摘要: 全美国上下现今充斥着所谓乐观积极思想，特别是在心灵成长团体里。Atul Gawande在纽约时报文中提到 “现在流行的思想，积极思考 --- 亦即「秘密」这本书提到的---乃是迈向成功的关键。” Gawande 接着说，然而，至少在人生的某些时刻和领域里， “负面思考也许正是我们所需要的…

Kiki 翻译

Positive thinking is all the rage in America these days, especially in alternative spiritual circles. As Atul Gawande states in a recent New York Times article, "the prevailing wisdom is that thinking positive is the key—The Secret, even—to success." Gawande goes on, however, to say that at least at some times and in some areas of life, "Negative thinking may be exactly what we need." I think A Course in Miracles would agree.

全美国上下现今充斥着所谓乐观积极思想，特别是在心灵成长团体里。Atul Gawande在纽约时报文中提到 “现在流行的思想，积极思考 --- 亦即「秘密」这本书提到的---乃是迈向成功的关键。” Gawande 接着说，然而，至少在人生的某些时刻和领域里， “负面思考也许正是我们所需要的。” 我认为《奇迹课程》会同意这论点。

The topic of Gawande's article is the recent patient-care scandal at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He poses the question: How could a hospital that is so excellent at saving the lives of wounded soldiers be so terrible at providing care for them afterward? Gawande's answer is that when it comes to saving lives, medical staff members at Walter Reed are "encouraged by leaders to think negative": to look for mistakes and problems and face them squarely so they can be corrected. They have carefully examined problems such as soldiers not wearing their Kevlar and protective goggles, miscommunication, transport issues, unexpected infections and the like, and made changes to solve these problems. As a result, their success rate at saving wounded soldiers is the highest in history.

Gawande文中的标题，就是关于最近发生在Walter Reed 的军人医疗中心的病患看护事件。他提出了一个问题：何以一所如此精于拯救伤兵性命的医院，却是如此拙于提供疗后的照顾？Gawande 认为，在拯救人命上，Walter Reed的医护人员是 “因上层领导鼓励他们作负面思考”，也就是：去发现错误与问题，坦然的面对，进而改正。这些医护人员能仔细的检测诸如士兵为何不配戴Kevlar 和护目镜、沟通不良、心神恍惚、出乎意料的感染等等问题，并且有效地改善解决这些问题。结果，他们拥有史上最高的拯救受伤士兵成功率。

But the military's recent independent review of conditions at Walter Reed indicated that when it came to aftercare for recovering soldiers, things were appallingly different. There were moldy and rodent-infested rooms, staff shortages, soldiers in wheelchairs stranded without food, brain-injured soldiers left to haplessly navigate the military bureaucracy on their own-the list goes on and on. The difference, Gawande says, is that on the aftercare side of things, the leadership at Walter Reed was not thinking negative, not actively looking for problems. In fact, there was no effort whatsoever to track how soldiers were doing in their rehabilitation. And sadly, even when the problems were exposed, Army medical chief Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley tried to put a positive spin on the situation: "It was a one-sided representation. While we have some issues here, this is not a horrific, catastrophic failure." Gawande concludes that while negative thinking may not be appropriate for every aspect of life-for instance, you wouldn't want to constantly point out your children's faults-when it comes to something like caring for recovering soldiers, a healthy dose of negative thinking is just what the doctor ordered.

然而在军方最近对Walter Reed事件的独立检查报告中显示，一旦事关士兵的疗后照护，情况可就非常不同了。腐臭、害虫满布的房间、人员短缺、仰赖轮椅的士兵没有足够食物、头部受伤的士兵也只能无助地被军方的官僚体系放任不顾，还有一长串问题可列等等。所谓的不同，Gawande 说，对于士兵的疗后照护，Walter Reed的领导阶层并没有以负面的方式思考，也就是没有积极地去寻找问题。事实上，去追踪士兵的复原状况并没有多大的用处，更令人难过的是，当问题出现的时候，军方医疗主管 Gen. Kevin Kiley少校竟对整个情势上乐观的评论说： “这些只是片面不实的报导而已，并不是什么可怕、悲惨的失败。” Gawande结论道，负面思考也许并非适合每一个人生面向，就有如你不会一直指出自己孩子错误的地方，但是当面对处理像是照护士兵这类的问题时，负面思考的这一帖药方，却是医师应该开立的。

As I said, I think A Course in Miracles would agree that negative thinking in the sense of facing problems squarely is essential. True, the Course does have a major component of positive thinking as well: It wants us to focus on the good efforts of others, acknowledge our genuine progress with the Course, see attacks as calls for love, see trials as opportunities to forgive, etc. But while the Course encourages positive thinking that is an affirmation of the truth, it warns us against putting a positive spin on truly negative things-what I've heard colorfully referred to as "putting lipstick on a pig."

有如我刚才所说，《奇迹课程》定会同意，在坦然面对问题时，采取负面思考是极其重要的。是的，课程也有很多积极思考的部份，诸如它要我们致力于造福他人，认可我们自己学习课程与日俱增的进步，看待攻击有如对爱的呼求，视磨难即是宽恕的机会，等等。然而，当课程鼓励我们积极思考其实是对真理的一种肯定时，它同时也警示我们，不可在非常负面的事务上，投注正面的思维，也就是那句生动的“帮猪擦口红”的俚语写照。

Indeed, dressing up its ugliness and hatred in "pleasant" disguises is one of the ego's primary ways of staying in business. For instance, we try to make our bodies look good, which the Course calls painting "rosy lips upon a skeleton" (T-23.II.18:8). (Come to think of it, that sounds a lot like putting lipstick on a pig.) We put on a face of innocence to cover our attacks. We engage in special love relationships that hide the hatred underneath. This is a major obstacle to our progress, because as long as we keep putting a positive spin on the negative, we'll do nothing to correct it.

