INTRODUCTION BY JANE ROBERTS
珍•蘿勃茲的導讀
I'm proud to published this book under my own name, though I don't fully understand the mechanics of its production or the nature of the personality I assume in delivering it. I had no conscious work to do on the book at all. I simply went into trance twice a week, spoke in a "mediumistic" capacity for Seth, or as Seth, and dictiated the words to my husband, Robert Butts, who wrote them down.
我很榮幸這本書能以我的名義付梓，雖然我不全然了解出版的機制或者是以為是在述說人格的本質。在書上我一點都沒有意識這麼做，我僅僅是一個禮拜出神兩次，以「中介」能力替賽斯發言、或者扮演賽斯，把這些話述說給我的老公–羅勃•巴茲，由他記下來。
I consider the book "mine" in that I don't believe it could have been written without me and my particular abilities. On other hand, I realize that far more is involved. I had to read the manuscript to find out what was in it, for example; and to that extent the book doesn't seem mine. But what does that mean?
我認為這本書是「我的」，因為沒有我以及我特殊能力涉入，我不相信書已經被寫完成。換句話說，我了解還有更多被牽涉進來，例如，我必須讀讀手稿找出裡頭有什麼，竟然在那個地步上書似乎不是我的。到底那是什麼意思呢？
My idea briefly is this: Our usual orientation is focused pretty exclusively in what we think of as the "real" world, but there are many realities. By shifting our consciousness, we can glimpse these alternate realities, and all of them are the appearance that Reality takes under certain condition. I don't believe that we can necessarily describe one in terms of another.
簡化我的觀念是這樣：我們通常的信念是相當獨斷地被聚焦在我們認為的「實質」的世界上，但是還有許多的實質。透過我們的意識轉換，我們可以瞥見這些更迭的實質，而所有實質是實相採取某種情況下的顯露；我不相信我們會需要用其他的語詞來描述。
For years I've been confused, trying to define Seth in the usual true-and-false world of facts. There he's accepted as an independent spirit — a spirit guide by those with spiritualistic beliefs — or as some displaces portion of my own personality by the scientific community. I couldn't accept either idea, at least not in undiluted form.
多年來我一直很困惑，試圖以世俗慣用的是與非的事實來定義賽斯。在這兒祂被接受為一種獨有的靈性—透過那些具有靈性信仰的一個靈性指導—或者透過科學性團體視為我們自己人格的某些替代部份。我不能接受兩者中任一種觀念，至少不是以不委婉的方式。
If I said, "Look, people, I don't think Seth is a spirit in the way you mean," then this was interpreted as an acknowledgement that Seth was only a portion of my personality. Some people thought that I was trying to put Seth down, or deny them the aid of a super-being when at last they thought they'd found one.
假如我說：「喂！看過來！我不認為賽斯是 你所想方式 的靈性。」，然而這句話被譯述為，我承認賽斯是我人格的唯一部份。有些人認為我試圖貶低賽斯，或者有些人最後認為他們已經找到靈性，卻否認靈性是超靈的助手。
Actually, I think that the selves we know in normal life are only the three-dimensional actualizations of other source-selves from which we receive our engery and life. Their reality can't be contained in the framework of our creature hood, though it is being constantly translated through our present individuality.
實際上，我想在日常生活中我們知道的自我，是其他來源本身的唯一實際三度空間化，從而我們得以接收我們的精力與生命。它們的實體無法被包含在我們創造狀態的框架內，雖然它經由我們現有的個體持續被轉譯。
The "spirit guide" designation may be a handy symbolic represention of this idea, and I'm not saying that spirit guides do not exist. I am saying that the idea deserves greater examination, for the spirit guide may represent something far different than we think. The idea can also be limiting if it always places revelatory knowledge outside of us, and tries to make literal some extraordinary phenomena that may be beyond such interpretation.
這「靈性指導」名號可能是此觀念的方便象徵性呈現，而我不是說靈性指導不存在；我要說這觀念值得更進一步探討，因為這靈性指導可能代表某些遠異於我們所想的意義。如果靈性指導總是把有啟示意義的知識置之度外，這觀念可能也會受限制；而試圖使一些特別現象刻板，可能是超乎這類譯述所能做。
While I was trying to define Seth that way and questioning whether or not he was a spirit guide, I was closed off to some extent from his greater reality, which exists in terms of vast imaginative and creative power that is bigger than the world of facts and can't be contained in it. Seth's personality is quite observable in our sessions, for example, but the source of that personality isn't. For that matter, the origin of any personality is mysterious and not apparent in the objective world. My job is to enlarge the dimension of that world and people's concepts of it.
當我試圖以那種方式定義賽斯，並質疑是否祂是個靈性指導；在某些程度上我關掉了來自於祂的更宏偉實相，這實相以超乎想像與創造力的方式存在，而這想像與創造力是大於唯真相是問的世界，卻無法包含在內。舉例來說：在我們的課程裡，賽斯的人格是絕對可察覺到的，但是人格的源頭卻不行；值此之故，在客觀世界 任何 人格的起源是神秘卻不明顯。我的任務是擴大該神秘世界的尺度，與人們對該神秘世界的概念。
Seth's books may be the product of another dimensional aspect of my own consciousness not focused in this reality, plus something else that is untranslatable in our terms, with Seth a great psychic creation more real than any "fact." His existence may simply lie in a different order of events than the one we're used to.
