Regardless whatever topic you are using this song or any song for that matter for whether its religion, relationship, inner strength, ect. this song proves tool are brilliant! they don't pigeon-hole themselves into a certain topic in this song (not that its bad to do that in a song i like how they use this alternative though) it can be used for everyone no matter what they're looking for. they let the listener interpret they're wisdom, strength, and guidance to the listener's own situation. my personal opinion...it's hard to pull off a great song that pigeon-holes themselves into something unless you're a band like slayer!

Well it's good to be around different people too because you are exposed and challenged you have friends which hold you up. If you fall into the trap of beleiving you are right about everything you are insane. Yes. That is insanity when you can't accept that everything you believe might not be right. Communication begins when you know you can learn more. Always more to learn in life.

I've been called everything under the sun it doesn't bother me. The mind is powerful but must guard against dangerous ideas. Don't want the loonies in charge do you? Find the magic horse that keeps you going even while the world comes crashing down.

I'll tell you what I get out of this song.

As you travel through this life people and things come and go. Slowly the pieces of your life fall away. Dreams you had don't turn out. Thing you wanted don't happen. People you love turn on you. Life starts to drain you. The pieces fall away. You know the pieces fit but they all fell away your left with nothing left but the realization you are alive still.

Now life is communication. Information. Transferring between one mind to another. Not everything you think is good. Strengthing your communication by removing the defective thoughts and letting good memes take hold. Letting go of the dangerous ideas. Educating yourself through communication by taking in good information and removing the dangerous bits. The danger is in there it eats away at you. You don't want the loonies in charge do you?

Cold silence tends to atrophy any sense of compassion. Well if you spend enough time in the silence of the world you tend to lose any compassion for the struggles of others around you. Communication is destroyed in the void of apathy and rejection. Strengthen your communication by accepting you don't know everything and you are just a small piece of the big puzzle of life. Don't worry to hard about those deep questions which gnaw away at you. They have no solution. Nobody knows. Philosophers have argued for thousands of years and nobody knows the answers. Just enjoy the ride and don't think to hard about things. Strengthen your communication. I think it's about accepting your limitations and knowing that there are others out there you can relate to. Not all of us can get along so we find like minded people who strengthen us so we can stand.

Right-e-o communication between supposed brothers
Communication between supposed lovers

I know the pieces fit because I watched them fall away
one by one
they're all back togethor again except one piece is missing
Communication between supposed lovers
Communication between supposed others

Right?

I Like this song!! Although I made my version of the "Schism" music video. I Also saw the actual version of that video, it was cool.

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Maynard himself said the song is about his songs.

Ponder that!

This song is about many things.
First, it is about a "splitting of the mind", a duality, where the mind is constantly conflicting with itself. Eventually, this splitting of the mind leads a person to questioning reality itself. Maynard probably experienced this, and this is sort of his way of trying to end it by saying "I know the pieces fit" to try and re-correct his schism of the mind.

Second, this song is about the nature of humanity. Basically, we are all one mind that has been split into many pieces - all of our conflicts and disruptions in our communication are nothing more than an illusion of separation. Why did this "schism" come to be in the first place? To give a value to existence. What would the pleasure in life be if you did not have the suffering to compare it too?

This song could also be interpretted as many other things: The creation of the universe, baryogenesis, abiogenesis, conflicts between beliefs and religion, etc.

To me it seems obvious that he's talking about nations going to war;
Ones that were once allies, perhaps. It also simulates human reaction to fear of their enemy, not feeling sympathy for them. "Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy (cut off/kill) any sense of compassion" But it's from the POV of a citizen who watching nations fight over who's to blame and who's right, essentially watching mass media in his nation who's involved.

"I've done the math enough to know the dangers of a second guessing; Doomed to crumble unless we grow and strengthen our communication "
This line makes this song for me. It speaks to the inner voice saying 'I know what will happen if we don't strike first, regardless of how I feel about it.'
It is beautiful really.

To me it speaks about losing "your self" or have it shattered infront of your eyes ("I watched them fall away") and how you need to look into yourself - connect with "soul" or what you call your inner voice, for the answers and guidence.
In short: Trust your intuition.

This song ROCKS!!!!

schism in definition means division or separation. If u no any thing about Maynard u'd no that his parents were divorced in 1968. Maynard seems to make this song in his mind about his parents separation and further on into his own separtion from his son's mother, but as we all should know maynard also formulates his songs for everyone to relate to his lyrics in their own way.

...I've done the math enough to know the dangers of a second guessing
Doomed to crumble unless we grow and strengthen our communication

This seems like a warning or advice that we need to redefine our relationships and of course this is advice towards anything or love life's or politics or friendships, anything.

