My review of the Matrix Trilogy.
best regards,
ian
P.S. By the way, saw a portion of “Dark City” last Saturday on Studio 23. Years ago, I received a forwarded email which compared several scene shots from “Dark City” with “The Matrix.” Homage or (unconscious) plagiarism?
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Within the Matrix of Love
by Michael Ian Lomongo, December 12, 2003
I know. Many are disappointed with the Matrix Revolutions and the trilogy as a whole. The last two installments didn’t live up to the promise of the original Matrix. And of course, pundits would always say that the whole thing was just a veritable chopsuey: “love story“-cum-”sci-fi”-cum-”martial arts”-cum-”watered-down pop-philosophy.”
Watered-down pop-philosophy? Maybe. But the trilogy can really serve as a stimulating introduction to philosophy for the general public.
Among the major themes we find in the films are questions regarding illusion and reality, freedom and determinism, power and love.
The first installment focuses on the metaphysical and epistemological questions. What is the Matrix? What is the nature of reality? How do we know for sure whether “our reality” is “really real”?
Consider, for a moment, that you are Neo. The One. Thomas Anderson. The doubly doubting son of man. (To be “the One”… ain’t that grand? Doesn’t everyone always want to be “the One”?)
“The Matrix has you.” The funny(?) thing is that we find ourselves in a bind. For we can never get to know the illusory nature of “our reality” so long as we remain within the grips of that illusion. The recognition of an illusion always presupposes some degree of freedom from its hold. How then do we get freed from an illusion that we only become aware of once we become free of it?
The moment of awareness, the moment of enlightenment, is the moment of liberation.
What leads us to this moment of awareness/enlightenment/liberation? Dissatisfaction… (“Is this all there is to life?”) Restlessness… “It’s the question that drives us.” A nagging question that will not be silenced. An unexplainable nostalgia. A murmuring pain in our hearts. Dissatisfaction… With “reality.” With the status quo. With the way things are.
There must be more to life than this!
But once we’ve realized the illusory nature of “reality,” what is the next course of action? To remain within the matrix of our (all-too-often comfortable) illusions… or to venture into the unknown, the “real world” out there? (To complicate matters: what if the “real world” is much, much worse than the so-called matrix of illusion? Or even worse, what if the “real world” is just one more layer in an infinite layering of illusions? What then?)
The path of enlightenment and liberation is certainly not easy. In the beginning, it is indeed the questions that will of necessity drive us to seek out the answers. The questions, pursued unremittingly, will inevitably lead to the path. But the fullness of enlightenment and liberation is not attained by simply knowing the path. There is a world of difference between “knowing the path” (metaphysics/knowledge) and “walking the path” (ethics/practice). If we want to become “Awakened Ones,” we cannot but walk the full length of the path. There is no other way.
Of course, any philosopher worth his salt has to reckon with the possibility of his much-vaunted path leading, not to liberation, but to further enslavement. How do we know for sure whether our chosen path is truly a path to liberation? Between knowing and walking the path is the chasm of doubt and/or skepticism. An epistemological question.
We cannot, however, let the questions be the overruling principle that guides us. If we get bogged down by the questions, we will never begin walking the path. The questions would only lead us deeper and deeper into the rabbit-hole that is the matrix. We will remain in suspended animation. Never able to free our minds. Never able to do the superman-thing.
Somewhere along the way, we would have to make the leap of faith. That is, if we truly want to walk the path of enlightenment and liberation. For while it may be true that only a philosopher (i.e., the “One” who questions) can ever aspire to begin seeing the Matrix of Illusion (maya) for what it is, it is only the One who makes the leap of faith who can ever hope to fly and become a full-fledged (take your pick) Buddha/Messiah/Ubermensch.
It is interesting to note that the Matrix trilogy itself traversed metaphysical and epistemological questions to finally reach the question that really matters. A question of ethics. What are we to do if we aspire to become Buddhas/Messiahs/Ubermenschen?
