intoxicated sobriety

Love in Chinese

"'Love,' this English word: Like other English words it has tense. 'Loved' or 'will love' or 'have loved.' All these specific tenses mean Love is a time-limited thing. Not infinite. It only exist in particular period of time. In Chinese, Love is '愛' (ài). It has no tense. No past and future. Love in Chinese means a being, a situation, a circumstance. Love is existence, holding past and future.
If our love existed in Chinese tense, then it will last forever, it will be infinite."

- Zhuang
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

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This passage really struck me when I read it, so I thought I'd share it with everyone else. :) I think I like the Chinese concept of love better than that what I've become used to. You see, the Chinese don't use the word 'love' lightly, while we seem to be able to throw it around on a regular basis. " I love that shirt." "I love this song." With this kind of attitude, love seems to be fleeting, a passing fancy. So when we end up saying "I love you" to someone, it's a little harder to take seriously. Is it love on the same level as loving the song that's playing on the radio? Or is it LOVE? The kind that just is, without past and future.

Oh well, I don't really know what I'm getting at here. I'm just voicing out my thoughts.

Before I my pointless ramblings, another interesting thing I wanted to share, if you look closely at the character for love '愛'you'll see that in the middle of it is the character for heart '心' I just thought that was pretty cool.

posted by Chrissy @ 9:51 AM