Zaq January 10th, 2006 09:03PM  
The title refers to the German economist & Communist political philosopher Karl Marx, who said "Religion is the opiate of the masses," so obviously it has a little something to do with religion.

What I believe is that this is told through the eyes of any religious leader, but due to recent events, let's just say it's about Catholicism. Just read the lyrics people! Extremely straightforward, due to the fact that this is early, early Tool.
"My Gods will
becomes me.
When he speaks out,
he speaks through me.
He has needs
like I do.
We both want
to rape you."

The above quote is the one I find most interesting. Mostly because of the recent scandal. You know what I'm talking about. The,well... Ya' know... THE PRIESTS RAPING, MOLESTING AND COMPLETELY FUCKING UP THE CHILDREN LEFT IN THEIR CARE! It's almost as if Maynard could see the future or somehow knew this was happening... I don't pretend to know what happened in His past, so no allegations. And don't spread rumors of allegations, it was just a thought. Maybe He can see the future, and that's how He knew... All hail Maynard Nostradamus Christ!!!

Seriously yours,
Zaq

infinitepaths January 21st, 2006 11:34PM  
I sort of agree with you Zaq to an extent. I agree that this is one of TOOL's most obvious ones, haha, I said the same thing about just reading the lyrics before I read your text. I believe that Maynard once again is being sarcastic and speaking as if he were God, or Jesus himself, but mocking the claims, but not toward God. But towards his followers. When he says "rape", I believe it is metaphorical and not literal. Just the taking advantage of, or taking over you. He sarcastically says that choices always were a problem for people because so many people make their choices based on what others say. People have a hard time standing up and saying "FUCK THAT!" if they disagree. "Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow" "Don't judge or question" =don't think for yourself, just follow me cause I got this one. :) This song reminds me of "Wander in and wandering.
Noone even invited you in.
But still you stumble in stumbling" People all follow one another, even if it leads to an emptiness, or an ocean of chaos. Basically at the end when he screams for Jesus to come down and save his life, I feel it in his emotion and in his words that he is suffering as we all do, and if he is so great, then why are things the way they are. But I agree with Zaq about this being an earlier album and that Maynard's feelings and views have grown over the years. If you refer to the album Lateralus, you would see such a more open and hopeful view. --KATE

Zaq February 17th, 2006 08:25PM  
I don't take the whole rape thing literally either, that was just a joke.
We probably shouldn't worship him, some Xtians may get offended... We shouldn't listen to "Die Eier Von Satan" either, people may think we're Neo-Nazis or something... OR maybe Tool fans who should be head-banging in unison will start arguing about the meaning of the song, or what the punch-line is...

3Libras February 26th, 2006 04:48PM  
I think Maynard is basically saying that people are fools. They believe in their religion and just go along with whatever they are told to... like robots. They don't question things and they use it as an excuse for things. People are fools who aren't thinking for themselves.

mzombie33 June 8th, 2006 05:37PM  
This song is very literal and very easy to figure out. Although the content of this song is rather evil, I cannot help but be astonished by the conviction with which it is carried out. The song eludes to Christians as being weak and needing something to believe in in order to survive. Maynard is equating Christ with a drug. Christ is viewed a drug, an opiate for those who need him to make it through adversity.

anonymous July 10th, 2006 06:48AM  
---RELIGION IS THE OPIATE OF THE MASSES---
in christianity/catholic/whatever God supposedly talks through Jesus, then to us. well any one who believes this us too blind+dumb to open up their eyes, and def not to listen to the actual truth.
because these def+blind+dumb people have a problem making decisions, jesus does it for them. He opiates their senses and guides them in the direction of accumulating ego.

anonymous March 20th, 2007 09:30PM  
It's been said already but here's my take.

Opiate is in itself a look upon religion as a sedative that numbs the human senses and reason through a false sense of security. The sense of security here is that those who follow Christ will be taken to heaven when they die, if and only if they are loyal to him without question. The sense of love and sacrifice that Christ has for us is lost as a sense of ownership and servitude becomes stronger. Not wanting to own up to their own decisions, people follow the path of Christ and rely on it as not only insurance of their spirit after death but for that path as a scapegoat for their own shortcomings. If they screwup or something ill happens to them they chalk it up to being the destiny of God and Christianity and a part of a divine plan.

An Opiate not only blurs a sense of responsibility within the person, it blinds their reason and free will of conscious choice. Lured in by promise of purity and atonement, people indulge themselves in blindly following the teachings of not Christ's lessons, but those of old clergymen interpreting what they want out of it. They aren't even grasping the actual light of Christ anymore, but a shade of inference created by another follower.

Give up your free will and human freedom to buy your way to heaven and atonement. That's the image of the Opiate. You give up logical reason and a sense of caring for indulging in total unconscious, but painlessness.

anonymous November 12th, 2007 02:25PM  
To the guy above me.

We all know jesus didn't say that and this isn't a song against jesus. It's a song against established religion and the fact that they try to lead you blindly, and if you ask questions you either get kicked out of the church(like I did) or are told that jesus wanted it that way, or that god works in mysterious ways.

