Fruit of the Contemplative Life
Fruit of the contemplative life: => Art of the Mystic => : Benj September 04, 2017, 09:01:27 PM
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epkG-xSYaHA
I don't quite know where to start with this band. They have been untouchable in the metal scene throughout their entire career. The deeper my meditation goes the more I see why. This third album of their's 'Lateralus' appears to me to sum up mans search for meaning and possibly the quest for enlightenment. During the time of the release of this album, the band was well known for experimenting with psychedelic drugs. However, when you look closely at the mystical lyrics, take into account the metaphysical art design, geometric time signatures and hidden meaning in their writing, you start to get the impression that this band went further into the unknown than any other musician to date. I would not be surpirised if the lead singer Maynard James Keenan has practised deep meditation. He is generally known a genius. What I find so hypnotising by this album is that the deeper I understand jhana, the more I seem to relate to what they have constructed here.
I have posted a link to the title track 'Lateralus' with the lyrics below, the final two verses I find particularly cathartic I can't put it into words really. Furthermore, the time signature of this track follows the Fibonacci sequence.
"Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.
Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see there is so much more
and beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind.
Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.
I embrace my desire to, I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral, to swing on the spiral,
to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human.
With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in.
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out.
I'm reaching for the random or whatever will bewilder me.
Whatever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been."
Spiral out. Keep going...
The album as whole is essentially a spiritual journey, touching ideas like perseverance on the path...
"If there were no reward to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through,
This tedious path I've chosen here,
I certainly would've walked away by now.
Gonna wait it out.
If there were no desire to heal
A damaged and broken man along
This tedious path I've chosen here
I certainly would've walked away by now."
The schism of religious groups wrapped in the metaphor of two lovers
"I know the pieces fit 'cause I watched them fall away.
Mildewed and smoldering. Fundamental differing.
Pure intention juxtaposed will set two lovers souls in motion
Disintegrating as it goes testing our communication
The light that fueled our fire then has burned a hole between us so
We cannot seem to reach an end crippling our communication."
Spiritual revelation
"We barely remember who or what came before this precious moment
We are choosing to be here right now
Hold on, stay inside...
This holy reality, this holy experience
Choosing to be here in...
This body, this body holding me
Be my reminder here that I am not alone in...
This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal
All this pain is an illusion"
Spiritual crises and emergence This track "reflection" is pure genius
"I have come curiously close to the end, down
Beneath my self-indulgent pitiful hole,
Defeated, I concede and
Move closer
I may find comfort here
I may find peace within the emptiness
How pitiful
It's calling me...
And in my darkest moment, fetal and weeping
The moon tells me a secret - my confidant
As full and bright as I am
This light is not my own and
A million light reflections pass over me
Its source is bright and endless
She resuscitates the hopeless
Without her, we are lifeless satellites drifting
And as I pull my head out I am without one doubt
Don't wanna be down here soothing my narcissism.
I must crucify the ego before it's far too late
I pray the light lifts me out
Before I pine away.
So crucify the ego, before it's far too late
To leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical,
And you will come to find that we are all one mind
Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable.
Just let the light touch you
And let the words spill through
And let them pass right through
Bringing out our hope and reason...
before we pine away."
Plus... it flipping rocks. If your not into metal I apologise, however for me am I am yet to find a volume that is loud enough.
-
What I find so hypnotising by this album is that the deeper I understand jhana, the more I seem to relate to what they have constructed here.
Interesting... I am out of music for some years, but I heard of this band 10 years ago. The music - nothing special, yet nice intro running, the lyrics...de gustibus non est disputandum, however I can feel very slightly something from this guy
Maynard James Keenan and in comparison with other musicians that I usually find rather repulsive. So it may be he reached first jhana, but I cannot feel sukha from him. It is not well established.
Thanks for sharing Benj.
-
It should be of no surprise that many of the people on this forum, myself included, had a history of psychedelics prior to taking up a fruitful contemplative life. It also is not so surprising that most of the people on the forum have high IQs, so it is indeed possible that the lead singer for this group might be meditating at some depth.
I noticed, also, that these lyrics happen to be mantoom-like.