Just asking.........

[Pete]

Did I find Leonard Cohen or did Leonard Cohen find me

[ladydi]

A very zen question, Pete.

Not sure of the answer myself, but Leonard burst into my life a couple of years ago and I've never been the same since. I know that makes me a relative newcomer to LC but I was vaguely aware of him, off and on, for over 30 years (except for about 15 "wildnerness" years in the middle). Then one day the heavens opened and there was Leonard was being lowered to me on a cloud surrounded by angels. Or, were they Hattie and Charley?

At the risk of using "religious" terminology, I think Leonard finds us and/or we find Leonard when when the time is right and our hearts are open.

[marjan]

Wow, ladydi, I just felt I had to let you know how much I recognise your story. I have exactly the same experience and feel like I've been only half awake most of my life. It's just mindboggling how I could have missed out on so many opportunities to become acquainted with music that has had such a profound influence on my life ever since I opened up to it, last July in Antwerp. Anyway, I'm just real happy to have finally found Leonard, or been found by him, as you will. It is wonderful to have this forum to share things like this.
Marjan

[Pete]

I stumbled upon him in 1970ish in the dark of the night. A few of us spent that night listening to music and we tried to stay awake and sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't and the LP's stacked on the Dansette were gradually discarded, except for one..and that was 'Love and Hate'.... and the songs found their way into my being.... and that, for me, was the beginning.
What if I hadn't have gone to that gathering?
What if someone hadn't brought along that LP?
Would I be me?

Did I find Leonard or was he waiting for me? I wasn't searching for him so therefore I can't claim to have found him...or was I searching for him without realising. Maybe the trail had already been laid?
I'm not very good at all this philosphical reasoning and it's bordering on religious idealogy so I'll finish there and just be content that I am me.

Yours, trying to make sense of it all

Pete

[TheSpice-BoxOfEarth]

Did I find Leonard Cohen or did Leonard Cohen find me

After a long winter all the sudden comes the wonderous morning,
when you'll hear the brooks singing praise for the sun
or you'll notice the trees cradling swaddles of leaves

Do you open your eyes, so you could see the spring,
or does the spring open them?
does the spring come, so you could see it
or so that it could see you?
spring is, because it is its nature,
you are, because it is your nature
how could two existences stay as stranges to each other?

[John Etherington]

To quote myself "those who most appeciate Cohen's music gravitate to it from a psychic need". I think it's a process of initiation with Leonard...when the disciple is ready, the master appears.

All good things, John E

[kwills]

To quote myself "those who most appeciate Cohen's music gravitate to it from a psychic need". I think it's a process of initiation with Leonard...when the disciple is ready, the master appears.

All good things, John E

You've nailed it for me there John.
My husband introduced me to leonard's work when we got married,(my husband is a few years older)he wanted me to hear Suzanne,so he bought Leonard's greatest hits album for me,recounting the time when he was young and at a party with some of his friends,when someone put on Suzanne by LC and just kept playing it over and over until one of his friends started to cry! It didn't hit me the same way the first time,but a few years later when I was going through some tough time ,I put on Leonard's album and the song Bird On A Wire hit me like a thunderbolt!
Ever since then I've been completly hooked by him.He is the master and I'm glad I found him.

[GinaDCG]

"27 angels from the great beyond, they tied me to this table right here" and put earphones over my head. They were playing 10 New Songs, and I was enthralled and hooked.

[holydove]

To quote myself "those who most appeciate Cohen's music gravitate to it from a psychic need". I think it's a process of initiation with Leonard...when the disciple is ready, the master appears.

All good things, John E

This surely rings true for me. My feeling is that, at the core of our love for Leonard and his his art is a very strong spiritual/psychic connection to this Man, who is a true spiritual Master. I think Leonard is a very ancient soul, and therefore has very intense karma with many people, and I think we have all known him in previous lives.

I also feel that the connection manifests because we need, or are ready to receive, what he is so able and willing to give. It is also said that for every step the disciple takes toward the Master, the Master runs a thousand miles (toward the student).

The word Guru, literally translated, means: that which dispels darkness and gives light (as in, darkness of ignorance/ light of truth) And what a unique and beautiful medium Leonard has created through which to transmit these great wisdom teachings!

[Pete]

Do you open your eyes, so you could see the spring,
or does the spring open them?
does the spring come, so you could see it
or so that it could see you?
spring is, because it is its nature,
you are, because it is your nature
how could two existences stay as stranges to each other?

To quote myself "those who most appeciate Cohen's music gravitate to it from a psychic need". I think it's a process of initiation with Leonard...when the disciple is ready, the master appears.

