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Tool - Parabola Song Meanings

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Tool the living legacy, best band of all time more than just a band to me, Parabola is a song that I think really highlights the gift of life and the spirtual awaking a individual can recieve just by taking a breath of fresh air. And in the end not much really maters rember all this pain is an illusion. Dont take the only thing you really have for grainted, life. To all the true tool fans out there I know you feel what I feel when we turn on any matter peice of Tool's. futher more this is one of tools more optomistic songs, as well as the Album itself. Keep the hope alive people heres a salute to real music!

Submitted by: AllenTehAwesome
Added: 2006-02-20 23:41:06     Rating:

Plenty of Ritual Magik references laced throughout this song as well. "This pain is an illusion" is a refernce to the power of our minds. "This body holding me reminds me of my own mortallity" refernces how are body is just a vehicle to hold until we reach divinity. Do a simple study on Ritual Magik and almost every Tool song will hold a different meaning to you than before.

Submitted by: tool9386
Added: 2006-03-24 01:27:01     Rating:

This song is definately about spirituality. I think it's about the awakening of your own spirtuality. You must recognize this as a holy gift.

Submitted by: QTOOL666
Added: 2006-04-08 19:06:26     Rating:

Before I say anything I am not being hostile, big headed,or boasting in any way shape or form.
I have listend to tool for a few years now every day. Lateralus changed my life.it was a literal turning point in my state of mind. Parabol and Parabola in my opinion cannot be played without each other. Any one who smokes as much weed as me or take acid or mushrooms a lot will understand what I mean when I say, at the end of the night when you are completely slashed you lie on your bed or any flat suface and you start spiralling in no paticular direction.This song is displaying 2 states of mind. "Reality", and the other side. Parabol is showing you the state of mind you are in when you are in "reality" the as it switches into Parabola,the entire purpose of the link between the 2 songs on the album,(In my opinion) to transfer you smoothly to the other side and onto the spiral. Thanks for reading. :)

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-04-30 12:11:31     Rating:

I think parabol and parabola make us to think how our human shape takes place in this world as a short period of time compared with eternal life; in adition, the physical form that was given to us must be thankful in a spiritual way and believing that this chance is incredibly wonderful, I mean, as another interpreter said they´re optimistic lyrics that drive us to think about the gift of life as a simplistic present but at the same time as a complex demostration of divinity.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-05-14 02:13:29     Rating:

this song is about life. "We barely remember who or
What came before this precious moment"
its telling you that this holy experience in this vehicle called you body is something you are choosing and is something to embrace.
even though it can be rough at times and painful, it is all an illusion.
"This body holding me reminds me
Of my own mortality
Embrace this moment
Remember, we are eternal
All this pain is an illusion"

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-06-20 01:05:36     Rating:

QTOOL666 I think that your interpretation was stupid. You say it changed your life? how? by becoming a stoner?? I can fully understand this song without having to be baked. You should try it sometime, try to understand the music moreso then just get high, lie down, then let the music trip you out. Alot of tools music has sent my life in a different direction, a much clearer path that I much more enjoy then I ever did,
Stephen, 15

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-06-30 02:39:10     Rating:

Parabol and Parabola, to me, represent the duality of life. Like one of the dudes up there^ said, the first represents reality and the second represents everything beyond reality. Parabol is like the calm meditation leading to the mind's enlightenment, which becomes the surrounding, exciting feel of Parabola.

Submitted by: keepgoingspiralout
Added: 2006-08-07 17:42:11     Rating:

A fantastic song reminding us that life is a holy gift, and we should "embrace this moment remember, we are eternal, all this pain is an illusion."

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-08-20 05:00:23     Rating:

There is an psychologist named dr rick strausman. He wrote a book titled "dmt: the spirit molecule." it was a report on some studies he had done on a psychedelic substance called n,n-dimethyltryptamine. The fda approved him to administer the drug under a controlled environment to a group of different people from different backgrounds. This chemical also is found in your pineal gland in your brain. It is medically documented to be released into your bloodstream during birth death and any near-death experience in between. The penial gland forms in the fetus the 44th day after conception. It is beliefs of buddhist and hindu religions that the 44th day after conception is when the soul "enters" the body. Coincidence?
Okay now getting to the point... During the studies all volunteers described the dmt trip as a separation of body and soul. They described it as their soul leaving and entering a "white light". Ever heard of people having near-death experiences involving this? Well, he submitted his reports, and published his book, the fda deemed that further studies of this drug would cause social upheaval due to the belief that it was nearing a scientific discovery of the existance or non-existance of a god. The fda cut off his authorization and changed the drug to a schedule 1 drug (the same legality as cocaine, heroine, and such). This song describes a dmt trip.

