So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
A hidden voice beneath the thunder
Cascades whispers reaching down
A life less perfect in its living
Is to real purpose summoned now
As dream carved eyes sing empathy
With wings made mortal to the search
For essence weighed in temples raged
Ascend the fires and salted earth
I can see the message breathing still
I can hear the voices sounding deep inside
I can feel the hero rising up above the silence
Your soul remembers yet
The path that men forgot
I bring the winds to free you from your hesitation
I call the storms to remind you what you are
My faith endures for the sake of something less and more in them
And so I bring the winds, to echo in your heart
Drifting scenes of shameful things
To haunt corrupted will
The lion pacing at the edge
Guards the keep that faith once built
Find constitution in your soul
A vessel for your light
Eyes drift toward the northern fires
A beacon to the ocean of the night
Cascades whispers reaching down
A life less perfect in its living
Is to real purpose summoned now
As dream carved eyes sing empathy
With wings made mortal to the search
For essence weighed in temples raged
Ascend the fires and salted earth
I can see the message breathing still
I can hear the voices sounding deep inside
I can feel the hero rising up above the silence
Your soul remembers yet
The path that men forgot
I bring the winds to free you from your hesitation
I call the storms to remind you what you are
My faith endures for the sake of something less and more in them
And so I bring the winds, to echo in your heart
Drifting scenes of shameful things
To haunt corrupted will
The lion pacing at the edge
Guards the keep that faith once built
Find constitution in your soul
A vessel for your light
Eyes drift toward the northern fires
A beacon to the ocean of the night
Lyrics submitted by BleedorBreathe
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