from the tool front page Feb. Newsletter:

"E-MAIL SUBJECT: "10,000 DAYS PUZZLE..."

"Dear Blair, you might recall that we met a couple of times at Volto! Baked Potato shows 1.5 years ago. I am a neuroscientist that chatted with you about vision science, tryptamine elves, and more. After one of the shows, Danny recommended, based on my interests, that I read "An Homage to Pythagoras". Since then I have been doing some work with contemplative geometry using Robert Lawlor's book "Sacred Geometry" as a workbook. After some time, the pieces began to fall together, my contemplative eye has widened, and the story continues.

For the purposes of this email: I believe that I have solved the 10,000 Days puzzle, to whatever extent the word 'solve' can mean here, since the puzzle this album alludes to has been the eternal quest of mankind.

10,000 Days as an album maps on the Kabbalah Tree of Life (TOL). There are several layers:

A) The album has 11 tracks, each of which corresponds to a specific Sefira on the TOL. Although the TOL is read from the top down, I list it here in the order of the album tracks, with the corresponding English translation and meaning. (A) presents the basic structure that holds true across further interpretation, while (B) and (C) iare more of my own perspective on the songs and album and how it all ties in with mystical traditions.
1. Vicarious - Malkut, "kingdom" - (1st chakra); tribal energy; 12 tribes of israel; 12 zodiac signs; 12 apostles; connection to nature, environment, rhythm of physical life; baptism
2. Jambi - Yesod, "foundation" - (2nd chakra); communion with others; vitality; creative force of life;
3. Wings for Marie, Pt. 1 - Hod, "majesty" - (3rd chakra); integrity; majesty of God; confirmation; honor code with oneself
4. 10,000 Days (Wings, Pt. 2) - Netzah, "victory", "eternity", "endurance" (3rd chakra); endurance; commitment
5. The Pot - Tif'eret, "adornment", "balance" - (4th chakra); heart; compassion, love; harmony
6. Lipan Conjuring - Da'at, "knowledge"
7. Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman) - Gevurah, "judgement", "concealment" - (5th chakra); power of judgement; the right use of one's will
8. Rosetta Stoned - Hesed, "kindness" - (5th chakra); will power, voicing a confession
9. Intension - Binah, "understanding" - (6th chakra); the divine understanding and intelligence of God; intention is developed here in the mind
10. Right in Two - Hokhmah, "wisdom" - (6th chakra, third eye); the energy of wisdom; contact point between mind of the divine and the personal mind; takes wisdom to contact God
11. Viginti Tres - Keter, "crown" - (7th chakra); Divine consciousness

B) The overarching theme that first came to me in the album was that the album begins in a state of division (Vicarious - "carnivore and voyeur"; Malkut; first chakra; survival) and ascends up the spiritual ladder to a state of Unity in Cosmic consciousness (Viginti Tres; Keter; the crown chakra). Then there are 3 pairs of tracks: Wings 1+2, Lost Keys + Rosetta, Intension + Right in Two, which match up perfectly.

When the pairs are taken as one on the same level, the sefirot correspond to the seven chakras and seven sacraments in the Vedic and Christian traditions, respectively (reference: "Energy Anatomy" by Caroline Myss). The meaning of each sefira also matches up with the rough energy of each song, as noted above. In more detail, Vicarious is the energy and rhythm of the tribe and connection to nature; here the lyrics present the schizoid nature of man in a world that feeds on tragedy. Jambi is the foundation and center of vitality gained by communion with others, here referring to both the sun (Son in Christianity) and perhaps Maynard's own son on the personal side of the coin. Both Wings pieces are majestic odes to the endurance and divine "victory" of Judith Marie as well as Maynard's personal sense of integrity bestowed to him by Marie as well as his own endurance through her ordeal of 10,000 days. The Pot was for a long time for me a stand-alone track in the album, a kind of adornment; it seemed to bring harmony to the rest of the album in some uncanny way. Funny enough, the translation of Tif'eret is "adornment" and implies balance, which in retrospect match my feelings exactly. This track establishes harmony, albeit in a kind of helium-belting rant in an androgynous voice that seems, perhaps, to blend the polarized feminine and masculine sides of the TOL. It's reference to getting high integrates Lost Keys and Rosetta Stoned, as well as provides the cauldron that acts as an alchemical conversion point between the higher and lower sefirot. Lost Keys translates to "concealment", and along with Rosetta Stoned represent the throat chakra, which parallels with the song's protagonist voicing a confession. The "kindness" translation attributed to Hesed (corresponding to Rosetta Stoned) is actually referring to the right use of one's will; how one will use the power of judgement, hopefully for expanding compassion and kindness, according to the mystical traditions. Intension conveys a sense of understanding (Binah) of how the manifest world works, as conveyed by the lyrics that run forward and backwards; intention is developed in the mind in conjunction with understanding and the intelligence. Right in Two is a track that conveys wisdom (Hokhmah), and together with Intension represent the 6th chakra, or third eye. Through wisdom and understanding, God or Divine Consciousness can be contacted from the manifest realm. The Divine Consciousness is represented by Viginti Tres (Keter), which translates to "crown" and correlates to the 7th chakra, from which the TOL begins its downward descent.

(C) Track 6, Lipan Conjuring, is at the center of the album, and its track number ties into its position on the TOL, surrounded by a hexagon. Tef'eret (The Pot) is also at the center of a hexagon and functions as an exchange/balance point. Incidentally, The Pot's alchemical implication corresponds with the sacred geometrical significance of the hexagon as the defining crystal structure of organic compounds (the benzene ring). In Da'at, all the other sefirot in the TOL are united as one. Accordingly, this track is in a sense the central ceremonial fire from which the other tracks on the album reveal themselves; it is the conjuring up of duality so that the Divine Light (emanating from pulses in Viginti Tres, Keter at the crown) can descend and be seen through the crystallizations of the individual tracks. Indeed, a wave-like pulsation is found throughout the album, which to my mind is the cosmic pulsation from Keter. Da'at is not commonly conveyed in depictions of the sefirot and it is not a proper sefira; it is all of them as one. Da'at serves as the connecting point between the sefirot closer to the Source (later tracks) and the sefirot further down in manifestation that deal with emotions (earlier tracks). Furthermore, Da'at is situated in the so-called "Abyss" of the TOL, a kind of no-man's-land between the archetypal and manifest (Real and Unreal, respectively, in Aleister Crowley's words) that acts as a mirror or reflection point for higher and lower halves of the TOL. Hence, the placement of Lipan Conjuring at the center of the album is appropriate: it is from here that a recognition of the higher level patterning of the album begins to be apprehended.

The track ordering of the album is one sense indicative of the songs' spots on the TOL, but in another sense, the ordering is nonlinear and hyperdimensional; it must be contemplated from a standpoint of sacred geometry, mysticism, and repeated listening so that musical patterns and motifs can elucidate the mystery of the Tree of Life.

If my interpretations are not the purported "solution" the 10,000 Days puzzle, I hope that they offered you an entertaining and thoughtful read. If nothing else, 10,000 Days-apart from being an incredible album that has brought me much bliss and divine communion in listening-has been a wonderful link between my own musicianship, yoga, and studies of consciousness. I would love to hear your feedback regardless of whether or I've lost the keys to unlocking this puzzle." Best regards, Gabriel

MY REPLY:

Great job, and it only took a neuroscientist to figure this out. Thanks, my friend!"