There is a very obvious theme of overcoming obstacles, and an inability to do so at a certain point. When I listen to Maynard sing the words, I think about how he has accomplished so much in his life, with his career, and overcoming whatever personal obstacles he's faced in his life in order to succeed professionally. And yet, for all that, something is lacking. Even though he has embraced so much of the human experience, and tried to enhance his perspective to view humanity as a single entity, so many of the rest of us fail to do so. We're helpless by the river, in this sense. To overcome this obstacle, it will require a whole lot more than riches and muscle. A whole lot more than words and guns. Pay no mind to the battles you've won. To me, this line means that the various wars we have fought in the past are meaningless when you view all of humanity as one. War is just a failure to transcend our more primitive impulses. It represents a failure of different cultures to understand one another. Even if "your side" wins, we all lose, because we should all be on the same side, working together to make the world we all share better. This is the real struggle. In my opinion, religion only serves to divide humanity against itself. Muslims are not about to forget their religion and become Christians, and Christians are not about to forget their religion and embrace Islam. The only solution is to create a new philosophy based on peace and universal brotherhood and sisterhood. You can think up any rationalization or excuse you want, but the truth is that if there really is some all-powerful, all-knowing god, then that god has chosen to stand aside and do nothing while billions of people are being slaughtered and made to suffer through unspeakable hardships. The way I see it, there is no God, no Yaweh, no Allah, no Jesus, and no Muhammed, or whatever other name you may have for your god or gods and messiahs. There is only here and now. There is no end time or afterlife, there is only this moment. We have to work together to continue our evolution and preserve this planet for future generations, otherwise we are doomed to self-destruction.
The hands of the many must join as one, because only together can we cross that river. Perhaps Maynard thinks that his generation has failed to achieve this, and he looks to future generations for hope. He speaks his hopeful warning to his son/future generations with the words: "Open your heart and hands my son, or you'll never make it over the river."
Bill Hicks can tell you what this song is about better than I can. I'll let his words do the talking:
The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: "Is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, and they say "Hey! Don't worry! Don't be afraid, ever! Because this is just a ride." And we kill those people.
"Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! Shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry! Look at my big bank account, and my family! This has to be real!"
It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try to tell us that. Have you ever noticed that? And we let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride, and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no saving of money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world right now to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defense each year and instead spend it feeding, clothing, and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.
There is a very obvious theme of overcoming obstacles, and an inability to do so at a certain point. When I listen to Maynard sing the words, I think about how he has accomplished so much in his life, with his career, and overcoming whatever personal obstacles he's faced in his life in order to succeed professionally. And yet, for all that, something is lacking. Even though he has embraced so much of the human experience, and tried to enhance his perspective to view humanity as a single entity, so many of the rest of us fail to do so. We're helpless by the river, in this sense. To overcome this obstacle, it will require a whole lot more than riches and muscle. A whole lot more than words and guns. Pay no mind to the battles you've won. To me, this line means that the various wars we have fought in the past are meaningless when you view all of humanity as one. War is just a failure to transcend our more primitive impulses. It represents a failure of different cultures to understand one another. Even if "your side" wins, we all lose, because we should all be on the same side, working together to make the world we all share better. This is the real struggle. In my opinion, religion only serves to divide humanity against itself. Muslims are not about to forget their religion and become Christians, and Christians are not about to forget their religion and embrace Islam. The only solution is to create a new philosophy based on peace and universal brotherhood and sisterhood. You can think up any rationalization or excuse you want, but the truth is that if there really is some all-powerful, all-knowing god, then that god has chosen to stand aside and do nothing while billions of people are being slaughtered and made to suffer through unspeakable hardships. The way I see it, there is no God, no Yaweh, no Allah, no Jesus, and no Muhammed, or whatever other name you may have for your god or gods and messiahs. There is only here and now. There is no end time or afterlife, there is only this moment. We have to work together to continue our evolution and preserve this planet for future generations, otherwise we are doomed to self-destruction.
The hands of the many must join as one, because only together can we cross that river. Perhaps Maynard thinks that his generation has failed to achieve this, and he looks to future generations for hope. He speaks his hopeful warning to his son/future generations with the words: "Open your heart and hands my son, or you'll never make it over the river."
Bill Hicks can tell you what this song is about better than I can. I'll let his words do the talking:
The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: "Is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, and they say "Hey! Don't worry! Don't be afraid, ever! Because this is just a ride." And we kill those people.
"Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! Shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry! Look at my big bank account, and my family! This has to be real!"
It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try to tell us that. Have you ever noticed that? And we let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride, and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no saving of money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world right now to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defense each year and instead spend it feeding, clothing, and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.
Absolutely 100% agree!
Absolutely 100% agree!