Pneuma

Pneuma is a Greek word for Breath. It’s been used by many philosophies and religions as a synonym for spirit or soul, the divine element or the light in every one of us. The song seems to be referring to a spiritual theory in which humans are bound to evolve beyond physical form and become beings of pure light – the living Pneuma. It’s telling us that we, as humanity, come from one light and are bound to become one again at some point. Like sparks becoming the sun, we will also unite in something bigger and more powerful. But the song is clearly referring to a child, one of the seven stages of life. Again though, it’s not viewing this stage as vulnerable and useless, “Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms” as Shakespeare put it. Here, Child is a representation of our innocence and potential – the new spark that will one day become one with light.

Best song on new album, needs no deciphering, it’s there at the surface, sometimes you have to be smacked with hope and reason for it to truly sink in first.....

A great many comments about this song are essentially correct, but I would like put a finer point on a few things coming from someone who has nearly identical philosophical / spiritual beliefs as Maynard (et al).

"We are spirit bound to this flesh We go round one foot nailed down"

Pretty straightforward; we are spirits partially manifested into a 'fleshy' physical form. 'One foot nailed down' refers to the relative limitations of being in this level of reality.

"But bound to reach out and beyond this flesh Become Pneuma"

But there is an inherent drive to not stagnate which (eventually) manifests as 'reaching out' into spiritual seeking, or 'remembering' as Tool sometimes refers to it as.

"We are will and wonder Bound to recall, remember [...] Child, wake up [..] Bound to this flesh This guise, this mask This dream Wake up remember"

The speaker begs the listener to remember that we are in fact all one being experiencing Itself subjectively. 'Child' is a figurative term that is actually referring to anyone who has not remembered the nature of reality, not a literal infant.

'This guise this mask' is another metaphor for our minds and bodies manifested into this physical reality.

"We are born of one breath, one word We are all one spark, sun becoming"

This refers to the 'beginning' and 'end' of creation, or to translate it into scientific terms, the big bang and the big crunch. This represents the inhale and exhale of the creation.

I know this song meaning will be hard to swallow for many atheist / agnostic Tool fans. I should know - I used to be one of them. But now that I have remembered all of this, this song becomes too hyper-specific to be a coincidence or be some abstract psychedelic trip.

It's very difficult to explain this to someone who has no context for this.Plato's Allegory of the Cave is the perfect analogy for my difficulty: It's nearly impossible to describing what it's like being outside the cave to someone that only knows the shadows cast on the wall.

Its about societal constraints.

Basically we are born into society that expects us to conform. One foot nailed down. But we need to look outside what is expected, required, or deemed acceptable. Bound to reach out and beyond this flesh.We are will and wonder. But we get pulled back into what is expected of us.

The song continues with stepping out (think Lateralus) yet being drawn back.

It's a reminder of the idea that we need to explore, go beyond societal, and organized religious restraints.

"We are spirit bound to this flesh We go round one foot nailed down"

The holy belief taught to us by Christ himself is that we are a greater spiritual body bound into this flesh of sin here on earth. Basically that we are more than just flesh. Any awakened individual will know that there is a spirit that lives on to embody life again in a new cycle after death. The one foot nailed down is a metaphor for the price we are paying for the sins of others. If you look into Crucifixion as all limbs being nailed down, we are one foot nailed down. He is saying that our fate is sealed on this planet. The irony here is that only believers of the end times who have found redemption through Christ would know this to be true in their hearts. As if to affirm this truth bringers words of prophecy we now know only months after this albums release that the mark of the beast is coming very soon. Patent 060606. Our fate is sealed and the end times are close.

"But bound to reach out and beyond this flesh Become Pneuma"

Now he is giving us hope and saying that we are bound to reach out beyond this. Bound to reach out and beyond this flesh become Pnuema. These are the words of light (truth and love) stating a universal truth that Jesus and even many aliens have already shared with us (like in the law of one). If you don't have FAITH then you know that science already proved this to be universally true with the big bang theory and the way the universe is like a breathe that goes in and out in stages endlessly for all eternity. He is telling us that we will eventually join with source again.

"We are will and wonder Bound to recall, remember We are born of one breath, one word We are all one spark, sun becoming"

This is a beautiful description of being human. It is wonder and will that allows any to move towards purpose and growth. Bound to re-call and remember is talking about spiritual growth. See our soul carries with it information from all our ancestors. The body knows what we are. When we open our hearts and live from the heart centre we remember who we are. Beings of God which is symbolic for the source of all energy and creation basically the 0 before the 1. The 1 after the zero and so on. Any energy state is one fragment experiencing itself subjectively. This is what makes you, you. But if you allow that sense of ego to dissolve like on a hallucinogen or through meditation your heart remembers that you are one. This is crown chakra. One spark sun becoming is literally us being children born of stars. We carry in the centre of our hearts one tiny spark one iron molecule. This means that in the reversal the same is true. We will become sun. And eventually everything. Which explains the lyrics towards the end (one breathe one word, a reminder of what we are which is Pnuema. This is what focused meditation focuses on to strengthen the mind, spirit, connection to infinite intelligence.