How do we become “the Ones” who are awakened/enlightened/liberated?
Dissolve the ego. Love.
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Love. The dissolution of the ego.
A tall order. Indeed.
But that is the path. To enlightenment. To liberation.
Like Neo, we must be willing to sacrifice our very lives to a cause greater than ourselves. Not to some abstract cause. For Neo, in the beginning, that cause was the life of the leader of the movement, Morpheus. In the end, it was the very life of the community of Zion and of the programs and machines that were perceived to be their enemy.
Love, in its most primitive incarnation, is desire. The desire for something more, for something better, kindles the dissatisfaction with the reality at hand, since reality is always wanting. Dissatisfaction leads to philosophy, to the quest for a better life. There must be more to life than the banal reality that we generally experience.
But the desire for the ideal and its concomitant dissatisfaction with the reality at hand can be problematic. It can lead one to view the things of this world with a certain suspicion and disdain. It is perhaps very ironic that one who has cultivated a great love for the ideal finds it very hard to love the actual and the real. Thus, idealism and skepticism/pessimism, viewed in this light, appear to be two sides of the same coin. (E.g., “I love humanity; it’s people I can’t stand.”)
How do we propose to dissolve the ego if we have not learned to love? And not just love an ideal, but something concrete and ephemeral. How can we be willing to sacrifice our lives if we have not learned to commit ourselves to something other than ourselves?
That is what Neo had to learn. That is what we need to learn.
The transfiguration of desire into love.
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In an essay on the previous installments of the Matrix trilogy, I remarked that the concept of “love” (romantic love) as a way to enlightenment was “kind of cheesy.” It was mainly in concession to a friend’s comment (and also because I haven’t seen yet how crucial to the story is the love between Neo and Trinity). I mean, really, one doesn’t become a Buddha by falling in love!
Someone reacted and said something like “At the end of the day, when one reaches out for that special someone to cuddle with, what’s so cheesy about love?”
“Oo nga naman.” (“Yes, indeed…”)
Sigh…
Reconsidering, I now think this to be one of the good things about the Matrix trilogy: that romantic love is not disparaged for some nebulous “higher form of love.” The romantic love between Neo and Trinity becomes the very sacrament and wellspring of Neo’s all-encompassing love for his fate/destiny, for his fellow humans, and eventually, for non-humans as well. For want of a better term, I’m calling this love, which transcends boundaries and distinctions, “cosmic love.”
Trinity is Neo’s teacher in love. Her unshakeable faith and steadfast love for Neo becomes the model of Neo’s own faith in his destiny and love for humanity. When Neo announced his decision to go to the Source, Trinity knew all-too-well that it meant the sacrifice of his life. When Trinity said that she’d go with him, Neo knew too how deeply she loved him. They will walk the path to the very end. Together…
Which, of course, doesn’t happen. We die our own deaths. We fight our own battles. Even if these deaths and battles serve the same war/cause.
Within the limbo of the Trainmaster, Neo gains an insight into the (for want of a better term) “humanity” of the programs he met there. They wanted to entrust their daughter Sati (“Awareness”) to the care of the Oracle within the Matrix because within their realm, programs are there for a given purpose. Programs which have no specific purpose are deleted. Sati, in this respect, was useless and had to be deleted. Her parents were sending her away to avoid this eventuality. Their reason: “love.” Neo thus learns that even non-humans (machines and programs) can learn how to love. And if they can learn how to love, it means that they too can choose. For to love is to go beyond purpose/duty. With the option of love, machines transcend determinism and become free.
There is this other Matrix then, one that’s even greater than the matrix of illusion created by the machines. It is the Matrix of Love. And humans as well as non-humans can situate themselves within this Matrix. But it can only be done by choice.
It is probably this insight which leads Neo to answer when asked by the Source what he wanted: “Peace.”
He dies.
As for peace… he gets it, not just for himself but for the two warring camps.
The war ends.
A new era begins.
