A Meditation on the Matrix

Why Should Reality Be Something You Could Figure Out?

From the eZine

Creative Visions & InSights
Journal of Creativity, Culture, Controversy & Comment

(C) Copyright - Robert A. Pritchett - April 1999

All Rights Reserved

Don't read this now if you're planning to go and see this movie
and you don't want to spoil your first viewing experience.

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www.CreativeMindWorkshop.com
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One of the most fascinating and entertaining Sci-Fi flicks

that Hollywood has put out in many a year is The MATRIX. And
like some of its most illustrious predecessors, it has a great cast,
great art direction, great action, and great special effects. And,
borrowing an idea from the Star Wars trilogy, it has a plot that
alludes to and draws on religion and spirituality. But before Star
Wars, of course, Star Trek, the TV series, has long drawn on
religious and Biblical themes, and has provoked much discussion
and speculation about "what's it all means". However, The
Matrix is a cut above its predecessors in many important ways
and invites a unique reverie on the subject of mankind and our
place, purpose, future on this planet.
 In Star Wars, this religious, spiritual theme is expressed in
the concept of the Force, a universal, omnipotent presence that
permeates everything and everybody. Ironically, this universal
Force was composed of a dark-side, as well as a light-side(?),
perhaps influenced by a popularly held eastern-based,
philosophical belief in the balance between good and evil. The
main characters in Star Trek, by contrast, are remarkably non-
religious and socialistic, even though the episodes may have
religious or spiritual implications. But the Matrix is different. It
is actually an allegory, an encapsulation of the main themes and
messages of the Bible -- the coming of the Messiah and the
liberation of humankind.

There's a great line from an episode of Star Trek, the Next

Generation, that illustrates the limits of human understanding, that
glass that we see through darkly. Que, this being with god-like
powers, who has bedeviled Captain Jean Luc Picard and his crew
since the beginning of the series, was presently attempting to lure
Commander Riker into leaving the Enterprise with him, by
offering him the power of the Que. The bridge crew had been
transported to the surface of some alien planet and were now
under attack by some type of beast creatures, dressed as British
red coats. During a lull in the battle, Que was discussing the
range, scope, and implications of the powers he had imparted to
Number One. Riker, who is a starship First Officer, one
thoroughly versed in all of the known scientific knowledge of the
25th century, expressed difficulty understanding the extent of his
new powers and what it all meant. Then, as if an older brother
explaining the obvious to an annoying sibling, Que patronizingly
answers Riker saying, "I mean this is hardly the time to be
teaching you the true nature of the universe". Sure, we've all
been propagandized to accept the "Big Bang" theory for the
origins of the Universe, the Stars, the Galaxies, Earth, and Life.
But I'm willing to wager good money that outside of the American
Intelligentsia and their fellow travelers, few believe that the Big
Bang and/or the Theory of Evolution explains all of their
experiences in life. Most people harbor questions and experiences
that cause them to always be on the look out for a better, deeper
Truth – as is Neo.

The basic plot of The Matrix is that Keanu Reeves'

character, Neo, is plagued by strange nightmares, messages, and
questions. Neo, a computer programmer, receives a strange
message on one of many computer screens in his apartment:
"What is the Matrix?" Through a series of just-in-time phone calls
from a mysterious man, and clandestine encounters with his
female operative, Trinity, Neo is ultimately introduced to the
Larry Fishburne character, Morpheus, the leader of a small band
of human revolutionaries. Morpheus offers Neo the opportunity to
know “the Truth” with the caveat that he can never again return
to his previous state of knowledge or way of life. Taking a page
from the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland, Morpheus
offers Neo two colored gel capsules to choose between, a red one
and a blue one. To accept, Neo takes the red one. He is then taken
into another room where he's hooked up to some elaborate
computer equipment, and is plunged down the rabbit hole, so to
speak.

The Truth that Neo is ultimately given is that Earth, a couple

of hundred years ago, was caught up in a war between the humans
and the machines. Man's quest to design and built the ultimate
artificial intelligence machine, has once again Frankenstein-ed on
them. At first, the machines served mankind as designed. But
then, as Morpheus explains, "we don't know who started it" but
the humans darkened the skies to cut off solar power to the
machines. However, the machines discovered another energy
source – the human body. And now, it was the machines who
were growing humans beings as if a cash crop, as interchangeable
"wet cells", each locked in their individual battery holder. "The
Matrix is the wool being pulled over your eyes" to keep you from
realizing that you are a slave and a battery, Neo is told.

