"The Matrix" and Nondual Spirituality

edited by Jerry Katz

Yesterday I saw the movie "Matrix," which definitely is based on some nondual concepts (the first "popular" movie I've ever seen that I can claim was based on aspects of Eastern philosophy, which goes to show how these concepts are now penetrating Western society very rapidly).

In one of the scenes in the movie, there is a dimension shown consisting only of blank white space, the "potential" area for matrix programming .

Well, I made an interesting meditation out of this. First, I envisioned myself in a 360 degree pure white dimension. This could be compared to bodilessly floating in the dead center of a ping-pong ball. I made the mental image as clear as possible. No matter where I "looked" (up, down, left, right, anywhere), there was only whiteness, and of course nothing for the eyes to focus on, so looking around there was no sensation of change of viewpoint at all. No depth perception either, because there was nothing to focus the eyes on. Just pure whiteness.

Soon after this, I changed perspectives, and I *WAS* the white dimension. Allowing myself to BE this dimension, I found myself in contact with something deeply Divine in myself. I began to alternate between the viewpoint of "myself" within the dimension, and *being* the dimension itself.

After a while (I don't know how long), I allowed myself (as the white dimension) to consciously say "I AM." This propelled me into a state of Samadhi/SatChitAnanda. The bliss was so powerful, I was up all night last night because of it. Gotta get some sleep, or I'm gonna have to leave this body prematurely due to exhaustion ;-)

...

To me, the greatest value of the movie "The Matrix" is in introducing nondual spiritual concepts to those who have never encountered such possibilities before. The action draws one into the story, and the concepts are then free to penetrate the mind. The central theme of the movie is "Nothing is as it seems." Is this not also one of the central themes of nonduality?

If even one "average" person walks out of this movie with a slight change of perspective, it is of infinite value.

-----------------------

My "favorite" scene in the movie had nothing to do with the fight scenes. It was when Keanu Reeves was talking to the child who was bending the spoon "with his mind." The child said "Do not try to bend the spoon. It is not the spoon that bends. It's the self that bends."

But did you not find my meditative experience interesting as well? :-) Perhaps it was actually quite ordinary... but it's rare that mere mental visualization has such a powerful effect.

------------------------

I wish the filmmakers had had the courage to take the movie one step further. Rather than Neo awakening in some far future, as he did, I would have liked to see him awaken to the PRESENT. I would have liked to see Morpheus point to the burned out city and say "This is what our egos really are. This is where we really live." Neo could have been an Avatar, and Morpheus and the others enlightened masters.

----------------------

In "The Matrix," there's a scene where Neo is taken to a formless place of blank whiteness, and told that this is the place where all matrix programming springs from (or something like that). To me, this blank, formless whiteness perfectly represents Brahman, Self, Sunyata, "That emptiness from which all things spring." I've even discovered that meditating on such a blank, depthless, formless, utterly silent white field is a useful technique for me (and so have actually taken something from a movie that is useful in a spiritual context!). A place such as this represents what we really are - formless, featureless, nameless, empty, pure consciousness.

---Tim Gerchmez

---Bruce Morgen

This was a very interesting film. I plan on seeing it again, and I don't often see films more than once.

The film rightly questions our view of "reality," and asks "what is Real?" like a few other recent films of the past few years (The Truman Show, Dark City), but the characters themselves never leave their own dualism. That is to say, we are to accept the "resistance" as _real_, and life in the cocoons as unreal. The heroes don't realize that they are merely abandoning one "drama" for another. What would have been VERY interesting would have been if, at the end of the film, we discover that the heroes never really left their cocoons in the first place, and that the whole struggle was merely another virtual drama induced by the Machine to keep the heroes happy.

It also would have added to the dramatic tension if the Agents were portrayed as "good" guys rather than evil automatons. I.e., they want humanity to be happy and are willing to let us keep our brains intact and allow us to live out any kind of virtual fantasy we like as long as they are able to feed off of our electrical energy and, eventually, our bodies. If the Agents had underminded the heroes' faith in their "resistance" reality, there would have been more emotional tension as they would have to ask themselves if they really want to keep fighting or just relax and give in. The deck would not be so neatly stacked in favor of struggling.

After all, that's basically the way it is in duality. You can exchange one virtual drama for a million others, but we all get eaten at the end. During the film, I wondered to myself what a realized sage (like Ramana for instance) would have done if he had suddenly realized that he wasn't really sitting on a mountain but was in fact lying comatose in a liquid-filled cocoon having a dream that he was a sage, while mechanical spiders were sucking off his vital bodily fluids and electrical energy. I suspect it wouldn't make any difference to such an individual.

I saw this movie two days ago with a friend. We also spent hours piecing and assessing the symbolism. The imagery and currents of meaning have stayed with me strongly all weekend. I am a visual learner and there were many ideas I've grappled with right there for the visual picking.

Jerry: "The integrity of the movie is based in the blending of the themes of man versus machine, man versus mind, mind versus machine. In that blending man and machine meet at the level of mind. That is where the nondual perspective shows up. For that is what man has always been doing, finding convergence at the level of mind until it comes to appear that the universe is one big thought."

