The Tao of Tool/APC

[fizix]

I've seen hints of Tool and A Perfect Circle fans on the TTB during my tenure, and for those who aren't (yet?) fans of the music, you gotta appreciate how well the lyrics convey messages that seem to resonate with Taoist concepts (and non-concepts ) (all by the prodigious Maynard James Keenan, frontman of both Tool and APC). Tool, despite it being of the arbitrary 'rock' genre, actually produces (beautifully I might add) spiritually oriented music. Just check out some of their track titles: Aenima (cleaning the shit out of your soul), Mantra, Eulogy, Third Eye, Reflection, Lateralus...

 

Check out these Chakra/Energy Body visuals straight out of Tool's Parabola Music Video. Amazing:

(sorry dont know how to embed youtube videos)

Parabolahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiV_ue-PbL4&feature=related

"We barely remember who or what came before this precious moment,

We are choosing to be here right now. Hold on, stay inside

This holy reality, this holy experience.

Choosing to be here in

 

This body. This body holding me. Be my reminder here that I am not alone in

This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal

All this pain is an illusion.

 

Alive, I

 

In this holy reality, in this holy experience. Choosing to be here in

 

This body. This body holding me. Be my reminder here that I am not alone in

This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal

All this pain is an illusion.

 

Twirling round with this familiar parable.

Spinning, weaving round each new experience.

Recognize this as a holy gift and celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing.

 

This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality.

Embrace this moment. Remember. We are eternal.

All this pain is an illusion."

 

If only modern mainstream music focused a little less of self-obsession/mass materialism....

 

This next one, Vanishing.... well, other than being rhythmically beautiful and harmonious, is IMO such a great song to just zone into, to just become one with the song before or/and after a good meditation session.

Vanishing full song:

 

Disappear

Disappear ([<--dissolve the ego self, become one with your true nature the Tao])

Higher

Higher

Into the air

Slowly disappear

No, no longer here

 

Disappear

Disappear

Thinner, thinner

Into the air

 

Never really here ([<--my interpretation: the illusion of self, ego])

What that never

 

Like a thought brushing up against a...sigh (whispered)

 

Floating away

Floating away (repeated)

 

Vanishing like a sigh and slowly

Disappear

Disappear

Vanish, vanish into the air

Slowly disappear

Never really here

 

Floating away

Floating away (repeated)

 

This song I believe is a total monologue on the folly of the ego, a stranger.

A Stranger - APC http://www.youtube.com/embed/Mb2W_xkJ2G0

Cast the calming apple

Up and over satellites

To draw out the timid wild one

To convince you it's alright

And I listen for the whisper

Of your sweet insanity while I formulate

Denials of your effect on me

 

You're a stranger

So what do I care

You vanish today

Not the first time I hear

All the lies

 

What am I to do with all this silence? [(<--the newfound silence of unity with the Tao, dissolution of the ego and its incessant chatter)]

Shy away, shy away phantom

Run away terrified child

Won't you move away you fucking tornado

I'm better off without you

Tearing my will down

Lateralus - Tool

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.

red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.

lets me see.

As below, so above and beyond, I imagine [(this is a big one the fundamental truth of reality

drawn beyond the lines of reason.

Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

 

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind. [(I believe Lao Tzu would agree!])

Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must

Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.

 

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.

red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.

lets me see there is so much more

and beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.

As below, so above and beyond, I imagine

drawn outside the lines of reason.

Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

 

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

Withering my intuition leaving all these opportunities behind.

 

Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.

Reaching out to embrace the random.

Reaching out to embrace whatever may come. ([living in trustful unity with the Tao, on the Way.

 

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.

 

With my feet upon the ground I lose 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.

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, going...

 

And finally... you may have noticed the entire song is in bold, that is my e-syntax attempt to emphasize the pure utter awesomeness of these lyrics and to leave the interpretation up to you

Reflection - Toolhttp://www.youtube.com/embed/CvFN1p6dzNk

I have come curiously close to the end, down

Beneath my self-indulgent pitiful hole,

Defeated, I concede and

Move closer

I may find comfort here

I may find peace within the emptiness

How pitiful [<--(satire of ego thought/society)]

 

It's calling me...

 

And in my darkest moment, fetal and weeping

The moon tells me a secret - my confidant

As full and bright as I am

This light is not my own and

A million light reflections pass over me

 

Its source is bright and endless

She resuscitates the hopeless

Without her, we are lifeless satellites drifting

 

And as I pull my head out I am without one doubt

Don't wanna be down here feeding my narcissism.

I must crucify the ego before it's far too late

I pray the light lifts me out

Before I pine away.

 

So crucify the ego, before it's far too late

To leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical,

And you will come to find that we are all one mind

Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable.

Just let the light touch you

And let the words spill through

And let them pass right through

Bringing out our hope and reason ...

before we pine away.

Hope anyone who hasn't heard of these great bands gives em a shot. The music of Tool and APC has really helped me solidify my spiritual practice, most notably APC's album A Thirteenth Step (a play on words 12 step programs), as it helped me in a spiritual awakening out of a heavy heroin addiction which subsequently allowed me to practice spiritually/meditation neigong in the first place. I truly believe music can be extremely powerful aids of healing, I can honestly say music saved my life (and meditation too of course ).

