To anyone who has read the Bible, the motifs are very familiar. The falling sun or stars, the bloody moon, and the resurrection and judgment of the dead are all described in the context of the Last Judgment. This is the final event to happen before the earth and the universe are renewed.
However the key to this song is what is spoken of but never described. This is the second layer of the vision. Since it is a transcendent thing, only its effects can be described, not itself. Its effects on the world are the apocalyptic visions, and its effects on the dreamer come in the form of a consuming joy. It is described in the only way it can be described, as a "thought" that "breathes" and "moves like fire."
It is possible to see the effects in the first verse and not understand their cause. The dreamer, though, is one who understands. He sings "I've been touched by the light and I know what I saw." The transcendent is not a mere idea, like freedom, but a being compared with which everything else is reduced to nothing.
Or as the Bible puts it, "Our God is a consuming fire."
To anyone who has read the Bible, the motifs are very familiar. The falling sun or stars, the bloody moon, and the resurrection and judgment of the dead are all described in the context of the Last Judgment. This is the final event to happen before the earth and the universe are renewed.
However the key to this song is what is spoken of but never described. This is the second layer of the vision. Since it is a transcendent thing, only its effects can be described, not itself. Its effects on the world are the apocalyptic visions, and its effects on the dreamer come in the form of a consuming joy. It is described in the only way it can be described, as a "thought" that "breathes" and "moves like fire."
It is possible to see the effects in the first verse and not understand their cause. The dreamer, though, is one who understands. He sings "I've been touched by the light and I know what I saw." The transcendent is not a mere idea, like freedom, but a being compared with which everything else is reduced to nothing.
Or as the Bible puts it, "Our God is a consuming fire."