Tool: Third Eye Meaning
Third Eye Lyrics
Dreaming of that face again.
It's bright and blue and shimmering.
Grinning wide and comforting me with it's three warm and wild eyes.
On my back and tumbling
down that hole and back again
rising up and...
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1TOP RATED
anonymous Sep 19th 2006, 03:34 report
Um, hi... The entire Ænima cd is dedicated to bill hicks. And most of the songs are in some way related to bill hicks. Bill hicks was a very spiritual person who also was deeply involved with psychedelic drugs much like Maynard james keenan. Eulogy.. Not about jesus. About bill hicks. Harry manback... Ya that's a character in bill hicks stand up. Aenima the song itself.. "see you down in arizona bay" and also the holographic image of las angeles sinking because of an earthquake... Ya also part of bill hicks material. He has a cd called arizona bay. It's about how he hates california for its "mall-consciousness". And finally, third eye. Bill hicks constantly referenced this ancient belief. "watching tv is like taking black spray paint to your third eye" -bill hicks. It's also about don juan in carlos casteneda's book "the original teachings of don juan". He was a shaman who ate a lot of peyote in the desert with carlos. Carlos basically modeled his life after the shaman philosopher. Maynard's reference to the holy crow above me, that's from the book. The second blue sun is also in the book. And most importantly "like phosforescent desert buttons" ...Peyote also glimmers in moonlight. Its all referenced to bill hicks. But yes you can make your opinions about the experience he's describing, much like he did when he was writing it. Its the ultimate salute to the acid loving spiritual comedian-philosopher bill hicks.
So just like most Tool songs, if it sounds intensely deep lyrically... You can almost count on the meaning to be rediculously simple and right in front of your face. Its Tool. For god's sake.
Over thinking over analyzing separates the body from the mind. Its just about bill hicks. -
anonymous Sep 2nd 2012, 14:16 report
my analysis to this song is that Maynard is explaining his experience in answering his question about the world , life , religions! he is referring to the third eye as the Free mason's symbol of the world's end ! and that when he was a child he only wanted to think for himself ! 'came out to watch you play, why are u running away' that we are born thinking for ourselves , like wild animals, . 'and u thought tht i had run away, chasing the tale of dogma' dogma means beliefs or religion which we don't think of changing unless we open our third eye . i.e Thinking for yourself under no rules or regulations
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TheWizard1387 Feb 12th 2012, 04:16 report
Well first off, this song is most definitely about drugs, hence the Bill Hicks into about good things drugs have done. Secondly, the drug (I'm hesitant to even call it that, something produced in everyones bodies aren't really drugs, are they?) in question is almost definitely dimethyl-tryptamine (DMT). DMT is produced in the pineal gland in the center of the brain at extremely stressful moments in a persons life: birth, death, near-death, alien abductions, during dream-states, and in mystical states. The pineal gland is also known as the "third eye." In reptiles it even has a visible lens. The beginning of the song is talking about the beings the narrator encountered on his previous journeys. The middle lyrics and instrumental describe and represent the journey through the tunnel and the lifting of the veil that occurs prior to meeting the beings. Anyone who's done high doses of DMT knows what I'm talking about. The end is my favorite! It is the encounter between the narrator and the beings.
"So good to see you once again,
I thought that you were hiding
you thought that I had run away,
Chasing the tail of dogma."
Again, this is obvious to anyone who's taken high doses of DMT. But I'll explain. The first time you really have an intense experience on DMT it can either be good or bad. Either the beings accept you and teach you and show you beautiful, indescribable things, or they disapprove of you, which didn't experience, but I've heard stories and it sounds extremely scary. After that first experience you want to get back to that place to learn and to see, not like a crackhead fiends for the first-time high, more like reading a phenomenal book you just can't put down until you finish it. But after the first DMT experience the next few aren't ever nearly as intense. I feel that it's a sort of test the beings put you through to see if you really want the knowledge they have to offer, but that's just my opinion. If you keep trying though, eventually and usually unexpectedly you'll shatter the veil and reunite with the beings. And if you doubt any of this, the end
"Prying open my third eye"
Is proof that this is not a state reached through meditation, at least for the narrator. A state like this induced by meditation takes years if not decades to achieve. It's all very simple. The words sound deep but the meaning is right out in the open. -
anonymous May 26th 2011, 17:17 report
He speaks of evolution of the human race,,, like in the entire aenima album.
