Schism has a bunch of meanings, one is peices of a whole breaking apart, and another is a seperation from the church of christ. I think this song is a combination of both meanings. i dont know how, but ill figure it out. check back for more.

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As with every tool song, you can find many meanings. in addition to the "pieces" and "church/jesus" meaning, another possible meaning for schism is that of relationship problems.

This song represents the unitarian viewpoint. That at one point all religions were the right one, than, they fell apart. The pieces are now corrupt, molded shadows of the once great temple. This song says if the pieces don't communicate with each other than we are doomed. At least, that is what I hear.

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When I first heard the song, I didn't like it. But when I heard it a second, 3th, 4th time, I appreciated it. It's strange, but for me, a good song is one you have to learn to appreciate.

He's a pessimist

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I think that it's a really good song but when I first heard it I didn't like it. It grows on you though. Well it has that whole religion thing but also, to me, it has a reflection on relationships and how they fall apart and come together.

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Tool is amazing and so is this song. I don't look so much at the religion aspect, but more at the relationship part. Either way you look at it, it's great.

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I have always loved Tool's songs and Manyard's abililty to incorporate multiple layers of meaning in one song. To me, this song is about Tool's relationship with their record label. "The poetry that comes from the squaring off between, And the circling is worth it. Finding beauty in the dissonance." - the poetry is this song

Within any relationship there is a breakdown. I don't focus on the literal meaning of this song, but rather the meaning it has in myself. My breakdown of religious beliefs started with a tragedy in my life and has continued to grow as a deep void in my life. I resort to this song for entertainment and to let me know that there is nothing wrong with the fact that I am anti-religious. Tool incorporates several meanings into one song, but that is my personal view of his many talents.
Listen and Feel.

I think that this song deals with Maynard and the bands relationship after he was gone during the writing of Lateralus well he was touring with APC "The poetry that comes from the squaring off between, And the circling is worth it." Thats the line that made me think of that.

I dont think this really has anything to do with religion at all, but its all in your take of it. Personally i look more at the relationship meaning. The pieces he is talking about, are pieces of the relationship, that he watched fall apart in front of his eyes. The strongest evidence is "cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion" He is saying that leaving things broken, and with hard feelings, will destroy any bond that was between two people.

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This is a love song. Just... a love that's been lost. The speaker seems to recognize why the relationship has fallen apart, but he's still just bitching and moaning.

I have to agree with a lot of what everyone has said... the main fact I HAVE to agree with is that Maynard incorporates so many different meanings into his songs that almost anyone who makes an interpretation is correct, because he makes the music, and expects people to make their own interpretation and apply it to their own personal life... however i'll just tell it the way I see it, which is probably far from the truth, but it's my own personal truth.

For a long time I considered this song from the relationship stand point. I still see the strong arguements made to the relationship testament in this song... it very well could deal with 2 depleted lovers... and how although once the pieces were all there, yet after losing everything they had and breaking into those "pieces", he wishes to re-find them... bring them back together... I mean that can even be seen in the video (but I'll make a different point on the video later) where in the end they come together, reforming the one... which is what i believe a relationship does. It takes 2 people and forms them into 1 body...

But that's not even what this interpretation is about... after a long time of pondering over it, I've come to realize I think the song is about the religious aspect of it all... there are a lot of Tool songs that deal with religion... so... here goes nothin.

Okay, the hardest area for me to cover is who the song seems to be coming from... I don't feel that Maynard meant for this to seem as if it's coming from his mouth... maybe these words are meant to be from Christ? but my best feeling is that the words are simply from any believer who can realize what has happened to "faith" because of the blunder known as "religion"...

