Monday 30 March 2009

LEONARD COHEN: "If It Be Your Will"

The only way to escape from your shadow is to shut down the light. Hide in the darkness, surrender to yourself. It takes courage to pause for a while, much more than it does to live a hasty life and pretend you are busy. We live in times when we no longer need a rope to climb out of windows, but a “Shut Down” button instead. Fairytales have devalued since far too many Rapunzels are hiding in long-forgotten towers. With numerous windows too choose from, it’s easy to lose sight of the landscape around the castle. Yet the landscape remains the same, no matter which view you have or which escape you take.

The world has not changed, only what we get to see of it has become much different. Our grandparents used to live in a countryside village, or a city perhaps. Once a year, they went on a daytrip to the seaside, or the forest, whichever was available in a 50 km perimeter around the dot on the map called “place of birth”. Now we step into a plane and wake up in another continent the next day.

The more options you have, the harder it is to make a choice. It can be paralyzing having to make decisions in the first place. Some people are followers by nature, not leaders. The endless number of possibilities can be frightening, since the fear of losing out on something may outweigh the joy of winning something else.
Having choices can create a false feeling of security as well. Not all can be planned, not all can be shaped the way we want it to be. We can pick our destination, but we can’t choose our destiny. Destiny chooses for us.

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