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View Full Version : previously unstated meaning...snake is not evil


paraflux
04-14-2003, 11:03 AM
I dont think anyone has brought this song into this particular shade of light filtering through the clouds but here goes.
Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. It is not just the tree of knowledge, it is the understanding of polarity, of right vs. wrong, cold vs. hot, Male vs. female, and other dualistic things. If you hold to the evolutionary tenet that 46&2 are where we are headed, 44&2 is where we are now, and 42&2 is where we were before now, then listen. In order to exist on this dimensional plane, we obviously have to be able to deal with this duality, these opposites everywhere we look. It was imperative for our survival to see this polarity. We saw it, Adam and Eve ate the fruit, and were immediately ashamed of their nakedness. Before, they didnt care, they were innocent. What the snake behind the speaker in H. whispers is what the damage COULD have been (extinction) and his blood before him (before the snake? the roots of what we have forgotten?) makes him open up his heart again (the heart chakra deals with joy of the spirit, and is shut down when consumed with fear or negativity). This knowledge of duality is what the catholics call original sin. They are right in a sense, it IS a flaw. But it was necessary to climb this 44&2 ladder on the way to heaven. In order to regain our true nature, we have to understand that this polarity is simply a balance for the One. When we realize this it will help us reach unity consciousness. Neither the snake or the blood (memory) have any real feelings, they are both considerate, not hateful, not harmful. Considerately killing me is when both the snake and the blood make the speaker realize that in order to live he must die to this world, making the jump to the next one.

Why is this song called H.? I hear things about heroin, maynard's kid, etc. I just think its a couple of lines that are connected in the middle. I am too connected to you.

Then, of course, it COULD be Heaven...

ParanoidMartyr
06-13-2003, 12:45 AM
Originally posted by paraflux

It is not just the tree of knowledge, it is the understanding of polarity, of right vs. wrong, cold vs. hot, Male vs. female, and other dualistic things
...
This knowledge of duality is what the catholics call original sin. They are right in a sense, it IS a flaw. But it was necessary to climb this 44&2 ladder on the way to heaven.

awesome meaningfully dense rant, paraflux.

what i want to share in this thread is about the snake. as most people already have said in this forum, the snake and the blood are much like angel vs. devil. lets redefine that a little.

yeah, the snake is not evil. it is the voice of reason. the one that makes Maynard to wake up and understand the possible 'damage' of anything [let that be returning to the heroin or clinging into his son]. the blood then it is the instinct. the need, the natural need to avoid loneliness whether is it by mentally blacking-out thru heroin or by obsessions.

the conflict between these two choices [that after all have to coexist, as being human an intelligent animal] brings no other result but masochism. the problem of being aware. take these verses of the song as an example:

"And as the walls come down and
As I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's alright.
I don't mind.
I don't mind.
I don't mind."

the verses describe a situation where the narrator [Maynard] is stimulated to forget his angst when looking into the eyes of someone else, in a domination of the feelings. the interesting bit about this is that, knowing the things that eventually may haunt him [the memories, and the black future that is dying] as a note from reason, he decides that the best choce is neither of the forces, but letting go. the repetition of "I don't mind" sounds to me like pure self-persuasion, ending in the masochistic chorus that we all know: the pain of being aware of the problem and still, denying any resolution.

thus, the snake [the reason] is the one that causes the pain. "being aware" is what hurts. in a state of mental-sleep the nature of existence won't even be a problem, nor the atttachment to the heroin/son [whatever H. means]. ironically, the catholicism condemns the reason [or the ability to think for yourself and to question authority!] because in it resides any possiblity of destruction of the dogma.. or even the self.

the snake is not evil, not at all. the human is too weak for it.

Anyone read the Unbearable Lightness of Being? that feeling [angst] of not having control fits perfectly into this song.

cheers.


ps. i've always seen the H as a diagram for equilibrium. four polarities. four choices. the life.

ParanoidMartyr
06-13-2003, 12:52 AM
Choices always were a problem for you.
What you need is someone strong to guide you.
Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow,
what you need is someone strong to use you...
like me,
like me.

paraflux
06-13-2003, 08:24 AM
I tend to keep my focus on the largest scale possible when experiencing Tool songs. Since the music is layered multi-dimensionally, meanings can be accumulated along the way, each door opening to an even bigger space than the one before. I am somewhat of an extremist, I like to go as far as possible without ever ceasing the search for even more doors.
The point is this, the largest scale possible that I have seen with this song is not one of personal addiction. That is smale scale compared to the meaning of where the race is and why we are there in the first place. Also, where we could go. I dont discredit your meaning, not at all. I just dont tend to focus on heroin addiction, since Ive never been addicted to heroin. Did I miss something? Did you draw parallels I missed?

ParanoidMartyr
06-16-2003, 04:13 PM
Originally posted by paraflux
I just dont tend to focus on heroin addiction, since Ive never been addicted to heroin. Did I miss something? Did you draw parallels I missed?

;) well sweetie,
the post wasn't about the H meaning at all. was about the choices -thus why i always stated both of the common meanings already given to H, the heroin or maynard's son-.

do we agree on the snake thing?

paraflux
06-17-2003, 06:19 AM
You can go ahead and refrain from calling me sweetie. I wont miss it.

I dont really know if we agree or not. The only thing I can say for sure is that we think differently (process-wise, not subject-wise) and we both see the duality.

dreamer
07-01-2003, 09:20 PM
deos anyone have any suggestions on further reading into the evolutionary theor of 42& 2 before us and we are 44&2 and ahead is 46&2? it would be much appreciated. thanks,