anonymous July 6th, 2008 08:44PM  
This song can easily be interpreted many ways, as for the spiritual interpretation it goes along with most forms of meditation and trying to become in touch with spiritual realms and the inner being in ones self, red and yellow are the first colors one starts to see when they truly become in touch with their third eye in meditation,hence black and white and then red and yellow as well as the spiral aspect when in meditation you eventually get the feeling of spinning and spiraling out into another realm or into ones self, were you then spiral out into a higher state of consciousness and the longer you ride this spiral spinning feeling the deeper and more unknown your experience becomes.

anonymous July 12th, 2008 02:55AM  
I am personally reminded of a painting by Alex Grey called " journey of the wounded healer " which depicts man in his various evolutionary stages descending a double helix. " We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where noones been " I think this song is about our non-biological evolution... The name Lateralus is in reference to lateral thinking which are methods and techniques used to think outside of the box

anonymous August 8th, 2008 11:04AM  
For me, this song is about faith- pure and simple faith- developing the ability to "let go" and believe against all logic and analyzation...to "let go" and swing on the spiral to believe...faith

anonymous October 14th, 2008 01:25PM  
This song beckons back to 46 & 2 for me. The journey one takes on a path to a more aware consciousness or the next state of human being. Riding the spiral (DNA being a double helix?) to the end it may just go where no one's been sounds like a reference to the next stage of human existence, the 46 & 2. The song gives me the impression of someone trying to open themselves up totally to the experience in the hopes of achieving this state of being.
There is a whole line of philosophy that I could off on in regards to "Good and Bad Faith" where humans are unable to act in a pure form where the consequences of their actions are not considered. The lyrics refer to not following intuition leaving opportunities behind: we've lost the ability to listen to part of us that inherently knows what is best because we over think, over analyze.
I think this song speaks to the willingness to open oneself to the unknown, embrace whatever comes of it and keep searching, keep growing.

Rick_Roll November 10th, 2008 10:21PM  
I know alot of people are saying that this song talks about the meaning of life and how the human race was made and so on. im afraid to say you are all wrong. the song has do with math acually. the whole song was using the Fibonacci Sequence. For example, if i had 1 and 2 and i add them, it will equal 3. but if i also had 3 and 5, it will equal 8, and so on. all the lyrics and song rythem follows this sequence, its quite amazing how somone can do that to a song

anonymous November 13th, 2008 11:23PM  
I think that it may be possible that Maynard is discussing his own personal experiences with music and its limitations on what you can and cannot speak of, or better yet, what is considered reasonable. At first he comes in as an artist who hasnt chosen his own path, and all he sees is the same things being repeated, hence- black and white are all i see. After experimenting with his songs a little, he began to see new opportunities, hence- red and yellow then came to be. Once the limits were visible, where most artists had stopped, he thought of what could be done outside those "lines" of reason and saw infinite possibilities. As he charted new grounds in the music, he pushed the envelope, and was fascinated to see it bend as some began to feed into these controversial lyrics, such as the ones he delivers in prison sex. He also mentions how many people are over-analyzing, and close their minds to new things, and groundbreaking music that he is trying to push. However, he could be simply speaking of spirituality like many of you have suggested. But that is what makes tool so amazing, the songs can be interpreted in so many ways. Maynard is simply a genius.

anonymous December 2nd, 2008 12:20AM  
Maynard is very obscure with all lyrics. But one thing is for certain...he always wants his audience thinking for themselves. For example (and i think this was very good of him) during the election he said nothing of who he supported yet in all blogs and posts pertaining to him and the band he encouraged us to vote. That leads me to what i think the song is about. It's all about thinking laterally. He's saying take nothing at face value. He's saying that no feelings you have are wrong, everything you think about is significant to be explored. I think this song is about taking in the world around you and experiencing as much as you can. life isnt a straight line, its a spiral forever spining outward, thats the significance of the use of fibonacci in the song. This is the most poignant part of the song, i feel it explains the whole thing I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm to feel connected enough to step aside and weep like a widow, to feel inspired, to fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human anyway i could be wrong....but that is the beauty of Maynards lyrics we all take away from them what we want. each one of us can intergrate these thoughts into our lives how ever we please. either way it sure is fun thinking about it

anonymous December 12th, 2008 11:43AM  
I absolutely agree with the idea of this song being about thinking for one's self. I liked that "lateral thinking" idea. I think the lyrics to these songs are not about trying to convey a specific idea but more about the process of discovery in our thoughts. Maynard isn't one to spoon feed ideas, instead encourage one to think as an individual. Take what you want from the song, what you interpret and internalize that, not what someone else thinks. True discovery comes from within.

