Freezing Steel is about the seventh stage one experiences while meditating. It comes from the Ten Bulls of Zen. The album it is from is Catch Bull at Four, the fourth stage of Zen. This was Stevens' fourth album with Island Records and he felt, at that time, that he had reached the fourth Bull stage of Zen. Each song on this album is loosely based on it's corresponding stage. The first song, Sitting, is about the first stage, when one is on his way to reaching self-awareness, but still somewhat confused and afraid. The eighth song, O Caritas, is about reaching Nirvana, which is the eighth stage of Zen. In the seventh stage, one begins to hallucinate about meeting a religious leader or spiritual being. So, if your Jewish, you may hallucinate about meeting Moses or Abraham. If your Christian you will hallucinate about meeting Jesus or Mary. (Think of all those middle aged women who pray at Marion Shrines and swear that they encounter the Blessed Virgin.) If your Buddhist or Hari Krishna you will meet Siddhartha Gautama or the Lord Krishna. In this song, Stevens is implying that he is meditating and waiting to meet some Eucharistic Dove, but is abducted by an alien instead. To me, this song is probably an inside joke. He admitted he never moved past the fourth stage so he is just speculating about what stage seven would be like, so he compares it to being abducted by an alien who is transporting him to Venus. Either way, reaching stage seven while meditating is an out of world experience and his simile is appropriate in modern times.
Freezing Steel is about the seventh stage one experiences while meditating. It comes from the Ten Bulls of Zen. The album it is from is Catch Bull at Four, the fourth stage of Zen. This was Stevens' fourth album with Island Records and he felt, at that time, that he had reached the fourth Bull stage of Zen. Each song on this album is loosely based on it's corresponding stage. The first song, Sitting, is about the first stage, when one is on his way to reaching self-awareness, but still somewhat confused and afraid. The eighth song, O Caritas, is about reaching Nirvana, which is the eighth stage of Zen. In the seventh stage, one begins to hallucinate about meeting a religious leader or spiritual being. So, if your Jewish, you may hallucinate about meeting Moses or Abraham. If your Christian you will hallucinate about meeting Jesus or Mary. (Think of all those middle aged women who pray at Marion Shrines and swear that they encounter the Blessed Virgin.) If your Buddhist or Hari Krishna you will meet Siddhartha Gautama or the Lord Krishna. In this song, Stevens is implying that he is meditating and waiting to meet some Eucharistic Dove, but is abducted by an alien instead. To me, this song is probably an inside joke. He admitted he never moved past the fourth stage so he is just speculating about what stage seven would be like, so he compares it to being abducted by an alien who is transporting him to Venus. Either way, reaching stage seven while meditating is an out of world experience and his simile is appropriate in modern times.
@KevinDuignan very informative, I first have to say I have zero knowledge of Zen but it sounds very plausible.
@KevinDuignan very informative, I first have to say I have zero knowledge of Zen but it sounds very plausible.