Iron Thoughts 11 - Epica

(This is the eleventh part of the Iron Thoughts series, where I express my thoughts
in combination with lyrics from a chosen metal band, which will be the Dutch
symphonic metal band Epica in this installment.)

VENIALITY
"She can't forgive, nor forget the past. These ineffable feelings and hurt that
last evermore. Bewail the truth, the face of fate, and conquer all the past. Don't
enthrall yourself, let the penance begin, you've got to open your heart to see the
confinement."
The song Veniality from the single The Phantom Agony

All people will probably be tortured by their past mistakes at some point in their
lives. But we shouldn't allow past mistakes to torture us for the entire duration
of our lives. At a certain point, we need to say "I've suffered enough!" and throw
away the baggage of the past. We don't have to suffer forever because of past
mistakes, it's okay to let them go and forgive ourselves.

SENSORIUM
"No one surveys the whole, focus on things so small, but life's objective is to
make it meaningful "
Sensorium from the album The Phantom Agony

All are religious and philosophical viewpoints here on Earth, only manage to survey
a one small slice of reality, instead of seeing the entire picture. We waste our
time by fighting with other groups who see a different slice of reality, when we
should be collecting those other slices of reality, and putting them together in
order to see the whole picture. Life's objective is not to blindly believe in some
religious or political ideology; life's objective is for each of us to find our own
meaning, which comes from within; to fulfill our lives by being truly ourselves.

"I'm not afraid to die, I'm afraid to be alive without being aware of it.":

So many people seek meaning in things outside of themselves. In work, religion,

social relations, political views and many other things. So many people live their
lives like zombies, nine to five lives where the same routines get repeated again
and again until the grave. They let society mold them into its image instead of
being independent and free. It seems to me as if they are alive without being aware
of it. They could chase their wildest dreams in this one life they have and make
them into reality. But they give this chance away. That's what I would be afraid
of; to be alive but not be aware of it. When I would be old, there would be nothing
but regret as I would ask myself why I didn't chase my dreams when I still had the
chance.

"Our future has already been written by us alone, but we don't grasp the meaning of
our programmed course of life. Our future has already been wasted by us alone, and
we just let it happen and do not worry at all.":

Every individual controls his/her destiny, and humanity as a whole controls its
destiny. But humanity seems almost like it has been programmed to give away its
sovereignty to others. We are taught to trust in gods or messiahs, in popes and
politicians, we just love to be lead by others. I guess it's too hard for most to
be independent and take charge of their own lives. By blindly following others,
humanity has already written how its future is going to be, and that future is a
wasted future.

CRY FOR THE MOON

"Indoctrinated minds so very often, contain sick thoughts and commit most of the
evil they preach against."
Cry for the Moon (The Embrace That Smothers, Part IV) from the album The Phantom
Agony

Have you noticed how it's often possible to make indoctrinated people into doing
very evil things even when the doctrine is supposedly on the side of goodness? I
believe this is because indoctrination (whether political, religious or something
else) overrides the basic sense of morality, the natural conscience in a human
being, and replaces it with artificial morality. When the natural conscience has
been overridden, the indoctrinators can make people do whatever they want them to
do. The indoctrinators can make their followers commit great atrocities, while at
the same time, making them believe that they are working in the name of good.

"Don't try to convince me with messages from God, you accuse us of sins committed
by yourselves. It's easy to condemn without looking in the mirror, behind the
scenes opens reality.":

Indoctrinated people also very often are completely blind to their own faults.
Instead, they project their own sins onto other people, seeing the evil in them,
but not in themselves. When I have dealt with indoctrinated people, I often noticed
that they would accuse me of things they did themselves. If they lied, they called
me a liar, if they were being hateful, they accused me of being hateful, and so on.

"You can't go on hiding yourself behind old fashioned fairytales, and keep washing
your hands in innocence.": The Catholic Church has been slow and obstinate in
dealing with the huge problem of child abuse among its clergy. Hopefully things
will change for the better as more and more cases come into the light of day, and
it gets harder and harder for the church to make excuses.

