The Matrix Decoded
Posted on Aug 10th, 2007
by 
Julian
Julian
Wake up people - Zaadz is part of The Matrix!
I am only half-kidding....
Awake or dreaming? Real or simulated? Truth or lies? Human or machine.? Slave or hero? (Hopefully you know the melody here...) Won't you take me to - duality town?
Please see here for The Matrix Revealed in which I give an introduction and an account of the first forty minutes of this amazing feat of storytelling and meaning-layering...What follows will refer back to that post extensively.
The Matrix Decoded
If you took philosophy in college you know that this really is room 101. We are at the beginning of every freshman philosophy course - Epistemology. How do I know what I know? One of the standard questions we confront in Epistemology and/or Skepticism is the one Morpheus poses to Neo - How do you know that you are not dreaming right now?
(This is important too in terms of a kind of political skepticism toward forms of power.)
Though groundbreaking in their illustration and execution, the ideas of The Matrix are not new. Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Renee Descartes' Meditations can be seen operating in the story.
How do we know what is true? The premodern position on this is that you know what is true via revelation or God telling you. The modern position is that we find out what is true via philosophical reason and scientific inquiry. The postmodern position is that we need to step back and ask whose truth and in what context - becoming aware of the narratives underneath and around the question itself...The Matrix Trilogy will explore all three of these positions.
With regard to the actual storytelling of The Matrix we see not only the opposition of human and machine, but also the Cyberpunk ethos in which the futuristic freedom-seeker finds their own uses for technology as a means to their freedom/subversion of the power structure.... So the problems of the ethical use or abuse of technology, individual freedom and political power are at the heart of this movie.
The mythology of the first Matrix film centers on Neo as a Jesus-like savior. He has been prophesied by the oracle, Morpheus has been waiting for him, the survival of the human race depends upon his special chosen status. His last name, Anderson breaks down etymologically to "andros" or "man" and "son" - so we have the son of man. Not only is this a Christian allusion, but it is essentially both Gnostic Christian and Buddhist in the sense that awakening from bondage and illusion is at the heart of the narrative.
The political aspect of the movie casts this notion of awakening and liberation from bondage in the light of a radical vision of an extreme form of capitalist control in which human beings have literally become batteries that power machines - their humanity broken on the altar of a kind of grotesque utilitarianism. Everyone in the Matrix is asleep and living out a kind of automated illusory life in which they appear as "residual self-image" not even knowing that they are in fact not who they think they are, or that they are thus enslaved. So the political and the spiritual are wedded here in a theme that has to do with consumerism, ego/persona identification, unconscious iiving, insidious covert enslavement and the Buddhist/Christian savior/heroic figure who has woken up to reality and is doing battle for humanity.
Philosophically this also puts us in the Nietzschian realm of The Superman.
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
Of course we find out later that one can in fact turn back - Cypher decides that he doesn't care about what is real and whether he is free - he wants to plug back in and enjoy the illusion - and betrays his comrades to do so...
Postmodernism is at the center of the all-important Baudrillard reference to Simulacra and Simulation (see The Matrix Revealed) and Morpheus' chilling statement as he reveals the terrible truth to Neo - "Welcome to the desert of the real."
Baudrillard, via Borges, suggests that we have lost touch with reality and that we in essence know only a mediated, second-hand superficial version of reality. Again the message seems to be the importance of waking up to reality as it is in order to have some kind of power or freedom. It is only through knowing what is real, what is true and freeing ourselves from illusions that we can get out of spiritual and political bondage.
We are then also in the philosophical conundrum around destiny and free will. Is Neo's entire life preordained, unfolding predictably as prophesied by the Oracle? Does he have any say in the matter? How much of what he will do is imposed on him by Morpheus? Might he and his heroic narrative also be part of a bigger story or hyper-level of the Matrix that is itself also an illusion?
All of this we are asked to struggle with as the story continues.
The Necessary Distinctions
I want to now make a distinction between three things:
1) The central metaphor of The Matrix
2) What that metaphor can be said to represent.
3) The popular misconceptions/literalizations of the metaphor.
As is always the case with the complex subjects the Matrix asks us to consider - philosophy, politics, mythology, spirituality, consciousness, the pop culture temptation is to oversimplify, literalize and stop at the first, most superficial and narcissistic-ally pleasing interpretation.
This cheats us out of the richness (while protecting us from the uneasiness) that a deeper analysis can bring. Ironically there is a way that pop culture and especially popular spirituality a la the everpresent New Age ideology tends to interpret The Matrix such that the powerful messages become dreamy panaceas instead of an invitation to actually wake up to the desert of the real - to see our predicament for what it is...
