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TheEschatologist
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Registered: 02/22/18
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Rally Tool fans! Listening to "The Grudge" while tripping was a shamanic experience. 1
#27078833 - 12/08/20 02:01 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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Anyone who’s done edibles before knows it can be an intense experience, not unlike mushrooms or oral DMT, i.e. it involves a lot of anxiety, unconformable body sensations and over-sensitization to stimuli. For me at least, it feels like the edibles trip needs to be channeled through a musical medium or else it’ll almost definitely go into a bad mental space.
So for this trip I had prepped a 3-4 hour playlist of favorite Tool songs, starting with The Grudge. I'd listened to their music while sober or only slightly high before, and it never hit me like it did this time. I experienced what can only be described as a 'synaesthetic idea-gasm'. I say it was a shamanic experience because it felt like the music and lyrics were specifically guiding me through this hypersensitized, hyper-vulnerable entheogenic headspace.
For example, 'The Grudge' is a metaphor for all the psychological negativity we carry with us, generated by our need to control things in our lives and eventually growing into subconscious reserves of fear or feelings of helplessness. This eventually ends up defining our behavior and identity, and we “wear the grudge like a crown” as the lyrics say.
But our true freedom lies beyond breaking though this self-made mental prison, and the only way out is through. This is captured in the lyrics “Desperate to control, Unable to forgive and sinking deeper”. Eventually, we get forced by life to face our own blockage when our existential discomfort gets too great. The song references the theme of Saturn returning, which is generally understood as a period in life where a maturing person needs to face who they really are in order to go forward and keep growing, or otherwise descend into the hell of arrested development and the denial of destiny. This resonated a lot with me just personally in terms of where I’m at in my life at the moment.
"Saturn comes back around. Lifts you up like a child or Drags you down like a stone To consume you till you choose to let this go Choose to let this go"
As the edibles were getting stronger I was starting to panic a bit (my heart-rate always goes a bit haywire at the front end of the peak). So I had to focus intensely on the music as if it were a lifeline. At that point the lyrics conveyed to me that, at the most sincere level of our minds, we are basically making a choice to be afraid - to hold on to things that are dragging us down. Nothing is keeping that fear and negativity in us but our own selves, and it’s possible to choose to let it go and achieve freedom from previous suffering.
“Give away the stone Let the oceans take and trans mutate this cold and fated anchor Give away the stone Let the waters kiss and trans mutate these leaden grudges into gold"
Then, when everything was made clear by the previous lyrics in an abstract sense, Maynard lets out a soul-shattering scream that lasts for about half a minute towards the end of the song. It felt like I was being called to step up to the plate and really apply what the song had taught me up until that point, to really go into the source of my fear and suffering. Just when the tension starts getting too much, the scream abates and is followed by a loop of him saying “let go, let go, let go…” which was really cathartic.
So yeah, it literally felt like the song was a shamanic guide of sorts. I understood now what the band meant they said the name 'Tool' comes from the intent that their music should be a tool for people to use in any way they need on their journey.
The Grudge was just the beginning and set the tone for the rest of my 'Tool trip' which went on to get more deep, meaningful and just generally more awesome, especially when the playlist started getting into the 10 000 Days album. I could literally see the structure of the songs - some having triangular shapes, some having parapet-like motifs and others having spiral patterns. I think this was because the band specifically writes songs with complex rhythmical structures, because I’ve listened to other music on edibles and never experienced this level of pattern recognition.
Anyway, I’m probably preaching to the choir by talking about Tool on a psychedelics forum, but if you’re into tripping and also like rock/metal, PLEASE consider combining the two and listening to some Tool while tripping.
Here's The Grudge:
Edited by TheEschatologist (12/08/20 02:02 PM)
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Nature Guardian
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Registered: 10/18/20
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Re: Rally Tool fans! Listening to "The Grudge" while tripping was a shamanic experience. [Re: TheEschatologist]
#27079151 - 12/08/20 05:49 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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Well, considering they have a song on Aenima spoken in german detailing how to cook hash brownies, I'd say you're on to something here.
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TheEschatologist
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Registered: 02/22/18
Posts: 354
Last seen: 19 days, 15 hours
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Re: Rally Tool fans! Listening to "The Grudge" while tripping was a shamanic experience. [Re: Nature Guardian]
#27079762 - 12/09/20 12:24 AM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Nature Guardian said: Well, considering they have a song on Aenima spoken in german detailing how to cook hash brownies, I'd say you're on to something here.
Ah ok, when I get high enough and listen to German lyrics it feels as if I can understand 90% of what's being said even though I don't speak German. So this is good to know for next time
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electricasignum
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Registered: 11/27/20
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Re: Rally Tool fans! Listening to "The Grudge" while tripping was a shamanic experience. [Re: Nature Guardian]
#27084219 - 12/11/20 04:01 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Nature Guardian said: Well, considering they have a song on Aenima spoken in german detailing how to cook hash brownies, I'd say you're on to something here.
I think it is how to cook pea soup from memory
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finalboss64
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Registered: 12/18/20
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Re: Rally Tool fans! Listening to "The Grudge" while tripping was a shamanic experience. [Re: electricasignum]
#27101947 - 12/22/20 02:54 AM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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I saw Tool after ISIS opened for them in Colorado 2006 while high af on mushrooms when i was 16. Only paid 15 dollars and it was an outside amphitheater. Right at twilight too overlooking the city. Truly a mystical experience. Ill never forget it.
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TheEschatologist
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Registered: 02/22/18
Posts: 354
Last seen: 19 days, 15 hours
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Re: Rally Tool fans! Listening to "The Grudge" while tripping was a shamanic experience. [Re: finalboss64]
#27101954 - 12/22/20 03:00 AM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
finalboss64 said: I saw Tool after ISIS opened for them in Colorado 2006 while high af on mushrooms when i was 16. Only paid 15 dollars and it was an outside amphitheater. Right at twilight too overlooking the city. Truly a mystical experience. Ill never forget it.
Sounds fantastic, wish i'd been there
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