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anonymous Apr 6th 2011, 01:36 report
Come on guys research dmt, try dmt the spirit molecule by dr Rick strassman read about peoples experiences on this drug. The majority of tools songs are influenced by experiencing what these drugs do to your consciousness. E.g. "so glad to see you, we've missed you so much" is what many people say these "beings" you encounter when you have a profound psychedelic experience on dmt. Dmt revolution bitches evryones pineal gland produces it when you dream, it's responsible for near death experience and alien abduction. Hence the song Rosetta stoned, that song is someones experience on dmt. Every on dmt goes to the same place and has contest with these same "beings".
Do some research my friends dmt could change the world into a better place. -
anonymous Mar 19th 2011, 23:33 report
Third eye, like the rest of the AEnima album, is concerned with dissociatives. In fact, the inside cover talks about dissociative anesthetics. these include drugs such as: Ketamine, PCP and Dextromethorphan. this does NOT include LSD.
Dissociatives send your mind into complete detachment from earthly reality. It also separates your soul from your body for a time to allow you to watch yourself from a point in space seperate from your conscious point or plane.
Through this dissociation, one is able to enter another plane of existance. One may interpret this plane to be heaven. As dissociatives are the closest to death you will ever be, well...you know.
Dissociatives are also known entheogens (you meet extradimensional beings, hint hint) who is refered to as the blue figure encountered by Maynard during his journey down the hole (death).
A child's rhyme stuck in my head.
It said that life is but a dream.
I've spent so many years in question
to find I've known this all along.
If in fact, this world is but a dream, this means that the world you experience is simply a manifestation of your perceptions. This meaning, his constant question of: "is life but a dream?" His spiritual journey, which was fuled through dissociatives, has led him to understand that THIS life is but a dream. We are not allowed to ascend, yet. We are in pergatory.
"So good to see you.
I've missed you so much.
So glad it's over.
I've missed you so much.
Came out to watch you play.
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play.
Why are you running?"
one of the side affects of dissociation is, a loss of personality. Indeed, it is ones loss of self which he is trying to cope with.
Shrouding all the ground around me.
Is this holy crow above me.
Black as holes within a memory
and blue as our new second sun.
I stick my hand into his shadow
to pull the pieces from the sand.
Which I attempt to reassemble
to see just who I might have been.
I do not recognize the vessel,
but the eyes seem so familiar.
Like phosphorescent desert buttons
singing one familiar song...
This is him finding hisself in an alternate reality. The theo is basically showing him around. When he comes down, he is forced to try to rediscover hisself through being back inside his body "vessel" His eyes are his vision, which he exoperiences vividly during his journey. In fact, vision through dissociatives is "better" than your vision on earth due to no longer be restricted to the physics of your EM radiation perception analisys. (no one in these other planes wear glasses)
Prying open my third eye...
He is attempting to experience the pure thought of dissociation while conscious.
So good to see you once again.
I thought that you were hiding.
And you thought that I had run away.
Chasing the tail of dogma.
here, he is talking about how dissociatives make you experience death though you of course, are still technically alive in the medical sense of the word. He is chasing hisself through his own mind.
(I opened my eye and there we were.)
Another journey. Or perhaps, his imagination was returning to his conscious self.
So good to see you once again.
I thought that you were hiding from me.
And you thought that I had run away.
Chasing a trail of smoke and reason.
smoke may refer to PCP. reason means: is this really a hallucination, or am I experiencing this. Is life but a dream?
Prying open my third eye...
Trying to discover his self. -
Danny Wayne Mason Jan 26th 2011, 10:43 report
There is a tool that doctors used in the past to reflect light in the patient's eyes so the doctor can examine the patient. Bill Hicks is wearing one. If that patient is on drugs and his vision is distorted, he may interpret that tool as something else. And, when he is out in the world, he may think he has one, too! If he is out among people acting strange, he will be scaring them and he may think that his third eye is what's scaring them.
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anonymous Apr 15th 2010, 13:05 report
I know I'm probably late to comment but, this song has always taken me bac to 9th Grade to a good acid trip.
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anonymous Feb 24th 2010, 14:56 report
In the intro of the song you hear Timothy Leary talking about thinking for your self, and if you don't question religeon, politics, and other groups you will never learn to think for yourself. Then it jumps into the Third eye by tool.
