Rational Gaze
Meshuggah Lyrics

Squint your eyes to see clearly
Narrow your focus to cut through the noise and confusion.

Blur reality to make it real
Distort the surface-level appearance of things to better understand the underlying truth.

Let focus go from your deceiving eyes
Allow your mind to perceive beyond what your eyes see, as it is often misled by superficial appearances.

To know what's been concealed
To unearth what has been hidden or repressed through intentional or unintentional means.

We've all been blinded
Human views of reality have been twisted by systems intentionally designed to misinform our perception.

Subjects to visual misinformation
As people in a modern society, we are prone to believing things that are not true if they appear to be backed up by visual evidence.

A systematic denial of the crystalline
The systems we have in place for forming our perception are inherently flawed and concealing of the true underlying reality.

To see the fine grain
To be able to discern the subtle differences and patterns present in our experiences.

To read the hidden words
To uncover the deeper meaning and underlying messages that are often obscured by the dominant interpretations of a given phenomenon.

The context of parallel truth
Seeing beyond the surface-level truth to understand the underlying, interconnected reasons why things are happening.

Devoid of fragmentation
Without any sense of separation between different experiences and aspects of life.

Our light-induced image of truth
The way we perceive reality is based on the limited information we receive through our senses and the dominant interpretations propagated by mainstream society.

Filtered blank of its substance
The images and messages we receive have been stripped of their actual meaning or context, leaving us with incomplete, incomplete ideas.

As our eyes won't adhere to intuitive lines
Our senses often lead us astray because they do not properly reflect the true underlying patterns and rhythms in the world around us.

Everything examined
Looking critically at everything in life with a skeptical eye in order to discern any underlying patterns or hidden meanings.

Separated, one thing at a time
Breaking everything in life down into its component parts in order to more closely examine it, even if doing so creates a sense of fragmentation and disconnection from the bigger picture.

The harder we stare
The more intensely we focus on a particular thing or idea, the more likely it becomes that we will miss the overall, underlying meaning.

The more complete the disintegration
As we break down everything into its component parts, we threaten to lose sight of the bigger picture and any underlying meaning that may exist.

Eyes re-opened
Once we examine life more closely and recognize the flawed assumptions built into our perceptions, we are able to see things more clearly.

Reasoning focalized
We are able to better focus our critical thinking skills on the things we need to examine more closely, now that we recognize our own weaknesses and biases.

Receptors activated
Our senses become heightened and attuned to the world around us as we become more skilled at separating surface-level appearances from underlying reality.

Perspectives distorted
Once we recognize the flawed and superficial nature of our common assumptions, we must learn to view the world through a different lens in order to discern deeper truths.

The ladder beyond our grasp
The truth we seek may be difficult to find or may be located in a place that is difficult or impossible for us to reach through our limited perception.

The twin-headed serpent forever hidden
A symbol for new meaning or truth which is elusive and difficult to grasp because it exists at a deeper level than what our senses can detect.

Where's the true knowledge
What is the real, underlying meaning behind the things we see in the world?

Where engines of the sane and insanity merge
There is a thin line between what is considered “normal” in society and what is not, since the definition of “normal” is based on commonly-held assumptions that can be flawed or misleading.

The clarity, the unity
When we finally see beyond the surface-level appearances of things, we are able to find clarity and unity with the underlying truth.

Reality untouchable, transparent
The true nature of reality is unattainable and beyond reach, since our senses are not capable of interpreting it fully and objectively.

Invisible to our fixed, restricted fields of vision
We are unable to see the full truth of the world due to our limited perceptions and the flawed assumptions we hold about what we’re experiencing.

Existence taken for granted, absolute
We often take the world around us for granted and assume that what we see is the only true version of existence – an assumption that is inherently flawed.

Possessed, owned, controlled
The world around us is often viewed as something we can conquer or have dominion over, which leads us to make misguided assumptions based on our own egocentric notions of power and control.

By the common sense-infected rational gaze
Our attempts to make sense of the world around us are often crippled by the flawed assumption that there is a single, absolute method of sense-making based on rationality and common sense.

Onward forever we walk among the ignorant
Despite our best efforts to uncover the deeper truths of the world, we will always be surrounded by a significant number of people who are content to accept surface-level appearances as truth, and who will never view the world through a more critical lens.

Never stray from the common lines
Our everyday lives are shaped by a set of “common sense” assumptions about what is true and what isn’t, and we are often hesitant to stray from these assumptions for fear of appearing strange or deviant.