It has become a fashion these days to declare everything in society as a Matrix. Rich billionaires, Social media influencers, Gender identity activists and unsatisfied men are using Matrix as a metaphor for institutional censorship and exploitation. However, the original meaning of the Matrix metaphor has been lost somewhere along the line. Even the writers/directors of the Matrix franchise seem to have stuck in the rabbit hole themselves.
Symbolically, the word Matrix comes from the word Maya which means illusion. Illusion means something which appears different than it is. One can’t dissociate the word illusion from perception. Perception is the process of sensory experience from which we gather knowledge about the external world. Such knowledge helps a human survive and play a tiny role in the larger evolutionary process of survival of the species. Our sensory perception has evolved only to see a mere fraction of the truth which is essential for our survival. This means our sensory experience of the world is limited and provides only a window into the reality. For example, when we see an object, we are not seeing the intrinsic properties of the object but we are building an image of the object by the light reflected from it. This also means that it is not the fundamental reality itself but the variation in the source of light which creates the perception of reality in our brain. It can’t be very difficult to understand this phenomenon with the technology we have these days. Let’s take an example of this internet that you browse every day. Neither the text nor the images that you see exist in reality. They in-fact never existed. They are mere symbols/placeholders for beams of light from a light source (e.g., computer monitor) to tell it to generate light of a certain wavelength. When the light reaches your eyes, you start to experience as if a person/object/symbol in the image indeed exists.
we experience not even the projections of the physical reality but the shadows of the shadows.
We are living in the world of shadows. In the earlier technologies, we used to at-least experience the projections of the real objects. There used to be a real object which was captured by an eye/camera and it required both the object and the eye/camera to be present. Now we experience not even the projections of physical reality but the shadows of the shadows. In a way, we are more miserable than the prisoners of the cave in the Plato’s allegory of the cave who were experiencing the reality through a projection. We on the other hand, are not even experiencing a projection of the object because for a projection, an object and a light source projecting the object has to be present. We are experiencing the shadow of the computer’s memory which has saved the shadow of the symbols which are mere placeholders for an unreal world.
It is not technology which is creating this illusion. Technology has just shown us how fallible our sensory experience is and how easily we can be deceived through our senses. We have always been deceived by the sensations and remained in the so called, “The Matrix”. Let’s now see some of the prominent metaphors in the Matrix movies.
“System” meant our biological system and evolutionary processes from which we can’t escape.
Being “Slave” in the matrix meant being slave to sensory desires, limitations, and predispositions.
The “code” meant the genetic code present in our DNA which dictates our lives.
Being “programmed” meant being programmed by the evolutionary processes of life, birth and death.
Machines were symbols for people who are overpowered by sensory experiences and are antagonists towards anything metaphysical or spiritual.
Agents of the system are the people who come forth and enforce a materialistic reality unto you by telling you what you are missing and what you ought to do in order to be “happy”.
Being in the Matrix is a symbol for indulgence in sensory stimulations, living a hedonistic and/or materialistic lifestyle. (You must not ignore the cipher’s statement about how delicious was his steak)
Awakening meant having knowledge of your biological urges, biases, limitations, genetic predispositions and knowing that the real world is merely a constructed reality.
Escaping the matrix meant shunning the materialistic lifestyle and preferring a spiritual path.
The worst form of Matrix is this digital nightmare in which we live these days. The apocalyptic present in which all values have been lost and where only superficiality and shallow gestures reign.
We live in a time where everybody is talking about the Matrix, but nobody is aware what is the Matrix. People who proclaim to have escaped the matrix (e.g., off grid living, Red-pillers, social media influencers, etc.) have just created another layer of the Matrix of their own. A fabricated material reality in which they indulge in hedonism and feel proud that they have escaped the matrix.
The worst form of Matrix is this digital nightmare in which we live these days. The apocalyptic present in which all values have been lost and where only superficiality and shallow gestures reign. It is a dystopia in which we race against an invisible non-entity called, “algorithm”, which determines what values should be present in a society. This “democracy” in setting the value system is dangerous to say the least. Because we all know what sells the most, — the sensory pleasure. (No wonder world’s oldest profession is the hottest commodity). Again, technology is not the cause of the problem because it is the people who make Instagram fashion models or youtubers their idols. And people do it because they are the slaves of their impulses, prejudices, predispositions, and desires (i.e., the real Matrix). These algorithms and the social media mobs are the new bots for which the metaphor of ‘Machine’ fits best. In this way, it is hardly anyone who is out of the Matrix. In-fact most people’s livelihood is dependent on this Matrix which is precisely what being a “battery” of the system means. It is ironic when social media influencers and celebrities use the word “Matrix” and declare themselves as red-pilled, because there can’t be anything more deluded than this.
The only people who understood the Matrix and have escaped are the ones who are not even part of the discourse. They are the mystics, the ascetics, the poets, saints, and the prophets. These people knew this centuries before these movies were released. However, it is important to distinguish these people from the religious clergy and organized religions which is also another layer of materialism and thus is also a Matrix within the Matrix.
Conclusions
Matrix metaphor is a powerful metaphor not because of the popularity of the movies but because it resonates with an already present ancient truth. The truth which saints and sages have been warning us about for centuries. The writers got the concept right in the first three movies however, as it is clear from the fourth movie that they are trying to find their way out of the matrix themselves. It is because the symbols and the idols that they introduced became alive and came back at them. Now they are fighting against the very materialistic symbols that they have created. Therefore, one must be careful not to create another Matrix as a solution for an escape from a Matrix.