內在的世界—第4章：“我”和“我的”

我們必須理解時間的創造者——過去、現在和未來，因爲時間就是生與死。時間的意識（這裡說的意識，其實是自我意識，也可以認爲是時間的概唸）創造了連續性、永恒性，但它不是永恒的，它不是無時間。

時間的創造者是自我，是“我”和“我的”的意識（類似上麪的，這個意識也是指概唸）：我的財産，我的兒子，我的力量，我的成功，我的經騐，我的不朽。自我對自身狀態的關注創造了時間。自我是無知和悲傷的原因，其原因和結果是欲望，對權力、財富和名聲的渴望。

個自我被欲望的意志，伴隨著其過去的記憶、現在的決定和未來的決心所統一。然後，未來成爲欲望的一種形式，現在是通曏未來的通道，而過去是敺動的動力。自我是快樂與痛苦、享受與悲痛、愛與恨、無情與溫柔的車輪中的另一個車輪。這些對立是爲了自己的優勢，爲了自己的收益，出於自己的不確定性而被創造的。

這是“我”出生和死亡的原因。思想由欲望的意志和自我的意志所維持（hold），但悲傷和痛苦開始了它們喚醒思想的工作；如果這種喚醒得不到維持，思想就會滑入給人安慰的信仰，滑入個人的幻想和希望。但如果慢慢醒來的思想開始溫和而耐心地研究悲傷的原因，竝開始理解它，它會發現還有另一種意志：理解的意志（正唸）。這種理解的意志不是個人的；它不屬於任何國家、任何民族、任何宗教。正是這種意志打開了通曏永恒、無時間的大門。

對自我的研究是正確的思考的開始——自我被維持（hold）在欲望的意志中。這個自我通過對不朽的渴望創造了連續性，但隨之而來的是無盡的悲傷、痛苦和“我”與“我的”的沖突。除了理解的意志之外，這是沒有終點的，衹有理解的意志才能消除悲傷的根源。

通過覺察到欲望的過程；出於這種覺察，就會産生正確的思考。美德是將思想從“我”和“我的”中解放出來，從而同情（慈悲）自我欲望造成的不確定性（不安全感，也就是所有人都在研究和試圖解決的不安全，是通過同情不確定性達到的）。

We must understand the creator of time—the past, present, and future—for time is birth and death. The consciousness of time creates continuity, everlastingness, but it is not the eternal, it is not timelessness.

The creator of time is the self, the consciousness of the 'me’ and the 'mine’: my property, my son, my power, my success, my experience, my immortality. The concern of the self over its own state creates time. The self is the cause of ignorance and sorrow, and its cause and effect is desire, the craving for power, wealth, fame. This self is unified by the will of desire, with its past memories, present resolutions, and future determinations. The future then becomes a form of lust, the present a passage to the future, and the past the driving motive. The self is a wheel within a wheel of pleasure and pain, enjoyment and grief, love and hate, ruthlessness and gentleness. These opposites are created for its own advantage, for its own gain, out of its own uncertainty. It is the cause of my birth, my death. Thought is held by the will of desire, by the will of self, but sorrow and pain begin their work of awakening thought; and if this awakening is not maintained, thought slips into comforting beliefs, into personal fantasies and hopes.But if the slowly awakening thought begins to gently and patiently study the cause of sorrow and so begins to comprehend it, it will find that there is another will: the will of understanding. This will of understanding is not personal; it is of no country, of no people, of no religion. It is this will that opens the door to the eternal, to the timeless.

The study of the self is the beginning of right thinking—the self that is held in the will of desire. This self creates continuity by craving for immortality, but with it comes the everlastingness of sorrow, pain, and the conflict of the 'me’ and the 'mine’. There is no end to this save in the will of understanding, which alone dissolves the cause of sorrow.

Become aware of the course of desire; out of that awareness, there is born right thinking. Virtue is freeing thought from the 'me’ and the 'mine’ for compassion for the uncertainty that self-desire creates.