英語美文-人生之旅的內在目的
THE INNER PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE'S JOURNEY
活在當下，是很多人一生追求的境界?；钤诋斚?，可以讓你全身心感受，體味生命的狀態(tài)，活在當下的人，能看到生命的真諦，擁有真正的智慧。于是有人就提問：活在當下和為未來奮斗是否沖突？《當下的力量》的作者?？斯?middot;托利，就這個問題，有著非常獨特，極有深度的見解。他認為，我們所有人終其一生有兩種人生目標，一種是外在想要達成的目標，一種是內在追求的精神目標，在下面這段文字中，他就將如何使這兩種狀態(tài)平衡做了很好的闡述。
這段話，讓我不由得想起“致良知”這三個極具威力的字。作者文中所提的 ”inner purpose”和我們中文中的“良知”頗有相似之處。每個人自一出生，自帶 “良知”，但是我們在追求外物，即作者所說的“outer purpose”的時候，會不時忘記，甚至偏離自己的“良知”， 所以，在我們追求外在的人生目標時，保持自己的“良知”或是 “inner purpose” 是顯得極為重要的。不少人在追求到外在的目標時，卻遺忘，甚至泯滅自己的“良知”，正如《當下的力量》作者所說，忘記了自己的”inner purpose”,這樣的人生是不完整的，反之也是一樣的。
New Words:
reconcile ['rek(?)nsa?l] vt.使一致；使和解；調停，調解；使順從
consciousness ['k?n??sn?s] n.意識；知覺；覺悟；感覺
horizontal [h?r?'z?nt(?)l] adj.水平的；地平線的；n.水平線，水平面；
dimension [d??m?n??n, da?-] n.方面;[數]維；尺寸；次元；
Being ['bi??] n.存在；生物；身心；在文中指當下這一刻
I can see the truth of what you are saying, but I still think that we must have purpose on our life's journey; otherwise we just drift, and purpose means future, doesn't it? How do we reconcile that with living in the present?
我明白你所說的真實性。可是我認為我們的人生、之旅必須有目的，否則只有隨波逐流了。目的就意謂著未來對不對？如何把人生的目的和活在當下兩者做一個折中？
When you are on a journey, it is certainly helpful to know where you are going or at least the general direction in which you are moving, but don't forget: the only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is. Your life's journey has an outer purpose and an inner purpose.
旅行的時候知道你的目的地，或者至少有個大方向當然有用。不過你別忘了：你在這一刻所邁出的一步，才是旅途中徹底真實的一件事。這一步是你所有的一切。你的人生之旅有內外兩個目的。
The outer purpose is to arrive at your goal or destination, to accomplish what you set out to do, to achieve this or that, which, of course, implies future. But if your destination, or the steps you are going to take in the future, take up so much of your attention that they become more important to you than the step you are taking now, then you completely miss the journey's inner purpose, which has nothing to do with where you are going or what you are doing, but everything to do with how. It has nothing to do with future but everything to do with the quality of your consciousness at this moment.
外在的目的，就是抵達你的目標或目的地，去完成你設定要做的，去成就這個或那個。這其中當然隱含著未來?？墒侨绻愕哪康牡鼗蚴俏磥硪扇〉牟襟E，占用了你太多的關注與精力，甚至比你現在的步驟還要重要，那么你就完全錯失了人生之旅的內在目的了。而內在之旅與你要去哪里或者做什么毫無關系。卻關系著你的如何做。它與未來無關，卻關系著你當下的意識品質。
The outer purpose belongs to the horizontal dimension of space and time; the inner purpose concerns a deepening of your Being in the vertical dimension of the timeless Now. Your outer journey may contain a million steps; your inner journey only has one: the step you are taking right now.
外在目的屬于時空的平行向度；內在目的卻有關無時間性當下的垂直向度里，你本體的縱深。
外在之旅也許包含了百萬個步驟；內在之旅卻只有一步：你當下邁出的這一步。
As you become more deeply aware of this one step, you realize that it already contains within itself all the other steps as well as the destination. This one step then becomes transformed into an expression of perfection, an act of great beauty and quality. It will have taken you into Being, and the light of Being will shine through it. This is both the purpose and the fulfillment of your inner journey, the journey into yourself.
你對當前這一步的覺知逐漸深入的時候，你就能體會出這一步里同時包含了那一百萬步和目的地。如此一來，這一步便被轉變成一個完美的化身，一個兼具大美和品質的行動。它將把你帶進本體，而本體之光也將穿越它。這就是你內在之旅——自我之旅的目的和實現。
