This is the Chinese character for "soul."Notice that it is composed of various elements. According to David Yu, our Taiwanese-American friend who has been teaching us Mandarin, the three squares in the center are repetitions of the symbol for "mouth." Above them is the symbol for "rain." (see the raindrops?) Below them are two "let your fingers do the walking" upside-down "y's." One of those "y's is all you need to be the symbol for "human being or person." The "T" on the level base is the symbol for work.
Now, think about it. Do those "mouths" belong to Three Persons, and are the people below made in His Image? Are the waters separated from the soil that the people work?
Is this folk etymology or could it contain the kernel of something deeper?
David is a law student, not a linguist or philologist, so he isn't at all sure, but he finds it very curious. He got this from a book his pastor recommended. It does this same sort of analysis for another couple dozen characters, and claims that those characters can be traced back two thousand years before Christ.
Is there anyone out there reading this who can give a more definitive assesment of this theory?
1 comment:
I'm currently reading Faith of Our Fathers: God in Ancient China by Chan Kei Thong which seeks to demonstrate that China once had an era of monotheistic faith worshiping the same God as the Israelites. Very interesting. Beautifully done book, too. It's available in Mandarin-- or if you're not quite there yet, English.
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