This co-opting is so ubiquitous as to form a matrix of it's own - and I would suggest (again deeply ironically and perhaps quite controversially) that the general zeitgeist on Zaadz is part of this real world matrix!
So, let me back up this outrageous assertion via my necessary distinctions:
1) The central metaphor of The Matrix is that the main characters in the film have woken up from a computer generated dream world and unplugged from their prisons to discover that all other human beings have been enslaved to have their energy drained by machines who have taken over the post-apocalyptic world.
When they are in the real world they are a somewhat ordinary, vulnerable, motley crew who live on a cobbled together unglamorous ship and do battle with machines that want to annihilate them.
These awakened human beings learn (via computer technology that has been subverted to their own ends) how to train their minds to have more power when they enter the illusory world of The Matrix to try and change it. When they are in the illusory world they look beautiful and stylish and have amazing powers to do battle with the scary enemy agents.
Learning how to use their minds to manipulate the illusory world is a means to achieving freedom for all humans in the much more precious, ugly, vulnerable and important real world. All the human beings that they seek to liberate will perforce have to go through the initiatory experience that we see Neo going through - a devastating, mind-blowing, horrifying confrontation with the truth of their own circumstances, the lie they have been living and the true condition of the world.
So a) "waking up" is a really serious, dangerous endeavor and b) the purpose of all the mind-training and impressive powers is not ultimately mastery over the illusory world in which those feats are possible - but destruction of that world so as to wake up to reality - in which those mind tricks would not be possible...
2) What the metaphor can be said to represent is as follows:
We are psychologically conditioned by our society and controlled politically by a corrupted power structure that does not have our best interests at heart. Furthermore we have been enslaved by capitalist consumerism to live lives of unconscious routine in which we work endlesly for money to buy things we don't need that prop up our egoic self-images and allow us to imagine ouselves as free and powerful.
Via philosophical/psychological inquiry, skeptical reasoning, and spiritual practices we can wake-up to see reality more clearly. This will not be flattering to ourselves or to the structures we find ourselves in.
At the heart of this awakening process is a confrontation with the shadow in it's most horrifying forms - this is why I focused on the breathtaking revelatory process that makes up the first 40 minutes of the film. For most of us, like Cypher - living in a sedated illusion in which we are not free is preferable to this very difficult awakening process that has no clearly defined end-points but is an open-ended and hence very unsettling inquiry into the nature of truth, beauty and goodness.
So we are dealing again not only with a kind of radical political perspective, but also radical psychological and spiritual perspective. We are being asked to not only look at how technology that is designed to liberate us can and does enslave us, but also at how ideas and beliefs that appear liberating at first glance can actually be part of the machinery of enslavement and the potion of dissociative dreaming.
Which leads me to the difficult problem of:
3) The popular misconceptions/literalizations of the metaphor.
The biggest (and most fundamental) misinterpretation can be addressed thus:
Remember that the desert of the real is not The Matrix. This is Morpheus' object lesson.
The world we actually live in, the laws of physics, the reality of economic inequity, political power, neurosis, man's inhumanity to man, war, violence and oppression, environmental crisis - the desert of the real - is not The Matrix. It's actually the reality that we need to wake up to politically and spiritually if we are to be truly free...The illusion is one of omnipotence, endless resources, total free-will, unlimited love and freedom if we just wish it so...
The central metaphor of The Matrix does not translate directly, literally onto our actual lives, with everything we don't like about reality conveniently labelled as part of "The Matrix" and our call to spiritual awakening being to see through the illusion of suffering, disempowerment and struggle.
The popularity and power amongst spiritual folk of The Matrix lies to a certain extent in this significant misunderstanding. We would like to believe that the film liberates us by pointing out that we "create our own reality" in a very literal way and that the difficult world we live in is really an illusion - that we can have power over it (and even change it's rules) like Neo does in the illusory world via our minds.
Of course this is partially and powerfully true on the subjective personal and collective cultural level - the recognition that we are socially and psychologically conditioned and that "waking up" from this is not only possible but essential is vitally important (and key to the film)- but when we extend this concept into territory it has no jurisdiction over we actually enfold ourselves deeper into a self-created matrix of delusion - and this sickness is at the heart of New Age ideas.
Neo has that mind power in the realm of illusion - precisely because it is an illusion.
The illusion that we can wake up from has more to do with the consumerism, denial, image-identification and the avoidance of reality than it does with "transcending" the hard facts of life - the desert of the real.
The questions that are being introducd in The Matrix should be properly recognized as conundrums that we can ponder our entire lives and that much, much better minds than those that have brought us dreamy spiritual kitsch like What The Bleep, The Secret and The Celestine Prophecy have gone way deeper down the rabbit hole than the pleasing superficial gloss that pretends to spiritual depth in our consumer zeitgeist.
