Regarding Lyrics; I’ve browsed some forum postings and noticed most are stating, “...what does he mean by this....? I think he means this ..... I can’t believe he’s suggesting....”. My comments are for you to *Stop*. Think for moment. Honestly, why does it matter what he means? It doesn’t. Are you ever going to meet Maynard? Not likely. Am I? Nope. Do I want to? Not at all. So ask yourself, why does the implied significance of his lyrics hold such a large sway over your opinion? The question you should be asking is, “What does this mean to me?” & “What impact has this melody given to my life...?”

Open your mind.

There are many and few amongst us that seek wisdom - knowledge, intellect, and enlightenment - to the detriment of themselves and the ones they care for. I honestly do not feel that Maynard is any different. The seeking of such is not intentional, it is an unfortunate after-effect of our genome and our environmentally influenced past. We are a result of our questioning – but questioning is a curse and a torment of necessity. What’s the phrase? “All Indians, No Chiefs”... With that in mind, there is a difference between people that think on certain levels, and people that think like the majority of our population. The majority is not intellectual, they are not knowledgeable, and they are not enlightened. They do not seek to be any of these, so what are they? ... They are dancing around the fire with their creepy perverted husbands and I would like to push them in and laugh while they burn to death. Sound harsh? Oh well.

On the other hand you have pure human compassion – those that you attempt to hold onto – your last glimmer of hope in humanity. Cutting the bonds of ignorance from them is on of the most difficult endeavors in your life. Why? Because you are cutting all hope for yourself as well.... and your future. Who will leave your legacy behind when you lie in bed at night and question the insignificance of your own life? Have you ever stopped to question why rationality and intuition are rarities in this world? Well I do.. every time I listen to this album. I honestly can’t answer the question, other than to state that intellect seems to be the one part of wisdom that cannot be taught. You are born with the ability to use reason and trust your instincts, or you do not have it. Has the force of the physical world become such that certain people never use these tools to assess their environment? If so, could there be a direct relation on the way the human race appears to be more and more reliant on technology as a pleasure and communication crutch? ... what if we become so integrated that we loose grasp of wanting something more? When we stop wanting more, do we continue to change and improve? Will we ever get off this planet, or are we dooming ourselves to nothing more than a school of fish, turning the same way our friends & neighbors do since it appears to be the only available option. .. ..

Since I told you to open your mind, I’ll tell you what happened to me when I stopped to reflect on a particular song. I thought about the concept of God. Have you ever stopped to really think about God? Have you ever questioned yourself into God, only to question yourself out, then back in again? What if we break the physical bonds of the world... can we become Gods? If we can become Gods... could there already be a God? If there is a God, one that has created all I see; if I try hard enough to see through it, will I see God? What if I see God, would I really see anything at all?.... and so the turn of questioning comes full circle.

You people sit and pick songs apart as if seeking your own happiness from the ability to 'Rosetta Stone' what’s in the man’s head. Well, unfortunately, the answers you seek to the questions you have are no further than your own insight. Because chances are, unless the person that you are talking to has the same insight that you do, you will never be able to explain your thoughts and feelings to the ones that don’t. I will continue to struggle with this my entire life.

Samantha

I explained myself pretty well, I think.

how many of these threads are started everyday?

thanks for your insight samantha...are you hot?

you may have read this when entering the section...

http://toolshed.down.net/opinion/opinionapmjk.gif

obvious maynard says that people should interpet the lyrics, whether or not they are correct isnt the point. if the "true meaning" of every tool song was that important maynard would have made a book or whatever.

The thing about this post is you are trying to come off an an intellectual, but really you sound more like someone who is high, thinks he is saying something brilliant, but is really saying something retarded. Sound harsh? Oh well.

Yeah, ditto, here here, and all that idiotic bullshit! Yeah, man! Totally! HE is clearly high. High enough that HE called himself Samantha. Good call, buddy! It's clear you've read her entire post and can clearly back up what you've said.

Really, though---good post. The problem seems to be that everyone wants an answer, not a guide. I think questioning what the band intended is important, as are the opinions of others---but it seems like everyone's just waiting for someone else to go first. It's starting to feel like a literature class..."What does Shakespeare show with Hamlet's indecision?"

I think it's important to be somewhere in the ballpark with ol' Bill-Shake, or Tool...no sense in saying Wings ISN'T about his mother, for example...but since when did their intentions nullify anything use in finding things on our own first?

Anywho, I'm having trouble finding my own meaning for the album because it doesn't feel like the ALBUM has one, but rather just individual songs. Any insights on that end?

