Beyond the Surface

Wow, I think this is my favourite song on this CD so far (and thats saying something considering this is one of my favourite CD's ever!! Kutless rule!)

In terms of what this song means to me, it seems to be referring to self-harm as a result of not matching up with the picture perfect images of the magazines. The song seems to be saying that these perfect images are not real - they are airbrushed, and the writer cries out to the listener not to compare themselves with these unrealistic ideals. The chorus cries particularly to someone sitting with a knife, feeling such worthlessness and self-hate at being unable to match these ideals that he/she plans to cut themselves, whether as self-harm or as a suicide attempt. The artist appeals to the person to "put the knife away, thats not what anybody needs, there';s a better way". Instead of comparing ourselves to magazine images, the 2nd verse tells us to be our true selves.

Wow, I think this is my favourite song on this CD so far (and thats saying something considering this is one of my favourite CD's ever!! Kutless rule!)

In terms of what this song means to me, it seems to be referring to self-harm as a result of not matching up with the picture perfect images of the magazines. The song seems to be saying that these perfect images are not real - they are airbrushed, and the writer cries out to the listener not to compare themselves with these unrealistic ideals. The chorus cries particularly to someone sitting with a knife, feeling such worthlessness and self-hate at being unable to match these ideals that he/she plans to cut themselves, whether as self-harm or as a suicide attempt. The artist appeals to the person to "put the knife away, thats not what anybody needs, there';s a better way". Instead of comparing ourselves to magazine images, the 2nd verse tells us to be our true selves.

I agree

Great song, from my favorite Kutless album so far (as of 2008). I'm not really sure what, if anything, is being implied by the first three lines. Lines 5 to 7 talk about how people are enhanced to "perfection" in the media in various ways, making the images that we see of them fake. We think we should be as "perfect" as these images we see. I thought that the first few lines of the chorus were telling us not to go to great lengths to be like the images we see, such as undergoing plastic surgery ("put the knife away..."), but the other interpretation makes sense to me too. Then, of course, the rest of the chorus is saying that we should stop comparing ourselves to those "counterfeit images" and wanting to be like them. It ends by telling us to think about other things besides what we look like on the outside. "Don't give...self" seems to be saying that we should have minds of our own rather than just doing what the world tells us to do all the time.