Book of Mercy #20-24

[lizzytysh]

So glad for your return, Doron. Wish I'd remembered the "end of August" part. I love your and Mat's comments. This verse is not just coming clear, but is beginning to sparkle. Thank you so much to both of you for all that you bring. I love clarifyings and elucidations.

Thanks to all of you.


~ Lizzy

[mat james]

Hope your trip/absence went well DB.

I believe that the “sister” is the Christian Church, and the narrator here speaks from the point of view of the smaller Jewish community.

That piece fits the puzzle beautifully DB.
Keeping " Leviticus 19:9-10 (also 23:22)" in mind, this concept Leonard writes about has been around for a long time, longer than the Catholic Church and so has certain "universals" attached to it.
The "Cherry blossom" takes me to China and Japan and Buddhism and Tao-ism and the whole Zen thing.
"Estrangement" takes me to the "hermits", black sheep, rejects and odd-ball mystics of any culture.
But, now that you have clarified the origins of the phrases

(“at the furthest limit of her fields, the corner that is left, by law, to the poor”)

I feel a little more anchored in perspective.
Thanks DB.
Matj

[jaked]

Lizzy,
"here " is the place of detention.
Others will decide when the curtain comes down for me.
In the meantime the Go(o)d book and Bk of Mercy keep my soul strong.
And i accept i will reap what i sowed.

[lizzytysh]

Hi Jaked ~

We haven't heard from you in awhile. I hope that you will continue talking with at least Manna and me in the other section. I'm going to go on to the next prayer here. Maybe you'll join in on our discussion of it?


~ Lizzy

[lizzytysh]

Book of Mercy ~ Verse #24

In the thin light of hunted pleasure, I become afraid that I will never know my sorrow. I call on you with a cry that concentrates the heart. When will I cry out in gratitude? When will I sing to your mercy? Tomorrow is yours, the past is in debt, and death runs toward me with the soiled white flag of surrender. O draw me out of an easy skill into the art of the holy. I am afraid of what I have done to my soul, and the judgement is established like a sudden noise. O help me bow down to your anger. I lie beside the corpse of my idol, in the spell of fire and ashes, my word for the day of atonement forgotten. Lift me up with a new heart, with an old memory, for my father's sake, for the sake of your name which rings in heaven and hell, through worlds destroyed and worlds to come, tangible music shining between the hidden and the perceived, garbled in my ear and clearly the place I stand on, O precious name of truth uncontradicting. The scornful man will bend his knee, and holy souls will be drawn down into his house. Hedges will be planted in the rotting world, the young shoots protected. Time will be measured from mother to child, from father to son, and learning will speak to learning. Even the evil are weary, the bomb falls on the pilot's son, the riot shouts out to be calmed. The wound widens every heart, the general exile thickens, the whole world becomes the memory of your absence. How long will you hunt us with sorrow? How long will they rage, the fires of refinement? Blood drinking blood, wound swallowing wound, sorrow torturing sorrow, cruelty rehearsing itself under the measureless night of your patience. When will the work of truth begin, to verify your promise? Now that all men hear each other, let your name be established in hell, and count us back to the safety of your law, father of mercy, bride of the captured earth. Speak to your child of his healing, in this place where we are for a moment.

Having done what I did with the last one, making Leonard's and Esther having once been estranged and all [you see, I had him imagined enroute to that little cabin in Tennessee with his trailer, and stopping by to see her, regardless of the status of their relationship at the time ... oh, well... I much prefer the other interpretations, which make a heckuva lot more sense, anyway]; I'll let you other folks go first on this one, and I may join in later .


~ Lizzy

[mat james]

the bomb falls on the pilot's son,

Leonard Cohen.

[lizzytysh]

Hi Mat ~

That hadn't occurred to me, but war impacting our successive generations; and war, despite all the parties hope to gain, gets to the point of being destructive even to themselves; did. Or did you mean that this way of expressing a thought is very distinctive to Leonard?


~ Lizzy

[jaked]

In the Bk of Mercy the poet Cohen write:

"Now that all men hear each other, let your name be established in hell, and count us back to the safety of your law, father of mercy, bride of the captured earth."

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. "
Matthew 23:27

[DBCohen]

Thanks for introducing I.24, Lizzy. Although it seems to be the longest prayer in the book, I don’t have much to say about it by way of interpretation. Its main themes are atonement, and the wish for mercy, as often in the book. It begins with the – somewhat strange – fear that “I will never know my sorrow”, but soon goes on to list all kinds of existential fears and doubts. The “corner-stone” words that appear throughout the book are repeated here too: the name, the law, and mercy.

One expression that I find intriguing is towards the end of the prayer, namely the combination “father of mercy, bride of the captured earth”. “Earth” is usually portrayed as feminine (“mother earth”), but here the father of mercy is also the bride of earth. Is it an attempt to “degenderize” God? To regard him as both male and female? It would not be untypical of LC to go for such an idea.

Mat, you quoted the line “the bomb falls on the pilot’s son” without comment. I have a vague recollection of the cold-war era film “Fail-Safe” (1964), to which this line may be an allusion, if I’m not mistaken. In it, due to a technical error the US is launching a nuclear bomb on Moscow, and to avert an all-out war the American president (Henry Fonda, naturally), suggests dropping a bomb on New York to even things up. One of the victims will be the air commander’s son. I haven’t seen this film in ages so I may be confusing scenes from two different films, but I have a feeling this is the one. Anybody else knows what I’m talking about?