In closing this chapter let me suggest two things:
1) That The Matrix is an invitation to question - not an affirming of belief.
2) That the allusion to spiritual practice represented by the mind-power Neo and his compadres learn is better and more fruitfully understood as a process of introspective self-awareness, a kung-fu of discriminating wisdom and psycho-spiritual insight than as giving creedence to the oversimplified fantasy of literally controlling the world outside of us with our all-powerful thoughts.
Click here for next chapte The Matrix Reloaded: Deconstructing "The One"
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capitalism
Great points, my friend. Looking forward for more!
Godspeed,
Hokai
always good to know you are out there my friend - thanks!
(BTW - nice haircut!)
Julian - Once again, you deliver the goods! :)
Neo has that mind power in the realm of illusion - precisely because it is an illusion.
The illusion that we can wake up from has more to do with the consumerism, denial, image-identification and the avoidance of reality than it does with “transcending” the hard facts of life - the desert of the real.
This has got to be one of your keenest perceptions yet, Julian! What a juicy couple of statements you have made here…
1. We do have power over what is illusory.
2. We do not have power over what is not illusory.
3. It is our responsibility to discriminate what is illusory and what is not.
Any pointers or personal application faves on #3, J?
thanks delia!
well, let me see… hmmm:
that's were my three principles come in - inquiry-based practice, critical thinking and shadow-work… funny thing that…
:O)
So according to Ramana here is the three legged stool we all get to sit upon.
1) The world is an illusion
2) Only Brahma is real
3) Brahma is the world
It has to be all three at once. What I notice in myself is I'll rotate through them as a sequence of beliefs depending on mood and circumstance. Temperamentally, people are drawn to one of the three and for some that becomes the foundation of their philosopohy and life orientation. Holding all three simultaneously is not an act of the mind but a realization. The mind cannot hold paradox, it can only move through it.
Here is a quote that has been resonating for me: (practice refers to meditation practice)
Only to the extent that [a] man exposes himself over and over again to annihilation can that which is indestructible arise within him. In this lies the dignity of daring. Thus, the aim of practice is not to develop an attitude which allows a man to acquire a state of harmony and peace wherin nothing can ever trouble him. On the contrary, practice should teach him to let himself be assaulted, perturbed, moved, insulted, broken and battered _ that is to say, it should enable him to dare to let go his futile hankering after harmony, surcease from pain, and a comfortable life, inorder that he may discover in doing battle with the forces that oppose him, that which awaits him beyond the world of opposites. The first necessity is that we should have the courage to face life, and to encounter all that is more perilous in the world. When this is possible, meditation itself become the means by which we accept and welcome the demons which arise from the unconscious _ a process very different from the practice of concentration on some object as a protection against such forces. Only if we venture repeatedly through zones of annhilation can our contact with Divine Being, which is beyond annihilation, become firm and stable. The more a man learns wholeheartedly to confront the world that threatens him with isolation, the more are the depths of the Ground of Being revealed and possibilities of new life and Becoming opened.
Karfried Graf von Durckheim
It seems to me that the second sentence: Thus, the aim of practice is not to develop an attitude which allows a man to acquire a state of harmony and peace wherin nothing can ever trouble him. [my emphasis] is applicable to the first of the Matrix movies. The goal of Neo's training is to become invincible and imperturbable to any and all images or illusions of the world. Time stops. Bullets hang in the air. All danger disappears and the world becomes an object of play. It is interesting that the method of finally destroying the Agents is to become “one with them” and get inside their own skin. Neo informs their form with his own awareness and power. It becomes a fantastic visual display of personal mastery over statement #1 “The world is an illusion”.
As a film maker the problem of trying to illustrate statement #2 “Only Brahma is real” is impossible. A film maker provides images. An audience would not appreciate 5 minutes of blank screen. “Where's the movie?” In “The Fountain” the moment of transcendence and oneness is shown as this great explosion of light and energy pulsing through the protagonists body_ a kind of spiritual porn. It's the ego's vision of what enlightment is going to be “like”, that is sexual orgasm only bigger, better and forever.
Statement #3 has its own dangers if taken by itself. The risk is that the multidimensional nature of the world gets flattened. What you see is what you get. period. The Matrix does have a lot of fun playing with this and it translates beautifully to film. What you see is not what you get if your mastery allows you to see through and the film makers constantly tease the audience into believing that the hero is on the edge of disaster, that what he perceives is real. In the second movie I found it to be less convincing. I didn't get why he seemed to keep falling for it (the illusions of the Matrix) but I only saw the movie once and that was some time ago. Perhaps I'll rent it and go through it again.
