靈魂的觸鬚 (music)

In one of my grad school’s courses, I learned about Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy, a spiritual philosophy growing out of Europe transcendentalism, where Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and mysticism.

And thus I’ve been reading some Steiner’s speeches and works of Brian’s L. Weiss M.D., a psychotherapist who uses past-life therapy to treat his patients. I’ve been encountering the word “soul,” 靈魂(ling2 hun2), a lot these days.

You may not be sure about the existence of soul or the conception of reincarnation. But the term is used in our daily language, be it English or Chinese. For example, we use靈魂之窗(ling2 hun2 zhi chang), windows of the soul, to refer to the eyes. You ask someone to have eye contact with you when you think he’s lying to you. We believe that eyes disclose a man.

Sometimes we say 眸子(mou2 zi) instead of 眼睛(yan3 jing) in poetry or literary works. Poet余光中(yu2 guang zhong) has a poem where he describes lover’s eyes as 靈魂的觸鬚(ling2 hun2 de chu4 xu), the antennae of the soul, from which you can tell lover’s heart. Musician Li Tai-Xiang wrote a tune for the poem. It is short and simple and good. You might learn some Chinese from it as well.

當你愛我時                  作詞：余光中　作曲：李泰祥

When you love me             lyrics: Yu Guang-Zhong

                                            composer: Li Tai-Xiang

當你愛我時，你的眼睛，便時時來尋找我的；

When you love me, your eyes keep searching for mine.

當你恨我時，你的眼睛，便留心的將我的躲避。

When you hate me, your eyes deliberately avoid mine.

這一對淡褐的敏感的眸子，原是你靈魂的觸鬚。

The sensitive pair of light-brown eyes is the antennae of your soul.

從他們的方向，我可以探知，

From their direction I can detect

你靈魂每刻的消息。

The momentary message of your soul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR5aUJXUF5s

SIMPLFIED

当你爱我时，你的眼睛，便时时来寻找我的；

当你恨我时，你的眼睛，便留心的将我的躲避。

这一对淡褐的敏感的眸子，原是你灵魂的触须。

从他们的方向，我可以探知，

你灵魂每刻的消息。