賽斯書可能是另一度空間、我自己的意識面向沒能聚集在此實相的產物，再加上以我們的用語無法轉譯的其他某些意義、以及賽斯用偉大超自然能量創造出比任何「事實」更真實的創造物。祂的存在可能僅僅是在事件的常規上，跟我們習以為常的不同而已。
I'm not saying that we shouldn't apply what we learn to the ordinary world. Certainly I'm trying to do that, and Seth wrote this book to help people deal more effectively with their daily lives. I am insisting that we must be very careful about making literal interpretations, lest we limit a multidimensional phenomenon by trying it down to a three-dimensional fact system.
我不是說我們不應將我們所學到的運用到平凡的世界，當然我正試圖這麼做，而賽斯寫這本書來協助人們處理他們日常生活更有效率。我堅持關於進行文字性譯述，我們必須非常小心，以免我們試圖透過三度空間的實在體系，強套入多度空間的現象裡的限制。
Intuitively and emotionally we often understand more than we intellectually realize. Trying to define revelatory knowledge, or a Seth, in terms of our limited ideas about human personality is like trying to translate, say, a rose to the number 3, or trying to explain one in terms of the other.
我們直覺性與情緒性的了解，往往比理智性要來得多。以我們有限關於人格的語詞，試圖定義啟示性的知識、或者是賽斯，說來就像試圖把玫瑰譯成為數字 3 ，或試圖以毫不相干的兩個說明，而互為表裏。
The funny thing is that a personality not focused in our reality can help people live in that world more effectively and joyfully by showing them that other realities also exist. In this book Seth is saying that you can change your experience by altering your beliefs about yourself and physical existence.
有意思的是：其他的實相透過顯現，讓人們曉得也存在；個人 不 聚焦在我們現有的實相，而協助人們生活在那個實相會更有效率和愉悅。在本書中賽斯正告訴你，透過轉變關於你自己與物質存在的信念，你能改變你的體驗。
To me, the Seth Material is no longer a continuing manuscript of fascinating theories to be carefully judged against reality. In a strange way it has come alive. The concepts within it live. I experience them and because of this my personal reality has expanded. I've begun to glimpse the greater inner dimensions from which our usual lives emerge, and to familiarize myself with other alternate methods of perception that can be used not only to see other "worlds," but help us deal more effectively with this one.
對我而言，賽斯物質不再是個需小心判斷對抗實相，而持續不斷的迷人理論的手稿。祂以奇怪方式已經使賽斯物質有看頭，內在的概念活了起來。我對賽斯物質有所體驗，因為我個人的實相已經擴展。我已瞥見更大的內在尺度從我們日常生活顯露，並使我自己熟悉其他認知多變的方法，而可被用來不只看到其他的「世界」，且幫助我們處理賽斯物質更有效率。
While Seth was producing this book, my own life was immeasurably enriched in unforeseen ways. Frequent psychedelic-type experiences paralleled Seth's dictated material, and my own creative and psychic abilities developed into some entirely new areas.
當賽斯正出版這本書時，我自己的生活在始料未及方式下，受到無可衡量的饒益。屢生光奇怪離類型的體驗與賽斯述說的物質不謀而合，而我自己的超自然能量的能力，發展成一些完全新的領域。
Just before Seth began The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book, for instance. I found myself embarked on a new venture I call the Sumari development. Sumari refers to a "family" of consciousness who share certain overall characteristics. There is a language involved that isn't a language in usual terms. I think that is operates as a psychological and psychic framework that frees me from normal verbal reference, letting me express and communicate inner feelings and data that lie just beneath formalized word patterns.
比如說，就在賽斯開始個人實相的本質之前，我發現我自己邁入了我稱之為「蘇馬利」發展的新歷險。蘇馬利提及一個共有某種整體特性的意識「家族」，有一種不是以一般語詞的語言涉入。我想蘇馬利是以心理學與心靈架構操作，讓我免於正規口語參照束縛，表達與傳遞隱藏在形式化文字模式下的內在感受與資料。
The Sumari development constantly expanded as Seth produced this book. Now various altered states of consciousness are involved. In one I write Sumari poetry and in another I translate what I've written. At a different level I sing Sumari songs, showing musical knowledge and accomplishment far beyond my normal talents or background. The songs can also be translated, but they communicate emotionally whether or not the words are understood. In yet another state of consciousness, material is received that is supposed to represent remnants of ancient Speaker manuscripts. (These are also translated later.) Seth defines the Speakers as teachers, both physical and no physical, who constantly interpret and communicate inner knowledge through the ages. My husband has also written Sumari, but I have to translate it for him.
當賽斯出版這本書時，蘇馬利發展持續拓展。現在各種轉變的意識狀態被涉入，一則我寫蘇馬利詩、再則我我翻譯我已經寫好的。在不同階段我唱蘇馬利歌曲，展現並完成遠超越我正常才幹與背景的音樂知識。歌曲也能被翻譯，但他們不管是否了解歌詞，他們感傷地傳唱。甚至在另一種意識狀態，已被接受的物質被假定為古代說教者原稿的殘餘呈現（稍後也有譯述）。賽斯定義說教者為老，實質的或非實質的，亙久以來他持續譯述與傳遞內在知識。我的丈夫也已寫了蘇馬利，但是我必須為他翻譯。
As Seth continued dictating The Nature of Personal Reality, I wrote a complete poetry manuscript, Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time, in which I worked out many of my own beliefs as per suggestions Seth was giving in his book. This led to another group of poems. The Speakers. To me this call means that there is a rich vein of creativity and knowledge available to each according to his abilities, just beneath the surface of usual consciousness. I believe that it is a part of our human heritage, accessible to some extent to any person who explores the inner dimensions of the mind.