rowerskeeprowing January 16th, 2009 03:45PM  
i think this song is about trying to overthink an artistic medium to the point it makes you sound like a rambling, pretentious flake. a + b = c

anonymous January 27th, 2009 09:23PM  
i am not sure what this song is about other than reading the other interpretations, but I have a question why is it called lateralus, is it because that is a muscle in your leg, and maybe like you can use your legs to walk into like spiritual whatever?

anonymous April 15th, 2009 09:18AM  
Contrary to what you guys all think, I don't think there is any genuinly spirituality or supernatiral element to this song, or any other song by Tool.

I don't think MJK would be the kind of idiot to believe in souls and supernatual etc. No offense to the guys who do, I'm just saying, I don't think it's about spirituality.

I think it's about intellectual transcendence.
This is seen very easily in the music video.
There is the half of the human physical being of instinct and barbarity, and conversely there is the half us of intelligence and sentience.

The song represents a journey from instinct towards sentience. This journey can be called transcendence, evolution, etc. We see in the songs lyrics and music video the progression of man along his evolutionary journey. The human journey from nothingness, to a comprehending yet instinctual animal, to a half sentient- half instinctual human, to a completely sentient superhuman, and beyond.

The spiral theme repeated within the song (and seen often in the music video too,eg: on the sentient human's head) symbolizes the infinity of this journey. That is to say, the journey has no destination, man is to "go where no ones been". And then we have the repitition:

"Spiral on, keep going
Spiral on, keep going
Spiral on, keep going..."

It is a spiral that man must "embrace". He might as well ride the spiral and embrace the random, meaning, he should embrace his changes, and the changes he sees around him/herself.

So, that's my interpretation. Once again I have to say I don't agree with interpretations of Tool lyrics which involve the band holding actual beliefs in supernatural events, aliens, spirits, souls, freemasonry conspiracies etc. Saying that Tool believes in that kinda stuff when they have never expressed that is just putting your own beleifs on them.

_ChroMe_LunGz_ June 3rd, 2009 12:20AM  
None of you know what your talking about unless you've takin' mushrooms, acid, LSD, or mescaline while listening to this. You'll do more than understand. You'll literally see red and yellow reaching out to you. You'll see below, above, and beyond. While shrooming to this song I relized everything he was saying I was seeing or doing. I found myself overthinking, over analyzing. Withering my intuition. Watching oppurtunities pass me by. And the spiral is basicly the world you see only with your third eye AKA the invisible eye that only opens when on a phsycadelic trip. This is maynards mind. Most of their songs are written in a way that phsycadelic drugs make even that much better. Better yet I guarantee every one of the band members are under the influence of some sort of pshycadelic while writing this. LoL I even bought this wierd Tool dvd that came with these wierd pictures and 3D glasses. And it was the vicarous video. Watched it shroomin' with the glasses. Never tripped so hard in my life. Anyways. This song is about his experience in another world in which our third eye can only see (If opened). Lovin' it Maynard. Keep the drug free people from knowing what you really mean. L8tr peeps...

questioneverything July 21st, 2009 02:57AM  
Don't over think it.....Maynard is saying (in my opinion)... Separate the body from the mind......forget what this body is supposed to be capable of, we are capable of so much more....the possibilities of our minds are endless..... we are all physics....we are all gods in our own rite....we all know the future before it happens....our collective unconscious makes our fate.....forget what your body is supposed to be capable of, use your mind to push the envelope and watch it bend......we are only limited by our own boundaries. our minds are limitless.

