Now i could understand symbolism in the other videos...........but this one just boggles me. This video seems more complex. But the most complex things tend to have the simplest out comes.
It is my favorite video, visually.
Since the song seems to have tio do with the sexual experiance (open for an sudjestions), could the Parabol part be the woman.....The song and pace seems much more how a woman would act in sex...slow and eligant. That could explain the circle which is dischared at the end. Could this be the egg.
Or could it resemble how sex begins, slow and such the calm before the storm.
Now Parabola is louder, force full. more like a man in sex. but the video seem to have nothing to do with sex.
At first the man doesnt seem to like those rocks. Then there is root, plant, peice which resembles a face of something. The little freind is introduced and seem to be a companion of the man. Then the ball comes and from then the ball morphs into a ball made of many balls. The man is now distracted by the windo and while thisis hapening the ball attacks the creature and kills it. The man is mad at the ball and attacks him back but does not kill him. The man Cuts the little companion in half.
Then the man goes outside and picks up the leaf. And the ball form watches, it seems they are jealous of each other... well i really couldnt tell the emotion in that seen where the man is looking at the ball. The leaf become the energy, spirt, unconsious, whatever it represents, and enters the peroson. The person begins a euphoric like state, the one that resembles what Tool is talking about in Third Eye. His mind and body are cojoined and leave his body into the network of all beings. (**"All one mind**) and then turns into the flower of life, which in sacred geometry is a symbol which is in every part of everything.**
i have know idea what these things have to do with each other or how they relate.
(note the combination of alex grey art works
The sacred mirror project show the connection of the body, mind, and spirit. It also shows the progression from the material world to the spiritual world
"the Sacred Mirrors present a multi-dimensional search for the Self. The Self is recognized as that which underlies, unites, and directs the many physical systems and the spectrum of consciousness. The purpose of the Sacred Mirrors is to reflect on and appreciate the sacredness of the individual, one's unity with other people and cultures, and one's connectedness with the earth and cosmos." -Scared Mirrors website )
**I wish i could get more into these things, Sacred Geometry, Art, and all these concepts i get from Tool, that are really interesting. But i'm 14 and funds are little and so is my time. But like like the qoute from at the beginning of these boards, i should not set limitations on my self and let my self indulge... ::looks at sig...remebers theme of the song....thinks......is happy.:: :)
__________________ This tedious path I've chosen here...
They did the art for much of Schism and some of the leftovers fell into Parabola. Much of the same is to be said of www.happypencil.com
of course I am taking both of these links from toolband.com, but when it comes to the art from the recent video's these sites must be seen, they explain much. And don't forget to check out Transfigurations by Alex Grey.
Here's a complete explanation of the video from my Point of view. Only of the last part, with the black guy, not of the beginning (the circle on the table, apple, etc.).
The man is obviously a representation of anybody. He stares out the window because the window is his life, and he's too involved in his life to bother with his spiritual self (the little guy). He sometimes does things that take his mind away from everything (the glass box). Then comes the black circle, the stress and pain that he goes through in everyday life. It constantly grows bigger and gets more little circles attached to it as more things happen, and finally it destroys his spiritual self and he snaps, and yells at it, trying to make it go away. He examines the mutilated form of his spiritual self, and takes it apart, but somehow doesn't understand all the parts to it. He finally gets lost in his life, instead of watching it from a window, but the pain and torture of the black ball keeps following him, and he glimpses it occasionally, and remembers all of it. In the end, he picks up a leaf, a small specimen that makes him realize himself, and he slowly becomes one with the universe, as the energy from the earth runs up his spine into the universe and connects him, and he becomes at ease with himself.
This isn't a story about anyone in particular, it's sort of a suggestion to everyone. We all have the big black balloney thing, and it tortures us all, and sometimes people use the glass box, which may put it away for a while.
The spiritual self is something everyone tunes out at some point, and using any method they can (even the original teachings of Christ follow this) they need to become more attuned to themselves and the "creator" (you don't have to believe in a God to be able to attune yourself to the universe).
Also, in the beginning of the video, with the circle. A circle represents harmony. Think about it.
__________________ "You have to be happy with what you have to be happy with."
-King Crimson
Wow, this was really interesting :) I have seen and experienced this video really different, like "opposite" from ViciousChicken.. And I have actually never seen this or heard this song and connected it to sex, so that was really new for me :) So I figured putting my interpretation out here for thought provoking purposes :) May be hard to follow so I will apologize in advance..
To me, this video is about Life and Death and the necessity in becoming Whole. Yes, can maybe sound strange, but I will try to form my thoughts into words..
In the beginning of the video, you can see the zooming out of the smallest "particles" [energy] creating patterns. You will be able to see the pattern of the altar before it is visualized as an altar, showing how energy is linking everything together creating Matter..