當賽斯繼續口述個人實相的本質，我寫了一整份詩作手稿，靈魂與無法永生的自我在時代中的對話；過程中我依據賽斯在他的書上的暗示，體悟許多我自己的信念，這又催生了我另一組詩作 — 說教者。對我而言，這麼稱呼意味著有許多就在平常意識表層下的創造力與知識的豐富脈藏，依據他的能力每個人可以加以利用。我相信它是人類遺產遺產的一部份，對任何探究心智的內我空間的人，在某些程度上可以援用。
Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time, The Speakers, and some Sumari poetry are being combined into a book that will be published soon by Prentice-Hall. I consider it a companion book to this one. It shows what was happening in my personal reality while Seth was writing his book on the subject, and reveals how the creative impetus splashes out into all areas of the personality. Seth often refers to the poems and to the experiences that initiated them. Many of those events occurred as I tried to understand the relationship between his world and mine, and the connection between inner and outer experience.
靈魂與無法永生的自我在時代中的對話、說教者，與一些蘇馬利詩已經被集結成書，不久將被 Prentice-Hall 出版；我認為對個人實相的本質這本書來說，集結成冊的這本只是襯托角色。它說明了當賽斯針對主題正寫祂的書時，在我的個人實相裡正發生什麼事，而且透露出創造性推動力如何逬發進入人格的所有領域。賽斯經常提及觸發它們的詩作與經驗，許多這些事件的發生，我試圖去了解他的世界和我的世界之間的關係、以及外在和內在經驗之間的連結。
But beside this, as Seth was dictating this present book, I also found myself suddenly writing a novel, The Education of Oversoul 7, which was produced more or less automatically. Oversoul Seven, the main character, achieved his own kind of reality. I 'd say mentally, "Okay, Seven, let's have the next chapter," and there it was as quickly as I could write it down. Portions of the book also came in the dream state.
但是除了這個之外，如賽斯正在口述的目前這本書，我也發現我自己突然間在寫一本小說，超靈七號系列：漫遊前世今生，它多多少少被自然而然地產出，超靈七號主要的角色達成它自己的實相。我只要心理上說：「來吧！七號，讓我們完成下一章。」，而我則會儘快地把它寫下，這本書部份也是在夢境狀態完成。
I know that Seven and his teacher, Cyprus, exist in certain terms, yet their reality can't be explained either in the usual fact world. For example, the novel included many Sumari poems and portions of Speaker manuscripts; and when I sing Sumari I identify with Cyprus, who is supposed to be a fictional character. I could also tune into Seven for help with personal challenges, I discovered.
我知道超靈七號和它的老師塞普路斯，存在於某類條件下，但是它們的實相也是不能以平常的實在世界來解釋。例如：我的小說包括了許多蘇馬利詩與說教者部份手稿，而當我唱蘇馬利我覺得與塞普路斯同在，而他是被假定成一位虛構的角色。我發現我也能調校至超靈七號針對個人的挑戰求救。
I love to go full-blast ahead, using my abilities as freely as possible. Yet quite as strongly I'm often scandalized intellectually by the same events that I intuitively intrigue me, or by the interpretations placed upon them. It does not good to pretend otherwise, and I think there's a good reason for this sometimes uneasy blend of intuition and intellect.
我喜歡儘可能無拘無束地發揮我的能力，奮力向前衝。但是直覺引發我的相同事件、或對事件的解釋，我經常受十分強烈理智上的譴責； 它不好去偽裝，否則，我想對這個有時候直覺與理智緊張的融合，一定有很好的理由。
I' m learning that both elements are important in my work and in Seth's. And perhaps my own refusal to accept pat answers leads me to search so intensely, and is responsible to some degree for my "bringing in" a Seth instead of a Mad Hatter.*
我正在學的直覺與理智兩項元素，在我的工作與賽斯的工作上是重要的。而也許我自己拒絕接受敷衍的答案，引導我更緊密探尋，而且在某些程度上對我「帶來」一位賽斯負責，而不是一位瘋子哈特*。
* The Mad Hatter (né Dr. Jervis Tetch) is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He serves as an enemy of Batman. He is modeled after the Hatter from Lewis Carroll's novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a character often called the "Mad Hatter" in adaptations of Carroll. He made his first appearance in Batman #49 in October 1948. Like other Batman villains, the Mad Hatter has become a darker character over the years. The Mad Hatter is depicted as a scientist who invents and uses technological mind-controlling devices to influence and manipulate the minds of his victims, believing that "the mind is the weakest part of a person". He is well known for sporting a green-colored hat which is usually slightly oversized, as it houses his mobile mind-manipulating devices.
* 瘋子哈特是虛構人物，漫畫書中出現的超級壞蛋。他扮演蝙蝠俠的敵人，由路易士•卡羅爾的小說—愛麗斯夢遊仙境—中的人物哈特之後被改編而塑造成瘋子哈特，他首次出現在1948年10月的蝙蝠俠49集。像其他蝙蝠俠中的壞蛋，瘋子哈特已經變成更陰森角色多年。瘋子哈特被描繪成一位科學家，發明心靈控制的科技設備，來操控並影響受害人的心智，相信「心智是一個人最脆弱的部份」。他經常戴著稍微寬大惹人注目的綠色帽子而著名，因帽子窩藏著他的機動心智操控設備。
The Sumari development, along with the experiences connected with The Education of Oversoul 7 and The Nature of Personal Reality, brought up so many questions that I was forced to seek a larger framework in which to understand what was happening. As a result I'm working on a book called Aspect Psychology, which I hope will present a theory of personality large enough to contain man's psychic nature and activities. Seth refers to Aspects, as we called it, in this present book, and it should be published sometime in 1975.
