In a Glass House

The album "In a Glass House" consists of a series of vignettes depicting people that find themselves living in fragile situations -- their mental states are at a point of change or decision, or under pressure somehow from some sort of high-pressure or alien environment. Thus, "The Runaway" is about a man living on the run, "Inmate's Lullaby" is about a mental patient, "Way of Life" is about reaching a turning/decision point in a romantic relationship, "Experience" is about the dissolution of childhood ignorance and the transition into adulthood, and "A Reunion" is about an unexpected meeting with someone from the past.

"In a Glass House," the title track, is the most abstract and general. The song seems to literally depict a man living in a glass house as a metaphor for the mind itself. I'll do a line-by-line analysis to see how this metaphor works.

"Looking through a window" suggests perception itself -- looking out into the world from your personal viewpoint (the eyes? the "lens" of your own personal reality?). "You're sure you're really seeing what is meant to be" is a double meaning -- it could be a question (are you sure your personal definitions of reality are correct?) or a statement that the protagonist is convinced that his perceptions are "truth." Suddenly the glass of our "window" outside becomes a mirror: your perceptions of the "outside world" are really just a reflection of yourself (what you see outside the window is something you have "conspire[d]," an "imagine I desire." Thus we establish that everything you are inside AND outside is a reflection of yourself -- you are trapped in the glass house of your mind, and even looking outside you can't be sure you're "seeing what is meant to be."

"Standing on the ice believing all I'm searching for" -- you are balanced in a fragile, brittle situation, believing that the concepts your mind has formed are legitimate, and they spur you on a (needless) search for (illusory) satisfaction. The upshot is that you are just seeing reflections and illusions of your own psyche -- this is the very nature of suffering and seeking (as posited by non-duality). "Close your cloudy eyes and chase all that you did before" -- "cloudy eyes" surely means that your perceptions are flawed or somehow incomplete. "Chase all that you did before" is the continuous and repetitive pursuit of a mental illusion. The protagonist is lost in a maze of his own creation.

"Living in a glass house shielding all that's meant for me" brings to mind the man's fragile mental accomodations. The home both protects and divides; "all that's meant for me" is both protected by the (fragile) walls and "shielded" from him (the outside world that is his birthright is not accessible because of his mental barrier). "Can you clear the shade" is the first indication that we may need to remove the blinkers from our eyes and perhaps escape the self-imposed mental prison.

Light and darkness form the basis of the song's imagery. As night falls, the glass house becomes dark. The reflections and illusions of the mind have become distressing and unclear -- the protagonist is now in a shroud of his own mental construction. The glass house is no longer inviting without the light of day. The protagonist questions his perceptions for the first time -- "dark is gleaming -- or am I dreaming?" He realizes that what he sees may not be "what is."

"Running everywhere" -- he attempts to escape the glass house now that it has become a burden to him. "Seeing clearly when I dare" -- his perceptions are still flickering and partial and temporary. "Is it today or is it your way" is a tough line for me, but I think it may be asking if "today" is really an objective existence or if it is only a reflection of one's one "ways."

"And the moon must fall" -- night is ending, the cycle keeps spinning. Things are constantly in motion and the interplay of light on the glass house of your mind causes the shadows and colorations to change in time. "Inspiration waits for your call to get a silhouette" -- the creativity of your mind comes when you develop a consciousness of your own being/awareness. The light shining into your mind can create your "shadow" in reality in the form of your works or your art. "The call to get a silhouette" is the pull for a realization of your reality and your true place in the world around you -- and hence the cessation of suffering and narcissistic ego/fear.

"Narrow the field aim in any direction" -- throwing stones, presumably. The struggle still continues after the protagonist realizes the fragility of his glass confines. He attempts to break out -- but this is still an ignorant perspective, because one does not just "escape" one's own mind. "Do what I feel just to see my reflection" -- experimentation and possible narcissism. The protagonist follows impulses in order to map the territory and figure out a plan of approach, or simply revels in the achievement of his own whims.

"Any turn I know / Disappearing everywhere I go" -- while exploring his mental home he discovers that his reflection vanishes depending on his position. Thus the self is beginning to be seen through as having no real substance outside of what one perceives to be "me" in thought. "I look to you for what to do" -- I'm guessing here, but it sounds like the protagonist consults nature itself, it seems, now that he sees the fallacy and illusion-colored blinkers of his own intentions.

"The glass house is meant for me and... is never mine" -- his mind is an appearance only to him, but he does not "own" it. The mind functions on its own terms and the glass house is impartial in the way it changes and manipulates the light from outside. The crisis that "MY mind is not correct! My perceptions are just illusions" vanishes because the situation is no longer personal. The mind generates perceptions and thoughts of its own accord and there is no need to fight nature -- in fact, it is not even possible, because the mind is a product (a subroutine) of nature itself.

The protagonist has now moved from total ignorance ---> seeing that his mind is just one limited perspective and panicking, trying to rectify what he sees as a failure ---> acceptance of who he is and relaxing into maturity.

The line "And any time is never mine" is the culmination of the song -- the rest repeats earlier stanzas, adding a cyclical connotation to the search/discovery of one's nature. The motion remains constant even after supposed "enlightenment," but now it may be colored more positively. For instance, "narrow the field" and "do what I feel" may be seen as activities that are done in a positive or playful light rather than the earlier, desperate search for (illusory) "truth" or "freedom" from the mind. The song closes with an urge for the "call to get a silhouette" -- to puruse one's art or work in a constructive context, to see the shadow one's existence casts on the world in particular lights of day, filtered through the mental "glass house."

this is so weird