This might be the corniest post I ever share, because Rachel Platten's "Fight Song" is so generic and presented from an extremely privileged position - but it's also motivated a lot of folks, because it has a great vibe.
So... I'm going to create a thread of songs that actually inspire me, but this opener is a universal favourite - and a huge invitation to add your own.
What moves you forward (spiritual songs welcome too) when the world feels too hard?
Cohen's music spoke to me during a tough decade. This song helped me maintain a sense of objectivity as i was wallowing in myself.
The Guests - Leonard Cohen
Oh, how could I have forgotten Cohen! Thank you for including him for me! 🤗
My sister, when hearing Cohen, "what are these? dirges?" Pretty sure she has forgotten him
YOU WANT IT DARKER was the last album I bought in Canada. He was truly the master of holding light in balance with the heaviness of life. I'm so thankful he didn't live to see what we did to the world after his passing. His memory is a blessing.
"If thine is the glory
mine must be the shame
You want it darker?
Hineni hineni...
I'm ready, my lord."
"we kill the flame". holding it against those odds though, describes "the open hearted few".
Another sister is a Lutheran Pastor. Recently she's been questioning her faith due to the loss of a daughter to cancer, our father's passing, a couple of her b-i-l's deaths from cancer, all exacerbated by her parishioners' lack of sympathy for her struggles. I try to encourage her to keep her faith, while i've little faith in a spirit which doesn't find a way to manifest broadly enough in individual behavior. At least not in ways that overcome an overarching sense of doom. Yet we try.
I'm atheist, but also secular/global humanist.
I love the "humanist" identity because it shares what I believe in, rather than what I don't - and I get to share it with Christian humanists, Muslim humanists, Jewish humanists - anyone who sees human agency as important.
Each of us, in our communities, with the stories that matter to us, creates the agency to overcome that sense of doom. ❤️ Even and especially when it's hard.
Thank you for your presence with her in her time of need.
@richquaal
Another potent salvo--
"I've seen you change the water into wine
I've seen you change it back to water, too
I sit at your table every night
I try but I just don't get by with you
I wish there was a treaty we could sign
I do not care who takes this bloody hill
I'm angry and I'm tired all the time
I wish there was a treaty,
I wish there was a treaty
Between your love and mine"
Now I wish he *were* here to name it all.
Thank you. This was healing to revisit.
https://youtu.be/NU5FPAR7ass