Shadows and Gods, and a little more Tool

"Who knows what evil lurkes in the hearts of men?"

The Shadow knows.

I have always liked that line from the epic radio show of the 1940s.  I had a few vinyl recordings with episodes, which I thought were awesome as a kid.  The movie "The Shadow" was somewhat of a disappointment.  

The other day I was listening to this song named "Forty-six and two" by Tool.  It is actually featured in the opening of Captain America:  The First Avenger.   A line caught my ear, and I looked up the lyrics. It is an intense song.  My husband told me that the reason why it sounds so haunting is because of the beat.  The song is written in 4/4 timing, everyone plays to that time, EXCEPT the drummer.  He plays in 7/8 time. So most of the time, the drumming is slightly off, it works incredibly.

Here it is

 My shadow's

shedding skin and

I've been picking

Scabs again.

I'm down

Digging through

My old muscles

Looking for a clue.

I've been crawling on my belly

Clearing out what could've been.

I've been wallowing in my own confused

And insecure delusions

For a piece to cross me over

Or a word to guide me in.

I wanna feel the changes coming down.

I wanna know what I've been hiding in

My shadow.

Change is coming through my shadow.

My shadow's shedding skin

I've been picking

My scabs again.

I've been crawling on my belly

Clearing out what could've been.

I've been wallowing in my own chaotic

And insecure delusions.

I wanna feel the change consume me,

Feel the outside turning in.

I wanna feel the metamorphosis and

Cleansing I've endured within

My shadow

Change is coming.

Now is my time.

Listen to my muscle memory.

Contemplate what I've been clinging to.

Forty-six and two ahead of me.

I choose to live and to

Grow, take and give and to

Move, learn and love and to

Cry, kill and die and to

Be paranoid and to

Lie, hate and fear and to

Do what it takes to move through.

I choose to live and to

Lie, kill and give and to

Die, learn and love and to

Do what it takes to step through.

See my shadow changing,

Stretching up and over me.

Soften this old armor.

Hoping I can clear the way

By stepping through my shadow,

Coming out the other side.

Step into the shadow.

Forty six and two are just ahead of me.

Upon first reading of the lyrics, I had this vision from Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.  In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace sheds his skin.  He was cursed and became a dragon, and in order to become human again, he must shed his dragon skin.  He couldn't do it without the help of Aslan, however.  

But this song has nothing to do with Narnia.  This song is based on Carl Jung's Shadow Theory .  And a theory by Drunvalo Melchisedek, who believed that eventually mankind will evolve to a heightened perfect state of existence.  Melchisedek believed we will then have 2 more chromosomes then we have now.  It is referred to as "Christ Consciousness" and he believed Christ had this mutation and was why he was perfect.  I don't generally like any type of trying to scientifically quantify Christ.  But otherwise the theory is interesting science fiction.  The idea of becoming "Christlike" is what most  christians strive toward. This goal has almost become cliched and trite, especially with the commercialization of WWJD.  However, it is not trite, but rather complicated.  Becoming Christlike will mean something different to almost anyone you ask, not even including the differences of thought between Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, etc...  But back to the song...

  So, this song combines the cool chromosome concept with the Shadow Theory, which is the idea that we all have a part of our unconscious self which is evil and destructive.  It is called the shadow, and our aim should be to overcome it, but we can't until we realize it is there.  Kind of sounds like the 'old man' spoke of in the Bible.  The part of ourselves which we need to fight against if we are to be holy.  

So, Maynard Keenan (songwriter and lead singer of  Tool) believes that the shadow will not be present in the future human... the ones with forty-six and two chromosomes.  Curiously Campbell (of A Hero of a Thousand Faces)  and Jung had similiar ideas concerning the collective human conscience and why there are so many similiar ideas throughout the globe and various cultures.

Of course, when reading about these theories, reminded my of something I read a while back.  Actually I listened to an audio book, but its the same thing.  American Gods by Neil Gaiman has a main character named Shadow.  I think that Gaiman had to have had this Shadow theory in mind when writing.  After all, the main character is a demi god with a sorted past, and he is on a journey of self realization throughout the book.  In addition, the book must go through the Hero's Journey 2 or 3 times.  It doesn't get old, either.  Shadow is a conflicted character who at the end is ready to sacrifice his life to rid the world of the evil he encounters.  The sacrifice is Christ-like, but his character is more similiar to the gods of old (which is what the book is about).  He is revealed as Balder, who is the sun-god or god of light in Norse mythology. 

 Its going to be a tv show ;)