Book of Mercy #16-19

Diane · Post by **Diane** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:01 pm

Adam, yes we seem to be in denial that we live in a finite world which might well be on the edge of a man-made catastrophe. Vote Green. Vote Al Gore. UK people: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news

mat james · Post by **mat james** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:33 pm

Adam'
first borne...
outside the Vat,
all is well!

Matj

mystic.

Boss · Post by **Boss** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:10 pm

Diane wrote:Adam, yes we seem to be in denial that we live in a finite world which might well be on the edge of a man-made catastrophe. Vote Green. Vote Al Gore. UK people: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news

Vote Green at the next election
Vote for your heart now

lazariuk · Post by **lazariuk** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:26 pm

Diane wrote:Adam, yes we seem to be in denial that we live in a finite world which might well be on the edge of a man-made catastrophe. Vote Green. Vote Al Gore. UK people: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news

That is not really what we are in denial of. That stuff is all over the news and on politicians tongues. What we are in denial of is what we are really in denial of and so it doesn't get talked about.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:26 pm

Vote Green at the next election

I agree with this, so that the heart can literally survive on this planet Earth.
I am hoping that Gore will be on our ballet and, if not, will continue to be as impacting as he has become.

Vote for your heart now

As I read through these postings on these verses, I see people doing this very thing.

~ Lizzy

DBCohen · Post by **DBCohen** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:16 pm

Dear friends,

I am happy to see that the discussion is back in full swing. I apologize for not being able to respond seriously, or offer any meaningful contribution at this point, because these days I’m fully occupied with other tasks, and will remain so until next week. As always, I especially appreciate Simon’s contribution, and I believe that his pointing us towards the wabi-sabi aesthetics may offer an additional key for understanding BoM. I hope that other veteran contributors will rejoin us, especially Tom, Joe and Judith, who’ve all been missed for a long time. See you all again here soon.

Yours,

DBC

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:23 pm

Looking forward to your return, Doron; and, of course, can only strongly agree with your beckoning of Judith, Tom, and Joe.

~ Lizzy

Diane · Post by **Diane** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:00 pm

Yes, bring back the other 'heavyweights'!

Speaking of heavy weights, Adam, you strike me as being someone constantly weighed down with your own troubles, and the troubles of the world. Maybe mankind is so imperfect that we will blow ourselves and everything else to kingdom come one day, and maybe we'll find a way to sort ourselves out. Either way, remember also how incredibly beautiful so much of life is. Put on some music and dance!

Love,

Diane

lazariuk · Post by **lazariuk** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:17 pm

Adam ben Meyer wrote:Jung was right too, it is terrifying to accept yourself, all of yourself. But that is what all of us must do. For our planet's survival, this is our only recourse.

Adam do you think it would be a less terrifying thought if the thought was't that our only recourse for our planet's survival depended upon all of us realizing or doing anything with "all of ourselves"

I think a lot can be accomplished by the people who know what needs doing to do it and quit worrying about what everyone else should be doing. Some people won't be able to do what some others are doing, and they probably have good reasons so lets just cover for them.

I also think that a 60 % effort will be more than enough.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:33 pm

[Until Doron returns or the rest of you plug into the text itself, here's another diversion regarding Adam's comments about shunning the natural. I guess one might say we're naturophobic? These are all from this week's "A.Word.A.Day" with Anu Garg. I'll add tomorrow's when I get it.]

Recently a national-award-winning children's book made news. Any book that wins a prominent award should make news but this one did it for the wrong reasons. A controversy arose because the book included the word scrotum [From Latin scrautum (quiver)].

Some self-professed protectors of human sensibilities felt that the book ought not to be in libraries -- they felt the book was inappropriate for children. Imagine if kids learned a straightforward word to describe a part of human body! Who knows, they might be scarred for life.

Well, this week's words are an antidote for such thinking. These are words that may sound risque but aren't. And if you find you haven't received the newsletter a few days this week, it's probably your email filter working hard to protect you from getting corrupted by these words.

testaceous (teh-STAY-shuhs) adjective

1. Having a shell.

2. Having the reddish brown color of bricks or baked clay.

[From Latin testa (shell).]

"I am informed by Mr. F. Smith that the male ants of several species
are black, the females being testaceous."
Charles Darwin; The Descent Of Man; 1871.

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. -John Wooden, sports coach (1910- )

"Having a shell" would be a/the connection.

This week's theme: Words that seem risque.

titivate (TIT-i-vayt) verb tr., intr.

To make smarter; to spruce up; to decorate.

