If the following connection posted in another forum is correct, that is, if that is truly the correlation seen in Native American mythology that Maynard refers to in his interview with Christopher DiCarlo (see ), an interesting connection can be seen in the album artwork. The word God is only in the second one, the more interior picture. Also, notice how there are two pictures of the brain in the Lateralus artwork. Parabol/Parabola similar speaks of the 'holy reality' that 'we are eternal.' Tool is either saying that God or our own divine nature dwells within us in some way. Finally, the title track itself supports this view- how he talks about swinging on the spiral of our divinity. Secondly, it jives with comments Maynard has made in interviews that the true nature of humanity is spirit and that the target of his 'anti-Christian' songs is mostly the religious authorities, the agents who corrupt religion, and a certain particular notion of God.

First, it seems most consistent with themes in Alex Grey's other works of art. This seems apparent to me for a number of reasons.

To me, the presence of the word 'GOD' in the mind in the album artwork could mean one of a number of things: 1) that the idea of God is merely something in our heads, 2) that we are hardwired in our brains to believe in God, or 3) that God is within us, in our minds.Īlthough a majority of Tool fans on this forum seem to be of the first opinion (no doubt due to the seemingly anti-Christian themes of Opiate, Eulogy, Disgustipated, etc.) but I think the last one is probably the one Tool intended most.

Tool album cover art