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| in Real Life By Seth Iddings So, my mom and I were having t his talk about random stuff. We started talking about them movie The Matrix.. I never realized before then, how much The Matrix could be associated with spirituality. I'm no super Christian who knows it all or anything, but I realized some things I hadn't before and I'm pretty psyched. Okay, so back to the Matrix. MATRIX: Everybody except a select few, live a life that isn't really real, but instead it is a fantasy world, and they don't even realize it. REAL LIFE: Almost everyone I know in high school is doing the same thing. They are being controlled by instant gratification and desires and cant see that they're not even in control of their own life. Instant gratification is thinking, "I want food," so you have to eat right now even if the only thing available at the moment are chicken sandwiches at the Tacoma Dome for six dollars and it doesn’t even look that good. How about the thought, "I want sex," so you have sex, even though it will leave a deep emotional scar and there is the possibility that you could conceive a child and ruin your life. There are only a select few who don't let there thoughts control them like this, but there are ALOT more who do and who dont even realize it... ALOT!!!! MATRIX: The "real" people who aren't asleep inside of the Matrix are trained to become more than any "fake" or "fantasy" person could ever be. The person controlled by the Matrix thinks that certain rules abide to them, but they don’t really because it isn't real, it's all a fantasy. The "real" people work outside these supposed rules while the others can't. They can only think what they are programmed to think so it isn't really their fault, because to believe in something you have to realize it exists first. Since they don't know that its a fantasy, how can they break out of it? The real people are those who can think for themselves and can do things the "fake" people can only dream of doing. REAL LIFE: People can be trained to be so much more than the norm and can break out of the "rules of life". Let's look at these so called rules that people live by; basically what most people follow blindly is what ever they feel like they want or need for that moment; instant gratification. You could be a better person and have a better life, if you weren’t a slave to instant gratification. Then you could slow down, step back and realize, "Sex does sound good, but I'm gonna wait until I'm married as God intended. Then I know I'll be with this person for life. It'll be a good thing when we have a child and there wont be any emotional scaring." When you aren't a slave to instant gratification, you can see things how they really are; "I am pretty hungry but that chicken sandwich is outrageously overpriced and I can wait until I get home or stop at somewhere better and less expensive on the way home." To me, that is kicking butt and taking names. When YOU are in control and not instant gratification and are able to say in any situation, "I'm not doing what you want me to do just because you told me to do it. ya know?" Anyway, you'll be a lot better equipped then the teenage chick who's feeding her kid the chicken sandwich. MATRIX: Neo, is this guy that gets pulled out of the matrix by Morpheus and Trinity and is given the opportunity to see the truth. This shows that it is possible to get people out of the Matrix, and it's an exciting adventure filled with danger and peril in every step. REAL LIFE: It's possible to wake people up to the truth and out of the way they have been living, but it is a long and perilous road. It is easier to get pulled in by the "fake" people then it is to pull them out. MATRIX: Morpheus is training Neo to become "more" and in one of the training exercises there is a test. Morpheus takes Neo through what Neo thinks is the Matrix but it is actually just a training simulation. As Morpheus is talking to Neo about how the agents can take over peoples bodies and use them to kill you, Neo doesn't pay attention because a really hot girl in a red dress is walking by. As Neo is looking, Morpheus barks "NEO!" Neo looks back at him. "You were looking at the girl in the red dress weren’t you? Look again." Neo turns around and the girl in the red dress is now an agent who is pointing a gun at his head. REAL LIFE: If their not for you their against you, right? That is a very true statement. Potentially everyone who is not a "real" person and is a slave to instant gratification, could become an "agent" and drag you down. They never come at you head on, flashing a red and yellow sign with big letters saying, " I'M GONNA MAKE YOU TAKE A TURN FOR THE WORST." It can be as innocent as a friend who you become best buds with at basketball camp, but through their influence and your inability to deny instant gratification long enough to think for yourself, you find yourself smoking weed outside school every morning. Maybe it could be a simple high school crush that escalates until all the sudden you're 18 years old with 2 kids. Even your parents can be agents. If they are not "real" and your learning from them, they can teach you how to be "fake". If your going to be "real," you have to be on the lookout for everybody who is "fake". MATRIX: Aboard the ship, Nebekenezar, Neo runs into a guy named Cypher. Cypher is a guy who wishes he could be plugged back into the Matrix instead of having to fight day after day. His philosophy is if you think it is real, than it is real. So, to his way of thinking being a “fake” person is just as valid as being a “real” person. Cypher is promised by the agents to be put back into the Matrix and give him a simulated life, rich and with everything he ever wanted. The agents fail to mention that once you are out of the Matrix you can never go back in. Being blinded by his greed and desire for a life without any kind of hardship or want, Cypher agrees to kill Neo and sacrifice his captain to the agents. In the end Cypher looses his life and Neo lives. REAL LIFE: There are some people like Cypher who know exactly whats going on around them but since it's easier not to resist things, they fall back into what they got out of. The question is, was Cypher right? Is it really just as real to be a “fake” person If your mind believes your real? Ultimately that is for you to decide, but I think that people get so blinded by they’re own greed and instant gratification they don’t see that the path they are on is a path to doom. People who mean you harm aren’t going to tell you outright that they are evil, because if they did you wouldn’t listen to them. They will be manipulative and nice to you so that you let your guard down. They will strike you at your weakness in order to get you to think you desire something that you don’t really or need. They never ever show you the whole picture. You might even get the things you thought you wanted or needed, but you'll soon find out that there is always something else, something more you need, and more and more. If you allow yourself to follow these kind of people and these kinds of desires, in the end you will die without having any of the things you truly needed in life. I don’t know about you but I’ve made my decision. ~, |
| Almost everyone I know in high school are being controlled by their desires, They can't even see that they're no longer in control of their own lives. |
| It's possible to wake people up to the truth , but it is a long and perilous road. It is easier to get pulled in by the "fake" people then it is to pull them out. |
| I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain... that it is juicy... and delicious... But ignorance is bliss! |
| Trinity: Please Neo, you have to trust me. Neo : Why? Trinity : Because you have been down there, Neo. You know that road. You know exactly where it ends. And I know that's not where you want to be. |
| About the Author: Seth is a Junior at River Ridge High School When not contemplating the deep issues of life Seth can often be found listening to music or playing his drums. |
