We know this masterpiece.
Peter Hammill explained the core theme of Pawn Hearts as a journey from ego-driven isolation to a sense of universal unity, symbolized by track of the Plague of lighthouse. The keeper in finding peace by accepting his small role a pawn within the vast, indifferent ocean, and the album art reflecting this with Hammill's directive to designer Paul Whitehead:
"No matter if you're a king, a pauper or whatever – you're a pawn, leading to the Earth as a pawn on a cosmic stage."
Knowing about key symbols and meanings: The Lighthouse Keeper: Represents isolation and guilt, eventually realizing he's part of the greater world, finding peace in just being, swimming rather than controlling or saving.
The Pawn is a central metaphor for individuals caught in larger forces, highlighting the human condition of being small but connected to everything.
The Ocean and water: they symbolizes the universal consciousness or life itself, where the keeper finds connection and purpose by merging with it.
The cover art shows Earth as a pawn, emphasizing our insignificance yet integration into the grand scheme.
"A Thousand Lighthouses in the Sky": A beautiful image suggesting vastness, guidance, or perhaps overwhelming perspective, ultimately leading to the realization that simply swimming-living is enough.
Here comes a other story of soul peace:
"Let’s imagine a quiet sea and then the same sea with towering waves, and that we’re on a sinking ship in this wildly surging water so that death is inevitable. Anyone who can feel no fear of death but only the wonderful beauty of the unfettered elements and the grandness of creation at such a moment knows what soul peace is."
"We should let such images, such thoughts, live in us in their whole richness and greatness as often as possible. Then we’ll feel that fear and terror about the elements and eruptions disappear, and we’ll draw strength from all hindrances that life puts in our path, "
said Rudolf Steiner in the Contents of Esoteric Classes, Munich, 8th March 1909.
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