Parabol

This whole album is entirely comprised of therapy concepts, concepts used in counseling and therapy to help people keep from freaking out. This is not about sex, although that is what I thought it was about when I first heard it. The concept here is the practice of living RIGHT NOW, which is very hard. It is about the difficulty and the reward of not living entirely in the past and in the future. The idea is to live without your preconceptions and your hopes and projections ruining the wonder of the immediate world. Try it sometime, and you will see why it is worth writing songs about. The pain metioned is the anguish of always worrying about the past and the future. Those things are not happening right now, so any pain you are feeling from the past and the future is illusionary. It is only you. Crucify the ego, and you find that there is not much that is worrisome that is happening RIGHT NOW. Try it.

The pain will pass, even though it is strong in your mind now, things will get better

Reassess; look back over songs like Third Eye, Forty-Six and 2, and even Reflction and you'll find a common theme between them and Parabol/Parabola. I think this song, and Parabola, ARE about birth--and rebirth. AS we enter again into the world, so fresh, so hopeful and hungry for experence and life to enrich our existence outside this plane. "Celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing/This body holding me remidns me of my own mortality, embrace this moment, remember, we are eternal, all this pain is an illusion." - Parabola. I think it's saying that each gift of life in this world is to be cherished, don't give in to the pain and strife you experience; learn from it, and remember that it's fleeting. Life is fleeting.

Forgive any glaring typographical errors, my keyboard is oddly sticky o_O

Parabol/Parabola (i consider it one song) is one of my favorite songs of all time...it's beautiful. it has alot of meaning to it. ice nine got it correct... this song is for when you're losing all hope. just remember that you should never give in to pain, you learn from it. pain is an illusion. you can make it all go away if you try hard enough.

This song is pretty much a beginning to Parabola, and it flows beautifully into it. Maynards voice is so haunting on this song, and it is saying that he is looking forward to things that may come, and that "we are eternal" and that "all this pain is an illusion".

I think infirmo has the right idea.Read things by alex grey and that will give you great understanding of the whole cd.

Our "souls", which is my concept of eternal, feel no pain. Because our souls feel no pain, its our bodys and minds that create the pain. When we die we don't take our external with us therefore having them here is a privelage.

see look shanangans, dont try to understand what maynard was writing...i think somehow that he want you to have and individual meaning...and thats what this website is about:to have an individual meaning.i think that the meaning is correct but dont just think the song has the meaning that maynard had when he wrote the song, create your own meaning if it falls into the boundery of the song...this is to everyone

Jah, I'd personally never seen this as a "sex" song, but I can see that interpretation as I read back over the lyrics.

I always took it as an incredibly spiritual song. Rather than conforming to their peers in the nu-metal camp singing about how horrible life is and how God has forsaken them, Tool are showing us how life is a beutiful thing. I can relate to this song as in my view it re-inforces my own views on life after death and re-incarnation, and how a soul in the afterlife chooses to be re-born ("Choosing to be here").

This is a very positive song, as is 'Parabola', as both are showing how lucky we are to receive the gift of life and how wonderful existence can be. It is saying that we should hold onto it.

parabol..i asked my math teacher about this, this morning, as i bought the album yesterday and was confused about why Parabol and Parabola are spelt similarily. i though Parabol was another math term.. but actually.. it's a bible story, at least that is what i was told about it. and when you think about it.. it's true. not the damned christian bible, but as Alex Grey was making real, the Human Bible. Our bible. the bible of life. the bible of creation. the bible of religion is a facade lie. but the feeling of being real and human and mortal is reason enough to write a "bible story" about us. we are the greatest thing that we have found so far on this planet. but so many of us have taken the feeling for granted. as Infirmo said, live each moment..to the truest, most purest form. live like each second is the last. this song could be.. a plea for each person listening to do this. it's difficult to do such, and in a sense, you must act like you have been reborn. experience the same things that you learned when you were a child. one way i have found this to be possible is.. if you know a familar wall.. continuously run your fingers over it.. touch it.. BECOME the wall.. it's a way to "re"-experience it. but, do this with everything. apply it to every day life. try to find the "lateral" of everything you do. find a new reason, a new belief... this comment went a lil long.. =/ but.. if you understand what i'm saying... try it sometime.. the feeling.. is... familar, yet overwhelming warm.