The Matrix is a huge, sophisticated virtual reality world into

which all human beings are now grown, processed, and connected
for service to the machines. The humans live out their lives in
these wet cells, dreaming yet believing that they are physically
living out their lives as we do here in the present, but they've
never moved a muscle, heard a sound, used their eyes, or been
anywhere. They quite literally live in a dream. The Matrix is the
ultimate computer simulation, re-creating the world of 1999.

Morpheus and his band of human revolutionaries have been

battling against the Matrix and the machines. But their real
mission was making clandestine broadcasts into and throughout
the Matrix to the captive humans, looking for other souls who
may want to become free. However, Morpheus has a special
motivation; ever since he was freed by a human scientist who had
worked on the Matrix project, for years Morpheus had been
searching for a special human, referred to as "The One".
Morpheus was told of one who was coming who would have the
power and ability to control and destroy the Matrix. And for
Morpheus, this search has been like a holy quest. Neo was
believed to be that One and the rest of the movie focuses on
revealing whether or not Neo is, indeed, the One.

And has not Mankind been waiting for "the One"? Every
election, some politician claims to be "the One" with the answers
to society's problems. The leader of that doomsday suicide cult
"Heaven's Gate" (of the purple shroud and athletic shoes fame)
claimed to be "the One" with the answer for escaping our world of
pain. Or who could forget the ill-reverend Jim Jones who lead his
flock to Guyana... and death. As Jesus prophesied, "For there shall
arise false Christs and false prophets... he is in the secret
chambers; believe it not"!

The revelation that Morpheus offers Neo is that reality isn't

just what you see. And this is the same message that the Bible
declares, you can't believe only what you see, there's another
whole reality sitting just beyond our perception. Morpheus
explains to Neo that events in the distant past have placed him and
all other humans into a kind of slavery that is often imperceptible.
As Gill Scott-Heron asks in his song "Deaf, Dumb, and Blind"
do you think you're not in prison because you can watch
television? According to the Holy Bible, all men (and women,
boys and girls) are born into Sin, a fatal spiritual condition that
affects the soul, mind, and body of every human ever born since
Adam and Eve. Sin is like a disease, a type of Spiritual Diabetes,
it prevents us from perceiving and functioning correctly, and
eventually kills us. And, because we are incapable of perceiving
and functioning correctly, we stumble around in a spiritual
darkness that causes us to hurt ourselves and others. Without the
divine light from God's Spirit and His Word, the truth about
reality is that we are doomed to continue to stumble through life,
making decisions based only on what we can "see" through the
dark and dirty windows of our souls, being deceived, crashing into
others, making bad decisions, and trying in vain to fill our inner
emptiness. And worse of all, because of our spiritual condition
and ignorance, some of us are actually working for Satan, the very
enemy who seeks our destruction.

The Bible further teaches that since Adam and Eve listened
to the Devil in the person of the serpent, and disobeyed God, they
transferred their rights, authority, privileges, and responsibilities
to Satan, who the Bible presently calls the "god of this world".
And think about it: doesn't it make more sense, that with all of
the evil that has been a part of human history, that whoever is
controlling this planet is mad, evil, or both. Of course, our
Creator isn't happy about this state of affairs, which is why He
came to Earth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, to take the
planet back. Read it for yourself, one of Jesus’ main missions was
to declare the arrival of the Kingdom of God on the Earth. This is
one reason for all of the wars and rumors of war in human history.
Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy, but as Jesus explained,
He has come that we might be freed from Satan’s power and
influence, and that we might inherit abundant and everlasting life
– all you have to do is ask. The plans of the Devil are to make us
miserable, to torture, enslave, destroy, and eliminate all human
life on this planet – but the representatives of the Kingdom of God
are resisting the representatives of the Kingdom of Darkness, and
vice versa. There is warfare, just above our heads, the Bible
reveals.

Remember Morpheus words to Neo, all of the humans in the

Matrix are apart of the system; they're asleep to the reality of their
situation, and most are content and will fight to protect the
system, and anyone of them can suddenly become an agent of the
Matrix. And in our real world, the same is true, most humans are
agents of the Kingdom of Darkness, working for Satan,
innocently, maybe; mindlessly, in most cases, yes – nevertheless,
agents of the Evil One.

Of course, the Matrix is only a movie, a work of fiction about

a time in the distant future. But as the Bible states, there is no new
thing under the Sun. And most stories are variations on other
ones. But if what the Bible claims is true, then Earth, right now,
this minute, is in the midst of spiritual warfare on a massive scale
– and, as in all wars, there are causalities. And if there is a war
going on, as the old saying goes, the first causality is the Truth,
and the humans who have not purposefully, deliberately, and
consciously switched their allegiance from the Kingdom of
Darkness to the Kingdom of God, are subject to rise up and fight
to maintain the status quo. The Bible teaches that God is love and
every good and perfect gift comes from Him, yet in our business
dealings we officially blame bad weather, storms, earthquakes,
and death on "Acts of God". Why not declare these negative
events "Acts of Satan" or "Acts of the Devil"?