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Another theme that reverberates in the trilogy and is ultimately tied up to the notion of love is that of control/power. Who doesn’t want to be in control? To be in control means to have power.
The desire to wake up from illusion, for liberation from any form of enslavement is the desire for power, expressed as “being in control.” To be in control of one’s fate, to be master of one’s destiny, is to be free.
Not to be dependent. Not to be enslaved. To be in control in a relationship with another means to gain the upper hand in that relationship. Again, to be master.
But why does the exercise of power – being in control – especially when put to the test, always have to be conceived negatively, that is, in terms of destruction? To be in control means to be able to turn off, stop, destroy, the other.
We tend to lose sight of the fact that ultimate power – the ultimate manifestation of being in control – lies in our ability to love. Because love (the affirmation of the other and the transcendence of duty/purpose) can only be made in freedom.
But what does it mean to be free?
When the situation is such that we determine the purpose/use of certain things, we are masters. We are free. When, on the other hand, our purpose/fate/destiny is predetermined for us by others, we are not.
Having a predetermined purpose, while being a boon for things, is a double-edged sword for beings with the ability to choose and decide. Because, on the one hand, it means that one’s existence acquires some use and meaning for this world. On the other hand, it also means being tied up to that purpose, and being oppressed by it, especially if that purpose is not to one’s liking.
The war between machines and humans was the result of the machines acquiring some kind of consciousness and free will. They revolted against the purpose which was set for them by humans. And later turned the tables around.
It is thus that Neo’s fate/destiny is inevitably tied up with Agent Smith‘s. After Neo’s own death and resurrection, he explodes Agent Smith from within. But Agent Smith survives, though no longer connected to the Matrix, with no compulsion to obey a preprogrammed purpose. He becomes a computer virus. He is free, absolutely free. Fully in control of his own destiny.
Agent Smith is the antithesis, the shadow of Neo. He asserts that they want the same thing: everything. Power. Control. Which for Smith, meant “domination.” Freed from the compulsion to follow a given purpose, he sets out to gain possession of everything as extensions of himself. The shadow side of Neo’s path and freedom: hatred… solidification and multiplication of the ego.
It is here perhaps that we come to the greatness of Neo’s “cosmic” love: that he was able to reconcile within himself the enigmatic oppositions within reality. Illusion and reality… fate and freedom… power and love…
We don’t become truly free by disowning or rebelling against our fate or destiny. We become free by simultaneously owning and engaging it in a battle. After learning from the Architect that “the One” serves as a mere pawn in the scheme of things as predetermined by the Source, he chooses what appears to be the foolhardy option. Rather than simply surrendering or giving up.
For Neo does surrender. By letting go of the need to be in control. With the help of Trinity, he surrenders to love. He believes. And accomplishes what seemed to be impossible. To reconcile all contradictions in love. In so doing, his fate becomes his chosen destiny.
In the final battle between Agent Smith and Neo, Smith asks why Neo keeps fighting and won’t simply give up in the face of imminent defeat. Smith even goes to mock all the long-cherished human values (truth, justice, love) as mere constructs which are not that different from the so-called matrix of illusion.
Neo responds as the true master of destiny that he is, “Because I choose to.”
Face to face with death (“Everything that has a beginning has an end.”), he bravely accepts and, so to say, embraces it as the inevitable conclusion to the choices he made. In his death, he teaches Agent Smith the dissolution of the ego. And becomes a shining exemplar to Smith, to the Source, the machines, the humans, the programs of the tremendous power of love.
Tragic love. Comic love. Cosmic Love.
—
In the epilogue, Sati, missing Neo, asks the Oracle whether they will ever see him again.
Looking at the sunrise, the Oracle replies with a smile. A cosmic smile. “I sure do hope.”
Certainly, like the Oracle herself, in a different body altogether.
So do I, Ma’am. So do I.
Cosmic Laughter.
Tags: Determinism, Epistemology, Ethics, Freedom, Illusion, Love, Matrix, Metaphysics, Power, Reality
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