蘇馬利的進展連同經歷， 連結著超靈七號、與個人實相的本質，帶來如此多的問題以致於我被強迫去尋求更大的判斷準則，來了解是怎麼回事。結果我正在寫的一本名叫意識的探險這本書，我希望我能提出足夠多的人格理論來涵括人的心靈本質與行為。在目前這本書個人實相的本質，賽斯提及如我們所稱呼的這本意識的探險，應大約在 1975 年出版。
In the meantime all I can say is this: We live in a world of physical facts but these spring from a deeper realm of creativity, and in a real sense facts are fictions that spring alive in our experience. All facts. Seth, then, is as much a fact as I am or you are, and in a strange way he straddles both worlds. I hope that Aspects will also span the world of facts and the rich inner realities from which they come, for our experience includes each.
同時所有我能說的是這樣：我活在一個具體事實的世界，但是具體事實來自於創造力更深邃領域，而真正感官事實是虛構在我們的體驗中突然出現活靈活現。然而所有事實、賽斯跟我或你一樣是個是事實，而祂以奇特的方式跨乘在兩個世界。我希望意識的探險也會橫跨具體事實的世界與它們所來自的豐富內在實相，因為我們的體驗包括了這兩者。
The Nature of Personal Reality not only enriched my creative life but challenged my ideas and beliefs. I agree wholeheartedly with the concepts Seth presents here, while realizing that they run counter to many accepted religious, social, and scientific dogmas. Certainly this book is an answer to all those who have written for help in applying Seth's idea to ordinary living, and I am certain that it will assist many people in dealing with the varied events and problems of daily life.
個人實相的本質不僅豐富你的創造力，而且挑戰你的觀念與信念。我全心贊同賽斯在這兒提出的概念，當了解了跟他們許多已經接受的宗教、社會、與科學產生衝突，當然本書是對他們在運用賽斯的觀念，至日常生活所碰到問題尋求解決的所有答案，而我肯定它會協助許多人處理日常生活的各種事件與問題。
Seth's main idea is that we create our personal reality through our conscious beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world. Following this is the concept that the "point of power" is in the present, not in the past of this life or any other. He stress the individual's capacity for conscious action, and provides excellent exercises designed to show each person how to apply these theories to any life situation.
賽斯主要觀念是透過關於我們自己的、其他人的與世界的意識信念，我們創造我們的個人實相。依循這個概念「權力之點」是在當前，不是在這一生的過往或任何其他時候。祂強調有意識作為的個人的能力，與提供絕佳練習設計來顯示每一個人如何去應用這些理論至任何生命情況。
The message is plain: We are not at the mercy of the subconscious, or helpless before forces that we cannot understand. The conscious mind directs unconscious activity and has at its command all of the powers of the inner self. These are activated according to our ideas about reality. "We are gods couched in creature hood," Seth says, given the ability to form our experience as our thoughts and feelings become actualized.
訊息很明白：在我們無法了解潛意識之前，我們不任憑潛意識擺佈或無助益；意識心指導無意識行為與主控所有內我力量，這些依據我們關於實相的觀念而啟動。「在生物界我們受神指揮，」賽斯說：當我們的想法與感受變成實際化，賦與能力來形成我們的經驗。
Seth first mentioned The Nature of Personal Reality in Session 608, April 5, 1972, only shortly after Rob and I had finished reading proofs for his previous book, Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. He actually began dictation on April 10, 1972, but our personal reality was suddenly disturbed when we were caught in the flood caused by Tropical Storm Agnes. As a result, as you'll see in Rob's notes, further work on the book was replayed for some time.
在羅勃和我剛完成賽斯的前一本書靈魂的永生校對之後，賽斯第一次僅短短提到1972年4月5日個人實相的本質608節。祂實際開始口述在1972年4月10日，但是我們的個人實相突然因我們被艾格尼斯熱帶颶風造成的洪水圍困所干擾。結果就如你在羅勃的筆裡將看到的， 本書的進一步工作被重新來過好一段時間。
Seth often uses episodes from our lives as specific examples of larger issues, and our experiences with the flood severed as a starting point for his discussion of personal beliefs and disasters. In several other instances he also used our life situation as his source material — an intriguing turnabout.
賽斯經常利用取自我們生活中較大議題的特定例子為插曲，與受困洪水的經歷當做祂討論個人信念與災難的直接切入點。在幾個其他例子，祂也利用我們的生命狀態當成祂的來源資料 — 一個引人入勝的轉折。
Since the early days of our sessions, which began in late 1963, Seth has consistently called me Ruburt, and Rob, Joseph, saying that these names refer to the greater selves from which our present identities spring. He continues that practice in this book.
因為我們課程的早期時日，在1963年尾開始，賽斯已經持續稱呼我為魯柏而稱呼羅勃為約瑟夫，說這兩個名字是代表我們目前身分出身的更偉大自我。祂繼續在本書中實現。
As usual, Rob methodically records each session in his own version of shorthand and then types it. This is much easier and faster than typing each session, replaying it, and then typing. Periodically Rob notes the passage of time, to show how long it takes Seth to get through a particular passage. Seth himself dictates the words to be underlined or put in quotes or parentheses. Often he indicates the placement of colons and other punctuation as well.
如往常羅勃以他自己速記的版本，有方法地記錄每一節然後打字，這樣比打每一節、重播放然後再打字更快與容易。羅勃週期性地註記章節時間，來顯示賽斯完成每一特定章節所花的時間多長。賽斯自己口述的詞句加了底線或加上引號或括號，時常他也指出逗點或其他標點符號的放置位置。
This book should help each reader understand the nature of private experience and use that knowledge to make daily living more creative and enjoyable.