[mat james]

“the bomb falls on the pilot’s son”

DB, I was considering how our actions have consequences (often beyond our own lifetime).
The next generation may reap what we sow.
This took me to global warming, Iraq and international politics, history and to many other "bombs that fall onto the pilot's son."
I posted it without comment as I wondered where that little line might take others.
For me, it was the most powerful image in that verse (24) of Leonard's above.
When speaking to people off the land, the line "as you sow, so shall you reap" makes a lot of sense.
When speaking to soldiers or people from a war zone, "the bomb falls on the pilot’s son" may express the notion of Karmic debt a little more clearly/poignantly.
Leonard is suggesting that we tire of doing the wrong thing, and we know when we are doing the wrong thing.

I will never know my sorrow. I call on you with a cry that concentrates the heart.
...How long will they rage, the fires of refinement? (

Blood drinking blood (people killing each other)
and to your wonderings,

One expression that I find intriguing is towards the end of the prayer, namely the combination “father of mercy, bride of the captured earth”. DB Cohen

You might have mis-read this line DB. (It seems clumsily written). I suggest that it is not the "Father" who is the bride, but "mercy" (is the bride)."...mercy, bride of the captured earth."

[DBCohen]

Thanks, Mat. What you say about the sons suffering because of the sins of the fathers is very much to the point (and I still hope someone will remember the film I’ve mentioned).

I believe you are also right on the second point, and that I misread that line. “Mercy” must be the bride, but, since in English “mercy” is neutral, why would this concept be feminized? This takes me back to the first part of our discussion of BoM, a long time ago. I’ll quote some of what I’ve written then:

In some religions mercy is associated with feminine figures: the Virgin Mary in Christianity, or Kannon Bosatsu in Japanese Buddhism (originally, in Indian Buddhism, this was a male figure of a bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara, but in its passage through China it acquired feminine attributes as Kuan Yin, and as Kannon in Japan). In Judaism, and also in Islam, God himself is merciful. In Judaism (and even more so in Islam) the feminine aspects of the divine were neutralized in favor of strict monotheism, but mythological undercurrents continued to exist and burst up especially in the Kabbalah. As we go along we will have to examine to what extent the author addresses a male or a female figure.

I later discussed the idea of Sefirot in the Kabbalah, in which “mercy” symbolizes the male aspect in the Godhead, a fact of which LC must be aware. However, as we see here, he prefers to view it in feminine terms, if he calls mercy “bride”.

And even if mercy is the bride, this still leaves unsolved the issue I raised, namely that earth is also usually regarded feminine, but not in this case (unless we view it as a lesbian wedding).

[mat james]

I am not sure why, but I would think that "justice" is masculine and "mercy" is feminine on the scales of Law.

In some religions mercy is associated with feminine figures: the Virgin Mary in Christianity. DB

Yes, a Catholic reference makes sense.
Sisters of Mercy?
I think Leonard's work (and interviews) points to him appreciating the value Catholics place on the "feminine". (..."Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death, amen.") After all, it is the world of the opposites, as the Buddha would say.

And even if mercy is the bride, this still leaves unsolved the issue I raised, namely that earth is also usually regarded feminine, but not in this case (unless we view it as a lesbian wedding). DB

In a monotheistic, dualistic world, there can only be "Creator" and "created". In a way, if God/Creator is "masculine", then all that he creates is "feminine". So maybe this is where Leonard is coming from. As I understand it,in Catholic Mystical tradition, all souls (yours and mine and women too) are considered feminine for this reason. So, as I said, all that is created is feminine.
It fits.
Whether it is correct or not; I have no idea!

I have not seen the film you mentioned.
Regards to all, Matj

[DBCohen]

Seems like everyone had finally lost interest in the BoM discussion, or perhaps everybody is too absorbed in the poetry competition – well, that would be a good cause. Anyhow, it’s been almost three weeks since Lizzy introduced I.24, so I guess it may be time for the next prayer, hoping that the last few keepers of the flame will join in. I hope to post it during the coming weekend if I can. See you around.

[Manna]

Yes, I have been absorbed in the comp and in the playfulness that followed, and other things too. I have missed the level of thinking I used to get into over here. This one holds some appropriate things for what is current, the Day of Atonement being recent.

In the thin light of hunted pleasure, I become afraid that I will never know my sorrow.

sounds like he's feeling bad about feeling good. So then he goes in search of a meaningful sorrow.

this:

Time will be measured from mother to child, from father to son, and learning will speak to learning.

reminded me of the the opening of Frederick Douglas' autobiography. He talks about how slave mothers know of time-keeping by planting season, harvest, sun up and sun down. They have no record of births, deaths, marriages. But he has this memory of watching his grandmother's hands as they make a net. Marking the passing of time; he wrote at least that part in present tense.

[Mad_Musicologist]

Hi everyone,
interesting that you set out here for the Psalms 20 - 24, but I do not find no. 21, 22, 23, 24, you jump tp 25, for which then a new thread had been opened.
Anyway, things go that way, it is okay.
Anyone to comment on no. 21, please? I think this is a very important one, with a power that no other piece before nor after this in the Book of Mercy appears.
I was referring to that in another thread in the music place before I really found the poetry place.
I shall come back to you in the next days.
Mad Musicologist.