Influenced by Jordan B Peterson's Psychological Significance of the Bible series I have recently looked at christianity from a more enlightened and nuanced perspective. This post I am going to analyse the Lyrics of "Flyleaf's - This Close"
I don't want to expand on points too much, I just want to show you a different perspective on things. I would be thrilled to share ideas in the comments below. I should say that I am not a religious person and I don't believe in the idea of god that is used in an everyday parlance.
I've linked the lyric video down below, I would recommend listening to the song first before reading the post but do whatever you suits you.
But we pretended we still lived
had a vision of our future lives, in this future we kept up our bad habits and doing things we know are bad for us (By our own definition.). We justified our bad decisions and ignored our problems.
And we took everything life could give
And came up broken, empty handed in the end
we chose an easy life and avoided difficult things and taking any risks, we never suffered in the present to build a better future. We were happy to benefit from the productivity of others, consuming more than we produced. This turned out not to be a fulfilling life.
Something you'll never find
Is a vision of light
People who do not get their act together, and who walk throughout life in a daze will never be able to orient themselves towards a positive ideal ; one that will benefit themselves and all of humanity.
She has realised that she has joined the ranks of those who have not done anything of value with their lives. They will not remembered after they die, their image will not live on in our collective consciousness, in this way they do not have an afterlife so to speak.
Not once in life have I been real
But I've never felt this close before
I have lost my sense of self and I am not orientated towards a higher goal, I have lived my whole life like this and I have only realised this now. I acknowledge that I am in a terrible situation, but this is great because now that I am conscious of this I can fix my current situation by sacrificing enjoyment in the present for a better future.
I've been dressing in your clothes
I've been walking dead
Watching you
Long enough to know I can't go on
I have been trying for so long to imitate others and I have been afraid to show my authentic self, I have let this happen to such an extent that my Authentic self has almost completely escaped my being and I am the equivalent of a mindless member of the hoard. I have studied your life long enough and came to the realisation that I don't want my life to turn out like yours, so I really have to get my act together and focus on improving myself.
From an opening in the sky
And someone warned me of this hell
And I spit in his naive eye
And left him crying for my soul
He said would die
I had a vision of a time when tragedy strikes my life (death of a loved one, earthquake, war, etc.) unexpectedly, it was something that I could not do anything to circumvent. An old wise man had told me to build up my character, to become a strong person who can become a rock to support others in at this terrible time. I didn't listen to him, in my youthful ignorance I believed I was living correctly. The old man could see me as an agent for the downfall of humanity. Weak men produce hard times.
Thank you for reading, I hope I provoked some new ideas and perspectives for you! :)
Just going to bed so can't read now.. but happy to see Jordan Peterson pop up here!
He's a big role model of mine. His series of lectures on the Bible have been extremely eyeopening and useful. Even through I would not identify as religious in the traditional sense. :)
You're exactly the kind of guy he most attracts then :). I'm one of his very few female audience members (his audience is 90% male or something? Mostly under 30.), and I am religious in the traditional sense lol. But literally anyone who respects sense and intelligence should be able to appreciate the wisdom and clarity he brings. I think he's doing some seriously good work at a key point in time.
I knew you were a sensible one! haha