古今中外，靈魂伴侶（Soulmate）一直是人們所向往的理想婚戀狀態。徐志摩先生曾渴望並汲汲追求其靈魂之伴侶，“得之，我幸；不得，我命”。不僅如此，眾多外文著作裡對Soulmate也有很細緻的描繪。在這裡，帶大家一起解讀《荊棘鳥》中女主人公Meggie心中的Soulmate。
《荊棘鳥》主要講述了女主人公Meggie和神父Ralph的愛情故事，他們彼此深愛，但Ralph也野心勃勃，嚮往教會的權力，不得不放棄世俗的小愛而追求對於“上帝”的大愛，但內心深處卻無比痛苦與矛盾。在Ralph選擇放棄Meggie之後，Meggie也不得不踏上普通人結婚生子的生活，遇到了後來的丈夫Luke。Meggie也努力地跟Luke溝通，嘗試培養感情，好好生活，可是相處時間越長卻越覺得苦不堪言，因為只有Ralph才是她的Soulmate，懂她所想，知她所言，而所有這些在Luke面前都只是對牛彈琴。下面2段心理描寫了Meggie對於Luke的沮喪和對Ralph深深的思念。
"That was the big difference between them! She thought triumphantly; it had been eluding her since she met him. Father Ralph would never have fallen for outward trappings, but this man lacked his sensitivity; he had no inbuilt antennae to tell him what lay beneath the surface. He rode through life without any idea in his head about its complexity or its pain."
"Sometimes she longed to talk about matters far closer to her heart than sheep or rain, but if she made a leading statement he was expert at deflecting her into more impersonal channels."
如Meggie所言，Luke並不是一個壞人或不值得愛的人，只不過他們是不同世界的人。
He wasn't a bad man, or unlikable; it was just that he had been done so long he didn't know how to share himself with someone else. And he was a simple man, ruthlessly single of purpose, untormented.
所以，靈魂伴侶（Soulmate）到底是怎樣一種美妙的體驗呢？我本可以忍受黑暗，如果我未曾見過光明。靈魂伴侶就是這樣的光明，在光明照耀的那一刻，會感覺這個世界真的無與倫比的美好，無可替代。
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