my interpretation of pushit

[Metamorphosis]

i know that we all have our own opinions on just about everything and this is just one of those things. but please hear me out, i think that what i have to say might be ground breaking! and hopefully enlightening.

first of all, i notice that the vast majority of you take this song for the relationship between the father and son, and in some cases the mother. but i have thought outside these lines, and i think this song has a more spiritual meaning to it.

first of all, my theory is based on the -as some call it, 'the universal energy theorum' which i am doing research into myself. i believe maynard is actually writing/singing about how he, his spirit is communicating to his material or physical body. the lyrics in the song completely support this idea (+ this supports the idea that the first 3 songs in Salival are about the spiritual universe and its interaction with us and the material world).

basically, the main theme is that maynards spirit wants to leave the body and the material world so it can, instead, experience the spiritual world.

anyhow, let me go through a bit of the lyrics... (i am going through the Ænima version, not the salival, it is irrelevant. they have the same meaning) -throughout the whole song, maynard is speaking from his spirit-point-of-view to his material body.

i will choke until I swallow... Choke this infant here before me -maynard recognises his body as an infant, and he finds it hard to accept that he must live with this burden. (makes more sense as i go on)

What is this but my reflection? Who am I to judge and strike you down? - maynard is both, his body and his spirit in one, so you can describe this relationship metaphorically, as a reflection. and because they are both 1, how can one have the right to 'strike' the other down. they should be treated equally shouldnt they?

But you're pushing and shoving me. You still love me and you pushit on me. -this is (what i think) the theme of the song. maynard's spirit is being 'pushed' and 'shoved' around within his material body. and the spirit does not find comfort in this, and how this material world is such an effort to live. and of course the body (metaphorically) loves the spirit, it gives the body life (you still love me). so here u have the body abusing the spirit by granting it discomfort within the material world, the body loves the spirit and does not mean any harm.

Take care not to make me enter. 'cause if I do we both may disappear. -maynard is referring to the idea, that once the spirit leaves the material body (to enter the spiritual world) the body will die for it has no spirit. and from a material sense, both body and mind are dead (as to disappear).

Slipping back into the gap again. -when maynards conciousness leaves the material world to enter the spiritual world he is 'slipping back into the gap' and when this happens he is neglecting his material-self, which the body dislikes. (your conciousness can enter the spiritual world through the use of psychadelik drugs and meditation.)

But i'd trade it all for just a little bit of piece of mind. -maynard wants his body to realise what exactly his spirit desires and he wants his body to acknowledge his spirit's needs and wants, maybe, not too sure on this one.

Put me somewhere I don't wanna be. Seeing someplace I don't wanna see. Never wanna see that place again. -maynards spirit is talking about how it is experiencing the material world and it doesnt want to be there. it wants to exist in the spiritual world.

Saw that gap again today as you were begging me to stay. -going back to a previous point, but here the body is pleading for maynard's spirit to remain in the material world.

If, when I say I may fade like a sigh if I stay, -perhaps a metaphorical term for where maynard's spirit may 'fade' or dimminish as a result of boredom within the material world.

you minimize my movement anyway, -the human body minimizes the movement of our spirits. our bodies limit our options of action.

I must persuade you another way. -if drugs (psychadeliks) arent going to allow the spirit to leave the body, then there must be another way...

There's no love in fear. -back to the main theme again... this material world is full of fear, pain, depression, its a horrible place to be. and we always hear that this world is so lovely and such a nice place to be, when its not, and this line is expressing that feeling/idea.

Staring down the hole again. Hands upon my back again. Survival is my only friend. Terrified of what may come. -survival is maynards only friend, means that everything else of material value has abandonded him. the spirit is terrified of what is to come within this material world.

Just remember I will always love you, even as I tear your fucking throat away. But it will end no other way. -and here is the punch line. if psychadeliks wont let the spirit leave the body so it can experience a much more divine place, then suicide is the only option. for death seperates the spirit from the body. Just remember I will always love you -well of course, the body and the spirit do have respect for one another. 'tear your fucking throat away' metaphoric for killing your physical self. 'But it will end no other way' the spirit has tried other theories to leave the body but they failed to work, so to use the body to kill itself (suicide) is a last resort.

thank you for reading what i have had to say. this concept has been within my mind for a long time now, and i really thought it was time to get it off my chest. i have written my theory using maynard as an example, and i did this for he was the song writer, but he could easily be speaking from a hypothetical point of view.

