| mewithoutYou – Timothy Hay Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I don't know how much of this has already been stated, but today I had a kind of epiphany where (apparently) all of mewithoutYou's lyrics became perfectly clear. Here is what I think I understand from this song: All of the various animals and bugs represent some kind of person or what have you. The beginning starts with dawn (birth) and the song ends with sunset (death), followed by the realization of/assimilation with God. The whole song is about protesting the way the world is right now. The rabbits thumping their feet because the grass is chopped down, is people protesting in the name of "nature" because it doesn't care either way. I assume the part on the Pentagon lawn is something that happened to Aaron while he was protesting, his and her hands tied behind their backs with zip-tie cuffs by police. The rats seeking shelter from the cold are the homeless people who fall into the cracks of our society, or the "traps of our various ways." And Timothy hay itself, I'd say it's something like the generic, sterilized, commercism/consumerism that we're fed. This image is the one I'm least sure about, but I'm almost positive about the rest of them. In the end we are "split to pieces" like used fruit, but we find that even in death the seeds remain. Nothing is really born and nothing really dies. But right now consciousness has trapped us somewhere between those two inevitable poles. We just have to trust that "a beautiful God there must be" because even in all this suffering and imperfection, the beauty of Absoluteness can be seen - if only you'd look! |
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| mewithoutYou – Elephant in the Dock Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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putting this together with the song "goodbye, i," i think what's being said is that the actual thing that is "self" is beyond the body. 1 thing stands idly within all bodies, in their limited space & time, but 1 thing transcends all separate individual identities. but it seems also this song is about multiple things, so this is just one interpretation. |
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| mewithoutYou – Elephant in the Dock Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| seems like he's saying he's acted in kindness & love as a way to embody god & his will in our world, but he couldn't successfully enact the full kindness of god, only his scarred representation of the actual thing, thus: "emblems of kindness, but not the kindness they were emblems of." | |
| mewithoutYou – Goodbye, I! Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Apparently I should have read all of grayoak's post. Some of what I wrote is a repeat of what they said, but not all. So I take back when I said "no one" had mentioned Taoism. | |
| mewithoutYou – Goodbye, I! Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned the parallels between the lyrics here and what is taught in Buddhism and Taoism. It could just be a case of only hearing what I want to hear, but the resemblance seems too coincidental to be unintentional. For example, "Those who know don't talk, those who talk don't know," is a line from the Tao Te Ching. So given this information, my interpretation of the song is a little different. I do believe it's still a song about God, but I think that it incorporates broader principles than are made obvious in the Bible. The idea of being freed from the possession of an individual "self" could be considered the primary focus of Buddhist teaching. "Goodbye I" could easily be taken to be the seeking of liberation from that illusory "self", because in fact we are all a part of that unknowable thing which can be variously called God, the Tao, Allah, Buddha, the Void, etc. Again this is my interpretation. Aaron Weiss would say it is God, but "God" is different things to different people whether there is one Absolute or not. Returning to the thought of "Those that talk don't know..." Said briefly the meaning of this in Taoist or Buddhist terms would be that the Truth cannot be said because it is more than can be contained in words. Expressions of speech are mere descriptions and not the actual thing, and so are rendered incapable of portraying the Truth. This same Taoist thinking is hinted at in another song, "The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate," when it is the king says, "We didn't ask what it seems like, we asked what it is!" But our words will always fall short. The first line of the Tao Te Ching reads "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao, the name that can be named is not the eternal Name." Also meditation is the act of sitting just to sit, because doing is not necessarily better than not doing. "Let's all stand completely still," and "There's a movement in our stillness," to me is reminiscent of this idea. There is the hummingbird, fruitlessly beating his wings, contrasted to the tortoise who is moved by his surroundings - very similar to the idea of wu-wei (action through inaction). So these are just some comments I wanted to add. Again I do not think the similarities are coincidence, but I also don't think that Aaron Weiss is a Taoist or Buddhist. Elements of truth can be found in many places, and he seems to be one who understands this well. God is love. |
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