My 2 cents.
c
block rockin badass deconstrucing obser mavations my friend! wow…
i'll have more to say later, but i love the quote you shared.
beautifully stated coyote.
i think the danger with a movie like the matrix lies again in overliteralizing and imagining a one-to-one correlation with maharshi's statement - beautiful non-dual koan that it is…..
these days i am less interested in the vedantic notion of illusion and the often transcendentalist position on ultimate reality - and more concerned with the illusions created by bad reasoning, psychological denial and sociopolitical lies/conditioning - illussions tha can be overcome/seen through via awareness practices and education….
the ultimate nature of brahman, the world and that level of illusion vs reality sems at this point (after having spent a great deal of time thinking it was really important) to often be a little speculative and as much a product of socially constructed metaphysics as any other religious trip….
even as sophisticated and profound as this staement by maharshi is - it still contains a signifier - brahman- that i am not sure has a meaningful/consistent signified….
Julian: ”even as sophisticated and profound as this staement by maharshi is - it still contains a signifier - brahman- that i am not sure has a meaningful/consistent signified….”
Thanks for that, as it's indeed important. Though, the precarious nature of the sign (i.e. signifier plus signified) should in no way obfuscate the certain nature of the referent. Our growing semantic awareness can lead to a premature being-done-with conclusion. Insofar as the conventional awareness graspes unto signs as relating to a self-existent object, all designations are tricky, including any definition of “illusion” (hence, another meaning of “desert of the real”).
We need to work with this on at least three levels: (1) the illusory mode of literalism found in any structure/worldview, (2) the relatively correct mode of depedent-understanding found in critical, reflective observation of one's own present meaning-making, and (3) the absolute, nondual mode found in profound clarity pertaining to the appearances (i.e. all perspectives) and simultaneously their limpid, ungraspable nature. Ramana's statement skips the second mode, while Nagarjuna/Madhyamila confounds the first two modes.
Just a thought.
Hokai
agreed agreed and most eloquently stated dear brother.
i still find myslef wondering how much of the time talk about non-dual absolutes is moslty just that - talk. ya know?
more map misunderstood as territory…
hokai please say more my scholarly friend - and if possible hook it into the matrix analysis somehow…. :O)
meanwhile, back in the Matrix…
Q; Is Cypher a cypher for Judas, or just a guy who likes steak?
Q: Is Morpheus not only a member of the holy trinity (with Neo and Trinity) but also a John the Baptist type as well?
Q: In Christian mythology does JC ascent to heaven with one fist raised skyward?
Julian: ”i still find myslef wondering how much of the time talk about non-dual absolutes is moslty just that - talk. ya know?”
99% of the time. At least.
As to the analysis, I will have to look at the trilogy once again. I remember, though, what seem to be several important points in the story. First, there's the notion of Destiny, a higher task, and an obligation found as the raison d'etre at the core of one's being. Yes in the movie it is exemplified by Neo being “the One”, but he is just being the Hero archetype. All other figures have their own Destiny, to be served in doing their own part. At the superficial level, Cypher ignores his, and yet he still serves a function in making plain what happens when we betray our higher calling - others get hurt almost immediately.
Then there's the point of having a group of like-minded individuals, ready to step into the unknown, ready to abandon the comfort of safety and feeling-good. This is an extremely important point, since in the real world, even in the desert - and even for the most self-reliant individual - everything depends on being able to rely on the fellow beings, and those who are to be relied on need to step forward.
And finally, the struggle that awaits those who would challenge the matrix (i.e. face the agents) is not for the faint of heart. Love and determination are there, yes, but great doubt is at every step of the way to freedom. Soon you realize that “the matrix” is not something out there, that indeed one fights an internal struggle with real life consequences, and that what makes it possible is the indifference with which we go about our daily business.
At a very basic level, it's a story of self-surrender. But then, there are the second and third part, and their this whole plot becomes just a little bit more intriguing.
hmmm buddha, dharma, sangha?
barry:
1) judas fo' sho' - and a fake steak chewin' mutha trucka
2) morpheus definitely carries the john the baptist thang - but he is a complex character - i think he is also asked to carry the shadow of religious conviction and it's problems…
3) jesus would have ascended with his fist in the air if they had CGI and any sense of branding savvy in his day….
Julian: ”hmmm buddha, dharma, sangha?”
Yeah, the conditioning finds its way into everything.:-) Not that I was trying to deliberately avoid it. Anyway, the plot does revolve around certain commonalities that makes it much easier to achieve some sort of credibility, the details of the story being improbable enough to not deserve serious consideration by staunch flatland realist. Which makes me wonder, would a literary version of this trilogy be even more convincing?