In hindu belief, the third eye is represented with a red dot, "bendhi". It refers to your consciousness. Open up that third eye, consciousness, and don't feed into maya, illusion, for it is just a distraction. You have to think for yourself and not be persuaded. The first time that I heard this song I thought that it was about releasing your anger and not backing away from it, because anger is such a clear and beautiful emotion. In hindu texts lord Brahma created Shiva from his third eye when he was angry thus creating the god of ignorance, destruction, anger;Shiva. -
anonymous Feb 17th 2010, 15:22 report
In hindu belief, the third eye is represented with a red dot, "bendhi". It refers to your consciousness. Open up that third eye, consciousness, and don't feed into maya, illusion, for it is just a distraction. You have to think for yourself and not be persuaded. The first time that I heard this song I thought that it was about releasing your anger and not backing away from it, because anger is such a clear and beautiful emotion. In hindu texts lord Brahma created Shiva from his third eye when he was angry thus creating the god of ignorance, destruction, anger;Shiva.
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anonymous Feb 13th 2010, 23:18 report
Smoke DMT....Then listen again. Alex Grey does most of TOOL's artwork...pretty straightforward.
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KennyO Aug 23rd 2009, 02:30 report
When Keenan states he is "prying open his Third eye" he is saying that he has reached his state of spiritual freedom. Thats what the third eye symbolizes, one's freedom from the chains of the world's tyranny. In the song he is referring to what is in his world and the bond that he broke out of.
But Toll is a gift to the world. None of the members want you to interpret this or any other song literally, but make your own meaning and put their music in your soul. Thats what makes Tool awesome. They aren't in it for the money, but they obviously live comfortably, and they aren't making music for corporate America. They wouldn't have the influence they do if they were. May they all live long and prosper -
Nadienne Jun 30th 2009, 01:09 report
That's something else that irritates me: People who criticize others for choosing to live their lives differently. I would have figured that drug users would be more tolerant of differences in people. After all, they are frequently the target of intolerance. But then again, maybe one can't take the words of drug users at face value: maybe psychedelics don't really open one's mind...
I know someone who's been off lsd for years, but he still holds conversations with his laundry. He may have enjoyed the experience at first. He doesn't any more. I probably would enjoy the experience at first. But I already question the reality of what I see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. Sometimes I hear crickets chirp my name. Lsd would probably confuse me even more.
ChroMe LunGz, or anyone: What does it mean, Tool gets into your soul when you're on mushrooms? What do you see? Does the room you're in become someplace else? Do the sounds bounce off the walls with unusual colors? What do you feel? Triumphant? Tragic? Something else? If I said "Third Eye" gets into my soul even when I'm not on 'shrooms, how would you persuade me that I'm wrong? How do you know when your third eye is open? Can you say with certainty that Tool depicts the experience as beneficial? Or are you just assuming that because you like to trip and Tool quotes Bill Hicks, Tool must think the same way you do?
I've watched their music videos. I've looked at their album covers. I can glean at least a dozen different interpretations from them, one being that there are at least thirteen different ways of looking at a blackbird, and one being that reality is illusory, elusive. But nothing of theirs has led me to conclude they condone the use of drugs.
I guess what I want to know is, does tripping add another depth of meaning to "Third Eye"? Or does tripping distract you? ("Look at the waves of color coming out of the speaker! Wow, I've never seen that color before... Tool is so much better when I'm trippin'!" Never mind that Lynyrd Skynyrd is probably a zillion times better when you're trippin'.) Can anyone answer this? -
_ChroMe_LunGz_ Jun 3rd 2009, 00:51 report
OK, your third eye can only be opened under the influence of phsycadelics. That's what it's about. It's about that Bill Hicks guy who loves pshycadelics. and being under the influence of phsycadelics. I listened to this song not on anything And it just straight rocks. But on mushrooms the music gets in your soul. And I know you stupid goody goody no drug using idiots think different but guess what? You'll never know until you try it. Tool is a pshycadelic drug based group. Look at all thier album covers for gods sake. watch thier music videos too. You'll zone out even if you're not trippin'. All you drug free fags quit listening to Tool cuz you have no idea what your talking about cus Tool is a million times better trippin'. Don't talk about opening your third eye if you've never opened it before. It's a whole other world where you can a have a conversation with a pile of clothes or whatever is trying to communicate with you. There are other beings around us. spirits, objects, and demons. which are only visible if your third eye is open. AKA your trippin' out. It may not seem real but it sure is. L8tr people that don't know what they're talking about.
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Nadienne May 28th 2009, 20:49 report
Nothing irritates me more than hearing or reading someone tell others that looking deeper for answers is stupid. The insights so far have been really good. I especially like OmegaMachine's commentary.
But I don't get a sense that the (narrator's?) trip down the metaphorical rabbit hole was necessarily good. He says,
So glad it's over.
I've missed you so much.
Came out to watch you play.
Why are you running away?
