What does I Alone mean?

Live: I Alone Meaning

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Album cover for I Alone album cover

Song Released: 1994


I Alone Lyrics

it's easier not to be wise
and measure these things by your brains
I sank into Eden with you
alone in the church by and by
I'll read to you here, save your eyes
you'll need them, your boat is at sea
your anchor is up, you've been swept...

  1. anonymous
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    Jul 3rd 2020 !⃝

    After 26 years Ed Kowalczyk said the meaning about alone. The song isn´t about the love between a couple. The meaning is the love a pure feeling for the humanity.

    Also he said the song was written when was looking answers to a big question in the life.

    Additionally “The opening line, ’It’s easier not to be wise,’ was based on me always having had an interest in spiritual traditions and philosophy and finding answers to the big questions in life. That initial lyric is a surrender to the obviousness that it’s easier not to be a wise man. It’s easier to be what we are: fledgling beings trying to find our way through life. It’s a pretty obvious statement but it’s also a kind of surrender, an acknowledgement of our weakness.

    Finally when they write a song they use a method like puzzle, they have many words about the central topic, and after they join words, trying to make a verse.

    https://www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/how-i-wrote/i-alone-live-ed-kowalczyk

  2. anonymous
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    Oct 10th 2018 !⃝

    I think this song deals more with the decisions people make. When they say it’s easier not to be great or
    it’s easier not to be wise it means that people aren’t willing to accept responsibility for the fact that they are in charge of two things :
    your own mind and body.

    Religion in my opinion is taught so that you consider your fellow man before yourself. This serves as a staple for our society, being stable as it is.

    In short those who refuse to except responsibility for their actions are chained to the fate that until they accept responsiblity for their actions your life isn’t going to move forward.

    Which is why these people are sheep,

  3. anonymous
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    Aug 3rd 2018 !⃝

    The band as a whole,along with this song particularly, seem to echo a New Age/Esoteric/Gnostic mindset which is completely at odds with orthodox Christianity, seeking wisdom and enlightenment from within one's self as paramount. This echoes the supposed "sages" of old, as evidenced in "the greatest of teachers" line in the song specifically. As such, the song,and band overall, as so many other highly successful rock bands of old, seemingly teach that ultimate knowledge and the quest for godhood can be ultimately attained by mortal men my getting in touch with the divine essence within all of humanity. Such a notion is rooted in paganism and the belief that mankind is innately good at its heart, able to attain godhood and essentially save himself through transcendence and the search for inner solitude. This will ultimately never be realized by corrupt mankind who is never satisfied, having been born under the curse of Adam; never to be able to attain salvation through our own sinful selves, being separated from I AM,The God of the Old Testament, with the Fall of mankind as recorded in the Genesis account of creation. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is viewed as one of many teachers of the divine principle of self-ascension. This notion stands diametrically opposed to true fundamental,classical Christian thought and the understanding that God sent His son-not just a teacher of the way but God (The Way) himself(He said before Abraham was 'I AM'), to be a propitiation for our (mankind collectively) sins, since we are unable and incapable of saving ourselves because we cannot keep God's laws as illustrated in the Ten Commandments-which nobody-including Moses,when he initially broke the tablets coming down from the mountain-was able to keep. The churches and many Christian's will tell you today that if an artist mentions or gives credit to Biblical figures or principles that makes the artist of the song or the song itself, in which the notion is utilized, explicitly Christian or having Christian undertones when this is simply not the case. The churches are running blind and happily so,following the pied piper into Hell, ultimately rejecting the notion that salvation is through God-in the person of Jesus Christ-alone and not through contemplation or spiritual formation. This is a deception to lead people to worship the coming lawless one, The Antichrist, who the Bible states will sell himself as the saving grace of mankind, being personally most in touch with Christ consciousness and the self enlightenment that all mankind has right to attain to on their own accord. Don't fall for the deception! Accept the fact that you can't save yourself and call upon God by faith for forgiveness to grant you repentance for your sins. rom 3:23-26

  4. Hoodwink
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    Jun 10th 2017 !⃝

    I have another interesting opinion on this song. If you read Gen 6:1-4 along with 1st and 2nd Peter as well as Jude (they quote the book of Enoch which details the story), you'll see the story of the sons of god (angels) marrying daughters of men and having children with them....giants, men of renown. This is supposedly the reason for the flood and Noah and his family were saved as they were 'pure'. Those sons of God are in Tartarus chained until judgment. This song COULD be interpreted as the 'devil, Satan, lucifer' speaking to those very angels that are bound unlike him. The baby in space could be read as Jesus in Revelations as the woman giving birth in Revelations 12. Only love can save us now....if God changes his mind. Hey, it's most likely not this interpretation but it was fun.

  5. anonymous
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    Dec 27th 2015 !⃝

    Everyone says this is the devil speaking but I've always interpreted it as the total opposite.

    Just because satan tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit didnt mean God didnt know they would do it. The line of I sank into Eden with you could be interpreted as a downfall they both share but that is obviously a line of empathy. He saw that living in perpetual stagnation was not good and let us be free to make our mistakes.

    And who could be the only one to say I alone love you despite anything else? That regardless if anyone else does who still would? I would certainly think God and the line of I alone tempt you? I believe that's the challenges that we face in life which is inherent in our ability to make choices.

    The sea we've been cast away into is life.
    I interpret the baby in space as a belief in an alternate higher power (2001 a space odyssey style).
    The greatest of teachers can either be the greatest of all teachers or the greatest teachers, leading me to believe that they should be interpreted as human.
    These are the things that leave you chained to fate, death, because they are powerless in the face of it.

    The riddles and rhythms are the teachings we have been told and tasked with figuring out so we can know the truth.

    Only love can save us in the face of death, his love.
    Fear is not the end of this because he will save you.

  6. anonymous
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    Mar 15th 2014 !⃝

    Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk said of the songs lyrics, "People think 'I Alone' is a love song but it really wasn't. The lyrics were more abstract, encompassing a much larger message." [3] He explained the line, "The greatest of teachers won't hesitate to leave you there by yourself chained to fate," by saying that a profound lesson he derived from studying spiritual teachings was that religion and truth must be found for oneself and practiced, rather than just accepting the word of others.
    Wikipedia

  7. Bluesun13
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    Feb 29th 2012 !⃝

    Define the borders of ones existence he begins to place the person in hell "you'll need them your boat is at sea. The anchor is up you've been swept away" meaning you've been taken over and forsaken "the greates of teachers won't hesitate, to leave you there by yourself, chained to fate by me" is saying that having denied his world and his creation, God will have no problem leaving you to the devils works. Leading to the chorus where having slowly drawn you in Satan gives up pretending and unveils the breath of your actions.

  8. Bluesun13
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    Feb 29th 2012 !⃝

    First off the lyrics are progressive. The motive of each line being the logical effect of the previous while also leading into the next. 1st person from the POV of the Christian devil. Beginning with the first line " it's easier not to be wise and measure these things by your brains" is the devil easing the mind of those who would deny reality, and of easing the horrors of those who would turn their back on their own potential. Once denied reality becomes a dark lonely place and one descends into isolation of the soul in fear and uncertainty, which he expresses in "I sank into Eden within, alone in the church by and by." Now the person is lonely and desperate but having no root in themselves or reality they become dependent on outside manipulation in order to feel anything at all. This leads to the lines " I'll read to you here save your eyes" akin to since you have no belief in anything: God, the world, yourself I'll do the thinking now and given the power to


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