"Time Stood Still"
Walkin' along the sea and thinkin' Deep in a reverie I'm sinkin' Blind to the world, to myself I'm talkin' Schemin' and dreamin' and sleepwalkin' Dreamin' of colors, dreamin' of sounds Dreamin' of things that can't be wrote down Slippin' away so no one will miss me Waitin' for angels to kiss me and bliss me Time stood still And nobody knew but me and you What's the meaning of all that I've seen All those images up on the screen Which is the channel that's goin' to show me Answers to questions I don't even know This is the light I stand in the glare of I'm here and I'm there, but I'm always aware of Singin' a song in the back of my mind Something mysterious, something divine How many hours, I hear you breathing? How many days, I smell your skin? How many years, I watch the ceiling? How many times, the fog comes rollin' in? This is the light I stand in the glare of I'm here and I'm there, but I'm always aware of Singin' the song in the back of my mind Something mysterious, something divine Time stood still And nobody knew but you and I
"Walkin' along the sea and thinkin. . . "Metaphysical knowledge may be likened to a lighthouse on a rocky cliff, guiding, even beckoning, through a tempestuous sea toward the somehow familiar and safe shore of home; yet that light also protects from hidden rocks and shoals. At the worst of times, life can be as fickle as the sea, and as hostile. Should one run with the storm's wind or sail against it?
When searching for a lighthouse beacon, a captain needs to know in which direction to look. When stars are not visible and instruments are useless in a storm, he must rely on intuition and experience to get home. When he at last sees the lighthouse beacon, his physical sense of sight joins with inner resources. It is still a rough sail, but he knows what direction he must take.
Like the sea captain in a storm, experience and intuition enable us to get through life. In which direction do we sail? The answer to that question is unique for each individual. If one is seeking a metaphysical answer to that question, inherent mental tools are available for development. One such tool is space consciousness, as the first two stanzas seem to demonstrate:
"Deep in a reverie I'm sinkin' Blind to the world, to myself I'm talkin' Schemin' and dreamin' and sleepwalkin'" "Dreamin' of colors, dreamin' of sounds Dreamin' of things that can't be wrote down Slippin' away so no one will miss me Waitin' for angels to kiss me and bliss me"People who are practiced in using space consciousness can be aware of several dimensions simultaneously. The sense of time, being relative to the physical, may seem distorted during this awareness, as the consciousness expands to touch these dimensions where time does not exist ("Time Stood Still"). Those who can do this may liken the experience to waking dreams, since the dream state is when such awareness usually takes place (in dreams, mankind receives help and guidance, reviews life plans and even researches probabilities before acting in the physical.) It can also seem like an LSD trip, since that 'hallucinogen' can physically open the brain's gateways (normally used during the sleep state) to dimensional reality without training. While everyone possesses the ability to access alternate dimensions, the degree of ability to do so depends upon one's beliefs about reality.
In such dimensional awareness, physical senses often do not come into play, depending upon the ability and intent of the individual. In the sleep state, knowledge is not in 'words' but in knowledge itself, and therefore can't be written in the language of the physical. The physical brain, in order to make sense of the experience, uses symbols it knows to translate the event into terms with which it is familiar. If the individual is sufficiently practiced to experience this awareness while awake, s/he may receive information directly and so will not need to interpret such translations, and is therefore unable to immediately explain in physical terms or symbols what has been learned. ("Dreamin' of things that can't be wrote down")
During these naturally altered states, a person may appear unresponsive to or unaware of external surroundings. At the very least, h/his behavior may seem strange to others. At most, a kind of 'fugue' state can result, in which the person is only partially aware of events around h/him, and has little or no memory of them later. The lines "Slippin' away so no one will miss me/Waitin' for angels to kiss me and bliss me" could indicate a desire to meditate with no distractions from others and, at the same time, to not be obvious about 'slippin' ' inward.
With training, a voice heard internally while awake and exercising the space consciousness is usually that higher self. This voice is noticeably different from one's own internal mind voice, thus tempting one to consider it as belonging to a separate entity (angel, if you will). ["Time stood still/And nobody knew but me and you"]
"What's the meaning of all that I've seen All those images up on the screen Which is the channel that's goin' to show me Answers to questions I don't even know":Some metaphysical teachings hold that knowledge is available to those of us capable of laying aside the personality sufficiently to allow the soul to attune to the universal source of knowledge, or, as it is sometimes called, the Akashic Records. Translated by the physical brain, the experience of gaining or reviewing this knowledge can sometimes, upon waking, be remembered as images flashing by on a huge screen which the dreamer is watching.
