Heaven

I think the longer you live, the more you realize that life has a rhythm and that you must take the bad with the good for anything to get easier. When you are young you may decide to go around problems, but age teaches you that it’s best to go through them.

To me this song is about accepting the pitfalls (the Void) of life, because at the other end of them is peace (Heaven). I think the person behind the song has lived long enough and learned enough to know this and is bracing for impact, so to speak.

It also seems there is a bit of a weary and sarcastic tone to the lyric “I’m in heaven”. Like it’s a way of saying, “Don't worry, I've been here before. I'll be alright.”

So yes, I see the song as being about the cyclic nature of life; losing and finding yourself time and again and finally realizing you are never really in control. That the only thing you truly have control over, is how you face what life throws at you.

On a separate note, I must say I am so happy that Depeche Mode continues to impress me and make me think after so many albums. It's really incredible.

I think that the song is a picturesque rappresentation of deep and sincere love. To love a person in a deep way means to "dissolve in trust" and so "burn the fire of love" ,"embrace the flame" and "end up in dust" to become one with love: "heaven". You lose your ego to be the flame, to become pure love, "reflect in endless light". There are no more two detached individuals with their egos : in tenderness they melt together in love. That's my personal interpretation of this great and really picturesque song. P.S.: Sorry for my english, it's not my mother language.

I'm pretty sure it's just about physical consumption of love

For me I think this is a deeply spiritual song about the awakening experience. The annihilation of the false self (ego). That's what jump into the void means. Going back to the source, emptiness, Tao, God - call it what you will.

It seems to be a song about escapism--with a religious theme. I'd specifically think it to be about an irreverent pastor who uses his position as a coping mechanism to deal with his death anxiety, and to prevent others from feeling that terror.

"Sometimes I slide away, silently. I slowly lose myself, over and over." These lines, most poetically, can be read two ways: they can refer to the terror of existential anxiety, of knowing that you will someday not exist, which consumes the pastor, or the state of selfless bliss he feels when espousing his faith to his flock.

"Take comfort in my skin, endlessly. Surrender to my will, forever and ever." The pastor feeds off of the love his congregation gives him. He is in control, and it is empowering. He becomes divine by espousing divinity.

"I dissolve in trust, I will sing with joy, I will end up dust" The trust he is given takes him away from the terror of death--his words comfort others such that they needn't feel the terror of knowing they will die. He sings with joy--but he knows he'll "end up dust". This is important, because it reveals that he hasn't faith. He knows death to be a state of nonexistence. If he were truly faithful, he'd end up a soul... in heaven, so this whole thing is a charade for him.

"I'm in heaven" He finds his salvation in the power and respect he is afforded as a pastor here on Earth, and his work convincing the others that they will not perish. It has nothing to do with God and everything to do with him.

"I stand in golden rays, radiantly. I burn a fire of love, over and over." Again, his preaching is his escape. It is his drug, convincing others of some salvation, "saving" them but not really saving them. He spews love but knows that, in the end, there is nothing. All fires can die out.

"Reflecting endless light, relentlessly. I have embraced the flame, forever and ever." More self-obsessed murmorings. He speaks of god relentlessly, obsessively. As a pastor, he is seen as a passionate advocate--but it is a burning passion, like a flame, and can cause damage. Flames also recall of hell, of the oblivion he knows he's headed to.

"I will scream The Word, jump into the void" He'll speak of God and divinity, and he'll be the only one dealing with the void of death, whilst everyone else believes themselves to be saved.

"I will guide the herd up to heaven." Referring to his congregation as a herd, like animals... he knows he's deluding them, but he feels it his obligation. They must not feel the terror he feels.

I see this as a strongly motivated approach to love, in which the singer states that he will be feeling on top of the world, and having the need to lead his thoughts, and letting it show. The flaw in this is that he knows that many of his ambitions are those which he cannot control, and it may end catastrophically for him. Either way, he's met with a sense of pure feelgood; he's in heaven.

First, I'm pretty sure there's a problem with the second-last line. It's "I will guide the herd", not "I will guide the world". This is especially noticeable in the Blawan remix (which is f***ing awesome).

Anyway, I'm sorry to be a downer, but I'm pretty sure that this song isn't about happy religious things or the healing power of faith. As a matter of fact, I think it may actually be about sex and suicide bombing.

The repeated motifs of being subsumed into something else–taking shelter in skin, surrendering to will, dissolving in trust, silently losing one's self–as well as the references to self-annihilation, jumping into voids, becoming dust, embracing flames; all of these seem to point toward a pretty negative idea of what "heaven" entails to the character in the song. I also agree with Auloo about the sexual overtones, which seem pretty obvious. The overall negative cast seems pretty clear in the style of singing and slow, mournful instrumentation.

My interpretation is that this song is sung from the perspective of a fundamentalist suicide bomber. The character is about to sacrifice himself to God, an action that he believes will light the way for the herd (an important term) with his "relentless" radiance. He will scream the word of God and destroy himself.

Anyway, sorry for being long and pedantic. Great song–check out the Blawan remix if you haven't already!

Simple. Masturbation.

i think its about someone who is really sad

and found a way to light up the world despite it all