Here's the Setlist for the SPK Lateralus Tour:
01. (515)/People = Sh*t
02. The Grudge
03. Stinkfist
04. Fat Lip
05. Parabol/Parabola
06. Undertow
07. Schism
08. Disposition
09. Reflection
10. Cesaro Summability
11. The Outsider
12. Triad
-Encore-
13. lEFT Behind
14. Eeyore

I Like This song, though it is my favorite one from my Top 10 List which includes:
10. Ænema
9. Undertow
8. Parabol/Parabola
7. Schism
6. Eon Blue Apocalypse
5. Lateralus
4. Cesaro Summability (with a different intro)
3. The Patient
2. Disposition/Reflection
1. Triad

That's my uh.. Top 10 Songs by Tool From The Albums:
Undertow (1993)
Ænima (1996)
Lateralus (2001)

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The meaning of this song and any other song for that matter is not always so literal (rzatheraza). This song title Schism is a religous term which is when 2 or more people claim to be the pope at one time. the time that manard is talking about is when seven different people claimed to be the pope at one time. this song is talking about the fall of stability in the Chatholic church and how it is fucll of shit. he is also saying he knows it worked for a while till it became corrupt.

The meaning of this song and any other song for that matter is not always so literal (rzatheraza). This song title Schism is a religous term which is when 2 or more people claim to be the pope at one time. the time that manard is talking about is when seven different people claimed to be the pope at one time. this song is talking about the fall of stability in the Chatholic church and how it is fucll of shit. he is also saying he knows it worked for a while till it became corrupt.

I think the main focus is on the Mind and Body. Although, it does have different meanings to each person, the main focus of the album is the process of consciousness.

Upon reading the title i immediately thought of christianity but; even though they make a lot of sense, those thoughts about how stupid and hypocritical religious people are (not all of them of course)i cannot separate the relationship side of the song. 1st, people with pseudo values who judge, criticize and condemn others just for not sharing their faith or simply attending to a different church ha! self righteousness is just disgusting. On the other hand, the relationship (i think it includes every kind of relationship) part of it is unavoidable for me, the video shows and explains it way better than what i could do writing about it here. One last thing; have you notice that when the lines "Cold silence has A tendency to Atrophy any Sense of compassion" are sung in the video, it is almost at the same time as when the face of the male is shown in the screen and his eyes turn to smoke. Like saying my sense of compassion has been atrophied i wont cry "for" you any more, may be, i dont know, anyone got this? may be it is just me. Take care...

The "Schism" was literally when the christian church split into the Catholic and Prodestant sects. So that'd be the literal meaning of the lyrics.

However, it could be generalised to the split of religion as a whole.

Hell, you MIGHT go so far as to generalise it to the break up of relationships as some other people here have. But I think that's a bit of a self-serving, clichèd view of an incredible song... though that's just my personal opinion

I personally believe that this song talks about how two parties at once believed the same beliefs (There was a time that the pieces fit), but after debate/seperation the two parties turned against one another. When Maynard says, "I know the pieces fit," he is merely saying that a solution/compromise can be brought together to solve the problem between the two parties. But that's just my opinion.

I would have to agree with people saying that this song is about REDISCOVERING communication. That a relationship existed, and slowly the relationship fell apart right before this person's eyes. They know that it works, and they are currently trying to come back to that same level that was experienced before everything fell apart.

On another note, wikipedia this song, it changes time sigs 47 times! Talk about integrating the very reality of your music with your lyrics. Musically it is a very fractured song (that doesn't mean I think it sounds bad btw, I like this song) as if these pieces of different time signatures are like the pieces falling away/apart. Very ingenious and smart. Also could someone actually tell me where Maynard says others can interpret their own meaning of his songs. I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'd just like to know, thanks

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@ Spoojman,

I am entirely for not agreeing with everyone else's interpration of the song(eg. me vs. everyone else over "The Pot"). But the actual name of this song "Shism" means the Catholic Church breaking apart. That's how we got the Protestant Churches. "I know the pieces fit, but I watched them fall away" Maynard is referring to the Catholic Curch as the entire puzzle, but then groups of Protestants fell away.

Hello all;
I'm afraid my interpretation is'nt based in religion, however I can attempt to Quantify this song.
I believe it is about two people who fall in love, coexist, and when their relationship begins to break apart they are powerless to stop it.

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 see to reach an end, crippling our communication


The first two lines refer to the pieces of his relationship falling apart. The third, "Pure intention juxtaposed" (very near) "will set two lovers' souls in motion", basically means two people of strong will in union may clash on an emotional level. Disintegrating (falling apart) in time, leading to a break down in communication. "The light that fueled our fire" represents the the love of their youth. That same intensity turned and created a space between them, a "Schism", or a separation. Schism would also be defined as a separation particularly one created by rending or other violent manner. The last line tells me that as hard as they try a resolution is beyond reach once again cutting one off from the other.


