Exploring The Matrix part 2: Eastern Influence

Ok, so I had covered the idea that Neo represents the religious figure of Jesus Christ, but he clearly is an amalgam of many religious character models.  The second most obvious figure is the Buddha.  The simple explanation of a Buddha is an individual who has become enlightened and has reached a form of transcendence beyond this reality.  A Buddha has been released from the endless cycle of life, suffering and death.

A funny thing I must point out is the fact that the actor who plays Neo, Keanu Reeves played the historical buddha, Prince Siddhartha Gautama in the 1993 film Little Buddha.  Five years later he would essentially reprise his role in The Matrix.    

   

If I had to sum up The Matrix in two words it would be “Wake up”. Each of the three films of the trilogy we are introduced to the character of Neo as he is waking from some kind of sleep or unconsciousness state. This is the constant theme of all of the works that have emerged out of The Matrix series.  Waking up is the perfect metaphor for any kind of disillusion, as is heavily emphasized in Buddhism and Hinduism.  Eastern philosophy nearly always centers around the concept of waking from the base form of human consciousness into something more elevated.  Alan Watts is my go-to english speaking philosopher regarding eastern ideas.  The main theme of his books, essays and lectures always revolve around the concept of waking from the dream that is life.

My obsession with his lectures this summer has helped me now understand this film much better.  I think The Matrix does a great job of putting the viewer into a context where its easier to understand this kind of school of metaphysical thought. The concept of a simulated or illusory reality can metaphorically substitute for society, law, religion, careers or even life itself.  This film is heavily influenced by these Eastern religions which have their main premises based on the idea of reality as some kind of illusion or dream.  But the film uses the tools of a science fiction/kung-fu genre to convey it’s very thought provoking concept for people living western society.  

Although the film deviates from eastern thought at a crucial point.  In traditional religious teachings, enlightenment takes time, effort and investment. To be free from Samsara, a Buddhist monk will spend decades practicing their meditation. A Hindu Sadhu will practice torturous ascetic feats to attain a high measure of holiness. To attain any kind of higher status in any religious tradition, one must give some sort of dedication or sacrifice.  In The Matrix, Neo became enlightened and eventually reached a kind of Buddhahood by simply believing and taking a red pill.  All you need for enlightenment is an insatiable curiosity and a little courage.

One of my favorite scenes of the movie is when Morpheus is captured and interrogated by the agents of the matrix. Agent Smith revealed that the original incarnation of the Matrix was a utopia. It was a perfect world where no one suffered and everyone was to be happy.  In a parallel to the Book of Genesis, It was a Garden of Eden in digital space. Apparently it was a catastrophe. The humans didn't accept the perfect reality because they constantly tried to wake up from what appeared to be just a dream. People couldn't resist seeking the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Therefore the Matrix was re-designed to a more realistic vision of human life with all of its un-pleasantries.Smith believed that human beings defined reality through misery and suffering. This is interesting from an eastern religious point of view because it would be in accordance with Buddhist philosophy which teaches that the cycles of life and death are full of suffering known as Samsara. Studying The Matrix from a Buddhist perspective, people like the Morpheus or Trinity characters represent a Bodhisattva. They are people who have been freed and have reached a higher level of enlightenment. But instead of leaving samsara, they remain inside and vow to make it their duty to help beings reach Buddhahood.  Which in a way, Neo eventually did achieve.

Midway through the film we are introduced to the character known as The Oracle. She appears as a simple old woman baking cookies in her apartment, but she has the ability to see the future. The lasting message I take from the Oracle scene is “Know Thyself”. A Latin phrase which is seen inscribed above her kitchen door. An essential theme borrowed from Greek mythology as the same inscription appears above the entrance to the Delphic oracle’s temple.  The Oracle asks Neo if he believes himself to be The One. Neo responds by saying “I don’t know”. She then points to the Latin phrase and tells Neo that it means “know thyself”. Later, when Neo became The One, It wasn’t only because Trinity confessed her love. It was because Neo really was beginning to believe that he in fact was The One.  Again I hearken back to Alan Watts who spoke eloquently about understanding the nature of the self.  A key to attaining enlightenment is to truly understand yourself.

