My Thoughts

[5-MeO-AmT]

Mildewed and smoldering. Fundamental differing.
-Something that has a "superficial growth." (Human beings do this - Religion)
-Something that is smoldering is not burning at it's fullest light.
-The conflict or differing seems necessary?

Pure intention juxtaposed will set two lovers souls in motion
-Pure (the whole) intention (concept, truth) seperated into two parts, "right" - "wrong"
-The two lovers are "right" - "wrong", the motion is switching places.

Disintegrating as it goes testing our communication
-Disintegrating, again the whole is falling apart.
-Communication, perhaps the "lovers" are transmitting their jugdments upon each other.

The light that fueled our fire then has burned a hole between us so
-The truth (perhaps a joke, the light of moral values that seems to be held by say Christians.) has fueled the smoldering fire and burned away our self.

We cannot see to reach an end crippling our communication.
-See (synonymos for Judge) We can not use this "truth" to reach an end, because it cripples our communication.

No fault, none to blame it doesn't mean I don't desire to
-Perhaps expression of anger for the Judgement being passed between people of today's society - that seperates us - but there is no way to express this anger without judging.

Point the finger, blame the other, watch the temple topple over.
-Desire to judge, and watch all that was learned crumble.

To bring the pieces back together, rediscover communication
-Bring these concepts of "right" and "wrong" back together where there would be no judgement.

The poetry that comes from the squaring off between,
-I think this verse is important and beautiful. The "squaring off between" could mean the combination of "right" - "wrong" for a standard. Or deviation from the "norm" or "truth".

And the circling is worth it.
-To move or revolve around this standard, without "truth." Because it's worth it.

Finding beauty in the dissonance.
-Only beauty can be found in the conflict, because that is what human beings are. If we were truth and we knew the answers - we certainly wouldn't be here.

Mildewed and smoldering, strangled by our coveting
-We are strangled by our desire to be "outside" of truth, to be beyond truth. Why can't we simply exist within the truth?

I've done the math enough to know the dangers of our second guessing
-Enough deviation from the truth has brought an understand of the dangers of our questioning. Questioning what though?

Doomed to crumble unless we grow, and strengthen our communication.
-We are doomed to die - to watch the temple topple over - unless we stop judging and learn to communicate our ideas effectively without judging one another. Without saying, "you're dead wrong."

Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any
-This is a stretch, but dead silence (synonymos for Oblivion - the state of being forgotten.)

Sense of compassion
-Sense also means - one or two opposite directions. Without these opposite directions would we have no compassion? We would not be able to understand what compassion is - because their would be no basis for comparison.

Between supposed lovers/brothers
-Between us?


Strange. Perhaps it continues the theme of "Let go." Perhaps not.

[Navid]

Here's another interpretation. At the core of it, it's hard to misunderstand the general message of the song. However, after speaking with a friend of mine recently, I realised I was missing one of the levels of this song. See what you guys think of this:

I know the pieces fit cuz I watched them fall away
Mildewed and smoldering. Fundamental differing.
Pure intention juxtaposed will set two lovers souls in motion
Disintegrating as it goes testing our communication
[These lines are generally interpreted the same by most people. It refers to the argument and conflict that arises from something which once seemed so unified. However, to grasp the meaning - as I see it - behind other lines in the song, it's necessary to call to mind the tale of the Tower of Babel. It is the pieces of this tower that once fit and have now fallen away. As they fall and the unified tongue of humankind is sundered into several different languages, our communication is tested. We must work harder to communicate with eachother.]

The light that fueled our fire then has burned a hole between us so
We cannot see to reach an end crippling our communication.
[The light that originally fueled their fire - or passion - was that of Heaven. They sought to reach it using the Tower of Babel. That same light cast down their tower, burning a hole between them, crippling their communication by causing them to speak different languages.]


I know the pieces fit cuz I watched them tumble down
No fault, none to blame it doesn't mean I don't desire to
Point the finger, blame the other, watch the temple topple over.
To bring the pieces back together, rediscover communication
[The pieces did fit since, once, the tower - or temple - was whole. Through no fault of the builders - and no fault in the construction - it toppled and tumbled down. Regardless, the builders desire to blame others for the destruction of their labours, since they cannot argue face-to-face with God for destroying their tower. At the heart of the matter, they desire to rebuild the tower and - hopefully - rediscover that which they lost with its fall - a common language.]

The poetry that comes from the squaring off between,
And the circling is worth it.
Finding beauty in the dissonance.
[My favourite part of the song. The loss of a common language for humankind results in several different tongues, all creating poetry, art and whatnot. The beauty in different languages is well worth what was initially a loss and test of communication. There is beauty in the seeming dissonance of different languages.]

There was a time that the pieces fit, but I watched them fall away.
Mildewed and smoldering, strangled by our coveting
I've done the math enough to know the dangers of our second guessing
Doomed to crumble unless we grow, and strengthen our communication.
[Although the tower stood once, it toppled due to their coveting of Heaven. Second-guessing themselves and wondering what might have been could result in more retribution from on-high. Humankind will crumble unless we seek to move on and strengthen our communication by learning eachothers languages and conversing.]

Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any
Sense of compassion
Between supposed lovers/brothers
[With the fall of the Tower and the loss of the common tongue, humankind was faced with two possible lines of action to seek to avoid argument. One was to learn eachothers unique languages and understand eachother. The other line of action would have been to simply no longer converse. However, this cold silence would atrophy any sense of compassion between those that had once been so close.]

When the Tower of Babel is considered, I think the song gains another level of meaning. It's still the same message at the heart of it, but I enjoy the extra layer of complexity. Although the loss of a common language was a barrier to be overcome - and did result in much warfare and bloodshed - the poetry that arose from that squaring off - the music of all different languages - is well worth the loss, and it is now necessary to understand eachother to strengthen our ties once again and understand eachother. Cold silence will only wither away what sense of connection is left.

Once again, it was a friend that revealed the extra meaning in the song to me. (Well, as he saw it -anyway. I must say, I agree). So, Mark - if you read this - kudos on the interpretation.

If this post pisses you off, just remember - it doesn't have to be your interpretation. It's just someone elses opinion.

[cold and faded anger]

Both of these are really complicated...and they both make sense either way. Just saying both are good but I somehow got an anti-war thing out of the whole thing.