How does the intro change the meaning?

[4th Eye]

This live version has a different intro than the album version. Do you think it changes the meaning of the entire song? Leary doesn't talk about drugs like Hicks does. It's more like meditation that he's talking of and opening the third eye using it when album's Hicks-intro is about acid. The lyrics to the song are the same in both versions though...

So I think Third Eye is about becoming open-minded and all that stuff but the different versions of the song and the different intros mean different ways to activate the third eye and become open-minded. With meditation or with drugs.

[BlankFace]

I think its about opening the third eye through the use of drugs... leary was definely all about that.

One line i have found that does not seem to be in any lyric for Third Eye goes: "you ruined my life, you ruined my life... You opened my eyes, you opened my eyes"

I think that right there gives away the meaning of the song, use drugs (hallucinagens, they expand the mind rather shrinking the mind like depressants) to open your third eye

Faith in chaos!

[hoodling1229]

i think the opposite. this intro says that drugs are not needed: only desire and patience. this intro is necessary to put you into that state of mind: if there was no intro, you would be too impatient about the song and not enjoy it

[paraflux]

I'm with hoodling. The point is to reach the eternal state of expansion without the use of anything other than our own biological chemistry. Hallucinogenic experiences will always have an end, the goal is to reach that high and stay there.

[royc]

paraflux is it unreasonable to believe that we have arrived at this modern stage of consciousness thanks to the psychotropic investigation of our ancestors?

[Gizmo]

maybe we have to question learys question of questioning questionable authority....

[Tantobourne]

I'm more inclined to interpret it the way I've experienced it. The first mind-blowing drug trip I had left me thinking that it could be done without the drugs. The LSD I took at the time ripped me out of any sense of security whereas a more methodical approach or 'meditated' angle would/can achieve the same results, although perhaps not as quickly. In a way, it was like fast-forwarding to my death and being given a glimpse of eternity and then being yanked back to the here-and-now. Talk about rude awakenings.

Both song intros, to me, compliment each other and seem to reinforce rather than change the meaning that I get out of the song. And of course, saying "You can do it without drugs" doesn't help the curious who will simply do it and come to their own conclusions, regardless of what another person says. Yes, I think it's possible but at this point in my life I don't see any reason to short-circuit the bilogical process and try to get to my nirvana any quicker.