| Thirteen Senses – Into The Fire Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I can never resist when someone says: I can't believe nobody has commented on this song.... So here goes my interpretation which naturally carries with it all the baggage that I do. I see this song with the eyes of a Gen-X child in the light of the Age of The Aquarius when many of us will be spiritually enlightened, yet will paradoxically move away from organised religion - where spirituality will take importance and religion fade into history. This is by no means a happy feel-good song, but I am sure we can all agree that it feels good listening to this song because it stirs some emotion in us. For me, it's catharsis - release of a certain angst. The repetitions of both the lyrics and the melody contribute to the build-up from a somewhat optimistic blind faith to a more resigned anguish and despair - giving voice to our own emotional upheavals, thereby providing a much needed relief. Come on, come on - Put your hands into the fire Explain, explain - As I turn and meet the power -----> The song title and the first lines make reference to getting into the fire - fire is widely known for purification - from the purification of gold; to sterilising surgical instruments; to banishing evil from witches burned at the stake; and the biblical baptism of fire...etc. The significance of fire for spiritual cleansing is clear when read with the following lines where we seek an explaination for putting our hands into the fire - we do so to turn from our lives, from what we were taught, what we have, what we know - to turn to meet the true power of spirituality - to be one with the higher consciousness. This time, this time - Turning white and senses dire -----> This time is significant because we have felt fear many times in our lives, but this time, the fear is so great, we turn pale from it. But what fears are so terrifying it turns us white? There comes a time when a soul experiences The Terrors of the Threshold - the terrors being our demons that are holding us within this threshold - limiting our spiritual growth. It is an inner challenge - the test that when we pass, will take us to the next level of spiritual growth. To conquer the Terrors of the Threshold, the soul needs to look at itself honestly in the mirror and confront those fears. One has to re-evaluate his senses, meaning how he used to sense or see the world, and to sense and see world in a different light is to question one's senses, and that's when one's senses are dire. Pull up, pull up - From one extreme to another -----> Pull up draws the metaphor of a pilot in a plane nose-diving into the ground. From one extreme to another describes how from almost crashing down into the ground, the pilot manages to pull up and soar upwards high into the sky. This resembles a spiritual transition known as The Dark Night of The Soul - when we feel like we have been abandoned by our higher power and we question our own existence and our belief systems. In questioning our beliefs, our faiths may be strengthened - we reinforce what we know in our hearts as true and shed the false pretences and falacies of most religions. If we manage to pull up, if we can figure out what is real and what is not, the soul soars the skies. The dark night occurs to those who do not seek merely a relationship, but full immersion or unity in the higher consciousness, with the higher power. From the summer to the spring -----> Conventionally, summer is known as a time when flowers are in full bloom - on one level, it describes a soul that sees itself being in full glory - fully grown - but it is only fooling itself since it has much growing to do still - because it thinks it is in its days of glory, forgetting that it is in spring that new growth occurs. On another level, between summer and spring is autumn and winter when death occurs - the death of one's old self is necessary before new growth happens. From the mountain to the air -----> A mountain is seen as a magnificent indestructable solid structure that is steadfast and strong. Air on the other hand is weightless, can't be seen or held in one's hand, not substantial or solid. Yet the transition to a higher level of faith calls for a move from the mountain to the air - it is not called faith when it is in your face, it is called faith only when you believe in something you cannot see, feel or touch. A mountain is like knowing. Air is like believing. Moving from what you know to what you believe is the mark of true faith. This also coincides with the Terrors of the Threshold - the mountain though solid is limiting, there is only that far you can go on a mountain. The Air on the other hand is limitless - literally, the sky is the limit. Imgaine jumping off a mountain into the air - from stability to nothing - it's not called a leap of faith for nothing. It may bring fear to the bravest of hearts, but the unlimited power of a soul being in the air, as opposed to being on a mountain, is a new level of enlightenment. From Samaritan to sin -----> This may seem like a deviation from previous verses, but it is not. This is a definite biblical reference - superficially, the Samaritan being good and sin being an act in defiance of God. This is conventional judeao-christianity where it has been taught that going against God is a sin. But on a deeper level, the reference to being a Samaritan is also a reference to following the bible blindly and doing so is obviously wrong, but would not following the bible blindly be an act in defiance against God? Upon greater reflection, is not following the bible blindly an act of defiance to the church or God? Can following religious dogma written by the hands of man used in the early days as a political tool to control the masses be more important that listening to the voice of God now, today, alive and speaking directly to you when you open your heart to Him? Here's where spirituality triumphs over religion. From the summer to the spring - From the mountain to the air From Samaritan to sin - And it’s waiting on the end -----> It makes sense to read these lines together. Each of the first 3 phrases refer to a transformation that is waiting to happen - waiting on the metamorphasis to be complete, much like a caterpillar waiting for itself to turn. And now I’m alone -----> Those who are going through the Dark Night feel alone and totally stranded, knowing it's a solitary path no one else will or can understand. The feeling of being alone also comes because there is confusion of whether we belong in the old world or the new - the transition is a place of exile where we belong to neither. And now I’m alone I’m looking out, I’m looking in, Way down, -----> Looking out describes seeing the world around us - it is significant that this path is walked alone, since we are at our most honest when we are alone. Looking in describes seeing ourselves for who we really are and way down, describes the re-evaluation with true depth. the lights are dimmer -----> Great darkness comes only in preparation for the great light at the end of the journey. Only through the test of complete darkness can true faith emerge - there is little value in faith that is un-tested. We are nearing the end we were waiting for earlier - for when we have survived the pitch black that can't get any dimmer, the light will break through and great enlightenment will occur. |
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