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.)
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.)