欲望制造出困惑，而信仰是欲望的延伸。 欲望的方式是微妙的，如果不理解它们， 信仰只会增加冲突、困惑与敌对。 信仰的另一个名字是信念，信念也是欲望的藏身之处。
We turn to belief as a means of action. Belief gives us that peculiar strength which comes from exclusion; and as most of us are concerned with doing, belief becomes a necessity. We feel we cannot act without belief, because it is belief that gives us something to live for, to work for. To most of us, life has no meaning but that which belief gives it; belief has greater significance than life, We think that life must be lived in the pattern of belief; for without a pattern of some kind, how can there be action? So our action is based on idea, or is the outcome of an idea; and action, then, is not as important as idea.
我们转向信仰，把它作为行动的手段。 通过信仰内的排他性，它给我们带来了特殊的力量； 正如我们大多数人所考虑的，信仰成了一种必需品。 我们觉得没有信仰，我们就不能行动， 因为正是信仰，给了我们一些可以为之而活、为之奋斗的东西。 对我们大多数人来说，生命没有任何意义，而信仰能赋予它意义； 信仰比生命更重要， 我们认为生命必须生活在信仰的模式中； 因为没有某种模式，怎么会有行动呢？ 因此，我们的行动基于一个观念，或者说，是一个观念的产物； 因此，行动没有观念重要。
Can the things of the mind, however brilliant and subtle, ever bring about the completeness of action, a radical transformation in one’s being and so in the social order? Is idea the means of action? Idea may bring about a certain series of actions, but that is mere activity; and activity is wholly different from action. It is in this activity that one is caught; and when for some reason or other activity stops, then one feels lost and life becomes meaningless, empty. We are aware of this emptiness, consciously or unconsciously, and so idea and activity become all-important. We fill this emptiness with belief, and activity becomes an intoxicating necessity. For the sake of this activity, we will renounce; we will adjust ourselves to any inconvenience, to any illusion.
头脑中的东西，无论它们多么地灿烂和微妙， 能带来行动的完整性吗， 能给一个人的存在、以及社会秩序带来一种根本性的转变吗？ 观念，是行动的手段吗？ 观念可能会带来一系列的行为，但那仅仅是活动； 活动与行动完全不同。正是在这种活动中，一个人被抓牢了； 当由于某种原因，活动停下了， 一个人就感到迷茫，生命变得毫无意义，空虚。 我们有意或无意地，意识到这种空虚， 因此观念和活动变得非常重要。 我们用信仰填满这种空虚，而活动成为一种令人陶醉的必需品。 为了这种活动，我们将放弃世俗； 我们将调整我们自己，去适应任何不方便、任何幻觉。
The activity of belief is confusing and destructive; it may at first seem orderly and constructive, but in its wake there is conflict and misery. Every kind of belief, religious or political, prevents the understanding of relationship, and there can be no action without this understanding.
信仰的活动，是令人困惑的、破坏性的； 乍一看，它可能看起来是有序的、建设性的， 但随之而来的是冲突与痛苦。 每一种信仰，无论是宗教的还是政治的， 都是障碍，阻碍了理解人与万物之间的联系， 而没有这种理解，就不可能有行动。