While I don't disagree with this assessment, what I would identify as the integrity and the theme is... man becoming conscious of the creative vital energy lost by being embedded in the trance of the world dream, and the ultimate potential of Self operating with a liberated mind... after, of course, overcoming threatening resistance of the matrix (programmed self).

The movie is like a huge puzzle with borrowed pieces from various sources. It is delightful to hold each piece up to the light and examine it's relevance in this new configuration.

One which I thought was significant was.. our alleged history, seen from the perspective of the future.. a statement made that there was a time when humans started to become aware that they could foil the matrix programming and ultimately see, which resulted in a rewrite of the matrix program.

May it not be so! <smile> Your list does it's part in foiling the matrix program.

As you said, the plot has complexity and the teachings whiz by (and from reviews and comments overheard, I sense that many don't grasp the metaphoric implications), so let's hope that the message is received subliminally or that this becomes a classic film and hangs around for a while.

Christiana... binary sequence on the left

---------------------------

I saw "The Matrix" again last night. My daughter hadn't seen it so we went together.

I noticed a number of movie references. There are several to "The Wizard of Oz" - Cypher says something about "you'll find out that you aren't in Kansas anymore" near the beginning. And later on one of the characters, calling Tank for rescue, says something like, "Hurry up, Mr. Wizard".

When Trinity is escaping through the phone in the subway station, she yells, "Run, Neo, Run!" which is an obvious reference to Forrest Gump's Jennie who liked to advise "Run, Forrest, Run." Only Neo, unlike Forrest, doesn't take her advice!

That tracking thing that is inserted into Neo's navel and then extracted again by Trinity seems to echo the "Alien" movies with their creatures that burst out of people's bellies.

And in the moment that Marcia mentioned, when Trinity kisses Neo in that Sleeping Beauty moment and then says, "Now Get Up!" there is more than an echo of the moment in the first Terminator movie when Linda Hamilton says, "Get Up, Soldier" to her wounded protector and father-to-be of her child, who will be the rescuer of mankind.

In the final subway station fight scene, my daughter pointed out that the way that the subway train that arrives reminded her of Keanu Reaves's movie, "Speed", in which a subway train also figures prominently.

When Agent Smith keeps calling Neo "Mr. Anderson," Neo finally says "My name is....Neo!" This reminded me of ....some movie....but I can't think which. Anyone got any clues? (Unless its Forrest Gump again..."My name is Forrest...Forrest Gump."

There is also the literary symbolism of Alice in Wonderland - "follow the White Rabbit", the two pills, "Down the Rabbit hole".

Moving on to other things, the hotel where the movie starts, where Trinity is ensconced in Room 303, and where Neo makes his final escape, is called "Heart O' the City." Several times during the film the camera pans down that giant neon sign word, "HEART". It seems to be a bit of obvious symbolism that Trinity supplies HEART and that Neo grows into HEART via Trinity.

It was mentioned in one of the reviews, I think, that Trinity's room number in that hotel is 303. Neo's room number where he lives in the beginning of the film is 101. Neo, the one, and Trinity, the three.

I don't make too much of the symbolism of the names. I have a hard time doing much Christian symbol-izing, and I think maybe the film-makers went for easy resonance with some of the names rather than having deep thought-out connections.

Trinity - we all know what that is. Why she is called that isn't really obvious. She is NOT a God figure. Neo - the New
Morpheus - seems to be a combination of Shape-Shifter (morph=shape) and Morphine, feels no pain.
Nebuchadnezzar - the name of Morpheus's ship. Why call it that? Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon whose dreams were interpreted by the prophet Daniel; who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the Fiery Furnace; and who went insane: "He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird." Make of it what you will. Zion, the place where people are free of the Matrix - obvious tie-in to the mystical holy city.

The movie has a definite mythic structure, which is similar to the Star Wars trilogy. It is the story of the hero Thomas Anderson, aka Neo, who receives his Call to Adventure, experiences a new birth via a journey through water, suffers trials and initiations, visits the Oracle, descends into the "underworld" (i.e. the Matrix) to rescue Morpheus, and ends up transformed into a Warrior with Heart and a Savior of his people.

The Call to adventure: Trinity functions at the beginning as a kind of Herald angel, appearing to Neo in a magical way and calling him to leave what is familiar for the high road of adventure. Next we see Neo in his boss's office. The boss is chewing him out for being late. Outside, two window-washers are squeegeeing the boss's windows and Neo is distracted by them. I couldn't help thinking of Aldous Huxley's famous line about "cleansing the doors of perception." This seems to be a sign to Neo that his perceptions are going to radically change.

Refusal of the Call to Adventure: After initially trying to escape, Neo gives up and lets himself get captured by the Agents. This sort of thing happened in Star Wars too. Luke Skywalker initially refuses Obie Wan Kenobi's offer to leave the planet. His mind is changed when his guardian's farm is torched. And as in Star Wars, Neo's initial refusal does not really change anything.

The New Birth (Crossing the threshold): Like many heros, Neo must cross the threshold into the magical land via an initiation or rebirth. This is particularly well-done in this movie as we see Neo's real physical body in embryo, its umbilical chords snapping, its body flushing down a long birth canal and descending underwater for a kind of baptism before being lifted up into the air. Neo starts out on the ship as a hairless blank who has to be taught everything. Luke Skywalker's comparable experience, the trash-masher scene where he is pulled under water by some beast, pales by comparison.