Fuck, you beat me to it....

Goddamn....you beat me to that as well.....but it was funny anyway.

Silence your drivel, Paraflux. You dance around in the Outerdark.

OK, Quatto...

AskAQuestion A.K.A. "Samantha" lol-

You posted this same nieve and exhausting rant in another thread as well. So here, I will post the same thing that I posted in the other thread as a response to you... Perhaps I should take back that last sentence though....

Whoa, take a breath! You come on here like gangbusters for the first time. I have a feeling in 2 weeks you're going to regret this post.

I think you made some hasty generalizations here that were unfair of you being so new to this site. Read some more posts, a lot more posts. You will see, people are not just on here talking about what Maynard thinks or believes. We are using that as a catalyst to discuss what WE think and believe.

Also, you say the majority of the people are unintelligent, unenlightened. I don't necessarily agree. There are a lot of idiots out there, yes, but there are a lot of intelligent people. It balances out the universe. We need the unintelligent and the unenlightened in order for the opposite to exist. (Read up on Taoism) Plus, the intelligent/enlightened can always learn, and sometimes, no often, it's the UNintelligent/UNenlightened that they learn from.

Your post seems very judgmental. Do you think you are above the others? You are wiser? If so, there's a great post on here that tells a story from the bible about being humble. You should look for it before you write another post like this.

You ask if any of us has contemplated God? You ask this in a condescending manner. Have you even read any posts on this site? Much of what we do here is contemplate God.

You have some great things to say. I just don't understand where someone that seems to be wise is coming from with this.

There's something kind of sad about the way that things turned out to be...

lol

"This is the one and only post I will make on this forum..."

"Hello, I spend a good portion of my free time trying to correct others."

You liked that didn’t you? Made you feel empowered to call someone on their own contradiction, didn’t it?

Yep.

Well guess what. You just proved my point. Too often, this is exactly what we do to each other - call on contradictions. Some point fingers; some attack... In truth, you should call yourself on your own contradictions - we all have them:: Humanity = Imperfection. I admit my contradiction and take full blame for it; can you do the same? If you can’t do you know what I call that? I call it “shallowness”.

Granted, the crassness with which the post was written was done in an act of aggravation. If it upset you, I am sorry. Though I must add; if you saw it as an “exhausting rant” - then perhaps - you might need more exercise.

Thanks.

someone who is riddled by the bulletholes of their own contradictions aren't really an authority on anything.....don't point your crusty finger at anyone.

Well guess what? What constitutes a good debate is when 2 people converse back and forth, without interrupting, on their views and positions. Each person listens to (or in this case ,reads) the other persons views/opinions. Then, they absorb it, analyze it, consider it, and respond without attacking. In order to form a counterpoint, the opponent in the debate looks for contradictions and flaws in the other persons argument. That is the point. If people in history did not do this in such a manner, no progress would be made.

So, I don't understand why you are somewhat attacking others and myself. I did not attack you in my post. I even stated that you seemed wise. I questioned your position, in hopes that you would back it up with something of substance. You did not.

Others on this post have come out an insulted you, yet you choose to ignore them and come at me, when I presented some fair questions.

Seems awfully silly to me.

If humans never asked the question of God's existence, we'd be better off.
God can suck my Jr. any day of the week, save the sabbath.
Human compassion is a fable. A fantasy. A lie.
Nobody cares about anybody beyond their own vulnerability to the hurt in possible loss of that person.
When you have knowledge that most others don't have, it separates you from the rest of humanity, as if you were a leper. Most will not risk this separation from the clan. The few that know the truth of this existence are always alone, because nothing can comfort them. Not now, not ever.

Look, I'm not married, but I am perverted. Also, I don't particularly consider myself to be creepy. I just hope that if and when I do get married, my wife will dance around the fire with me. I think this is the only thing worth saying about the opening post.

Very good my love - you pass to the next level:

What you are describing is the "Socratic method of debate". You are right, yet my contradiction was not debatable, since it was not relative to the discussion at hand; now was it?

I am liking you more and more..

ooo, a Like-Fest!

I am liking YOU more and more. And if you don't mind me telling you all, I am liking myself even more and more than that!

So, I'm not sure if I should say thank you, or I sarcastically say.. Oh YAYY I'm so glad I am earning your approval.

Since you seem to be playing nice I will ignore the condescending undertone of this post. I will play nice as well and wait to see what else you have to offer. Perhaps we have similar thoughts on things, and if not, perhaps we can have some Socratic type debates.

