Balance…
Holding On To You (from Vessel) may be Tyler Joseph’s manifesto for finding life balance… The lyrics of this song reveal Tyler’s method of escaping suicidal tendencies. He references that he wants to re-exert control over his body. Tyler likes to use cars as metaphors (vehicles, get it?) for life. Up until now he has been riding “shotty” or shotgun. The driver is not him. Instead it is his own self loathing, fear, and depression. In Blurryface, we see him in the back seat of a Cadillac Deville, with a black dot on the side. He is trying to tell us that up until the end of Heavydirtysoul, when the car breaks down and catches fire, that the driver of the car was the devil (Sedan Deville, get it?). Those negative emotions have overtaken his mind and then his body takes impulsive, illogical actions to try and end his life. He reflects that a major cause of this depression is thinking that all that he is is mortal flesh. He tacitly implies that this delusion is implanted in his mind by the devil. Through faith, he reminds himself that he is much more than that. He is an immortal soul inhabiting a human vessel. When he remembers this, his life takes on new purpose. In the chorus, Tyler is reciting his faith that God is ever-present, surrounding everything in this world. Tyler implies that the spirit of God, if freely allowed to exist within him, restores logic and rationality to his actions, “sounding down the mountain range of my left side brain”. I think Tyler is saying that without faith, he is too easily controlled by emotions (the right brain), and lacks the checks and balances, logic and rationality of the left brain. His faith restores this balance, and puts him in awe and wonder that an all powerful creator would even care about one small human being in the entire universe (twists the kaleidoscope behind both of his eyes). When he takes his jumpsuit from the trunk of the burning car at the end of HDS, he symbolically rejects the idea that he is just mortal flesh, and he accepts that he has a soul and a purpose in life. He is no longer passive, beaten up by his emotions. He is active with faith and God-given creativity, to fight and achieve his purpose of polarizing to the positive and spreading that positivity to others (hence the TOP logo with the straight line moving to the forward slash, passive to active, get it?). He chooses to leave his old life and begin again, this time with faith, and a restored balance of left and right brain thinking.
The next insight has to do with Nicolas Bourbaki and the photo of genius mathematician Andre Weil (the head of the Bourbaki mathematics group) and the young child that was posted to dmaorg during the Trench era. The child is Andre’s daughter Sylvie. Sylvie wrote a book about her father and her aunt, Simone Weil, the influential philosopher/theologian called “At Home with Andre and Simone Weil.” Basically Andre was the personification of the left brain. He was brutally analytical, logical, ego-driven, short tempered, and arrogant. Simone on the other hand, symbolized the right brain. Mystical and intuitive, compassionate to a fault, deeply spiritual and without ego, she died in 1943 at age 34 after purposely restricting her food rations to the same tiny amount that French peasants were surviving on during WWII. This killed her and was clearly irrational, as she was fighting a tuberculosis infection at the time. Basically, both Andre and Simone were both wildly unbalanced, troubled geniuses in radically opposite fields. Sylvie’s memoir captures their unbalanced natures, and shows that, from them, she learned the need for balance between their opposite modes of existence. For Tyler, Sylvie, having taken the best of the character traits of her beloved relatives represents a balance. She represents emotion and faith tempered by logic, and intuition strengthened by analytical knowledge. I believe this is why Tyler included her photo in the Trench lore.
The need for balance between the brain hemispheres is also reflected in the DEMA medallion and map of the continent of DEMA. The “trench” that leads from DEMA city in the west, all the way to the east and to the escape from the continent, represented by the East is Up trident goes between the brain hemispheres. The depiction of the hemispheres in the DEMA continent map looks like mountain ranges, but also has similarity to the sulci and corrugations of the human brain itself (sounding down the mountain range of my left side brain, get it?). The trench running down the center represents Tyler’s life journey through the “valley of the shadow of death” from Psalm 23. Tyler is using his life as a demonstration of this principle of balance. He is showing people how powerfully transformative self knowledge and faith can be to your life and that of others. “To life he is dedicated, and that should be celebrated.” (Neon Gravestones). Holding On To You says it the best:
“Lyrics that mean nothing, we were gifted with thought
Is it time to move our feet to an introspective beat?
It ain't the speakers that bump hearts
It's our hearts that make the beat.”
