Leonard Cohen on the Antidote to Anger and the Meaning of Resistance

The Marginalian highlights a pair of writings by Leonard Cohen on anger and resistance, drawn from his Book of Longing. In one passage, Cohen warns against the human reflex to seek authority figures during times of helplessness, calling it a dangerous impulse that underlies wars and reigns of terror. In a poem titled 'SOS 1995,' he advises taking a long time with anger, not wasting it in riots, and letting others off the hook. The Marginalian notes that Cohen composed these pieces during five years living in a Zen monastery, and presents them as a cautionary parable about the theater of authority and the price of false comfort.

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