Julian,
So, someone once told me they heard a spiritual teacher say that they felt the Matrix was a great metaphore about awakening from the illusion, but that in the matrix, when they awoke, they were all in this sort of painful, difficult world. When really (from this teacher's point of view) when you awoke from the illusion of this world, everything was bliss.
That never sat right with me, though. I think there is a lot of validity in the idea that “waking up” to reality isn't all sunshine and lollypops, maybe, like in the Matrix, when you wake up you realize that reality is really quite difficult and that there is a great deal of work to do.
I don't know, maybe there is a heavenly world of bliss out there somewhere, but I tend to relate more to the image of waking up and discovering not that life was perfect and blissful but that it wasn't as peacy and simple as everyone made it out to be.
But then you have the chance to realize, peace comes more in recognition of reality than it does in the circumstances.
Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water -
After enlightenment, chop wood carry water.
Something like that, yes?
I got to admit, I liked the first movie, but the later movies just sort of lost me…
exactly monica - the point that i am suggesting is that there are more authentic modes of awakening and less authentic (or more pseudo) modes of awakening. there are also more integrated and less integrated modes of awakening…
also there is difference between spacious bliss and spaced out denial.
in our flight from life's difficulties, the existential reality of suffering and the spiritual call to engage in authentic modes of integrated awakening - we grab onto pseudo forms that feel nice and explain away the very conflict that would enable us to grow were we to work with it with awareness and compassion…
the new age interepretation of the matrix is precisely the one this teacher suggested - that the world of suffering is an illusion and that absolute reality was pure bliss (and in some versions absolute control over reality via consciousness)
while this has some slim basis in the dualistic aspect of the wisdom traditions - it misses the big point of the matrix which has more to do with denial, social conditioning, loss of humanity etc and in so doing unwittingly actually perpetuates the very dreamy delusions that the film is pointing to with it's metaphorical representations…
as we keep going deeper into the trilogy this hubris, dualism and narcissistic fantasy gets a fairly thorough deconstructing - and it left most people cold - patly because it may not have come across very effectively on screen, partly because it is complex intellectually, partly because it is not as fun and inspiring a message (on the face of it) - even though the implications are actually (in the depths) powerfully liberating and awakening…
well hokai - it's the combination high concept sci fi, twist in the tale narrratice, cutting edge special effects, postmodern philo-mytho jazz etc that makes it The Matrix - and made it gross $146 million!
but ya as a series of books - one can only imagine… huh? ;O)
ummm that should say “twist in the tail narrative..”
Hmm… thanks for the thought, Julian. I'll have to check out #3 again.
yes i think they all deserve multiple viewings monica!
ultimately they might be seen to be making a statment about integration of mind body and spirit…
matrix 1 is all about the mind and perception.
matrix 2 is alll about the body and deep personal love as well as free will vs destiny
matrix three appears to be about recognizing the unity of opposites - shadow/light, neo/smith, machine/human etc, in the non-dual embrace of spirit….
but more to come as i continue with this series of articles!
i hope you guys are following the links - lots of good stuff there!
perhaps i'll do another pass at this later in the week and integrate more of the info from the links…
I think part of #2 may also be a little about deciphering the BS of established patriarchial spiritual views from that of the more matriarchial views and developing the ability to sort out the truths from the “other agendas” for yourself.
Looking forward to going back through it.
Am enjoying this little romp through the shadow side going on these days…
bingo monica! absolutely - both two and three deconstruct what it means to be “the one” and the whole prophecy/absolute truth game….
and yea in number two it is in stark contrast to deep passionate personal love, embodied human-ness - as well as the maturing process of realizing you have to make all these choices that actually are dualistic and that the naive spirituality of the first film is insufficient to this next level …..
excellent reading you guys…thanx for this…
we use that word 'absolute' a lot; it is very misleading, and in and of itself is limited…have changed my perspective on it recently, and am convinced that there are no absolutes…not even an ultimate absolute.
right on starlight! iots a good word to think critically about methinks…
here's an absolute for pondering:
even believing the metaphysical aspects of the universe including physical forms are an illusion, or a manafestation of the so-called absolute ONE…is still another belief, and a place for mind to go off into fantasy land about.
the desert of the real, IS still… :)
really looking forward (excitedly) to where this is going…
you said it starlight…
i figure you will probably get into this later, however, it has been on my heart for a while now, and thought i would throw it out there…
as neo, and the rest did not really have a choice…but to play their parts…it would seem as if we do not have choice either…but that is so unlogical to the thinking processes of ego…we want to think , or at least i do, that i can change things for the better…
reality in the form of morpheus, etc., chose neo…much the same way that conscious being or whatever you want to call reality or god…chooses to act out this universal play called life…through our being…and it seems we can only become aware of it when we do…a sort of, can only hear when we hear, can only see when we see kinda thing. and damn all those shadows…that once again are there of no apparent individualized choice…right?
