The topic of this post is perhaps one of the most common questions that Cohen fans face from those around them. I remember discussing this at length with other attendees at the Hydra event. We all agreed that one of the best things about the events/newsgroup/forum is that we can enjoy the company of others who understand the appeal of this amazing artist that so many of our peers can't seem to "get". We also agreed that none of us considered his work to be depressing or his fans depressed and that in some way his words and music can bring us out of the depths of sadness rather than allowing us to wallow in it. We explore those feelings with someone who seems to understand our pain and then hopefully move past it.
One of the best descriptions of this aspect of Cohen's work can be found in a one-page illustrated biography by Mark Beebe that has been living for years in a back room of Jarkko's site:
http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/beebe.html
"A false equation is often made in our culture. That is that seriousness equals depressing equals negative. I would reserve these last terms for the mercenary, the shabby, that which is logo-ed on plastic cups. Though his work is for sale, though it's rife with sex and bloody collisions, though it is usually quiet (even near silent at times) it is an inspiring island of adult (even antique) solemnity glowing dark in a shocking pink video bath of the larger culture. It's funny, too, if you're in on the joke. Usually, though, it is serious. This is a choice, an affirmation. 'Seriousness is voluptuous.' Cohen once said, 'It is not a renunciation, it is the very opposite of that. Seriousness is the deepest pleasure we can have.' He gives voice to the soldier of love, the zen marine, on the battlegrounds of the heart where the boundaries of the self dissolve (and gives birth to panic and beauty). This is where the dark, the minor chord, the melancholy and the aged are all ever reborn ever-sexy, the land of solace and crisis itself, the stuff of holy texts and honky tonk tears."
Looking forward to meeting lots of old and new friends in New York next week.
God bless the beautiful losers.
Richard
~ your track record there is sure better than mine 
! However, not realizing that Layton had ever said it [well, how could I, not knowing Layton until I came to this Forum] ~ through the years, I've said Leonard's music has been the vehicle of catharsis for me. Listening, singing loudly, crying long, dancing alone with warm tears streaming down my face, coming through the pain and bitterness that were trying to hold on to me, knowing I could get to the other side of it all, because he did it in his songs. I've often credited him with my lack of bitterness.
). Is this possibly why certain people withdraw in horror when this confrontation is forced on them by a phrase or an expression that evokes painful memories and the emotions associated with them? Lizzy hit the nail on the head when she said one has to have lived those emotions on several levels (an old soul) to be able to confront them head on. 
).