Standing around the table, three which always has been viewed as a scared number, maybe symbolizes Body/Mind/Spirit joining together?
The apple has always been sacred fruit in the nature-based understandings of Life, signifying the same as the egg - Birth.. When he cuts the apple, you see the major symbols in our cultures; the pentagram and the six-pointed star [sacred geometry]- coming together as one Symbol.. as Oneness..
Circling the table letting "fears" out, to me at least, like a cleansing ritual creating a wholeness - a circle.. When they join in that and create the circle, there is "birth".. A balance between Body, Mind and Spirit.
The tree that centers the video after that is very interesting. Within the tree you can see some of the "pagan" symbols of oneness, male [the horned male] and female [the three faces of the moon], but it is really hard to explain, have people not seen that symbol as an image. But thats one of the first things I saw.. Anyway.. the tree to me is life and oneness and the black guy is the Higher Self..
The little guy symbolizes the human, little and scared and ignorant. Fearing.. and the more he fears, the more threat he sees - the ball that is growing and growing. He looks at it, but still doesn't understand so he fears it some more. He pays attention to it, and tries to connect with his Higher Self just the moment before the ball kills him. Like many become spiritual while dying and don't understand until it is "too late".
The Higher Self cuts him open and unite the inside with his embrace, and goes against the fears (the ball) to overcome it.. He is still lost, seeing how the physical Self ("lower self") is not there anymore.
He goes through the window - being seperated from the human form, and walks through the last section of a world without colors - without Life, much like one can feel the world is in its Ignorance..
He finds his "door" there - the leaf. Full of colors and Life.
(Leaf also symbolizing the life of the tree, which can be found in many cultures beliefs.)
The fears will always follow, unless you overcome and become whole with all that is around you. You see the ball following him through the forest, while he is wandering towards "something".. Overcoming fears at death, is what many believe we do, just as he does in the end of the video, finding Life again in a dead world, letting it flow through him, becoming Oneness with all around, spreading that Life energy to the colorless and lifeless surroundings..
heh..
Hope you could follow.. :)
__________________ What Birth is not painful and a struggle to the first breath?
A Birth is seldom different, from the last sigh of Death..
i know im suppossed to actually post something other than praise, but i cant think of god-dam thing to say. ive watched the video a few times now and the whole "tricky being a higher being thing" makes perfect since. we as humans are kind of the little innocent creature that gets killed by our own fears.
i wonder if the band, mainly adam, thought or thinks that the mutating ball represents the fears and stress of everyday life. and if so, why did they decide to have two giant balls (no pun intended) floating around onstage. besides being asthetically pleasing, i cant figure out why they would want to bring the fear and stress along with them onstage. or did i just answer my own question......
Has anyone else noticed the similarities that Parabola has with child birth. I may be wrong, but I think I read that Maynard said that while birth is a difficult and painful experience, it is still a miracle in reference to Parabola. Of course, if you want to see something in symbolism, if you look hard enough, you can see anything. I'm not going into more anymore detail about what I think about Parabola as a song about birth, just think about it yourself and maybe you can see it in another light.
Skye -
fantastic post...
This seems very linked to the idea of Conscious Death. An escape from karmic rebirth. It is said that when we die our spirit is cast into a world of 10,000 terrible demons that scream at and torment the spirit. These demons are supposed to be the fears and negative thoughts that our soul carries. If we succumb to these fears then our spirit falls and shrinks into a quivering terrified mass and is reborn ignorant of the past and in another form to make another attempt at it, hopefully learning what was left to learn. Conscious Death is when the soul realizes that the demons are self created and are not truely there...they are not meant to cause fear because fear does not exist outside of our own creation of it. By allowing things to simply occur without fearing them the soul retains its memory and can be added to the collective divinity. I think there are also masters that have attained this state yet chosen to remain in the world to help others along...i think they are called bodhavista (im not sure on that though)
The beginning of the video with the three beings seems to be a birthing process of the new life for the soul...perhaps they are the 3 top points in the Sephirot before the whole thing repeats itself again and again...the box could be the memory and remaining traits of the previous life being jumbled together and lost to the new being.
If you combine this post and that of Skye I think you get a very fascinating look at the video
lol Christopher, as everything else - we See what we want to See. And I think that is the beauty fo Being :)
Now, Shackled, thank you so much for spinning on the birthing process.. as did Parable :) I too find the meeting with the three as a birth for the "new" Soul, as you clarified. What you said about Conscious Death can be found throughout the lives of people, should they have the Courage and Strength to Transform. I have walked that path for awakening a higher sense of understanding and being, and it is a process that is hard to do at times. Merely for the realization of the limitations we put on ourselves. To accept and overcome is not always as easy as one thinks, but it is surely essential for the purpose of Conscious Death..