All good things, John E

A very zen question, Pete.
At the risk of using "religious" terminology, I think Leonard finds us and/or we find Leonard when when the time is right and our hearts are open.

Thank you for these thought provoking responses. I was 'just asking' and now I'm truly pondering
Pete

[Lilifyre]

For me, it's much like what John E. said.

when the disciple is ready, the master appears.

I always heard the phrase as: "When the student is ready the teacher will appear." Same concept, just a slightly different wording. But I have to say that it is so true for me. All my adult life I listened to the type of music that Leonard does, yet, I never really noticed him until sometime in this past year. How is it possible that I didn't know him sooner? I can vaguely remember hearing "Suzanne" done by the likes of Joan Baez a lifetime ago. I was never really impressed by it. I'm sure I heard "Bird on a Wire" over the years, but likewise was unimpressed. But something clicked this year when I heard "Hallelujah". That song, too, I had heard many times in the past, but it seemed just another "pretty" song. But one day I suddenly "HEARD" it! It spoke to my soul. I haven't been the same since. I was finally ready to HEAR Leonard. Hearing and listening are 2 totally different processes. Finally, I was ready and my teacher appeared. For me it WAS a spiritual experience. For the last 10 years or so I have been stumbling about in a spiritual wasteland. And, yes, I'll invoke a religious reference here. I was stumbling thru the desert like the Children of Israel after they left Egypt. The Bible claims they took 40 years to get thru the wilderness....a whole generation. The majority of those who left Egypt never made it to the "Promised Land". During that time I sought out many spiritual paths, yet each just seemed to circle back onto itself. Finding or being found by Leonard and his wisdom, has brought me home to a place I had only imagined. I know that my life was incomplete before Leonard spoke to my soul.

So, the simple answer to your question Pete:

Did I find Leonard Cohen or did Leonard Cohen find me?

Is a resounding, YES!

Lili

[indy]

Two years ago for Christmas I received several Leonard Cohen CDs and The Book of Longing from a friend. I immediately fell in love with his work. For well over a year, his music was just about the only music I listened to. I felt that Leonard was speaking to experiences I’d had over the last ten to fifteen years but had never been able to express. Like Lili above, I couldn’t help but wonder: How was it possible that I had never heard of him before? I remember receiving a copy of the poem “Bird on a Wire” from a friend in high school, but I never knew it was a song, never looked for other work by the same author, never even remembered the author’s name. I can say, however, that discovering Cohen when I did was perfect timing: comforting and challenging and reminded me of Rumi’s saying, “The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” I hadn’t actually gone back to sleep, but I was getting drowsy.

This year for Christmas I received Stranger Music and Book of Mercy from some friends with these notes attached: “David’s current favorite poet.” and “Ok, David’s favorite poet on God—this one we haven’t read.” I was delighted with the gifts and thrilled that David, who turned 14 on Christmas day, was another Leonard Cohen fan. After reading through this thread, I remembered I once told David’s mother I thought he was an old soul. She said that’s what a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka had told them, too, when they visited there several years ago.

I don’t know what any of it means, but I trust the synchronicities. Namaste, David. Namaste, Leonard. And namaste to all of you.

[indy]

Just coming back to say I’m also reminded of this saying from The Course in Miracles: “Those who are to meet will meet.” In person, through books, through music, through letters, through the heart, over the internet. Lili also talked about “stumbling about in a spiritual wasteland.” Yes, I was in a spiritual wasteland, or as a friend used to say, “I was spiritually bereft.” Then I wasn’t. Then, I’m not sure what I was. Rumi comes to mind again:

“If you want what visible reality
can give, you're an employee.
If you want the unseen world,
you're not living your truth.
Both wishes are foolish,
but you'll be forgiven for forgetting
that what you really want is
love's confusing joy.”

I wasn’t living my truth, and I wasn’t an employee. Maybe I was unemployed and not looking for work. Then I discovered Leonard Cohen’s words and music, and now I’m not sure what I am again. And that's a start.

[Cate]

It's nice to read these stories of how people found Leonard or how Leonard found them.

Did I find Leonard or was he waiting for me? I wasn't searching for him so therefore I can't claim to have found him...or was I searching for him without realizing.

Pete, his words were waiting for you as they do for anyone who needs to find them – I’m glad you did.
Now as for Leonard personally waiting for you – this could be an interesting story, I imagine you coming home one day, going upstairs to change and Leonard jumping out of your closet … ‘I’ve been standing here all day – about time you came home’