Echoes by Pink Floyd

Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves in labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant tide
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine

And no one showed us to the land
And no one knows the wheres or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can
And no one calls us to move on
And no one forces down our eyes
No one speaks
And no one tries
No one flies around the sun

Cloudless every day you fall upon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

And no one sings me lullabies
And no one makes me close my eyes
So I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky.

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There is a lot of spiritual meaning in this song.

The albatross represents a person born of the spirit (as do all birds). Different birds have different meanings, though. An albatross eats fish of the sea. The sea represents the material world, and fish the souls or spirits of those not spiritually alive.

The echoes are the calling of God or the Great Spirit or It or the Higher Power or whatever you wish to identify with. It is the calling from beyond to deep within the labyrinths of the world, the trappings of our mind, the things we love of this world. It can be anything. It is often money or love or sex or drugs or ambition or fame, but it can be anything. God calls from beyond, through the maze of these false things, these illusions, we hold on to, and calls us to the surface, to the light. The distant tide is not only a reference to how long one must travel to get back to a spiritual life, but also a reference to the distant reminder of what we once lived prior to our life in the world.

Green is often a color to represent underwater, or not born of the spirit. Yellow means in the light and orange means close to the sun, or God, or the Great Spirit. Submarine calls to the completing enveloping environment of being in the world. It can be very difficult to escape, and takes much work.

No one shows you to the surface, how to break free. You must find it yourself. There are many guides in many religious scriptures and non-religious art and messengers--as you open your eyes, you begin to see it everywhere around you--but your path is unique to you. Your spirit within you is connected to the Greater Spirit. Your spirit will know how to get back. Listen to it and follow it.

No one knows the wheres or whys, because this Great Thing is a mystery. Our religions try to make sense of it, but they are like two-dimensional maps of a three-dimensional globe, only even more distorted. Every religion is true in its own way, is only a part of the truth, and is a distortion of the truth. And every individual carries with them their own personal truth that is unique and beautiful and critically valuable, like every piece in a jigsaw puzzle. But no one piece of a jigsaw puzzle can see the whole picture. Likewise, none of us really knows the wheres or whys. The most experienced, the most advanced, only have very good approximations.

Something stirs and something and something tries. Which people are called to the light? When? What prompts them to? No one can say for certain. No one knows the wheres or whys. We can do everything under the sun to call softly or shake violently, but it is a mystery when and how a person wakes up spiritually and starts to climb out of slumber and toward the light.

The next part is wonderful, and you must experience it to understand it. As your spirit awakens, the spirit in you sees the spirit in others and recognizes it as one of the same, part of the same Oneness. In some sense, we are merely extensions of the Oneness, like the tips of the spikes of sea urchins, each and every one of us. We merely see ourselves as separate, but our common spirits extending all the way to the One Great Spirit binds us together as one of the smae. By sharing experiences and perspectives, we are essentially allowing the Great Spirit to understand Itself. Likewise, each of us, as little branches of the It, can lead each other back to the Greatness, to understand through the sharing of perspectives, what It Is.

No one calls us to move on, speaks, or tries, because as you begin to understand God or the Great Spirit, you surrender to it. You realize there is no need to control another (calls us to move on) or control yourself (no one tries; live in the spirit). At some point in future, humans we will be of One Mind (no one speaks). No one tries to define God or the Great Spirit, anymore, either (no one flies around the sun). Many religions of the world today claim to know or define what is unknowable.

The Light falls upon us cloudlessly; it is only us who imagine problems in our life, because the spirit is the only life we actually have. Our spirits need the Light to see. The Light is Energy, which our spirits need to live, more than our bodies need food and water. The window is our perception of the spiritual world, through which the Light can enter. This can be a religion for many, so the window can be small and rigid or large and flexible. It is my hope that humans evolve to the point that the wall is removed altogether. The ambassadors represent every person who shines light for their friends and enemies, a testimony.

We are not called back to sleep. Instead, we are called to enthusiastically reach out to the source of the Light, and to call out back to it.