Book of Mercy #16-19
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Diane
BoHo, thanks. The phrase, "I am shattered" is a Brit expression meaning "I am very tired" i.e. lacking in sleep. I don't experience myself as being "truly exposed" on this forum; interesting that I am seen that way. I probably am a little wise, about some things, and that would come from having had the privilege of spending time with persons who are far wiser than I am. In many ways I am not wise, but otherwise. I enjoy reading some of your highly-informed pieces on here: Thanks. I agree with you that Harry Rasky's film is the best (of those I've seen).
Diane
Diane
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BoHo
In a nutshshell? No. Sorry. If you'd be interested in hearing why, I am happy to accommodate your kind-hearted interest; IOW, thank you for this; but, it might be wiser to ensure a succinct explanation's okay a priori.DBCohen wrote:I’m really sorry to hear that. It’s a great loss for many of us. Is there no way back?BoHo wrote: since I've voided the contract for the LC book
Hey, I hope you noticed something beneath the title of I'm Your Man; and, no, I ain't fishing; it was added after the fact is why I remain,
BoHopeful
p.s. DBC, Mon Ami, what do you think of the idea of dedicating these time BoMs to Harry Rasky? Also, I have a couple items relating to 14-15 I'd like t add; c'est possible? TIA
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Hello to all you wonderful Cohenists! (I love calling us that since I first heard the term from Jarkko and he is the finest among many good ones!).
First let me say that I, too, was really hoping for the new book, Boho. I guess we'll have to catch up spirit wise since ink and paper won't make it.
I do have some observations that I have been ruminating about recently. I've just read Harry Rasky's book about his movie and it has helped me to "go back in time" to those days in the late '70's early '80's that were so crucial in the formation of Leonard's work.
First a couple of personal observations. I wrote to Doron right after Easter that we have had deer on a regular basis in our backyard. Three or four of them will venture into the yard from the marsh behind us, then they will graze for a time. Tonight, I was forced to mow the yard, and when the deer appeared, they didn't have their regular grazing and passed on. What struck me, was how they would look up constantly from their grazing and any sound such as Anne or I going up the stairs would startle them and they would leave. When we watch birds at our feeders, also, we see them eating, then raising their heads to watch, then return to eating again. This nervous energy from the natural world-extreme awareness of the nature of being prey-how does this compare with our experience? Or how does having to be a predator-earning ones lunch and dinner as it were-watching for the right moment to strike-to sleep is to miss opportunities, cause these creatures to focus on their prey?
Harry Rasky recounts this great conversation between Leonard and Irving Layton:
Rasky says to Layton, "But the themes that they are writing about are not necessarily Jewish themes and the writings have universal and international appeal, why is that?"
Cohen answers for Layton: "Ah, but again the answer is that they don't have to be Jewish, specifically Jewish. What you have is that gift of anxiety and pain and alienation and solitude, which has become very contemporary. It has become universal. In fact, the whole world has become Jewish. You know in view of the fact that we are all menaced with extinction. Once upon a time the Jew held that he, particularly, was menaced, that there would be a pogrom, there would be a holocaust, as indeed, there was a holocaust. But in other words, his life was in danger, right? With that, you know the chances of a nuclear holocaust are increasing, so nobody feels secure. Nobody feels happy. That is Jewish. For this reason, all these writers have expressed the alienation, the pain, the anguish, and the fear, which everybody feels today."
But, of course, no one was menaced to the particular degree of the six million European Jewish holocause victims. And that fact stands alone.
When Rasky returned to New York years later, he discovers that Leonard is there also. He calls Leonard hoping to get together-two old friends-perhaps to have a drink together. Leonard is staying at the Algonquin Hotel.
Rasky says: "I went to his room, presuming to have a drink and catch up on a couple years of wandering. We were both wandering Jews. He, more than I."
Cohen says: "I just arrived from Europe, Harry. Tvillin together."
Rasky observes, "Tvillin are objects Orthodox Jews attach to the arm, close to the heart and head, close to the brain, to join God each morning in prayer."
