By Alan Cohen / Excerpt from A Course in Miracles Made Easy
作者: 艾倫‧柯漢 / 《奇蹟課程輕鬆學》書摘
All sin lurks in the darkened halls of the past. It is your thoughts about what happened in the past that make sins, both yours and others’, seem so formidable. When you live in the present moment, sin is a nonentity. It is meaningless. It doesn’t exist. The key to overcoming sin is to change your thoughts about the past so they do not encroach on the holy present moment.
罪惡感總是潛伏在「過去」的黑暗通道上伺機而動。以往的過錯，無論是你還是別人造成的，是你的想法 賜予它銳不可當的力量。而當你活在當下時，罪惡感便不存在，而且失去了意義。克服罪惡感的關鍵是改變你對過去事件的想法，讓它不再侵犯你當前神聖的這一刻。
During my high school years, I walked to school every morning with my buddy George. One day, as a spontaneous act of affection, I reached my arm around George’s shoulder. My friend was uncomfortable with this gesture and he pushed my arm away. Sensing I had invaded his space, I felt embarrassed. We both said nothing and just kept walking. Later that year we headed off to college and went our separate ways. For a long time, however, when I thought about George, I recalled that awkward moment and I cringed at the memory.
上高中的那幾年，我每天早上和好友喬治一起走路上學。有一天，我心血來潮，出於友好之情用手臂環抱住他的肩膀。喬治對這個舉動感到很不自在，他將我的手臂推開。我感覺我侵犯到他的個人空間了，覺得很不好意思。我們兩個都沒有說話，默默地繼續向前走。那一年稍晚，我們上了大學，各奔前程。但很長一段時間，每當我想起喬治，我就會想到那件尷尬的事，覺得很難為情。
One morning decades later my office assistant told me, “Someone named George called. He found you on the Internet. He says he misses you and wishes he could walk to school with you again.”
幾十年後的一天早上，我辦公室助理告訴我:「有位叫喬治的人打電話來。他在網路上找到你。他說他很想念你，希望能再和你一起走路上學。」
Astonished, I phoned George and we made an appointment to meet. Over lunch we began to reminisce. “I know this sounds weird,” I told him, “but sometimes I still feel awkward about the morning I put my arm around your shoulder and you tossed it off.”
我很吃驚，回了電話給喬治並約好兩個人見面。共進午餐時，我們開始回憶往事。「也許這聽起來有點奇怪，」我說，「但有時我還是會對那天早上，我勾你的肩而你推開我的事感到很不好意思。」
George looked perplexed. “I don’t remember that at all,” he told me. “All I remember is that you waited for me every morning, even in the rain.”
喬治不解地看著我。「我完全不記得那件事，」 他說，「我只記得你每天早上都會等我，即使是下雨。」
I was stunned. For all those years, one of my primary memories of my friendship with George was my perceived error. Meanwhile, all he remembered was the good. The only place that painful memory existed in the entire universe was in my mind. What a waste of my thoughts and energy! How comforting it felt to know that George had always appreciated me. I decided to choose his memory for me rather than the one I had been carrying for so many years. Therein came my freedom.
我十分錯愕。這麼多年來，和喬治之間的友誼留給我的一個主要回憶，居然是我自認為犯的一個過錯。在這偌大的宇宙裏，那個難受的回憶只存在我的心裏。我完全白費了這些念頭和精神! 如今知道喬治一直以來都是看重我的，讓我覺得好欣慰。我決定選用他的 記憶，來取代這麼多年我所抱持的想法。我自由了。
“But what if George did not forgive you?” ego jumps in and asks. “What if he had felt embarrassed by that act, or hurt by a more serious one, and he resented you and refused to talk to you for the rest of your life? What if you both went to your graves angry at each other and brokenhearted?” (Ego has a way of dramatizing scenarios, you may have noticed.)
「那要是喬治沒有原諒你呢?」自我很快地就跳進來問。「要是他確實對你的舉動感到不舒服，或是被一個更嚴重的行為刺傷，因而討厭你，一輩子都不想再和你說話呢? 要是你們倆到死都怨恨對方，沒有解開心結呢?」(也許你注意到了，自我總是喜歡小題大作。)
George had a choice about how he regarded that event. He chose to not even notice it, or just to forget about it. It was my mind that held on to it, so I was the one who suffered.