FACADE OF REALITY
"People created religious inventions, to give their lives a glimmer of hope, and to
ease their fear of dying. And people created religious intentions, only to feel
superior and to have a license to kill."
Fa�ade of Reality (The Embrace That Smothers, Part V) from the album The Phantom
Agony

Many people are unable to find meaning within themselves, so they need something
outside of themselves to give them hope. And another need that many have is the
need to feel superior to others, the need to believe that only they are the holy
chosen ones, and all the others are just heretics and infidels.

"And people created religious ascensions, to subject the others and to enslave,
just to further enrich themselves."

And some people do not believe at all, they just see a great chance for power and
riches in religion, and so they seek to become bishops, cardinals, popes, grand
muftis, grand ayatollahs and high priests, in order to rule others and gain from
the gullibility of the masses.

"Deceive yourself by yielding to soft words that cause no pain. Enrich yourself
with different views learned without disdain.":

People can deceive themselves by yielding to velvet lies that tell them to be
ignorant, to submit and to obey, or they can choose to enrich themselves by being
wise and learning about the world. "Enrich yourself by making up your own mind"
SEIF AL DIN
"Perpetual distrust fed by a belief, in the malevolence of the others."
Seif al Din (The Embrace That Smothers, Part VI) from the album The Phantom Agony

One of the greatest problems in the human psyche is the tendency to demonize people
who belong to another group than they themselves do. So many of us love to see
ourselves of being in that one group of people who know the truth, while the people
in other groups are seen as fools, unbelievers, evil, or misguided. Many of the
worlds political and religious leaders have known about this tendency and have
ruthlessly exploited it for their own gain by turning people against each other.
It's not just religious people who can fall into the trap of this kind of thinking,
it can also be those who oppose religion. Atheists can fall into this trap just as
easily if they're not careful, and it can be seen in those who think that all
religious people are insane. Anyone who has read my posts may have noticed that I
don't like religion very much. So the question arises, how do I criticize it so
much without falling into the same trap? Well the answer is that a person must know
him/herself so well that he/she doesn't practice self-deceit. A person must be
aware of both his/her faults and strengths. The second thing is to be aware of that
trap and learning to identify its seductive lure within our own psyche. We can
criticize things but the key is not to generalize all people within a certain
group. I don't like religion in general but I never think less of a person because
they might be religious. The goal in criticizing religion shouldn't be the
eradication of all religion from the face of the planet, but removing religious
oppression and intolerance, and creating an atmosphere for non-religious people to
live in peace.

THE PHANTOM AGONY

"The age-old development of consciousness, drives us away from the essence of life.
We meditate too much, so that our instincts will fade away."
The Phantom Agony from the album The Phantom Agony

There's nothing wrong with logic, critical thinking and reason, as we really need
to use them. But it's possible to become obsessed with those things so much that we
lose contact with our intuition. We need inner balance in these things so that we
can use logic while still being able to listen to our intuition. Our intuition
comes from the deepest core of our being and we need to listen to it. Over thinking
can be a problem and sometimes we just need to let go and listen to that whisper
from deep within. And we need to remember our connection to nature and not lose it
entirely.

"The lucidity of my mind has been revealed in new dreams, I am able to travel where
my heart goes in search of self-realization. This is the way to escape from our
agitation and develop ourselves, use your illusion and enter my dream...":

Our dreams (in both of the meanings of that word) come from the deepest part of us.
They are the truth speaking to us. Following our hearts is the only way to find
self-realization, so we should listen to our dreams. The way to find a satisfying
life is to start living the way we want to live. We should start making our own
paths instead of following other people's paths.