[Metamorphosis]

i have been expanding my ideas on this song, and i think it can go deeper still. a lot of the time i have said he is communicating to his body, but now, when i think about, i think a few lines in this song are actually directed to society and to the people that love him -not all the lines, just a few.

these are the lines that i think could be directed to people, rather than to his body:

But you're pushing and shoving me. You still love me and you pushit on me.

But i'd trade it all for just a little bit of piece of mind. -this could be to both his body and society.

If, when I say I may fade like a sigh if I stay, you minimize my movement anyway, I must persuade you another way.

There's no love in fear.

these lines could be directed to his body, to society or both. i wont bother explaining how they could be, i think i have given the general idea. i have the sense that this song promotes multiple themes, one of which could be that society are trying to stop, prevent, or manipulate maynard to 'not enter the spiritual world', to stay away from it, because of the disconnecting affect it has on human relationships. and maynard is saying how society/authority doesn't understand, and how it is so stubborn with its rules and ideas on the spiritual world. anyway... something like that... third eye has a similar meaning to this, i will write an interpretation on third eye soon, but not yet...

[Talonwulf]

I think your theory is pretty good. Hard thing about Pushit is that there seems to be a million different possibilities. We don't know if Maynard is saying it first perspective of himself, or of someone else, or if he uses his first person perspective as a metaphor of a group of objects. And so on. I think the only thing we can do is just guess, and try and open our minds to what it means to us.

[Salival]

Metamorphosis,
Do me a favor. I actually think of it in exactly the opposite way of you. I think of it as Maynard's body trying to escape a bad trip, and I think the lyrics support that to a the letter. Let me know what you think when you get walk through the lyrics with that mindset. To me, it that makes a little more sense. Some of your ground, in my mind, is a bit shaky and hard to grasp.

In my mind, Maynard still loves the other world, but in this particular instance, he needs to escape.

[paraflux]

I like your version of thoughts much better than most. Most see a level of meaning and cling to it without realizing there are deeper levels. I like to look for the highest level I can find and run with that one. Check this out, similar thoughts as far as the scale of meaning goes (bigger picture).

Originally Posted by paraflux

I see it as a man struggling with his two sides, survival and compassion. The gap is the void which must be crossed in order to pass from this hellish place to the brighter, higher ground where the race will go if we choose to evolve.

1) Choke this infant here before me
Whatever part of the race that refuses to realize our potential, whatever part of the race that refuses to grow up and instead chooses to remain infantile, the speaker will choke (metaphorically, of course, meaning he will do nothing to stop the death that will consume that part of the race). It is necessary, but this is what conflicts with the speaker's sense of compassion.

2) What is this but my reflection
The part of the race that refuses to recognize will still be a part of the race at this point, therefore a reflection of the speaker in the sense we are all reflections off of each other.

3) Who am I to judge just like you do
A question, posed to himself, describing the conflict.

4) Pushin me, shovin me down
Our littlest actions will affect everyone in the world. The group that continues to push after greed, lust, other physical things affect those who want to ascend spiritually. It drags us down.

5) Rest your trigger on my finger/bang my head upon the faultline
A dig at those unwilling to see their light, its almost as if they want the speaker to put them out of their misery, or they push the speaker to the point where he feels he is being pushed into a corner and needs to be rid of these people.

6) Put me somewhere I don't wanna be. Seeing someplace I don't want to see. Never wanna see that place again.
This is a miserable whining voice. The speaker is looking at the place where the people are pulling him, or pushing him, trying to keep him. He hates it. There is no reason to stay here when he knows the other side of the gap holds so many pleasures and the absence of fear and pain.

7) When I say I might fade like a sigh if I stay/You minimize my movements anyway/I must persuade you another way
The speaker tells the group that he will wither away if he stays here, but they dont care. They are selfish. They keep him down anyway. So therefore, he must persuade them another way, hence all the choking and ripping of throats.

8) There is no love in fear
This is the culminating factor!! He is compassionate towards those of the race that will not make it, but understands that they do not feel love. They only fear, and fear is what drives greed and other aspects of the race that we currently possess.

9) Staring down the hole again. Hands upon my back again.
Another reference to how he feels when being pushed around.

10) I will always love you as I throw your fucking throat away/It will end no other way...
This separation is done out of love, the speaker finds. To love the race, he has to take his part in helping those who want to evolve instead of worrying about the ones who dont. We will kill those who arent ready with tears in our eyes. We love them, but we also love life, and it is necessary to do this in order for life to continue.