The Mentor: Neo has a Mentor, Orpheus, just as Luke Skywalker has Obie Wan Kenobi.

Visit to the Oracle: Also extremely well done. the Film-makers reverse the usual drift of such scenes by having the Oracle confound him by saying he's NOT the one. Compare Luke Skywalker's visit to the Yoda.

Descent to the Underworld: Now we are set up for Neo's big test, the Hero's descent into the underworld where he must fight the dragon, find the gold, or some such. In this movie, he must rescue his Mentor, which is a brilliant plot innovation because in many such stories, after a time the Mentor doesn't have much to do (Star Wars actually dispatches Obie Wan rather early on though he appears from time to time as a ghostly voice). But in The Matrix Morpheus needs saving, and Neo earns his hero's stripes by being his saviour.

The Return: Typically, the Hero's work isn't done after meeting his big test. He still has to find his way back from the Underworld, often by defeating some final enemy. Neo finally defeats Agent Smith to do this and in the process becomes a Shape Shifter himself, invading Smith's body and exploding it from the inside.

Now Neo is fully tested and transformed. He has become the Warrior (thanks to Morpheus) with a Heart (thanks to Trinity) who is also ready to become the Savior of humankind. It will be interesting to see how the future episodes of this planned trilogy are plotted out, since, unlike Star Wars which took three movies to fully effect Luke's transformation, this movie
only took one.

My source for some of the terms used in this discussion is a most interesting book for anyone interested in Mythology and the Movies. It is "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers," by Christopher Vogler. Vogler in turn got his ideas from Joseph Campbell's great "The Hero with a Thousand Faces".

---David Hodges

-------------------------

My $.02. "The Matrix" is the film itself. "The Matrix" is a loop
embedded in a larger Matrix which is life itself. The key to the
Matrix is "follow the white rabbit" or follow a hunch and take a risk.
Neo emerging from the amniotic water is clearly birth and separation.
Living in the designated "reality" is not better than living in the
Matrix, because a reaction to the Matrix is itself a programming.
The only freedom is in becoming conscious of the whole process, the
whole (self-)deception. The becoming conscious is facilitated by
the "deja vu" glitches that are also part of the system (the cat in
the corridor).

The Matrix is also metaphorical for the way in which human beings
succumb to their own mental creations or representations. The Matrix
is us. The group-mentality prevails, in the interest of survival,
and the inner censor is the "agent" that filters out the unfit, or
unacceptable thoughts.

My problem with the movie is that it has a gnostic/dualistic
undercurrent. It's all about reacting and polarizing. But "escape"
is part of the self-deception, and so is the notion of "offing" the
Matrix. The Matrix exists (in the movie) as a gambit for human
survival in the wake of environmental catastrophe, and in that sense
it's just doing what "we" want it to do.

--Phillip Burton

Gene Poole

Here is another imprecise, metaphor-laden, sure-to-elict some corrective remarks, few paragraphs of my thoughts on THE MATRIX, the movie. This sure is fun!


At the moment that the scary hovering robotic machine grabbed Neo and pulled the plugin/probe from the base of his skull, he was 'officially' disconnected from the _world-dream_. Did you notice that he was terrified of this process... and that as soon as he was disconnected, that he was 'rejected' by the 'dream-machine', and essentially 'flushed down the toilet'?


It is that way, friends. If you dare ('you' in the editorial sense) to disconnect from the world-dream, you too will be worthless to that machine, just so much scrap meat. ('Lower cannot see higher') means that when one is (by dint of effort, intention, or by grace) invisible to the dreamers...
that one has lost dream-world identity... this can kindle a major identity-crisis; one may wish to reentr the Eden of the dreamers. (This is when the huge klaxons begin blaring... and the loudspeakers boom out, "ABORT! ABORT!")


It is at that moment that one can deliberately intiate connection with the 'actual', and thus gain the 'impossible' nondual perspective. How does one connect with the actual? One _is_ the actual; that is how. No world-dream label fits, and the eyes of the dreamers (including the now-decommisioned 'self' of the world-dream) are blind to the presence of This One, the actual.


[Tips from the TimeStoppers Textbook: "The 'nondual perspective' derives from having first one, and then another, point of view. Comparison of these points of view offer what is called 'perspective'."]

Yes... what this means is that when one switches to the 'non-nondual perspective' that one cannot see oneself! In other words, the mirrors of the world-dream will not reflect the 'actual'! (does this explain a lot, or what? Yeah... this is NOT all tidy and neat, it is WILD! It is ALIVE! It is not the fantasy of some anal-retentive precisionist... at all! No, friends, this is a huge, throbbing, LIVING PARADOX! And guess what? "You" just have to LIVE WITH IT! BWHAHAHAH HA!)


Now, just what would Dr Von Helsing, the vampire-hunter of DRACULA, have to say about this "mirror problem"???


Yes... Neo is now 'The One'. Yes, he DOES now wear the 'agent' look; he is now able to move about in the Matrix (world-dream) and is not noticed...
because now, HE KNOWS WHO HE IS.


Neo is now... not 'all powerful' like some god or comic-book character, but instead, a MASTER PREDATOR! And just guess, who/what is his prey... heh heh heh..

--author unknown!