這本書應幫助每位讀者了解私人經驗的本質與利用那知識去使日常生活更有創造力與愉悅。
Jane Roberts珍•蘿勃茲
Elmira, New York艾勒米拉，紐約州November 6,19721972年11月6日
PREFACE BY SETH
賽斯的序言
THE MANUFACTURE OF PERSONAL REALITY
個人實相的營造
SESSION 609, APRIL 10, 1972, 9:29 P.M. MONDAY
1972年四月十日下午九時二十九分、星期一、六〇九節
Jane first mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Seth, her trance personality, would start another book of his own soon. The idea had just "come" to her after supper one night. We hadn't take it seriously, since we'd finished proofreading Seth's first book, SETH SPEAKS: THE ETERNAL VALIDITY OF THE SOUL,* only last month; certainly we weren't prepared for the fact that he was quite capable of launching another such project so quickly. Nor did Jane have any conscious thoughts about subject matter, or a title, for any projected Seth book.
兩週之前珍第一次提到她個人的出神，某天晚飯後她的念頭就「蹦」出來，不久賽斯將會開始他自己的另一本書；我們不當一回事，因為就在上個月我們才已經完成賽斯第一本書—靈魂的永生—的校對。他如此有能力又迅速地開展另一個計畫的事實，當然我們一點都沒準備；更遑論珍對任何已計畫好的賽斯書的主題事務、或書名，有任何有見地的想法。
(However, in last Wednesday's regularly scheduled session Seth had confirmed her anticipations in so many words—but without setting a date:
然而在上週三例行排定的課程，賽斯談了好多而已確認了珍的期盼，但卻沒設定日期。
("Now: Ruburt [as Seth calls Jane] is quite correct. We are preparing for another one, and giving you a rest in between.
現在：魯柏[賽斯如此稱呼珍]是沒錯。我們是正為另一本書準備，讓你在間斷中停一下。
("The volumes automatically unite the material and present it within certain frameworks of discipline...As you now know, some considerable time is taken with your preparation of notes, and so I have been waiting a while.
書本自然而然地統合物質，而在確知的學科架構內呈現...目前如你所知， 已經耗費你部份相當可觀時間準備筆記；同樣地，我也等了好一陣子。
("Ruburt sensed this quite clearly, and as usual feels twinges, wondering what I am going to write about and what kind of a book it will be. Such a book can be given quite normally and quietly along with your regular routine of sessions, adding to your own knowledge and ultimately helping others also. I suggest the simplest of formats; always the least complicated as far as any mechanics are concerned. Do you follow me ?
（ 魯柏非常清楚地意識到，而如往常一樣突覺一陣感受，疑惑我將寫些什麼而會是哪一類書。這一類書十分平常而且相當地與你們定期例行課程一致，增廣你們的知識，而最主要也幫助了他人。我建議最簡單的格式、跟任何寫作技巧所涉及一樣，永遠是最不複雜。你有遵循嗎？
("Yes, "I'd answered, whereupon Seth had discussed other matter for the rest of the evening.
（ 我回答：有。不久之後，賽斯已經討論了當晚其他部份的事務。
(As we sat for tonight's session, Jane said, "We'll, Seth's all ready and I've got the urge to get going. Maybe he'll start his book..."She hadn't been dwelling upon the subject particularly—or at least I don't remember her saying much about it.
（ 當我們坐下開始今晚的課程，珍說：「我們會的！賽斯部份全都準備妥當，而我已經受了鼓舞著手進行。也許他會就開始寫書... 」。她沒特別對主題嘮叨，或者至少我不記得她多說過些什麼。
(The energy at Jane's command still impresses me, especially when I consider that she weighs less than ninety-five pounds. Given her permission, Seth can come through very powerful indeed. Her delivery now though was average. By this I mean that when she speaks for Seth her voice drop in register, becomes somewhat stronger, and acquires Seth's own deliberate but unique accent and rhythm. Jane took off her glasses and placed them on the coffee table between us. The next moment, her eyes much darker, she was in full trance.)
（ 能量在珍身上的運用仍然讓我印象深刻，尤其是當我想到她的體重不到 95 磅。在她的允許下，賽斯實際上有非常大能量能夠穿越，目前她陳述的是平均的能量。在這兒我的意思是當她替賽斯說話時，她的聲音語調低沉，變得稍微強些，而帶有賽斯自己不慌不忙且獨特的腔調與節奏。珍脫下她的眼鏡把它放置在我們之間的咖啡桌上；一會兒，她的眼睛更暗沉，她完全進入出神狀態。
Now: Good morning. 當前：早安！
("Good morning, Seth.")。早安！賽斯。
We will call this evening' essay "The Manufacture of Personal Reality."
我們將今晚的短文稱之為：個人實相的營造。
Experience is the product of the mind, the spirit, conscious thoughts and the feelings, and unconscious thoughts and feelings. These together form the reality that you know. You are hardly at the mercy of a reality, therefore, that exists apart from yourself, or is thrust upon you. You are so intimately connected with the physical events composing your life experience that often you cannot distinguish between the seemingly material occurrences and the thoughts, expectations and desires that gave them birth.
經驗是心智、精神、有意識思想和感受、與無意識思想和感受的產物，這些一起形成你所知道的實相。你幾乎任由實相的擺佈，因此，即便你自己不考慮也存在，或者是迫使你接受。你是如此緊密聯結實質事件，組成你的生活經驗；以致於你往往不能區別，表面上看來是物質事件，與思想、期盼跟慾念所誕生的實相。
If there are strongly negative characteristics present in your most intimate thoughts, if these actually form bars, between you and a more full life, still you often look through the bars, not seeing them. Until they are recognized they are impediments. Even obstacles have a reason for being. If they are your own, then it up to you to recognize them and discover the circumstances behind their existence.
