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View Full Version : Lateralus-- the artwork and the title track


evilentity
01-06-2003, 09:03 PM
I.

To me, the presence of the word "GOD" in the mind in the album artwork could mean one of a number of things: 1) that the idea of God is merely something in our heads, 2) that we are hardwired in our brains to believe in God, or 3) that God is within us, in our minds.

Although a majority of Tool fans on this forum seem to be of the first opinion (no doubt due to the seemingly anti-Christian themes of Opiate, Eulogy, Disgustipated, etc.) but I think the last one is probably the one Tool intended most. This seems apparent to me for a number of reasons. First, it seems most consistent with themes in Alex Grey's other works of art. Secondly, it jives with comments Maynard has made in interviews that the true nature of humanity is spirit and that the target of his "anti-Christian" songs is mostly the religious authorities, the agents who corrupt religion, and a certain particular notion of God. Finally, the title track itself supports this view-- how he talks about swinging on the spiral of our divinity. Parabol/Parabola similar speaks of the "holy reality" that "we are eternal." Tool is either saying that God or our own divine nature dwells within us in some way. Also, notice how there are two pictures of the brain in the Lateralus artwork. The word God is only in the second one, the more interior picture. Thus God is within the mind.

II.

If the following connection posted in another forum is correct, that is, if that is truly the correlation seen in Native American mythology that Maynard refers to in his interview with Christopher DiCarlo (see http://www.cdicarlo.com/paper_04maynard.htm), an interesting connection can be seen in the album artwork.

Originally posted by Satan
Thanks to enemyjupiter contacting me over aim, I think I now understand the connection to Native American spirituality. Each color is symbolic of a direction, but that is consequential to whatever culture you reference. I'm guessing whichever culture Tool got this from, if indeed they did, had these direction/color connectios so that black-white-red-yellow went in a circle, another neat little spiral of the song. Much more significantly, however, the colors represent the following:
Black - Body
White - Soul
Red - Mind
Yellow - Heart


In the first page of the Lateralus sleeve, you see a spiral of light that either drives down into or springs out of a flaming eye. Notice that this spiral (the spiral of our divinity?) cuts a clear path through two notable regions, the head and the breast. If you flip a few more pages, you can see that this spiral cuts more specifically through the heart and the mind, thus the red and yellow.

If anyone can corroborate the color correspondences from a scholarly source that would solidify the connection and be much appreciated.

III.

A third, perhaps more trivial observation, is that the pose resembles very strongly a saint or other holy figure in Christian iconography. The sign of peace hand gesture or blessing gesture or whatever and the circumscribed pentagram around the head resembles a halo. Moreover, the whole figure appears to be bathed in light and there is a flaming eye above the forehead resembling the pentecostal flaming tongues.

I'd like to hear any more insight into elements of the artwork. Also, if anyone can further any of these connections of explain the significance of the four locations of the flaming eyes. A thoroughly researched page-by-page analysis of the elements of the artwork would be especially cool. (But please don't waste too much space with wild speculative theories.)

evilentity
01-06-2003, 09:41 PM
Oh yeah, another likely influence is a book by Timothy Leary (who Tool certainly appreciated) called Your Brain is God.

Bisquick
01-08-2003, 08:03 PM
I think this can shed some light on this question. If the colors do correspond to body,soul,mind,heart respectively there is a correlation with the stages of human development. Apparently "in infancy" a child percieves the world with little differentiation between subject and object. therfore it has only a fuzzy concept of body, and a simple basic soul to separate it from other people. Later the child develops a wholly separate conciousness and a greater concept of its spiriual nature (add some heart to the soul). Another interesting note is that the last page is the symbol of the buddhist double dorje, the lightning bolt that I am told symbolizes enlightenment and indestructability, as if mybe when you tear every thing down layer by layer what you end up with eventually is the essence, or the indestructable enlightnened buddha nature.

Dub
02-01-2003, 01:14 PM
In the indian yoga philosophy, at the base of the spine is the kundalini chakra, our most divine and powerful energy. (The little bit of god in all of us if you like) This is often represented by a coiled serpent. (someone suggested this is the meaning behind Maynard's tattoo - though his is a scorpion) If we awaken this kundalini energy, it flows/spirals up the spine to the base of the neck and brain, allowing us to ascend to a new spiritual level of awareness. This is what is represented in the video for Parabol/Parabola, in the artworks of Alex Grey and reiterated in the lyrics of Lateralus. The process of opening that third eye, a step towards "enlightenment".
The lines around the figure are representative of an aura.

This has probably been mentioned before, but I hadn't seen any other references to the kundalini, only a few posts about the other chakras.

Of course that's just one spiritual system that tool borrow from, there are lots of nods to christian and tribal belief systems. There might be only one truth out there, but there are many paths... and all that hippie jazz.

TheHeirophant65
02-13-2003, 12:17 PM
The positioning of the figure is not quite so insignificant. Specifically, the gesture of the hand is quite reminiscent of the benediction given by The Heirophant (V) in the Rider-Waite Tarot. This is the gesture of esotericism (the inner path to God/Enlightenment. I have personally seen many links (or at least synchronicities) between Tool's albums, Maynard's lyrics and the Tarot as comissioned by A.E. Waite and illuminated by Pamela Coleman Smith. I love it, because this simply falls in line with Waite's own theory of a "Secret Tradition" underscoring the Major Arcana of the Tarot, Celtic Graal legends, ancient mystery religions, Kabbalah, and the teachings of (of all things) the Christian Church. Personally, I'd say this image is a wonderful depiction of the Holy Graal.