-------------------

Sooner or later, it had to happen; what is, is outpictured in a
near-literal/metaphorical way, in 'The Matrix'.

Just as television is an extension/outpicturing of our visual sense, and
cars an outpicturing of our locomotion, so is this movie an outpicturing of
the SYSTEM which underlies our perceived reality.

Consider the scene in which Neo, the star ("The One") is finally
surrendering to the persuasions of his new friends/rescuers, is sitting in
a special chair. He asks of Morpheus, "What are you doing?" and Morpheous
replies to him. "We are attempting to ascertain your location". This is
mightily similar to the process which is carried out here, in the NDS. It
is common for one to be puzzled as to the stated assumptions of others,
that one is are not where they are, that one will awaken, to their true
nature, to freedom. It is also similar to the actuality, the realization
that once awakening is initiated, that the work is just beginning. Leaving
the cocoon/simulated reality of the Martix, is similar to leaving the
paradise of Eden... independence requires work, and wits, to survive. The
risks undertaken by one awakened are monumental, requiring full-time
attention.

Our own 'Matrix' is the world-dream, the concensus/social/tribal/familial
'reality' which has given us our languages, our values, and our illusion of
separateness. We suffer in the dream, and apply dream-remedies to relieve
our dream-sufferings.

The 'nondual perspective' says that all of the sufferings and pleasures of
the world-dream become irrelevant upon awakening; that for all ills of the
dream, there is only one remedy, which is to awaken from the dream. While
this is technically true, and is a convenience of expression, an attempt to
explain something, the reality of the situation is similar to the reality
expressed in The Matrix; one must actually have the experience of Being in
one, and then the other, to realize the nature of either.

When Neo was inducted into the 'resistance', he was subjected to
martial-arts trainings. In those episodes, he learned of his own
assumptions as to his abilities; he was showed by the 'master' Morpheus
that his assumptions as to his own vulnerabilities and strengths were off
the mark. He had to relearn his entire perspective of reality, using the
arena of combat as the proving-ground. He learned that he did not know, and
he learned that he had been assuming.

Finally, after the confrontation with the 'Oracle' in her funky kitchen (I
loved that scene), Neo goes up against the 'agents'.

Will he survive? Yes. In fact, his realization is such, that he becomes the
essence of life itself; he enters/invades an 'agent', as Shakti enters a
person... and in effect, demolishes that agent, remaining only as himself,
The One, now fully powerful and realized.

What can I say about the 'agents'? They were the 'masters of stop'. The
only thing they did was to stop; they were stoppers.

Agents of life, on the other hand, are 'goers'; they are on the go, they
know that they are life itself, and they promote life and protect life.
Life demands expression in all of its varities; life demand evolution, the
inevitable migration from cocoon to realization, with all of the
mind-exploding and world-dream exposing and pains and ecstasies which are
part of the process.

Life is good, and The Matrix is a true 'Millenial Movie'. It is a harbinger
of the harmony which is the underlying SYSTEM which we are. I salute the
makers of this movie, who apparently are planning a sequel, and maybe even
a trilogy.

#Sooner or later, it had to happen; what is, is outpictured in a
# near-literal/metaphorical way, in 'The Matrix'.

it's been done many times before (Outer Limits, Night Gallery,
Twilight Zone, many sci-fi novels and novellas and even a few films)

# ...this movie an outpicturing of the SYSTEM which underlies
# our perceived reality.

exploration of brahman beyond maya

# ..."We are attempting to ascertain your location". This is
# mightily similar to the process which is carried out here,
# in the NDS. It is common for one to be puzzled as to the
# stated assumptions of others, that one is are not where they
# are, that one will awaken, to their true nature, to freedom.

Chuangtse, dreaming/waking: butterfly <==> man
Carroll, dreaming/waking: White King
Indian, dreaming/waking/creation: Visnu
Solipsism, fabrication: self
Buddhism, ignorance/attachment: buddha-nature vs sunyata

# Leaving the cocoon/simulated reality of the Martix, is
# similar to leaving the paradise of Eden... independence
# requires work, and wits, to survive....

except that Eden is the Real, not a perceptual fiction

# Our own 'Matrix' is the world-dream, the
# concensus/social/tribal/familial 'reality' which has
# given us our languages, our values, and our illusion
# of separateness. We suffer in the dream, and apply
# dream-remedies to relieve our dream-sufferings.

language: arises out of desire to communicate; it is not a fiction
in that it implies intended meaning and succeeds in this
implication (thus directed language like 'stop' and 'paint this')
values: these underly and precede language
separateness: an "illusion" or not? this precedes values

# The 'nondual perspective' says that

there is no 'nondual perspective', since perspective requires duality
between subject and object; a perspective doesn't say anything

# all of the sufferings and pleasures of the world-dream become
# irrelevant upon awakening; that for all ills of the dream, there
# is only one remedy, which is to awaken from the dream.

why does waking from the dream solve everything?

# While this is technically true,

it is? how did you determine this?

