HE WAS AN oldish man, but well preserved, with long, grey hair and a white beard. He had lectured about philosophy at universities in different parts of the world. He was very scholarly and quiet. He said he did not meditate; nor was he religious in the ordinary sense. He was concerned with knowledge only; and though he lectured on philosophy and religious experiences, he hadn’t any of his own nor was he looking for any. He had come to talk over the question of time.
他是一位相当老的人，但保养得不错，有灰白的长头发和白胡子。 他曾在世界上的不同地区的大学里讲授哲学。 他非常博学、安静。 他说他没有做过冥想；他也不是通常意义上的宗教徒。 他关心的只是知识； 虽然他讲授哲学和宗教体验， 他却从来没有任何亲身的体验，也从未去寻找。 他来这儿，是为了谈论时间问题。
How difficult it is for the man of possessions to be free! It is a great hardship for a rich man to put aside his wealth. Only when there are other and greater inducements will he forgo the comforting realization that he is a rich man; he must find the fulfilment of his ambition at another level before he will let go the one he has. To the rich man, money is power, and he is the wielder of it; he may give away large sums, but he is the giver.
拥有财产的人要获得自由，是多么地困难！ 对于一个富人来说，把财富放在一边是一件艰巨的事。 只有出现了其它更大的诱惑时， 他才会放弃那令人安慰的意识 —— 他是一个富人； 他必须在另一个层面上找到他雄心的满足， 然后他才会放弃他拥有的。 对富人来说，金钱就是权力，而他是金钱的掌控者； 他可能会捐出大笔钱，他却是给予者。
Knowledge is another form of possession, and the man of knowledge is satisfied with it; for him it is an end in itself. He has a feeling – at least this one had – that knowledge will somehow solve our problems if only it can be spread, thick or thin, around the world. It is much more difficult for the man of knowledge to be free from his possessions than for the man of wealth. It is strange how easily knowledge takes the place of understanding and wisdom. If we have information about things, we think we understand; we think that knowing or being informed about the cause of a problem will make it non-existent. We search for the cause of our problems, and this very search is the postponement of understanding. Most of us know the cause; the cause of hate is not very deeply hidden, but in looking for the cause we can still enjoy its effects. We are concerned with the reconciliation of effects, and not with the understanding of the total process. Most of us are attached to our problems, without them we would be lost; problems give us something to do, and the activities of the problem fill our lives. We are the problem and its activities.
知识是另一种形式的财产，拥有知识的人对它感到满意； 对他来说，它本身就是目的。他有一种感觉 —— 至少是这个人有 —— 知识会以某种方式解决我们的问题，只要它能传播到世界各地，无论贫寒。 拥有知识的人要从他的财产中解脱出来，比拥有财富的人更困难。 奇怪的是，知识如此轻易地取代了理解和智慧。 如果我们有关于事物的信息，我们就认为我们理解； 我们认为，知道或被告知一个问题的原因后，将使这个问题不存在。 我们寻找我们问题的原因，而这种寻找正是理解的推迟。 我们大多数人都知道原因；仇恨的原因并没有隐藏得很深， 但在寻找这个原因的时候，我们仍然可以享受它的结果。 我们关心的是各种结果的调和，而不是理解整个过程。 我们大多数人都依附于我们的问题，没有了它们，我们会迷失； 问题给了我们某些事情去做，与问题相关的活动充实了我们的生活。 我们就是这些问题和它的活动。
Time is a very strange phenomenon. Space and time are one; the one is not without the other. Time to us is extraordinarily important, and each one gives to it his own particular significance. Time to the savage has hardly any meaning, but to the civilized it is of immense significance. The savage forgets from day to day; but if the educated man did that, he would be put in an asylum or would lose his job. To a scientist, time is one thing; to a layman, it is another. To an historian, time is the study of the past; to a man on the stock market, it is the ticker; to a mother, it is the memory of her son; to an exhausted man, it is rest in the shade. Each one translates it according to his particular needs and satisfactions, shaping it to suit his own cunning mind. Yet we cannot do without time. If we are to live at all, chronological time is as essential as the seasons. But is there psychological time, or is it merely a deceptive convenience of the mind? Surely, there is only chronological time, and all else is deception. There is time to grow and time to die, time to sow and time to reap; but is not psychological time, the process of becoming, utterly false?
