Nice To Know You

Hey guys, I'm pretty sure this is actually about the ego (in the spiritual sense).

He's saying that the places he goes and the feelings he feels when meditating or approaching enlightenment are better than seeing magic tricks (Geller) or other cool sights (nebulas in bloom). He also goes deeper (into himself) than Jacques Cousteau ever dared dive. The following line is to contrast going deep (like the song "Ain't no Mountain High Enough"), and it's also saying that he never realized how much potential he had until he approached enlightenment.

He also talks about perspective in this song. He says that the loss of ego results in a gain of perspective (seeing things unclouded by ego). If you are able to see from this "bird's eye" (as in from a perspective that is not your own) then you will 'smile and surely sing' from joy. This perspective pries your once, which were once weighted with ego. As far as giving you wings, he is doing two things. He is setting up the part about the bird's eye in the next verse stanza, and he's saying that it sets you free, allowing you to soar.

I know I'm jumping around here, but I think explaining it in this context allows you to see how the song develops.

To the lines "Blessed is she... ...blizzard to a breeze"

Seeing the wood for the tree means seeing past something as just a tool (wood) and understanding where it came from and what it took to make it into that (the tree). The tree is a living being that we cut down for its wood. To be able to recognize that this piece of wood was once a living being is a part of this enlightened perspective. I'm not sure if he's saying that we should be less consumerist or if he's saying to appreciate what had to happen for this object to come about, but it's still a wonderful thing to say (whereas many people see the tree for the wood, or the land for the strip mall...etc).

My favorite line in this song is the following line. He is saying that being able to attain this enlightenment, or this perspective that gives you wings, requires turning a violent, chaotic blizzard (the roaring blizzard that is your ego, your thoughts, your 'mind') into a calm, peaceful breeze.

One of the much-said ideas in Buddhism is that the egoless self is present within you at this very moment, and basically the ego covers it up and hides it. in the interlude, Brandon voices this idea, asking if his current state could have been within him his whole life, even if he had only just discovered it (and maybe wondered why it took him so long to feel this way).

As far as the prechorus and chorus, it should make sense now, but it sounds like he's saying that he finally reached enlightenment (which is marked by the end of the ego). He can't ever remember feeling this way (be it joy, peace, free), and how it feels like a waking limb. When your leg falls asleep and then you let the circulation back to it, as I'm sure you know, it feels like a thousand little prickly sensations. He is wondering if his inner self was 'sleeping' this whole time, and he finally allowed 'circulation' back to it. He is feeling the 'pins and needles' of it waking up, which is marked with the dying of the ego. His only words to his ego? "Goodbye, nice to know you."