In the movie, at any given time, any human moving around

in the Matrix is subject to be transformed into an agent of the
machines, and rise up to battle against the freed and enlightened
human beings, who are, in reality, trying to free them. This is the
case, too, in this present reality, representatives of the Kingdom of
God are trying to free the humans from the fate that Sin has them
chained to and to destroy the control that Satan has over them by
presenting them with the Truth and a choice. Jesus declares that
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the
Father but by Me”.

But why the focus on this movie? Because the number and
quality of common elements between the Biblical, Christian
message and the message of the storyline in the Matrix is no
accident. For example, just as Morpheus' mission was to broadcast
into the Matrix and spread the Word, the Truth about the reality of
the human condition, and to offer them an escape – the Great
Commission given by the Lord Jesus Christ to His Followers is
virtually the same: go and preach the "Good News" to everybody
that they can be free and a member of God's Family. Moreover,
Morpheus' role in The Matrix is identical to that of John the
Baptist in Jesus’ time – to prepare the way of "the One", that one
being the Messiah, and to identify Him to the people. Another
example of the plot following the life of Christ is when the group
is betrayed by the Judas-like character, Cypher, who reveals to a
Matrix agent the whereabouts of Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, and the
others while they were in the Matrix on a mission. Judas betrayed
Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, Cypher betrays Neo for better food.
And, let's not forget the proof of Neo's Messiah-ship: when he is
shot and killed by Matrix agents, he is resurrected by love, by the
kiss of Trinity (Trinity being another word for the Christian
Godhead). He is brought back to life at full power, with full
knowledge, and with full glory.

I've read that the writers and directors of the movie, the
Wachowski Brothers, admit that the Bible is a source of the
storyline – and that's important. Because the overwhelming
message of the Bible is Love:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent
not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but
that the world through him might be saved. 18He that
believeth on him is not condemned: but he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God. 19And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil”.

– St. John 3:16 – 19

That this all-powerful, all-wise Being would use a variety of

methods to communicate His Truth, including influencing the
message of a high-tech, high-energy, Science Fiction Masterpiece,
should surprise no one. Free Your Mind. “The truth is out there”
in a book, the Holy Bible. And a visual representation of its
message can be seen on the big screen – the Lord God Almighty
is using the Matrix to talk to you! He’s calling you into His
Family . . . . What is your answer?
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InSight Zephyrs

What do you think Satan, the Devil, formerly known as Lucifer, is

doing right now? Right this minute? While you are reading this?

What do you think God is doing right now? Right this minute?
While you are reading this?

One of the things that is going on now, is a battle for the hearts
and minds of human beings.

Our current reality is just like the Matrix, i.e. the whole world lies
in wickedness and is under the control of the god of this age,
Satan, the Evil One, but his time grows short and he has great
wrath. Truly enlightened Christians, ones who walk by faith and
not by sight, ones who dare to believe the Bible's description of
reality, ones who can work the works of God, are the ones who
are trying to free humanity, by the preaching of the Gospel of The
Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. Whose side are you
on?

To find a group of God’s band of revolutionaries, just visit one of

His Occupation Outposts: Bible-Believing, Miracle-Working
Churches, and Christian Broadcasting Centers like the Word
Network, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the
Daystar Television Network (DTN), or the Trinity
Broadcasting Network (TBN), among others.

God is speaking. He’s trying to reach you. Are you listening?

COMMENTS? eMail us at: CMW-Comments@CMW-Ideas.com

www.CMW-Ideas.com

www.CreativeMindworkshop.com

Ask for an electronic copy of “What is Your Worldview?”

Pray out loud, so your ears can hear your voice:

Ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins, to wash
your mind, your heart, your soul, and to make you Free. Ask Him
to heal your body and to give you peace of mind. Ask Jesus to
free you from the pain and torment of guilt, inferiority, pride, and
the Fear of Death. Ask Him to save your life and your soul, and
to give you a second chance, a new start in life. And most
importantly, ask the Lord Jesus Christ to make you a member of
His family by putting His Spirit inside your heart (Spirit). This is
what it means to be “Born Again”.

To begin and to continue your Spiritual Journey, start reading

through the New Testament in the Holy Bible. But before each
reading session, say this simple but powerful prayer:

“Dear Lord Jesus, as I read your Word, allow me to understand

what I am reading the way that you want me to understand it.
Give me your wisdom and your knowledge – feed my soul. Thank
you for hearing me and granting my request. Amen. . . .”

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