# and is a convenience of expression, an attempt to explain
# something, the reality of the situation is similar to the
# reality expressed in The Matrix; one must actually have
# the experience of Being in one, and then the other, to
# realize the nature of either.

why not like butterfly and Chuangtse? both butterflies and
men suffer and are pleased according to their individual
experiences, but both may dream that they are the other

the reality expressed in the Matrix would have been more
convincing to me if there was ANOTHER, more fundamental
and ineffable (i.e. unshowable on film), reality 'behind'
the secondary ("real") world of the pods and grit-rebellion

# ...after the confrontation with the 'Oracle' in her funky
# kitchen (I loved that scene), Neo goes up against the
# 'agents'.

why does Neo eat the cookie? he is still rejecting the Real,
wants to be stupified, like drinking that intoxicant from the
traitor-rebel. he wants to be back in the Matrix but he can't
deny the Real nonetheless. it is like becoming aware of
the depth of the Real and never being able to go back even if
one wishes to. perhaps this is why "masters" sometimes become
drug-addled (escapism)

# ...his realization is such, that he becomes the essence of life
# itself;

does he, or does he merely learn how to manipulate the program
in its binary code and therefore shift position and form? let
us not over-emphasize his role. if the Oracle was correct,
he may be the one who sets the STAGE for the One

# he enters/invades an 'agent', as Shakti enters a
# person... and in effect, demolishes that agent,
# remaining only as himself, The One, now fully powerful
# and realized.

wishful thinking. compare "Tron". Neo dives into the agent
and possesses him, assimilating his program and therefore
transcending him and his mechanical overlords; but is this
a 'victory'? at the end of the film he communicates to the
rest of the world via computer, wears "agent" glasses, and
sets off on his own rather than becoming a more central
operative for "the resistance". he has fused Machine and
Human, becoming something more than either

# What can I say about the 'agents'? They were the 'masters
# of stop'. The only thing they did was to stop; they were
# stoppers.

they also steered (individuals). they cajoled and elicited
(information). they operated on behalf of the Machine so as
to maintain control of their power-source (human batteries).
putting the battery out of commission harms machines, stopping
the surge is as antithetical to the function of the agent
(unless it is terminally malfunctional) as would be destroying
a malfunctioning machine part rather than cordoning and
repairing it

# Agents of life, on the other hand, are 'goers'; they are on
# the go, they know that they are life itself, and they promote
# life and protect life.

until it serves their purpose to sacrifice it for the Greater Good

# Life demands expression in all of its varities; life demand
# evolution, the inevitable migration from cocoon to realization,
# with all of the mind-exploding and world-dream exposing and
# pains and ecstasies which are part of the process.

but what does a permanently Matrixed 'Prophet' really 'do'?
is it merely the 'grounding' of the Real into the Unreal,
inspiring a movement of rebels? why not wake everyone in
their coccoons up at the same time, a 'wake up call' in the
same manner as the world-telephone-ring of "Lawnmower Man"
(with which this film *ought* to be compared)?

# Life is good, and The Matrix is a true 'Millenial Movie'.
# It is a harbinger of the harmony which is the underlying
# SYSTEM which we are.

the Matrix is not destroyed or seriously debilitated in any
way that we can discern by the end of the film. it is a
typical film about some guy developing super powers in a
world that few understand (compare Dr. Strange or any
number of comic book superheroes whose efforts enable them
to transcend the common paradigms -- Gautama Buddha is a
very good example, another reason that I have called these
films 'cyberbuddhist' as they combine Buddhist cosmology
and metaphysics with cyberspace themes after Gibson and
others; Keanu Reeves appears to enjoy these films as star)

# I salute the makers of this movie, who apparently are
# planning a sequel, and maybe even a trilogy.

not surprising. this is very like religion, which seeks to
keep the viewer hooked to a continuing story rather than
to expose hir to a real 'waking up' on a mass scale.
also compare this film with "City of Darkness", in which
the protagonist doesn't believe in a dual-system wherein
there is one reality which is false and another which is
true so much as that the Sleepers are ignorant of the
underlying system which coincides and creates their world
(that they are zoo-animals and lab rats in a world that
transcends their wildest imagination).

# ...this movie an outpicturing of the SYSTEM which underlies
# our perceived reality.

> exploration of brahman beyond maya

There is nothing to 'explore'. We can explore Maya from the
perspective of realization, but in Brahman there is no thing
or place to check out.

# The 'nondual perspective' says that

> there is no 'nondual perspective', since perspective requires duality
> between subject and object; a perspective doesn't say anything

There is no non-dual ontology. There is the possibility that one who
has realized Brahman has a different 'perspective' with respect to
Maya and that this could be termed a 'nondual perspective'.

# all of the sufferings and pleasures of the world-dream become
# irrelevant upon awakening; that for all ills of the dream, there
# is only one remedy, which is to awaken from the dream.

> why does waking from the dream solve everything?

In most ways it doesn't.

# While this is technically true,

> it is? how did you determine this?

It is wishful thinking to believe that once we "reach"
realization we "go beyond" our ordinary lives in the world,
with all its joys and suffering. We don't. What we
have is the sure knowledge that we are the Self, and this
can certainly be a comfort. However, we still have our
likes and dislikes, our dreams and failures.

> the reality expressed in the Matrix would have been more
> convincing to me if there was ANOTHER, more fundamental
> and ineffable (i.e. unshowable on film), reality 'behind'
> the secondary ("real") world of the pods and grit-rebellion

The only way you could express this on film is to show
peoples eyes. Brahman is not somewhere you "go", it is
*who* you are.