Then Rasky describes what happens next:
"He opens his old-fashioned leather bag which was sparse with clothing and in it were two sets of prayer equipment, shawls and tvillin. Why two sets? He never explained. Carefully, I adjusted the binding straps-just the right number as, specified to every pre-bar-mitzvah boy. Leonard was better at it than I. But it gave me a kind of peace. I could recall Tennessee Williams once saying, 'Prayer is an act of solace. God is a good word-a short one.'"
"So here we were two middle aged traveling Jews, bound together by our past, our film, our prayers, in a tiny room at the Algonquin. Somehow it made perfect sense in a world that seemed to make little sense."
"Shma Yisroel, Adonai Elohaynu, Adonai Echold. "Here O'Israel, Lord is our God, the Lord is one."
"The Hebrew scholar, Leo Bacck, explained the whole Hebrew idea of prayer in an essay on the essense of Judaism. "As the ancient Hebrew morning prayer says, 'Man unifies God' through his love for him. In this desire to 'unify God,' man's creative impulse finds a powerful means of self-expression. The scholar Abraham Joshua Heshel added: "Worship is a way of living, a way of seeing the world in the light of God."
Now they are no longer middle-aged, Harry has changed realms entirely. I feel terribly deprived as I was looking forward to meeting him in Toronto as Dick had arranged.
There are these realms and ages and unfortunately, we move through them only one way in time, but in many ways in the imagination. The spiritual mountain and the mundane plain...return spirit to this lowly place. Kneel and search here.
Joe
First let me say that I, too, was really hoping for the new book, Boho. I guess we'll have to catch up spirit wise since ink and paper won't make it.
I do have some observations that I have been ruminating about recently. I've just read Harry Rasky's book about his movie and it has helped me to "go back in time" to those days in the late '70's early '80's that were so crucial in the formation of Leonard's work.
First a couple of personal observations. I wrote to Doron right after Easter that we have had deer on a regular basis in our backyard. Three or four of them will venture into the yard from the marsh behind us, then they will graze for a time. Tonight, I was forced to mow the yard, and when the deer appeared, they didn't have their regular grazing and passed on. What struck me, was how they would look up constantly from their grazing and any sound such as Anne or I going up the stairs would startle them and they would leave. When we watch birds at our feeders, also, we see them eating, then raising their heads to watch, then return to eating again. This nervous energy from the natural world-extreme awareness of the nature of being prey-how does this compare with our experience? Or how does having to be a predator-earning ones lunch and dinner as it were-watching for the right moment to strike-to sleep is to miss opportunities, cause these creatures to focus on their prey?
Harry Rasky recounts this great conversation between Leonard and Irving Layton:
Rasky says to Layton, "But the themes that they are writing about are not necessarily Jewish themes and the writings have universal and international appeal, why is that?"
Cohen answers for Layton: "Ah, but again the answer is that they don't have to be Jewish, specifically Jewish. What you have is that gift of anxiety and pain and alienation and solitude, which has become very contemporary. It has become universal. In fact, the whole world has become Jewish. You know in view of the fact that we are all menaced with extinction. Once upon a time the Jew held that he, particularly, was menaced, that there would be a pogrom, there would be a holocaust, as indeed, there was a holocaust. But in other words, his life was in danger, right? With that, you know the chances of a nuclear holocaust are increasing, so nobody feels secure. Nobody feels happy. That is Jewish. For this reason, all these writers have expressed the alienation, the pain, the anguish, and the fear, which everybody feels today."
But, of course, no one was menaced to the particular degree of the six million European Jewish holocause victims. And that fact stands alone.
When Rasky returned to New York years later, he discovers that Leonard is there also. He calls Leonard hoping to get together-two old friends-perhaps to have a drink together. Leonard is staying at the Algonquin Hotel.
Rasky says: "I went to his room, presuming to have a drink and catch up on a couple years of wandering. We were both wandering Jews. He, more than I."
Cohen says: "I just arrived from Europe, Harry. Tvillin together."
Rasky observes, "Tvillin are objects Orthodox Jews attach to the arm, close to the heart and head, close to the brain, to join God each morning in prayer."
