Lyric discussion by dmadone 

Lateralus more than cemented my philosophy and spiritual beliefs. The end track, even though it’s dramatic, let me know that others were thinking along the same lines. (Go Maynard!). I’m also glad that it was TOOL that brought this out. Let me try to explain how I think this all tied together<p>

For some, this album can be an overload. It should be. The end track brings into focus what Schismwas warning against, the peril we face if we don’t start communicating (take that as you read it). (Very reflexive of the Tower of Babel story, where ‘god(s)’ split us up and created new ‘tongues’ and we lost (took) our global tongue / and our ability to communicate) (See Timothy Leary’s ‘How to program your Mind’) Time is truly running out. But, Parabola sewed in the beginnings of how that energy can be turned inward, heal the self first, rebirth is not some hokey Christian ceremonial dunking, but a process, then ‘spiral out’ later, as was mentioned in ‘Lateralus.’ It would be tough to explain how the end track ties the album together, but it does make complete sense if you actively participate in this inner world and work towards global peace. There are ‘forces’ working against that peace, those mems of control are everywhere.<p>

Yeah, I was actually writing a paper on the exact same subject(s). I know of others that love the album and it related to what we, as free thinkers, practiced and believed. It’s funny because I thought to myself, now if they had only mentioned the ‘alien/reptoid’ factor; it would have been extra icing. I about did cart wheels when this track played. It verified some of the things I had been seeing as a remote viewer and a student of the Occult. Once again, go TOOL for challenging others to think about these things, most people consider ‘junk’ or ‘new age B. S.’. If you think this was just an album, tell that to Maynard. I’m sure he’d say otherwise. But if you liked it, I did too. The end track was the ‘end game’ that made the album perfect for me. May the hairless apes win.

Thinking about it, maybe the last thing Maynard wants is followers...

Indeeeeeeeeed SIR. Tool's purpose with this album was definitely to gather followers. But more importantly, to make everyone as conscious of themselves (mind, body, spirit), the impending doom that the Earth will see within a couple of years, and the ways to spiral out of this illusion of safety and pain we currently live in. Have you ever been stuck somewhere or in a situation where you wanted out? Out of this miserable sensory-perception GAME we call life? This album provides Square One for everybody...look around, look within, analyze, heal, spiral out, and leave. Like Tim Leary's old saying- (literally)...

ALSO.....listening to this album in this sequential order without breaks (might need a program to make it one flowing album) is how I believe Maynard wanted Lateralus to be heard....a true personal journey as opposed to an intelligently put together album.

6, 7, 5, 8, 4, 9, 13, 1, 12, 2, 11, 3, 10

I have extensively searched the internet and finally came across someone who put true logic and mathematics together (using the Fibonacci Sequence featured in "Lateralus" over the whole album) and deciphered the true, AURAL, order of this album.

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