Leonard Cohen spent his life searching for the spiritual. Last night I saw a lovely documentary regarding Mr. Cohen and his world-famous song Hallelughia. Hallelughia is a powerful song…Just ask Shrek. Cohen spent years writing Hallelughia. Indeed there is a spiritual element to the piece that is palpable.

When you meet a person who is putting all of themself into what they are doing…they are inspiring. Whether it be a song or a piano piece or a sermon…the genuineness of the participant engages the audience. There is a bit of a spiritual emanation from someone who is acting from their heart. Something quickens in the soul of the listeners and a connection is made. That spiritual connection fills concert halls and churches with the mystery of the Meaning.

The surface is our safe place. We skim-read our books and periodicals and we multitask while we are engaged in family dinners. As we watch sitcoms on television and we know just where to laugh and yet have difficulty explaining why the program was funny. Too often we are waiting for Godot.

Rusty, we are as we search for Meaning in our Surface World. We look at our reflection in the mirror and turn and forget who we saw. Great literature is from the heart. Meaningful poetry is written by our souls. Happiness is the union of us with our fellow humans through our mutual heritage of being spiritual beings…in clay huts.

Words have power. Words carry lightning in a bottle. Words can cause our spirits to soar on the wings of eagles.

Sleepy we are as we follow our somnambulist routine. Don’t touch us…we break…yet we long for a touch from our fellow travelers. We must stay safe in our impregnable fortress. More locks are the answer…more guns will aid us…we must survive the coming dearth and plagues.

Survive we did. We are alone…with all of the time in the world to now follow our hearts and enjoy our books and faith and family. But…what was it that we were excited about before we became so…afraid?