Boy, does Leonard Cohen know how to tear the heart strings. “It begins with your family, but then it comes down to your soul”, “I have tried in my way to be free”, “The lovers will rise up, and the mountains touch the ground”, “Oppressed by the figures of beauty” “So long, Mary Anne”! If anyone stumbles on Phoenix Ark, in the mad maelstrom of the net, you’re very welcome. I’ve thought of a new slogan, “telling stories, not just selling stories”. Well, maybe not. But Happy Christmas, or whatever, especially to anyone lost or hurt, frightened, confused, browbeaten, or alone, young and old. You really aren’t alone, others have been there, across the vast, mysterious sweep of time and existence, so never, ever give up on you. It’s only about connection, and knowing the light again, the light deep in everyone, and the astounding power of consciousness and the whole self. The ones who make fear are in the wrong, who disconnect, or swap humanity for politics or power, and everything we do is part of making meaning. “And who, shall I say, is calling?!” Leonard, of course, via a fluttering Phoenix.