Michael Garrret is right about the Hindu origin of the song, and while it is tempting to connect ‘we fled from the sea whole’ to the Red Sea parting, Moses’ tribe didnt actually flee from the sea, but rather the Pharaoh’s army. You could say they fled~through~ the sea , perhaps. The ‘sea whole’ is the phrase that makes me think more of evolution, as life as an amalgamation of many species fled, or transitioned , from the sea to the tide pools to the swamps to the land. Anderson uses the phrase ‘whole’ in a similar manner on their previous album, Close to the Edge. ~~~~~~~~~ But it is reasonable to read Christian themes in the song as well since Anderson and co-writer likely Howe were forerunners of what eventually became known as New Age. They fused Eastern, Western, and Ancient religious and philosophies. While this was not unique in that the Theosophists aimed to fuse Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Jewish spirituality about a hundred years ago. Painter Mondrian and poet TS Elliot were theosophists, with Elliot’s “The Wasteland” being a theosophist masterpiece. Some of the beatniks also sought to generalize a spirituality from all the world religions, but most were mainly nihilists because they were the first generation to have to learn to live with global nuclear annihilation at a very young age. Yes were of the hippies movement that turned the non-conformist beatnik pessimism and city grime existentialism into a non-judgmental optimism bathed in nature.
Michael Garrret is right about the Hindu origin of the song, and while it is tempting to connect ‘we fled from the sea whole’ to the Red Sea parting, Moses’ tribe didnt actually flee from the sea, but rather the Pharaoh’s army. You could say they fled~through~ the sea , perhaps. The ‘sea whole’ is the phrase that makes me think more of evolution, as life as an amalgamation of many species fled, or transitioned , from the sea to the tide pools to the swamps to the land. Anderson uses the phrase ‘whole’ in a similar manner on their previous album, Close to the Edge.
~~~~~~~~~ But it is reasonable to read Christian themes in the song as well since Anderson and co-writer likely Howe were forerunners of what eventually became known as New Age. They fused Eastern, Western, and Ancient religious and philosophies. While this was not unique in that the Theosophists aimed to fuse Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Jewish spirituality about a hundred years ago. Painter Mondrian and poet TS Elliot were theosophists, with Elliot’s “The Wasteland” being a theosophist masterpiece. Some of the beatniks also sought to generalize a spirituality from all the world religions, but most were mainly nihilists because they were the first generation to have to learn to live with global nuclear annihilation at a very young age. Yes were of the hippies movement that turned the non-conformist beatnik pessimism and city grime existentialism into a non-judgmental optimism bathed in nature.[Edit: typo]