Tool - Stinkfist Lyrics Meaning

I am a huge Tool fan and have followed them since Opiate. I also happen to have been in a long term abusive relationship with someone suffering BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) and though only a few have considered this meaning, the obscurity would make even more sense than MAynard's normal topic of a desensitized American public. If you are a big Tool fan then you should consider this meaning and google BPD to see the symptoms. This song very literally could describe the dance between the "Borderline" and "non" (or co-dependent). I also think generally it is from the perspective of the BPD or Borderline personality.

"Something has to change
Undeniable dilemma
Boredom's not a burden
Anyone should bear"

Referring to the borderline when alone. When a borderline is alone and not receiving the validation of worth from someone they slip into a very dark place of intense emotion. A borderline did not develop proper coping mechanisms to deal with emotion. One trait of this is that they can not "revisit" the feeling of love when the person is gone. When you leave, you no longer exist, they are alone and worthless. They experience this intensified emotion a million times more magnified than a healthy person. This can lead to impulsive reckless behavior, suicidal behavior, etc. The borderline can not be alone.

"Constant over stimulation
Numbs me
But I would not want you any other way"

The contradictory nature of this disorder is that even with the above mentioned validation, even if you constantly engage, shower with affection, love, satisfy sexually, etc the borderline is still never satisifed. Instead they shut down, push you away, become numb to your affection, and begin analyzing tiny perceived threats that prove you really don't care and they are in fact worthless. These perceived threats (often fictitious) are blown up and become problematic, however the conundrum is though the borderline begins to disconnect and avoid this affection and behavior, if you react to them, if you start to distance yourself (for self-preservation) this will be worse. Though they couldn't handle how you were treating them they didn't want you to stop. That is worse.

"Just not enough
I need more
Nothing seems to satisfy
I don't want it
I just need it
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive"

The chorus ties directly in with what I have mentioned above. A borderline doesn't experience a real sense of being alive. They often state they feel "invisible" or "empty" or "not real". They are constantly trying to fill a deep void, a hole inside them but they can't. Their world is defined by the constant shifting intense emotions and an inability to live within the gray areas that truly define the complex life experience of an adult. They can only view the world in terms of black and white, best and worst, numb or stimulated, etc.

"Finger deep within the borderline
Show me that you love me
And that we belong together
Relax, turn around, and take my hand"

I think the key give away here is the reference to borderline. The borderline (as described above) can not define any self worth through their darkness and emptiness. They don't want your affection, they need it. They need to constantly be reminded that your adore them because that temporarily fills that need, that emptiness, it makes them feel for a moment like they are alive...like they are real.

"I can help you change
Tired moments into pleasure
Say the word and we'll be well upon our way"

If you ever encounter a borderline in a relationship, the start of that relationship is the most exciting of your life. The borderline has a keen ability to tap into everything about you (fears, desires, hot buttons, etc). They can basically mirror all of your best traits and satisfy all of your desires and become your perfect partner. You will undoubtedly be stepping on to the most exciting fullfilling ride of your life and want to devote everything to them. Nothing will be more exciting. Anything you ever dreamed or considered to want from a partner, from another human being, they can and will give/become.

"Bend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not want me any other way"

But that doesn't last long. Once you are hooked and totally in love with this person the shroud is dropped and the borderline takes over. The dance, if you stay, is described above. The borderline will love you like no other and build you up that they believe you are the greatest person in the world, only to subsequently cut you down and treat you like the absolute worst humananity has to offer. This tug of war between comforting and hurting you will keep you confused about the cause and desperately trying to regain the wonderful feelings of love and affection. You will tip toe to their every whim, walk on eggshells to avoid another explosion, you will try anything and everything to get it back.

"Just not enough
I need more
Nothing seems to satisfy
I said, I don't want it
I just need it
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive"

"Knuckle deep inside the borderline
This may hurt a little
But it's something you'll get used to
Relax, turn away"

If you are following the progression of the relationship with a borderline then at this stage the metaphor of finger deep, knuckle deep (then deeper yet later in the song) may actually be referring to the eneshment of the two people. Since the borderline struggles with any real identity of their own they can not stand as a separate person next to a partner. They must be totally one in every sense of the word. The non-bpd gets sucked deeper into this cycle and each time the pain becomes more tolerable as the non-bpd accepts more and more of this turmoil, extending the boundaries of what they will take farther and farther.

"Something kinda sad about
the way things have come to be
Desensitized to everything
What became of subtlety
How can this mean anything to me?
If I really don't feel a thing at all?
I'll
Keep
Digging
Till I
Feel
Something"

This particular verse I could interpret either way as being still from the perspective of the borderline or from the non, but ultimately I believe the whole message of this song to be from the BPD's perspective. In which case this verse would just lend more descriptive properties to the Borderline's discontentment with oneself, the search to feel, to validate, to become real, etc. But I could see this one applied to the non who eventually will be pushed away, who eventually will recognize the abusive patterns in their relationship, who will have sustained so much damage that they realize eventually they don't know why they are staying since they have been broken themselves now and don't feel anything.

"Elbow deep inside the borderline
Show me that you love me
And that we belong together
Shoulder deep within the borderline
Relax, turn around, and take my hand"

That's my take. Though Maynard leaves the lyrics ambiguous and open for fan interpretation, and oftne employs some deliberate misdirection, still I believe in this case the song is really about BPD.