At one time, the "church" was one body. It was a singular unit, set on one system of beliefs that everyone who had faith followed... there was none of this "denomination" shit...
"I know the pieces fit, cuz i watched them fall away" (saying that he knows religion should be one body, even though it's not. he's seen the separations)
"Mildewed and smoldering. Fundamental differing" (rotten and burned up, to put it into different terms... when he says fundamental differing, i think he's showing the basis for the break... that from the very FUNDAMENTALS of the belief structure, there started to be DIFFERING feelings among people, and how they wanted to express them)
"Pure Intention juxtaposed will set 2 lovers souls in motion" (meaning that although the intentions every time were pure, they were juxtaposed, or twised, and because of that, it sat 2 lovers [of Christ] into almost a square off to see who could be MORE correct)
"Distentigrating as it goes, testing our communication" (simply saying the square off was what orignially caused the separation into pieces, and it caused a lack of discussion)
"The light that fueled the fire then has burned a hole between us so we cannot see to reach an end, crippling our communication" (the light of passion that originally fueled our fire [love] for Christ is what, in the end, tore us apart and burned a hole between us... it's caused the end of the communication as well)
"I know the pieces fit cuz i watched them tumble down. No fault, none to blame, that doesn't mean I don't desire to point the finger, blame the other, watch the temple topple over bring the pieces back together, rediscover communcation" (I think here the meaning is that although no one is directly to blame for this break, because every "piece" that was broken was done in the name of righteousness. Still, he thinks he's right, so he wants to be able to point the finger, say the OTHER was wrong. Yet still he wants to see the separate temples topple over, and the pieces brought back together, so they can reunite under one belief system."

I know the end of that last interpretation was a bit shaky, because i say that the meaning of the "temple toppling over" was the separate temples, so they could be reunited... but i think my theory is backed up in the next paragraph.

"The poetry that comes from the squaring off between, and the circling is worth it, finding beauty in the dissonance" (although the separation needs to end, the writer is saying that the separation NEEDED to happen... because the church split, and each went it's own direction, the poetry [writings, findings, ideals] that came from the separation, and the fighting was worth it. It brings new truths back to the faith, thus strengthening it.)

The next paragraph just restates the others... that the whole was broken into the "pieces" due to the fighting and coveting. The writer knows that they MUST return together. otherwise the separate pieces will fall. They must grow, and strengthen, and reunite.

At the end, Maynard says "Cold silence had a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion between supposed lovers".... I think what he's saying is that the breaks have cause us to lose true LOVE for our counterparts (the other pieces)... and we're SUPPOSED to be lovers of Christ, or the one true god (whatever your belief states that that is)... but how can we be if we can't even get along with our fellow believers?

Okay, to wrap this all up... I'll refer to the video one more time... although it can be seen as 2 separate people becoming one, i believe it's the "church" reforming into one unit... I mean notice what happens to the 2 separated people [who represent "denominations"]... they almost seem to be trying to outdo the other. I mean one even stands on his head during the song. It seems they're trying to show that they're the BETTER group (which you can't deny happens today). Yet in the end, the 2 come together, reforming the one true body...

Thanks for reading my entirely too long interpretation... I know a lot of what I've said isn't right, but I like to believe that my belief is pretty close. However, once again, Tool's music is meant for you to make your OWN interpretation, so you can apply it to your own life... Once again, sorry this is so long (as are all of my other interpretations). Continue to keep posting, and keep open that third eye...

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First of all, the great Schism entails the Greek Orthodox Church breaking off from the Roman Catholic Church back in the days of the holy roman empire. But just because the word itself is famous for religious reasons, it doesn't mean the song's religious. Schism, in it's most literal sense, means a separation into fractions, or disunion.

Perhaps this is just a simple song about the relationship between to two slowly detoriating because of stupid shit. (falling out of harmony, or dissonance) Ever have a relationship like that?

Schism- a split in an organization because of difference in opinion, of doctrine, etc.; esp., a split in the Christian church.

Thats the dictionaries definition of the word...

I liked alot of what madson was saying, many of his meanings i thought were pretty dam close...

In my opinion (and several of my friends), maynard is saying that he is tired of everyone changing God to fit them instead of changing themselves to fit God, and when they do that, it has a negative effect on everyone and it turns them away from what was supposed to be there to save them in the first place...

or something like that... this little thing might belong on the page about Eulogy but i just felt like i wanted to put it here, it does still go with this song too... but anyway...

Interpretation is a Gateway into the soul, when you hear anothers interpretation it gives you just a little glimpse at who they truly are....

I don't think this song has to do with just religion or relationships but the schisms within all of humanity...lovers and brothers alike...even within one's self. We see that the pieces fit when our souls are juxtaposed (laid side by side), but something happens- perhaps for the same reason that we were originally separated- and we can not unite.