Not to mention the, I guess you could say instrumental part, the mostly-lyricless-middle, evokes (for me, at least) a sense of being on a conveyor belt, forced along while metal parts are welded onto your body. This is probably not what that actually represents, but it seems like this is where the narrator is transformed, and it sounds horrifying. Not a positive experience.
This interpretation is probably colored by my own reluctance to try acid or lsd or anything that can permanently change me. I want to understand other perspectives. If you're drawn to lsd, does this song make it sound appealing? -
anonymous May 23rd 2009, 02:10 report
I believe this song is about a war within himself; between right and wrong.
It has to be about drugs, or the Bill Hicks bit at the beginning would be completely pointless.
I think its how the drugs allow him to see differently, his "third eye". It "pries" the eye open because drugs are unnatural to the body.
"Down the hole and back again" in and out of drug use,
"Rising up and wiping the webs and dew from my withered eye" ending up drugged and seeing through that "third eye" again.
The "So good to see you...why are you running away?" is actually referring to himself, when he's drugged.
Hes asking himself 'why did he stop taking the drugs when it helps him see so brilliantly?'
Its like his darker self, or the bad side of his conscience talking to him.
"Ive missed you so much" missed being the person he is while he's drugged.
Then he yells prying open my third eye to stop the darker side, and tell him that his eyes were made naturally opened and that he doesn't need drugs to open another eye, he was created with what he needed, nothing more, nothing less.
This next part is good vs bad, the first two lines are spoken by a darker conscience and the last two are by the better side of him:
Bad:
"So good to see you once again."
*Its good to see you drugged again.
"I thought that you were hiding from me."
*And its been so long that I thought you were "hiding" or trying to quit.
Good:
"And you thought that I had run away,"
*You thought that I had 'run away' from drugs, but that's not the case.
"Chasing a trail of smoke and reason."
*You thought that I was 'running away' while chasing after my (undrugged) beliefs,
though those beliefs are very hard to grasp like smoke but with good reasoning.
I know its pretty far-fetched, but try to keep an open mind, it is Tool we're talking about here(; -
0megaMachine Mar 14th 2009, 02:29 report
There's actually quite a bit that this song alludes to. Some of it has already been mentioned but I'd like to add another variable that hasn't been introduced into the discussion yet...
"We now believe you are prepared to visit us, where we are as you call it, if that is still your desire. It will not
be a demonstration, but our reality. However, we will guide you and return you to this point. It is important that you understand that such a visit, momentary as it may seem, can produce within you changes that are irrevocable.)
. . . I do desire it, and I accept the responsibility for any changes that
may occur in me.
(Open widely. Have fun, as you put it.)
CLICK!
(I am in a bright white tunnel and moving rapidly. No, it is not a tunnel, but a tube, a transparent, radiating tube. I am bathed in the radiation which courses through all of me, and the intensity and recognition of it envelop
my consciousness and I laugh with great joy. Something has changed, because the last time, they had to shield me from the random vibration of it. Now, I can tolerate it easily, the actual energy itself. The radiation flow is two-directional in the tube. The flow moving past me in the direction from which I came is smooth, even, and undiluted. The flow that I am is moving in the opposite direction and appears much different. It is organized in a more complex form. It is the same as the wave moving past me, but it
contains a multitude of small waves impressed upon the basic. I am both the basic and the small waveforms, moving back to the source. The movement is steady and unhurried, impelled by a desire I know but cannot express. I vibrate with joyous ecstasy just by the knowing.
(The tube seems to become larger as another joins it from one side, and another waveform melds into me and we become one. I recognize the other immediately, as it does me, and there is the great excitement of reunion, this other I and I. How could I have forgotten this! We move along together,
happily exploring the adventures, experience, and knowledge of the other. The tube widens again, and another I joins us, and the process repeats itself. Our waveforms are remarkably identical and our pattern grows stronger as they move in phase. There are variegations in each which,
when combined with another related anomaly, create a new and important modification of the total that we are.
(The tube expands again and I am no longer concerned with its walls as still another I enters the waveform flow. This is particularly exciting, as it is the first I perceive as returning from a completely nonhuman sojourn. Yet
the intermesh was near-perfect and we became so much more. Now we know that, somewhere, a consciously controlled physical tail, much like a monkey's, is useful in ways far more than balance and acting as a third hand for holding things. It can be a very efficient means of communication
far beyond a super sign language just as eloquent as the spoken word.
(Steadily and surely, one I after another joins us. With each, we become more aware and remember more of the total. How many does not seem important. Our knowledge and ability is so great that we do not bother to contemplate it. It is not important. We are one.