The symbolism of self-knowledge first appeared immediately after Neo took the red pill. Neo looks into a mirror and he notices that his face is distorted by a crack. The mirror then repairs itself before his eyes. He touches the mirror and his body begins to be consumed in a mirrored substance until he is completely enveloped in a reflective surface and then is ejected from the matrix into the real world. I think the mirror is an important image because it symbolizes self-knowledge. The mirror that consumed Neo represented a feedback loop of introspection. The lasting message of this film I believe is that one cannot grasp true knowledge of the universe until one know the true nature of the self.

Exploring The Matrix Part 1: Jesus in the Matrix

The last paper I ever wrote for in my university career was regarding the religious themes in the highly popular sci-fi movie The Matrix.  I’m interested in sharing it in blog form because I know many people found this movie interesting, but I don’t feel that the form it was written is quite in order for a blog.  Some ideas I originally had left out because they may have been just too “out there” and it may have affected my grade. Other ideas were maybe just not relevant and wouldn't have fit.   So instead I’ve chosen to re-write it with all the crazy stuff I wanted to write about but just didn't have the gall to include it into the academic paper.  This turned into a multi part blog because I really love breaking down everything about this film. And perhaps if I get bored, I'll delve into (small) parts of the sequels.  I may go overboard about certain meanings and metaphors, but I ask forgiveness in advance.  Don’t take them too seriously, they’re just things to think about next time you get a chance to see this movie.  Speaking of which, since this paper goes into great detail it might be a good idea to check out beforehand.  

First off, this film is loaded with everything religious.  Themes from eastern traditions and  Christianity are found everywhere.  Its also fascinating to those with a habit of thinking about things too deeply.  It asks philosophical first premises,  What is real?  Does the world actually exist? or is it some kind of dream or simulation?

For those who don’t know or have forgotten, the main plot hook of the film is that human beings are unknowingly trapped in a computer generated simulation of reality known as the Matrix.  Artificially created machine intelligence has destroyed human civilization and is now harvesting human bodies for energy while simulating their lives in an artificial dream world that resembles normal life in our modern world.  

The film follows a computer programmer named Thomas Anderson, also a computer hacker going by the alias Neo. He lives alone and his life seems to be very bland and unremarkable. Neo/Thomas is trying to find out what the Matrix is. He is searching for a mysterious man named Morpheus whom he believes can give him the answer to his question. Morpheus is the leader of a group of people including a woman named Trinity, who have been freed from the matrix, but return to free other people who want to get out. They find each other and Neo is freed from his digital prison. It’s then revealed that Morpheus freed Neo from The Matrix because he believes Neo is “The One”. A truth Neo eventually discovers for himself at the end of the movie.

The Matrix and Christ

The religious symbolism should not be lost to those familiar with the beliefs of Christians. The One is the saviour or messiah who is prophesied to bring freedom to humans inside the Matrix. The One is an individual with the ability for transcendence beyond the laws of the Matrix’s programmed reality.  Essentially The One has divine qualities.  He plays the Christ figure.  One could also see him as a Buddha just as easily.  But I will cover that later on.    

Because Keanu Reeves is actually the Buddha.....Yeah, more on that later

So, how does Neo represent the messiah character in this film? Well for starters, lets look at his name. His name “Neo” is an anagram for the word One. The word Neo also means new or novel.  A messiah comes to change the status quo and make things new.

His name while he was plugged into the matrix also has biblical references. His last name, Anderson translated literally into English means “Son of man”. Biblically this phrase can reference a coming messiah or divine ruler.  His first name Thomas comes from the New Testament of the bible. It appears as the name of one of Jesus’ original apostles. Thomas, in its original Greek form means “twin”. In the movie, Thomas lives a twin life, one as a computer programmer and another as a hacker.  In Christianity The apostle was nicknamed Thomas the Doubter. He was the apostle who doubted the resurrection of Christ. Because of his skepticism, he was the only one to actually touch the wound of the resurrected body of Christ, referenced in John 20:24-28.

Ouch! Thomas not so hard!

Neo’s persistence to know exactly what The Matrix was, led him directly to experience the object of truth first hand.  As Morpheus says, It’s not enough to be told what the Matrix is, one has to experience it for oneself.  Thomas could not believe in the resurrection of Christ until he had seen and touched the body with his own eyes and hands.

