For my Christmas post, I've decided to carry on the Leonard Cohen theme from last time. By coincidence, this has proved to be a topical decision, as here in the UK, rival cover versions of his most famous song, Hallelujah, are in the top two positions of the Christmas pop charts: not bad for a 74-year old!
This You Tube video features another of my favorite Cohen songs, 'If It Be Thy Will'. I hope you enjoy it. This particular performance is truly magical, I think, an effect which is only very slightly diminished by the presence in the audience of a man with a marrow on his head...
I always find this song tremendously moving - I think it speaks especially powerfully to those of us who have had a long-term illness: "if it be thy will/to make us well"... Yet at the same time I'm aware that the song doesn't entirely fit in with my current beliefs about our relationship to God. It appears to be very much about us bowing down before an all-powerful being, about us surrendering our will to His. It appears to be dualistic - based in the idea that 'God' is over there and 'we' are over here, whereas what I believe, and write about in this blog, is more about Unity, the understanding that 'the Kingdom of God is within you', that All is One.
It is worth mentioning in passing that I don't use the word 'God' all that much here at The Secret Of Life because some people find it off-putting. I tend to use other words that serve just as well, such as 'presence', 'the universe', 'What Is', even 'the quantum field'... But as far as I am concerned, it is all the same thing. Sometimes, words just get in the way...
Which is what Cohen, and writers in general, are about, I suppose: trying to use words in such a way that they don't get in the way. The difficulty of doing this is highlighted in another of Cohen's songs, 'Love Itself', about a peak experience. To me, this is a marvelous attempt to capture the wonder of such a moment. Others, who it seems to me are not really paying attention, have interpreted this song as a lament for lost love. But the lyrics in the song 'love itself was gone' are not, I believe, a lament at all. They are not about loss. They are a way of stressing that 'love itself' has been experienced.
'Love Itself' is a much more recent song than 'If It Be Thy Will' and seems to be much more rooted in 'Oneness', perhaps representing the current state of Cohen's spiritual understanding rather better. The intervening years he spent in a Zen Buddhist monastery may have influenced this! Yet Cohen still includes 'If It Be Thy Will' in his concert repertoire, so he clearly still believes it to be relevant - as indeed do I.
What it is important to understand is that in surrendering our will, we are not surrendering our power - quite the opposite. What we are surrendering is the little me, the ego, the part of ourselves which stands in the way of getting in touch with our true selves, our true power. For the God to which we bow is greater than ourselves yet not separate from ourselves. And if 'this night' is truly to end, we all have to play our part in making it happen.
Thank you for reading The Secret Of Life. I wish you a wonderful Christmas season and a peaceful New Year for us all!
(P.S. If you'd like to hear an audio version of these Christmas greetings - plus greetings from numerous other bloggers, some of them in song! - have a listen to Robin's 'Blogger's Recording Project'.)
When I have more time, I'll be back to listen to the songs, Simon. In the meantime - may you and yours enjoy a blessed holiday! :) I love your post here....God IS Love!
Posted by: Grace | December 24, 2008 at 06:40 PM
Insightful as always! I like the idea that love is not lost, only that it's been forcefully experienced. I wonder how that story would carry on..? Anyway, I personally have such problems with God-talk simply because it brings my mind right back to the traditional dualist way of thinking, yet maybe can cause friction between people who think that people like us are just trying to show off. Just something I've been thinking about in regards to a spiritual site I've hung out on a bit, where they use the term all the time. Seems to be deeply ingrained in many an American heart. Wishing you a lovely holiday anyway and keep up the good work! Would be nice to hear how your year's been. I left you a comment on my blog. Take GOOD care!! Vivi-Mari
Posted by: Vivi-Mari | December 25, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Hi,
Wish U A Happy New Year 2009 ;)
http://cosmichealing.blogspot.com/2008/05/psychic-power-information-about-psychic.html
Posted by: Bendz | December 26, 2008 at 11:54 AM
The understanding of love too has been misunderstood by many. there is nothing to lose or gain in love. Love is liberation... drowning in love is not a loss..very well said Simon!
words are to communicate, so it is wise to select the appropriate for the purpose.