假如在你最隱密的想法中，有著強烈的負面特質；如果這些負面特質在你與更豐富生活間真正形成障礙，你仍然經常看穿障礙卻看不見。直到負面特質被辨識出是阻礙，縱使對生靈而言妨礙是有理的。假使負面特質是你自己的，然而就要靠你去辨識出負面特質，並且找出負面特質背後存在的環境。
Your conscious thoughts can be great clues in uncovering such obstructions. You are not nearly as familiar with your own thoughts as you may imagine. They can escape from you like water through your fingers, carrying with them vital nutrients that spread across the landscape of your psyche—and all too often carrying sludge and mud that clog up the channels of experience and creativity.
你有意識的思想在掀開這類阻礙，可能是最佳的線索。你自己的思想幾乎不跟你能想像的一樣隨便，思想能像水一樣從你指縫間流逝，它們帶有極其重要的養分，廣佈你的心靈園地—而往往也太常帶有爛泥與污穢，而淤塞創造力與體驗的通渠。
An examination for your conscious thoughts will tell you much about the state of your inner mind, your intentions and expectations, and will often lead you to a direct confrontation with challenges and problems. Your thoughts, studies, will let you see where you are going. They point clearly to the nature of physical events. What exists physically exists first in thought and feeling. There is no other rule.
審視你有意識的思想會告訴你，許多有關你的內在心智、意向、與期盼，而且經常引導你直接面對挑戰與問題。你的想法細究之後會讓你看清你的走向，它們清楚的指向實質事件的本質。最先存在於思想與感受內的實質物件是什麼，沒有其他的規則。
(9:40.) You have the conscious mind for a good reason. You are not at the mercy of unconscious drives unless you consciously acquiesce to them. Your present feelings and expectations can always be used to check your progress. If you do not like your experience, then you must change the nature of your conscious thoughts and expectations. You must alter the kind of messages that you are sending through your thoughts to your own body, to friends and associates.
（9:40.) 你擁有意識心有極好理由，你不受無意識擺佈、趨使，除非你有意識的默許。你當前的感受與期盼總是可用來檢查你的進展，如果你不喜歡你的體驗；然而你必須改變你的意識思考與期盼的本質，你必須轉變你正透過想法傳送給你自己的身體、朋友、與夥伴的這類訊息。
Each thought has a result, in your terms. The same kind of thought, habitually repeated, will seem to have a more or less permanent effect. If you like the effect then you seldom examine the thought. If you find yourself assailed by physical difficulties, however, you begin to wonder what is wrong.
用你的話來說，每個想法都有結果；相同種類的想法習慣性的重複，似乎會有多多少少永久性的影響。如果你喜歡這種影響，然後你很少審視你的想法；如果你發現你自己被實質性的困難困擾著，不管怎樣你開始懷疑哪裡出錯了。
Sometimes you blame others, your own background, or a previous life—if you accept reincarnation. You may hold God or the devil responsible, or you may simply say, "That is life," and accept the negative experience as a necessary portion of your lot.
有時候你怪罪他人、你自己的際遇、或者是前世沒修—如果你接受生死輪迴。你可能認為上帝或魔鬼，總有個要負責，或者你可能僅僅說：「這是命。」，而當成你命運中必須承受的部份，而接受這逆來順受的體驗。
You may finally come to a half-understanding of the nature of reality and wail, "I believe that I have caused these ill effects, but I find myself unable to reverse them."
最後你可能對實相本質的結果一知半解而尖嘯道：「我認為我已經造成這些不好的影響，但是我發現我自己不能使它逆轉。」
If this is the case, then regardless of what you have told yourself thus far, you still do not believe that you are the creator of your own experience. As soon as you recognize this fact you can begin at once to alter those conditions that cause you dismay or dissatisfaction.
如果這是真實案例，然而不管截至目前，你已經告訴你自己什麼，你仍然不認為你是你自己體驗的創造者。只要你一體認到這個事實，你立刻能開始轉變造成你難過與不滿意的那些狀況。
(A one-minute pause at 9:49.) No one forces you to think in any particular manner. In the past you may have learned to consider things pessimistic ally. You may believe that pessimism is more realistic than optimism. You may even suppose, and may do, that sorrow is ennobling, a sign of deep spiritualism, a mark of apartness, a necessary mental garb of saints and poets. Nothing could be further from the truth.
（在 9:49 暫停一分鐘）沒有人強迫你以任何特殊方式思考，過去你可能已獲悉而認為事情總往不好的方向靠攏。你可能認為悲觀主義比樂觀主義更實際，你甚至可能假設悲愴是高尚的、深遂通靈論的象徵、脫俗的標記、聖賢與詩人必備的精神性裝扮，而且真的這麼認為，沒有比這事實還更錯誤的想法。
All consciousness has within it the deep abiding impetus to use its abilities fully, to expand its capacities, to venture joyfully beyond the seeming barriers of its own experience. The very consciousnesses within the smallest molecules cry out against any ideas of limitation. They yearn toward new forms and experiences. Even atoms,then, constantly seek to join in new organizations of structure and meaning. They do this "instinctively."
所有意識在內部深層，都隱藏著促動力；充分利用它的能力、擴展它的容量，愉快地歷練逾越表面上看來是它自己體驗的障礙。在獨特意識內的最小分子，呼號抗拒任何念頭的限制，它們渴求新形式與體驗；然後，甚至原子持續尋求加入結構與意義的新組織，原子、分子本能性地如此處理。
Man has been endowed, and has endowed himself, with a conscious mind to direct the nature, shape and form of his creations. All deep aspirations and unconscious motivations, all unspoken drives, rise up for the approval or disapproval of the conscious mind, and await its direction.