[From earlier tidivate, perhaps from tidy + elevate.
The word titillate is from Latin titillare (to tickle).]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=titivate

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"[Karen Kilimnik's] journey has been marked by theatricality -- such as
putting small, roughly painted pictures in a Venetian palazzo titivated
with flowers and feathers."
Philippa Stockley; A Wacky Take on the 18th Century; Evening Standard
(London, UK); Feb 21, 2007.

The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion. -Arthur C Clarke, science fiction writer (1917- )

"Tidy + elevate"... I guess this could be considered a connection.

This week's theme: Words that seem risque.

vomitorium (vom-i-TOR-ee-uhm) noun, plural vomitoria

A passageway to the rows of seats in a theater.

[From Latin vomitorium, from vomere (to discharge).]

Vomitoria in ancient amphitheaters helped the audience to reach their seats quickly and then, at the end of the performance, leave at an equal speed (hence the name). Thousands of seats could be filled in minutes. The suggestion that a vomitorium was the place for the ancient Romans to vomit during a feast has no basis.

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"Sarah Walters, 21, a university student, said: 'I love the fact that
the exit sign at the station is now tagged as the vomitorium, it's
very descriptive.'"
Paul Stokes; Metro Passengers Find Their Way to the Vomitorium;
Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Mar 13, 2003.

You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet. -Hal Borland, journalist
(1900-1978)

Is it any wonder we love Nature?

As for the word, the normal use of the root word certainly connotes "to discharge" and a 'quick exit.' Such a dilemma in the theatre makes one thankful for the aisles.

This week's theme: Words that seem risque.

cockshut (KOK-shut) noun

Evening; twilight.

[Apparently from the time when poultry is shut in to rest.]

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"Thomas the Earl of Surrey, and himself,
Much about cockshut time, from troop to troop
Went through the army, cheering up the soldiers."
William Shakespeare; The Tragedy of King Richard the Third; 1592-93.

A city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man. -Arnold Toynbee, historian (1889-1975)

What I found interesting about this one is that, even though it can be considered a synonym for evening and twilight; at least in the example they've chosen here, it was used in what would have been a strictly male and testosterone-driven environment.

Now... shall we change the lyric "Heavenly shades of night are falling / It's cockshut time... " or the perfume to "Cockshut in Paris"? I doubt it.

This week's theme: Words that seem risque.

turdiform (TUR-di-form) adjective

Like a thrush (any of the songbirds of the family Turdidae).

[From Latin turdus (thrush).]

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"The writers most characteristic of the sixties created marginal, slightly
lost characters, gentle dreamers, or hardened iconoclasts in search of
themselves in a world that is no longer their own, seizing every possible
occasion to distinguish themselves from what Flaubert would have been
quick to call the 'turdiform bourgeois.'"
Marc Chenetier (Author), Elizabeth A. Houlding (Translator);
Beyond Suspicion; University of Pennsylvania Press; 1995.

This newsletter is made possible in part by these sponsors:

S.O.S. does not stand for "Save our Ship" -- it's a distress signal. Respond
to the polar bear's S.O.S. by signing your name at http://PolarBearSOS.org

............................................................................
There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all. -Robert Orben, magician (1927- )

~ Lizzy

Boss · Post by **Boss** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 12:58 pm

Diane,

There are beautiful things in this world - I'll let you talk about them.

I am, as you suggest, a 'heavy weight' and, like any heavyweight I act like one. I have been in training for many years. It is vigorous, painful. But I gotta do it to win. I am focussed on the fight; I gotta win. Nothing gets in my way. They say my opponent is the best. I know he is not, I am. But I must train, I must run and I must hit hard. Do you now see I have this loathsome burden to carry. Who asks to 'be' a fighter? It's in your blood. Many obstacles have arisen. After the initial blow, I usually grow. I am a heavy weight - that's what I am. I will change after the fight. Then, and only then, will I take my gloves off.

Tonight I shall dance to Leonard just for you - p'haps The Future, that's got a bit of kick in it - and I'll dance 'neath the Shabbat candles. And I'll have it loud!!!

Take it easy, friend

lazariuk · Post by **lazariuk** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:09 pm

Adam ben Meyer wrote:Tonight I shall dance to Leonard just for you - p'haps The Future, that's got a bit of kick in it - and I'll dance 'neath the Shabbat candles. And I'll have it loud!!!