I've also had a lot of problems with the Christian religion, something my Catholic and Mormon friends aren't keen on. I loved this song the first time I heard it, solely because it is amazing music. When I read the words, I went out and bought the CD, having heard nothing on it but Schism. It's an excellent CD, but Schism blows away every other song on it. I completly agree with the religion aspect of this song, though it isn't hard to see what everyone is saying about relationships. I've had those relationships too. However, what turned me away from my Baptist self (it seems ages ago), is that I spent too much time talking religion with Methodists and Protestants and even other Baptists. Just as the Republican and Democratic parties see a different interpretation of the Constitution, each seperate denomonation interprets the Bible differently. Something so sacred and written by God himself shouldn't be butchered by people trying to gain their own ends. So what did I do? I searched for a new religion and finally grouped myself in the large "Pagan" category. Everything turned out great, even without church.
And I think that that is what Maynard is talking about. I think he is, like me and many other people, distraught at all of the people of the same religion bickering amongst themselves and polluting what was once great. Now it is mere rubble.
It's sad, really.

lately i've been thinking about how "Schism" "Parabol" and "Parabola" fit together and if i put the songs in the following order "Grudge" "Reflection" "Patient" "Schism" "Parabol" and "Parabola"it almost seems like a story, maybe it's just me.

to me this song means jack s**t, all i know s it is a cool song

tool kicks ass! i think there songs can have different meanings to different people depending on their past experiences--i've recently lost a good friend of mine over something stupid
to me this song is about a friendship or a relationship that suddenly failed.

"I know the pieces fit cuz I watched them fall away"- means that once everything was put together great but then something went wrong and the relationship fell apart.

"Testing our communication"- meaning through the relationship there were tests and events that tried to bring the realationship apart but failed.

"the light that fuled our fire than has burned a hole between us so"- meaning that the relationship it's self grew old and fell apart on it's own--

"crippling our communication" -means the relationship begins to slow down and slowly fall apart.

"no fault none to blame"- meaning it's no ones fault, the relationship just grew old.

"to point the finger blame the other" -meaning there is anger and sore feelings and that anger is expressed by putting the blame on the other-just human nature.

"to bring the pieces back together and rediscover communitcation" -meaning the relationship will never be over--when you meet a person and share experiences with someone, that person is apart of your life forever and no matter what happens they will always be apart of your life and your experience of living. so, after the relationship has been put on a temporary stand-by, the pieces can still come back together and communication can be rediscovered.

"the poetry that comes from the squarring off between and the circling is worth it finding beauty in the dissonace"
this is the best part of the song-i believe it means that through the break off of this relationship, there is anger and hurt feelings, and through these feelings one is inspired

"finding beauty in the dissonance"-the inspiration that comes from the disagreement of the individuals in the relationship.

"ive done the math enough to know the dangers of a second guessing" -meaning that there has been thought put towards re-establishing the relationship and the downfalls that could occur from it.

"doomed to crumble unless we grow, and strengthen our communication"-meaning with the sepration, if the people don't grow and realize the mistake of breaking off the relatioship, than communication is lost forever.

"cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any
sense of compassion"-meaning the silence and lack of communication decreases any compassion felt between the two.

"between supposed lovers, between supposed brothers"-lovers being a romantic relationship, brothers being a friendship.

I hate maynard all around i think the man, though intelligent, is a sex craving whore but my brother is really in to this crap through all his songs he prtrays an anti-jesus message that i dont appreciate to much but his music does beggin to grow on you hearing it through the walls every night when your trying to sleep

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Even though The Great Schism is when the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches split apart, for political reasons mostly, one part didnt really break off from the other. But just for yalls info, the Orthodox and Catholic churces are failry similar, compared to all the other denominations. Also, there have been some attemps to reunite the churches. But theres some differences (such as catholic priest not being able to wed) that stop that from happening.

As far as the songs meaning goes, uh wheres maynard to explain, cuz hes the only one that has any idea.

http://www.goarch.org/access/orthodoxfaith/schism.html

Also try Google search for the great schism is u would like to know more.

i think maynard is talking about a realtionship with some one close to him. they used to be close, but have now destroyed the realtionships themselves, and are trying to put back the once beautiful thing that they both shared with each other.

Why does everyone always look at tool they there singing about religion. Yes i agree that some are but not every single one for gods sake.

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