Our Last Common Ancestor

I'm really not sure the lyrics are so cryptic, but since no one else has, let me take a stab at it anyway. I think the words are a plea to God, which makes sense because Charlie's a Christian and this has been a theme in their songs before. I think it's about spirituality and the way that commercialism and modern technology have made our lives so vacuous, and that maybe it would get to the point one day where we've become just like these "machines" and just become empty shells who've forgotten how to love. The only section that doesn't seem to conform to this would be the "my shadow grabbed me" bit. I suppose the shadow could be man's shadow cast over the world, so technology and progress for the sake of progress has undermined everything that being human is supposed to mean, or maybe that the fact man can love and should therefore be "better than this machine" counts for nothing, because the shadow has grown "much taller than I am". The entire album has a post- apocolyptic feel to it just like the one before, so I guess that would have something to do with it as well. The way Charlie sings the song is haunting, the whole thing sounds like a whisper from the dark, a desperate plea. I still find it darkly beautiful even if I can't figure out what it means.

A random thought:

Could it be about Blade Runner?

A vague reference to the terminator films, makes sense. If we, we are The conscience The roads That we once walked for example ;)