but that sounds exactly like maynard to me.
seriously though, I'm sure it wasn't intentional. but it does work, even accidentally. if you want, all the lyrics can be interpreted as one guy who is seriously obssessed with an ex-girlfriend, to the point that he thinks the world is ending because of it. it's that dark. the lyrics are like that.

I say just back off from toolstory...

We all have are own personal opinions about the lyrics and music...

He just had the courage to write it down...

So what if it might not be right in your eyes... how could you just shoot him down.

He has something HE believes in... that is better than conforming any day.

you should follow me around, my friend.

in all honesty, everything I wrote happened to me. the girl is a teacher named Andrea Clemons at the Windward Academy in Los Angeles. it seemed like every song was written for me. Listening to Tool helped me out of depression. It was eerie and cool. I think that is the magic though of the lyrics. that every person can find their own real, deep meaning.

I should stress that I was really, really insane. But doing a ton of DXM and rocking out to Tool made me feel good and brought me back to reality. I did 450mg-900mg doses of DXM every day for a year and a half and just kept listening to tool. and now I feel good. it literally saved my life. That is why I heart tool.

. . .

you must realize it's not healthy to do such large amounts of DXM every day for a year and a half? come on. you're yanking our chains.

I think if you're sane, overdosing on DXM is bad for you, but I think if you're insane it can be good for you. I think of it like this: when you come down from a trip. you head back to reality and sobriety with a running start, so you're a little more 'sane' after the trip than before it. But in my confused state, I took "ride the spiral to the end" to mean to keep doing dxm and keep tripping and pushing the limit. I ended up in the Alaska Psychiatric Institute by the end.

But now, at this moment, I feel much better than before my whole tool/drug thing started. and for that I am very thankful. what drove me 'insane' in the first place I wrote in my first post. I tried all kinds of treatments for my mental illness: health and fitness, spirituality and meditation, medication and psycho-therapy. it's funny but in the end, the thing that really helped was drugs (dxm and weed) and rocking out to tool music.

Are you posting from the year 2007? This thread was up and going just last month.

This thread makes my head drown in one huge maelstrom.

I guess it's the Windward School and not the Windward Academy, which is a different school. whatever

at the risk of beating a dead horse,
I think I'm not being very clear about my interpretation. I live in an altered state. but anyway.

okay. so for example,
you listen to the song The Hollow, and you think, "hey, it really is about a vagina"

then you listen to 'sleeping beauty' say, and you think "hey, the girl really is poisonous and evil'

then you listen to schism and think "okay, there really is a couple that broke up and something ominous is happening because of it"

and you listen to magdelena and think "he really was overcome by his first sexual experience with this girl (the same girl, probably)". at the beginning of the song she is pure and rare, but by the end of the song she is a one-dollar "black madonna"

then you listen to Bottom, esp. the live version w/ Henry Rollins, and you think "hey the girl really did abuse the guy. and he wants revenge"

then you listen to the grudge and think "this guy is even invoking Saturn, the god of war. he really really wants revenge"

there are lyrics like "it took me so long to remember just what happened... I was so young and vestle, you know it hurt me", there is the mention of a scarlet letter, and of group sex in '3 Libras'.

and you hear lyrics like "so good to see you, I missed you so much. so glad it's over, I missed you so much. came out to watch you play. why are you running away?" and "you know I will always love, as I tear your fucking throat away. it can end no other way."

and the guy in the hospital in Rosetta Stoned? the "well, okay. but listen well" guy.

and a story starts to come together.

on top of that there is multiple mentions of the messiah, who is returning to heaven and ascending his throne after 10,000 days on earth. and then there is going to be hell to pay.

and then you put two and two together, and it was HE who has the grudge. it was him who went through all that pain. and it was him in the hospital. he is The Patient, fighting to not only save himself but save others that he loves. and then the story really starts to fit together. in fact, it's almost as if maynard insists forecefully that the pieces fit together.

incidentally, lateralus is also a reference to a muscle in the eye that causes rapid side to side movement, which happens when you OD on dxm. it's really disturbing, because your eyes dart back and forth unbelievably fast for an unbelievably long time. you might get it from ketamine or lsd overdoses too, I'm not sure. but drugs are definitely a big part of the whole story. drugs, and the music, are tools for mind expansion. That's where 'Tool' comes from.

at any rate, if you listened to the music, especially the Holy Gift ordering of Lateralus, and if you've listened to maynard, you know there is something more going on. something really cool. the right dose of drugs multiply the whole experience by 10 or a 100 or 1000. like, a 360mg dxm dose and a bunch of bongs hits for me while listening to tool would transport me to another world. another dimension. and it ONLY works with tool. my favorite description of a dxm trip was a guy who thought he was a flower in a field, and had no notion that he was anything otherwise. experiences THAT far removed from the ordinary.

now, I like the story a lot. if maynard really did open his third eye, then he would have special insight into things like the afterlife and spirituality and other important spiritual figures. I have a lot of reason to believe him and little reason not to.

but really. I was a very devout protestant and left the faith when I couldn't reconcile the concept of hell with a loving God. but now I can. because of the music and my own experiences. I'm at peace with it now. so I understand if you disagree, but I am biased.

so. there is a bit of a clarification.

I totally forgot, about the black hole thing.
with ketamine there is a k-hole and with a high dxm dose there is an even more profound black hole. I've only done small doses of lsd.

I think dxm helps you tap into the collective consciousness. and there *is* some kind of black hole out there.

I've also had it happen where if you're on a high dxm dose and walk up to someone else on a high dxm dose, you effect each other and your doses interact. it's like you're both on a higher dose now. it's trippy.

I don't recommend high dxm doses. it can cause irreversible brain damange, death, or worse- it can leave you a vegetable. plus it tastes terrible, even in pill form.