Another wierd coincidence... The album artwork includes an image from the cover of the book.

Http://www.Myspace.Com/thefallengrace

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-08-23 08:08:53     Rating:

Parabola may either symbolize one's birth into this world, or one's spiritual awakening. It describes a person in a state of breathing meditation (probably buddhist), feeling the air and chi move within him (it is later detailed and explained how in Lateralus). Parabola may simply be the moment (lack of a better term since that state is timeless), one gets into absolute, deep meditation. Which includes 9 months within a mother's womb.

Also there's references to reincarnation. So the birth theme is very likely.
"we barely remember, who or what came before this precious moment..."

thanks for reading.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-08-25 23:49:47     Rating:

As with almost all Tool songs this one can have 2 meanings as well...

Along with the spiritual awakening/rebirth meaning it could also be about a very deep relationship

"we barely remember who or what came before this precious moment" when they are with each other all the past, pain and people (accidental alliteration :o)
they are literally in "the heat of the moment".

"this body holding me be my reminder here that I am not alone" ...Feeling alone in the world the one person that completes you...
"feeling eternal all this pain is an illusion" relates to above

"this body holding me reminds me of my own mortality.
Embrace this moment. Remember. We are eternal.
All this pain is an illusion" embracing the moment they are together...Even after death (we are eternal, reminds me of my own mortality) as long as they are together "all this pain is an illusion"

i thought of this interpretation listening to the song and thinking of someone I have a similar compassion for...

Enjoy

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-10-01 18:21:06     Rating:

I have found that if you listen to parabol/parabola when you are high, it does kinda give it a new sound.

Instead of doing this however, 1 month ago, I had a serious eye injury. I was put on bedrest and couldnt move around very much so that a clot in my eye wouldnt tear. In order for me to stay sane, all I did was listen to lateralus, aenima, and 10,000 days trying to understand their meaning.

It was while I was doing this that I found a differnt perception of the world. It happened after I had not moved from my bed for 4 days, sleeping in and out, having those cds on repeat.

I heard Parabol, one of my favorite songs. As it was playing, I faded into a wierd kind of mind where I saw very little, but I heard everything around me, the people outside, birds, even the air seemed to be alive. Then I heard Parabola switch and it all made sense to me. It is hard to explain in words, but after you go to sleep, listen to those two songs and you will get something more. I felt as if I did what the lyrics were always talking about, achieving spirituality. I couldnt remember what happened before that (precious) moment. I realized that all my pain was an illusion and that I was eternal. I embraced the moment. For 1 month I have been trying to do it again, but it just is not the same.

Submitted by: CowboyNinja
Added: 2006-11-09 00:33:58     Rating:

Now I believe a few people here have gotten from this (these) song(s) that I have. It's a very spiritual, not religous, but spiritual in a way that this life you've been chosen to be given is not something to be taken for granted. It's a sacred thing to be alive and breathing, just to appreciate all life around you and how simplistic the beauty of it is. Now, I don't think Maynard wants people to listen to them high, as he is avidly against drugs (see: thirteenth step album and rosetta stoned) but he wants us to see things from two perspectives.

This reality that we percieve.

And not so much an afterlife, as a sort of pre-life, where we are all but one life force, joined together, as seen at the end of the parabol/parabola video.

When he says this body, he means the one he's actually in, his own skin, the song is told from a spirit point of view, where life is a given, it's all around, but it's a privalege to be able to live.

Thanks for reading, this is just what I've gotten from this masterwork of a song.

Metallica442@retardsrule.Com

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-12-06 11:30:09     Rating:

this song is an interpretation of Plato's doctrine of forms and arguments for the immortality of the soul. Maynard uses philosophy for inspiration but it dosen't appear as if he is forwarding plato's views because he beleives them; he is mearly making them known. Parabola is more correctly an artist interpretation of Plato's theory.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-12-30 23:49:43     Rating:

it's hard to say anything without really repeating what everyone else before me has said... but here goes:
it's ultimately about not knowing who you were before life and who you will be afterlife but you walk around in your body knowing/thinking/believing that you were or will be something better one day. Honestly, I don't go a day without thinking about death or something different from the life I'm currently passing. I do think about my skin being my vessel, but I wouldn't say temporarily because I don't know any better. MJK sounds so sure in all his songs about what he's saying, but then I think about it and a lot of it is uncertainty... I guess that's how you could summarize Tool (if I dare!) - very certain about uncertainty... maybe ill go listen to all the albums I have and think about this some more...huzzah!

