| Dimmu Borgir – Kings of The Carnival Creation Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
Karl Marx said "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people". More rightly he could have said "Apostate religion, self-serving governments, greed-driven corporations, and self-aggrandizing societies are the sigh of the oppressed creature...the opium of the people" "Consuming illusions made from hysteria and swallowed tongues" and "Devoured by doubt, conducting arts of misconception Testimonial sufficiency declaring numbness of all perceptions" really are the capstones of this song in my opinion because they speak to the reality of the depraved condition of humanity in relation to our use of societal facades to avoid being honest with ourselves. From a philosophical basis, I would fundamentally disagree with Dimmu Borgir in their view of the base of life being entropy and chaos. This discounts the human ability to make choices. However, I entirely agree that society is in a death race to escape life, subsequently creating more suffering from which to escape. This is evident in everything and takes considerable mental focus, honesty with one's self, and discipline to swim upstream so to speak. Ironically, many fall into this same death race with metal which I've found interesting. Stay awake, stay focused, and always re-evaluate what's truly important and real. Failure to do so is a recipe for illusion and subsequent disaster. |
|
| Madeline Adams – The Demise of Madame Butterfly Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
Misleading much? This must be an inside joke because this has just about as much to do with Madame Butterfly as Stairway to Heaven has to do with The Magic Flute. You just don't cite a vastly superior piece of music and then make no homage to it at all. Bad form. |
|
| Muse – Escape Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
This song is clearly about a sexual addict confronting the addict within themselves. The song is written to the addict inside. I'll explain. "You would say anything And you would try anything To escape your meaningless And your insignificance" Sexual addiction purveys a sense of worthlessness to the individual via the addict inside. The degraded sense of worth projected onto others as result of lust that is the foundation of sexual addiction is reflected through an empathic response onto the addict themselves. When a person is in the depths of addiction, they will do anything to escape their feelings of meaninglessness. Ironically, this usually drives them further into addiction and continues those feelings in a vicious downward spiral. When one begins to become separated from these addictive tendencies however, the separation of the addict and who they really are becomes more apparent. This is the point being made here. The person is able to stand back and behold the addict within themselves. They begin to recognize the aspects that they thought were inherently them while they where in the depths of addiction. "You're uncontrollable" Sexual addiction is something that causes a powerfully horrible out of control feeling. At times, an addict may feel that they are having an out of body experience, witnessing themselves acting out while truly desiring not to. More often than not, this desire alone is not enough to overcome the desire to act out. Thus control is lost, bringing a sense that the addiction is uncontrollable. "And we are unlovable" Interesting word choice here. The dual personality associated with sexual addiction makes for very complex results when one acts out. Much like when Dr. Jeckyll has to take responsibility for the actions of Mr. Hyde, a sexual addict has to take responsibility for how acting out impacts not only themselves, but also those around them. Inherent feelings of shame and worthlessness (as noted above) feed on the lack of control and make the person feel that other people would be incapable of loving them if they knew about the addiction. This contributes to an isolationism that breeds loneliness and creates another emotional pain that the addict then feels a need to medicate by acting out. "And I don't want you to think that I care" When fighting addiction, the person tries to avoid the gropings of the addict inside by not directing attention toward the addiction. This is done because when attention to the addiction is given, a desire to act out is triggered making it harder to resist. The dual personality conflict becomes stronger and stronger as the person shows the addict inside that they care at all about the addiction. When this happens the possibility of acting out increases. When this occurs, the addict within the person exploits that opportunity to drive the desire to act out all the more. And the destructive downward spiral continues. "I never would, I never could again" This is very characteristic of the feelings the person has when they have just finished acting out (having satiated the addict inside) and no longer have the desire to. This is the time when the desire to fight against the addiction is clear and focused. Because of the lack of desire to act out in that moment, it seems like the person could maintain sobriety forever. This is an honest feeling but it is often so challenging to maintain, especially when the desire to act out is triggered again at a later time. "Why can't you just love her?" This is especially poignant in the world of sexual addiction. I would change the "her" to "him" or whatever would be appropriate for the person/people the sexual addict is close to in their lives (though it is especially applicable when the him/her is someone with whom the addict is in a romantic love relationship). More often than not, those in a love relationship with a sexual addict feel a sense of betrayal as a result of the addict’s actions. They feel hurt and withdrawn because there is a perception that the affection, which should be directed toward them, is being directed toward someone or something else, even though the addict claims to love them. This is often true whether the addict is acting out with other people physically or by engaging in pornography. Interestingly, the addict often has a separation of affection between the addiction and