The Boddhavista is a being who has reached enlightenment following the teachings of the original historic Buddha, Siddhartha Guatama. The name Siddhartha means "he who has reached his goal through finding the path to Enlightenment", and by finding the path to Enlightenment one is led from the pain of suffering and rebirth towards the path of Enlightenment. Becoming known as the Buddha or "awakened one". That, is what he did at least.. :)
So you were absolutely right :) .. and no, I'm not a Buddhist - I just choose to Know.. :)
Brent, isn't it wonderful when we start connecting and thinking and it suddenly makes sense? I feel you answered your own question, and I smiled reading it. I feel that TOOL is just that.. They are TOOLs through whom we can understand some of the most important things in life in a way that most people easier can grasp it and pull it in - Listen..
"Here you go, THIS is you, THIS is what you have created"
People start discussing them being "only a band" and that fans are analyzing too much, but should that ever be the case, they still functioned as a TOOL for people to grow ;)
"What Birth is not painful and a struggle to the first Breath?
A Birth is seldom different from the last Sigh of Death"
__________________ What Birth is not painful and a struggle to the first breath?
A Birth is seldom different, from the last sigh of Death..
ok, based on what i know about the freudian school of psychology, the three entity's, the man, the little clay man, and the ball of what i perceive to be cells, represent these 3 aspects: the id, the ego, and the super ego.
"crucify the ego, before its far too late..."
although it wasn't crucified, the ego (little clay dude) was killed by what i think is the id (the ball of cells). it's the id because it killed instinctually out of jealousy. the id holds all of our basic urges and instincts, i.e. jealousy. (hey if i'm wrong sorry but this is what i've been taught). since it doesnt compromise, it slaughtered the ego.
the ego referees between the id and superego, and leads to confusion and doubt when it doesnt know what to do in a situation...could hold a person back.
with the ego gone, the super ego (the man) grieves over his loss, but then moves on to dissect whats left of the ego. (the super ego holds all our morals and everything civilization has taught us) with it gone and with the knowledge learned from its death, the super ego leaves the restraining shack (?) and proceeds through the thick forest, which could really be a metaphor for a lot of stuff.... all the while being stocked by the id, the only thing holding it back from evolution. once the man travels as far as necessary, he evolves to the level of an all seeing god (hence the eyes) and thats where all the sacred geometry comes in. The id is left in the dust, the ego is long dead, and now man is free to become what they need to become... divine. thats it... i know theres holes and stuff but i tried.
I don't really have a full thought to contribute, since I can't make heads or tails of the video. But I did notice something interesting, and somebody might be able to make something of it. Symmetry appears a whole bunch throughout the video. Like when the man cuts open the little fellow - everything inside is symmetrical. And the leaf - also symmetrical. It's also interesting how this symmetty manifests itself before two of the most powerful moments in the video - before screaming at the ball and before evolving, respectively. Just points to ponder.
Originally posted by Egarthen I don't really have a full thought to contribute, since I can't make heads or tails of the video. But I did notice something interesting, and somebody might be able to make something of it. Symmetry appears a whole bunch throughout the video. Like when the man cuts open the little fellow - everything inside is symmetrical. And the leaf - also symmetrical. It's also interesting how this symmetty manifests itself before two of the most powerful moments in the video - before screaming at the ball and before evolving, respectively. Just points to ponder.
The parabola is in itself a shape of symmetry however this is of course equal and opposite symmetry. Somewhere on one of these threads I went on a tangent about how when we look at a reflection we are in fact seeing divinity...we are made in 'his' image as it were and he is made in ours. The thing about the reflection or image is that it is equal and opposite. Whereas we are beings without true knowledge that have only questions this divine being is similarly imperfect as a being with all truths but no questions.
The slicing of the little man I think represents the analyzation of the self. Looking back on the events in your life...finding what the Self really is by digging into its corpse as an outside observer. Only after mourning the death does the man slice the small clay man. This is showing that at first he is furious at the loss of control but afterwards realizes that he still exists as something else and is now free to search. He looks over the ego to find if there is anything worth retaining to see what that form held for him...after realizing that it is just flesh and blood and parts he moves on to search further...just as the search existed before death it continues after ego death only from a completely different vantage point
For some insight on this video, you might want to check out www.alexgrey.com, the mastermind behind the ending CGI and the Lateralus artwork. Check out his message board. He posts from time to time and talks a little about the ignited leaf that flows through the character's body.
__________________ I can't live the button-down life like you. I want it all: the terrifying lows, the dizzying highs, the creamy middles. Sure, I might offend a few of the bluenoses with my cocky stride and musky odors -- oh, I'll never be the darling of the so-called "City Fathers" who cluck their tongues, stroke their beards, and talk about "What's to be done with this Andy DV?"
