What prevents a person from leaving the Matrix?
– “Slaves must either work or sleep.” Thus spoke the ancient Roman philosopher Marcus Porcius Cato. He had no idea that he was describing one of the main principles of the Matrix. Thanks to such qualities and categories of reality as ignorance, fear, laziness, anger, irritation, greed, selfishness, suspicion, and distrust of everything, fashion and trends, the desire to be like everyone else, etc., people nourish the System with the necessary life juices, constantly prolonging its existence for an indefinite period.
A period that can last for years, centuries, and millennia. Many of these human qualities have been and continue to be eradicated by one of the leading world religions, Buddhism. And indeed, without the ultimate victory over one’s internal vises (and not just over the external imperfections of the System), complete liberation is probably impossible… just as the final “awakening” from slumber is.
Laziness
– The first of the negative qualities I would like to touch upon is laziness. What is laziness, essentially? This is the silent consent of a person to the existing order of things or, I would even say, criminal inaction that hinders a person from developing and plunges them into a stupor from which it becomes increasingly difficult to escape. Laziness is the deadly enemy of progress and one of the most loyal allies of the Matrix. Laziness is one of the best excuses for a person to avoid creating and constructing his personal reality, to not be the master and creator of his own life in all its ambiguity and, at the same time, its fullness. By surrendering to this negative quality, a man misses numerous opportunities to improve himself and, consequently, change the world around him.
– Our entire life is like a sine wave: an alternating sequence of order and chaos. In other words, continuous vibration, movement. By being lazy and not doing anything or taking any action, a person essentially folds his paws and completely surrenders himself to the power of external circumstances and forces, not all of which have a progressive direction. And that’s exactly what the Matrix needs: what could be better than a calm and compliant “battery” that has no strength, will, or desire to resist the System’s policies? Such a slave can be used without replacement for many, many years, as his inert resource will not go anywhere: it will remain with him, unless, of course, any cataclysms or unforeseen circumstances occur.
Fear
– The second obstacle we will discuss is also incredibly powerful: essentially, a “concrete wall” several dozen meters high. It is inherent to varying degrees, but absolutely everyone. I am now talking about fear as one of the main scourges of humankind. Having conquered or overcome fear, a person will truly discover new, hidden depths of his personality, representing entirely different qualities of decoration and colours in the inner reality of the individual (as opposed to his usual psychological state in the Matrix). A life free from fear instantly transforms a person, and he enters a completely different stage of his development and existence: in other words, individual leaves the borders of the Matrix.
– Fear paralyzes the will, which is one of the strongest antidotes against the “bites” of the Systemic Snake. Therefore, it can be concluded that fear is among the main barriers (if not the most fundamental) on the path to progress and to a full, free, and impartial understanding of the principles of our reality. Fear limits a person and deprives him of many joys of life. It somewhat takes away a person’s positive creative mindset, energy, and sucks him into a vortex of base emotions, sensations, and experiences, from which it is incredibly difficult to escape later.
– In the book “The Matrix as Philosophy,” William Irwin, analyzing the film “The Matrix,” also mentions fear. He writes the following: “The structure of the Matrix will never allow us to rid ourselves of fear”.
– Fear is what prevents a man from being human and turns him into a helpless being, bending under life’s circumstances and difficulties: he becomes very easy to manipulate. On the other hand, fear is our passion in the future. That from which we will later derive pleasure. “Fear is one of the characteristics of a person: an indicator that, experiencing fear, you are approaching its boundary, its limit” (A. Leslie).
– Alexander Men also wrote that “victory over fear reveals the spiritual greatness of a person.” And yet, in my opinion, it is impossible to completely overcome fear; however, learning to control it, manage it, and transform it into one of the aforementioned positive human qualities in order to understand the laws of reality and learn to live (rather than merely exist) in this world is the sacred task of the “awakened” and indeed of any normal person.
The Book of Your Life
“Stepping outside the System is not an open, destructive war. It is the creation of an underground, far-reaching network of free people united by a single noble goal.”