then when you reach, or seem to reach a certain point, it is very frustrating at how really powerless you seem to be…
i don't know if i am making any sense, but what else is also frustrating is that if all there is is this conscious being, then is conscious being not just playing a big joke on itself? why aren't we laughing?
these are the questions inspired by the second movie starlight - and they should be frustrating!
more later…
Hey Starlight and Julian,
Starlight, I so deeply resonate with your post about powerlessness… not knowing what you don't know, or even worse, waking up to see the role you're playing, and then realizing the decades of personal work now required, along with the unconscious conspirators who give every moment of their existence to perpetuating the status quo…and you still have to deal with them every day…
then there's this quote:
“even believing the metaphysical aspects of the universe including physical forms are an illusion, or a manafestation of the so-called absolute ONE…is still another belief, and a place for mind to go off into fantasy land about.”
Starlight, THIS question is the one that rips me open lately… first because I have a damn hard time differentiating belief vs. inner experiential knowledge within myself, and second because I cannot dismiss the pure power and occasional efficacy of metaphysical belief… I seem to be defining it as “faith” lately.
What if the most powerful impetus to heroic action is metaphysical belief that happens to match up enough with deep spiritual truth for something new to emerge or something old to be vanquished?
Julian, I haven't watched the Matrix films in a while (although I think I went to the theater 9 times to watch the first one when it came out, and I've seen 2 and 3 mulitple times), but doesn't Morpheus represent the power of metaphysical belief? Nothing happens unless he with his belief in the “One” and the Oracle ushers Neo through the first initiation, yet those same beliefs then begin to interfere when Neo later realizes the moment demands that he deal with the Oracle in a new way? Please correct me if I have the details wrong, but I do believe the movies examine this question?
And maybe to touch on the grand theme of your blogging, Julian, I've been grateful for your sharp dissections of magical thinking associated with the new age. I'm suspecting that the hint of worthiness that everyone seems to sniff in the rotteness of The Secret, The Celestine Prophecy and all the rest is faith.
Could it be true that if ANY belief, no matter how ungrounded in this world, narcisstic, and all the rest, restores faith to a person, the energy faith provides also gives that person another chance to further their (or maybe later generations–sons, daughters) realization in more grounded ways later on?
cheers to both of you…look forward to more matrix stuff, Julian…
you raise an important area for discussion mark.
i will respond briefly here and get into it in more depth later….
there are many ways to think about and look at “faith.”
the way i hear woven through your comment basically sees faith as both a resource and a defense.
in psychological terms defenses are in fact a form of resource - until they aren't….
in other words: a defense can help us to survive something terrible and protect ourselves against an unbearable truth at one point in our lives - but later that same defense will be the precise limiting factor against our further growth and healing - because it keeps us out of touch with the truth.
so in that sense - yes, faith in the literalized metaphysics of a mythology like the one morpheus espouses has a function - just as it does perhaps for islamic fundamentalists, christian liberation theologists in south america or new age believers.
faith like this can give life a seeming sense of meaning and purpose and serves in one sense as a defense against facing existential reality.
as the matrix story continues neo is asked to go beyond that particular version of faith - i would relate this to a kind of spiritual growing up in which we come face to face with existential reality and deconstruct the dualism that is such a powerful influence on our psyches and the social/religious contexts we find ourselves in - psychological initiation into shadow work makes this possible IMO.
my sense is that once there has been an authentic deep initiation into shadow work and grown up existential spirituality the concept of “faith” has a radically different resonance that has very little to do with metaphysical belief and is much more grounded in the mysteries of our humanity as-it-is….
“When i was a child i spoke as a child, but when i became a man, i put away childish things”
the faith of my childhood brought me to the bridge…(much like neo)
at the bridge i am forced to look within…(this too like neo)
transition is a scary place, but having said that, it is only those shadow fears that prevent you from crossing that bridge…a bridge that seems to be disappearing right before your very being!
when you are left without a bridge…all that can be done is to look within, and instead of building another bridge (been there done that), one must realize that there is no bridge…no 'other' side…no where to go…
in trying to come back from the nothingness…and as you said julian, discovering the mysteries of our humanity as-it -is…this is where the 'REAL' journey begins…
mark, have found that in accepting the powerlessness…as it is…is in and of itself a very peaceful place to be…it is a mountain top to go to, before having to once again face the 'desert of the real'…even jesus had to be replenished in the garden of gethsemane…so-to speak…(chuckle).
conscious being has brought me thus far…and today my faith is in that…
no matter what happens, or what is put in front of me to face…that is what i am suppose to face… that is my 'desert of the real'.