We begin with 3 mundane humans wearing the same clothes, looking almost entirely the same. A guy comes in with something unique- the apple, which when cut reveals the septagram- 7 points symbolizing balance, completeness and peace. (see Crowley, Babalon or Enochian on your favourite search engine for more info). Upon seeing this, the mundane men begin to er.. let go.. of what is holding them down. This excess baggage creates a perfect circle through which we enter, where seven hands raising 2 fingers (peace) make another septagram while grasping eachother and parabola begins. The septagram also lines up with the Tree of Life which has seven branches and ALSO aligns with the Kabbalah.
Tricky is a man searching for enlightenment. He examines the tree of life, trying to find a way to change his life.
I too see the little clay man as the ego. He follows tricky around, like his closest friend. tricky covets this aspect of himself. Tricky, after putting his head in the box and developing a new set of eyes (dare i say this refers to drugs) and first sees the black mass. The cluster beckons him. First, they are small and quiet. then they begin to divide and multiply, becoming more and more prominent in his life.
The cluster knows that the ego must be destroyed in order for tricky to be reborn- to transcend. (there's that word again). So, the cluster kills off his ego. Tricky, alone, vulnerable and scared mourns for his lost self, feeling pain and loss. Being reborn and becoming a part of the collective conscience is not a simple, painless process.
Searching to answer why his ego needed to die, he starts to pick it apart, system by system for a much closer examination while the cluster (let's call it the collective conscience) watches over him.
Alone and sad, tricky goes out into the mundane, black and white world searching for a reason.. searching for something greater. The collective follows.
He finds something out of the ordinary- something not nearly as mundane as the basic world he is in. Not only does he find a leaf, but the leaf is in color. it is alive, just like he is, but it is different. this life is vibrant. He feels the warmth of the leaf (hereunto referred to as "enlightenment") which is overwhelming initially, but welcoming. We then watch as the burning eye makes its way through his body, bringing vibrance to tricky's life and joining him with the collective conscience. We see alex grey's imagery of the universal mind lattice and the many eyes of others who have also become aware that we are all one mind, capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable.
Just let the light touch you.
I wonder if this was even coherent enough to be followed- feel free to ask me to clarify.
At first I was not in agreeance with your idea of the cell cluster but it begins to make more sense after thinking of it as the vehicle for enlightenment...after looking into the box the cluster appears, and is touched for the first time setting it into motion. Once tricky is set to searching he begins to ignore the small figure that was once so important...the cluster destroys it as another push towards enlightenment and then finally as he (tricky) steps through into the other world he is still followed by his guide taking his own steps rather then relying upon the tools of his journey. Now on his own volition he reaches higher
Your carefully constructed (and generally good) thoughts are cheapened and devalued by this sort of distinction. Consider descriptives other than this irrelevant and tired status when referring to this character (and good friend of the band's). You could try 'the guy' or 'Tricky', for example.
Having done so, at your deepest level of being, you are accessing yet another key stage to your understanding of this video's message and, with any hope, life in general. Kudos to those who have already grasped this basic concept.
I'd like to divert your attention to some overlooked aspects of the video.
First of all, the three "men" at the begining. Have you ever walked into your bank, and really taken a look at what those people look like? This is a generalization and a gross stereotype, but they're typically short, fat, ugly, with stubby, fingers, Exactly like these three, so called men. Same goes for your average, wall street business man.
Then there is the part where one of the men (it doesn't matter which one) holds up his hand, and there's a single flame on the middle finger. This symbol is known as the Hand of Glory. It was a talisman used a few centuries ago by house burglars. They would take a real human hand, and chop off the middle finger and place a candle there instead. When lighting this candle, it was believed that the burglar was now invisible to the house owner whom he/she was about to rob. This heavily implies that these three suits are in fact attempting to steal something.
Also, the circle that they made, by regurgitating themselves, is created counter clockwise. In magick, this denotes a banishing. Before they do this though, there is the ceremonial dissection of the apple, the fruit of life. The three symbols, as already stated, are connected to balance, harmony, peace, and a great many other things.
Once the circle is complete, 7 hands, reach, and pull the circle, created by these business men, inside out, to arrive, yet again at the septagram.
So, with symbols, what they've said, is that money, and superficial material wealth, is stealing, our serenity from us. Stealing our spiritual growth from us. And where do these corporate business men divert our attention to? Them, and their products begging for your fat ass dirty dollar.
Afterwards, we are introduced to the pendulum, the little dude (who I am not satisfied embodies ego. Maybe ones inner conscience. Not Consciousness, Conscience. That little voice in the back of your head that knows the difference between right and wrong) and Tricky, with Antenae, to observe frequencies outside our typical 5 senses. The sixth sense.