时间是一个非常奇怪的现象。 空间和时间是一；没有另一个，这一个也不存在。 时间对我们来说非常重要，每个人都对它赋予了他所抱有的特殊意义。 时间对野蛮人来说几乎没有任何意义，但对文明人来说却具有巨大的意义。 野蛮人日复一日地忘记； 但是，如果受过教育的人这样做，他将被送进疯人院或失去他的工作。 对科学家来说，时间是一个东西；对于一个门外汉，它又是另一个东西。 对历史学家来说，时间是对过去的研究； 对于炒股的人来说，它是股票代码； 对母亲来说，它是对她孩子的记忆； 对于一个筋疲力尽的人来说，它是在阴凉处休息。 每个人都根据自己的特殊需求和满意感来翻译它， 根据他自己狡猾的头脑来塑造它。 然而没有时间，我们就不能做。 只要我们活着，顺序上的时间就如同季节一样重要。 但是，有心理上的时间吗？还是它仅仅是这个头脑的欺骗性的便利？ 当然，只有顺序上的时间，其它一切都是欺骗。 有成长的时间，有死亡的时刻，有播种和收获的季节； 但心理上的时间，这种成为的过程，难道不是彻底地虚假的吗？
“What is time to you? Do you think of time? Are you aware of time?”
么？你在思考时间吗？你意识到了时间吗？”
Can one think of time at all except in the chronological sense? We can use time as a means, but in itself it has little meaning, has it not? Time as an abstraction is a mere speculation, and all speculation is vain. We use time as a means of achievement, tangible or psychological. Time is needed to go to the station, but most of us use time as a means to a psychological end, and the ends are many. We are aware of time when there is an impediment to our achievement, or when there is the interval of becoming successful. Time is the space between what is and what might, should, or will be. The beginning going towards the end is time.
除了这种顺序上的感觉，一个人还能思考什么样的时间？ 我们可以利用时间作为一种手段，但它本身有很少的意义，不是吗？ 时间作为一种抽象，只是一个推测，而所有的推测是徒劳的。 我们利用时间作为一种实现的手段，无论是有形的还是心理上的。 去车站需要时间， 但我们大多数人都把时间作为一种奔向心理上的目的的手段，而这样的目的有很多。 当我们在奔走的路上遇到了阻碍， 或者离成功有一段间隙的时候，我们就意识到了时间。 时间就是横亘在现状与推测之间的空间，这个推测就是这个想法：‘也许’、‘应该’或‘将会是’。 朝着目的奔走，就是时间。
“Is there no other time? What about the scientific implications of time-space?”
空的科学含义是什么？”
There is chronological and there is psychological time. The chronological is necessary, and it is there; but the other is quite a different matter. Cause-effect is said to be a time process, not only physically but also psychologically. It is considered that the interval between cause and effect is time; but is there an interval? The cause and the effect of a disease may be separated by time, which is again chronological; but is there an interval between psychological cause and effect? Is not cause-effect a single process? There is no interval between cause and effect Today is the effect of yesterday and the cause of tomorrow; it is one movement, a continuous flowing. There is no separation, no distinct line between cause and effect; but inwardly we separate them in order to become, to achieve. I am this, and I shall become that. To become that I need time – chronological time used for psychological purposes. I am ignorant, but I shall become wise. Ignorance becoming wise is only progressive ignorance; for ignorance can never become wise, any more than greed can ever become non-greed. Ignorance is the very process of becoming.
