Mediocre song interpretation: "Hope", by Swallow the Sun

This is one of my favorite doom metal songs. I've never really gotten into the "stoner" stuff. Just not really for me. I primarily like gothic, death, and funeral doom, with lyrics that I can relate to. 

Here are the the lyrics -- 

Deep into the flesh the arrow cut

From the hope of a hunter's bow 

Wounded we fall 

With bleeding hearts we crawl 

Taking shelter from the arrows 

I'm not a vegetarian by any means, as a disclaimer, but it's important to note that the hope of the hunter -- to be able to have something to eat -- is contingent upon the lack of such for the animal that they kill. It's just how nature works. If you're a deer who just got shot, you don't think "oh good, a hunter is going to have a meal". You think about how you're about to die. Thus, something that might be good for you might really hurt someone else, and vice versa. For example, I love droughts and dry summers. I hate rain and clouds as they depress me quite a bit. I just want heat and sunshine. As a result, when there is nothing but sun and heat for months on end, with no rain or thunderstorms, I'm incredibly happy. 

But this hurts a lot of other people. Farmers, for example, or even just people who get depressed in heat and sunshine. 

The problem of evil in general arises from this. I pray for something small, like to find my car keys, which I lose like every 3 days -- and I always find them. But Bob prays to be safe on his walk home, and he still gets mugged. Now, I realize this is an over-simplified situation. I don't want anyone to think that I don't believe that prayer works! But it's clearly more complicated than "pray for x, then automatically get it". I think most of us understand this. 

Okay, so that's funny, but there are absolutely situations in which your success is contingent upon the failure of others. I.e. the Olympics. 

Everyone has things in this world that hurt them and we can't get away from it -- we are injured, hurt, and trying to hide from getting hurt again. But we can never escape pain. It is always there. 

Cut the trembling flesh 

And don't let the tears tame you 

Rip your arrows out 

And make them cut deeper 

Crush my mouth, for it still sings praises to you 

Run the blood out from my throat 

For I'm still yours 

No matter how much pain I experience, I will become stronger because of it. I will choose to channel it into something positive -- to refused to be tamed by my tears. 

At the same time, when sadness is all you know, it can be easy to just...lean into it. To make it hurt worse. I do this too much -- always listening to my sad music. 

As for the mouth singing praises: When you truly love someone, or something, you can't ever give up on them, or it. It's hell -- loving can uplift you, but it can also destroy you. Sometimes I wish I could just feel nothing at all, because it hurts so much, but then I realize that without our caring and affection for others...what are we? Just psychopaths? No, it is better to have empathy and love. 

"And the hope will die 

When the curtains fall 

And silence the pain" 

Sometimes it feels better to not hope for anything, to just resign yourself to the gloom. 

We drink from the well 

The well of poisoned hope 

Until the water will burn 

All pure hearts away 

And yet, we can't help but hope for things, even things that may never happen. Hope can lift you up temporarily -- but when what you're hoping for never comes to pass, it can leave you even worse off than you were before. Ergo, poisoned hope. 

I think we start out with pure hearts, for the most part, when we are little (though kids can still be cruel). But as we get older, we get more cynical and marred by this world. We hope for things and when they don't happen, that gradually tears us down. 

Keep your eyes on the wounds 

Those rivers will run dry soon 

Will it leave you wanting more 

The taste of flesh that bleeds in your honor

As a species, we have a remarkable tendency (in aggregate) to get back up after being beaten down. The question follows, though: Is this really a good thing? Do we really want this to happen? The rivers of blood will dry, but the scars remain. I've had a smattering of bad events in my life that have affected me long-term, and which I will bear the memories of until my life here is finished. Nietzsche once said that "hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man". Because when you have hope, you decide to keep going, which has the potential of causing even more pain in the future. 

Thinking about the last line about honor, though -- I think it's noble to get back up and indeed keep going. I think it requires a lot of strength to have hope and get up anyway, even though it means that there are more difficulties ahead. 

Even though this song is bleak, I leave knowing that I should hope, despite the associated risks, and I should keep moving forward. So, I do. "How am I going to get through this? You just do -- one step at a time."