am pretty much in transition at this point…have become the watcher at the window…knowing intellectually there is neither…but today…that is my 'reality'…still have lots of shadows that need to work themselves out…and that is ok today..
much love, star.
ps…star waits…for obe one…hehe…ooppppppppss…wrong movie…
come to think of it…Neo was pretty powerless…and remember too…he did not believe in self…the oracle kept telling him that 'he' must believe…someone elses belief…hers or morpheus's or trinity's…would not suffice…
somedays i believe…some days it is harder to believe in self…and i am not speaking of this mind power either…my mind never gave me anything but trouble…but my inner being, has brought much peace…if that makes any sense to anyone…(chuckle)
i think on the days that it is harder…that is when there are shadows rising…wanting…needing attention…(smile)
don't know bout anyone else, but star is relating to neo and the matrix right now!
Julian,
that’s not the only way I see faith, I just think that amber faith has a point, and it informs higher levels of faith.
there are levels of faith, I think…
let’s see:
amber: If I follow God’s laws, (and I must) he will be pleased and I will go to heaven
orange: If I follow reason and the laws of nature which I discover, I will excel and be free from delusion
green: love is all you need and suffering will end
2nd tier: no, love is only a prerequisite. if I practice multiple perspectives, I will leap in consciousness and be able to actually alleviate suffering and help everyone else grow in the right way at the right time, and then love can truly be grounded and flourish in what is as opposed to what should be.
Hm, I can probably simplify second tier: if I practice what actually works, I can gain power to lead and actually alleviate suffering.
The common thread is the striving for Eros, to transform, to get closer to God, or Truth as God, or Love, or non dual realization, etc. and that starts with amber. Somehow, I feel that my attempts at second tier practice are helped by the imperitive I inherited with amber faith, only the practices I do often work instead of me pretending or deluding myself that they work.
Star,
Thanks for reminding me that the Oracle kept reminding Neo that he must believe, … aye, there's the rub… ?How does Neo get there? Seems like it's trust in one's elders just enough to be open to something new… although I need to see the movie again.
mark yes, and i would restate your levels thus (though i dont know if faith goes very far beyond amber in my definition…) faith: belief without evidence.
amber: is prerational and has faith ie belief without evidence in a set of metaphysical assertions about god, life after death, the messiah etc…. the consequences of sin, god's plan.
orange: belief without evidence (ie faith) is no longer necessary as we have found that the rational scientific method can provide evidence that directly contradicts many of amber's assertions. in place of faith we have the scientific method - which can be applied to any domain of inquiry - including spirituality, ethics, psychology etc and can be broadened beyond reductionist empiricism into the three modes of knowing - empirical, philosophical and contemplative….also orange expands beyond the “chosen people” idea - a ubiquitous feature of amber - and sees all men as equally valuable - humanism emerges and with it civil rights, freedom of (and from) religion etc….
green: not only are all men equal, but women too, deconstructs cultural narratives and biases, steps back to see the validity of multiple perspectives - in it's healthy form sees the universal truths hovering behind the literalized dogmas of the amber traditions, embraces the practice-based methodologies for experientially accessing those ontologies, while honestly confronting our personal and collective predicaments. in it's unhealthy form collapses all meaning into flatland of fascist equality in which a spiritual smorgasbord of superficial prerationality gets passed off as a kind of interfaith pluralism and all stages of development get annulled as hierarchical oppression….
2nd tier: in terms of cognition/worldview continues the deepening of multiple perspectives and their inter-relatedness. spiritually takes the teal initiation into secular humanism/existential awakeness and goes deeper into practices that reveal transrational truths that cannot be put into words or translated into “faith.”
as i will go into soon, the second movie reveals that the oracle is actually another computer program and that neo is in fact not “the one” in the messianic/heroic way we had hoped - in fact he is the 6th version of a predictable playing out of something that culminates in a set of choices having to do with the humbling of existential maturity and imperfection….
i think too that we do well to differentiate trusting the elders from amber faith - after all the suicide bomber glorious child martryrs of radical islam are indeed trusting their elders and possessed of a deep faith in the meaning behind and consequences of their actions….
Julian,
Yes to your definitions as well. I was attempting to condense, going for flip little pithy sayings, green in particular with the reference to the Beatles song… continuing the theme, maybe another definition for second tier is recognizing the contexts and perspectives that are active at the moment, knowing yourself and how you match up, and then in the eternally wise words of Kenny Rogers: “you got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em…”
As for the definition of faith, if faith is belief without evidence, then it’s a very small step to defining it as belief that neglects evidence or phenomena that it can’t see… evidence that only a higher developmental level can see. I.e. rationality which still can’t fully understand that it marginalizes, or postmodernism which can’t understand that it indiscriminately devalues the contextually best perspective in its insistence to embrace all perspectives equally. Hence faith at green or orange, or at any developmental level, really, ‘cause there will always be something more complete unfolding.
