Here's a short stab at this - others above have done some great drilling down on this.
I think this is Robbie reflecting on a body vs spirit theme. Particularly, he sees and fears both our obsession with bodies, and their uselessness at the same time. His first two verses talk about how his body drives (sex, drugs, admiration) control him. The 3rd verse Rapture etc is almost like hoping for escape from his body, because everythings infectious (something that the body is in danger of).
The pre-chorus ends with "bodies in the cemetary, and thats the way its gonna be" - this is the key line for me. Clearly Robbie believes in the spirtual life beyond this life in some form or another, but he sees his body destined for the grave, and therefore useless. Why so much time and obsession with his body when its going to lie to rot?
Buddhism is a strong theme here (though I am not a Buddhist) - the Bodhi tree reference may relate to a Buddhist poem - google search it - which to me sounds like its saying that the "mirror like mind" has no imperfection except what is introduced by the body, which supports it. So Robbie knows he is trapped in his body, trapped to pleasing his body, and wants a reflection which in the mirror is not stained by his body.
The lines which stick me are the 'Jesus never died for you' ones - my best guess is like domesticcat above - going from heaps of confidence, to no confidence of God's favour, and purely because of the desires and fears of what Christians often refer to as "the flesh" or the "sinful nature" (see Romans 8:5-6 same original word). Robbie believes though that his spirit is innocent, and looks for release.
Great song - I'm not sure that Robbie pertains to understand exactly whether Jesus died for him or not. Just out of interest, if he did, the Bible's answer would be that "The law of Spirit and life has set you free in Christ Jesus...by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh (i.e. a man), and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh (took the consequences of sin in his own flesh) " (Rom 8:2-4) Therefore the body problem is dealt with, but the body doesn't need to be discarded necessarily as this song suggests, but rather it is "washed clean"/swapped and curiously the body and spirit are both made alive at the resurrection. Anyway thought that might be interesting - hope you don't think that stepped over the bounds of this discussion.
I like this, particularly the theory behind the 'bodies in the cemetery and that's the way it's gonna be' line, that's something that never even came to my mind, but now I've read your comments it seems obvious.
I like this, particularly the theory behind the 'bodies in the cemetery and that's the way it's gonna be' line, that's something that never even came to my mind, but now I've read your comments it seems obvious.
Here's a short stab at this - others above have done some great drilling down on this.
I think this is Robbie reflecting on a body vs spirit theme. Particularly, he sees and fears both our obsession with bodies, and their uselessness at the same time. His first two verses talk about how his body drives (sex, drugs, admiration) control him. The 3rd verse Rapture etc is almost like hoping for escape from his body, because everythings infectious (something that the body is in danger of).
The pre-chorus ends with "bodies in the cemetary, and thats the way its gonna be" - this is the key line for me. Clearly Robbie believes in the spirtual life beyond this life in some form or another, but he sees his body destined for the grave, and therefore useless. Why so much time and obsession with his body when its going to lie to rot?
Buddhism is a strong theme here (though I am not a Buddhist) - the Bodhi tree reference may relate to a Buddhist poem - google search it - which to me sounds like its saying that the "mirror like mind" has no imperfection except what is introduced by the body, which supports it. So Robbie knows he is trapped in his body, trapped to pleasing his body, and wants a reflection which in the mirror is not stained by his body.
The lines which stick me are the 'Jesus never died for you' ones - my best guess is like domesticcat above - going from heaps of confidence, to no confidence of God's favour, and purely because of the desires and fears of what Christians often refer to as "the flesh" or the "sinful nature" (see Romans 8:5-6 same original word). Robbie believes though that his spirit is innocent, and looks for release.
Great song - I'm not sure that Robbie pertains to understand exactly whether Jesus died for him or not. Just out of interest, if he did, the Bible's answer would be that "The law of Spirit and life has set you free in Christ Jesus...by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh (i.e. a man), and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh (took the consequences of sin in his own flesh) " (Rom 8:2-4) Therefore the body problem is dealt with, but the body doesn't need to be discarded necessarily as this song suggests, but rather it is "washed clean"/swapped and curiously the body and spirit are both made alive at the resurrection. Anyway thought that might be interesting - hope you don't think that stepped over the bounds of this discussion.
I like this, particularly the theory behind the 'bodies in the cemetery and that's the way it's gonna be' line, that's something that never even came to my mind, but now I've read your comments it seems obvious.
I like this, particularly the theory behind the 'bodies in the cemetery and that's the way it's gonna be' line, that's something that never even came to my mind, but now I've read your comments it seems obvious.