自由如鸟

转来我在美坛每日一语活动中的一帖。

非常庆幸自己生长到了这个世界；经历了这个年代。现在有了这么好的自由：可以随性地读；可以仔细地想；可以走心地说真话；可以认真地做实事。

我还相信：人，只有在放下了表面和虚荣的自我后，才能找到真正的自我和自由。
 

自由万岁！！！

===================

Free as a bird

The idiom means that you are free to go where you like when you like and do what you like.
- It's also a symbol of freedom and independence, whether it be political, social, or personal.
- It's also a metaphor for someone who is free-spirited who are true to themselves and live life on their own terms.
- It's also a spiritual concept: to represent the soul that is free from the constraints of the physical world, to transcend the limitations of the body and connect with something higher.

Origin:
- Bible:  Psalms 124:7-8  "We've flown free from their fangs, free of their traps, free as a bird. Their grip is broken; we're free as a bird in flight."
- Originally, German word vogelfrei (=outlawed currently) merely meant "as free as a bird, not bound." That is the usage in a German source from 1455. Even Martin Luther (1483–1546) and Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) used the term still in its original meaning.

For me, freedom of thinking and speaking are the important things which I didn't have before I came to Canada.  Also I believe one has to forgo self (image, status, ego, .. etc) to really feel free and to be truly free.

This morning, I came across to the song of " 生命光芒 "from 原创音乐剧《赵氏孤儿》and felt moved.  So I quickly wrote a little "poem" based on the lyrics:

Life is open to everyone
Death is fair to everyone
Light wants to shine over everyone
Darkness likes to swallow up everyone
With muddy waters under the feet,
and injured wings
You fly up high to catch the cloud
for freedom and happiness
You stand on the sharp edge of the blade
gritting teeth but keep singing
You are, We are, 

the free birds.

 

 

 

[最西边的岛上]

回复 '野性de思维' 的评论 :

哈哈， 不是因为坚持，是因为我多年生活和工作时的环境都是英文，所以习惯了，而且着急了的时候，英文来的更快；-） 我来文学城的最主要目的就是恢复中文。 谢谢来访。

[野性de思维]

多数的时间里，俺用中文写作。平时，只是在必须必要时，才用英文写东西，但甚少写作。佩服像你这样坚持用英文写作的人，厉害。

[最西边的岛上]

回复 '海风随意吹' 的评论 : 嗯，是从无到有的珍惜和喜悦! 谢谢海风姐 (and see U soon ;-).

[海风随意吹]

西岛充满了自由的喜悦啊！

[neshershahor]

回复 '最西边的岛上' 的评论 : FYI:

- The Three wise men who witnessed Christ's birth ==Persian/Iranian Zoroastrian Priests，

- John the Baptist who baptised Christ founded his own religion:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandaeism

As a religion, Mandaeans are Still existing today:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandaeans

[最西边的岛上]

回复 'neshershahor' 的评论 : Thx 4 the history background and photo. Very educational, even 4 a pantheist ;-).

[neshershahor]

回复 '最西边的岛上' 的评论 : Alexandrian Text至今沒有整理出來——這件事還得感謝穆斯林征服埃及把亞歷山大港圖書館燒的那把火，結果希臘文原本版的美被保存下來，只有翻譯成科普特文的翻譯版存世——這個版本的聖經至今是埃及科普特正教會使用的版本。

而至今我沒找到一個英譯或其它語言翻譯版的（基於Alexandrian Text）的科普特教會的聖經——除非你會科普特文/古埃及文，否則根本沒法讀的懂（内容一致，但很多句子都完全與Byzantine Text不一樣）。

[neshershahor]

回复 '最西边的岛上' 的评论 : 如果你不信教/也不想信教，但又用得上聖經的文字——我建議舊約直接用JPS英譯版的，新約用Byzantine Text英譯版的（這兩本書沒版權，Link在下面）。

[neshershahor]

回复 '最西边的岛上' 的评论 :

這個事比較冷門/複雜（屬於冷門Judeo-Christian神學知識），單獨回復一下：

猶太教聖經也就是Tanakh...基本上約等於舊約，文字内容（幾乎）一模一樣。但是章節排列順序不一樣（btw這個差別的list我給過楊和柳，她當時果斷盜圖拿去水過一貼）。

但是怎麽翻譯的/怎麽解釋……發展至今：猶太教和基督教各派各有各的譯法釋法。

而JPS版的Tanakh的是第一次直接從盛京希伯來文（aka.古文）原文英譯的版本，所以這事隔一手翻譯：

https://archive.org/details/tanakhjpshebrewe00jewi

而（美國的）Evangelical用的King James Bible等的版本的聖經（舊約+新約），以及馬丁路德翻譯的聖經反而是基於拉丁語版的Textus Receptus：

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textus_Receptus

舊約/Tanakh第一次翻譯成希臘文就是托勒密的七十士翻本——後來基督教舊約聖經的舊約全書全是基於此版進而翻譯成別的文字的。

換言之：KJV等版本並不是一手翻譯。因為：舊約就是Tanakh，而新約原文是希臘語的寫作的。
希臘文的新約有兩個存世的：Byzantine Text，和Alexandrian Text——前幾年基於Byzantine Text的英譯版才問世：

https://archive.org/details/greek-english-new-testament-byzantine-text/

[最西边的岛上]

回复 'neshershahor' 的评论 : Sorry 4 my ignorance, but is Tanakh like the Old Testament? Thx!

[neshershahor]

Psalms 124:7 - We are like a bird escaped from the fowler's trap; the trap broke and we escape.
Psalms 124:8 - Our help is the name of the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.

——JPS Tanakh's English translation