davidbowerkingwood

The Matrix

 Directed by the Wachowski Brothers; winner of four Oscars.

In 1999 the movie, “The Matrix” was released to considerable acclaim by both audiences and critics. I do not recall exactly when I first saw the movie but remember being impressed with what I found to be a totally new plot theory unlike any I had encountered before. Having been a science fiction fan since around 1939 that took some doing as I had read or seen so many science fiction stories and found many of them repeating, with minor changes, a similar storyline.

It was going to take some time but I began to realize the parallels between our life on this earth and life in the “Matrix Universe.” For those of you not familiar with the story a character named Thomas A. Anderson, alias Neo makes a life changing discovery; here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article on the movie:

“The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called “the Matrix”, created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies’ heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer “Neo” learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the “dream world.”

I have written on this before in my essay The Real Matrix Revealed but would like to think more on this idea of true reality and the real matrix in which we ourselves will live out our mortal lives, our very own “dream world.”

The Blue Pill

In the story Neo is told the truth of his situation and given the opportunity to take a non-reversible blue pill that will change his life forever and discover for himself what reality is really like; he decides to take the blue pill and his adventures begin. We too have a blue pill called salvation in Jesus Christ; when we take that blue pill we are born again and given spiritual life and God, the Holy Spirit to live in us forever. Only then do we have the power of discernment and the ability to distinguish between our matrix and true reality.

In the movie a character named Morpheus who was already free of the matrix had to help Neo discover the truth; in real life we too must have someone outside our matrix deliver to us the truth of our situation if we are to ever be free. For us the truth has come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blue pill is the new birth which comes by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

The truth of creation and all reality is revealed exclusively in the Bible; only those who are spiritually alive and willing to study learn and apply those teachings to their lives have any hope of successfully dealing with the matrix of our lives and true reality.

In the movie the characters that had been freed from the matrix had the ability to either connect or disconnect from the matrix. In our matrix this is not possible; although we are empowered to distinguish between reality and the matrix this is a matter of faith as we must continue to live out our mortal lives in the matrix.

A Vastly More Complex Matrix

The matrix in the movie existed only as a complex digital program that altered the perception of those individuals plugged into it but left all else unchanged; our matrix exists on both a spiritual and physical level and has the appearance of permanence; we are removed from this matrix only by our mortal death.

This winds up confusing a lot of people into thinking this world is reality and the final arbiter of what is valid and what is invalid; such a self-deception is both dangerous and destructive to any who fall into that trap. I have discussed this danger more in the essay, What is Reality and encourage anyone who has not read it to take a look.

I will once more emphasize the importance of perception; your perception of reality is so vitally important to your present and your future. If your perception of reality is not based on the teachings of the Bible it is probably based on your dream world and that can be disastrous for you; a mistake in judgment here can have profound, eternal consequences; choose carefully.