BALLZMcGee August 3rd, 2009 09:53AM  
I saw the world as a wonderful place But then reality hit. I saw how everybody did the same routine I wanted more.. I wanted individuality So I experimented Everything i looked at was completely torn down so i could understand it better. It taxed me and wore me down but I Pushed myself to further my knowledge of everything. I saw the world as a wonderful place But then reality hit. I saw how everybody did the same routine I wanted more.. I wanted individuality So I experimented again Again I over examined everything I pushed myself but realized I lost it all somewhere I kept pushing myself so I wouldnt go back to nothing I held tight all I could and couldnt see I accepted what I needed to survive. I allow myself the pleasure of lust that life has to offer so that I may understand how others emotions are tested. I did it to remain human Now as I stand and think I realize that all I needed was the music So I allow it to flow I allow it to take over I go back to my overthinking self and experience a pleasure as everything collides I know now that it shouldnt be thought about but felt So use yourself to find it too Together we will reach the end and make it all better DO NOT STOP.. Do what I couldnt see. Continue on your way and find the end. And you too will be where no one's been.

BALLZMcGee August 3rd, 2009 09:59AM  
As a summary to my other post.. basically the song is saying. DON'T ACCEPT LIFE AS IT IS GIVEN TO YOU. learn to embrace everything you see and/or can/cant accept. It means to do what he did.. look at life with all the colors not just black and white like when you are a child (metaphor for how perfect the world really is). If you use all your colors to look you will better understand what ISNT there. use the ungiven as a basis to live your life and try to earn/obtain it by any means necessary. like they say. "Spiral out, keep going."

Cyber_7 August 26th, 2009 08:50PM  
Alright guys here my interpretation of what Maynard is talking about in this song.
First off I state that I do not know if they were or were not on LSD or any-other mind altering drug at the time and I do not really care too much so I will not go into detail on thew drug part.
Second I am breaking down each part of the song you can better understand it and thirdly yes I do have a very high agreement with those that say it IS about spirituality but from what the lyrics say it seems like it's from maynards first hand experience

1-i
1.At the end of the first paragraph of this song Maynard says "push the envelope. Watch it bend."
What Maynard is revering to is the "envelope" of the auras around people and how if you try nd watch the envelope it will eventually bend into your vision and you will be able to see it.
1-ii
Now at the beginning of the same paragraph He says "Black then white are all I see in my infancy.red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me. lets me see."
The colors black and white are to some the first basic colors someone sees when beginning to see auras around their-self or others and that this is in his "infancy"
means this is what he saw when he was only new to such an experience.When he states "red and yellow then came to be,reaching out to me,lets me see" he is stating that he has finally begun to see a higher level of auras and this lets him see more than the average people do.
1-iii
In the middle of this paragraph Maynard says "as below, so above and beyond, I imagine drawn beyond the lines of reason.
what I think he is saying here is since he has seen these auras he is no longer certain about what is above him or below him,and that he is far beyond the line of reason I.E he cannot explain how or why these auras are here or why he can see them he just can


2-i
In the second part of this song Maynard says "Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind." meaning only by doing such a thing can you really begin to see the other planes between the body nd mind and also the plane of the mind itself"
2-ii
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines. I believe what he is trying to say here is that only now has he realized that he has been missing so many opportunities and he has to "feed his will to feel that moment of seeing way beyond what is in the physical plane of existence.
2-iii
In the third part he sings "lets me see there is so much more and beckons me to look thru to these infinite possibilities" I believe he is talking about everything that has been opened up to him and that there are still all these other possibilities that he still has.

3-i
In the forth part of this song he states "Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind. Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.."
I think he stating the fact that there are still some possibilities that he would prefer to leave behind and that now his subconscious is urging him to cross the line even more.

3-ii
Now in the fifth part of this song he says "I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside and weep like a widow to feel inspired to fathom the power, to witness the beauty" what I believe is happening here is since he has begun to see these envelopes of aura he wishes to "feel the rhythm to feel connected yet disconnected at the same time again separating the body and the mind.
That rhythm he describes is in the rhythm of the syllables which this song is played(the Fibonacci sequence).

