【首译】你也对自己期望过高吗？

赛斯《私人课》第六册

提醒你们自己，别忘了自身的生活背景——这样做是有益的，而不要总把自己跟别人比，别人的经历背景可能与你们的没什么关系……

It is good to remind yourselves of your own backgrounds, rather than ever comparing yourselves with other people whose own backgrounds may have little to do with yours…

当你们与特定某人或普通大众的发展或处境相比而似觉痛苦时，你们就是在试图去符合自己的人为造像——觉得人们多年前就应该像现在这样有见识，觉得人们因此现在就该处于更高的发展阶段。

When you seem to suffer in contrast to the development or situation of any other specific or generalized persons, it is when you are trying to live up to artificial pictures of yourselves—of people who should have been as knowledgeable years ago as they are now, and who therefore now should be at much greater stages of development.

换句话说，你们往往对自己期望过高。这会让你们老想着困难，以至于任何瑕疵都被过分强调，任何成就都被视作理所当然，而你们剩下的就只有一种否定感。然后你们就会对自己缺乏信任，因为你们总是试图去符合那些与自身背景无关的形象，而经常忽略了自己的背景。你们已学到的东西似乎都不算什么，因为你们忘记了自己的态度是如何一步步改变的。

In others words, you often expect too much of yourselves. This makes you dwell upon any difficulties, so that any blemishes are overly emphasized, any accomplishments taken for granted, and you are left with a sense of disapproval. Then you lack trust in yourselves because you try to live up to images that are not connected with your backgrounds, and often ignore them. What you have learned seems as nothing, because you forget how your attitudes changed. 

当你问自己为什么年轻时不理解现在所知道的东西时，你就是在某种程度上忽略了自己过去的正当性，否认了已经取得的成就——因为你现在似乎应该走得更远，所以你创造出一种假的自己——这样的自己曾经从你现在所在之处起步，而你似乎永远也追不上。

When you ask why you did not understand when you were young what you know now, you are ignoring the validity of your own past to some extent, and denying the accomplishments that have resulted—because it seems that you should now be much further on, so that you create a kind of artificial self who began where you are now, and with whom it seems you can never catch up.

就像鲁柏，好像他几乎不费吹灰之力就神奇地掌握了我们的资料，因此他本该立即运用这些资料，在短短几年之内就学会半生的功课，从此毕业并解决了他自己所有的问题，连带解决了世界上一半的问题。与这个形象相比，他当然觉得自己不够格，这样一种形象当然会使他在某种程度上对自己失去信心；因此，认识到你们两个在许多活动领域都做得很好，并且在这些方面相互加强，这一点是非常重要的。

At Ruburt’s end, it almost seems as if he had our material at hand magically without effort, and therefore should have put it to use at once, learning the lessons of half a lifetime in a few years, and graduating to solve all of his own problems and half of the world’s as well. Against that image of course he feels inadequate, and of course such an image would make him lose faith in himself to some degree; so it is very important that you realize how well you have both done in many areas of activity, and that you reinforce each other in those directions.

假如你们做到了这一点，其他问题就会迎刃而解。

If you did, other issues would take care of themselves.

……

没有必要说：如果鲁柏的通灵能力没有发展，他的身体状况可能会更好一些——因为这种发展是他自然成长过程的一部分。虽然这听起来可能离谱，但事实仍然是，鲁柏的许多问题确实是由于一种不断的比较引起的——拿他现在的自己与你和他认为应该成为的自己相比，还由于在某种程度上过分担心这个世界可能会怎么想或不会怎么想。

There is no need saying Ruburt would be in better physical condition perhaps if the psychic development has not happened—since that development was a part of his natural growth processes. While it may sound unrealistic, the fact remains that much of Ruburt’s problems are indeed caused by a constant comparison with the self that he is, and the self that he and you think he should be, and to some extent by too much concern about what the world may think or not think.