When Tricky, unemotionally destroys the pendulum (a symbol of balance) it again implies the articulation of a destroyed balance between humanity and itself. The little dude, through his introduction, is connected to the pendulum I believe. Then, it crumbles and falls away, never to be cared about again. Even as it dissintigrates, he does not care.
The tree represents so many things here. First, it's the tree of life (Kabbala) the Green Man, Pan, and all other male horned fertility gods. Not to mention whatever other subtle qualities have been imbedded. Tricky see's the tree, is curious about it, but does not truly understand. Instead, he's distracted. The little dude, on the other hand, is with the tree. It seems he's perfectly comfortable there. (How come no one else has placed an association between the little dude here, and the little dude in Schism? One's inner demon. Here, I suggest you should read up on Pan, and the Green Man).
The clear plastic box, seems to me, to represent television. Also other material distrations, like drugs, computers, video games, whatever else. If it rots your brain, or artificially creates your consciousness, it should fit here.
The floating sphere, I believe represents false materialism. The little dude shows up again, and tricky sees him, ignores him, and sees that the material has grown. Yet, each piece is smaller. I find myself desiring to place a relationship between this detached sphere of matter, and the pretentiousness of most people in the world. Those who feel the pathetic need to shelter themselves, and their children from the darker side of life, and of themselves. If one takes the little dude as ones inner demon (or dark side, which Pan represents) then this light, fluffy, hollow and empty focus will suppress this demon. In psycological terms, if you suppress that inner demon, it will present itself in many harmful ways. The darkness is a part of you that needs to be heard.
The window to the trees, which Tricky looks out at, is like putting a picture of a sunset at the beach on your desktop, while punching numbers in your cubicle. Don't just look at it, you have to actually be there to truly experience it.
THen the darker side is fully abandoned, and destroyed. A likely consequence. But, there is a positive effect. For the first time, Tricky feels an emotion. It may be anger, and rage, but this is the very thing every adolescent goes through at some level or another. And, taking opiate as an example, Tool is no different. Anger is usually the first true passion of most people in this society. Righteous Indignation if you will. Also, he takes off his shirt. A baring of his soul perhaps.
Now is the time to inspect the darker side of Tricky's self. See just what makes it tick, makes it feel. I'm also going to take a clue from the toolband site, and say that this is heavily related to sex. How? Sex is a very dark indulgence of the human heart. But there's more here than I know at this moment.
Now, begins the journey through the forest, back to the roots of life. The materialism is there, hovering, to me, saying 'how dare you?!' judging, and yet afraid, and truly unable to do anything.
The leaf, turns into a flaming eye. This again goes back to Pan/Green Man. The darker side of human nature. The Green Man is not a specific plant, or tree, or leaf. He is, in fact, ALL of them. Each and every blade of grass that you see, every plant, shrub, bush, tree or weed, is merely a different face of him. They all combine to create a single, unified whole, that is seen intermittenly, and subjectively as individual creations. Each plant has its own eye, yet that eye is still an eye of the Green Man. Then, is the brilliant scene of the eye in the hand. You have, one, it's there, you just can't see it yet. As above, so below, your apendage is another eye.
For an experiment, close your eyes, and touch something with your hand. You can still "see" it. Feel it, Know its surface, and shape, and whatever else. Same as with every other single part of your body. You are full of eyes, within and without.
With that in mind, if you are entirely made up of eyes, and you as a whole, are an eye (your third eye), then what are you, in a macrocosmic sense, an eye of? You are an eye of the Human Consciousness.
The rest of the video has way to much going on for me to explain here at this moment, though I will, soon.
Back to the Eye thing.
You're an eye.
Don't question, don't judge, just accept. You're an eye. Made up of eyes.
In the video, you are shown that there are an infinite number of eyes surrounding you. These are the eyes of other people, plants, animals, germs, microbes, planets and solar systems. Everything is alive, conscious and has an eye.
How do they connect?
Look around you. This place is how. It's only one way to invision everything, but this is how. The universal consciousness grid at the end is another interpretation.
Anyways, every plant is an eye of the green man, who himself, is an eye. Every human is also an eye. But what is our archetypal human? None other than Christ, Our Lord. No, I'm not christian. Nor am I telling you to be. But Christ, in his teaching, was trying to tell us that HE IS HUMAN TOO. He's like the uber human. Like Buddha, or Muhammad, or Hitler. Human. The Green Man, and Christ, are two eyes, on the face of.... ? Mother Earth. GM and JC are brothers. Sons of Mother Earth, aka Gaia. Who herself, is an eye, in the solar system, amongst all the planets, like saturn, jupiter, uranus, and the sun. The solar system, makes an eye, which is inside the Milky way, which is an eye.
To understand this relationship better, compare the eyes to cells in your body, to the molecules, to the individual atoms, to the quarks that make those and so on, upwards and downwards.
Don't worry if I've lost you, there's a lot of information here to absorb. If you want a better explanation on some of the finer points, just ask.