有顺序上的时间和心理上的时间。 这种顺序上的时间是必要的，它就在那里；但另一种是完全不同的事情。 因果被认为是一个时间过程，不仅在物质上，而且在心理上。 它被认为是，因与果之间的间隙就是时间；但是有这个间距吗？ 一种疾病的原因与结果也许可以通过时间来划分，这是顺序上的时间； 但是心理上的因与果之间有间距吗？ 因果难道不是一个单一的过程吗？ 因与果之间，不存在间距 今天是昨天的结果，也是明天的原因； 它是一个运动，一种持续的流动。 因与果之间没有分离，不存在一条界线； 可是在里面，我们划分它们，以便于去成为、去实现。 我就是这个，我将成为那个。 要成为那个，我需要时间 —— 顺序上的时间，以奔向心理上的意图。 我是愚昧的，但我会成为明智的。 把愚昧变成明智，只不过是进一步的愚昧； 因为愚昧永远不会成为明智， 如同贪婪永远不会成为不贪婪。 愚昧就是这种‘成为’。
Is not thought the product of time? Knowledge is the continuation of time. Time is continuation. Experience is knowledge, and time is the continuation of experience as memory. Time as continuation is an abstraction, and speculation is ignorance. Experience is memory, the mind. The mind is the machine of time. The mind is the past. Thought is ever of the past; the past is the continuation of knowledge. Knowledge is ever of the past; knowledge is never out of time, but always in time and of time. This continuation of memory, knowledge, is consciousness. Experience is always in the past; it is the past. This past in conjunction with the present is moving to the future; the future is the past, modified perhaps, but still the past. This whole process is thought, the mind. Thought cannot function in any field other than that of time. Thought may speculate upon the timeless, but it will be its own projection. All speculation is ignorance.
思想难道不是时间的产品吗？ 知识是时间的延续。时间就是延续。 经验是知识，时间是记忆，记忆是经验的延续。 作为延续物的时间是一种抽象，而推测就是愚昧。 经验就是记忆、这个头脑。 这个头脑是一台时间的机器。这个头脑就是这个过去。 思想总是属于这个过去；这个过去是知识的延续。 知识永远是过时的； 知识从来都走不出时间，却总在时间之内，并且属于时间。 这种记忆、知识的延续，就是意识。 经验总在过去；它就是过去。 这个过去与现在一起，正朝着未来移动； 未来是过去，也许被修改过，但依然是这个过去。 这整个过程就是思想、头脑。 思想不能在时间以外的任何领域发挥作用。 思想可能去推测那非时间的，但那将是它自己的投影。 一切的推测，都是愚昧。
“Then why do you even mention the timeless? Can the timeless ever be known? Can it ever be recognized as the timeless?”
“那你为什么还要提到那非时间的？ 那非时间的，可以被知道吗？它能被作为非时间而被认识吗？”
Recognition implies the experiencer, and the experiencer is always of time. To recognize something, thought must have experienced it; and if it has experienced it, then it is the known. The known is not the timeless, surely. The known is always within the net of time. Thought cannot know the timeless; it is not a further acquisition, a further achievement; there is no going towards it. It is a state of being in which thought, time, is not.
认识意味着体验者，而体验者总是属于时间。 要认识某个东西，思想必定体验过它； 如果它已经体验过它，那么它就是已知的。 当然，已知的东西不是非时间的。 已知总在时间之网里。思想不能知道那非时间的； 它不是一个更远的猎物、一个进一步的成就； 没有通向它的去处。 它是一种存在状态，在那状态中，思想，时间，是不存在的。
“What value has it?”
“它有什么价值？”
None at all. It is not marketable. It cannot be weighed for a purpose. Its worth is unknown. “But what part does it play in life?”
完全没有。它是没有迹象的。 它不能为了某个意图而被衡量。它的价值是未知的。 “但它在生活中扮演着什么样的角色？”
If life is thought, then none at all. We want to gain it as a source of peace and happiness, as a shield against all trouble, or as a means of uniting people. It cannot be used for any purpose. Purpose implies means to an end, and so we are back again with the process of thought. Mind cannot formulate the timeless, shape it to its own end; it cannot be used. Life has meaning only when the timeless is; otherwise life is sorrow, conflict and pain. Thought cannot solve any human problem, for thought itself is the problem. The ending of knowledge is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is not of time, it is not the continuation of experience, knowledge. Life in time is confusion and misery; but when that which is is the timeless, there is bliss.
如果生活是思想，那么它根本没有。 我们希望获得它，把它作为和平与快乐的源泉， 作为抵御一切麻烦的盾牌，或作为团结人们的手段。 它不能用于任何意图。 意图意味着趋向一个目的，那样，我们又退回到了思想中。 头脑不能构思那非时间的，不过把它塑造成它自己的目的；它不能被使用。 唯有那非时间的，生活才有意义； 否则，生活就是悲伤、冲突与痛苦。 思想不能解决任何人类的问题，因为思想本身就是这个问题。 知识的终结是智慧的开始。 智慧不属于时间，它不是体验、知识的延续。 生活在时间里，是困惑和悲惨的； 在那非时间的，有至乐。