To know is not to be

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of an unbridgeable distance between observation and experience. The narrator sees "heaven through a window," a classic image of longing for something just out of reach. This separation is framed as a fundamental aspect of existence, where "life is such, that you can't touch." Even with intense emotion, "sorrow," the narrator remains "on the other side," unable to truly participate. The core tension emerges from this paradox: the ability to perceive and understand ("you can see") is fundamentally different from the ability to embody or become ("but you can't be"). This chasm is further explored through the idea of seeking alternative paths to experience. The lyrics suggest a "skiddy way to get there," a clandestine method to "take a peak at what you seek," but this is contingent on a certain detachment – "only if you don't care, and if you haven't died." It implies that true engagement requires a willingness to risk, a state of not caring about the consequences, which itself is a form of being "on the outside." The repeated question, "What is it your looking for," hints at a potentially futile search for external validation or a different state of being. The most striking aspect of the craft is the persistent motif of the "window" and the "glass." The narrator has "tried" to break it, emphasizing the futility of direct attempts to cross the divide. This "glass can not be broken" becomes a powerful metaphor for the inherent limitations of perception versus reality. The lyrics also play with identity and time, stating "you are me and i am you, and yesterday is today," suggesting a shared human condition of this observational state, yet this unity doesn't grant access. The final lines, "to know is not to be," encapsulate this central theme, arguing that intellectual or observational understanding is distinct from lived, embodied existence.