__________________ Fire lives only to consume.
Darkness lives only to consume.
If you wish to live, then die.
I had a conversation with a freind of mine a while back... he came up with a bunch of weird ideas, like the universe is just another molecule to another extrordinarily large form... I stopped and thought about it for a while... made sense, but still thats a little different than what you said.
Earlier I was thinking of what I thought the video was all about.. I'm almost absolutely positive that this is off but I'm gonna mention it anyways:
There are three basic objects in the video: The spheres, the little guy and the leaf. In a nutshell, the little guy and the leaf both represent the spirit. While the main charecter isn't paying much attention to his spiritual side (the little guy) in the begining, his mind (the spheres) simply destroys it, gets rid of it.
In the beggining, the main charecter was looking out the window with a little bit of... perhaps confusion, but after he splits open the little guy and becomes more firmiliar with his spiritual side, he figures that's enough to free himself and explore more of the outside. His mind still follows him, becoming more evolved (bigger) along with his spiritual side. After he finds the leaf, his mind is no longer a valid issue and his spiritual side becomes just... well you know what I'm talking about, the end.
The meaning is in the leaf. You have to find your leaf. Tha's where it all begins. Without the spiritual progress, we won't develop as humans and without our drive (like tool's music), we have the spiritual progress.
I never noticed that the forest was in black-and-white. I just thought that those were the natural colors of it. It's interesting how the leaf is colored and then goes into Tricky, changing him and opening up his third eye.
Any idea what the eyes on his hands mean?
__________________ Middle Finger is the Flag That I Wave When I'm Silenced
The eye on the hand is one of many other, smaller chakras on your body (from my understanding). If you meditate, and focus, you can feel the eye in your hand. Close your eyes, and feel with your hand alone, and you're seeing with that eye in your hand.
__________________ Fire lives only to consume.
Darkness lives only to consume.
If you wish to live, then die.
could it be that the three suited humanoids are masons?
perhaps performing an ancient story telling ritual.
they take the blue apple (hallucinagenic) and cut it up using (what I assume to be [due to the way it's carried/unsheathed]) a ritual knife.
the change in seeds of the apple might mean the visuals are starting to set in, as would the flame on the middle finger of one of the masons.
the vomit can often occur after ingesting certain halucinagens and patterns in vomit formation might have to do with the story telling ritual itself or even the unified halucinagenic/spiritual effect on all of the participants.
the story/halucination that follows, might be an ancient pagan myth, passed down by the masons from generation to generation through the years, dealing with previously mentioned ideas - explained through pagan symbols and patterns. In terms of why it would be a masonic tradition my guess would deal with teaching the members of the group to transcend conflict/strife/tragedy/negativity (i.e. avoiding the spheremonster + finding the leaf)
I'm still putting my head around the bulk of this video, and album. Thank you for posting all of your ideas as well.
MobiusSpin; I understand your point in the way we (I) described Tricky, and for that, I say thank you for pointing out. Yet, I am far from a racist and have no negative input in the "black" word of that sentence, nor have I ever thought so until you brought it up.. Now, everyone doesn't know "Tricky" and there is more than one guy in the video, therefore I used the reference as thus.. Colors or no colors, there is nothing negative in my post, and that reference is easy to read through..
I have full respect for the band and full respect for the individuals, and therefore feel I can use words as I did, since I have no negativity in my intent..
I'm sure there is nothing that will come of it, and I'm sure noone was offended deeply, but should that still be the case, then I apologize..
However the view of the whole video go way beyond the colors of the people, as does the human race and our evolution. Should it still be so that people find themselves limited by the way people reference different things when there is no negativity put in there, (when I explain Tricky as a black guy) then maybe something needs to be worked through?
Because I have never been hindered by colors - have you?
__________________ What Birth is not painful and a struggle to the first breath?
A Birth is seldom different, from the last sigh of Death..
since adam makes the videos, it his interpretation of the music....and possibly even the lyrics
if that wasn't blunt enough...the video's are merely groups of imagery from adam's head, in order to truly understand their meaning you must understand adam's thought (as well as his subconcious and preconcious mind) rather than attempt to connect the lyrics to them...
thinking deeply is fine and dandy...but i'd prefer to save my deep thinking for something that i could apply to my life rather than "the ball looks like a zygote i wonder why"
Originally posted by Misoanthropos the way i see it is...
since adam makes the videos, it his interpretation of the music....and possibly even the lyrics
if that wasn't blunt enough...the video's are merely groups of imagery from adam's head, in order to truly understand their meaning you must understand adam's thought (as well as his subconcious and preconcious mind) rather than attempt to connect the lyrics to them...
thinking deeply is fine and dandy...but i'd prefer to save my deep thinking for something that i could apply to my life rather than "the ball looks like a zygote i wonder why"
I can see where you're coming from, but it's still incredible to think about. Like the voice says at the beginning of Third Eye (the Salival version), you need to learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness; chaotic, confused vulnerability; to inform yourself. If you can really learn how to put your mind in such a vulnerable state, and really think about these things, it's amazing the images you get and the things that you feel.