# ...after the confrontation with the 'Oracle' in her funky
# kitchen (I loved that scene), Neo goes up against the
# 'agents'.

> why does Neo eat the cookie? he is still rejecting the Real,
> wants to be stupified, like drinking that intoxicant from the
> traitor-rebel. he wants to be back in the Matrix but he can't
> deny the Real nonetheless. it is like becoming aware of
> the depth of the Real and never being able to go back even if
> one wishes to. perhaps this is why "masters" sometimes become
> drug-addled (escapism)

So what you are saying is that realized people take drugs to
somehow escape realization. There is nothing to escape. You've
lost something, your idea of 'me', but you're still in this
damn world, so maybe that's what they are trying to escape.
As for your idea of 'me', when you've lost it you'll wonder
why you needed it in the first place.

# he enters/invades an 'agent', as Shakti enters a
# person... and in effect, demolishes that agent,
# remaining only as himself, The One, now fully powerful
# and realized.

> wishful thinking.

Indeed, wishful thinking. Shakti does whatever She wants,
this is true. She may get a little rough as She rearranges
you, but you can forget about the power. What She offers
us in the body is freedom from ignorance. This is the
greatest blessing She can bestow on us. Power and all the
rest are trivial to Her and to Her devotees.

># Sooner or later, it had to happen; what is, is outpictured in a
># near-literal/metaphorical way, in 'The Matrix'.
>
>it's been done many times before (Outer Limits, Night Gallery,
> Twilight Zone, many sci-fi novels and novellas and even a few films)

Yes. Philip K. Dick novels most notably.


># all of the sufferings and pleasures of the world-dream become
># irrelevant upon awakening; that for all ills of the dream, there
># is only one remedy, which is to awaken from the dream.
>
>why does waking from the dream solve everything?

It doesn't solve anything, but puts everything in perspective. It realizes
there is nothing to 'solve.' Just let be.


># and is a convenience of expression, an attempt to explain
># something, the reality of the situation is similar to the
># reality expressed in The Matrix; one must actually have
># the experience of Being in one, and then the other, to
># realize the nature of either.
>
>why not like butterfly and Chuangtse? both butterflies and
> men suffer and are pleased according to their individual
> experiences, but both may dream that they are the other
>
>the reality expressed in the Matrix would have been more
> convincing to me if there was ANOTHER, more fundamental
> and ineffable (i.e. unshowable on film), reality 'behind'
> the secondary ("real") world of the pods and grit-rebellion

Yes. I noted in another post that Morpheus himself suggests to Neo (when
they are in the White Room with TV) something like, "How do we know what is
real? It's all just signals in the brain." Cocoon life and Resistance life
could be the same for all they knew. It would have been interesting if at
the end of the film, Neo starts to question whether or not he is actually
still in the Cocoon . . . that the Computer just *let* him play his little
game of awakening, fighting, killing an agent, etc., in order to keep the
crew happy.

The ineffable reality behind all this would be unmanifest, nondistinct; thus
there would be no one in it to recognize that it exists.


># ...his realization is such, that he becomes the essence of life
># itself;
>
>does he, or does he merely learn how to manipulate the program
> in its binary code and therefore shift position and form? let
> us not over-emphasize his role. if the Oracle was correct,
> he may be the one who sets the STAGE for the One.

Yes, I think Neo just learns how to gain power over the AI program.

With full realization, or whatever it may be called, there would no longer
be a motivation to distinguish between the AI program and any alternative;
both cocoon life and "awakened" life would be seen as necessary parts of
Totality. I.e., he might be inclined to agree with AI that the purpose of
homo sapiens really was to bring life to AI and become its "food"
thereafter. He might see the mercifulness of AI in allowing the humans to
keep their minds and their fantasies. After all, the computer could have
grown them without brains or heads if it wanted to.


># he enters/invades an 'agent', as Shakti enters a
># person... and in effect, demolishes that agent,
># remaining only as himself, The One, now fully powerful
># and realized.
>
>wishful thinking. compare "Tron". Neo dives into the agent
> and possesses him, assimilating his program and therefore
> transcending him and his mechanical overlords; but is this
> a 'victory'? at the end of the film he communicates to the
> rest of the world via computer, wears "agent" glasses, and
> sets off on his own rather than becoming a more central
> operative for "the resistance". he has fused Machine and
> Human, becoming something more than either.

Yes. He goes from playing one game to playing another.



># Life demands expression in all of its varities; life demand
># evolution, the inevitable migration from cocoon to realization,
># with all of the mind-exploding and world-dream exposing and
># pains and ecstasies which are part of the process.
>
>but what does a permanently Matrixed 'Prophet' really 'do'?
> is it merely the 'grounding' of the Real into the Unreal,
> inspiring a movement of rebels? why not wake everyone in
> their coccoons up at the same time, a 'wake up call' in the
> same manner as the world-telephone-ring of "Lawnmower Man"
> (with which this film *ought* to be compared)?

Maybe he didn't have that power. Remember how difficult it was for Morpheus
to wake Neo up. Maybe a sudden forced awakening would be too traumatic for
most people in the cocoons. Thus, the crew prefers to drop little "clues"
in people's dreams, as in PKD's novels.