(With this, we divert from the underlying waveform and move away from it. We watch motionless in unified respect as the action of it continues away from us into an infinity. We also perceive easily the smooth originating wave coming from such infinity and dissolving into the pattern from whence we came.
122 FAR JOURNEYS RAINBOW ROUTE 123
(Flowing through all of us is a coherent energy that is our creation, that displays immensely the reality of the whole as far greater than the sum of the parts. Our ability and knowledge seem without limit, yet we know at this point such is valid only within the energy systems of our experience. We can create time as we wish or the need arises, reshaping and modifying within the percept itself. We can create matter from other energy patterns,
or change the structure thereof to any degree desired, including reversion to original form. We can create, enhance, alter, modulate, or eradicate any percept within the energy fields of our experience. We can transform any such energy fields one into another or others except for that which we are. We cannot create or comprehend our prime energy until we are complete.
(We can create physical patterns such as your sun and solar system, yet we do not. It has been done. We can adjust the environs of your planet Earth, yet we do not. It is not our design. We can and do monitor, supplement, and enhance the flow of the human learning experience, as well as
other learning experiences of similar content throughout time-space. This we perform continuously at all levels of human awareness so as to prepare properly those entraining units of our prime energy for the entry and meld
into the totality that we are becoming. It is the essence of our growth to do so. Such assistance and preparation is forthcoming from us only by request from one or more levels of consciousness within the entraining unit. Thereafter,
a bonding is in effect through which many forms of communication pass between us until the ultimate transformation occurs.
(We know who we are, and one I laughs and we all laugh at the name this I had given us. We are an INSPEC, just one. There are many others around us.)
(You are still incomplete. There are parts of you yet to be transformed, including that visiting portion so filled with curiosity. Each of us is incomplete. That is why we remain at this point, to reach back and gather additional
and remaining parts of us until we are complete.)
(Our curiosity desires the effect of completion.)
(We move into the creative return flow again, the waveform that brought you here. When we do so, we leave this reality.)
(Can this be demonstrated?)
(It is not possible. It is not within our knowledge to do so. When you have transformed and melded totally into your whole, you will comprehend. That is why this point came into being. It is not possible to continue until
completion.)
(Continue to what destination?)
(We believe it to be the source of the radiation, the creative emission and return. Communication is closed with those who have continued. The desire to continue occurs upon completion. It is more than your curiosity, as
you call it, and difficult to transmit in a form we can understand. There have been attempts by those completed who are to continue, without success.)
(The ultimate home?)
(A good beginning concept. A design which unfolds as perception grows. It is necessary now that you terminate your visit and return.)
(We will be with you, our curious I.)
Return where!
(Your physical environs)
. . . Where is that! . . .
(In-human, your physical body)
. . . Oh, yes, I had forgotten ... Do I have to go back?
(Reach for us and we will be with
you in many ways. You have much to do. Go get them, tiger!)
(And a rote, as you call it, to play with.)
CLICK!
The return to the physical was near-instantaneous, my face and eyes were wet. I sat up in the chair and remembered. I reached for the yellow pad and pen, to get the rote into words immediately. I knew I had changed. For the rest of my physical life, I would remember. But this would never change:
For those who would die, there is life. For those
who would dream, there is reality. For those who
would hope, there is knowledge. For those who
would grow, there is eternity." -
anonymous Jan 14th 2009, 17:08 report
He is speaking of astral projection as well, in out in out. Its breathing exercises, the beauty of it all. I have done alot of research on it as well as practice it. The sound right before the lyrics, it portrays a trigger you have to focus on before you leave your body. The second sun, his enterpretation of a new life, just a guess. Do some research huh?
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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SheddingSkin Nov 17th 2008, 14:00 report
I could be wrong but part of Carl Jung's thing (and we know Maynard was into this with 46 & 2) the anima/animus, in this case the anima, is the part of the male psyche that is expressed in a feminine manner. Could the album name, even though I know the spelling is different, be a reference to this? Could this explain why he wore that dress on stage?
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anonymous Oct 15th 2008, 14:57 report
When you listen to this song and you close your eyes, you can feel your in the song mentioned third eye which is between your two eyebrows is opened. Through this eye you can see and feel Tool's music and you can create your own interpretations and feelings for this music. Tool created a music which lets you think about yourself and lets your mind wander. People are proud and say: I'm the only one who understands Tool! -> That's a wrong attitude. EVERYONE who listens to their music is able to understand them, because everyone can feel and interpretate and see their music with the opened third eye. That is what Tool wanted to have. Let the Listeners perceive their songs with the third eye and let them think about the songs in their own different ways.
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