DANCE OF FATE
"The precious time of your existence is now to come, don't throw your life away by
cheating time, sugared placebos only fool your mind."
Dance of Fate from the album Consign to Oblivion

New doors have opened, that weren't open in previous eras. We have a chance now to
fully realize our dreams and make our lives into what we want them to be. There's
no sense to waste this chance on �sugared placebos� like religion that often
forbids so many things.
THE LAST CRUSADE
�Don't be afraid, participate and, just give us all your trust. Your soul will be
saved, just honour me, I'll set you free so get ready to join the very last
crusade. Get ready to taste the final victory.�
The Last Crusade (A New Age Dawns, Part I) from the album Consign to Oblivion

This song's meaning is a little uncertain. On one hand, it could talk about a new
age dawning where religious crusades and oppression will be a thing of the past. On
the other hand, some metal bands (such as HammerFall, Freedom Call, Iron Fire etc.)
describe their activities in their lyrics as a final or last crusade, so it could
talk about the "metal crusade" that will help to bring the new age and asking
people to participate.

MOTHER OF LIGHT
"We consciously sign our own sentence of death, how can you go on, did you forget
what we have learnt from the past? We can't go on killing ourselves, and with us
all the rest. Why can't you see, don't you regret?"
Mother of Light (A New Age Dawns, Part II) from the album Consign to Oblivion

It can be hard and lonely to be among those of humanity who see the madness of what
our race is doing to itself. To see the blindness of the majority and how they keep
repeating the same mistakes again and again.

ANOTHER ME IN LACK'ECH
"All that you've taken from others, will be taken from you. All that your
dissonance smothers, will then come back to you. Whatever happens tomorrow, and
whatever you do, just keep in mind that the source and end is you."
Another Me (In Lack�ech) from the album Consign to Oblivion

All those ruthless, selfish people who take from other by force and deception, have
no one to blame except themselves, when finally the tables are turned and the
oppressed rise up, looking for blood. They are the source of their own fate, their
actions caused it to happen. In a sense, everything in the universe is connected,
as it's impossible to not be a part of existence. So everything is a part of the
universe, and so it makes sense in a certain way, that what you do to others, you
also do to yourself.

CONSIGN TO OBLIVION
"Try to unlearn all that you've learnt, try to listen to your heart. No, we can't
understand the universe by just using our minds. We are so afraid of all the things
unknown, we just flee into a dream that never comes true."
Consign to Oblivion (A New Age Dawns, Part III) from the album Consign to Oblivion

From the day we are born, we get taught things in this world. Many of these things
are not true. So what we need to do is to unlearn many of the things we are taught
as truth. It's good to have the guts to challenge things and to be able to think
independently. Listen to your heart, it will tell you the truth when all other
things can't be trusted. There's a level in existence that we can only access by
using our intuition. The problem is, so many people are afraid of unknown things
and they just keep on existing on the level that feels safe to them.

"Low to the ground we feel safe, low to the ground we feel brave.":
That seems to be the majority of humanity, no big aspirations or great dreams. Just
safe and humble existence from birth to death.

"Our thoughts create reality, but we neglect to be! So we're already slaves of our
artificial world. We shouldn't try to control life, but listen to the laws of
nature.": You are your thoughts, you do what you think. There is a natural flow to
life, the laws of nature are something that mankind has forgotten but is now
rediscovering.

"Selfishly we're venomous, but you know the time tells us, there is more to life
than our higher positions, race for perfection, better, faster. We must return to
the laws of the nature, free ourselves from madness.": There is more to life than
the rat race of competing for better positions and salaries in soulless office
complexes. The laws of nature are known intuitively. It's simple, nature allows you
to be yourself, so find out who you are. Live according to your own goals, and free
yourself from false ideas that have been taught to you by society.

DEATH OF A DREAM
"I followed your rules, a willing fool, branded by shame. My soul suffers from your
hostile ways, I bear so many scars, hit me hard. Time to change we have to
rearrange, for this has gone too far, way too far."
Death of a Dream (The Embrace That Smothers, Part VII) from the album The Divine
Conspiracy

It rapes the human soul when we have to live in strongly religious countries like
many muslim countries, for example. Such rules and regulations violate the laws of
nature which allow us all to be who we truly are. It's time to break free from such
archaic systems. Many brave souls do try to break free and then get killed by those
who can't tolerate others being free.