Take it easy, friend

Hi Adam

Since you are thinking of dancing to that song tonight anyway for Diane and playing it loud. I wonder if I can get you to help me with a little experiment and doing it twice, once for me. It was an experiemnt that I once suggested on Alt.music.leonard-cohen but didn't get much of a response to. Maybe you are more of a heavy weight than they were.
It involves some assumptions or ideas about what the song is about and you might not share these and if that is the case then what I would ask is that just for a little you suspend the ideas you have about the song and for the sake of science and the experiment you do some pretending this one time.
The following is how I worded my request for experiment. I didn't get much in the way of feedback except for one person who wrote "I did listen the way Jack suggested, twice, and... Well, stay tuned... I gotta scrape meself off the ceilin" They were never heard from again so I don't really know.

Lets pretend that one loses one's energy by handing it over to someone else and the reason that we hand it over is that we don't want to be responsible for it. We are a little in awe of it's power.
You don't have to think that is true but just pretend it is.
Then after we hand it over we find that those we gave it to have made us slaves and are using our energy to destroy us. Then we realize that there was never anyone there to give it to because we are all part of us.
We are hesitant to take it back because if we are all us, then that means that we are the ones responsible for the atrocities, but on the other hand we think we see a little too clearly what is going to happen if we don't take it back.
Lets pretend that that is what Leonard's song "The Future" is all about. That it is about taking responsibility even at a time when it seems too late.
When he writes in a poem
"The atrocities over there, the interior paralysis over here-- Pleased with the better deal?"
he may be asking if keeping to the opinion that someone else is to blame is worth having no energy to move in the direction that you want to be moving.
So the experiment we can try is to listen to the song and when we hear the words "Give me Back" instead of thinking it is a call for a return to the past we try thinking that it is reclaiming responsibitity for our situation. The situation is large and complex and good and bad but so are you.
The test of the experiment is to see the result it has on the feel of our energy. How does the song feel? Are you listening to it as if you are paralysed? Does it happen that when you hear the words "Stick it up the whole in your culture" that you find that you can no longer find enjoyment in quite the same way when you think that it is really you that is ready to stick the only tree that left up some hole.
If you are willing to go far with it, you can also go far with the feeling that you are also the little Jew who wrote the Bible, who has seen the nations rise and fall and that you know what is needed - that love is the only engine of survival.
Anyway all this is being suggested as just a little experiment and doesn't have to be taken seriously. I do a little playing with the song myself and always find it rewarding. I feel a little more energetic these days.
An interesting thing about the song is that when Leonard writes about wanting things back he uses the word 'and' a lot but near the end of the song instead of using the word 'and' he changes to 'or'
Give me Christ or give me Hiroshima

Anyway it's just a suggestion that I'm making from under the low-built shelter of repentance

lazariuk · Post by **lazariuk** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:29 pm

lazariuk wrote:The following is how I worded my request for experiment. I didn't get much in the way of feedback except for one person who wrote "I did listen the way Jack suggested, twice, and... Well, stay tuned... I gotta scrape meself off the ceilin" They were never heard from again so I don't really know.

Maybe twice doing it the way I suggested is too many times so if anyone tries this just do it once.

Diane · Post by **Diane** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 2:15 am

Hi Adam,

OK. You keep fighting if that's what you got to do. Thanks so much for dancing for me! And beneath the Shabbat candles and with the music loud and all - wonderful. I mean, things are already sliding in all directions for many people so there's no need to wait for the future and you being heavy all the time doesn't change that. You keep saying, "we must change". By that I assume you mean humanity as a whole. And I don't know how to respond to that because I don't really know how to influence anyone's behaviour but my own. I'm not trying to be funny or clever by saying that - I just don't know how to respond to you, even though I wish I did. I also wish you could have some fun because you deserve to. Not that I expect to have any influence over your behaviour either, but I am truly glad that you might take a little time out tonight to dance; to do something crazy whilst you're waiting for the miracle to come.

And I haven't caught up with the rest of this thread or any others but I am shattered tonight, so, I'll be back...

Take care,

Diane

lazariuk · Post by **lazariuk** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:49 pm

My thoughts about Book of Mercy shifted today ever so slightly.
What caused the shift was that I found that in thinking about the prayer we were on it caused me to return to one of Leonard's older songs (Stories of the street) and listen to it in an entirely different way. It was like this prayer shed light on it.

That in itself wouldn't cause a change in my thinking. What caused the shift was that I remembered that this was not the first time that this book has done that. It seems to repeatedly do that. The effect is a feeling of being shown in a very gentle way why I was attracted to some lyrics in the past that at the time were totally incomprehensible to me.

Jack

"All prose, all poetry to the extent that it is not compassion is failure"
.....R.D.Laing