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.
这是我们之间的一场对话，是两个朋友间的一场交谈，所以这不是一场用来指导你或者向你灌输的讲座。我们要一起来探讨某些事情，而绝不是要说服你相信什么，也不是向你灌输新想法、新观念、新结论或新理想。我们要一起来看看整个世界的现状，不仅看看世界的这个部分，而且也看看世界的其他地方发生着什么。一起来看看。讲话者说的是“一起”。你和他一起来观察全球正在发生的事情，不带有任何先入之见，也不带有任何偏见。
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?
所以说这是一场严肃的讲话，而不是一件智力上、情感上或者信仰上的事情，因此我们必须运用我们的大脑。我们必须抱有怀疑和质疑精神，必须质疑而不是接受任何人说的任何事情——包括你所有的古鲁和圣典。一场世界性的危机已经来到我们面前，这场危机不仅仅是经济上的，而且是心理上的。我们已经在这个地球上生活了一百万年，在时间的长河中，我们历经了各种各样的灾难，各种各样的战争。无数文明曾经消失过，塑造了人类行为的无数文化也遭受过同样的命运。我们有过无数的政治或宗教领袖，他们都在人类身上玩过不计其数的把戏。而在人类的大脑经过了这番非同寻常的进化之后，我们还是过去的那副样子——原始、野蛮、残忍，总是在为战争做准备。每个国家都在囤积军备。而我们人类就被困在了时间的车轮之中。我们从来都没有改变多少，我们依然是野蛮人，有着各式各样的迷信和信仰。在这一切的最后，我们又到了哪里呢？
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.
请注意，我们是在一起探讨问题，并不是讲话者在解释一切，这一点再明显不过了。你和讲话者是在一起非常仔细、孜孜不倦地审视我们变成了什么样子，我们现在究竟如何。而我们问：时间会改变我们吗？时间，也就是再花上五万年或者一百万年，会改变人类的心智、人类的大脑吗？我们要来一起探讨所有这些事情。
