Mystical Ancient Characters

I've come down with a little cold, which is my body's way of talking me. It's saying, "Ay, slow down, relax!" As a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, I've treated many people with herbs and needles when they are in the throes of a cold. I know that if you are taking care of yourself and balanced, you don't get colds.

But, we are human, and sometimes we get hit with a bug. Too much "busy", not enough "lazy".

So, today is finally my time for lazy. I suppose that all of this Chinese, learning more characters every day, speaking, being bombarded by more characters at every turn, looking up characters I see on street signs while riding the bus--it has finally exhausted me. Despite (or maybe because) my passion for it all, time to take a break.

Last night, I rented a movie, a good thing to do when you're sick. It's an American film, called "Bee Season" starring Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche. I normally don't like American films. Richard Gere is a great actor, but wasn't exactly believable as a neurotic U.C. Berkeley Jewish professor. But, such is Hollywood. You always have to make life sexier than it normally is.

Despite its Hollywood sheen, I still liked the movie. It's about a sixth grader, Eliza, who has a talent. She's great at spelling, and has a magical relationship to letters. It also happens that her Dad is a professor of religion at UC Berkeley and specializes in Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism.

For those of you not familiar with Jewish mysticism, letters are important. The Jewish mystics believe that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet contain mystical powers and that through meditating on them, one can get closer to God.

Since I was born Jewish, this is a part of who I am and when I look at those letters, something resonates. I've always thought the Hebrew letters are beautiful. In my apartment in Berkeley, I had a page of a holy book hanging on my wall. I can't describe what I feel when I look at those letters, but it is something very ancient, alive, magical.

I feel something similar when I look at Chinese characters, especially looking at shufa (Chinese calligraphy, 書法). I feel that I can look at the shufa hanging at my school library for hours.

I also like writing the characters. When I am in a bad mood, my writing shows it. When you write Chinese, it is best to be patient. Like a good artist, be mindful.

My Chinese is getting better. Last year, I used to teach English at a school near Taipei City Hall MRT. There's a massive neon billboard for a life insurance company at the corner of Zhongxiao and Jilong Rds. To my amazement, I knew all the characters in the ad.

Lest those of you who don't study Chinese start clinking your glasses, I must say, as anyone who is studying Chinese would say, that knowing all the characters in a sentence in Chinese by no means ensures that you actually understand the meaning of the sentence. I can tell you it had something to do with life insurance, though.

The old Jewish mystics believed that looking at the letters, writing them, meditating on them, could have a profound effect on a person.

On a lazy day like today, when I don't have to run around too much, I wonder, how is Chinese shaping my soul?