| Tool – 4 Degrees Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I think it very likely that the 4 degrees refers to the latter half of the eightfold development of the human psyche. The first four most every tom dick and joe develop through regular life experiences, but the last 4 are usually only attained through a concerted search effort by the seeker. Meditation is usually mandatory, sensory depravation and mind-altering substances can sometimes speed up the process, but some view that as a sort of shortcut, or cheating. I sure as hell don't, haha. Whether or not any members of Tool believe in the 8 fold model or not is irrelevant, but it is highly likely that their personal beliefs are at least on a similar tangent, as most of their material deals with these sorts of subjects... Freeing yourself from yourself in my opinion means deprogramming yourself from all the shit you've been force-fed from day 1, and accepted without even giving it a second thought, eg. social institutions, politics, gender/race/class roles, language, the very essences of all cultures, really. Finding the treasure beneath the castle, where no-ones been, the calm, etc, etc, that's the narrator describing the act of trying to free a friend. He's trying to help him/her along on the journey of discovering self, because it definitely has a huge payoff... there's nothing like getting a glance of yourself for the first time, and maybe even a glimmer of how you fit into this miraculous universe we're all a part of. It can be a very disconcerting journey.. believe me. A lot of the time you don't like what you begin to see... that the vast majority of people are either monkeys or robots... and that you've been one of them for your whole life up until this very moment when you start seeing things... opening your third eye, so to speak. Some people are so disturbed they jump back into the banality of things, and don't ever come back... a la Matrix, when Neo first begins to see. They go back into lala land and try to settle themselves by buying a porsche or a prada bag, depending on their budget and their level of idiocy. Material possessions don't bring happiness you douchebags! Wake up! That's why towards the end of the song the narrator won't let the person he's helping quit... he tries to force the journey. This is where the metaphor loses a bit in my opinion, because you can't really force that step... it's something everyone has to want for themselves. I'm sure Tool have read Leary, Huxley, Burroughs, etc... their lyrics are along very similar lines. Check this out, and follow some links if you're interested: http://deoxy.org/cirtable.htm#leary1 Just don't get too brainwashed... it's a journey you have to make on your own... you can't let others PREACH it to you. Maynard would fall off his chair laughing (as I'm sure he does quite often) if you start talking the shit without walking the path first. He's got millions of fans lined up trying to act enlightened to impress him, and it's got to make him giggle, if not cry most days. Remember that no-one can get it all down perfectly.. not leary, not huxley... not Maynard. I sure as hell don't know what's going on. NOBODY really knows what they're doing with their existence, and how big and complicated everything is... you just have to enjoy the ride. Take all or nothing. Life's just too short to push it away. |
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| Tool – Stinkfist Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Hey blink, what you (and unfortunately countless others) believe about these "supposed" (your emphasis) rogue terrorist groups is exactly what the government (or more generally the "powers that be") want you to believe. This is one aspect (perhaps the most repugnant and devestating) of media saturation that MJK outlines in many of his songs (in stinkfist not so much, but it's touched upon) - the fact that people have come to view our collective constructed memories (ie. society, and more specifically the media) as reality, and any ridiculous psycho babble that gets repeated ad nauseaum on the boob tube implants itself in our psyches and is perceived as an objective truth, when in reality it is more usually simply a subjective opinion (if we're lucky). All too frequently it's actually much worse - a blatant lie to sway public opinion in favour of the man and his current mission du jour. Anyone remember this one?: Let's go smoke iraq in the name of national security... no wait, liberation... no wait... saddam's a jerk... no wait... anything but rapidly depleting fossil-fuels and the resulting american interests in the middle east, since noone would get behind a cause so self-serving, no matter how much they love good old GWB and his oil-barren ilk. WMD's people... they're there, and that's why we've go to go a killin'... total BULL. And most people BOUGHT it... what a world. But really, can you blame them - they haven't been taught to think for themselves... they've been TRAINED (quite literally) to accept television's recipes as insta-truths. One of tool's most persistent themes is that everyone should try to find themselves, and THINK for themselves, and to not to allow some government sponsored media whores to think for you. That last bit is probably the most destructive evil, as it leads to all things bad on a large scale, such as wars, genocide, racism, hate-crimes, and incidents of terrorism such as 911, which you've hastened to deem a non-large scale disaster (for better or worse). I for one would not call the near-simultaneous deaths of 50000 people a MEDIUM scaled disaster, and I would certainly never go so far as to label their demise a necessary pre-requisite to the US' subsequent "improvements" in national security. Listen to the song again, my friend. Then listen to all of tools albums again. Smoke something if you feel like... it can't hurt (surprisingly in contrast to public... ahem MEDIA... opinion). |
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