In Your Mind

It seems to me that a lot of the lines reference quantum theory and some other physics. Maybe I'm just making this up, but it seems like built to spill meant this. Here are some lines that caught my eye.

coincidence gave a confession that no one's allowed to forget

This could refer to whether information can really be destroyed, such as (possibly) in a black hole.

I don't wanna give the impression that predestination is set

Predestination is a central issue in quantum physics, where at some levels, events are random, yet at some levels, they are deterministic.

the distance will increase the danger where certainty's never enjoyed

"where certainty's never enjoyed" could be heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which states that the closer you know a particle's position, the less you know about it's momentum, and vice-versa. Hence, "the distance will increase the danger", or uncertainty.

observing the process will change it and afterwards even if you subconsciously rearrange it it doesn't seem any less true

This one could be taken right out of a quantum physics textbook. In quantum physics, observation is vital to deciding what outcome will occur. Physicists have "rearranged" quantum events, but they always end up being true, even in absurd cases of rearragement.

when magnifications explore there slowly emerges a pattern the details you normally ignore you notice really what matters

This is a basic process of science in general. One looks deeper into something, finding patterns in things you couldn't or wouldn't see before. And then, you notice what really matters, or the theory, etc. that explains it. Quantum physics is looking deeper into the macroscopic world of other physics, and seeing odd patterns at the atomic scale ("the details you normally ignore").

there isn't a time or a place only an ebb and a flowing a permanent repeating space occuring, connecting and growing

This seems like the elimination of absolute time and space in both theories of relativity. There is no such thing as absolute space or time; everything is relative. Also, "a permanent repeating space" sounds like the idea that our universe is not only permanent (always existed/extisting), and that it is infinite in size. "occuring, connecting, and growing" sounds like general relativity, in which time and space themselves are constantly warped by their contents.

As a final note, some people believe quantum theory is at the basis of consciousness, hence "in your mind".

i don't know what this song is about, trip, alien, enlightenment, nothing..

Built to Spill > In Your Mind

the symptoms of our getting older the problems that say we don't mind that most of us never get over the memories mingled with lies

stressors can create focus

coincidence gave a confession that no one's allowed to forget I don't wanna give the impression that predestination is set

synchronous event discloses a curiosity that doesn't conform to it's timeline

the distance will increase the danger where certainty's never enjoyed regarded as equal yet stranger embark then embrace then destroy

conforming to the curiosity by being anything other than 'yourself' is not cool. listen, engage, and don't try to make sense of it.

observing the process will change it and afterwards even if you subconsciously rearrange it it doesn't seem any less true

purity will fade but remain

remnants of thought disappearing and even transcending concern disturbing but somehow endearing conditioned to never unlearn

in time the experience will slip into the subconscious because living normal logic conditions us..

and no one can tell me to listen and no one can tell me what's right 'cause nobody has my permission and no one can see in your mind in your mind in your mind in your mind

no one else's experience of this kind matters because there is no way to speak of it.

when magnifications explore there slowly emerges a pattern the details you normally ignore you notice really what matters

after some time the experience will reflect new properties of thought

there isn't a time or a place only an ebb and a flowing a permanent repeating space occuring, connecting and growing

it can't be invoked, just???? observed

and no one can tell me to listen and no one can tell me what's right 'cause nobody has my permission and no one can see in your mind in your mind in your mind in your mind

don't talk to me about it

this song is aawwessomme.

...pretty sure its about being on drugs.

but i like the whole quantum mechanics idea. thats good stuff.

and no one can tell me to listen and no one can tell me what's right 'cause nobody has my permission and no one can see in your mind in your mind in your mind in your mind

really, no one can see in your mind... we're all different and what's right and wrong, or true and untrue varies to each person because of this.

SYNCHRONICITY

I think this song is about slowly figuring out the cyclical nature, synchronicity, and truth of the universe and never being able to unlearn it once you do. Once you notice the connection between all of the big and even minuscule things, events, coincidences, and patterns in every day life, it makes sense no matter how you try to arrange it (it doesn't seem any less true). I hope that wasn't a ramble.

the lyrics are so trippy i love it. Its about him coming to understand the nature of the infinite universe and its cycles. I like how it talks about people changing their own memories too.

this song remind anyone of Memento?

Psychedelics and quantum mechanics go hand in hand ianj, so you're both right.

But you can tell he's read a lot of Robert Anton Wilson, Timothy Leary, and Terence McKenna(and any of you who haven't should)

Robert Anton Wilson took a term from Timothy Leary and changed it and elaborated on it a little, but his theory is what this song is about. Wilson says that we all have our own "reality tunnel". That we are constantly interpreting millions of different signals, ignoring what we feel is irrelevant thus creating our own personal reality. Thats what the whole "And no one can tell me to listen/and no one can tell me whats right/ cause nobody has my permission/ and non one can see in your mind." Cause another thing Wilson says is all affirmations are true in some sense, false in some sense, meaningless in some sense, true and false in some sense, true and meaningless in some sense, false and meaningless in some sense, and true and false and meaningless in some sense. Ha ha goes with the chorus of this song too.

"there isn't a time or a place only an ebb and a flowing a permanent repeating space occurring, connecting and growing" These lines go with Terence Mckenna's novelty theory. He says that time is not duration, that it has an ebb and flow. He even uses the same terminology. McKenna feels that all times are connected through the phenomenon known as resonance. Sort of the same stuff the current theories of string theory are saying.