># Life is good, and The Matrix is a true 'Millenial Movie'.
># It is a harbinger of the harmony which is the underlying
># SYSTEM which we are.
>
>the Matrix is not destroyed or seriously debilitated in any
> way that we can discern by the end of the film. it is a
> typical film about some guy developing super powers in a
> world that few understand (compare Dr. Strange or any
> number of comic book superheroes whose efforts enable them
> to transcend the common paradigms -- Gautama Buddha is a
> very good example, another reason that I have called these
> films 'cyberbuddhist' as they combine Buddhist cosmology
> and metaphysics with cyberspace themes after Gibson and
> others; Keanu Reeves appears to enjoy these films as star)

But like Buddha, Neo may have the ability to communicate or transmit the
same awakening to others. Not everyone perhaps, but a few here and there,
maybe more later on. This may or may not confer the same degree of "power"
over the Matrix that Neo has (since he is the One.) I don't see the
average superhero (even Dr. Strange) as "awake" at all to the real nature of
their world, only playing dramas *within* the world.

It is an interesting thought -- can one wake up to the nature of the Matrix,
yet remain powerless to actually do anything about it? To remain within the
drama of the cocoon, while knowing somehow that it is phony? It seems that
in the real world (!), enlightened beings (sic) generally live out the same
lives as everyone else and are not able to overcome the basic physical laws
of our reality, despite seeing its relativity.


># I salute the makers of this movie, who apparently are
># planning a sequel, and maybe even a trilogy.
>
>not surprising. this is very like religion, which seeks to
> keep the viewer hooked to a continuing story rather than
> to expose hir to a real 'waking up' on a mass scale.

Then again, What do you do once you wake up? Become a "master idler"
(Ramana Maharshi) is only one option; jumping back into the game is another.
You play life *as* a game, recognizing it is only virtual reality.
The Gita speaks of this "problem of action."

i@no.self (!):
|# the Matrix is not destroyed or seriously debilitated in any
|# way that we can discern by the end of the film. it is a
|# typical film about some guy developing super powers in a
|# world that few understand (compare Dr. Strange or any
|# number of comic book superheroes whose efforts enable them
|# to transcend the common paradigms -- Gautama Buddha is a
|# very good example, another reason that I have called these
|# films 'cyberbuddhist' as they combine Buddhist cosmology
|# and metaphysics with cyberspace themes after Gibson and
|# others; Keanu Reeves appears to enjoy these films as star)

xristos@earthlink.net (Peter J. Lima):
| But like Buddha, Neo may have the ability to communicate or
| transmit the same awakening to others. Not everyone perhaps,
| but a few here and there, maybe more later on. This may or
| may not confer the same degree of "power" over the Matrix
| that Neo has (since he is the One.)

is he the One? is there only One? have we established the truth
of the Oracle? even the main characters in the story hadn't
done so

| I don't see the average superhero (even Dr. Strange) as
| "awake" at all to the real nature of their world, only
| playing dramas *within* the world.

countless stories have Strange battling interlopers to the
dimension of which he is the 'Sorceror Supreme'. little do
the sleeping normals know what kind of cosmic threat they
are defended against in the 'spiritual' or 'astral' world,
and it is the duty of Dr. Strange to protect them in just
this fashion. this is more like "City of Darkness" than it
is "The Matrix"

| It is an interesting thought -- can one wake up to the nature
| of the Matrix, yet remain powerless to actually do anything
| about it?

this was the initial condition of Neo

| To remain within the drama of the cocoon, while knowing
| somehow that it is phony?

depends on what 'within the drama' includes. if the drama is
the emotional investment and belief in its reality, then it
would seem not. if one could understand that one was actually
interacting with real humans through a FILTER of a constructed
artificial reality, then the drama remains, even if its exact
nature is disputed

| It seems that in the real world (!), enlightened beings (sic)
| generally live out the same lives as everyone else and are
| not able to overcome the basic physical laws of our reality,
| despite seeing its relativity.

by 'real world' I gather you mean nonmovie dimension; by
'enlightened beings' I'm not sure what you mean. how can we
tell if someone is 'enlightened' unless they are somehow
different from the run-of-the-mill norm? aren't there special
characteristics of these folks and wouldn't these profoundly
affect the kind of lives such people live out?

|#> I salute the makers of this movie, who apparently are
|#> planning a sequel, and maybe even a trilogy.
|#
|# not surprising. this is very like religion, which seeks to
|# keep the viewer hooked to a continuing story rather than
|# to expose hir to a real 'waking up' on a mass scale.
|
| Then again, What do you do once you wake up?

why is there a presumption that life changes at this juncture?
'first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then
there is'? 'nothing special'? 'practice is enlightenment'?

waking up seems to me to be a greater cognizance surrounding
intentional choice. such a wake-up should lead to greater
concern about the totality of one's impact upon others,
a refinement of lifestyle and deathstyle to a beauteous
repercussion, and the promotion of vitality and peace,
whether in one's own back yard or throughout the cosmos

| Become a "master idler" (Ramana Maharshi) is only one option;

in one's own back yard

| jumping back into the game is another.

one's back yard is not 'the game'? is travelling and sporting
the necessary means of promulgating the Dharma? must one
venture outward to mature inwardly and transmit this Dharma?
or is there no real difference between 'here' and 'there'?

| You play life *as* a game, recognizing it is only virtual reality.

cf. "Liber MUD: MUDs and Western Mysticism", by Haramullah,
http://www.abyss.com/avidyana/gnostik/libermud.tn which
explains how "virtual reality" is an oxymoron

| The Gita speaks of this "problem of action."

not duty vs compassion?

