奇蹟課程說寂寞

Q#292：奇課課程如何說明寂寞？
這輩子，雖然不缺親情也不少愛情，可是我一直感到寂寞。這種寂寞的感覺，從很小的時候就開始了，長大後，進入學校、社團、家庭，也還是常有很深的寂寞感。我要怎麼改變我的心靈，好讓它不這麼容易覺得寂寞?
Q #292: What does A Course in Miracles say about loneliness? I have been feeling lonely very often in my life. Even in love relationships.  I felt lonely as a child in my family and still do feel lonely very often in other family-like systems. How could I change my mind about feeling lonely?
答：
奇蹟課程說，寂寞是分離之念的必然結果（T.13.III.12:1; M.10:6:1,2,6）。在課程中，耶穌用了四個段落（T.2.III.5:11,12; T.4.VII.6:7; T.7.VII.10:5,6,7; T.15.VIII.3:2），描述上主與其聖子因分離而同感寂寞。在此，耶穌顯然頗有詩人的新意，祂描述上主對分離之念的反應，以對比出，小我自以為分裂必必招上主義怒的恐懼心態（參見Q#136）。實際上，上主絕不會因我們的瘋狂念頭而有所改變，上主是永恆為一而絕不可分的。
A: The Course describes loneliness as an inevitable outcome of the  thought of separation (T.13.III.12:1; M.10:6:1,2,6). Jesus adds  emphasis to this causal relationship by describing God, as well as His  Son, as lonely as a result of the separation — in four different  passages (T.2.III.5:11,12; T.4.VII.6:7; T.7.VII.10:5,6,7;  T.15.VIII.3:2). Obviously, Jesus is using poetic license — his  purpose being to provide an alternative view of God’s reaction to the  thought of separation, in contrast to the ego’s fearful assertion that  God is angry because we left Him (see Question #136 for more on this  point). For God is unchanged by our insane thoughts and remains forever One and undivided.
如果我們誠實面對自我，所有深信我們以個體形式存在的人，相信我們限於且困於肉身之內的人，相信我們與他人是分離獨立的人，都必會感到寂寞。因為有誰在感受並相信與真愛分離後，會不感到寂寞的？奇蹟課程的教導是「只要你把身體當作自己的存在實相，就會感到自己極其孤獨而且受盡剝削。」（T.15.XI.5:1）
If we are honest with ourselves, all of us who truly believe we exist in the separated state of individuality, limited by and contained within our bodies, and isolated from everyone else, must feel lonely. For who could not feel he is apart from love and not experience loneliness? In the words of the Course, “As long as you perceive the body as your reality, so long will you perceive yourself as lonely and deprived” (T.15.XI.5:1).
小我堅信，只要有其他身體相伴，就可克服我們的寂寞。但是，因為肉身不可能真正結合，我們在塵世裡追求「特殊關係」的過程中，物質世界裡的親近與親密，最多只能暫時驅走分離孤獨的痛苦。由於小我暗藏的真正目的，就是要強化我們對「罪咎」的信念。尋求透過與他人結合，來驅走寂寞，只會支持小我「分離為真」及「肉體為實」的謊言。對凡俗如我們，寂寞所帶來的痛苦常如此強烈，而使得我們不斷向外尋求，透過否定來掩蓋事實，確保我們能留在非心靈層次，不再追根究柢，不再察覺當初怎麼選擇與上主分離。
The ego insists that we can overcome our loneliness through the companionship of other bodies. But the joining we seek through physical proximity and intimacy in our special relationships can at best only dispel the painful feelings of isolation temporarily, for bodies can not really join, and the ego’s real but hidden agenda is always to reinforce our belief in our guilt (T.15.VII.12). For seeking to be with others to take away our loneliness only gives support to the ego’s lie that the separation is indeed real and that the body is our reality. For most of us, most of the time, the resulting loneliness is too excruciating, and so we seek to cover it over through denial, employing various distractions to keep us mindless. But we never question its premise — the reality of the separation.
只有問對了問題(與上主分離)，才能找到解決人心寂寞的唯一解答（W.pI.41.1,2; W.pII.223.1.）。那解答必然來自心靈的結合，不會來自肉體。於是，我們遲早會明白，我們其實從未分離過，因為真正的連結是永在的。耶穌在下段非常撫慰人心的話中，提醒我們，祂永遠與我們同在，故寂寞的感受(或幻覺)絕非真實.
It is only through raising that question that the only solution to our loneliness can be found (W.pI.41.1,2; W.pII.223.1). And the answer is found through experiencing the joining of minds, not bodies. Then we learn that we are not really separate, for that joining is always available to us. Jesus, in the following very comforting passage, reminds us that he is always with us, and so loneliness cannot be real:
我是光明，進入了這自絕於一切之外的世界。2它是因為與一切斷絕關係，才淪落到這一地步。3因此，這只能算是一種孤立的幻覺，這幻覺因著害怕它自己幻想出來的孤獨而揮之不去。4我說過，我會時時與你們同在，直到今世的終結。5為此之故，我是世界之光。6在這孤獨的世界裏，既有我與你同在，孤獨就不復存在。7你既不是單獨的，那麼孤獨的幻覺也就難以為繼。（T.8.IV.2:1-7）
“I am come as a light into a world that does deny itself everything. It does this simply by dissociating [separating] itself from everything. It is therefore an illusion of isolation, maintained by fear of the same loneliness that is its illusion. I said that I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. That is why I am the light of the world. If I am with you in the loneliness of the world, the loneliness is gone. You cannot maintain the illusion of loneliness if you are not alone” (T.8.IV.2:1,2,3,4,5,6,7).
也許我們會懷疑，解答怎麼可能如此簡單，但耶穌向我們保證，的確就是如此，只是，這不代表解答很容易。如果我們願意視人如已，且不再批判他人與自我，我們的心靈必更能領受耶穌及祂所代表的大愛，我們也將能體驗祂話語的真實不虛。
Now we may doubt that the solution could be so simple, but Jesus assures us that it is. However. that does not mean that it is easy. Yet as we become more willing to see that our interests are not separate from our brothers and to release each of our judgments against both ourselves and others, Jesus and the love that he represents will become more real in our minds, and we will come to experience the truth of his words.