 

Any Tao Bums have any recommendations for spiritually apt music that helped them get through some rough times or assists in inspiration/motivation of spiritual practice? Or just a take on music and spiritually?

[Marblehead]

Any Tao Bums have any recommendations for spiritually apt music that helped them get through some rough times or assists in inspiration/motivation of spiritual practice? Or just a take on music and spiritually?

 

Interesting question.

 

I do use music to alter a mood I am in that I am not enjoying at a given time. I mostly do this unconsciously. I don't know if changing one's mood can be associated with what you are asking about inspiration/motivation though.

[joeblast]

Words usually fail and are but another instrument when I listen to music. For me Tool is kinda in the same basket as Dream Theater - technically amazing, but...the overall listen just isnt there. But then again, I dont want to listen to other's music when I've got my head immersed in my own.

[Thunder_Gooch]

oh hell yes!

 

major Tool APC and NIN fan here!

 

Bill Hicks ftw!

[Thunder_Gooch]

I like this song to chill to, not very spirtual though.


This isn't a song but it sticks with me, and is apart of tools third eye song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXmzcroUmdU

Edited March 15, 2011 by More_Pie_Guy

[Art]

Any Tao Bums have any recommendations for spiritually apt music that helped them get through some rough times or assists in inspiration/motivation of spiritual practice? Or just a take on music and spiritually?

 

Surely the answers will vary, greatly, from individual to individual. I've always been a fan of Led Zeppelin and can always groove to their music. Strangely enough though, I've been rocking out to Pantera lately and it really seems to have a strange calming influence. Maybe its the surge of energy from the heavy metal that perhaps allows a certain "cleansing"....

 

I'll have to check out Tool again and look into APC.

[joeblast]

 

 

Oh, and seeing Tool in a stadium setting is not ideal.

Stadiums are notoriously VERY hard for an audio engineer. Its why Led Zepplin at the Yale Bowl in 1970 was such a highly regarded show - it was their first show in the US and they literally had all week to work on getting the sound perfect! There's lots of reflections and phasing issues to deal with in a stadium setup - that's why you usually see people lip syncing on such big venues, because oddly enough, the stage is where the biggest issues in terms of how things sound are.

[NeiChuan]

Tool definitely contributed to my development as a person. Same with some other bands porcupine tree ect. Came at perfect times.

[Birch]

I've seen hints of Tool and A Perfect Circle fans on the TTB during my tenure, and for those who aren't (yet?) fans of the music, you gotta appreciate how well the lyrics convey messages that seem to resonate with Taoist concepts (and non-concepts ) (all by the prodigious Maynard James Keenan, frontman of both Tool and APC). Tool, despite it being of the arbitrary 'rock' genre, actually produces (beautifully I might add) spiritually oriented music. Just check out some of their track titles: Aenima (cleaning the shit out of your soul), Mantra, Eulogy, Third Eye, Reflection, Lateralus...

 

Check out these Chakra/Energy Body visuals straight out of Tool's Parabola Music Video. Amazing:

(sorry dont know how to embed youtube videos)

Parabolahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiV_ue-PbL4&feature=related

 

If only modern mainstream music focused a little less of self-obsession/mass materialism....

 

This next one, Vanishing.... well, other than being rhythmically beautiful and harmonious, is IMO such a great song to just zone into, to just become one with the song before or/and after a good meditation session.

Vanishing full song:

 

 

 

This song I believe is a total monologue on the folly of the ego, a stranger.

A Stranger - APC http://www.youtube.com/embed/Mb2W_xkJ2G0

 

Lateralus - Tool

 

 

And finally... you may have noticed the entire song is in bold, that is my e-syntax attempt to emphasize the pure utter awesomeness of these lyrics and to leave the interpretation up to you

Reflection - Toolhttp://www.youtube.com/embed/CvFN1p6dzNk

 

Hope anyone who hasn't heard of these great bands gives em a shot. The music of Tool and APC has really helped me solidify my spiritual practice, most notably APC's album A Thirteenth Step (a play on words 12 step programs), as it helped me in a spiritual awakening out of a heavy heroin addiction which subsequently allowed me to practice spiritually/meditation neigong in the first place. I truly believe music can be extremely powerful aids of healing, I can honestly say music saved my life (and meditation too of course ).

 

Any Tao Bums have any recommendations for spiritually apt music that helped them get through some rough times or assists in inspiration/motivation of spiritual practice? Or just a take on music and spiritually?

 

 

It was Santi that put me onto Tool. Pretty cool with the lyrics and the Alex Grey stuff:-) Very nice lift. Perfect for "K" raising :-)

Music has always been a part of my life, even if I'm not a musician. Things that rise and uplift (tending soul but running jazz and blues and classical and drumming at any moment). But I think I'm pretty much a music sl*t.

 

Apparently, this is not "normal". Seems people get into musical domains and stay there as much as they get stuck in other things.