人們已經用意識心資助去指導本質，形塑而形成他的創造，而且資助他自己。所有深層報負與無意識動機、未曾宣揚的趨策力，全都為認可或未認可的意識心昇揚，並等待意識心的指導。
Only when it abdicates its functions does it allow itself to become swayed by "negative" experience. Only when it refuses responsibility does it finally find itself at the seeming mercy of events over which it appears to have no control.
只有當意識心放棄它的功能，意識心容許它自己被「負面」體驗所影響而改變；只有當意識心拒絕負責，意識心最後發現它自己似乎受事件擺佈。除此之外，意識心表現力不從心。
Now you may take your break. 現在你可以休息一下。
("Thank you." 謝謝！
(10:00, Jane was out of trance easily. "I 've got a feeling," she said, "that that's the start of Chapter One." Her impression stemmed from the way Seth had called his material an "essay" tonight—which is something he wasn't done before. It developed that she was partially correct. Resume at 10:07.)
（10:30, 珍很輕易地回神。她說：「我有一種感覺，那是第一章的起頭。」她的印象，來自賽斯今晚用短文，稱呼他的物質的方式，這是某些他以前沒做過的事。事情的發展，證實她是部份正確。10:07 重新開始。
Now: Books on positive thinking alone, which sometimes beneficial, usually do not take into consideration the habitual nature of negative feelings, aggression, or repressions. Often these are merely swept under the rug.
當前：單單是正面思考的書籍，有時是有益的，通常不顧及負面感受、侵略性、或壓抑性的習慣性本質，往往這些僅僅只是被掃入地毯下而已。
The authors instead tell you to be positive, compassionate, strong, optimistic, filled with joy and enthusiasm, without telling you want to do to get out of the predicament you may be in, and without understanding the vicious circle that may seem to entrap you. Such books, again, while sometimes of value, do not explain how thoughts and emotions cause reality. They do not take into consideration the multidimensional aspects of the self or the fact that ultimately each personality, while following definite general laws, must still find and follow his or her own way of adapting these to personal circumstances.
反而作者告訴你要正向、富同情心、堅強、樂觀、揚溢歡欣與熱忱，而沒告訴你要去掙脫你可能陷入的困境，也沒讓你了解似乎可能束縛你的惡性循環。這一類書有時有價值，又再次沒能解說思想與情緒如何造成實相。它們沒能考慮自我的多面向觀點、或最主要每個個人人格的事實，當依循既定的一般性法則，必須仍然找出並遵循他（或她）自己的方法適應一般性法則至個人處境。
If you are I. Poor health, you can remedy it. If your personal relationship are unsatisfactory, you can change them for the better. If you are in poverty, you can instead find yourself surrounded by abundance.
如果你是我，健康欠佳，你能夠補救；如果你的人際關係不滿意，你能夠改變使之變好；如果你是有所匱乏，你仍然能夠發現你自己被豐饒所圍繞。
Whether or not you realize it, you have pursued your present course with determination, using many resources, for ends or reasons that at one time made sense to you. You may say, "Poor health makes no sense to me," or, "A fractured relationship with my mate is hardly what I was after," or, "I certainly have not been pursuing poverty after all my hard work."
不管你了解否，你已經決心追求目前的方向，為一度你有感知的結果或理由利用許多資源。你可能說：「健康欠佳對我而言，一點都沒意義。」或「與我的配偶破裂的關係，剛剛就是我所追求的。」或「畢竟我努力工作，我肯定不是追求匱乏。」
If you were born poor, or born sick, then it certainly seems to you that these circumstances were thrust upon you. Yet they were not, and to some extent or another they can be changed for the better.
如果你是生而貧窮、或天生體弱多病，然而對你而言，肯定這些處境似乎迫使你接受；但是它們並不是，對某些程度上或額外的，它們能被改善的更好。
This does not mean that efforts is not required, and determination. It does not mean that you are not powerless to change events and that each of you, regardless of your position, status, circumstances or physical conduction, is in control of your own personal experience.
這不表示努力與決心不需要，也不是表示你無力去改變事件；而且每一個人不管你的地位、狀態、環境、或實質狀況，都控制著你自己個人的體驗。
You see and feel what you expect to see and feel. The world as you know it is a picture of your expectations. The world as the race of man knows it is then materialization en masse of your individual expectations. As children come from your physical tissues, so is the world your joint creation.
你所見與所感受的，是你期盼去看到與感受的，你所認識的世界，是你期盼的圖像。然而人類所認識的世界，是你們全體各人期盼的物質化。做為你的小孩來自你身體的組織，同樣地，世界是你們共同的創造。
(10:26. Pause. The softly, with a smile:) I am writing this book to help each individual solve his or her own personal problems. I hope to do this by showing you exactly the way in which you form your own reality, by explaining the ways in which you can alter it to your advantage.
（10:26 暫停。帶著微笑輕柔地說）我正在寫這本書，來協助每一個個體解決他或她自己的個人問題。我希望這麼做來完全地告訴你，你形成你自己實相的方式，透過多種方式解說，你可以改變實相使你受益。
The existence of so-called negative thoughts and feelings will not be glossed over, but neither will your ability to handle these. Period. For they are quite under your control. There are methods of using these as springboards for creativity. At no time will you be told to repress them, to ignore them. You will be shown how to recognize those within your experience, to discover which of them has been allowed to run away with you, and how to manage those that seem to be beyond your control.