And as far as the zygote issue is concerned, I'm not sure if anyone already said this, but a zygote multiplies into 32 cells before it becomes a fetus and begins cell differentiation; or, in other words, before it becomes a human, or a divine being you could say. If you look at the video, tbe ball divides into 32 different balls. So it could certainly represent a zygote.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Parable
[B]Has anyone else noticed the similarities that Parabola has with child birth. I may be wrong, but I think I read that Maynard said that while birth is a difficult and painful experience, ...
While the song to me is about a simple defiance of lifes trivial pains, saying that this body is temporary and when I am no longer bound to it, I will be something more.
That said...
The video here, after reflecting on some other view points and applying my experiences, brought up a very unhappy connection.
I see a metaphor for the loss of a child. The beginning shows energy, interconnecting eveything, then three cold decision makers, setting the scene for the tradgedy to come...
(this is in no way a correct interpretation, nor complete, just a derived emotion)
the man has a child. curious and small and helpless. while destracted, a dark force kills his child. He chases the force away, tries to resurect the child, but only maims its corpse. He then wanders emptily till death takes him, elevating him above the pain, beautifully reaching enlightenment, opening his third eye.
I know that this may seem thin and stretched, but YOU tell anyone who has lost a child that their pain is small...
thanks for your time.
__________________ What if "Armageddon" is just an over-
dramitization of the day that we all realize
that we don't need GOD?
This wil probably sound really stupid, but why does everyone keep calling the man in the video Tricky? is that his name or what? i dont keep up on everything tool does. id rather spend my time forming my own thoughts and reading other peoples thoughts abou the songs and videos, so i guess i missed some important detail that included this mans name or something
Originally posted by ShackledEidolon im pretty sure that the "rockball thingies" are supposed to be a zygote or embreo (ive forgotten which is the earlier state
Zygote would be the earlier state.
__________________ Nine out of ten voices in my head think I'm perfectly sane.
so did anybody relate the circle with pi? I always thought the 3 men represent pi and how its neverending and in every circle. idk what do u guys think about it?
Hi all,
Don't look at this page much and didn't read everything so forgive me if I repeat someone else's view.
Ritual magik at the start to open the door. Tree is petrified expression. Little dude is blockage that is cleared, disected and anylised. Man is thus able to raise kundilini. Lucky guy.
I'd like to divert your attention to some overlooked aspects of the video.
First of all, the three "men" at the begining. Have you ever walked into your bank, and really taken a look at what those people look like? This is a generalization and a gross stereotype, but they're typically short, fat, ugly, with stubby, fingers, Exactly like these three, so called men. Same goes for your average, wall street business man.
Then there is the part where one of the men (it doesn't matter which one) holds up his hand, and there's a single flame on the middle finger. This symbol is known as the Hand of Glory. It was a talisman used a few centuries ago by house burglars. They would take a real human hand, and chop off the middle finger and place a candle there instead. When lighting this candle, it was believed that the burglar was now invisible to the house owner whom he/she was about to rob. This heavily implies that these three suits are in fact attempting to steal something.
Also, the circle that they made, by regurgitating themselves, is created counter clockwise. In magick, this denotes a banishing. Before they do this though, there is the ceremonial dissection of the apple, the fruit of life. The three symbols, as already stated, are connected to balance, harmony, peace, and a great many other things.
Once the circle is complete, 7 hands, reach, and pull the circle, created by these business men, inside out, to arrive, yet again at the septagram.
So, with symbols, what they've said, is that money, and superficial material wealth, is stealing, our serenity from us. Stealing our spiritual growth from us. And where do these corporate business men divert our attention to? Them, and their products begging for your fat ass dirty dollar.
Afterwards, we are introduced to the pendulum, the little dude (who I am not satisfied embodies ego. Maybe ones inner conscience. Not Consciousness, Conscience. That little voice in the back of your head that knows the difference between right and wrong) and Tricky, with Antenae, to observe frequencies outside our typical 5 senses. The sixth sense.
When Tricky, unemotionally destroys the pendulum (a symbol of balance) it again implies the articulation of a destroyed balance between humanity and itself. The little dude, through his introduction, is connected to the pendulum I believe. Then, it crumbles and falls away, never to be cared about again. Even as it dissintigrates, he does not care.