Mostly this knowledge is given in response to specific meditative questioning; however, depending upon the entity's physical life purpose, such information can be precognitive in the sense that events to which the knowledge might apply have not yet happened in the physical. At these times, and, again depending upon the unique life's mission, such knowledge may be presented in the form of a challenge to the individual to further some development of character, will or intellect, in that the application of what is gleaned must be decided upon through seeking out and recognizing the appropriate situation in the physical. The knowledge may seem useless or perhaps even mysterious until a certain event occurs, thus making the question, "Which is the channel that's goin' to show me/Answers to questions I don't even know," not entirely cryptic.
"This is the light I stand in the glare of I'm here and I'm there, but I'm always aware of Singin' the song in the back of my mind Something mysterious, something divine"Once a person becomes somewhat skilled in dimensional 'travel,' s/he sees reality in a different light than most. H/his own path in life becomes clearer; the beacon that connects h/him to higher self is always present, always noticeable. No matter what the circumstance or place, the knowledge that there is a plan (but not necessarily what that plan is) 'sings' in h/his being. Always there is the surety that there is something more, something "divine" operating behind physical reality.
How many hours, I hear you breathing? How many days, I smell your skin? How many years, I watch the ceiling? How many times, the fog comes rollin' in?This is a beautiful stanza. As is obvious, it is impossible to say what the meaning of a subjective work truly is without being told by the author of it. But in a metaphysical sense, this stanza could very well be the voice of the higher self speaking to consciousness, validating the multi-dimensional experience. The physical consciousness notices the passage of time without answers ('How many hours, days, years'), while the higher self responds with how it patiently awaits realization behind the physical senses ('I hear, smell, watch'). "The fog" continues the sea image, as a metaphor for clouded vision. This stanza sounds like a gentle reproof from higher self referring to an inability of the consciousness, because of its immersion in time and physical senses, to fully understand the meditative visions that would answer the questions posed in previous stanzas.
This stanza is sung, where the previous ones were rapped. Rapping in this song sets up an urgency--an immediacy--emphasizing time itself with a beat like that of a heart or an impatient , hurried step. When this stanza is sung, however, it is with an unhurried, almost lilting contrast to the rapping. The beat, still present, is ignored. The music marks the change from consciousness speaking to the 'other' voice from within. These four lines parallel, by their arrangement and delivery, the combination of flesh and spirit TR seems so well aware of (as in "Word Made Flesh"). The song, as a whole, acts as a spiritual tableau, a freeze state in an album marked by attitudes and conditions in man's physical world.
The way language is used in all but the final stanza furthers the sense of time and immediacy. Using active forms of verbs, especially numerous in the first two stanzas ('Walkin' thinkin' sinkin' talkin' Schemin' dreamin' Dreamin' of colors, dreamin' of sounds Dreamin' Waitin' ), imparts the sense of motion. Even that these words are clipped of their final 'g' makes their delivery hurried. While leaving off the final 'g' of a gerund is not necessarily indicative of haste, and the practice is common in writing dialogue or songs, when these truncated words are used in such profusion and proximity, the effect is decidedly one of activity. Or, of a form of "Proactivity", perhaps? Again, there is a contrast with the final stanza, where present tense is used ( I hear, I smell, I watch). Interestingly, but probably coincidentally, the last line, which most probably refers to the physical speaker, again uses a truncated active form of a verb (rollin').
Line by line analysis of any work seems clinical and incomplete, because in its dissection lyrical qualities of the work as a whole are set aside. To omit a discussion about the feelings the song imparts is to omit a crucial element of life in the physical--perhaps the element that defines our reason for being on earth.. Knowledge of metaphysical theory is not necessary to feel the song's immediacy and unanswered questions. The journey inward, the pause for reflection, the soliloquy, are universal. The solitary person looking for a guiding beacon that will bring meaning, understanding and direction to life is a definition of us all. We have all walked along the sea, thinking. That this song offers us no answers is not surprising, since no one can answer for another. And, as I think the entire album points out, any answer for life in the physical must not be entirely spiritual.
Kate Erickson
102527.235@CompuServe.COM