We continue our exegesis of Leonard Cohen’s observations on saintliness.
The saint is grounded and earthy and following the contours of the earth—not angel-like and ethereal and airy. He/she is far from flying with the angels. Instead, she traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape.* The earth’s landscape and history is solid and often bloody and unpleasant, but the saint traces its naked reality like a faithful seismograph needle. In other words, truth reigns. No escape—precision, care, fidelity, presence are what matter. Like a needle recording carefully how earthquakes shake the landscape.
The saint goes deeper than the top of the landscape, to the depths where things can be both solid and bloody. The key is that he/she is “at home in the world,” no matter what is shaking and being shaken. Even if one’s house be dangerous and infinite, he/she is at home in the world.
The house shakes, the world shakes, but one finds a home in the world and does not flee the scene. Courage and trust reign in the heart of the saints.
They can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. They are at home with diversity and with diverse shapes of diverse human beings, and diverse hearts, whether fine or twisted. The heart comes in multiple shapes, and the saint is at home with all of them.
It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love. Cohen leaves us with his definition of a saint—a saint is “a balancing monster of love.”
One who can be present to and even balance a chaotic world and live and work and love therein. A saint is taken over, monster-like, by the power of love manifest in an immense balancing act.
Might that balance be between the via negativa and the via positiva? Between falling in love and letting go? Between the light and joys of life and also the pain and suffering therein?
One year after sharing these teachings, Cohen’s song “Sister of Mercy” came out. He tells us it was a rare song that he wrote in one sitting when he sought refuge from a winter storm in Edmonton with two sisters who were so exhausted they fell asleep on the couch. He sat in an armchair while they slept, and when they woke up, he presented them with the finished song that you can see below.
Cohen talks of how these two sisters befriended him when he felt he could not go on, how they brought him comfort, and also the song that he birthed.
He confessed his woes to them, and his soul was refreshed.
If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn,
They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.
The song seems to be a play on the “Sisters of Mercy,” a religious order of Catholic sisters active where Cohen grew up in Canada. Some interpreters see in it two ladies of the night as well. He is clear that they were not lovers in the physical sense. But they did wrap him with love that is graceful and green.
*Quotes from Leonard Cohen, Beautiful Losers.
Banner Image: Street medics carry an unconscious protestor to treatment during the “Yellow Jacket” populist protests in Bordeaux, France, 2019. Photo by Patrice Calatayu on Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree with Cohen that a saint is a balancing monster of love? What do you interpret this to mean? How does it apply to today’s news and goings-on? And to yourself?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society
Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
Way To God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey
Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond
4 thoughts on “Leonard Cohen on Saintliness, continued”
We are human and Divine, frail but interdependent/interconnected with one another/All Living Co-Creation/evolving Cosmos through the Divine Feminine Spirit of Love~Wisdom Present in Our Loving Diverse Oneness in the Sacred Process/Flow of the Eternal Present Moment…
Leonard’s intuitive observations run deep, so he is probably right about saints, balance, love etc. To this day, I cannot listen to his song about Joan of Arc without weeping inexplicably.
Thank you for the last three days of DMs, Matthew. I now see Leonard Cohen as a mystic–a prophet, a mystic in action as you say. Cohen truly seems to see beyond and into the fabric of things. We are blessed by his songs. Your question brings to mind my stance a week or so ago at a pro-democracy rally here in Prescott, AZ. A counter protestor a foot taller than me stood one foot away from my face shouting at me and trying to get me to answer questions designed not to elicit answers, but only to agitate me, draw me into some useless battle of words. As a designated peacekeeper, it’s my job to de-escalate any troubles and to encourage pro-democracy activists to stay peaceful and steady. When you speak of being a balancing force, that’s how I felt then. Ride the waves. Be solid in myself. There is no need to engage other than to hold my ground as the 800-900 activists around me stand up for the constitution, the rule of law, democracy, and fairness.
Matthew… now more than ever … we need your wisdom on the Re .Invention of Work …