I completely agree with maynard, and think that most people look to hard for meaning in TOOL's songs and can't see the simple yet in depth meaning right in front of them.

anonymous April 16th, 2008 10:34PM  
I think this is a song against mass religion saying it blinds us from our true beliefs. brainwashing and trying to form people into something they are not. also it promotes individualism, and the idea that people should create their own religion tailor fit to there own personal beliefs... rather than someone else telling you what to believe and what is right


fuck the system

anonymous August 17th, 2008 06:36PM  
This whole song is a "fuck you" to religion if you will. He is comparing organized religion to a cult. The irony of how the major religions look down upon cults for "brain washing" their followers is made aparent throughout this song. "Choices always were a problem for you. What you need is someone strong to guide you." Baisically he is saying religion s a crutch like a cult. You're to weak to get by on your own you have to have someone to tell you what to do.

anonymous September 8th, 2008 11:12PM  
Wow. It is kind of shocking that you’re all taking a work of art and doing a literal translation. The whole thing could be a metaphor for politics in general. Or any other legitimate point of authority.

The whole point of the song is to not be a "sheep" – and every comment is just a concurrence to the second post. Irony or coincidence?

anonymous October 5th, 2008 01:37AM  
To the guy above me- actually they all concur with the first comment. Its because this is a simple song to interpret and almost impossible not to understand, so its easy to see why all of them agree.

SystemofaRevelation October 24th, 2008 08:07PM  
To the guy above me, that is what I was thinking

anonymous January 22nd, 2009 09:46PM  
I just took it as the hypocrisy of some people who use religion as a tool to exploit others( kind of like the holy man in the pardoners tale). people turn around and offer false promises of deliverance in order to take from those desperate enough to fall for these cheap parlour tricks. I also interpreted 'rape' not as the physical sexual act, but as the act of taking things that are close to a person and should be considered sacrid to that person( the forceful taking of ones spirit/soul/lifeforce/identity etc)
the song just always reminded me of those con-artist sermon figures that always yell'praise the lord', then pass around collection plates to make you feel obliged to 'donate' to save yourself.
i don't think it was aimed at any particular religion tho. just my thought.

pera13 January 23rd, 2009 03:31AM  
I think this song is about the people that abuse the believers fate, by that i mean the church that takes so much money every year, he explained in some songs the definition of God as love. God was translated from some language to God, some people take it as an ultimate everything, but it really meant love, faith and all the good things in life, the bad things are just there to make us enjoy the things we have even more. This is somewhat close to what i had in my mind. I'm a schizophrenic, so kinda hard to explain myself to full extent. Peace :)

anonymous March 2nd, 2009 12:50PM  
Awesome song! It's about religion RAPING your mind. I love the ending.

shallowbay422 April 27th, 2009 12:18PM  
This song is incredibly anti-religeon, not just anti-christian. The title ,opiate, refers to this Carl Marx' quote: Religeon is the opiate of the masses. Opiates of course are tranquilizing and mind numbing drugs just like religeon. The song begins by saying:choices always were a problem for you...this is speaking of the inception of religeon at the dawn of man. Since man has existed on earth he has always allowed himself to be exploited by people who have claimed to be divine or holy(hence the lyrics: let me lay my holy hand upon you)the lyrics:Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow, also speak to this effect. Every civilization has had some form of religeon and the purpose of religeon is not to worship a god but make those who are not holy feel inferior or unworthy. Notice how as a civilization falls often too does its religeon dissapear. Not because it was proven wrong but because the civilization was built on that religeous structure as is ours today. However the church or any other modern religeon has done a great job of sticking around for a while. I suppose the system has been corrected enough by previous cultures trial and error. Is anyone aware that the pope lives arguably the best life on the planet? every decision he makes affects the choices of 2 billion people(catholics and christians) he doesn't cook, he doesn't clean, hell he even has a glass cage that drives his lazy ass around. Oh yeah did I mention he has his own castle and country(Vatican City). Also note heaven is not a new concept, most religeon recognizes some form of heaven or utopian environment after death. This expectation of a greater life, but only and I stress only, after you have carried out the will of the one who guides you.(Pope, dhali llama, etc.) But according to those who are "holy" you can only get there if you do what they say. Sounds pretty good to the elites in our society. Simple mind control. There are currently 4 main religeons all of which vary a reasonable amount. Whose to say any are wrong? Religeon is bad and Maynard knows it!And the raping he speaks of is the fact that most people donate either money or time to these self-satisfying institutions. When you die though god will make your reward great in heaven. Unless...

anonymous May 1st, 2009 07:30PM  
As many have said above me, i believe that that song name alone is enough to give you a "mind set" on which to analyze the song by. Clearly stated, an opiate distorts your conscious views on a situation, as does religion. "He has needs Like i do We both want To rape you" I feel that when manyard refers to rape he is describing how you are forced into something without your own will. (religion) This concept applies to another lyric in the song. "Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow What you need is someone strong to guide you... When humans are born they only learn from what other people tell them. Concerning religion, children who don't know any better will follow what adults tell them to, almost forcing them to abide by a religion.

tooliscool45 June 7th, 2009 11:21AM  
The song is about following people with no question, just blind faith.

anonymous June 17th, 2009 04:26PM  
I think the title is referring the religion “Peoples Temple Agricultural Project” famous for the Jonestown incident where their leader (Jim Jones) moved the cult from California to Guyana and convinced 918 people to commit suicide, including children. It is said that they preached what they call “apostolic socialism”, in one of Jim’s teaching he states “Now I want you to know that religion is an opiate to the people” and that “those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment — socialism”.
So while I think this is how this song got its name I think it covers many controlling/destructive cults. And how they control the weak of mind into believing whatever they say. *cough* Scientology *cough*