We were gifted with thought so why just make catchy tunes that don’t say anything? The music alone is fine but the transformative power of his music is that the words come from a deep love in his heart, which is like a nuclear reactor of hope for many who struggle through life. This message comes from a higher power. Tyler knows that his creativity isn’t just from his own mind. It comes from somewhere above and outside himself. Many musicians and artists feel this. It is why creating things helps fight depression and anxiety, and why it feels good to create things and share them with others. It is a form of love. Many people are turned off by organized religion. I get that. But Tyler’s message is not about religion. It’s not about going to church or doing any combination of things to be pious or worthy. It is about the power of faith in a higher power, and the hope and courage that faith provides when dealing with the traumas of life. Tyler doesn’t make the spiritual aspects of his music “in your face”, because people are adults. We have free will. He is trying to appeal to those who truly need help, not the ones who already have their shit together. He isn’t speaking to pastors and choir boys. He is talking to people of all ages, colors, genders, etc, who are hurting, some so badly that they might give up and check out. He knows that faith is only transformative when you choose it for yourself. Faith can’t be forced on anyone. Tyler implies that much about God is hidden by design. He wishes evidence of God were more obvious with his repeated line “Entertain my faith…”. But at some point he knows that faith, when deeply internalized, can become fact. It eventually takes no effort to believe and that belief becomes one with his own self knowledge. Something miraculous then occurs, in which he (and by analogy, also we) realizes that life is a lucid dream where he is now in the driver’s seat, fulfilling his purpose every day. This internal GPS allows anyone to access this strength and the courage to boldly face the challenges that may come.
EAST IS UP
This is amazing and brilliant! I screen shot it so I can re-read it anytime and send to my friends so they might understand why I love tøp so much. This adds even deeper meaning to what I already feel and love about the music THANK YOU!! ||-//
Thanks! I can’t always gauge what percentage of people on here actually relate to the spirituality stuff. The more I learn about TOP, the deeper the levels seem to go.
This is so good!! It made me look at this song from a different perspective.
Question: the third image, the atmosphere’s perspective…Where would I find this? I’ve seen it a few times, but can’t locate the source. Are you able to point me in the right direction possibly?
One other interesting possibility: in HDS the car is a 1989 Cadillac Sedan Deville. This could be an anagram for Danse le Devil, meaning dance of the devil. Devil is actually Diable in French but this would fit with Tyler’s love of anagrams and cryptic meanings.
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Thanks. I’ve puzzled over the DEMA map from the bandito interactive experience where it shows a stream from the midpoint towards the west and DEMA city. I think this represents having to go against the current to escape DEMA. If you remain passive, the current just carries you back to DEMA. You have to fight hard against the current to escape. Clancy (Tyler) is seen floating in this stream at the beginning of Jumpsuit. However, there are some that have suggested that this represents Tyler immersing himself in the water as a type of baptism. It may be him showing that his ritual of being baptized in the water is the start of his journey out of his own self made hell represented by DEMA.
Balance… Holding On To You (from Vessel) may be Tyler Joseph’s manifesto for finding life balance… The lyrics of this song reveal Tyler’s method of escaping suicidal tendencies. He references that he wants to re-exert control over his body. Tyler likes to use cars as metaphors (vehicles, get it?) for life. Up until now he has been riding “shotty” or shotgun. The driver is not him. Instead it is his own self loathing, fear, and depression. In Blurryface, we see him in the back seat of a Cadillac Deville, with a black dot on the side. He is trying to tell us that up until the end of Heavydirtysoul, when the car breaks down and catches fire, that the driver of the car was the devil (Sedan Deville, get it?). Those negative emotions have overtaken his mind and then his body takes impulsive, illogical actions to try and end his life. He reflects that a major cause of this depression is thinking that all that he is is mortal flesh. He tacitly implies that this delusion is implanted in his mind by the devil. Through faith, he reminds himself that he is much more than that. He is an immortal soul inhabiting a human vessel. When he remembers this, his life takes on new purpose. In the chorus, Tyler is reciting his faith that God is ever-present, surrounding everything in this world. Tyler implies that the spirit of God, if freely allowed to exist within him, restores logic and rationality to his actions, “sounding down the mountain range of my left side brain”. I think Tyler is saying that without faith, he is too easily controlled by emotions (the right brain), and lacks the checks and balances, logic and rationality of the left brain. His faith restores this balance, and puts him in awe and wonder that an all powerful creator would even care about one small human being in the entire universe (twists the kaleidoscope behind both of his eyes). When he takes his jumpsuit from the trunk of the burning car at the end of HDS, he symbolically rejects the idea that he is just mortal flesh, and he accepts that he has a soul and a purpose in life. He is no longer passive, beaten up by his emotions. He is active with faith and God-given creativity, to fight and achieve his purpose of polarizing to the positive and spreading that positivity to others (hence the TOP logo with the straight line moving to the forward slash, passive to active, get it?). He chooses to leave his old life and begin again, this time with faith, and a restored balance of left and right brain thinking. The next insight has to do with Nicolas Bourbaki and the photo of genius mathematician Andre Weil (the head of the Bourbaki mathematics group) and the young child that was posted to dmaorg during the Trench era. The child is Andre’s daughter Sylvie. Sylvie wrote a book about her