The tree represents so many things here. First, it's the tree of life (Kabbala) the Green Man, Pan, and all other male horned fertility gods. Not to mention whatever other subtle qualities have been imbedded. Tricky see's the tree, is curious about it, but does not truly understand. Instead, he's distracted. The little dude, on the other hand, is with the tree. It seems he's perfectly comfortable there. (How come no one else has placed an association between the little dude here, and the little dude in Schism? One's inner demon. Here, I suggest you should read up on Pan, and the Green Man).
The clear plastic box, seems to me, to represent television. Also other material distrations, like drugs, computers, video games, whatever else. If it rots your brain, or artificially creates your consciousness, it should fit here.
The floating sphere, I believe represents false materialism. The little dude shows up again, and tricky sees him, ignores him, and sees that the material has grown. Yet, each piece is smaller. I find myself desiring to place a relationship between this detached sphere of matter, and the pretentiousness of most people in the world. Those who feel the pathetic need to shelter themselves, and their children from the darker side of life, and of themselves. If one takes the little dude as ones inner demon (or dark side, which Pan represents) then this light, fluffy, hollow and empty focus will suppress this demon. In psycological terms, if you suppress that inner demon, it will present itself in many harmful ways. The darkness is a part of you that needs to be heard.
The window to the trees, which Tricky looks out at, is like putting a picture of a sunset at the beach on your desktop, while punching numbers in your cubicle. Don't just look at it, you have to actually be there to truly experience it.
THen the darker side is fully abandoned, and destroyed. A likely consequence. But, there is a positive effect. For the first time, Tricky feels an emotion. It may be anger, and rage, but this is the very thing every adolescent goes through at some level or another. And, taking opiate as an example, Tool is no different. Anger is usually the first true passion of most people in this society. Righteous Indignation if you will. Also, he takes off his shirt. A baring of his soul perhaps.
Now is the time to inspect the darker side of Tricky's self. See just what makes it tick, makes it feel. I'm also going to take a clue from the toolband site, and say that this is heavily related to sex. How? Sex is a very dark indulgence of the human heart. But there's more here than I know at this moment.
Now, begins the journey through the forest, back to the roots of life. The materialism is there, hovering, to me, saying 'how dare you?!' judging, and yet afraid, and truly unable to do anything.
The leaf, turns into a flaming eye. This again goes back to Pan/Green Man. The darker side of human nature. The Green Man is not a specific plant, or tree, or leaf. He is, in fact, ALL of them. Each and every blade of grass that you see, every plant, shrub, bush, tree or weed, is merely a different face of him. They all combine to create a single, unified whole, that is seen intermittenly, and subjectively as individual creations. Each plant has its own eye, yet that eye is still an eye of the Green Man. Then, is the brilliant scene of the eye in the hand. You have, one, it's there, you just can't see it yet. As above, so below, your apendage is another eye.
For an experiment, close your eyes, and touch something with your hand. You can still "see" it. Feel it, Know its surface, and shape, and whatever else. Same as with every other single part of your body. You are full of eyes, within and without.
With that in mind, if you are entirely made up of eyes, and you as a whole, are an eye (your third eye), then what are you, in a macrocosmic sense, an eye of? You are an eye of the Human Consciousness.
The rest of the video has way to much going on for me to explain here at this moment, though I will, soon.
Back to the Eye thing.
You're an eye.
Don't question, don't judge, just accept. You're an eye. Made up of eyes.
In the video, you are shown that there are an infinite number of eyes surrounding you. These are the eyes of other people, plants, animals, germs, microbes, planets and solar systems. Everything is alive, conscious and has an eye.
How do they connect?
Look around you. This place is how. It's only one way to invision everything, but this is how. The universal consciousness grid at the end is another interpretation.
Anyways, every plant is an eye of the green man, who himself, is an eye. Every human is also an eye. But what is our archetypal human? None other than Christ, Our Lord. No, I'm not christian. Nor am I telling you to be. But Christ, in his teaching, was trying to tell us that HE IS HUMAN TOO. He's like the uber human. Like Buddha, or Muhammad, or Hitler. Human. The Green Man, and Christ, are two eyes, on the face of.... ? Mother Earth. GM and JC are brothers. Sons of Mother Earth, aka Gaia. Who herself, is an eye, in the solar system, amongst all the planets, like saturn, jupiter, uranus, and the sun. The solar system, makes an eye, which is inside the Milky way, which is an eye.
To understand this relationship better, compare the eyes to cells in your body, to the molecules, to the individual atoms, to the quarks that make those and so on, upwards and downwards.
Don't worry if I've lost you, there's a lot of information here to absorb. If you want a better explanation on some of the finer points, just ask.
Hey shade..I dont really go in the video section much because they are so weird to me but anyway..I read this post and it really caught my attention with some of your words. I just wanna say good job man..it makes alot of sense in my eyes. Thanks.
__________________ Hey, Do you have a drinking problem?
"No, I pretty much got it figured out."