Posted by: mergingpoint | December 28, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Sorry I am late for Christmas but I was out of town having a wonderful time with my family so please forgive me. I hope you and your family had a marvelous Christmas with lots of love and joy!
Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby
Posted by: AngelBaby | December 30, 2008 at 02:16 AM
Hi Simon - hope you had a great Christmas! - and thanks for the link to my project.
I like the way you interpret the song - I too felt reservations at first - but see we can decide "thy will" is our inner guidance, while our ego is the other bit. Cheers!
Posted by: Robin | December 30, 2008 at 03:39 AM
Hi Grace - Many thanks for your good wishes. I hope you had a great Christmas - and here's wishing you a very happy New Year! Yes, you are right, Grace: God is love. We are ALL love, if only we can allow us to be ourselves...
Posted by: Simon | December 31, 2008 at 10:06 PM
Hi Vivi-Mari - It's great to hear from you again. The words of the song go: "I'll try to say a little more/Love went on and on/Until it reached an open door/Then love itself was gone" I think "love went on and on" is the important part. "Then love itself was gone" makes it clear that this wasn't any old love, it was *love itself*. OK, so it's gone now, but there has to be light and shade in the world. There has to be darkness to see the light. There has to be absence of love to *know* the love. This is a poem in celebration of love, not a lament for its absence.
That's my take on it anyway, and such analysis can only take us so far. What I'm doing is analyzing the words to explain the impact they have on my heart. But in the end, *that* is what is important: how my heart feels, not how my head weighs the words.
Happy New Year to you, Vivi-Mari! I'll come calling soon...
Posted by: Simon | December 31, 2008 at 10:20 PM
Happy New Year to you too, Bendz! Thanks for calling...
Posted by: Simon | December 31, 2008 at 10:21 PM
Well said, merging point: "it is wise to select the appropriate words for the purpose"! But what a long process that can sometimes be, especially when we are speaking of spiritual matters. It sometimes seems like the more important the concept, the less words there are available! But it's all good fun to try, or I wouldn't be doing it...
I hope you have a wonderful 2009!
Posted by: Simon | December 31, 2008 at 10:27 PM
No need to apologize, Angelbaby - it's great to hear from you any time! I'm glad you had a great Christmas. We had a great time too, thanks. My wife is now tucked up in bed sleeping off all the fun, while I'm down here blogging my way into the new year... I hope you have a wonderful 2009!!
Posted by: Simon | December 31, 2008 at 10:33 PM
Hi Robin - The song 'If It be Your Will' has a very powerful effect on me, so I had to try to understand why this should be, even though it may not - at first listen - reflect my current understanding of spiritual truth. Which is how I come to interpret it as I do. As you say, it is all about surrendering to our inner guidance, which is the real 'us'.
Put another way, it is all about being *ourselves*. This ties in with my new year's post, which will be along in a few hours time...
Perhaps the most important concept to bear in mind - the 'secret of life', if you like! - is the one I've talked about so much in this blog: acceptance of what is, surrender to what is: giving up the struggle for things to be different to how they are, realizing that the struggles of our ego are really struggles against ourselves. Once we learn to relax, to let go of our desperate desire to *achieve* this or *become* that, then life becomes easy - and we become powerful.
Have a great 2009, Robin!
Posted by: Simon | December 31, 2008 at 10:52 PM
Do you happen to notice that the phrase "if it be thy will", is a transference of authority to some outer ~supposed~ power?
I see DENIAL still reigns, which does not bode ~well~.
Posted by: Sue Ann Edwards | January 06, 2009 at 10:52 PM
Grrr. Yes, I did happen to notice that. Did you happen to notice that I addressed the issue in the post?
I was trying to explain why I felt so moved by the song, even though its apparently dualistic approach didn't seem to fit in with my current understanding of things. I guess the conclusion I came to was summed up in the phrase: 'the God to which we bow is greater than ourselves yet not separate from ourselves'. I weighed those words carefully and they feel right to me. You going to tell me I'm still 'wrong'?
