LEONARD COHEN'S FAMOUS BLUE RAINCOAT
This has been a brutal year, a transformative year, and most of all a very reflective year. I speak not only for myself I think, but for many of us. Leonard Cohen's death this week was a huge catharsis for me. Just a few weeks ago I listened to a rebroadcast of his interview with Terri Gross on her Fresh Air program in 2006. She asked him a question about the meaning behind his song “Blue Raincoat”. His answer was a lightening bolt of recognition for me. Here is the excerpt of the interview that brought me into self alignment and awareness. GROSS: What about the image? Do you remember how you got the image of the famous blue raincoat torn at the shoulder? COHEN: Well, I had a blue raincoat. It was a Burberry. And it had lots of buckles and various fixtures on it. It was a very impressive raincoat. I'd never seen one like it. I think I bought it in London. And it always resided in my memory as some glamorous possibility that I never quite realized. So it began to stand for that unassailable romantic life, the opposite of a cloak of invisibility, the garment that would lead you into marvelous erotic and intellectual adventures. So that's what the symbol was, I think. I've found it very hard to create, think, write or communicate this week. And then I listened to the Cohen interview again and I realized when I create, I take an in-breath. When I release it out into the world, I am taking an out -breath. So in the spirit of breathing again and spinning positive energy out into the world in my own way I am conjuring my own "blue raincoats" for you so you can go “into marvelous erotic and intellectual adventures.” Thank you Leonard, for leading me back to myself. Hallelujah. As our journeys continue and I thank you again, always, for being a part of my soul's journey – conjuring possibilities - leading me back to myself and out into the world again. |
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