There Is No Spoon
Ed Rawady
other things, the film poses a metaphysical question close to my heart:
What is the real world?
If you haven't seen The Matrix be forewarned that parts of the plot are
revealed below. Don't read further if you intend to view the movie and
don't want to know anything about it.
I don't usually review films, but I've not been able to get The Matrix out
of my head. Like the musical hook of a popular song that won't go away,
scenes and ideas from the film replay in my mind, daily. I've found
excuses to see it again and again, with friends and family who haven't, or
who have seen it and share my belief that it is a profound and deep movie.
The Matrix is a metaphor representing our civilization, its institutions,
and the material world with which many of us identify. In the film, there
are two realities: the Matrix -- a virtual-reality imposed on all
humankind by conscious, intelligent machines (created by past-generation
humans), and the physical world -- what's left of the Earth and human
civilization following the war between humans and machines.
Though life in the Matrix looks and feels just like the civilization to
which we belong (which many of us think of as "the real world") it's
actually a machine-generated artifice, a prison for human minds. People
living in the Matrix's dream-world are unaware that their real bodies are
lying in gelatin-filled pods, wired into a vast network, supplying
bio-electric energy to the machines.
The main character, Thomas Anderson, aka Neo, a computer hacker, is sought
by Morpheus, a liberated guru. Morpheus believes that Neo is "The One," a
contemporary messiah who will save humankind from eternal enslavement by
the machines.
By hacking into the Matrix Morpheus and his crew are temporarily inserted
into its virtual-reality, where they interact with enslaved, dreaming
people, including Neo. Morpheus arranges a meeting with Neo (in the
Matrix) and prepares him for the ego-shattering truth: "Have you ever had
a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to
awake from that dream . . . how would you know the difference between the
dream world and the real world?"
"The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you
from the truth . . . Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is;
you have to see it for yourself."
Neo accepts Morpheus's offer to be awakened and removed from the Matrix.
After Morpheus's crew recovers Neo's physical body and rehabilitates his
atrophied muscles and sensory organs, Morpheus oversees Neo's training.
Neo receives virtual combat training and sage instruction from Morpheus to
free his mind so that he can bend the rules of the Matrix in order to
fight the machines.
Eventually Morpheus brings Neo to meet the Oracle, the prophet who told
Morpheus that he would find "The One." While waiting to see the Oracle,
Neo encounters a young boy who is adept at bending silverware with his
mind. Neo watches in fascination as the boy concentrates and makes a soup
spoon wilt like a parched flower. The boy returns the spoon to its
original shape, offers it to Neo, and says, "Do not try to bend the spoon.
That's impossible. Instead, realize the truth -- that there is no spoon --
and that it is yourself that is bending."
There is no spoon.
In other words, the material world isn't real and we are limited by our
belief that it is. One of The Matrix's profound and inspiring messages is:
what we believe defines our reality -- if we free our minds we can do
anything.
This film is by far the best science-fiction, action-adventure movie I've
ever seen. Even if the direction weren't excellent, and the cinematography
and special effects weren't state-of-the-art, and the film wasn't
seamless, it would still be a great movie for me because of the story and
ideas presented through it.
Though The Matrix contains some gratuitous violence, it isn't a violent
movie, per se. However, if you're uncomfortable with any level of violence
in movies then The Matrix probably isn't for you. I feel it's unwise and
unhealthy to embrace violence, and certainly don't believe in violence as
a preferable alternative for conflict resolution, but I'm not spiritually
evolved to the point that I don't enjoy watching a film where "good"
triumphs over "evil" in physical combat.
If you've never considered (or have never experienced) other levels of
existence beyond the material world and what can be proven through
science, then you'll probably see The Matrix as a mere action movie with
great special effects. The special effects and choreographed combat scenes
are worth the price of admission if that's all you're seeking.
For me, The Matrix is a story which reminds me to appreciate precious
intangibles: life, love, faith, and a connection to the Universe.
Peace.
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Ed Rawady's Real World Column
and Spiritual Discussion Forum is at
http://www.Table12.com