Reflection

This is my favorite Tool song. Anyone who says it has no mystical meaning or intention has not plunged into the depths of meditation. The Buddha himself would be proud of this song, as it reflects the dharma of Buddhism and Hinduism. The entire album is about transcendence and this is the climax: Enlightenment I have come curiously close to the end, down Beneath my self-indulgent pitiful hole, Defeated, I concede and Move closer I may find comfort here I may find peace within the emptiness How pitiful. …it’s calling me. This is the dark night of the soul. A deep depression every spiritual seeker goes through. Eventually we all get to this point where the suffering is so tremendous we start looking for a way to end it. It is like the divine is calling you to find it. And in my darkest moment, fetal and weeping The moon tells me a secret - my confidant As full and bright as I am This light is not my own and A million light reflections pass over me The moon is a common theme for spiritual teachers. The dharma is just a finger pointing to the moon. You grasp at the finger (the teacher or teaching), when it’s as simple as looking at the moon (absolute reality). In these lyrics, there is an understanding in the subject that the moon’s light is not its own, it is only an illusion; Maya. Its source is bright and endless She resuscitates the hopeless Without her, we are lifeless satellites drifting Obviously, the source of light is the sun. In the allegory of the cave, Socrates uses the Sun to represent pure goodness which is in all of us. It is our divine nature. We are all that. We just don’t know it. The ascent up causes a disorienting blur of the senses and eventually your union with permanent bliss. If we can remember this, we will never suffer again.

And as I pull my head out I am without one doubt Don't wanna be down here feeding my narcissism. I must crucify the ego before it's far too late I pray the light lifts me out Before I pine away. To attain the selfless state, one must kill the ego. The Buddha taught this constantly, using the word atman which can be used to mean transcendent Self or ego self. The ego is the illusion of who you think you are. Enlightenment is the complete destruction of this view. The light of the transcendent self will lift you out. Only you can help you. So crucify the ego, before it's far too late To leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical, And you will come to find that we are all one mind Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable. Just let the light touch you And let the words spill through And let them pass right through Bringing out our hope and reason ... before we pine away. The best lines of the song, the subject realizes truth and the endless possibilities of life. We are all literally one mind capable of all that’s imagined and conceivable. Now he is free and genuinely qualifies as a human being pouring out love and compassion into the world. He is telling you to let this love (light from the sun) pour and spill through you before you pine away, endlessly longing for something better.