This is a dialogue between us, a conversation between two friends. So this is not a lecture to instruct, inform or guide you. We are going to talk over together many things, certainly not to convince you of anything, or to inform you of new ideas, new concepts, conclusions or ideals. We are going to look together at the whole world as it is, at what is happening not only in this part of the world but also in the rest of the world. Together. And the speaker means together. You and he are going to observe, without any bias, without any prejudice, what is happening globally.

這是我們之間的一場(chǎng)對(duì)話，是兩個(gè)朋友間的一場(chǎng)交談，所以這不是一場(chǎng)用來(lái)指導(dǎo)你或者向你灌輸?shù)闹v座。我們要一起來(lái)探討某些事情，而絕不是要說(shuō)服你相信什么，也不是向你灌輸新想法、新觀念、新結(jié)論或新理想。我們要一起來(lái)看看整個(gè)世界的現(xiàn)狀，不僅看看世界的這個(gè)部分，而且也看看世界的其他地方發(fā)生著什么。一起來(lái)看看。講話者說(shuō)的是“一起”。你和他一起來(lái)觀察全球正在發(fā)生的事情，不帶有任何先入之見(jiàn)，也不帶有任何偏見(jiàn)。

So this is a serious talk, not something intellectual, emotional or devotional. So we must exercise our brains. We must have scepticism, doubt; we must question and not accept anything that anybody says—including all your gurus and sacred books. We have come to a crisis in the world. The crisis is not merely economic; rather it is psychological. We have lived on this earth for over a million years and, during that long period of time, we have passed through every kind of catastrophe, every kind of war. Civilizations have disappeared; so have cultures that shaped the behaviour of human beings. We have had a great many leaders, political and religious, with all the tricks that they have played on human beings. And after this enormous evolution of the human brain, we are what we have been— rather primitive, barbarous, cruel, and always preparing for war. Every nation now is storing up armaments. And we human beings are caught in this wheel of time. We have not changed very much; we are still barbarians, with all kinds of superstitions and beliefs. At the end of it all, where are we?

所以說(shuō)這是一場(chǎng)嚴(yán)肅的講話，而不是一件智力上、情感上或者信仰上的事情，因此我們必須運(yùn)用我們的大腦。我們必須抱有懷疑和質(zhì)疑精神，必須質(zhì)疑而不是接受任何人說(shuō)的任何事情——包括你所有的古魯和圣典。一場(chǎng)世界性的危機(jī)已經(jīng)來(lái)到我們面前，這場(chǎng)危機(jī)不僅僅是經(jīng)濟(jì)上的，而且是心理上的。我們已經(jīng)在這個(gè)地球上生活了一百萬(wàn)年，在時(shí)間的長(zhǎng)河中，我們歷經(jīng)了各種各樣的災(zāi)難，各種各樣的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。無(wú)數(shù)文明曾經(jīng)消失過(guò)，塑造了人類行為的無(wú)數(shù)文化也遭受過(guò)同樣的命運(yùn)。我們有過(guò)無(wú)數(shù)的政治或宗教領(lǐng)袖，他們都在人類身上玩過(guò)不計(jì)其數(shù)的把戲。而在人類的大腦經(jīng)過(guò)了這番非同尋常的進(jìn)化之后，我們還是過(guò)去的那副樣子——原始、野蠻、殘忍，總是在為戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)做準(zhǔn)備。每個(gè)國(guó)家都在囤積軍備。而我們?nèi)祟惥捅焕г诹藭r(shí)間的車輪之中。我們從來(lái)都沒(méi)有改變多少，我們依然是野蠻人，有著各式各樣的迷信和信仰。在這一切的最后，我們又到了哪里呢？

Please, we are talking over things together. It is not that the speaker is explaining all this; it is so obvious. You and the speaker are together examining very carefully, diligently, what we have become, what we are. And we ask: Will time change us? Will time, that is, another fifty thousand or a million years change the human mind, the human brain? Or is time not important at all? We are going to talk about all these things.

請(qǐng)注意，我們是在一起探討問(wèn)題，并不是講話者在解釋一切，這一點(diǎn)再明顯不過(guò)了。你和講話者是在一起非常仔細(xì)、孜孜不倦地審視我們變成了什么樣子，我們現(xiàn)在究竟如何。而我們問(wèn)：時(shí)間會(huì)改變我們嗎？時(shí)間，也就是再花上五萬(wàn)年或者一百萬(wàn)年，會(huì)改變?nèi)祟惖男闹?、人類的大腦嗎？我們要來(lái)一起探討所有這些事情。