LIVING A LIE
"You refuse to face the facts, but pray for life. Find salvations in distress. We
will wait for the day you'll break out and re-awake."
Living a Lie (The Embrace That Smothers, Part VIII) from the album The Divine
Conspiracy

There are many people who live a lie, deceived by religion and other seductive
things in this world. The world will change when more and more people will break
out and re-awake, rediscovering the laws of nature.

FOOLS OF DAMNATION
"Believing is the cure, religion is like opium. You'd better feed them all, before
they start eating you"
Fools of Damnation (The Embrace That Smothers, Part IX) from the album The Divine
Conspiracy

Religions is like a drug, it frees people from responsibility, where they just need
to do what they are being told. Religion is the embrace that smothers our intuitive
understanding of the laws of nature. And it can be like being in an abusive
relationship where your partner demands total submission from you.

"You will discover yourself. Become a master of worlds. Become a master of the
whole world."

"The Divine Conspiracy, opens up the reality. Time is not the entity, like it
claims to be."
The Divine Conspiracy from the album The Divine Conspiracy

One of the big esoteric mysteries you can unravel in this life, is the realization
that all religions and philosophies are talking about the same thing. But they all
see only a part of the whole, none of them alone sees the whole image. There's no
sense in religions fighting against each other, but most of them have fallen in
love with the piece they have, and have no desire to collect the other pieces. But
I would go beyond this mystery into even greater mysteries, realizing that all
these religions are trying to make us into their image. Which is not harmonious
with the greatest mystery revealed, that being there is no god but man. We are all
sovereign, the purpose of life is for all of us to express our true selves. That is
the law of nature. We don't need religion, we just need to realize our own true
natures.
"Who possesses your time also possesses your mind.": What keeps us occupied,
possesses our minds. What are we doing with time? Are we fulfilling the obligations
and demands of the society around us? Are we wasting our times with completely
useless things? Or are we keeping our time to ourselves, living by our own rules,
doing what we want to do with our lives?

"Access is now denied, we're panic stricken, wealth out of sight. Intuition,
forgotten guide, the price of suppression."
Resign to Surrender (A New Age Dawns, Part IV) from the album Design Your Universe

Humanity has lost its inner wealth. Our inner guide, intuition, has been suppressed
for millenniums. Religions and political ideologies both have had a great effect on
this. Making us follow and obey other things than our inner voice. In modern times,
being obsessed with TV and other things, may have the same effect.
"Chasing our addictions, we're stunting our growth. Once we get rid of this
ballast, we'll be able to restore the balance and distribute our wealth.": The more
we are addicted to things, the more we hinder our growth as a person. Getting rid
of the baggage will help to rediscover our inner wealth.

"Quantum physics lead us to answers to the great taboos. We create the world around
us, god is every living soul."
Kingdom of Heaven (A New Age Dawns, Part V) from the album Design Your Universe

"Science, spirituality, will have to meet along the way and we need new drifts,
another view. Expand our grip on the cryptic soul.": Science, philosophy and the
occult all used to be one in the old days. Many of the Greek philosophers were
involved in all three, and it was considered normal. Only later did these these
fields separate into three. Modern science doesn't work with philosophy anymore,
and in my opinion, that is its greatest shortcoming. The failure of religions and
spiritual systems has caused science to not want anything to do with spirituality
anymore, and I understand that attitude well. But spirituality is such a mess
because the masses made such a mess out of it. It's much more rational in the
occult circles, and it's unwise to judge it all if one hasn't studied the occult.
Philosophy is the bridge between science and spirituality that can mediate between
the two using logic and reason. All three were born from the same source, perhaps
eventually they will merge into one again.
"Open your Sahasrara": The crown achievement, become everything you can be.