[Luna Galapogos]

I like what Paraflux said, especially since it seems to agree with the idea of H. and it being about a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. One is telling you that you need to stay for these people that don't care about you or ascention (the devil) and the other is telling you that you tried to help them, you told them what was happening, and you encouaged them to expand, but they didn't listen, so now we must ascend without them (the angel). It is much like the story of Noah in fact. Noah told the people what was going to happen, he kept warning them and warning them, but they never listened. When it came time for the flood (ascension), they were drowned away because of their own stupidity/ignorance.

Also, as I read the original post, I was impressed by it, and I saw it as very plausible. I just took from the lyrics slightly differing view on what they meant as far as what the stanza was trying to say. But overall, it is a good thought/idea.

"If nothing else kills you, breathing will."

[paraflux]

Right, it was never my intention to REPLACE his ideas concerning the song, because they are great, but simply to reinforce views if possible. It will mean something different to everyone.

[AllforUnity]

Well not exactly everyone...l see both points of views as good. Even if they're different from the post that l made on this song...l still like them and consider them.

[whalethesecond]

i've just realised that these songs are very general and therefore can be interpreted in many many many many ways that all fit.

Your theory, metamorphosis, gives a feeling that the lyricist is very neurotic, how this effects anything, i do not know

[whalethesecond]

existentialism existantialism existantialism everywhere everywhere resurrection of Neitzche oh my god!

[AllforUnity]

Perhaps in a way we're all right...




And perhaps we're all way off.

[psycocylocibin]

I think metamorphosis made an excellent critique on this song. But thats the beauty of Tool's lyrics, there are just so many different ways to interpret them. Be that good or bad, who knows?

[AllforUnity]

Yeah meta(the rest). You've had some good posts.

[Luna Galapogos]

One could consider their music to be cryptic. Just cryptic enough to allow us to try and figure them out, but then cryptic enough for us to never come to any full agreement on them. Thus a fan following is created by those that care to dissect and interpret. Well, here we are. And I must say, I like it just as cryptic as it is. It makes it interesting, and I like the moment of realization when someone sees that it relates to something either really obscure, or something really blunt and to the point.

[royc]

i often look at this album like a story and all good stories have a story line. i see pushit as part of the rising action that was lit by a realization in jimmy. something happens in pushit that leads to the climatic purging in aenima. you guys have put forth some real nice ideas and mentioned other ones.

Take care not to make me enter...if I do we both may disappear.

is that a threat? here is something i just found
"All things arise in you, and disappear in you, whether feelings, thoughts, beliefs, desires, imagination, and what story lines we create for us to live in. It is clinging to it that gives it the illusion of reality. It is in this that there is the need to think that we need to be anywhere. There is no where to get, nothing to attain, It only appears that we are on the way to somewhere, that there is something to attain, we think we must get to that nirvana, heaven, enlightenment, awakening, void…….. You are it and always were, it is this ego that seeks that convinces you that there is something to attain, something to be gotten, somewhere to search. Your ego is the world that covers your eyes, that blinds you from the truth. It is said, seek and you shall find, but in seeking outside yourself, you shall never find. Awakening is where you are, right now, in this moment. "

as to tool and their lyrics you could write books about they were philosophizing right?

[AllforUnity]

Well we'd think so. But not for sure, of course. For all we know a song like jimmy could be about Maynards dog dying when he was 11, and the light he held was the flashlight lighting the ground when they burried him in his back yard. And the part where he says..."Through each vail memory...hold your light, hold your light, hold your light where l can see." Could be discribing his father talking to him about how Maynard's dog will live in his memories forever...and to hold the light more steady.




l really really doubt that is what the song is about, l'm just giving an example of how none of us really have a clue.

[Luna Galapogos]

Well we'd think so. But not for sure, of course. For all we know a song like jimmy could be about Maynards dog dying when he was 11, and the light he held was the flashlight lighting the ground when they burried him in his back yard. And the part where he says..."Through each vail memory...hold your light, hold your light, hold your light where l can see." Could be discribing his father talking to him about how Maynard's dog will live in his memories forever...and to hold the light more steady.

We are clueless. "If ignorance is bliss, then knock the smile off my face." (Rage) It seems to me that they are



l really really doubt that is what the song is about, l'm just giving an example of how none of us really have a clue.

We are clueless. "If ignorance is bliss, then knock the smile off my face." (Rage) It seems to me that TOOL is going to write about anything they want, and we will never know their intentions. In fact, I wrote a poem about something you would probably never guess, in fact I think I'll post it, give any interpretation of it that you see might fit, and then I'll tell you what it is really about. It will probably be a shock.

