The start
We’ve been bombarded lately with videos all over social media about the “Matrix”, its agents, and how it controls the world. But what is it in the first place, and how did it emerge?
“The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film depicting a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality that intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias “Neo”, uncovers the truth, he joins a rebellion against the machines along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.” (source)
Publicized by social media figures, the current idea of the Matrix uses the initial concept behind the movie (trapped humanity being controlled) to reflect the reality of our society claiming it to be controlled by hidden powers, wealthy families, and secret societies for example.
Depicting the whole world as a constructed system to control and “enslave” individuals, it has been most common to motivate people to build wealth and ascend the power hierarchy as a means to attain freedom from the Matrix.
As a result, the suggested solutions are material, chaining its seekers into the material world and taking the whole idea of the Matrix into a materialist concept.
My thoughts
While I partly acknowledge the materialist idea of the Matrix and that our world is being controlled by mass media, political propaganda, and ideological indoctrination, I think that material solutions as previously proposed, aren’t the real answers we should be seeking. In addition to that, rather than looking at worldly possessions as a way to liberate us, we’d better focus on liberating our mind, which is the first reason for our enslavement, or our freedom and enlightenment.
The great war is a spiritual war, which means that the modern Matrix is mostly mental and spiritual and that all of the “enslavement” happening, happens in regard to our minds.
Let me explain further.
Most people are chained to whatever society imposes from rules, norms, and ideas, without questioning any of it. Thus, one follows the herd without asking one’s self if what is being done is of any good or benefit.
Furthermore, we tend to inherit habits, beliefs, and traditions from our parents without having any deep understanding of the reasons or logic behind all of these.
And so, following whatever society imposes, from everything mentioned above to all the trends and ideologies marketed by the media and other groups, without questioning any of these, throws us into a mental prison. We become, as a consequence, enslaved to everything mentioned previously. We lose touch with truth and reality. Hence, we get trapped in the Matrix.
The real Matrix is thus more mental and spiritual than material. And the real solution isn’t material, but spiritual and philosophical.
To philosophize, to break free from society’s chains, and, most importantly, to become enlightened.
“Most people are out of touch with reality because they confuse the world as it is, with the world as they think about it, and talk about it, and describe it.”
Alan Watts
2400 years into the past
Going back to Plato’s time, I’d mention a very important part of his work (The Republic): The Allegory of the Cave.
Well, what is this?
As explained by Einzelganger here’s how it goes:
The prisoners of the cave are chained so that they cannot move their legs and necks. They can only sit and watch the wall in front of them, but cannot look around, cannot see each other or the wall they’re chained to. Behind the prisoners burns a fire. There are people in between the fire and the prisoners. These people hold sticks with several forms (birds, horses, dogs) that project onto the wall. So, all they’ve ever seen are mere projections of objects that appear in the real world: a world that’s alien to them.
When one of the prisoners is freed and ascends from the cave into the real world, he experiences sunlight for the first time in his life. He is confused and needs time to adapt, as he’s never seen the daylight before. But when his eyes have adjusted, he encounters all the forms he recognizes from his life in the cave. But they’re different this time. Instead of mere silhouettes, he sees the actual entities: full of color and with profound detail. He then realizes what he thought was real, was in fact, an illusion.
Analyzing Plato’s allegory, we’d be well aware that all of this depicts what we previously discussed, as the Matrix.
The shadows are the unquestioned beliefs, society’s norms, and ideas, or whatever has been mentioned in the first part. As the prisoner breaks free, he then is enlightened as he experiences the real world, everything he used to see was only an illusion, an abstraction of reality. He needs time to adapt because he’s faced with something new, with a truth different from what he previously knew.
Going back into the cave to save his unenlightened friends, the philosopher (or enlightened man) is faced with refusal and opposition, he’s ridiculed by the other prisoners of the cave. Thus, very few people accept the truth, and the rest, the ignorants, are chained in the cave of illusions.
Find a full explanation of the allegory of the cave here.
Going deeper into that
It’s all about the truth and finding the truth.
First, we start with inherited beliefs and ideas, we progress then to question them; we hence find new truths and correct our knowledge.
If, for example, one only knows that apples are red, when faced with a green apple, this individual has 2 options:
- To accept the new truth and correct his knowledge, thus he knows that there are red and green apples.
- To deny the truth, to maintain his ignorance, thus he maintains the belief that apples are only red, consequently maintaining false knowledge and remaining far from the truth.
For a man to be true to himself, he has to accept the truth and correct his false knowledge, because it is the nature of truth that once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Moreover, to get out of the cave, the person should question all of his beliefs, even his most cherished ideas, even the ideas he wishes to carve on stones. Next, after questioning all of these and even considering opposing ideas, one has to rebuild his thinking up from first principles thinking. Thus, his thinking becomes antifragile, benefitting from errors and using them as information to improve, or, to get nearer to the truth.
“The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies, but also to hate his friends.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Free thinkers
For us to become free thinkers or enlightened individuals, our task is to keep questioning whatever we learn, so we can correct and improve.
Unfortunately, some people may prefer to stay ignorant by denying the truth, whether because of their hedonistic desires or because of the sense of meaning and belonging they wish to maintain through their groups and beliefs. And, refusing the truth, these men delude themselves into the cave.
“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
One of the biggest, fallacies we face is mistaking our own knowledge for the truth. We fall preys to the illusion of knowing, thus, we cease to learn or correct our thinking.
You should take the approach that you’re wrong. Your goal is to be less wrong.
The map, which is our knowledge, is not the territory, which stands for reality or truth. Accordingly, it is our responsibility to correct this map and upgrade it constantly to get closer to the truth.
The more we know, the more we know that we don’t know.
Another idea I’d add is the importance of lowering our identity, better not say “I identify as XYZ” with XYZ being a specific ideology, group, or belief, before questioning all of the ideas that XYZ englobes. Hence, we’re not adopting a set of beliefs that we might not understand or oppose, for example.
On top of everything that has been said, a free mind is a mind free of judgment, because judgment means that one stops learning, and by this, one stops improving, while maintaining an erroneous map of the world.
Change is the only constant, and by accepting what we know as incomplete, thereby changing continuously, and upgrading our map; we’re elevated higher and higher, facing the light outside of the cave.
To add to that, philosophy is the first place to start with for improving our thinking, but lots of people look at philosophers as perfect people from whom we can adopt all ideas and theories. Beware, because philosophers are flawed humans as much as you are. That’s why, whoever we listen to and learn from should be treated as an inquirer, not as the truth. Therefore, everything should be questioned.
We live in doubts, and these questions keep us alive.
The conclusion
Truth is a big burden that few people accept. Most people don’t want the truth, but comfortable lies and a story to believe in, something to provide them with a sense of meaning and belonging.
The real way out of the Matrix is not materialism, but enlightenment and free, critical thinking.
“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.”
Socrates
Truth is a heavy burden that few people accept or desire to bear, but only by bearing this weight can we attain real freedom. Only through truth can we truly be free.
Reject whatever is being thrown at you from indoctrination to modern propaganda.
Follow no one, trust yourself, think for yourself, question everything, and stay sovereign.
After all, it is only the truth that we are after.
“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
Henry David Thoreau
Amazing articles with plenty of valuable information at a very young age.
Keep going brother! Proud of you👌🏻👊🏻