(as i am one to do; SORRY if it doesn't fit your idea of the band)
prepare for a collective (tool-wide) interpretation... or skip it.
think stream of consciousness ...or ramblings of a madman, whatev.
more often than not, humans (i.e. beings of "disharmonic"/44&2 consciousness ...guilty of great dis-ease) will project their thoughts/feelings far beyond the present moment. we think we should do this bc it has yielded results for our own survival. BUT! we've tethered nature (including ourselves) to the confines of definition, away from allowing the blossoming/nested-infinitude (GLORY~!) to exist on its own, or for itself - its(&our!) essence (any communicable interconnectedness or "sense of compassion") is essentially gone! withered. atrophied. leaded anchor, cold & fated. we're far too comfortable fucking shit up, "i can see your back is turning. if i could i'd stick the knife in! ...this is love."
tree of life(message of hope) vs. tree of doom(WARNING!)? over-thinking/analyzing, our hearts & minds are not HERE ..."they" (severed/broken) are off in pathetic realms of self-indulgence, worry, anxiety, hopes, assumption, anticipations, etc, et al. we thought we knew, or knew to know! ... to go about "things" in this manner. "that" ...is a fallacy; an impressive rubric, however fleeting or ephemeral. in the same way, it is how we've banished ourselves from eden, divorced/schism, "watched them fall away". ultimatum prison cell. tool reminds us that THIS is not see it say it land, AND there's enough* to go around ...so, um, close your eyes and shut the fuck up(hush!). "remember i'll always love you, even as i tear your fucking throat away" there will be no "other" way.
BILL HICKS: “Folks: It’s time to evolve ideas. You know, evolution didn’t end with us growing thumbs. You do know that, right? Didn’t end there. We’re at the point, now, where we’re going to have to evolve ideas. The reason the world is so fucked up is we’re undergoing evolution. And the reason our institutions, our traditional religions, are all crumbling, is because ...they’re no longer relevant! LOL!" so, we need to think of a new philosophy/skin (as incubus and sooo many others have put it). how? "we've done the math enough* to know" the muscle memory of our collective makes it very clear ...we don't know, won't know ...there is no spoon. apparently nothing at all. watch "things" die. (i'm no one now vs. no one is innocent)
indeed, the very concept of "you" - as if to point out from some pseudo "self" ("AT everything but his heart") - is but a lala-la-laaa-laa-la-la-lie (...dead, beneath the undertow). we know 44&2 well. "that" is only a "part" of -ME- (see: unity/christ consciousness, 46&2 - we are all one mind ...omni-scient/present/potent ...unconditional one = without judgement ...blahblahblah). if there ever were a reason for TOOL ...THIS would be it. "to feed MY will to feel THIS moment". a reminder. panta rhei. ALL FLOWS. bathe in it. let the waters kiss.
now, you could take what i've said as a pronoun key/legend ...44&2 vs. 46&2. i think maynard's even mentioned something about writing down whatever you don't like about someone else (point the finger) and then change all the YOUs to MEs ...and you'll come up with some revelations ...or something. hooker with a penis drove that idea home as well. puscifer's vagina mine has that whole "learn the damn alphabet, I come before U, get to payin' your dues- ommmmmmmmmm". but ...again, it'd be throwing it up to definition. confining. ultimately denying its own existence. just remember, remind yourself of this: the map is not the territory. ALIVE. I.
so, with all this in mind, and considering the track intolerance ...it would seem to be a song far less topical or relevant to current events (see: doublespeak, veil of virtue?). it may even feel as timeless as i believe all of tool's music was made to be (and reflect) - um, buzz osbourne (melvins) called their music "smoke and mirrors". btw, i like the "-hate you" idea very much, i can choose to hear it very easily. but moving on, there's the same desire to change "things" in this album's first track ...that we see in aenima's first. "something has to change undeniable dilemma" we've got the dagger/knife motif, the transmutating tool (LACED through the opiate re-issue artwork! btw) ...used for converting this beligerant fucker, towards higher states of being/consciousness.
let this repugnant creature constantly feed on his pathetic over-thinking/analyzing/stimulation to the point of falling numb even! (beneath my self-indulgent pitiful hole) for now, though - a limited time offer! - it is okay to be "the patient" ...a clever, dagger-weilding stalker. ..."will you? will you now? would you die for me? don't you fuckin lie!" stab stab stab. TO ASCEND YOU MUST DIE! stab stab stab YOU MUST BE CRUCIFIED stab stab stab FOR ALL SINS AND YOUR LIES stab stab stab GOOD! BYE!
*words like "enough" and "precious" are alchemical triggers referring to gold/enlightenment. see: goldi-locks, blame
st.albert hoffman.