I know the pieces fit 'cause I watched them tumble down
No fault, none to blame, it doesn't mean I don't desire
To point the finger, blame the other, watch the temple topple over
To bring the pieces back together, rediscover communication

The poetry that comes from the squarin' off between
And the circling is worth it, finding beauty in the dissonance


Once again the first line refers to a crumbling relationship, the next implies a lack of fault yet a desire to point the finger. Neither is shameless, yet both are without blame. The rest signifies a desire to restart, to begin anew. "The poetry that comes from squarin' off between and the circling is worth it, finding beauty in the dissonance" Describes a point where only petty satisfaction exists, as dissonance is defined as discord or cacophony, basically disagreement. There is a suggestion of this in the video when the woman fingers and then pulls from his neck something, then drops it on the floor. It promptly turns into these nasty little gremlins with gaping mouths full of teeth that latch onto the woman's face. I think that they represent the darts and arrows that are traded by people in such situations. Literally, some thing from him tore her apart.


There was a time that the pieces fit but I watched them fall away
Mildewed and smoldering, strangled by our coveting
I've done the math enough to know the dangers of a second guessing
Doomed to crumble unless we grow and strengthen our communication

Cold silence has
A tendency to
Atrophy any
Sense of compassion

Between supposed brothers
Between supposed lovers


The line "strangled by our coveting" (given that the first lines have been defined earlier) represents desires out side the relationship growing until the already severly compromised union cannot compete and suffers even more. Cold silence tending to atrophy compassion represents the lack of feeling that signifies the eventual death of the union; The end of the love and compassion that drove them to such heights has faded. The last two lines suggest to me that said unions could be inclusive of more than just intimate relations between a man and a woman, but also between friends or family.

For what it's worth, That is what is see and hear with this song,
Regards, Spoojman

To me I see it as that the pieces that fit are the code of the universe which has been cracked. He knows the pieces fit because he watched them fall meaning that he "remembers" living this life and "remembers" as time went on how communication to the higher self has declined and has almost completely failed entirely. In order to continue the path one must "reestablish" communication with this "universe" and soul being. As for the lovers part; that can mean that the connection of communication to the "universe" is much stronger when two people are in love and work together through these higher vibrational energies to "reestablish" this communication. But that's just my point of view. It doesn't really matter if it's right; all I know for a fact is this a very good song!

This song could be tool's take on a break-up song.. but
the song and music video is about the beats of the song....

"Doomed to crumble unless we grow and strengthen our communication"

suggest that the song will not move on unless it grows... towards the end the beat does grow and becomes quicker.

"I know the pieces fit"

If ur in a serious relationship and u hit a rough patch, this song will be about relationships to u. If u have a serious issue with religion, this will be about religion to u. Its extremely subjective, and in my case, the song was about a relationship slowly falling apart due to complacency and apathy of both parties. Its just coming from the perspective of the spouse who noticed...

As with most Tool songs, interpretations are personal and vary from person to person. To me this is an awesome song, but it never really hit home until i was having relationship troubles with my wife. We've been together for 9 years and recently we would communicate less and less. She would express her emotions less and less to the point where it went from us being happily married...to living with a room mate i barely spoke to. I explained how i felt, and i showed her the lyrics and things are slowly working themselves out.

Ok... I've read a lot of interpretation about this song... granted I know I'm a few years to late in posting my thoughts on it.... This song is really the back bone of the albums story. You will find a story in all of tools albums. The story of this album is about evolving into a higher being. Sort of a continuation to AEnima. Close to the end of the last album everything was destroyed. More so specified L.A as Maynard was wishing it was going to happen. Lets assume that it did happen and most of the world did get flushed away.

It's been my experience that humans have a small sense of evolution during a natural disaster they seem to co-operate and be more compassionate to one another.(I know I'm detouring from the song at hand but I do have a point so bear with me) People start off angry that something like this happens. They have a grudge against "insert name of your beloved divine power here" Lets call it for the sake of argument "God" call it what you will. As time progresses we tend to forget ourselves and that we are mortal and very human. We no longer communicate with one another as if we lost all sense of compassion for the next person. So in order to communicate it will have to be as a collective as one being. Though the human race is not ready to see or communicate world collectively so as we evolve we tend to fall into pieces. Therefore, we try to put those pieces back together. We hold a grudge with each other and point the finger blame the other for our lack of evolution when we should only be blaming ourselves as an individual for slowing down our evolution and forgetting to communicate. It is said the key to any relationship is communication. So we need to embrace the reality of it all and collectively communicate to each other so we can live in perfect flowing spiral of our own divinity.

So my point is we evolve and reach a schism or fall to a mess of pieces and try to put it all back together.

That's just my point of view of the song and album. Granted there a million different reasons to interpret this song. Though I wouldn't put it passed Maynard if this song was just about asexual reproduction and or cellular mitosis.