Holy
Ash
“Act the
way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act.”
Leonard
Cohen
You may have noticed that
Leonard Cohen has become Priest to me. Almost every day, I read a
little of his no-nonsense philosophy. I haven't finished grieving his
passing from this earth, and may never. Perhaps my favorite line from
one of his songs/poems is, “There is a crack in everything; that's
how the light gets in.” I don't much like the cracking, but I bask
in the light.
One of his truisms is
this: “When you stop thinking about yourself all the time, a
certain repose overtakes you.” Much of the anxiety and depression
we experience in these modern times is the result of having too much
time to think about our lot in life. There was a day, and not that
long ago, when the sheer load of physical labor kept one's hands and
mind too busy to navel-gaze, self-compare, and come up lacking.
Leisure has allowed us to cogitate too much. I find that when my
hands are busy, when I am actively working on a task, or a creative
project, my mind floats free of negativity. It's counter-intuitive,
but for some of us labor is rest.
Cohen did not think of
himself as a poet. He believed such designations were for other
people to decide. Instead, he simply wrote to give words to his
feelings. “Music,” he said, “is the emotional life of most
people.” Sometimes, and especially if we've been trained to shut
off our feelings, music allows us access to them, and they bubble up
to the surface. It isn't necessary to analyze them; when we do, we
move away from feeling, and into a different part of the brain that
is for thinking. It is only necessary to feel authentically—to feel
where the music takes you, and don't try to figure out why. That is
why we can listen to a song like “Suzanne” and feel all the
nostalgia and passion, but not really understand what the words are
about. Doesn't matter—they lead us to our feelings, which do
matter.
“Poetry is just the
evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the
ash.” (Cohen) I hope your life is burning well. Spread a little ash today.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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