Since Christianity revolves around the idea of the resurrection of Jesus, Neo’s transcendence into The One contains the essential Christ narrative. At the finale of the movie, Neo is pursued by the “agents” of the matrix. The agents are sentient computer programs designed to keep the humans from learning the truth. Neo is killed by one of these agents, known as Smith. Not coincidentally this occurs in the very same building and hotel room the first scene of the movie takes place, 303. Neo lies completely dead inside the matrix, while Trinity, reveals her love for Neo to his unconscious body and kisses him. Because of her love, he is brought back to life and resurrected into The One. The agents attempt to shoot him again, but he is able to stop their bullets in midair. Neo now has the ability to see through the matrix itself and witness and control the code of the reality.

Neo’s Christ references are scattered in the film. In the beginning of the film, when Neo sells some of his products of his hacking job, the customer responds with “Hallelujah! You’re my savior man. My own personal Jesus Christ.”. The film’s Judas character, Cypher, exclaims to Neo at one point “Jesus! So you’re here to save the world.”  “Jesus” is used quite often as an expletive throughout them movie.  While in a training program, Morpheus names a few urban human occupations and inconspicuously adds “carpenters” to the end of the list. According to Mark 6:3 in the New Testament, Christ’s day job was carpentry.

The third main character, Trinity has a significant meaning in name and in her role. Central to many Christian doctrines is the idea of the Holy Trinity. This is the concept of God being three united persons in The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. There are three main protagonists in this film, which can be represented accurately in terms of the holy trinity. Morpheus is the father. He is the voice of authority and knowledge. Neo is the son. The “son of man”. Trinity represents the Holy Spirit in the film. She is the person who first contacts Neo inside the matrix. Trinity is the embodiment of love, care and the feminine. She brings the heart and mind together as represented by Neo and Morpheus respectively. She is the one who breathes life into Neo for his resurrection and transcendence.

The blurred lines of privacy

I'm curious of what the opinion of my readers about how much privacy they believe they have online.  Privacy is a tricky subject because it feels like its a fundamental right for everyone to have in a free society, yet we seem to be giving it up as fast as it is possible for us to do.  With everybody's lives being lived more in the public sphere of the internet, its harder and harder to have parts of your life that are kept private.  Our online behavior now defines people, if people can have access these actions, our personality can be at least partially figured out.

I find that people from older generations are much more concerned about having "private" information being made public on the internet.  My mother for example is paranoid about having even a photo of her being posted on Facebook.  She is probably not impressed with me mentioning her in this blog.  Whereas I have everything from relationship and career status up for the world to see.  I wonder if people are truly stressing out about the reality of the lack of online privacy, or are people just slowly getting used to it?

  

I believe that the sooner we accept that all of our online interactions are public, the easier it will be to accept the inevitable of the future.  I have mentally conceded that everything I do online is probably recorded somewhere in some NSA database.  I think its a helpful exercise to remember that the internet is not a place you can lurk around safely with anonymity.  Having all your activity public is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means there will no longer be secrets.  You can no longer have a secret online underground life, and that's probably a good thing.  If a suspicious spouse or employer wants to find out what your up to, it's not going to be hard for them to do.  People will just have to be more honest about themselves.  I think we are entering a strange future where privacy may be a rare thing to encounter.  With our smartphones GPS tracking our locations now, who knows the kind of intimate details that will be recorded about us in say ten years.  Google glass is just the beginning.

Obviously since we are doing legally confidential things such as banking online, we require a certain amount of discretion.  But as far as I can tell, online banking is quite a secure way to manage money.  That sort of private information is perhaps easier to uncover now, but this also means its a two way street.  It will be easier to track down those who perpetrate these crimes.   

Now, I'm not at all a fan of government using this technology to crack down on it's citizens for victim-less crimes, such as drug use.  But the reality is again, no privacy is a double edged sword.  The citizens will be able to crack down on its government for its much more heinous crimes.  As was demonstrated by Edward Snowden and Wikileaks.

Its a controversial issue, as I can see positive and negatives on both sides.  I guess we’ll have to wait see how miserable our public online lives are in ten years.