How can I contribute to my society so it sustains and avoids the entropy of corruption, pollution, death and despair?
Cohen's song inspires me. I see our history on this planet as a cautionary tale of cycles, problem solving, good intentions and unintended consequences.
The first stanza of Anthem announces the birds sing at the break of day. This tells me that I need not look to our human history alone. I can find wisdom and inspiration in all living things. If the birds start the day by singing then I can do something every day. Music is like a prayer urging me to go on, not give up.
Those "little things with feathers” that Emily Dickenson called hope, were taken for granted by us, until Rachel Carson warned of a silent spring. DNT was killing so much of the natural world many of us didn’t notice until Carson pointed it out. It inspired the environmental movement to pressure the monolith of “the economy” to find a way without DNT. It did and “hope" returned in many places.
I am advised not to dwell on the past or “what is yet to be”. Just because an avarice in our human nature is driving our planet to crisis while the innocent "holy dove" is sold and caught and sold again, it doesn't blot out all hope for the future. Who is the holy dove and who is catching, buying and selling again? What is it that traps her? Is it our need to believe we can own peace and freedom forever? Is it spite? Or is it the will to power?
Humanity invented the market and those who prospered are now enslaved by it. How can I rise above it, change it, make it sustainable?
And what if it isn’t just an economic system? What if its a self interest so deep it only shows when the opportunity arises? What if I am so effectively conditioned to feel powerless that I cannot move forward or know what to do?
The song itself doesn’t get too stuck in the preaching: “Ring the bells that still can ring / forget your perfect offering”. After all I am not the conductor or composer but I am in the orchestra. My agency and problem solving skills are all I have but they come when something cracks and a sliver of light gets in.
It’s easy to fear the light I don’t possess, easy to let conspiracy theories discourage me. This is one of my tragic flaws. To feel incapable of reading the world and responding to it is natural, but only corruption benefits by my fear of being engaged.
If my society descends into fascism and hate, is my birth as a person with imagination and creative problem solving skills betrayed? If a social contract is harnessed beneath rules instead of love is that a “marriage spent” ? And is “the widowhood of every government” a reference to the lack of leadership, the abdication of responsible husbandry when profit is the only motivator?
Who can have faith in a lawless crowd? Injustice, racism, misogyny and greed does not offer a future. Violence has “summoned up a thunder cloud” and the killers need to hear from Leonard and the rest of us. What perfect offering could I ever possess that is more urgent than ringing the bell when the planet we depend on cracks under the weight of our wars and greed?
It is the deepest most difficult questions that let the light in even if my ego does not come out looking pretty.
(You can find the lyrics to Anthem here Leonard Cohen Anthem lyrics)
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