Halo - Depeche Mode

Morning All - Namaste ! I hope this message finds you in fine form today !

I thought we'd head back in time a little for our next song - and what a classic it is: Halo by Depeche Mode. Originally released on the exceptional Violator album which included other songs of mystical reference such as My Personal Jesus, World in my Eyes, Policy of Truth and Enjoy the Silence, it is an eerie homage to the dukkha we all feel to a greater or lesser extent in our day-to-day existence. Halo was never released as a single but has gained even more of a cult following in recent years due to the exquisite Goldfrapp remix. Listen, enjoy, and we'll be back to look at some of the other songs from this album before too long!

1. You wear guilt
2. Like shackles on your feet
3. Like a halo in reverse
4. I can feel, The discomfort in your seat, And in your head it's worse

5.There's a pain
A famine in your heart
An aching to be free
6.Can't you see
 All love's luxuries, Are here for you and me

7. And when our worlds they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
8. Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it

9. Bring your chains
10.Your lips of tragedy
11. And fall into my arms

And when our worlds they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it

 

1. "Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing on the trinity, original sin or the incarnation, which have pre-occupied later Christians. He went around doing good and being compassionate" - Karen Armstrong. The whole notion of original (ancestral / Adamic) sin sickens me. Many people in western society feel the weight of that cultural baggage be they religious or not.

2. That burden prevents people from thinking clearly and behaving naturally - it shackles them to a very primitive theology / world view.

3. An inverted (or reversed) Halo would be around the feet - like the aforementioned shackles. A misinterpreted spiritual message of compassion is subverted into guilt - the halo of enlightenement falls from behind the head to get snagged around the feet and impede the spiritual journey.

4. Being born guilty of a species-wide sin against a supernatural paternal deity is bound to make you feel uncomfortable. For those of us without that affliction it is painfully obvious how debilitating it is physically (in your seat) and mentally (in your head) - the two being intrinsically part of a greater whole.

 

5. This guilt, in combination with the fear of this life being a one-chance offer to secure eternal peace or eternal damnation has led many to steer away from the misguided major religions and into a vapid, consumer-centric and ultimately unsatisfying lifestyle. Often this is debt financed leading to debt-serfdom. 

6. Whereas - when you truly open your eyes - all life's (or love's) luxuries are out there for everyone to enjoy now, if only they knew it! This is the mystical revelation: Union with the divine does not happen later, or in the afterlife, it can happen now. We just need to realise it ! "There is a voice that doesn't use words. Listen" - Rumi

 

7. Breaking free of the bonds of attachment and ego to experience enlightenment can be painful - and very hard. See St John of the Cross "Dark Night of the Soul".

8. But this is necessary to achieve - although ironically all sense of ego-driven achievement will be lost in the process !

 

9. Bring your shackles of guilt and,

10. your monkey-mind which betrays its presence in the things you say and the way you act

11. and put your trust in the loving embrace of the universe - you make the connection !

"So then, when you’re in the way of waking up, and finding out who you really are, what you do is what the whole universe is doing at the place you call here and now. You are something that the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is something that the whole ocean is doing… The real you is not a puppet which life pushes around; the real, deep down you is the whole universe.” – Alan Watts