7 ms·

Spirituality Shaped Leonard Cohen

35 points by tintinnabula 5y ago

fit2rule 5y ago
He was a bellicose warmonger and a religious dilettante. Not all of ones idols should be worshipped blindly.
lukewrites 5y ago
Cohen’s music isn’t always for me, but I love this rendition of “Hallelujah” in Yiddish - I prefer it to the English version: https://youtu.be/XH1fERC_504 https://youtu.be/XH1fERC_504
- A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
  That was an interesting share. I don't know what it is about that song that keeps me coming back. My taste is somewhat eclectic so the only thing of him I knew ( and liked ) was 'Everybody knows' ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd23UVID7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd23UVID7k ). Incidentally, why is WP writing about him now?
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    They're discussing a new book that was just published.
  - bch 5y ago
    If you want to enjoy his work with pop-sensibility in the delivery I recommend checking out “I’m Your Fan”[0], where you can enjoy heavy weights like R.E.M. and The Pixies and a bunch of other really excellent bands interpreting Cohens really excellent songs. [0] https://youtu.be/ZMBlSnCM84Q https://youtu.be/ZMBlSnCM84Q
    - dhosek 5y ago
      I have a ridiculously completist collection of Cohen-related material (although far from complete). Another roughly contemporaneous tribute album is Tower of Song. It's not as good, perhaps because it features more mainstream artists (I go to I'm Your Fan a lot more than Tower of Song), although Don Henley's version of "Everybody Knows" is a great version of that song.
      - touisteur 5y ago
        Did you mean I'm Your Man? I discovered 'A Thousand Kisses Deep' some years ago through a Jackson Browne cover and it felt so strange to rediscover Cohen, when I'd stopped at the classics.
        dhosek 5y ago
        I’m your Fan is a tribute album, notable for having the John Cale version of Hallelujah which was arguably the cover that led to the song getting over-covered.
        touisteur 5y ago
        Ah thanks.
- mstade 5y ago
  This is a brilliant rendition, thank you very much for sharing the link!
CoastalCoder 5y ago
Hopefully this question isn't too basic for this forum, but what's the difference between spirituality vs. being religious? In contexts like this I can't tell what definition(s) are at play.
- jordwest 5y ago
  I don’t know if this a generally accepted definition, but to me spirituality is guided only by direct first-hand experience, while religion is a set of beliefs from some other humans or books written by humans. Spiritual teachers are trying to point you towards firsthand experiences, as opposed to just asking you to believe what they say. Obviously there is some crossover between the two - spiritual teachers might be a bit religious and vice versa.
  - RobertRoberts 5y ago
    "Spritualism" is just as man made as people claim "religion" is man made. Some verses in the bible that indicates that the "chrisitian" religion is _not_ based on man made ideas, but instead flies in the face of them: > "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person's religion is worthless." > "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." I think that using an argument of "spiritual" vs "religion" is a justification, not a fact.
    - redis_mlc 5y ago
      To understand spirituality, walk into the middle of a national park and just stand there for 5 minutes. It makes you understand why early tribes worshipped nature - it's beautiful, powerful, humbling and eternal, unlike anything man-made. Regarding organized religion, I think some prophets had worthwhile things to say, and some didn't. The remarkable thing about the Old Testament is how accurately it depicts both human evolutionary biology and early human civilization as understood today. Archaeology over the past 200 years basically confirms what it says. I would agree that it's the greatest book ever written. Marxism/Communism has tried to replace the Ten Commandments with an alternate doctrine for the past 100 years, and has failed miserably.
dhosek 5y ago
I took a class in Zen Buddhism while I was a student at the Claremont Colleges and there was a field trip to the Mt Baldy Zen Center (where Cohen was living as a monk at the time). Unfortunately, I was sick and was unable to join the field trip, but I also didn't know Cohen's music yet at that time. I did later play in a band which performed a rendition of Everybody Knows by Cohen and his frequent collaborator Sharon Robinson https://don.dream-in-color.net/music/mp3/01%20Everybody%20Knows.mp3 https://don.dream-in-color.net/music/mp3/01%20Everybody%20Kn... I never had the chance to see him perform live or meet him (although again, later in my life, I lived about a mile away from him in Los Angeles and didn't know it at the time). The Live in London concert video is a must-watch. Cohen just exudes charisma in his performance. Even though I'd heard the audio dozens of time from owning the corresponding album, when I finally saw the video performance I was drawn in like nothing else.