You haven't posted enough for me to get a sense of your style so I don't have much to say.

That's the best laugh I've had all week. Save the sabbath, indeed. Fuckin' hilarious.

I've had that thought several times. It is so true and such a sad realization.

We agree.

Let me ask you a question; Have you ever wondered where your "true sense of community" is? Have you thought about it at all?

I've got tons of style. Can I swing my e-wang your way and see whatcha think?

I must be an idiot. What is a socratic debate?

What does this even mean?

You are not an idiot for not knowing what a Socratic debate is, but you are an idiot for not reading this entire thread before asking.

Seek and you shall find; The answer lies within this thread.

And if that's too much work, take that little mousey of yours and click here......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elenchos

ahahahaha, well aren't you an uppity little lady?

first of all, my question was done sarcastically to highlight the idiocy of you guys actually talking about socratic debates as if it were something worth wasting time on. I don't read entire threads here. I doubt anybody does. There isn't enough worthwhile reading here for my 100% attention.
Seek and you shall find? Wow, that's insightful.
I tend to disagree with the assumed point of that quote, and think its hilarious how overly used such quotes are.
How many times have I heard that and "think for yourself" by pretentious tool fans?

Wilkepedia is not a place to go for facts and information. Just though you might want to curb that habit before it runs rampant in your daily activities and you're more misinformed than you already are.

Never respond to me again. Thanks.

I know you're female, so it may take you a little longer to get.
Then again, I'm sure you're familar with wangs in your face all the time.

This is your thread so I suppose you can take this in any direction you want. I'll take the bait.

It depends on what you mean by sense of community. I don't think anyone has a true sense of community, so to speak...

Community can mean belonging to a group of people. No one ever truly feels like they belong anywhere. Even when we are surrounded by people that have similarities to us, we still choose to look at the differences and we tend to define people by these differences. We compete, friendly or not, we all compete. As stated in the previous post, we never truly care because we look out for our best interest. It's just human nature. So while it is possible to experience different levels of community, no one has a TRUE sense of it.

Sense of community can also be talked about in terms of caring for the community and giving back to it via volunteer work, etc. That is another fallacy because people only do these types of things for 3 reasons... 1. Because we have to under some sort of obligation, which ironically isn't volunteering.... or 2. Because we want to make ourselves look good and/or get recognition from others.... or 3. Because it makes ourselves feel good inside. It gives you a sense of accomplishment and pride. That motivation is the easiest to disguise but the most selfish of all of them.

It is physically impossible to do any sort of selfless act because in one way or another, you end up benefiting. Even the biggest supposed selfless act of all can be interpreted as selfish: Jesus dying for US. Did anyone ever think that maybe Jesus had a giant ego? He only helped others so much because it fed his ego and made him be worshiped, adored and followed? Because it made him feel amazingly powerful to be looked upon in that way. Maybe he supposedly died for our sins not out of love, but because he wanted to be immortalized and remembered forever as THE only true man that died for our sins? Perhaps he is the ultimate representation of selfishness.

Whoa, where am I? How did I get from your question to here? Oh well.

Holy shit dude, I was just messin with you and being facetious. Simmah! And I agree with you on Wikpedia, that was supposed to be part of the irony... how everyone on this site uses it's spoken from "God." I guess the sarcasm was lost. It's no fun when I have to explain it... boo.

There's nothing wrong or even interesting about this. People care about themselves only. That is the structure of the ego-function. Last time I checked, every single little organism and all you humans still have that Ego function in operation, so even if you wanted to be selfless, you couldn't be.
Go further with this line of thought. What does it say about existence in general? What does it say about the apparent selves that we are all referring to?
Can ya do it?
Can you ring my bell and take this thing around the corner and down the block?
Come on, let's do it. I know you can. Well, can you?

I never heard the term e-wang, but I get it now. And that last comment was just uncalled for and very disrespecful. Really. Saying shit like this to women does not make you look "cool." It does the opposite.

It doesn't have to be interesting, I am answering a question that was posed to me.

All YOU humans? Are you not human as well??

Ok, now I can't even tell if you're kidding or serious.

I didn't realize that I was here to try and be cool and impress the ladies.
I know its not PC to take jabs at girls in that way, but so what?
You can handle it, right?
There's enough brainwashing out there in the world and on TV that will back you up. You're a girl. A perfect sinless beautiful creature that never lies and can only do good in the world. You're golden. Why would you care what this ugly and horrific man writes to you as a joke in a messageboard?

Lighten up, honey.