Whatever. I’m not attached to the word. I think this dialogue has helped me clarify on how I was conceiving the word “faith”.
But I don’t think that’s what I was trying to express… it may be I’m trying to describe the interior felt experience of the I component of behavioral choice. The feeling of choosing to follow a path while not knowing what permanent effect it will have on you. Choosing a path despite encountering suffering, or confusion, or unreliable emotions.
And ultimately, choosing the best path you can while suspecting, no matter how much effort you’ve put into it, that your rationale for that choice is incomplete.
Maybe that means turning the word ‘faith” into the word “choice” or “resolve”, but it feels the same to me, there’s an inner felt component to it, some sort of emotional structure, which I think is ideally first experienced and learned at age appropriate amber. I don’t think amber faith can be dismissed because it leads to permanent changes in awareness that are useful later on in sustaining a path of action.
Maybe we’ll discover the upper right component to it is neural pathways that are located in the same part of the brain?
So, I do think that you can defend the view that you can strip “faith” of it’s metaphysical baggage, perhaps rename it “choice” and use it as a second tier resource to process unresolved material personally, to practice new and awkward things, or to increase the healthy functioning of a group while serving in a leadership role and having to endure the resistance that will naturally be directed at you.
I want to honor that the topic is the Matrix and that above you made the point that the movies have something to say about this evolution of what choice is based on, so I look forward to you elaborating more.
I really think the only difference in emphasis we might have is I want to speak up for the good part of amber faith, the resolve, , while you rightfully are pointing out aspects in amber and in postmodern thinking that need to be completely stripped.
As for trusting the elders, your point is well taken, my god, I feel for the person who was raised as a virulent Wahhabi even as I might unblinkingly approve of his death should he make a wrong move towards Los Angeles.
And lastly, woe to us all as humans, for is it not true that we are all ushered into this world by imperfect elders…
nice turns of phrase mark!
sure i will go along with the idea that one trusts certain practices or processes or working hypotheses in order to deal with discomfort, awkwardness and resistance - but that trust remains contingent upon seeing results, however gradual that prove the hypothesis…… this of course is completely different than amber religious faith.
as far as having faith in things as yet unexperienced but that have been asserted as phenomena available at higher stages of level/line development - i would encourage a healthy skeptcism, burden of proof type attitude as well as an open-ness to “performing the injunction” and finding out for oneself - nothing is lost in this approach but gullibility! :O)
i would enjoy hearing you elaborate on the permanent changes in awareness of age appropriate amber, as well as the good parts of amber faith.
while i know this is contrary to the integral orthodoxy, i tend to side with sam harris on these things when he asserts - as do many others like richard dawkins and dounglas adams, that there is not anything good in amber faith that we can't find elsewhere with less problematic baggage.
i am not saying anyone should be persecuted for their faith, rather that it is not a necessary component in our ongoing evolution - either way it is unfortunately here to stay!
good conversation, gracias!
OK, so it is late, and I skipped through a lot…
In Christian mythology does JC ascent to heaven with one fist raised skyward?
Oh, that is good, Barry…!
And if you like the Durkheim quote read Jung's Seven Sermons to the Dead
That quote from Durkheim is very ON and gets to the heart of my frustration with modern “spirituality”
>It’s actually the reality that we need to wake up to politically and spiritually if we are to be truly free…The illusion is one of omnipotence, endless resources, total free-will, unlimited love and freedom if we just wish it so…<
Whose illusion? Anyway, all that is needed is to -just let it be- no wishing needed. It is our wild and fanciful ideas about what “omnipotence, endless resources, total free-will, unlimited love and freedom” are supposed to look like that make them seem impossible or out of reach.
>The illusion that we can wake up from has more to do with the consumerism, denial, image-identification and the avoidance of reality than it does with “transcending†the hard facts of life - the desert of the real.<
As long as the distinction between reality and illusion is resting on wether or not a person believes that it is possible to slow down bullets, or linger in mid-air while using flawless kung-fu to fight multiple cyber agents, so long will we remain fast asleep.
>We would like to believe that the film liberates us by pointing out that we “create our own reality†in a very literal way and that the difficult world we live in is really an illusion - that we can have power over it (and even change it’s rules) like Neo does in the illusory world via our minds.<
If there were two soldiers of opposing forces pointing guns at eachother ready to fire, the release of identification with the succession of events that makes up the story of the person would change everything. The guns might still be fired, who knows, but it would be recognized as pointless suffering.
Wow, thanks for writing this! :)