I had a look at the ‘mandorla‘, that is a very interesting symbol.

For me there’s a wonderful synergy between the words of this anthem, and a symbol that is associated with Chalice Well in Glastonbury – the ‘mandorla‘.

In a ‘mandorla’ the focus is that almond shape created where two circles intersect – and it’s a space in which we are invited simply to ‘sit and be still’ in the middle of seeming paradox. If we can do so quietly, and simply accept what is rather than try to resolve the difference or ‘take sides’, a new understanding or paradigm will emerge.

From my perspective, Cohen’s anthem offers a similar invitation. Often we can be tempted to reject or bemoan the ‘cracks’ we encounter in life – the faults, the broken pieces, or the pain. But if we can simply ‘be still’, accept them and embrace them, they offer us the gift of ‘light’, of new learning, new understanding and growth.

Perhaps another way of expressing this can also be found in the words of another poet – Kahlil Gibran:

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.”

Thank you for sharing this and for inspiring me to reflection.