Now I´m in doubt... sorry Graffinius but, not intended to point it out at all, but did you refer to Grag Graffin as the author of All there is lyrics or by mistake thought he is the author or actually All there is is written by him? My poorly understandings of the style and phrases constructions would give me a hint that this particular one is from Mr Brett. Ok, who cares, one may say... For me this is relevant. Anyway, sorry for bother you. Don´t have best clue to add in here, just the interpretation that Generator is also the kind of subject(s) that I can encounter here too. Thanks

Graffinius wrote: In the "The Empire Strikes First" booklet, the lyric reads: "My Divinity is caught between the colors of a butterfly" I found this interesting because on the CD he clearly says, "And my divinity was caught between . . ." So besides these lyrics laying on top of an awesome bridge to an awesome song, they have more meaning than that. Divinity could refer to being "God-Like", or to the study of religion and its effect on what is truth. Greg Graffin strikes me as a man who doesn't discard the idea of a god, or God. But as a man who convinced himself that this one particular idea of god (God), is no good to say the least. Divinity, to me, could also mean a connection to god, or one to spirituality. So, "was caught between". This refers past tense. And the reason i find this interesting is that the booklet says "My divinity is. .", not "And my divinity was. And caught between, at least to me, means that its been hidden, or unable to emerge. But although "caught between", it's still there! This line is coming from a man with lyrics such as "I'll believe in God when one and one are five", and "Religions' just synthetic frippery". The line from "All There Is", seemingly contradicts Bad Religion's idealism as a whole. But I think it's more a testament to Greg's honesty and bravery. He's not afraid to say maybe. Maybe there is a god.

I wonder if Brett was influenced or inspired by this song: 'Is that all there is?'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_That_All_There_Is%3F

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VscVP_Gt_s

To me it deals with depression and a lot of the concepts Aldous Huxley explains in "Doors of Perception" where he says something along the lines of "despite our ability to see and feel those around us we are alone in life." Furthermore he gets to the breakdown and i think he is talking about the futility of competition between men, in this case the USA and Russia. "Space for a paper airplane race in the eye of a hurricane" could mean the race to get to space between the wars. Also "If pigs could fly" supports this as well.

In the "The Empire Strikes First" booklet, the lyric reads: "My Divinity is caught between the colors of a butterfly"
I found this interesting because on the CD he clearly says, "And my divinity was caught between . . ." So besides these lyrics laying on top of an awesome bridge to an awesome song, they have more meaning than that. Divinity could refer to being "God-Like", or to the study of religion and its effect on what is truth. Greg Graffin strikes me as a man who doesn't discard the idea of a god, or God. But as a man who convinced himself that this one particular idea of god (God), is no good to say the least. Divinity, to me, could also mean a connection to god, or one to spirituality. So, "was caught between". This refers past tense. And the reason i find this interesting is that the booklet says "My divinity is. .", not "And my divinity was. And caught between, at least to me, means that its been hidden, or unable to emerge. But although "caught between", it's still there! This line is coming from a man with lyrics such as "I'll believe in God when one and one are five", and "Religions' just synthetic frippery". The line from "All There Is", seemingly contradicts Bad Religion's idealism as a whole. But I think it's more a testament to Greg's honesty and bravery. He's not afraid to say maybe. Maybe there is a god.

"This song goes out to all the hopeless sinners, with grave allegiances, so meaningless and vain, The walking wounded in a pageant of contenders, Who balance on a rail of pain for just a pail of rain": I believe this part of the songs is saying that this song is for everybody who has a religion. It might refer just to Christianity but I'm not sure. But whomever they are, they put everything into a useless God that will do nothing for them. They are all hurt but they continue to follow their religion because it offers a little solace throughout their lived.

"And everything is barely mist, blood relations and bricks, my expression, my confession, add it up, extract a lesson, more, than this, once again, like a bullet as a friend, tell me: can that be all, there is?": the line ".....barely mist..." is saying that this religion obscures peoples perceptions on life and reality itself, including family members (blood relations) and foundations (bricks) for their own faulty religion or a more logical approach to life. He then goes on to compel the reader to look at his his way of thinking and try to get something out of that. He then asks the question (making it very serious with a reference to a bullet) can their faith be the only choice out there.

"In my rectory of doubt, I kneel to pray like one devout, As time the great gray dreamless sleep of a useless modern god, erodes away each storied day as wretched Adams with hell to pay, Content upon a rail of pain for just a little rain": the writer here is very skeptical of religion. I think the first line here is saying that he has an extreme doubt in an omnipotent being but still goes through the motions that a believer would or perhaps he is just looking for answers and clarity; however, as time goes by, he can see that this God is not real and that there will always be meaningless suffering and there. While there are still people who are perfectly fine with their illusion of God who hurts or lets people be hurt all of the time but is so "kind" as to let them occasionally feel relief.

"And everything is dearly missed, blood relations and bricks, my expression, my confession, add it up, extract a lesson, more, than this, once again, like a bullet as a friend, tell me: can that be all, there is?": the chorus is the same as before except that "mist" is changed to "missed". I believe that this means that as tiem goes on and people are more into their religion, they lose sight of the ones they love and any other solid basis for life and understanding.

"There's an endless disposition, and it doesn't mean a goddamn thing? there's space for a paper-airplane race in the eye of a hurricane. And if pigs could fly, then surely so could I, but this pedestrian knows better than to even try, and my divinity is caught between the colors of a butterfly": the first part of this verse I simply saying that their are countless religions and philosophies in life and none of them are probably right but people by into them because they happen to be at the right place at the right time. The writer then goes on to say that if great preternatural things can occur, he can make them happen but he has the sense to know that just because a religious book says it so, it doesn't make it so. The last line states that his "God" is in some kind of science or at least something that he has evidence for.