事实是，以「愉悦之情」掩饰其丑陋与瞋恨，可是小我保持原状的主要手段之一。举例来说，我们总是费尽心力将自己装扮的光鲜亮丽，而课程称这是在 “骷髅上画上玫瑰般的红唇” (T-23.II.18:8)(怎么听起来极像是刚刚说的帮猪擦口红？)。我们以纯真般的脸孔来掩饰我们的攻击，我们进入特殊之爱的关系却是将瞋恨隐藏于表相下。这就是使我们进步的最大的障碍，因为只要我们继续以正面思想覆盖负面思想，我们就对小我束手无策了。

Therefore, the Course material gives us a strong dose of "negative thinking"; again and again, it asks us to "look upon the problem as it is" (T-27.VII.2:2) instead of sugarcoating it. Here are just a few examples:

所以，课程给我们一剂 “负面思考” 强效药，一次又一次的，它要我们去 “正视问题的真相” (T-27.VII.2:2 CVT.581)，而非将之包上糖衣。以下是几个例子：

You cannot dismiss [the ego] lightly, and must realize how much of your thinking is ego-directed. (T-4.VI.1:4)

不可以再对它(小我)掉以轻心，你必须意识到你的思想是如何受到小我的左右。(T-4.VI.1:4 CVT.61)

We have repeatedly emphasized the need to recognize fear and face it without disguise as a crucial step in the undoing of the ego. (T-12.I.8:5)

我们仍须不断强调认清恐惧以及正视恐惧的必要，不再遮遮掩掩的，这是化解小我的关键。 (T-12.I.8:5 CVT.203)

It is so crucial that you look upon your hatred and realize its full extent. (T-13.III.1:1)

正视自己的瞋恨心，且明白它的全面影响是如此的重要。

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. (T-16.IV.6:1)

你的任务不是去寻找爱，只需找出你为了抵制爱而在自身内建造的一切障碍物。

What is important is only the recognition of a mistake as a mistake. (M-7.5:8)

重要的是认清，错误就是错误。

Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. For only then are its defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears. (W-pII.333.1:1-4)

冲突必须加以解决。不论你用逃避、搁置、否定、假冒、更名、转移视线，或想用欺骗的伎俩加以隐藏，都摆脱不了它。你必须正视它的真面目，找出它可能的藏身处，细察你赋予它的现实，以及心灵寄托于它的目的。唯有如此，才能揭去它的防卫措施，真理才会在它消失之处大放光明。

A great example of both the need to look squarely at the ego's negativity and our tendency to dress it up in pleasant disguises is in the Urtext, the original typescript of the Course. Notice how Jesus both praises Sigmund Freud's "clear-sighted" negative thinking about the ego and disagrees with the "confused" positive thinking of Freud's successors, who tried to make it look spiritual:

在奇迹课程的原始版本（Urtext，即未经修订的打字原稿版）提过，我们不只应该正视小我的阴暗面，还应特别小心它有意将它装扮得赏心悦目的企图。耶稣称赞佛洛伊德的对小我负面思考的 “洞察”，却不同意佛洛伊德的后辈门生想使小我看起来充满灵性而提出的“模糊焦点的”正面思考模式：

The ego is as frail as Freud perceived it. The later theorists have tried to introduce a less pessimistic view, but have looked in the wrong direction for their hope. Any attempt to endow the ego with the attributes of the Soul, is merely confused thinking. Freud was more clear-sighted about this, because he knew a bad thing when he perceived it. (Urtext).

小我就如佛洛伊德所领会的那般不堪一击。尔后的理论家们虽然力图提出一个较不悲观的见解，却寻错了方向。任何想要赋予小我具有灵性特质的企图，都只是种模糊焦点的见解。佛洛伊德对这一点便洞察多了，因为当他一看见小我，就知道那是坏东西了。

The Course wants us to engage in this kind of negative thinking for the same reason it wants us to engage in its form of positive thinking: because (according to the Course) it is the truth. We need to pull off the pretty masks and see the true nature of our illusions, for "how else can one dispel illusions except by looking at them directly, without protecting them?" (T-11.V.2:2). Only when we stop obscuring our illusions in a "positive" cloud of denial can the light of truth shine them away.

课程要我们采用这种负面的思考，与我们采用积极思考，都是基于同样的理由：因为(根据课程所说的)，真相就是如此。我们必须卸下美丽的面具，并看穿幻相的本质，因为 “我们若不敢直接面对障碍，还一味袒护，怎么驱除得了这些幻相？” 只有当我们停止再用 “积极乐观”的否定烟幕弹时，真理之光才能驱除幻相。

Therefore, let's recognize that the right kind of negative thinking is a good thing—let's think positively about thinking negatively. Just as the Walter Reed medical staff looking honestly at the problems of wounded soldiers has led to a great deal of healing, so looking honestly at the ego's illusions leads to our healing. That's the power of negative thinking.

因此，让我们认清正确的负面思考是件益事，也就是积极地去看待负面思考这件事。就像是Walter Reed 的医疗人员诚实地去面对伤兵的问题进而成功地提高伤兵的痊愈率一般，诚实地去面对小我的幻相就会导向我们的治愈。这就是负面思考的力量。

转自：奇迹课程中文部 教师集锦 2007/9/19