their love partner. However they too feel a sense of betrayal when they act out. This is why the person is prone to say to the addict within themselves "why can't you just love him/her?" They feel that they should love their partner and that truly loving them would mean stopping the addictive behavior that is causing them pain. But they can't control it on their own. All they can do sometimes is ask why. "Why be such a monster?" I think it's interesting that this why question follows the previous one. When an addict asks themselves why they can't love another enough to overcome the addiction, they often then perceive themselves as a monster because of the pain they are causing their love partner and others in their life. This includes themselves. The feelings of monstrosity can also grow from being honest with themselves about the reality of their addictive actions. Sexual addiction does not lend itself to the tender, natural and wholesome but rather to the depraved, abusive and exploitative. The monstrous. "You burn me (bully) from a distance" I have seen a couple versions of this line. I like both but I feel that "bully" instead of "burn me" is not only what is said, but also fits more in line with the theme. Both work however. Basically, the addict inside the person takes no responsibility for any action. The person is required to take responsibility for what happens when they act out even though they are not acting with a clear mind. The negative consequences that occur as result of sexual addiction such as loneliness, depression, isolation, self degradation and abuse, the pain of hurting others, dealing with the backlash of others reactions, etc. are borne solely by the person rather than the by addict inside. In this way, the addict is bullying the person from a distance because they are always there to cause the problem but never around to take the consequences. "Your brain needs some assistance" For this one, I could go into all the psychological ramifications associated with sexual addiction but I've already touched on several. Suffice it to say that there is an incredible amount of hatred that a person dealing with sexual addiction has toward the addiction and the addict inside. Insults like this one would be common because there is so much that sexual addiction drives a person to do that doesn't make any rational sense. From an outside perspective, this is what many sexual addicts fear others will think of them if they discovered they have this addiction. Also, sexual addiction changes brain chemistry so a sexual addict literally does need some assistance in this sense. This is not meant as an insult here but rather as a kindly stated suggestion. In order to overcome sexual addiction, a person needs to literally reprogram the way the addiction has wired their brain. "But I'll still take all the blame" I think I have touched on this several times but the addict within the person is never there to take the blame for acting out in the addiction. The addict acts out and the person then has to deal with whatever negative repercussions occur. "Cause you and me are both one and the same And it’s driving me mad And it’s driving me mad" This is the hardest part of sexual addiction. When the person makes choices based on the desires of the addict, they are, in actually, making choices themselves. The addict inside does not make the choices for them, they have to take the initiative to act on what the addict inside suggests to them. This is one of the hardest things to deal with because it requires an acknowledgement that the person and the addict inside are embodied in the same entity. And when someone is making destructive choices that they don't want to make because something within themselves drives them to make those choices, it can be truly a force for insanity. It can drive people to abuse themselves and others and even push them to the point of taking their own lives. Sexual addiction is not a healthy thing and can change a person's mind into such an unhealthy state that they develop truly psychotic tendencies. "I'll take back all the things that I said I didn't realize I was talking to the living dead" Often, a person will try to reason with the addict inside. They will try to persuade them as to why the sexual addiction should be averted. They can list reason after reason why they shouldn't act out. They can come up with every possible rational aspect as to why the addict should stop driving at the addiction, only to find that the addict doesn't even have the capacity to react to reason. Like a zombie, the addict inside may acknowledge the fact that there is communication occurring from the person but at the next opportunity, it will seek sexual gratification with flagrant disregard for all the reasoning in the world. This causes a sense of extreme frustration in the person because they realize that they can't reason with the addict inside. This causes anger, fear and hostility towards one's self in a realization that the addict is a part of the person sexual addiction has driven them to become. "And I don't want you to think that I care I never would, I never could again You would say anything And you would try anything To escape your meaningless And your insignificance" I could repeat myself here from earlier but that would be a little redundant. I do think that Bellamy hits the nail on the head here with the repetition of these lines. Sexual addiction is cyclical in nature. Notice that the repeated "And I don't want you to think that I care, I never would, I never could again" is followed by a powerful, exciting, dissident and angry sounding instrumental section followed by a morose ending. Much like the addict who doesn't want to act out but then does, only to be slumped into a plunging sense of meaninglessness and insignificance. So to make a long story short, I think that this song hits the major aspects of sexual addiction right on the head. And despite the power of addiction, it is possible to overcome, but (as outlined by the song) it can't be done alone. There is help out there. If you need it, please give a gift to yourself and reach out for that help. YOU DESERVE IT. And YOU CAN DO IT. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.