35 points by tintinnabula 5y ago

He was a bellicose warmonger and a religious dilettante. Not all of ones idols should be worshipped blindly.

Cohen’s music isn’t always for me, but I love this rendition of “Hallelujah” in Yiddish - I prefer it to the English version: https://youtu.be/XH1fERC_504 https://youtu.be/XH1fERC_504

A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
That was an interesting share. I don't know what it is about that song that keeps me coming back. My taste is somewhat eclectic so the only thing of him I knew ( and liked ) was 'Everybody knows' ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd23UVID7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd23UVID7k ). Incidentally, why is WP writing about him now?
- jeffbee 5y ago
  They're discussing a new book that was just published.
- bch 5y ago
  If you want to enjoy his work with pop-sensibility in the delivery I recommend checking out “I’m Your Fan”[0], where you can enjoy heavy weights like R.E.M. and The Pixies and a bunch of other really excellent bands interpreting Cohens really excellent songs. [0] https://youtu.be/ZMBlSnCM84Q https://youtu.be/ZMBlSnCM84Q
  - dhosek 5y ago
    I have a ridiculously completist collection of Cohen-related material (although far from complete). Another roughly contemporaneous tribute album is Tower of Song. It's not as good, perhaps because it features more mainstream artists (I go to I'm Your Fan a lot more than Tower of Song), although Don Henley's version of "Everybody Knows" is a great version of that song.
    - touisteur 5y ago
      Did you mean I'm Your Man? I discovered 'A Thousand Kisses Deep' some years ago through a Jackson Browne cover and it felt so strange to rediscover Cohen, when I'd stopped at the classics.
      - dhosek 5y ago
        I’m your Fan is a tribute album, notable for having the John Cale version of Hallelujah which was arguably the cover that led to the song getting over-covered.
        touisteur 5y ago
        Ah thanks.
mstade 5y ago
This is a brilliant rendition, thank you very much for sharing the link!

CoastalCoder 5y ago

Hopefully this question isn't too basic for this forum, but what's the difference between spirituality vs. being religious? In contexts like this I can't tell what definition(s) are at play.

jordwest 5y ago
I don’t know if this a generally accepted definition, but to me spirituality is guided only by direct first-hand experience, while religion is a set of beliefs from some other humans or books written by humans. Spiritual teachers are trying to point you towards firsthand experiences, as opposed to just asking you to believe what they say. Obviously there is some crossover between the two - spiritual teachers might be a bit religious and vice versa.
- RobertRoberts 5y ago
  "Spritualism" is just as man made as people claim "religion" is man made. Some verses in the bible that indicates that the "chrisitian" religion is _not_ based on man made ideas, but instead flies in the face of them: > "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person's religion is worthless." > "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." I think that using an argument of "spiritual" vs "religion" is a justification, not a fact.
  - redis_mlc 5y ago
    To understand spirituality, walk into the middle of a national park and just stand there for 5 minutes. It makes you understand why early tribes worshipped nature - it's beautiful, powerful, humbling and eternal, unlike anything man-made. Regarding organized religion, I think some prophets had worthwhile things to say, and some didn't. The remarkable thing about the Old Testament is how accurately it depicts both human evolutionary biology and early human civilization as understood today. Archaeology over the past 200 years basically confirms what it says. I would agree that it's the greatest book ever written. Marxism/Communism has tried to replace the Ten Commandments with an alternate doctrine for the past 100 years, and has failed miserably.

dhosek 5y ago

I took a class in Zen Buddhism while I was a student at the Claremont Colleges and there was a field trip to the Mt Baldy Zen Center (where Cohen was living as a monk at the time). Unfortunately, I was sick and was unable to join the field trip, but I also didn't know Cohen's music yet at that time. I did later play in a band which performed a rendition of Everybody Knows by Cohen and his frequent collaborator Sharon Robinson https://don.dream-in-color.net/music/mp3/01%20Everybody%20Knows.mp3 https://don.dream-in-color.net/music/mp3/01%20Everybody%20Kn... I never had the chance to see him perform live or meet him (although again, later in my life, I lived about a mile away from him in Los Angeles and didn't know it at the time). The Live in London concert video is a must-watch. Cohen just exudes charisma in his performance. Even though I'd heard the audio dozens of time from owning the corresponding album, when I finally saw the video performance I was drawn in like nothing else.