喬治可以選擇他如何看待那個事件。他的選擇是，根本沒有把它當回事，甚至是把它忘了。是我的 念頭沒有將它放下，所以受罪的人是我。
When you seem to commit a sin against someone, there are two parts to the equation: (1) what you did, and (2) how that person thinks about it. What you did is simply an act, without any inherent meaning. “I have given everything I see… all the meaning that it has for me” (ACIM-W, Lesson 2). How that person thinks about the act determines her experience of it. If she chooses to feel hurt, angry, or resentful, that is the experience she will live in. If she chooses to forget about it or dwell instead on appreciative memories, she will live in that experience. You are responsible for your action, but the other person is responsible for her interpretation of your action and her subsequent experience.
當你看似對某人犯了一個過錯，這個過程有兩個元素: (1)你所做的事，以及(2)對方的看法。你做的事不過是一個舉動，它本身不具任何意義。「我所看到的一切 … 是我賦予它我所認為的意義」《奇蹟課程-學員練習手冊，第2課》。對方如何看待這個舉動會決定他的體驗。如果他選擇受到傷害、生氣或憤怒，那就會是他經歷到的體驗。如果他選擇將它遺忘或守住美好的回憶，那他就會有那種 體驗。你要負責的是你的行為，對方要負責的是他對你行為的解讀和他後續的體驗。
You have had billions of moments of experiences. The moments you give your attention to are the ones that generate your current experience. When you focus on painful memories, you create a painful past and drag it into the present. When you focus on joyful memories, you create a joyful past and experience peace in the present moment.
你有幾十億不同的人生體驗。你的念頭放在那個體驗上，它就會變成你當下的體驗。如果你把念頭放在痛苦的回憶上，你就會創造痛苦的過去，並將它延伸到現在。如果你把念頭放在快樂的回憶上，你就會創造一個快樂的過去，並在當下的此刻體驗平安。
A coaching client told me, “I am haunted by my past.”
接受我輔導的一位客戶告訴我 :「過去的事不斷來騷擾我。」
I told him, “Your past has no power to haunt you. You are haunting yourself by focusing on a past that hurts.”
我告訴他:「你的過去沒有能力來騷擾你。是你把注意力放在一個讓你受傷的過去，來騷擾你自己。」
You heal a haunting past by giving your attention instead to a blessing past. ACIM calls us to affirm, “The past is over. It can touch me not” (W, Lesson 289), and reminds us, “All your past except its beauty is gone, and nothing is left but a blessing” (T-5. IV. 8:2)
揮別往事療癒自己的方法，是把注意力放在往事寄予的祝福上。「奇蹟課程」要我們記得:「往事已矣，它再也影響不到我了」《學員練習手冊，第289課》。 它同時提醒我們:「所有的往事，除了它的美好，已經過去。除了祝福，什麼也沒留下。」《教師指南，T-5, IV. 8:2》。
"Release your brother and yourself from the illusion that his actions can determine your experience. No one has the power to rob your happiness, unless you give that power to them."
~ by Alan Cohen from "A Course in Miracles Made Easy"
「不要給自己和對方這種錯覺，認為他的行為可以決定你的體驗。沒有人有力量奪走你的快樂，除非你給了他這個力量。」~ 艾倫‧柯漢 / 「奇蹟課程輕鬆學」
* Judy H 譯 *
About Alan Cohen
Alan Cohen, M.A., is the author of 24 popular inspirational books, including the best-selling The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the award-winning A Deep Breath of Life, and the classic Are You as Happy as Your Dog? He is a contributing writer for the New York Times #1 bestselling series Chicken Soup for the Soul, and his books have been translated into 24 foreign languages. His work has been featured on Oprah.com and in USA Today, the Washington Post, and 101 Top Experts. Alan's radio program Get Real is broadcast weekly on Hay House Radio, and his monthly column From the Heart is featured in magazines internationally. Website: www.AlanCohen.com
關於艾倫‧柯漢
艾倫‧柯漢是二十幾本受歡迎的激勵心靈書籍的作者，譯成中文在台灣出版的包括《心靈貨幣的力量》、《每個星期從一個故事開始》，以及《心靈深呼吸》。他也是《紐約時報》暢銷書排行榜冠軍──《心靈雞湯》（Chicken Soup for the Soul）系列書系的撰稿人之一。他的著作被譯成24種語言。除了出現在歐普拉的網站(Oprah.com)和「早安美國」等電視節目，艾倫的談話性節目《醒醒吧！》(Ger Real) 固定每週在Hay House的廣播網路上播出。他的專欄《發自內心》 (From The Heart) 刊登在許多國際性的雜誌上。有關他的更多資訊，請查閱：www.alancohen.com。
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