Child, wake up Child, release the light Wake up now Child, wake up Child, release the light Wake up now, child (Spirit) (Spirit) (Spirit) (Spirit) Bound to this flesh This guise, this mask This dream

This is the Sound of our dire reveille Maynard wishes to rouse all from our apathy Lest we Cease to be. (As spoken in the song Descending Verse 6)

For us to continue we must follow the path of light. WE MUST WAKE UP. When Maynard speaks to children he speaks to the young spirits. The ones most susceptible to the density of lower vibration (evil) energy on this planet. Else we will incarnate into lower dimensional beings. He wishes to save them from the downwards spiral. Those who are corrupted in the fifth dimension cease to be entirely. So this most tragic of ignorance of universal truths that "black" and "nothingness" awaits us after death is only true for those that follow the path of sin. A sin is just an error. The longer you follow the harder to stop. A failure to understand universal truths which Jesus and many other messiahs have brought to us. Pneuma is about waking people up and saving them. It is unplugging people from the Matrix. The Simulation of the matrix is the programming that is intended to keep us ignorant to who we really are. The unplugging of NEO signifies his AWAKENING. But he can only awaken when we chooses too. For all pure spirits that follow the true light of god respect free will. They cannot get you to awaken they can only show you the door. Ever wonder what the symbol of the hand is in lateralus? that is symbolic and also a practical means to conjure energy. The energy that science now proves is being manifested by all those in meditation. Allowing our brains to enter HIGH Alpha and delta brain waves. This is what people ignorant to religion should research before giving it a chance. Science and religion are just different ways of looking at the same universal truths. Big bang = pneuma. One breathe. Both religion and science require great discernment to separate the cherry picked science or "wrongly" translated religious texts from the peer reviewed or righteous religious texts. As Joe Dispenser likes to say "Science is now demystifying the mystical". People are waking up faster than ever thanks to science finally catching up. Those who "believe facts over fiction" are finally waking up. As the fact is that mediation = energy healing. All mental illness is a result of energy in-balance and prayer is in the feeling not the words. The words help manifest feeling. This feeling is what creates manifestation. This is what the secret is about. It's how energy works. Energy attracts like energy of an opposite looking for something that completes it. But to fully unlock this power you need to control your emotions. The only way is by living through your heart centre. This is what the bible means by allowing Christ into your heart. Joe dispenser explains really well this on a scientific level and how amazing it is for us to live from the heart because the heart sends emotions as thoughts to the mind. This feeds a loop that keeps getting stronger. It is how we were created by mother nature to evolve. Evolution is spiritual.

Pneuma definition: (in Stoic thought) the vital spirit, soul, or creative force of a person. I don't think this song has anything to do with Christianity or religion at all for that matter. I think it's another one of those simply spiritual Carl Jung/Ayahuasca-inspired songs. It's about the collective consciousness. How we all come from the same source. We're all just a piece of a great collective consciousness that is divvied up into different beings. Similar theme to "Parabola." We're spirits bound to flesh, held in mortal bodies. For now... We get so entrenched in this life, this 'reality', we need to wake up and remember our true origins, our true being. Remember what it was like before we were groomed into conformity, into this reality. Like being a very very young child. An almost impossible task unless through meditation or psychedelics.

One word, one breath... what else to interpretate?

I believe this song may be a call to spiritual awakening for those who have not experienced it. Pneuma in Latin means breath, in religious/spiritual context it means soul/spirit. "Wake up child", would go within this lines perfectly as does "wake up child and remember"... I would continue that to say wake up and remember who you really are. And "we are all one spark, sun becoming" would go with that we are all one and connected, we are, together, one consciousness. Sun becoming would adhere to a stage of transformation and connecting to the higher self.

We are all one spark, sun becoming, might refer to us as essentially temporal energy, colours and patterns that only exist on our own mental plane, eventually to return as energy to the universe. We are products of that same universe, all interconnected via creation, hence born of one breath and one word (the moment the universe is created).

Here we see a platonic christian combination as was indeed the case in early christianity in ancient Greece. The lyrics have clear platonic references, bear in mind Pneuma means spirit in ancient greek, a term used in orfean rituals,platonic texts relating to πνοή, breath. But also we are a product of "the word" according to the lyrics which denotes Christian and Hebraic origins, as the word of God was behind the birth of the world. Platonic Christian Maynard I'm its finest.the music opens up to such a perspective and serves well these deep meanings.