---!

----------------------------

I loved the part about Trinity and Neo.

After Neo apparently is not the One and is lying apparently
dead having been blown apart by the Machine Man, Trinity
leans over him in the real world and says that the Oracle
told her that she would fall in love with the One and since
she is in love with him he has to be the One. She leans over
and in a reverse Sleeping Beauty kiss, kisses him.

And then after pausing just a moment she says.......

"Now Get Up!!!!!"

Ain't it the truth? :-)

And..........

When Neo is both being and becoming the One, Morpheous
says....."Now he is starting to believe. There is a difference between
knowing about the Path and walking the Path."

And........

The Machine Men are the instincts. In the end Neo incorporates the
Machine Man. He goes inside the Machine Man.

---Gloria Lee

--Melody Anderson

******

That "everything" which you see is loaded. If you could see
"everything" you could not function. You see selectively, and what
you see is not you. Like we speak glibly of the "universe" and we are
merely pointing to some expansive emotion. In the context of the
Matrix, you may see what you are permitted to see: the display that
the system generates. --Phil Burton

gill eardley:

The only way to know for sure what it was intended to be would be to
ask the wachowski brothers. That said, it seems a rather narrow view.
To me it seemed an allegory to the level of control exerted on the
minds of most of humanity (not just Americans) by a few 'men in suits'.
The media, governments, business magnates; those who crave what they
view as 'control', and have a vested interest in keeping that control.

Paradoxically, it is those people who are most in need of 'freeing
their minds', those who are chasing ever more after 'power' which they
think will bring them freedom and happiness, and which is ultimately
like digging yourself deeper and deeper into a hole, with less and less
chance of escape. I found it very poignant, and I can't recall anybody
mentioning this before, when the agent told morpheus he was desperate
to escape, that if he could just do this one thing he would be free.
Sound familiar?

terry murphy:

I saw the allegory as being much greater than simply media control.
Note the numerous reference to Lewis Carroll: was he simply talking
about media control? 'How deep does the rabbit hole go?' Morpheus was a
Buddha (awakened one); that 'morpheus' refers to sleep/death shows how
topsy turvy the phenomenal world is from Reality, as jesus points out,
those who seek to save their lives lose them, and those who lose them
preserve them, while he himself lived that nondual view as a martyr.
The 'matrix' itself is Maya, the world-illusion, the construct that
each individual creates and imagines that they live 'in.' The
'illusion-dwellers' for the most part are not ready to be 'unplugged,'
but morpheus/buddha and his crew/disciples were prepared to awaken
those individuals who could be awakened, with the ultimate aim of
awakening all sentient beings. 'Neo' was 'the One,' the ordinary you
and me sitting at our computer consoles seeking 'the truth' about the
matrix/maya. When 'neo' was prepared, by the oracle/insight, to
sacrifice his individual life to save the buddha/morpheus, then he
became the One/an enlightened being/bodhisattva. The buddha/avatar was
always searching for a being he could turn into a bodhisattva, and was
trying to free people from the world illusion (the truth: there is no
spoon/there are no things). Neo simply wanted answers, but morpheus'
sole aim was to turn a neos into Ones. The 'suits' were machines/mental
constructs/ego, whose primary function in being was to remain in
control, and utilize 'life' as a power source for machine functioning.
They would be happy to create a 'perfect world'/happy world illusion
but life 'wouldn't accept the programming,' because as 'some said,'
they 'didn't have the programming *language* to describe such a world'
(language is inherently dualistic and happiness can only be described
by referring to unhappiness) or because humans 'defined their lives by
misery' (dualism is inherent in the development of life). You are right
that the suits/ego always think they can make some sort of progress,
accomplish one more thing and be done with this 'stink,' this world
that they 'hate' and 'can't stand'; the suits had to unplug from each
other even to admit that much. The suits had more raw physical power
than real people within the matrix, but they were inherently limited by
the rules of the matrix, while neo, being potentially the One, was not
limited at all by the rules of the matrix, once he realized the truth
('physical strength' means nothing 'in this place'). So I saw the
allegory as one of *any* ordinary individual finding enlightenment with
the help of the wise and accumulated human spiritual culture and
spiritual friends (the triple gem: buddha, dharma, sangha).

Great movie...

Dan Berkow:
aloha, terry

Yes, Terrry.
You are on-target.
Well-said and namaste!

After knowing myself
as the One, I found out
that Neo, the oracle,
and Morpheus,
and the outside of
the matrix from which
reality was seen,
and the One,
were just other programs
of the "comprehensive" matrix.

I discovered that the
generators of the matrix
were themselves generated
by the matrix. The ones
who escaped the matrix
escaped because this
escape was a program
of the comprehensive matrix.

I am speaking to you simply
as a program occurring
here to a program occurring
there.

The matrix that generates
the matrix has described
itself to its own
self-generated programs
as the "uncreated" --
thus giving form to yet
another program ...