Submitted by: kjcisco777
Added: 2007-02-19 08:06:30     Rating:

i think this song is talking about a reality that exist on top of seeing the world through a higher state of consciousness (third eye). The definition of the word parabola is " a plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone" I can't draw it with a keyboard but it looks something like this |(

if you play the song before parabolA called parabol I think its suppose to represent the | which is looking at reality as most people do and parabola is suppose to represent the (
meaning that there's this state of mind we all experience in our minds everyday where we have jobs/cars/eat food/feel pain...but then there's an alternate state of mind that exist in the same point in space where we are "eternal" as the song says. However I think that the song is trying to say that the only times most people reach this higher state of mind is when we are first born, deep meditation, high on (psychedelic or hallucinagenic) drugs, death etc.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-03-02 11:19:05     Rating:

Here, this may help you understand this song even more.

In this moment, focus your attention on your internal states (emotions, thoughts) and observe them. Do not become identified with them, just observe.

As you do this, receive all incoming phenomena of external events with the consciousness, observe them and analyze.

You must learn to observe all external and internal events simultaneously. This is living in the moment, without becoming identified with the mind and letting your ego (anger, lust, pride, gluttony, etc.) take control. We must learn to eliminate these psychological defects so we can be awakened, and know the Truth.

Now listen to this song, and stay in the moment, in this holy reality.

(to learn more, go here http://www.gnosticteachings.org/content/view/53/1/)

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-04-12 00:51:58     Rating:

This whole album is entirely comprised of therapy concepts, concepts used in counseling and therapy to help people keep from freaking out. This is not about sex, although that is what I thought it was about when I first heard it. The concept here is the practice of living RIGHT NOW, which is very hard. It is about the difficulty and the reward of not living entirely in the past and in the future. The idea is to live without your preconceptions and your hopes and projections ruining the wonder of the immediate world. Try it sometime, and you will see why it is worth writing songs about. The pain mentioned is the anguish of always worrying about the past and the future. Those things are not happening right now, so any pain you are feeling from the past and the future is illusionary. It is only you. Crucify the ego, and you find that there is not much that is worrisome that is happening RIGHT NOW. Try it

Submitted by: slipknotkid1
Added: 2007-04-16 15:21:06     Rating:

I believe that Parabol/Parabola is about a sexual encounter: (Here are a few examples/reasons I believe this)

So familiar and overwhelmingly warm
This one, this form I hold now.
Embracing you, this reality here,
This one, this form I hold now, so
Wide eyed and hopeful.
Wide eyed and hopefully wild.

-Well, looking from mans perspective the "inside" of a woman can represent a "warm" and "familiar" place. Usually when referring to intercourse people refer to it as two people becoming "one." The words "Hopefully wild" could refer to the speaker wanting kinky sex? (just a thought)

We barely remember what came before this precious moment,

-When in the moment you don't really think or care about anything other than the "precious moment."

Choosing to be here right now. Hold on, stay inside...
This body holding me, reminding me that I am not alone in
This body makes me feel eternal. All this pain is an illusion.

-They are both consenting to this act and the line, "choosing to be here right now," indicates this. "Hold on, stay inside" could be related to trying to become pregnant by keeping the penis into the vagina after ejaculation to prevent sperm from, for lack of a better word, 'running' out of the vagina, or it could refer to a woman wanting the man to "stay inside" long enough for her to have an orgasm.

All this pain is an illusion.

-Could be referring to the pain that is being inflicted on him by his "friend," and he is realizing that no matter the pain he feels the pleasure makes it seem like an illusion.

In this holy reality, in this holy experience.

-Many religions view the act of sex as a holy experience, so maybe that is what this line is referring too.


This is just my opinion. I am in no way trying to dissuade you of your own opinions. That's the great thing about Tool's music is that it can be interpreted many ways and this is what I got out of it. I'm probably totally wrong, but whatever it doesn't really matter.

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