[paraflux]

Someone who is not a hardcore Tool fan was talking to me about them last night, or using them as a reference anyway, and said that "When you listen to Tool's music, they flip on switches in your soul, or mind..." and I cut him off. "No, they dont do that. They form sonic images, sometimes maps of sorts, that shine brilliant light on those switches you speak of. They shine the light and then start beating your skull, yelling 'HERE IT FUCKING IS!!!!!! COME ON!!!!! DO IT!!!!!'"

We do have a clue what is being said as long as we grant that music imagination. It is put together in such a way that all of us can see that light, see those switches. The ability to do this is simply astounding. It means that the music has to have meaning to everyone, which is an incredible task, it would seem.

[Luna Galapogos]

We are clueless. "If ignorance is bliss, then knock the smile off my face." (Rage) It seems to me that TOOL is going to write about anything they want, and we will never know their intentions. In fact, I wrote a poem about something you would probably never guess, in fact I think I'll post it, give any interpretation of it that you see might fit, and then I'll tell you what it is really about. It will probably be a shock.

Enigma
By, ???

The universe is hued with sin
Tantalizing my thoughts within
Drifter’s gait opes the drapes of mist-
The truant dissolves in dismal abyss.

Your insides spin while you sit like a statue
As the serpent swims to dispatch you
The Devil’s lunar dance deceives
The damned candid in shrubs and weeds.

Omens through obscurity seen-
Plume of prospect to elude the fiend!
But with your stirs, Satan finds-
Your dash to leave the gloom behind.

My soul was saved in the heat of play
Now he’s the monster, I’m the prey.

-Anne Igma
In collaboration with Amanda Reckonwith

[Peaceful Moments]

Just remember I will always love you, even as I tear your fucking throat away. But it will end no other way. -and here is the punch line. if psychadeliks wont let the spirit leave the body so it can experience a much more divine place, then suicide is the only option. for death seperates the spirit from the body. Just remember I will always love you -well of course, the body and the spirit do have respect for one another. 'tear your fucking throat away' metaphoric for killing your physical self. 'But it will end no other way' the spirit has tried other theories to leave the body but they failed to work, so to use the body to kill itself (suicide) is a last resort.

This tedious path i've chosen here, i've certainly would've walked away by now...

[AllforUnity]

Why did you quote yourself, Luna?

[Luna Galapogos]

Why did you quote yourself, Luna?

That way people would know why I posted a poem. It is for those people that don't take time to read all the posts. Otherwise I wouldn't have, also because Paraflux, posted after my last post. I just wanted to make sure people knew why I was posting a poem.

[Metamorphosis]

thanks guys for the feedback, its been great. i have something to say so i thought i'd post it here.

went to a party last night, had a session, got really stoned, drank vodka and redbull, got fucked up... i had reached a certain level of meditative spiritual awareness, my awareness of the real world had reached a minimum and i coma'd on the front lawn. a close friend of mine and his girlfriend put me into a recovery position and tied my hair back to prevent myself from spewing in it (my hair is long). by this stage i was in a deep meditation, i had already met ego loss, and i had a universal-oneness feeling. our big group of "friends" thought it would be funny to fuck with me for a laugh, they poured flour all over me, they were thinking about pissing on me, about cutting my hair and also about throwing me in the pool (which would have killed me), but luckly my mate stopped them from doing this. the reason im saying this is this, i was and still am absolutely angry at them for their disrespect they had for me, they were meant to be my mates... i was slipping in and out of conciousness, but i can still remember that at one point i was so depressed for their uneeded, un-invited hostility that i actually cried. what im saying is, this gave me the exact same feeling that pushit does, and the lyrics somehow support this theme or idea. "you still love me" "but you're pushing and shoving me"... its like, people feel a need to be hostile, they think its "cool" or something...

well, im hungover now, i just listened to pushit and my recent experience shed new light on the song.

also, i learnt something last night...
x = you = everyone = life = everything that exists... (this means a lot, even if it sounds wierd). cus, it is critical to understand that x = x. we are all equal, we are all the same, we are all connected on one level or another.

the smallest shape that can exist is a triangle (2D or 3D), it is my belief that the material world consists of triangles, so do the laws of physics, and also the obscure laws that science cant comprehend.

last night i learnt one of the core, or perhaps the critical basis of life. there are three points to it which form a triangle, they are.

x = x (or just x)
you believe in what you dont know
what you do know makes you depressed

at the moment i cant clearly understand what this actually means, but last night when i was meditating this was as fucking clear as the blue sky. somehow this makes sense and it is very relevant to our lives.

[NOeggs23]

i dont know how ground breaking it is, but i agree totally. It means the same to me.