所謂負面想法與感受的存在將不會被掩蓋，你的能力也不會無法處理。沒啥好說的。負面想法與感受全在你掌控之下，有利用負面想法與感受，當創造力的跳板的方法。從來沒告訴你去壓抑、忽視負面想法與感受，會告訴你在你的經驗裡如何辨識負面想法與感受、發現哪個負面想法與感受失控、與如何管理那些似乎不受你控制的負面想法與感受。
The methods that I will outline demand concentration and effort. They will also challenge you, and bring into your life expansion and alternations of consciousness of a most rewarding nature.
我概述的方法需要集中精神與費心力，負面想法與感受也會挑戰你，帶入擴展你的你的生活與改變最具有意義本質的意識。
I am not a physical personality. Basically, however, neither are you. Your experience now is physical. You are a creator translating your expectations into physical form. The world is meant to serve as a reference point. The exterior appearance is a replica of inner desire. You can change your personal world. You do change it without knowing it. You have only to use your ability consciously, to examine the nature of your thoughts and feelings and project those with which you basically agree.
我不是實體人格，然而基本上你們也不是。目前你的經驗是實質的，你是轉譯你的期盼成實質形式的創者。世界有意成為參考點，外觀是內在慾念的翻版。你可以改變你的個人世界，你確實改變你的個人世界而你不需知道。你只必須有意識地利用你的能力，審視你的思考與感受的本質，並且把基本上你贊同的思考與感受投射出來。
They coalesce into the events with which you are so intimately familiar. I hope to teach you methods that will allow you to understand the nature of your own reality, and to point a way that will let you change that reality in whatever way you choose.
思考與感受聯合成跟你切身相關且熟悉的種種事件，我希望去教你了解你自己實相本質的方法，並指出一條任你選擇而會讓你改變實相的方法。
(Louder :) End of dictation. （聲音放大：）口述結束。
("Okay. You're pretty tricky, starting your book like that."
（「好的！你相當滑頭，以那種方式開始你的書。」
(Pleasantly:) That is my way. I will give you the title and other pertinent information in a later session, and if you want it an outline of intent.
（愉悅地：）那是我的方法，在下一節我會給你書名與其他相關的資訊，跟如果你有意圖需要的大綱。
("I guess Jane would like to see that.")
（「我猜想珍會想了解。」）
Let us have this one as simple as possible...Give us a moment...
我們讓這本書儘可能簡單...等我們一下...
(Still in trance, Jane took a long pause at 10:37. Her eyes closed, she sat rocking back and forth with one foot upon the edge of the coffee table.)
（仍然在出神狀態，在 10:37 珍暫停稍長。她閉上眼睛，一隻腳倚在咖啡桌邊上，坐著前後搖擺。）
The book will explain how personal reality is formed, with great stress laid upon the ways of changing unfavorable aspects of individual experience.
本書會解說個人實相如何形成，絕大部份重點擺在改變個人體驗不利觀點的種種方法。
It will, hopefully, avoid the Pollyanna attributes of many self-help books, and tease the reader into an enthusiastic desire to understand the characteristics of reality if only to solve his or her own problems. The methods given will be highly practical, workable, and within the abilities of any person genuinely concerned with those problems inherent in the nature of human existence.
本書希望避免許多勵志書籍的盲目樂觀*屬性，而激起讀者熱切渴望去了解實相的特性，假使只能解決他或她自己的問題。所提供的方法會是絕對實際、可行，而且在任何人能力之內，真正關心那些在人類存在本質的問題內在。
*盲目樂觀原則 （也稱為盲目樂觀主義或陽性偏差 ）是人們更準確地記得愉快的項目比那些不愉快的傾向。
The point will be made that all healings are the result of the acceptance of one basic fact: That matter is formed by those inner qualities that give it vitality, that structure follows expectation, that matter at any time can be completely changed by the activation of the creative faculties inherent in all consciousness.
所有療癒是接受結果的一個基本事實，將會做成重點：物質透過內在品質形成而賦與物質生命、物質結構遵循期盼、物質透過在所有意識內創造天賦的激化會隨時完全被改變。
Please title what we have done this evening as my preface. The dictated portion, that is. I bid you a fond good evening.
我們今晚所已經完成的，就是口述的部份請列為序言，我打賭你會喜歡。晚安！
("Thank you very much, Seth. Good night."
（「非常感謝！賽斯，晚安！」
(End at 10:47 P.M. Jane's delivery as Seth had been quiet but rather fast, considering the modest speed I can attain while taking verbatim notes in my homemade shorthand. "I think I've got half of the title," she said as soon as she was out of trance. "It's The Nature of Personal Reality — hyphen or colon — then something else, but I didn't get that part. All of a sudden I'm exhausted," she added, laughing, "but don't write that down."
（晚上 10:47 結束，珍替賽斯發言平和，但對以我獨門速記能一字不漏記下，考慮我能達到的中等速度而言，珍算相當快。她一出神就馬上說：「我想書我已經完成大半。」，她接著又說：「書名是個人實相的本質—破折號或逗點—然而還有某些東西，我沒能完成；突然我精疲力竭。」她笑著說：「但是不要記下來。」
(A few notes, added later: Six months were to pass before we learned the rest of the title for Seth's book. While Jane was resting before supper on October 25, 1972, the full name popped into her conscious mind: The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book. We held the 623rd session, bridging Chapters Four and Five, that evening.
（隨後增添了一些註記：六個月後，我們知道賽斯書書名的其餘部份；1972 年 10 月 25 日晚餐後珍正在休息—個人實相的本質：賽斯書—完整的書名蹦入她的意識心內。當晚，我們進行 623 節，橋接第四章與第五章。
We never did ask Seth for an outline. Per se. Once the book was under way we realized it wasn't necessary. This decision also gave Jane as much freedom as possible.)
我們從未為大綱本身詢問賽斯，本書一開始進行，我們就了解不需要，這決定也給了珍最大可能的自由。
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