神：有人格的与无人格的
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AI-translated. May contain errors. For accurate text, refer to the original English.
中文
我的观点是，你们所说的人格神与非人格的存在是同一的，同时既是人格神又是非人格的上帝。我们是被赋予了人格的非人格存在。如果你在绝对的意义上使用这个词，我们是非人格的；但如果你在相对的意义上使用它，我们是有人格的。你们每一个人都是一个宇宙性的存在，每一个都是遍在的。这话初听起来可能令人震惊，但我对此的确信就如同我站在你们面前一样。灵性怎么可能不是遍在的呢？它没有长度、没有宽度、没有厚度，也没有任何物质属性；如果我们都是灵性，就不可能被空间所限制。空间只能限制空间，物质只能限制物质。如果我们被限制于这个身体，我们就是某种物质性的东西。身体、灵魂和一切都将是物质的，而诸如"住在身体中"、"灵魂入驻肉身"这样的话不过是为方便而使用的词语；除此之外它们毫无意义。你们中许多人还记得我给灵魂下的定义：每个灵魂都是一个圆，其中心在一点而圆周无处不在。中心就在身体所在之处，活动在那里显现。你是遍在的；只是你拥有集中于一点的意识。那一点吸取了物质的粒子，将它们组成一部机器来表达自己。那个自我借以表达的东西就叫做身体。所以你无处不在；当一个身体或机器失灵时，你这个中心便移动，去吸取其他或更精细或更粗糙的物质粒子，并通过它来运作。这就是人。而上帝是什么？上帝是一个圆周无处不在而中心处处皆是的圆。那个圆中的每一点都是活的、有意识的、活跃的，并且同等地运作着；而我们这些有限的灵魂，只有一个点是有意识的，而那个点前后移动。身体相对于宇宙的存在极其微小，同样，整个宇宙相对于上帝也是微不足道的。当我们说上帝在说话时，我们说他通过他的宇宙在说话；当我们说他超越时间和空间的一切限制时，我们说他是一个非人格的存在。然而他是同一个存在。
举一个例子：我们站在这里看太阳。假设你想走向太阳。在你靠近几千英里之后，你会看到另一个太阳，大得多。假设你继续靠近，你会看到一个大得多的太阳。最后你会看到真正的太阳，数百万英里那么大。假设你把这段旅程分为若干阶段，在每个阶段拍照，当你拍到真正的太阳后回来比较；它们看起来都会不一样，因为第一次看到的只是一个小红球，而真正的太阳有数百万英里大；然而那是同一个太阳。上帝也是如此：那个无限的存在，我们从不同的立足点、从不同的心智层面来观看。最低层次的人把他视为祖先；当他的视野更高时，视之为星球的主宰；更高时视之为宇宙的主宰，而最高层次的人视之为他自身。那是同一个上帝，不同的认知只是视野的程度和差异而已。
English
My idea is that what you call a Personal God is the same as the Impersonal Being, a Personal and Impersonal God at the same time. We are personalised impersonal beings. If you use the word in the absolute sense, we are impersonal; but if you use it in a relative meaning, we are personal. Each one of you is a universal being, each one is omnipresent. It may seem staggering at first, but I am as sure of this as that I stand before you. How can the spirit help being omnipresent? It has neither length, nor breadth, nor thickness, nor any material attribute whatsoever; and if we are all spirits we cannot be limited by space. Space only limits space, matter matter. If we were limited to this body we would be a material something. Body and soul and everything would be material, and such words as "living in the body", "embodying the soul" would be only words used for convenience; beyond that they would have no meaning. Many of you remember the definition I gave of the soul; that each soul is a circle whose centre is in one point and circumference nowhere. The centre is where the body is, and the activity is manifested there. You are omnipresent; only you have the consciousness of being concentrated in one point. That point has taken up particles of matter, and formed them into a machine to express itself. That through which it expresses itself is called the body. So you are everywhere; when one body or machine fails, you, the centre, move on and take up other particles of matter, finer or grosser, and work through that. This is man. And what is God? God is a circle with its circumference nowhere and centre everywhere. Every point in that circle is living, conscious, active, and equally working; with us limited souls, only one point is conscious, and that point moves forward and backward. As the body has a very infinitesimal existence in comparison with that of the universe, so the whole universe, in comparison with God, is nothing. When we talk of God speaking, we say He speaks through His universe; and when we speak of Him beyond all limitations of time and space, we say He is an Impersonal Being. Yet He is the same Being.
To give an illustration: We stand here and see the sun. Suppose you want to go towards the sun. After you get a few thousand miles nearer, you will see another sun, much bigger. Supposing you proceed much closer, you will see a much bigger sun. At last you will see the real sun, millions and millions of miles big. Suppose you divide this journey into so many stages, and take photographs from each stage, and after you have taken the real sun, come back and compare them; they will all appear to be different, because the first view was a little red ball, and the real sun was millions of miles bigger; yet it was the same sun. It is the same with God: the Infinite Being we see from different standpoints, from different planes of mind. The lowest man sees Him as an ancestor; as his vision gets higher, as the Governor of the planet; still higher as the Governor of the universe, and the highest man sees Him as himself. It was the same God, and the different realisations were only degrees and differences of vision.
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。