"If we could see ourselves, the mirror would reflect insanity. Instead we
camouflage the flaws that lie within."
Deconstruct from the album Design Your Universe

We human beings love to deceive ourselves. We don't like to see our own faults,
shortcomings, and the ugly parts of our souls. We like to camouflage the parts of
ourselves we don't like and hide them from ourselves and from others. But if some
other person sees through our camouflage and tells us about our hidden faults, we
tend to get really mad at that other person. One of the most important things we
can do is to realize this tendency in us so that we don't fall into this trap. When
we try to pretend that our darkside doesn't exist, it just sneaks back from the
cellar that we tried to hide it in, and ends up controlling us. Carl Jung called it
being possessed by our shadow. The shadow being the unpleasant parts of our psyche
that we don't want to acknowledge within us. I think that metal music has good
psychological effect on people. That's why there is so much dark imagery used in
metal music because people acknowledge the existence of the shadow, instead of
trying to pretend that it doesn't exist.

"Don't look back. Keep on track to break the curse. Take the chance: Design your
universe."
Design Your Universe from the album Design Your Universe

"The time has come. We have to see that total wisdom is in reach. The time has come
to colour in the lines. We must identify the signs. So many people are full of
hate, while love and light are in their reach. So many people will harm themselves,
but life can be so beautiful. So many people will idolize, while their own success
is in their reach. Don't forget you're able to design your own universe.": This is
the message that only some seem to hear during this age. The majority continues to
repeat the same old mistakes again and again. You are a sovereign being. You are
meant to live free. You control your destiny. You make your own rules. The curse
that has kept us down has been broken. You can make your life into what you want it
to be. There is no divine law that says you must be like this or you must be like
that. The entire truth is extremely simple: The meaning of life comes from within
you and is unique to each individual. The meaning of life is simply to be who you
are. You are able to design your own universe.

"No time should ever go to waste, it�s not that complicated. You�re free to live
your life at ease, no more restraints. No heed for shadows on your way, that try to
steal your laughter. Your light will drive them all away, be confident."
Storm the Sorrow from the album Requiem for the Indifferent

We don't have to keep suffering the pain from past mistakes forever. Even if we
have done something bad, we don't have to be tortured about it until the end of our
lives. What's important is that we have learned from those mistakes and become
better persons. If the quilt doesn't leave, we need to violently storm it, declare
it to be an enemy and eradicate it with glee. We have the right.

"Try to keep on searching for the meaning of our lives, find the only values that
can help us in our strife, keep on searching and be ready when the tides are high.
Try to find the philosopher deep within you, trigger and motivate all that matters
along your way, seek and find the answers."
Requiem for the Indifferent from the album Requiem for the Indifferent

The indifferent are the majority of humanity. They don't strive for anything
higher, they are content in not learning from past mistakes. The planet is full of
problems that can't be ignored, yet these people keep on ignoring them. This
madness can't go on forever, soon something will break. We can choose to be
something different than they are and choose another course. If they self-destruct,
we don't have to self-destruct alongside them. If we re-discover our connection
with nature and intuition, we can navigate and find our way even if the world goes
mad around us in turmoil and catastrophe. Those who seek will find answers, those
who don't seek, will not find them.

"Stay the course, and regardless what the critics say, seek your golden road. Stay
the course, be hard and fast, reach out, achieve your goals, chase your own
dreams."
Stay the Course from the album Requiem for the Indifferent

The prophets of old got something wrong. Life is not about following the laws of
god or dharma. It's about finding out who we truly are. It's about being who we
truly are. The purpose of life is to realize your dreams and aspirations.

"You're eternal my love. For me you're all there ever was. Every limit overcome. As
we are tangled we are one."
Twin Flames from the album Requiem for the Indifferent

Ancient legend states that human souls used to be twin souls in the distant past,
each soul consisting of one male personality and one female personality. To better
enslave mankind, the tyrant skygod ripped these souls apart, forcing us all to live
our lives alone, separated from our other half. But it is said that when the twin
souls find each other again, they will rediscover their true power, and become
unstoppable...