father and her aunt, Simone Weil, the influential philosopher/theologian called “At Home with Andre and Simone Weil.” Basically Andre was the personification of the left brain. He was brutally analytical, logical, ego-driven, short tempered, and arrogant. Simone on the other hand, symbolized the right brain. Mystical and intuitive, compassionate to a fault, deeply spiritual and without ego, she died in 1943 at age 34 after purposely restricting her food rations to the same tiny amount that French peasants were surviving on during WWII. This killed her and was clearly irrational, as she was fighting a tuberculosis infection at the time. Basically, both Andre and Simone were both wildly unbalanced, troubled geniuses in radically opposite fields. Sylvie’s memoir captures their unbalanced natures, and shows that, from them, she learned the need for balance between their opposite modes of existence. For Tyler, Sylvie, having taken the best of the character traits of her beloved relatives represents a balance. She represents emotion and faith tempered by logic, and intuition strengthened by analytical knowledge. I believe this is why Tyler included her photo in the Trench lore. The need for balance between the brain hemispheres is also reflected in the DEMA medallion and map of the continent of DEMA. The “trench” that leads from DEMA city in the west, all the way to the east and to the escape from the continent, represented by the East is Up trident goes between the brain hemispheres. The depiction of the hemispheres in the DEMA continent map looks like mountain ranges, but also has similarity to the sulci and corrugations of the human brain itself (sounding down the mountain range of my left side brain, get it?). The trench running down the center represents Tyler’s life journey through the “valley of the shadow of death” from Psalm 23. Tyler is using his life as a demonstration of this principle of balance. He is showing people how powerfully transformative self knowledge and faith can be to your life and that of others. “To life he is dedicated, and that should be celebrated.” (Neon Gravestones). Holding On To You says it the best: “Lyrics that mean nothing, we were gifted with thought Is it time to move our feet to an introspective beat? It ain't the speakers that bump hearts It's our hearts that make the beat.” We were gifted with thought so why just make catchy tunes that don’t say anything? The music alone is fine but the transformative power of his music is that the words come from a deep love in his heart, which is like a nuclear reactor of hope for many who struggle through life. This message comes from a higher power. Tyler knows that his creativity isn’t just from his own mind. It comes from somewhere above and outside himself. Many musicians and artists feel this. It is why creating things helps fight depression and anxiety, and why it feels good to create things and share them with others. It is a form of love. Many people are turned off by organized religion. I get that. But Tyler’s message is not about religion. It’s not about going to church or doing any combination of things to be pious or worthy. It is about the power of faith in a higher power, and the hope and courage that faith provides when dealing with the traumas of life. Tyler doesn’t make the spiritual aspects of his music “in your face”, because people are adults. We have free will. He is trying to appeal to those who truly need help, not the ones who already have their shit together. He isn’t speaking to pastors and choir boys. He is talking to people of all ages, colors, genders, etc, who are hurting, some so badly that they might give up and check out. He knows that faith is only transformative when you choose it for yourself. Faith can’t be forced on anyone. Tyler implies that much about God is hidden by design. He wishes evidence of God were more obvious with his repeated line “Entertain my faith…”. But at some point he knows that faith, when deeply internalized, can become fact. It eventually takes no effort to believe and that belief becomes one with his own self knowledge. Something miraculous then occurs, in which he (and by analogy, also we) realizes that life is a lucid dream where he is now in the driver’s seat, fulfilling his purpose every day. This internal GPS allows anyone to access this strength and the courage to boldly face the challenges that may come. EAST IS UP
This is amazing and brilliant! I screen shot it so I can re-read it anytime and send to my friends so they might understand why I love tøp so much. This adds even deeper meaning to what I already feel and love about the music THANK YOU!! ||-//
Thanks! I can’t always gauge what percentage of people on here actually relate to the spirituality stuff. The more I learn about TOP, the deeper the levels seem to go.
This is so good!! It made me look at this song from a different perspective. Question: the third image, the atmosphere’s perspective…Where would I find this? I’ve seen it a few times, but can’t locate the source. Are you able to point me in the right direction possibly?
It was from the bandito interactive experience: https://www.altpress.com/features/twenty-one-pilots-bandito-experience-dema-trench-reveals/
Thank you so much!
One other interesting possibility: in HDS the car is a 1989 Cadillac Sedan Deville. This could be an anagram for Danse le Devil, meaning dance of the devil. Devil is actually Diable in French but this would fit with Tyler’s love of anagrams and cryptic meanings.
Thanks for your submission to r/twentyonepilots, we're happy to have you here. As a reminder, all posts and comments must abide by our [**Community Rules**](https://www.reddit.com/r/twentyonepilots/about/rules). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/twentyonepilots) if you have any questions or concerns.*
TRDR
Thanks. I’ve puzzled over the DEMA map from the bandito interactive experience where it shows a stream from the midpoint towards the west and DEMA city. I think this represents having to go against the current to escape DEMA. If you remain passive, the current just carries you back to DEMA. You have to fight hard against the current to escape. Clancy (Tyler) is seen floating in this stream at the beginning of Jumpsuit. However, there are some that have suggested that this represents Tyler immersing himself in the water as a type of baptism. It may be him showing that his ritual of being baptized in the water is the start of his journey out of his own self made hell represented by DEMA.