Eckhart谈整体（生命的完整性）－上

如果成就内在目的就是与当下时刻合一，那怎么会有人觉得必须从目前的工作或是生活的情境中离开呢?

与当下如是(what is)合一，并不表示永远不再改变，或是无法采取行动，而是采取行动的动机，是源自于一个更深的层次，不是源自于小我的贪求或恐惧。内在与当下时刻一致会开启你的意识，并且让意识与整体(the whole)一致，在这个过程中，当下时刻是不可分割的一部分。而整体，也就是生命的完整性，就会经由你而展现。

你所谓的整体是什么呢?

一方面，整体包括了所有存在的事物，它就是这个世界或宇宙。但是所有存在的事物，从微生物到人类，乃至银河系，并不是全然分离的事物或实体，而是一个互联的、多向度网路的一部分。

有两个原因让我们看不见这个一体性，而且视所有事物为分离的。其一就是感知(perception)，我们的感知把实相缩小为我们的感官所能接收到的事物:也就是我们看得到、听得到、闻得到、尝得到和触摸得到的事物。但是当我们只是去感知，而不去诠释或贴上心理标签，也就是说，如果我们不在感知中加上思想的话，其实还是可以在这种万物都看似分离的感知之下，感受到更深一层的联系的。

另一个造成分离幻相的更重要的原因就是强迫性思考。当我们困在不停歇的强迫性思想续流之中时，宇宙就因我们而崩解了，而我们也丧失了得以感受万事万物相连的能力。思想把现实切割成无生命的碎片，而正是这种对现实的分裂观点，导致了极端无知和毁灭性行为的发生。

If fulfilling your inner purpose is being at one with the present moment, why should anybody feel the need to remove themselves from their current work or living situation?

Being at one with what is doesn't mean you no longer initiate change or become incapable of taking action. But the motivation to take action comes from a deeper level, not from egoic wanting or fearing. Inner alignment with the present moment opens your consciousness and brings it into alignment with the whole, of which the present moment is an integral part. The hole, the totality of life, then acts through you.

What do you mean by the whole?

On the one hand, the whole comprises all that exists. It is the world or the cosmos. But all things in existence, from microbes to human beings to galaxies, are not really separate things or entities, but form part of a web of interconnected multidimensional processes.

There are two reasons why we don't see this unity, why we see things as separate. One is perception, which reduces reality to what is accessible to us through the small range of our senses: what we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. But when we perceive without interpreting or mental labeling, which means without adding thought to our perceptions, we can actually still sense the deeper connectedness underneath our perception of seemingly separate things.

The other more serious reason for the illusion of separateness is compulsive thinking. It is when we are trapped in incessant streams of compulsive thinking that the universe really disintegrates for us, and we lose the ability to sense the interconnectedness of all that exists. Thinking cuts reality up into lifeless fragments. Extremely unintelligent and destructive action arises out of such a fragmented view of reality.