 

Check out this guy Daniel_Levitin

[Cat Pillar]

Tool definitely contributed to my development as a person. Same with some other bands porcupine tree ect. Came at perfect times.

 

I love Porcupine Tree! Steve Wilson is an amazing musician and producer. Got to see them live a couple years ago, it was awesome.

[Birch]

I'm listening to Lateralus as I write and occurs to me, many voices in the song, then a reuniting of all of them (briefly) in the refrain.

i don't know much about Fibonacci but I recall them being more important before, something. I find the reuniting of the voices much more poignant (and there are a still a couple of yearning phrasings in there that "get" me :-) Oh and the resolution of the spirals part.But I think the latter isn't obvious, until it is.

[Mark Saltveit]

I don't seek bands that discuss spirituality, as I think music is itself a very deep spiritual practice. I find Dao in Townes Van Zant, Will Oldham (aka Bonnie Prince Billy, Palace, etc.), Nirvana, Hendrix, etc.: talented people who work their ass off and challenge themselves artistically.

 

Does anyone listen to Wu Tang Clan? I'd love some recommendations. RZA is the only commercially successful musician I know who professes to be Daoist (his sifu is said to have trained in the actual Shaolin Monastery, which makes him legit as a lineage student even to professors Komjathy and Saso.)

[Mark Saltveit]

Bill Hicks ftw!

 

Comedy's a whole other topic, but check out Arj Barker (who was on Flight of the Conchords) if you can. Hicks is great but pretty straightforward and logical; I like something a bit more slant and sly.

[sifusufi]

http://www.thetaobum..._1entry187366

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=JVbFrl9wLBA

Looking to validate these mysteries (claims)

 

http://www.dailygrai...rt-Lachrymology

 

http://www.toolarmy....ogy.php?key=fob

 

http://www.drummerwo...anny_Carey.html

 

 

http://www.urbandict...rm=lachrymology

 

 

Tool is a legit force to be reckoned with, however...

 

"Despite not becoming a Mason or aligning himself with any other school of religion, Danny has maintained his heritages interest in occult studies. Endeavors into this realm have manifested periodically, such as the time he achieved insight into a hidden aspect of the unicursal hexagram utilizing an astral journey initiated through meditation and DMT.

 

Danny then set up his drums into proportions utilizing the circle and square of the New Jerusalem and uttered a short prayer relating to the principles of the ace of swords from the book of Thoth. He then performed a ritual utilizing his new found knowledge of the unicursal hexagram to generate a pattern of movement in space relating to Fuller's vector equilibrium model. The resulting rhythm and gateway summoned a daemon he has contained within "the Lodge" that has been delivering short parables similar to passages within the Book of Lies. Danny recommends as a device of protection and containment a thorough study and utilization of the underlying geometry of the Temple of Solomon for anyone purchasing their next record."

 

...is not easily assimilated!

 

"Of the many mysteries surrounding the prog-metal band Tool, in the early years, perhaps none was more perplexing than the group's much mentioned interest in the tenets of the philosophy/religion known as Lachrymatory (translated literally as the science or study of crying). According to information provided in the bio included with promotional copies of the album Undertow (which was later made available on several 'fan' sites), the soul foundation of the unusual form of psychotherapy that so fascinated the four band members came from a book entitled The Joyful Guide to Lachrymology which was supposedly written in 1949 by a "crop-spray contractor" named Ronald P. Vincent. In fact, from remarks made by band members during the Undertow-era, so influential was Vincent's book that it became the very inspiration for the formation of Tool, as well as being a unifying force among its individual members. But was the philosophical basis of Lachrymolgy really "a 'tool' to learn and gain from" as drummer Danny Carey once explained the band's name? After searching for Vincent's book and coming up empty handed (it wasn't even registered in the Library of Congress), many decided to take this strange theology espoused by Tool with a "huge" grain of salt, although some were curious as to why they attempted to hoodwink their fans with a paradoxical belief system that was considered almost doctrinal.

 

As it stands today, most people who have attempted to investigate the murky origins of Lachrymology as detailed by its elusive founder in his equally elusive book believe that the whole thing was nothing more than an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the band to amuse themselves and their fans, or as a way to further fuel the Tool mystique. Others saw it as a parody on religious cults, in particular on dianetics and the Church of Scientology with the fictional character of Ronald P. Vincent being modeled after L. Ron Hubbard, the third-rate pulp writer and founder of the California based cult."

 

 

 

Looking forward to more wisdom,

Robert

 

 

Check out the thread!

 

There is a very cool video out there with dozens of interviews including Alex Grey

 

It is about the making of Vicarious

 

http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/B000Y1ZXU2

 

[sifusufi]

The original was deleted ... oh well

 

try this, please!!!

 

http://www.drummerwo...yocheltree.html This rocks so hard!

 

Simply unbelievable!!!

 

The whole can be found here...

 

 

http://www.amazon.co...e/dp/B00065GHNS

 

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

[Thunder_Gooch]

[NeiChuan]

Wait wut?

[sifusufi]

Power!

 

 

 

Had it up to here with vevo :ninja: