Philosophical thoughts 2 - The Tragedy Of Human Existence

Read this recently in a Cobra Starship bulletin on myspace and it really touched me and made me think. Thought it served as a good reminder to us all and thought i would share it.

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The majority of my life I feel like I'm playing this ridiculous role of the cliché "artist" who is misunderstood by the world. Somehow though, I've had the good fortune to have been humbled enough to comprehend the absurdity of it all, and to thus realize that a quest to be "understood' is nothing less than a self-absorbed exercise in self-righteousness, and that in truth, my only quest ought be an appreciation of my good fortune; to be grateful to anyone who supports me and helps me survive by enabling me to continue to do what I do. So who gives a fuck if I'm not "understood?" I'm just psyched and blessed that I have fans who love what I do. And if they love what I do, that means that they DO get it to some degree—and at the end of the day that's fucking awesome, because NO ONE can ever be completely understood. (That's the tragedy of the human condition—that no one will ever truly see you as you want to be seen. But fuck it—I embrace it.) And I'm psyched that people seem to like to what they do see, even if there are parts of me that maybe they don't see….and even if maybe I wish they would . . . .

But every once in a while, someone will reach out to me, or say something to me that makes me think "holy shit, some people out there actually do get it."

So I wanted to share with you guys an email this guy from Montreal sent me. I've only known him for a year or so, and I've spoken to him maybe 3 or 4 times ever. And I don't even know if he likes my band or not because he's more of a peer than a fan, but it really meant a lot to me that he sent me the following email.

xo-gabe
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On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:56 pm, xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx wrote:
take it for what its worth but i was reading this interview with leonard cohen and thought you could relate to this. i cant say really how. i guess in a genuine and humble way.

dont know if it makes any sense.

a

Did you start out seeing yourself as a poet or aspiring to be a poet?

LEONARD COHEN: I never thought of myself as a poet, to tell you the truth. 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.

JEFFREY BROWN: But what were you doing when you started out? How did you see yourself?

LEONARD COHEN: You know, you scribble away for one reason or another. You're touched by something that you read. You want to number yourself among these illustrious spirits for one advantage or another; some social, some spiritual.

It's just ambition that tricks you into the enterprise, and then you discover whether you have any actual aptitude for it or not. I always thought of myself as a competent, minor poet. I know who I'm up against.

JEFFREY BROWN: You know who you're up against?

LEONARD COHEN: Yes, you're up against Dante, and Shakespeare, Isaiah, King David, Homer, you know. So I've always thought that I, you know, do my job OK.

JEFFREY BROWN: There's a poem in this new book called "Thousands" on this subject.
You want to read that for us?

LEONARD COHEN: It is a very short one, but I think it speaks to the point. It's called "Thousands." Out of the thousands who are known or who want to be known as poets, maybe one or two are genuine and the rest are fakes, hanging around the sacred precincts, trying to look like the real thing. Needless to say, I am one of the fakes, and this is my story.