{"id":1468,"date":"2016-11-13T19:05:08","date_gmt":"2016-11-13T23:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/?p=1468"},"modified":"2016-11-13T19:18:28","modified_gmt":"2016-11-13T23:18:28","slug":"cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html","title":{"rendered":"Cohen: the Poet, the Monk, the Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Now I bid you farewell, I don\u2019t know when I\u2019ll be back<\/em><\/span>
\nThey\u2019re moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track<\/em><\/span>
\nBut you\u2019ll be hearing from me baby, long after I\u2019m gone<\/em><\/span>
\nI\u2019ll be speaking to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em><\/span>Tower of Song \u2013 Leonard Cohen<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amen, Virtuoso of Verse: your word wizardry, lyrical tapestries, and \u201cGolden \"Leonard_Cohen,_1988_01\"Voice\u201d will enrich us for many more generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

At age 82 Leonard Cohen has passed from this life, leaving us his final studio album released just this year, You Want It Darker<\/a><\/em>. Other artists of his vintage and younger produced dozens more albums in their lifetimes; but not many artists take years to chisel some of their legendary songs:<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019ve heard there was a secret chord<\/em><\/span>
\nThat David played, and it pleased the Lord<\/em><\/span>
\nBut you don\u2019t really care for music, do you?<\/em><\/span>
\nIt goes like this, the fourth, the fifth<\/em><\/span>
\nThe minor fall, the major lift<\/em><\/span>
\nThe baffled king composing Hallelujah . .\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Monk<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cohen\u2019s artistry in expressing beauty, truth, and paradox not only filled his lushly composed songs, but his life. In 1994, in a quest to mine the depths of seclusion and silence, he embarked on a five year retreat at\u00a0the Mt. Baldy Zen Center outside Los Angeles. While there he was ordained as a Rinzai Zen Buddhist<\/a> monk and given the Dharma<\/a> name Jikan, meaning \u201csilence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview<\/a> he gave there to Pico Iyer, he comments on the lure of silence and stillness: \u201cWhat else would I be doing?\u201d Would I be starting a new marriage with a young woman and raising another family? Finding new drugs, buying more expensive wine? I don\u2019t know. This seems to me the most luxurious and sumptuous response to the emptiness of my own existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen, like all spiritual masters down the ages, came to the realization that when our lives are filled with the perfect job, the perfect partner, the perfect home, and a complete set of beliefs, values, and politics then there is no room for anything else \u2013 much less a sense of our divine beingness. And yet, to quote from his wonderful song, Anthem \u201cThere is a crack in everything, that\u2019s how the light gets in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key to spiritual awakening is to be aware of the cracks, and to live in a constant spirit of detachment and self-emptying, so that divine light and wisdom can penetrate our consciousness \u2013 to heal and transform us.<\/p>\n

The legend lives on . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of Cohen\u2019s earliest signature\u00a0songs, \u201cBird on the Wire\u201d from his 1969 album Songs from a Room<\/a>, <\/em>remains one of my favorites:<\/p>\n

\n
Like a bird on the wire<\/em><\/span>
\nLike a drunk in a midnight choir<\/em><\/span>
\nI have tried in my way to be free<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Leonard Cohen\u2019s \u201cway\u201d was one of exquisite attunement to the vagaries, angst, and ecstasies of the human story. And he told that story as only a poetic soul could, with a singularly authentic voice:<\/div>\n
\n
I was born like this, I had no choice<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n
I was born with the gift of a golden voice<\/em><\/span>
\nAnd twenty-seven angels from the Great Beyond<\/em><\/span>
\nThey tied me to this table right here in the Tower of Song<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
May those \u201ctwenty-seven angles\u201d carry you safely dear brother, into the eternal bliss and unending adventures, of the \u201cGreat Beyond.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Image Insert: Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Extolling the craft of a unique artist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2586,"featured_media":1469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[156],"class_list":["post-1468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-leonardcohen"],"yoast_head":"\nCohen: the Poet, the Monk, the Legend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Extolling the craft of a unique artist\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cohen: the Poet, the Monk, the Legend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Extolling the craft of a unique artist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-13T23:05:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-13T23:18:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/675\/2016\/11\/Leonard_Cohen_1988_01.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"609\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gerard A. Murphy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gerard A. Murphy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html\",\"name\":\"Cohen: the Poet, the Monk, the Legend\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-13T23:05:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-13T23:18:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2\"},\"description\":\"Extolling the craft of a unique artist\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cohen: the Poet, the Monk, the Legend\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/\",\"name\":\"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2\",\"name\":\"Gerard A. Murphy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gerard A. Murphy\"},\"description\":\"Gerard A. Murphy is a former priest of the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA. He has an avid interest in evolutionary spirituality and cultural trends. His debut book, 'Do It Anyway: Deep Spirituality Meets Real Life' was published by Patheos Press in April 2017. It is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/author\/gmurphy\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cohen: the Poet, the Monk, the Legend","description":"Extolling the craft of a unique artist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cohen: the Poet, the Monk, the Legend","og_description":"Extolling the craft of a unique artist","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html","og_site_name":"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled","article_published_time":"2016-11-13T23:05:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-11-13T23:18:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":609,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/675\/2016\/11\/Leonard_Cohen_1988_01.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gerard A. Murphy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gerard A. Murphy","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html","name":"Cohen: the Poet, the Monk, the Legend","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-11-13T23:05:08+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-13T23:18:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2"},"description":"Extolling the craft of a unique artist","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/11\/cohen-the-poet-the-monk-the-legend.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cohen: the Poet, the Monk, the Legend"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/","name":"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2","name":"Gerard A. Murphy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Gerard A. Murphy"},"description":"Gerard A. Murphy is a former priest of the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA. He has an avid interest in evolutionary spirituality and cultural trends. His debut book, 'Do It Anyway: Deep Spirituality Meets Real Life' was published by Patheos Press in April 2017. It is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/author\/gmurphy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2586"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}