"Retrieve your balance, use your senses to observe (the essence of silence). Search
for your essence, find the silence within you, (the essence is�). Make a start,
explore your heart."
The Essence of Silence from the album The Quantum Enigma

In all the noise and hurry of life, we may not hear the silent voice of our own
hearts. We can find it again in the silence within us. It may be useful to take
time away to be alone somewhere, like a cabin in the middle of nature, and just
allow our heart to speak to us.

"If you blame all your failures on someone else, without any remorse, without your
remorse. If you don't face the weakness of your own self, you will take the same
course, you'll take the same course. If you blame all your failures on someone
else, you avoid every chance, you've lost your last chance, to learn from
yourself."
Victims of Contingency from the album The Quantum Enigma

If a person doesn't face their own shadow, the side of their psyche that contains
all the faults and weaknesses, he will keep on repeating the same mistakes
endlessly. If one refuses to learn from his mistakes, then he has practically
doomed himself. Learning from our mistakes is the way to grow and become wiser and
stronger. Look at the people who just get mad when they have been proven wrong,
they don't have a clue as to have much they harm themselves with their
stubbornness.
*

"Sense without your sanity, perceive a new reality. Your heart is guiding you into
blessedness, we will pull through. Sense without your sanity, a changed mentality.
Perceive a new reality, do not suppress. Your heart is guiding you into moments of
pure blessedness."
Sense Without Sanity -The Impervious Code- from the album The Quantum Enigma

The veil that hid the truth from our sight has been lifted. Now believe what your
heart tells you and follow its guidance, as a new reality is emerging. Things are
changing in the world, there's a call to be heard that comes from your heart, but
the majority of humanity doesn't yet hear it. There's never been a time like this.
Modern communication technologies allow people to connect with each other in a way
that hasn't existed before. This finally allows for the truth to spread like
wildfire across the world.

"Don't let it burn you down, live in the heart, experience the now."
Reverence -Living in the Heart- from the album The Quantum Enigma

All we have is the current moment. The past and the future doesn't exist. Live in
the now because that is all that there is. Life can be wasted by living too much in
the past or in the future. To think time as a linear line is not an accurate way to
view it. The past is just a memory of how the now moment used to be, and the future
is just a dream of how the now moment might be after some changes. You're always in
the current moment.

"When it seems like the world is shattering, remember that you set your course.
When it feels like no one is answering, revert to your deep inner force. As the
bell begins to chime. Together we'll be strong, to defy all that can't bring us
down. United standing strong, you will not fight alone."
Omen -The Ghoulish Malady- from the album The Quantum Enigma

When things get hard, remember your inner force deep within. And remember that
you're not alone, there are many now who are answering this call, and there will be
many more. There's strength in unity that we need in this world. Though we all need
to individually live our lives and be who we are, it's also normal to want to be
with other like-minded people and even form communities. Artists like Epica by
creating music like this, manage to find and bring like-minded people together.
"Your angels will whisper, nothing is what it seems to be. Search with your heart
and you'll find the key, you'll see.": Your inner guidance will help you understand
that there are layers of deceit in this planet, and it will allow you to see
through the deceit. The key is within you, find it and you're free. It's your inner
guidance that in a way is your guardian angel.

"When we will look around and see, we will affect the energy. When we observe by
any means, we will create reality."
The Quantum Enigma -Kingdom of Heaven Part II- from the album The Quantum Enigma

Scientific experiments into quantum physics revealed that things behave differently
when observed as opposed to when not observed. What then is reality? We seem to be
creating reality simply by observing. That might indicate that we are the creators,
instead of some god figure ruling over us. The thing that has been kept hidden from
us is that we are all God. And that means that we have the power and authority to
create our destinies and make our lives into what we want them to be.

I might add to this post when Epica releases new albums.

If you liked this you can find the previous part here: