Trouble In Paradise

Russia’s war in Ukraine is now in its fourth year. America and Israel appear poised to redraw the map of the Middle East through a kinetic war with Iran. In China, Xi Jinping has dismissed his top general, reportedly to clear the path for an attack on Taiwan. In the U.S., power has consolidated under a strongman whose militia of armed, masked agents suppresses public dissent.

Gold and silver are rising. The dollar and Bitcoin are falling. America and Europe face internal unrest over immigration. Global debt has reached unsustainable levels. Technology is reshaping how we live and work.

Chaos reigns.

It is winter, the nights are long, and the days are dark, but not the darkest humanity has endured. We’ve been here before. And when we lose our way, we must return to the wisdom of our prophets, poets, and philosophers, like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, who can help us confront the truths we’d rather avoid: love, lust, betrayal, and death.

In times like these, Leonard Cohen’s final song, You Want It Darker, rings as true as any anthem. He draws on the story of Abraham, who was gifted a son in old age, only to be asked to sacrifice him. As Cohen chants the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, he offers a defiant response to the abyss:

If you are a dealer, I’m out of the game

If you are the healer, it means I’m broken and lame

If thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame

You want it darker

We kill the flame

There is a lover in the story

But the story’s still the same

There’s a lullaby for suffering

And a paradox to blame

But it’s written in the scriptures

And it’s not some ideal claim

You want it darker

We kill the flame

Hineni. Hineni. Hineni. Here I am. Here I stand. Ready. Not to defy the darkness, but to carry light through it.

— Sina.