Happy New Year, by the way. :-)
Posted by: Simon | January 06, 2009 at 11:37 PM
grinning...
"greater then" is an attitude lacking in equality.
And not much self respect comes from *bowing*.
The ~problem~ with buddhism, is it lacks creative accountability and responsibility. Buddha expressed the process; Christ expressed the goal. A process without a goal isn't of much use.
Rather then aim at understanding our Desire nature and uplifting it, Buddhism endeavors to divorce itself from our Desire nature, rejecting and negating it.
It is a matter of Identity. Son of Man, Son of God. Whichever we Identify ourselves with, determines the values of our Desire nature. Our Desire nature is still operational either way, for it is Willpower and where ever there is Will, there is 'God', for Will is a Divine attribute.
Re-member...intellect may overpower instinct but is still its slave so long as we are basing our Desires and choices on "fear". To reach Intuition and Wisdom, we MUST discipline ourselves to NOT react nor respond to FEAR based perspectives.
Rather then experimenting with the Law of Attraction to bring to us our Desires in the future, it is much Wiser to find out what Desires of ours, are at the root of bringing to us our present.
Happy New Year to you, too!
Posted by: Sue Ann Edwards | January 07, 2009 at 02:31 AM
Thanks, Sue Ann. All that makes sense to me. I understand that Leonard Cohen has done the same as me, looking at various religions in order to enhance his understanding of things, for they each have truths to offer. You say: "Buddha expressed the process; Christ expressed the goal." I really like that. Then you say: "a process without a goal isn't of much use." We could equally add: "a goal without a means of getting there isn't a lot of use either". I suspect that Christ intended his apostles to teach 'the process' to people one to one, but it didn't quite work out, hence 2000 years of confusion.
OK, so 'bowing' may not be the best word. How about 'surrender' then? I guess you could say that is lacking in self-respect as well. Yet my glimpses of the process of self-realization tell me that we *do* have to surrender. We have to surrender the struggles of our ego to achieve great things and be a great person and be highly regarded by society, or whatever great weight of expectation we've chosen to hang around our necks. And these endless strivings we have to give up are indeed born of fear: the fear of being derided, of not being good enough, the fear of not *having* enough. We have to surrender all this - this shadow self - in order to discover our true self, our true *powerful* self, underneath.
If we are surrendering *to* anyone, then it is only to this higher self, yet we have come to identify so closely with our ego selves that it may *seem* it is something *different* from ourselves. Only when we have truly surrendered, do we understand that this is an illusion.
I'm struggling with words and with understanding, Sue Ann. I hope there is truth lurking somewhere in what I've just written! You may disagree...
Posted by: Simon | January 07, 2009 at 10:24 PM
You've done a GRAND job {{{Simon}}} !!!
When it comes to surrendering, see if this may help, for much of what we imagine this surrender is, it isn't, for our understanding is distorted by power issues.
Imagine the most beautiful lady you possibly could. The kind that just one look makes your pulse go thumpety thump. She'd like to kiss you, passionately. Now..., are you gonna' have any problems surrendering to her wishes?
It's the type of surrender that we'd count ourselves as fools for even imagining resistance. It feels like someone making love to us from the inside, out.
Does this help?
For much of what you speak of is tied to issues of validation in our world's eyes. Once we understand this, then it becomes easier, as by the LOA, validation on the inside is mirrored back to us on the outside, just as is Love and Adoration.
Posted by: Sue Ann Edwards | January 12, 2009 at 08:08 AM
Phew! Thanks, Sue Ann. It's always a relief when you think I'm getting it. :-)
I love your metaphor of the beautiful lady. On the few occasions when I've briefly got in touch with this surrender, that is exactly what it is like. But it's an interesting metaphor for another reason. When I've very occasionally attracted the attentions of such a lady - because she was probably overdue for an eye test or something - I've a run a mile! Why? Because I didn't feel worthy enough. It's those unhelpful emotions, getting in the way again...
Posted by: Simon | January 12, 2009 at 10:37 PM