The Phantom Agony

I can't see you I, can't hear you Do you still exist? I can't feel you, I can't touch you Do you still exist? The Phantom Agony I can't taste you, I can't think of you Do we exist at all? (I believe this is a dream. She is talking to a figure in her dream she is between reality and illusion she can't really understand or remember. This is the phantom agony wondering if you are real where you are where you should be.)

The future doesn't pass And the past won't overtake the present All the remains is an obsolete illusion (we feel that as time goes there is still future ahead, there are questions and doubts. The future i.e our doubts doesn't pass we don't get answers and the past, the certainty won't come back and we feel trapped into the present that doesn't offer awnsers or security. We feel we are trapped in an illusion)

We are afraid of all the things that could not be A Phantom Agony (a phantom i.e a ghost isn't afraid of death and future the things that scares us most of all.)

Do we dream at night Or do we share the same old fantasy? I am a silhouette of the person wandering in my dreams(our dreams reveal us things, they are a form of communication with our inner voice. But can they provide us information about the meaning of life and the future are they common for everyone a way to learn the destiny of the world? We don't know so we wander in them searching for answers.)

Tears of unprecedented beauty Reveal the truth of existence We're all sadists (sometimes we feel pleased when we or other people cry cause this proves that we have feelings and problems we are not aloof creatures with no emotions. It makes us realise our nature and the meaning is living our life intensely is the real success)

The age-old development of consciousness Drives us away from the essence of life We meditate too much, so that our instincts will fade away They fade away (our instincts can provide us with a balanced life. We don't need to think too much cause we will loose the meaning. I think this is a bit controversial with the ending which says we should think and keep and open mind to all possibilities searching for self-realisation. I think this implies that thinking must be accompanied with insticts to be effective i.e not allow your thoughts to block your actions and emotions.)

What's the point of life And what's the meaning if we all die in the end? Does it make sense to learn or do we forget everything?( this is what we all wander the base of all meditation.)

Teach me how to see and free the disbelief in me (we need to understand what we truly want but sometimes we find too hard and want someone to teach us.This is only partly true us you can teach someone your perception but everyone has his or her own you have to discover yours which is a mix of your experience emotion and the effect you have taken) I'm afraid of my own exchange of views (we need security and stability we are afraid to listen to ourselves as it may change our perception.) What we get is what we see, The Phantom Agony (the ghost agony do we really exist? Where should we be, are we lost or not concious or not?We feel that way cause different perpectives collide we don't know what to believe and sometimes this ends up here.)

The lucidity of my mind has been revealed in new dreams I am able to travel where my heart goes In search of self- realisation This is the way to escape from our agitation And developed ourselves Use your illusion and enter my dream... (our dreams amd emotions i.e where our heart goes are the key. They can provide us with all we need,our self-realization the way to accept ourselves. In order to understand the meaning we have to keep an open mind and try understand our dreams and emotions, what they truly mean for us...If we use them we can enter our common dream, true happiness.)

This is an GORGEOUS song truly intense and with a deep controversial meaning. For me it is about having a broad-mind so that you can interpretate your dreams your emotions and your fears. This interpretention alongside with your insticts can guide you to find true happiness... The phantom agony is actually the deeper questions about our inner voice. We should detect our own phantom agony and turn it into our reality composed from dreams and spontaneity. It is one of the hardest interpretentions I have made and I hope it is helpful... It is just my opinion though :-)!!!

One of my all time fave Epica songs especially off their first album. Sends chills down my spine. This whole song is obviously about how people dwell on tihngs that didn't happen and never just move on toward the future. Also it's them trying to see things of the world that will never be. The word dreams is emphasized for the latter. I love the whispered lyrics in the beginning and end, it really adds to the meaning of trying to find alternate reality.

I think it's talking about us being too much in a false and huge world of our thoughts and believe it's true. The world is what we perceive it as, and we meditate (think) so much that we don't see reality, only what we think is reality. We are lost from instincts and obsessed with ideas, kind of idealists. This is a realist song indeed. Personally, I think ideas and learning are important and have value and help us reach self-realization, but the song is the contrary of my opinion. Oh well. People are thought of as illusions and life as a dream in the song. I can sort of agree w/ that.

"A te spiritus noster devoratur et nostra anima capitur" means: Our spirit is devoured and our soul is captured by you

This song is beautiful. I like the mix of voices so you really get the feel of it. I agree with dark ivory that it's about realizing that you don't really know anything about yourself, and trying to figure out who you are and what life is about.

To me this song is about human existence. Nowadays, people show a façade of who really is and live life as if it were something virtual in all the turmoil that accompanied the day to day ... We seem to be computers that overthink and overanalize the information we manage, looking for the logic of everything and putting aside the instinctive part of human being ... the essence of being human ... So, little by little, life has lost meaning and the people are far away from its self-realization.

About the part of the phantom agony, I believe it refers to our ancesters, who are squirming in their graves when they see how we are driving our lives.

This is a truly amazing song all those voices together, very well put surprised no comments yet

This is a truly amazing song all those voices together, very well put surprised no comments yet

One of the best on the album.

This song is beautiful

The Phantom Agony is an awesome song. In fact it's probably one of my favorite songs of all time, but Design Your Universe runs a close second. :)

Still, am I the only one who thinks this is a nihilist anthem? Particularly this line from the second verse screams "nihilist" to me:

What's the point of life And what's the meaning if we all die in the end? Does it make sense to learn or do we forget everything?