3-iii
Now this is where things get really interesting for he states "to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral to swing on the spiral to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human. What I think he is saying is the fountain of human evolution which is out lust for knowledge that one day we will swing on the spiral of evolution(ascension)being the next supposed step upward but yet still be human in the sense that we still have our physical body.

4-i
the final part of this song Maynard says"
With my feet upon the ground I move myself between the sounds and open wide to suck it in.
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out. I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.
Spiral out. Keep going.

What I beleive he is saying here is that when his fet are on the ground he wishes to feel the sounds(vibratons)of the world and let it suck be sucked in meaning to see nd too feel the entire earths envelope of aura. He wants to reach out to anything that still does not understand and begin to understand it and only by following his own will not some gods will,will he be able to understand more.


well guys that's What I think.I have no idea how close it is or how wrong I am but who cares isn't that fun of tool songs,they always have that little sunrise no one can ever seem to find

liberalmormon October 14th, 2009 10:40PM  
Imagine what the experiances was like when you first discovered color... Imagine what overwhelming pleasures your innocent mind must have felt when the development of color in your brain allowed you to see the world around you. I believe thats what this song is about. Our vision and how it completes us. Colors and shapes are something we now take for granted but man, what it must have been like to branch out from black and white and had that first rush of red and yellow, allowing you to see.

aenima24 October 30th, 2009 05:23PM  
I wouldn't even know where to begin w/ LATERALUS. It's crazy to say, but I actually have a favorite Tool song, and LATERALUS is it. To me that's crazy because I give 100 percent of tool songs a 11/10. Goes to show how amazingly powerful this song is. Shit it shouldn't even be called a song, it should be called a WAY.

anonymous December 22nd, 2009 04:57PM  
This song, along with many other pieces they have written, and will continue to write, deals directly with a peak experience, transcendence, a self actualized moment, religious experience, or however you'd like to label the state of mind. These things are all one and the same depending on the literature you've fallen back on, and it's jargon.

Medically (not metaphysically, or religiously) it occurs when the ego, in some form, is damaged. This can occur from an accident or illness (ex. "My Stroke Of Insight", a great book). Or from taking drugs which cause the collapse of the ego, like hallucinogenics. From meditation (allegedly, there is no evidence) or from mastery of the self through a healthy psychological and physiological lifestyle as Abraham Maslow has suggested in his field work. His books are easy to read, and are classic pieces of popular science works.

On the subject of popular science, Carl Sagan purported in Bocca's Brain (Dragon's Of Eden as well) that physical damage to the mind can cause Nadir or Peak experiences, although not in so many words. The effects he describes are congruent with work in other fields, leaving many to believe that it may be a condition of the mind, which is why drug use can trigger it.

A mild seizure or simultaneous carvings of radical new neuro pathways can and will cause either to occur.

Also, in respect to the comments above, and the wonderful list of symptoms, Third Eye is a reflection of the Nadir Experience, or a bad 'trip'. Not a good trip, like Lateralus. The locality of the damage may to blame, although state of mind is also a viable option. They may not be mutually exclusive either, but in tandem and on a spectrum.

Interesting enough, a whole generation was effected by this phenomenon when the youth culture of the nineteen sixties exposed themselves to this process repeatedly. It has not been studied sufficiently, but many of the social changes during this time, may be a result of multiple people experiencing multiple episodes.

Much the literate is now used in economics, and oddly enough in the entertainment industry to better business practices. Geographically, the area of effect is similar, California primarily, but the motivation and methods used by the study appeal to peoples desires for financial gain, and not their spirituality for social change.

_White Goddess

onenationunderprog January 31st, 2010 03:45PM  
"Black then white are all I see in my infancy / red and yellow then came to be"

This line in particular is about a child growing up and learning to recognize and understand different colors. Basically, this means that the child is no longer viewing life through the naive perspective of 'black and white,' but is instead viewing the world in color and is thus being more open to differing points of view.

Lateralus is all about lateral thinking (which means thinking with an open mind), hence the album's title. This song is about living open-minded, or laterally, instead of narrow-mindedly, or linearly.