這學期研究所的課程，在只有一天能夠排課的情形下，
修了一門關於Emerson & Whitman作品分析的文學課,
而且只有我一個學生!!(第一堂課還以為自己走錯了教室~~")
三小時的課程，就是老師與我的對話時光，
老師念著文本，我則在字裡行間裡咀嚼著超驗主義( Transcendentalism )文學的精髓，
有不懂的地方隨時可以提出和老師討論，
老師還會不時站起來走到門口示範文本中蘊含的threshold觀
(Threshold serves as a medium/bridge that connects the past and the future and brings them to full display in the presence.)
如果有統計的話,threshold絕對是這堂課被列為高詞頻的TOP5!
最近的課堂已經開始在讀Whitman的名篇Song of Myself(此篇長詩共有52小節),
課堂中老師僅挑重要的幾個小節做導讀,
在文中，詩人示意著自己是The poet of everything who lives in the full presence
and simultaneously draws the past(dead body) and the future (devine soul) to the present spot, trying to make them united as one (to joint what seem to be disjointed).
"Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left.)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead,
nor feed on the spectres in books.
You shall not look through my eyes either, not take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself." (Stanza2)
詩人期望人們能夠全身投入於當下，超越自身處(困)境，將自身融入並全神去感受自然萬物所有相對性質的流動及合而為一,
靈與肉合一才是「我」的存在(self-becoming→full existence)
每次讀Emerson及Whitman的作品都覺得好超脫(A sense of detachment),是抽象需要悟性摻透的心靈修行。
在此一定要記下老師今天在課堂中講解文本時問我的一個問題：
"Miranda, do you live in the full presence?"
"...Yes, I think so. ....However, sometimes, maybe not really."
是阿，我想了一下，我覺得我不完全時時刻刻都活在當下，
"Sometimes, I will recollect things in the past and envision what things may be like in the future."
我接著回答了這麼一句。
"Right! So Whitman tries to bring those broken pieces of moments in life together to the present spot."
(What each of us has gone through in the past will be embodied in the present "self"
and every person is preparing himself/herself for the upcoming moments since we are all the heir of the future.
也就是說，＂當下＂之所以重要是因為它同時連結了過去與未來，是過去所有累積的體現，也是為著未來的自我提升做準備。)
通篇都反覆陳述這樣＂過去－現在－未來＂的時間串連、流動、與集「我」之大成,
所以老師說Song of myself 其實也可以說是 Song of the fusion of temporal forces(past-presence-future)。
課堂結束，老師要離開前，又特別駐足重述了Song of Myself 第52節的最後三句
"In Song of Myself, Whitman really builds a beautiful and an inspring language.
'Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.' "
Whitman描述devine soul對於dead body的誠摯邀約,某方面說來,亦是詩人對讀者的邀約,當靈與肉能合一,當我們都能夠投身回歸大自然的環型能量並感知當下的一切經驗，
即便可能暫時把自己丟失了，到不了我（詩人）的境界，別放棄，我會（在某處）等你。
"Quite nice, isn't it." 老師笑著說了這句，才離開教室。
突然愛上Whitman的等待和他與讀者的對話，很溫柔親民，
他沒有拋下讀者獨自昇華，
而是邀請我們與他一起把嚮往的"合一（devine spiritual unity of the soul and the body in men)"實踐。
回程路上記著這三句反覆唸了幾遍後（已背起來）,便想起了這首歌Right Here Waiting ,好好聽啊！
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