Then Rasky describes what happens next:
"He opens his old-fashioned leather bag which was sparse with clothing and in it were two sets of prayer equipment, shawls and tvillin. Why two sets? He never explained. Carefully, I adjusted the binding straps-just the right number as, specified to every pre-bar-mitzvah boy. Leonard was better at it than I. But it gave me a kind of peace. I could recall Tennessee Williams once saying, 'Prayer is an act of solace. God is a good word-a short one.'"
"So here we were two middle aged traveling Jews, bound together by our past, our film, our prayers, in a tiny room at the Algonquin. Somehow it made perfect sense in a world that seemed to make little sense."
"Shma Yisroel, Adonai Elohaynu, Adonai Echold. "Here O'Israel, Lord is our God, the Lord is one."
"The Hebrew scholar, Leo Bacck, explained the whole Hebrew idea of prayer in an essay on the essense of Judaism. "As the ancient Hebrew morning prayer says, 'Man unifies God' through his love for him. In this desire to 'unify God,' man's creative impulse finds a powerful means of self-expression. The scholar Abraham Joshua Heshel added: "Worship is a way of living, a way of seeing the world in the light of God."
Now they are no longer middle-aged, Harry has changed realms entirely. I feel terribly deprived as I was looking forward to meeting him in Toronto as Dick had arranged.
There are these realms and ages and unfortunately, we move through them only one way in time, but in many ways in the imagination. The spiritual mountain and the mundane plain...return spirit to this lowly place. Kneel and search here.
Joe
Joe,
Thank you for that beautiful piece.
A short while ago I’ve watched the Rasky film (with compliments to Tom) and was struck by its unique quality. I was not able to get the book yet, but I would very much like to see and read more by that talented man. May he rest in peace.
BoHo,
Of course, dedicating this thread to Rasky is a great idea. Looking forward to your input on #14-15 (either here or on the previews thread that can always be revived). I’ll wait a little longer before introducing the next prayer.
Thank you for that beautiful piece.
A short while ago I’ve watched the Rasky film (with compliments to Tom) and was struck by its unique quality. I was not able to get the book yet, but I would very much like to see and read more by that talented man. May he rest in peace.
BoHo,
Of course, dedicating this thread to Rasky is a great idea. Looking forward to your input on #14-15 (either here or on the previews thread that can always be revived). I’ll wait a little longer before introducing the next prayer.
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Diane
Hi Judith,
Nice Shelley lines. I also reject the boring old tag, 'depressives', as a definition for those of us who appreciate LC. Having now met a number of LC people, I have the theory that we have a larger capacity than the average person for both joy and sorrow. It is not easy to carry all that "extra" tenderness, and Leonard Cohen's genuis is being able to put that burden into words.
Many of us, in addition to being more emotionally aware in this way, have also had to deal with a lot of sorrow in our lives. Some have had way beyond a fair share of loss to deal with. If you have had so many losses that it has been impossible for you to grieve them all (yet), then often there is no point in someone telling you to dance.
With regard to 'fine minds', yes: good fortune, and the generosity and wisdom of other people is crucial for anyone to have a positive life, I think.
I like the stained-glass. Thanks much your compliments; very kind of you. I have only a vague idea of what most people I meet on here might be like with regard to personality (unless and until I meet them in reality), although some people I do recognise, because they share some important wavelength with me.
But we do form impressions of others on here as you say, and it is interesting to ponder how we do that. If we had a discussion about any of the topics we discuss on here, in real life, we would say similar things to those we write, but we would of course reveal much more about ourselves non-verbally, and unconsciously, and would be far easier to 'know'. The majority of personal communication is non-verbal in face-to-face, can't recall the exact supposed percentage but it's around 90.
I understand what you mean with regard to self-disclosure. This written discussion is at least one step removed from actual sharing, in my view, and probably mostly more than one step removed. I imagine that poetry is similar in that respect? I don't think real mercy can occur other than in real life, but even so, and very fortunately, shades of it can be conveyed, in poetry, and in this virtual world.
Sure, you go ahead and use that 'wise' line. In turn I nicked that line from the song Ripples by British band Genesis: "Bluegirls come in every size/ Some are wise and some otherwise/ They got pretty blue eyes."
Anyhow, this is all yet another tangent. So, when are you going to write your 'catch-up' post on BoM in this thread, Judith?
