Hallelujah

Hello Fellow Traveller,

There is extraordinary beauty in the world, and also profound suffering.

I feel the song ‘Hallelujah’ – written and first performed by Leonard Cohen – seeks to touch something transcendent that encompasses both that beauty, and that suffering.

As Cohen said in music journalist Alan Light’s biography The Holy or the Broken:

This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled. But there are moments when we can transcend the dualistic system and reconcile and embrace the whole mess.

I felt proud to sing Cohen’s anthem at a concert earlier this month.

I’m pleased to share the recording with you, which begins with the famous line, “I’ve heard there was a secret chord / That David played and it pleased the Lord”.

Thank you for listening 🙏

Jason

xxxx

Cohen designed this symbol of interlocking hearts – based on the Star of David – for his poetry collection Book of Mercy. The collection inspired his studio album Various Positions, on which ‘Hallelujah’ first appeared. Cohen’s symbol of The Unified Heart encapsulates his personal – and universal – vision of the reconciliation of opposites and dualities.