So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Our scars, our scars
Have made us who we are
There is bliss in suffering
So we carve the knives in deeper and deeper
To feel something
Oh, how I'm longing to feel
Effervescent and real
Effervescent and real
Close your eyes, this'll go away (maybe)
The fodness I seek hidden within memories
So far down you cannot see it
I locked the door and threw away
The key that you will never get from me
What will it take for you to admit
That you're just as lost as I am
Stop pretending it'll be just fine
And never say that I'll be alright
I am just as broken as you
I won't be sound until you're nowhere
To be found
Closing my eyes makes staying here and alive
Worth the price of irrelevance
Existence is pain
Our scars, our scars
Have made us who we are
There is bliss in suffering
So we carve the knives in deeper and deeper
To feel something
Oh, how I'm longing to feel
Effervescent and real
Effervescent and real
To feel whole is to consume all that feeds your desire for pain
Become one with the hate that flows through your veins
Only then will you be strong enough to endure
The insufferable longevity of life itself
There is bliss in suffering
You are weak
Do not speak
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
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I think has to do with those who battle with self harm & the need to carve into their own bodies in order to feel something, anything - just in order to in some cases - feel alive.