Joe, thanks for your latest post. Just to pick up on one thing you said about the deer and birds nervously attending to their states of being predator and prey: They do not 'realise' their insecure staus in the way that we are aware of our mortality, for example, and their "nervous energy" could be viewed in the same way as when we are driving on the motorway, constantly checking traffic and moving lanes, not nervously, but with an appropriate alertness.
Cheers!
Diane
IMO, exhaustion — not depression — more appropriately defines we who are appreciative of LC's music (in the sense of world-weariness, I guess). Like what PBS says in "The Flight of Love":
When the lamp is shatter'd
The light in the dust lies dead —
When the cloud is scatter'd,
The rainbow's glory is shed.
Nice Shelley lines. I also reject the boring old tag, 'depressives', as a definition for those of us who appreciate LC. Having now met a number of LC people, I have the theory that we have a larger capacity than the average person for both joy and sorrow. It is not easy to carry all that "extra" tenderness, and Leonard Cohen's genuis is being able to put that burden into words.
Many of us, in addition to being more emotionally aware in this way, have also had to deal with a lot of sorrow in our lives. Some have had way beyond a fair share of loss to deal with. If you have had so many losses that it has been impossible for you to grieve them all (yet), then often there is no point in someone telling you to dance.
With regard to 'fine minds', yes: good fortune, and the generosity and wisdom of other people is crucial for anyone to have a positive life, I think.
I like the stained-glass. Thanks much your compliments; very kind of you. I have only a vague idea of what most people I meet on here might be like with regard to personality (unless and until I meet them in reality), although some people I do recognise, because they share some important wavelength with me.
But we do form impressions of others on here as you say, and it is interesting to ponder how we do that. If we had a discussion about any of the topics we discuss on here, in real life, we would say similar things to those we write, but we would of course reveal much more about ourselves non-verbally, and unconsciously, and would be far easier to 'know'. The majority of personal communication is non-verbal in face-to-face, can't recall the exact supposed percentage but it's around 90.
I understand what you mean with regard to self-disclosure. This written discussion is at least one step removed from actual sharing, in my view, and probably mostly more than one step removed. I imagine that poetry is similar in that respect? I don't think real mercy can occur other than in real life, but even so, and very fortunately, shades of it can be conveyed, in poetry, and in this virtual world.
Sure, you go ahead and use that 'wise' line. In turn I nicked that line from the song Ripples by British band Genesis: "Bluegirls come in every size/ Some are wise and some otherwise/ They got pretty blue eyes."
Anyhow, this is all yet another tangent. So, when are you going to write your 'catch-up' post on BoM in this thread, Judith?
Joe, thanks for your latest post. Just to pick up on one thing you said about the deer and birds nervously attending to their states of being predator and prey: They do not 'realise' their insecure staus in the way that we are aware of our mortality, for example, and their "nervous energy" could be viewed in the same way as when we are driving on the motorway, constantly checking traffic and moving lanes, not nervously, but with an appropriate alertness.
Cheers!
Diane
All of us wounded here, all of us emboldened. And yet, we march on like Spartacus; to a Jimmy Page lead break, to The Origin of Species and to the Bible's coded mystery. And, Diane, we dance - through sorrow and despair, and in exultation. We dance; always this sacred ritual. Even if the roof is falling in, if the walls are caving in, you gotta dance - it's the lubricant of your soul. And, I think, that if you lose a lot, you dance even harder to appreciate the groove, your oneness in life, the totality that just is.Diane wrote:Many of us, in addition to being more emotionally aware in this way, have also had to deal with a lot of sorrow in our lives. Some have had way beyond a fair share of loss to deal with. If you have had so many losses that it has been impossible for you to grieve them all (yet), then often there is no point in someone telling you to dance.
Peace,
Adam
post deleted
Last edited by John K. on Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
I love to speak with John
He's a pundit and a fraud
He's a lazy banker living in a suit
http://www.johnkloberdanz.com
He's a pundit and a fraud
He's a lazy banker living in a suit
http://www.johnkloberdanz.com
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Diane
Hi Adam, good to see you back around. I love the way you write so poetically. When I originally said I wished you'd dance, I was talking about dancing for joy, and you took it as dancing the only way you can dance, which is with whatever you have at the time you dance. And that, of course, is how you can dance!
