So we first begin with what our brain is. The speaker is not a brain specialist, but he has talked with brain specialists. The brain, which is inside the skull, is a most extraordinary instrument. It has acquired tremendous knowledge about almost everything. It has invented the most incredible things like the computer, the means of quick communication, and instruments of war. And here it is entirely free to investigate, invent, research. It starts with knowledge, and accumulates more and more knowledge. If a certain theory does not work, it is dropped. But the brain is not equally free to inquire into the self. It is conditioned, shaped, programmed—to be a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and so on. Like a computer, the human brain is programmed—that you must have war, that you belong to a certain group, that your roots are in this part of the world, and so on. This is correct; this is not an exaggeration. All of us are programmed by tradition, by the constant repetition in newspapers and magazines, by thousands of years of pressure. The brain is free in one direction: in the world of technology. But that very brain, which is so extraordinarily capable, is limited by its own self-interest. Our brain, which is amazingly free in one direction, is psychologically a cripple.

那么我們首先從探討我們的大腦是什么開始。講話者不是一個大腦專家，但他跟一些大腦專家交談過。頭顱內(nèi)的大腦，是一個極其非凡的工具，它獲得了幾乎關(guān)于一切的海量知識。它發(fā)明了最不可思議的東西，比如計算機、快捷的通訊手段以及各種戰(zhàn)爭武器。在這些方面它可以完全自由地探索、發(fā)明、研究。它從知識出發(fā)，然后累積了越來越多的知識。如果某種理論行不通，它就會將其放棄。但大腦在探究自我方面就沒有那么自由了。它被制約、塑造和程式化了——成了一名印度教徒、穆斯林、基督教徒、佛教徒等等。就像計算機一樣，人類的大腦被程式化了——你必須發(fā)動戰(zhàn)爭，你要屬于某個團體，你的根就扎在世界的這個地方，等等。這是事實，并非夸張。我們所有人都被傳統(tǒng)所程式化，被報紙雜志不停地重復(fù)宣傳、被幾千年來的壓力所程式化。大腦在某個方向上——在科技世界中是自由的。但正是這個大腦，這個極其能干的大腦，被它自身的自私所局限了。我們的大腦，在某個方向上出奇地自由，在心理上卻嚴(yán)重殘疾。

Is it possible for the human brain to be entirely free so that there is tremendous energy?—not to do more mischief, not to have more money, or power— though you must have money—but to inquire, to find out a way of life in which there is no fear, no loneliness, and no sorrow, and to inquire into the nature of death, meditation, and truth. Is it possible for the human brain, which has been conditioned for thousands of years, to be entirely free? Or must human beings everlastingly be slaves, never knowing what freedom is?—not freedom in the abstract but freedom from conflict, because we live in conflict. One fact common to all human beings—from childhood till they die—is this constant struggle, seeking security and therefore never finding it, or being insecure, wanting security. So is it possible for human beings in the modern world with all its complexities to live without a shadow of conflict? Because conflict distorts the brain, lessens its capacity, its energy, and the brain soon wears itself out. You can observe in yourself as you grow older this perpetual conflict.

人類的大腦有可能完全自由，因而擁有驚人的能量嗎？——不是為了制造更多的傷害，不是為了獲取更多的金錢或權(quán)力——盡管你必須有錢——而是為了去探究，為了找到一條沒有恐懼、沒有孤獨、沒有悲傷的生活之道，為了探究死亡、冥想和真理的本質(zhì)。人類的大腦已經(jīng)被制約了數(shù)千年，它有可能徹底自由嗎？還是說，人類永遠都是奴隸，永遠都不會知道自由是什么？——不是抽象的自由，而是擺脫了沖突的自由，因為我們就生活在沖突之中。對所有人類來說有一個共同的事實，那就是這種不斷的沖突從孩童時代一直持續(xù)到他們死去的那一刻——尋求保障卻因此從來都找不到，或者感覺不安全于是追求安全感。那么，當(dāng)今這個極其復(fù)雜的世界中的人類，有可能活得沒有一絲沖突的陰影嗎？因為沖突會扭曲大腦，削弱它的能力和能量，于是大腦很快就會消耗殆盡。隨著你年紀(jì)漸長，你從自己身上就可以觀察到這種永無止境的沖突。