Im gonna take a broaderlook at it.

the sun is really "son" and the water is refering to the flood god made to wipe out the sinners. btw the bible uses rock to define faith, for example, there is a song[they made us sing it countless times in sunday school when i was a little sponge] about a wise man and a foolish man bulding their houses, the foolish man built his upon sand and the wise man built his upon rock, it rained and the foolish mans house fell cuz it wasnt on a stong foundation, and the wise man's house is on rock so it held strong.

so with that being said here's my stanza by stanza interp:

-=All I knew and all I believed are crumbling images that no longer comfort me. I scramble to reach higher ground, some order and sanity, or something to comfort me.=- === He was just going through life but things got tough, cuz ya know... life generally sucks from time to time, so he turns to religion like most desperate people do. He thinks he'll find comfort there.

-=So I take what is mine,and hold what is mine, suffocate what is mine, and bury what's mine. Soon the water will come and claim what is mine. I must leave it behind, and climb to a new place now.=- ====== further elaborating, i think, on the first stanza. "What is his" is really refering to his beliefs in god. [not maynerd's i doubt he ever was a believer but whoever is being refered to in this song]. So clinging to the faith he believes will protect him [jesus is the shepard we are the sheep.....god wont let you be tempted beyond your abilities,... ect... (the bible promises many types of protections for believers)] so like i thought earlier, the person is experiencing bad times, the water is the flood and its rising cuz it took awhile to actually become a destructive flood. so hes wondering if his new "higher ground" will keep him safe.

-=This ground is not the rock I thought it to be.

Thought I was high, and free. I thought I was there divine destiny.

I was wrong. This changes everything.

The water is rising up on me. Thought the sun would come deliver me, but the truth has come to punish me instead.=-

Doesnt need much explination, obviously religion didnt work and he fell hard on whatever it was putting pressure on him. the refernce to the sun is jesus christ, sybolizing religion in general, the "truth" is that religion is a facade so his would-be shield didnt work, and he was hit hard with whatever the water represents, i think life problems in general, ya know: girls, school, work and so on...

-=The ground is breaking down right under me. Cleanse and purge me in the water.=- ======No clue what this might mean. I guess a horrible experience makes one stonger, like developing callouses.

well this was just my broad interpretation feel free to elaborate on it if you agree.

this song is about something happening that forces you to look at the truth not the delusions that you had before that kept you comfortable and avoiding your pain . kinda like when an addict hits bottom or something happens that even he or she can no longer pretend there is no problem (admitting powerlessness). As the song says no matter how tight we hold on to these delusons or how deep we bury them eventually the flood will come and expose it. at that point the song deals with what we do then. in the song he or she decides to build another "rock out of false delusions" and the flood comes higher and overtakes them again. not until we face our fears, shortcomings etc.. will we be cleansed by the water which is the symbol of reality and acceptence in this case. tool seems to have this as a recurring theme (facing the past and fears to grow stronger - eg. 46 and 2)

If I can summarize this shortly, it is simply about recognizing yourself in a new perception. Biblical references or not, the song speaks of becoming aware or 'waking up' to the reality around you. It is about seeing reality for what it is beyond your expectations and beliefs. This happens through life experience. When you experience something you believe it, and you can hear someone preach something all day, but you may not actually change your mind about something until you have a new experience.

The person in this song is seeing reality in a way he never saw before because he put barriers on his perception, maybe believing his actions were caused by fate or some outside force rather than himself, but he wakes up to the reality of free will, and all his decisions were made by him, not the outside force, and that his freedom and deliverance was the free will he has had all his life. The past beliefs are just images, siguls, ideas. They are not reality what he sees now. The flood represents his new understanding of things, and how this new perception will 'flood' his consciousness and his life experience will exist through new understanding. The flood of this new perception will cleanse the mind, since this understanding of reality can no longer be repressed by fallacies or lies or false perceptions; it is inevitable. The old ideas will be purged, and the new perception will cleanse his consciousness and purge the false perceptions. In short, the song is about awakening to reality and the experience of it.

This song claerly speaks from it self...believing it's just an act of faith, and since faith is a part of the human nature we don't need "someone" to hold on to or to belive in but ourselves...do i made myself clear?

I really like the lines: "Thought I was high, and free. I thought I was there divine destiny.

I was wrong. This changes everything." It's like he was getting high and thought it was the right thing to do, until it bit him in the ass, he was wrong.

The best song on Undertow,hands down.

"Here comes the water." JMK opens with a sort of baptismal allusion, but definitely a transitory statement. Its a passing, possibly from life into death, or disallusionment into realization. In either case, this song sounds like a trip of self-discovery by a 'warped' individual. Let me explain...

"All I knew..." All of the speakers preceptions are completely destroyed, wiped away. It leaves him scared, confused, seeking a higher ground, a higher being perhaps--some sort of 'new' answer. Anything to repress this sense of loss. "So I take what is mine..." I think this is the speaker reverting back to his original conceptions, whatever he used to fall back upon. This 'whatever' sounds very vague, but I assume its the speakers belief that life is isolated, predestined, granting complete freedom from responsiblility, as there is no one to answer to.

"This ground is not the rock I thought it to be." Admitting he was wrong. The speaker must find new beliefs. This ground(human reality, existence) is not the rock(smaller, more insignificant than an expanse) I thought it to be.

"Thought I was high, and free..." The speaker realizes there are consequences, things aren't simply predestined, with no authority to answer to.

"The water is rising up on me." This revelation is so completely new, that the speaker feels like he is drowning in it. The sun, something that is familiar to him, something that never failed him before, is ultimately useless in his most desperate time of need. Instead, all the ground is coming apart from under him... but the water is coming up to purge and clense. In other words, this punishment/judgement will ultimately be his salvation.

Thats an interpretation of the lyrics themselves anyway. How it applies to JMK's experiences, or someone elses', is not for me to try and explain right now. I hope you can see the direction I mean to take though.

i agree w/ phlyinphil on this. trying to forget the past...moving on to live as a better man, only to find your past sins catching up to you...

i agree with hoomanha and captain obvious. the recognition of the failure of old myths,dogma, beliefs is presented as a baptism, a cleansing a rebirth.

I agree with you Captain Obvious. As far as the last stanza goes: "The ground is breaking down right under me. Cleanse and purge me in the water." Like you said, the ground, faith, is crumbling beneath him. Water, like in the song Ænema, is supposed to wash away his beliefs, and cleanse him of his predispositions.