Hi John,
Shall we dance? Someone wanna choose the music?
Diane
Hi John,
I don't personally see it that way. I think it is most useful to embrace whatever's there, and dance with it. But it's not necessary. But then, I'm not sure we're talking about the same kind of dancing? I'm not talking about dancing to the same old tune, but to the song of your self.ignoring our own misery is the most useful and necessary bliss of all
Shall we dance? Someone wanna choose the music?
Diane
Dance, when you're broken open.
Dance, if you've torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of the fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance, when you're perfectly free.
Rumi
post deleted
Last edited by John K. on Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
I love to speak with John
He's a pundit and a fraud
He's a lazy banker living in a suit
http://www.johnkloberdanz.com
He's a pundit and a fraud
He's a lazy banker living in a suit
http://www.johnkloberdanz.com
From the angle of duality, of pairs such as joy and sorrow, passion and reason, hope and despair, love and hate and all the likes, I like to use the representation of the scale as a metaphore for balance between what may be perceived as opposites. The aim is not to live a life limited to joy, passion, hope, love, as in an all positive utopic world. Balance is precicely the dynamic between opposites. Intensity comes in when one develops, as you say, a larger capacity for both the positive and the negative. LC fans maybe do not experience less joy than sorrow. Maybe they experience more joy and more sorrow. Maybe they experience balance on a larger scale. I think LC explained this somewhere in his own words, I don't remember where.Diane wrote:I have the theory that we have a larger capacity than the average person for both joy and sorrow.
Compare the two scales below. The larger one has a larger capacity for more of everything, more joy and more sorrow. It portrays the more intense good life. But all and all the balance is the same, a dynamic immobility. It is when one looks at only one plate of the scale, that one may conclude that LC is more depressed than the average. But what does it matter if when you look at the other plate you realise that he is more than the average also full intense joy ...
Last edited by Simon on Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:30 am, edited 3 times in total.
Cohen is the koan
Why else would I still be stuck here
Why else would I still be stuck here
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Diane
Nice to see it visually represented in those two scales, Simon!
Often I have seen people jump to defend Leonard Cohen as 'not being depressing'. The term depression itself is difficult because it means different things to different people. On the one hand there is sorrow/misery, and then there is true depression, which is an inability to feel anything much at all, and can be quite incapacitating. These two definitions are not clear-cut and mutually exclusive of course, but there is a difference.
Taking the first meaning, that Leonard Cohen's (earlier) work contains a lot of sorrow: I think it does, and why defend that? It's great that it does. In our culture there is the prevailing belief that we must be happy; that it is not 'good' to be sad. And yet, like you say, life is of opposites and it is impossible to have a life where you can have things that make you joyful and not at some point lose these things and then become sad. There is nothing wrong with being sad, and it is unavoidable.
And yes, it seems that Leonard Cohen, and we who find ourselves in his words, have more joy, more sorrow, more to balance, and just more Life! Ain't it great? Who'd want to be the little scales??
Diane
Often I have seen people jump to defend Leonard Cohen as 'not being depressing'. The term depression itself is difficult because it means different things to different people. On the one hand there is sorrow/misery, and then there is true depression, which is an inability to feel anything much at all, and can be quite incapacitating. These two definitions are not clear-cut and mutually exclusive of course, but there is a difference.
Taking the first meaning, that Leonard Cohen's (earlier) work contains a lot of sorrow: I think it does, and why defend that? It's great that it does. In our culture there is the prevailing belief that we must be happy; that it is not 'good' to be sad. And yet, like you say, life is of opposites and it is impossible to have a life where you can have things that make you joyful and not at some point lose these things and then become sad. There is nothing wrong with being sad, and it is unavoidable.
And yes, it seems that Leonard Cohen, and we who find ourselves in his words, have more joy, more sorrow, more to balance, and just more Life! Ain't it great? Who'd want to be the little scales??
If you or anyone finds it, that would be interesting to read.I think LC explained this somewhere in his own words, I don't remember where.
Diane