when speaking of God is to imagine God as a big being.

談到上帝時，我們要把上帝想象成一個大的存在。

I look up in the night sky and I see stars

我仰望夜空，我看到了星星

and planets and look around, I see animals and plants.

和行星，看看周圍，我看到了動物和植物。

I see the world of beings, of things.

我看到眾生的世界，事物的世界。

The great mistake is to say, "Well,

最大的錯誤是說："好吧。

he must be the biggest being around.

他一定是周圍最大的存在。

He's the supreme being among the many beings of the world."

他是世界上眾多生命中的最高存在。"

And that's precisely what God is not.

而這恰恰是上帝所不具備的。

How often atheists

無神論者往往

both old and new will say something like well,

無論新舊，都會說一些類似的話。

where's your evidence for God?

你對上帝的證據在哪裡？

If you imagine God

如果你想象上帝

as one more big contingent thing among others,

作為其中的一個大的或然性的東西。

well then there's no evidence for that reality.

那麼就沒有證據證明這一現實。

They're operating out of a scientific framework, but see,

他們是在科學的框架下運作的，但請看。

if you're looking for God that way you'll never find him,

如果你以這種方式尋找上帝，你就永遠找不到他。

that's not what he is.

這不是他的本意。

God is the sheer act of existence itself

上帝是純粹的存在行為本身

in and through which all particular things exist.

所有特定事物都存在於其中並通過它而存在。

But people get caught up

但人們被捲入了

in misunderstanding God and therefore seeking him

誤解上帝並是以尋求他

in a sort of empirical scientific way.

以一種經驗性的科學方式。

That's not gonna work.

這是不可能的。

You know, the theologian, Paul Tillich,

你知道，神學家保羅-蒂利希。

who was one of the great Protestant theologians

他是偉大的新教神學家之一

of the last century,

上個世紀的。

he said the word faith is the most misunderstood word

他說信仰這個詞是最容易被誤解的詞

in the religious vocabulary

在宗教詞彙中

and I've always felt that's right.

而且我一直覺得這是對的。

How do people read faith?

人們如何閱讀信仰？

Through a scientific lens or scientistic lens,

通過科學的鏡頭或科學主義的鏡頭。

faith is credulity, it's superstition.

信仰就是輕信，就是迷信。

It's accepting things on the basis of no evidence.

它是在沒有證據的基礎上接受事物。

It's the way a child thinks.

這是一個孩子的思維方式。

That is not faith.

這不是信仰。

That is indeed superstition, credulity, stupidity.

這的確是迷信，輕信，愚蠢。

The church at its best is calling people beyond that.

教會的最佳狀態是呼喚人們超越這一點。

We're not satisfied leaving people

我們不滿足於讓人們

in a state of pre-rational superstition.

處於前理性的迷信狀態。

So what's faith then?

那麼，什麼是信仰呢？

It's something on the far side of reason.

這是在理性的遠方的東西。

When reason has gone about as far as it can possibly go,

當理性已經走到了它可能走的最遠的時候。

it looks into a kind of alluring darkness.

它看向一種誘人的黑暗。

Faith in a way's like that.

信仰在某種程度上是這樣的。

The full presence of God

上帝的完全存在

is such that it overwhelms the mind.

是這樣的，它壓倒了思想。

And of course it does

當然，它也是如此

and that shouldn't be surprising

而這並不令人驚訝

that God, ipsum esse, the sheer act of being itself,

那就是上帝，ipsum esse，純粹的存在行為本身。

the creator of all things,

萬物的創造者。

that in whom essence and existence coincide,

在他身上，本質和存在是一致的。

is not gonna be definable by our minds,

是不會被我們的思想所定義的。

it won't fit into our minds.

它將不適合我們的思想。

So what does the mind want?

那麼，心靈想要什麼？

Well, it wants the truth.

嗯，它想知道真相。

And so it seeks it.

是以，它尋求它。

It seeks it scientifically, psychologically.

它從科學上、心理上尋求它。

It seeks it through literature.

它通過文學來尋求它。

It seeks it through philosophy.

它通過哲學來尋求它。

That's the beauty of the mind.

這就是思想的魅力。

I'd be asking people not to close their minds,

我要求人們不要封閉自己的思想。

but to keep opening their minds.

但要繼續打開他們的思想。

I love the sciences, but I don't like scientism,

我喜歡科學，但我不喜歡科學主義。

which is the reduction of all knowledge

這是對所有知識的還原

to the scientific form of knowledge.

到知識的科學形式。

I love the sciences and their success

我愛科學和他們的成功

in the technology they've delivered to us.

在他們交付給我們的技術中。

But first of all, there's all kinds

但首先，有各種各樣的

of other ways of knowing the truth about the world.

的其他方式來了解世界的真相。

Hamlet doesn't have a bit of science in it,

哈姆雷特沒有一點科學的成分。

but Hamlet delivers to us profound truth about human life

但哈姆雷特向我們傳遞了關於人類生活的深刻真理

and about love and about frustration and about aspiration.

關於愛，關於挫折，關於願望。

We gotta open our mind-

beyond just a scientific vision of reality.

超越了對現實的科學看法。

So what I would say is religion doesn't close the mind.

所以我想說的是，宗教並沒有關閉心靈。

On the contrary-

相反--

I'm opposed to any system that wants to shut down

我反對任何想要關閉的系統

the spirit and say, no, no, that's all you can know.

的精神，並說，不，不，這就是你能知道的一切。

No, no, no, don't go beyond these limits.

不，不，不，不要超過這些限制。

Blow open the limits, go beyond the limits.

吹開極限，超越極限。

See, and that to me is language of faith.

看，對我來說，這就是信仰的語言。

Not infrarational stupidity and superstition, no-

不是非理性的愚蠢和迷信，不是

but faith is this alluring horizon-

但信仰是這個誘人的地平線-

this darkness beyond the light, and by God, yes,

這光明之外的黑暗，靠著上帝，是的。

I want to keep opening that up for people.

我想繼續為人們打開這個局面。