I found that things became a lot easier when I no longer expected to win. You abandon your masterpiece and sink into the real masterpiece.
Interpretation
Expecting to win can create unnecessary pressure; embracing the present and the process leads to a deeper understanding of life.
In this quote, Leonard Cohen suggests that when one relinquishes the need to achieve particular outcomes or victories, life becomes more manageable and enjoyable. By letting go of our expectations, we can appreciate the beauty of the present moment and the process of creation, which he describes as the 'real masterpiece' in contrast to the unattainable ideal we often chase.
In practice
Use this quote in a conversation when discussing the importance of enjoying the journey rather than focusing solely on outcomes.
What is most original in a man's nature is often that which is most desperate. Thus new systems are forced on the world by men who simply cannot bear the pain of living with what is. Creators care nothing for their systems except that they be unique. If Hitler had been born in Nazi Germany he wouldn't have been content to enjoy the atmosphere.
I always thought that poetry is the verdict that others give to a certain kind of writing. So to call yourself a poet is a kind of dangerous description. It's for others; it's for others to use.
Be With Me In The Phases Of My Work Because My Brain Feels Like It Has Been Whipped And I Yearn To Make A Small Perfect Thing Which Will Live In Your Morning Like Curious Static Through A President's Elegy Or A Nude Hunchback Acquiring A Tan On The Crowded Oily Beach.
I heard of a man who says words so beautifully that if he only speaks their name women give themselves to him. If I am dumb beside your body while silence blossoms like tumors on our lips it is because I hear a man climb stairs and clear his throat outside our door.
I think what we like about music - and what we like about art in general....is that enterprise that stops our minds from spinning. Because we're always all over the place. A good song, a good lyric is a movie: it will just focus and calm and confer significance on this completely bewildering reality that all of us live in.
Most of the time one is discouraged by the work, but now and again by some grace something stands out and invites you to work on it, to elaborate it or animate it in some way. It's a mysterious process.
Think of our physical sustenance. It is truly heaven-sent. The necessities of air, food, and water all come to us as gifts from a loving Heavenly Father.
Much of what ails our modern life is exactly because we reduce the value of a human being to a number, say salary or consumer power.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present.
The world does not speak. Only we do. The world can, once we have programmed ourselves with a language, cause us to hold beliefs. But it cannot propose a language for us to speak. Only other human beings can do that.
Landmines distinguish themselves because once they have been sown, once the soldier walks away from the weapon, the landmine cannot tell the difference between a soldier or a civilian - a woman, a child, a grandmother going out to collect firewood to make the family meal.
The only thing wrong with Christianity is the lack of suffering.
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