Part of the pleasure of reading about Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is ‘hearing’ the music running as I read and seeing how loved the piece is for so many people…a value that goes to the deep meaning, no matter how one understands the lyrics. Cohen reinforces my sense of deep meaning by saying, according to the author, that Hallelujah represents ‘absolute surrender in a situation you cannot fix or dominate, that sometimes means saying, ‘I don’t f—— know whats going on, but it can be beautiful.'”
The openness to not-knowing is in itself beautiful – no matter what the circumstances. I think it resonates with so many because we hear this truth in the music – balm to suffering we are willing to recognize in our own lives.
