“There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking it”. The Matrix 1999 is filled with incredible one-liners and truths that track with the world today. I remember watching it for the first time at my friend’s apartment in New York around 2013. Sci-fi/action movies aren’t my usual go-to so I just hadn’t watched it. My friend insisted we watch it because she knew I was going to love it, and she was right. I was immediately hooked. The concepts, philosophies, style, cast, music—everything was/is incredible.
“Why do my eyes hurt?” – Neo
“You’ve never used them” – Morpheus
It’s really easy to walk around life just not really paying attention to what’s going on around me. Sort of like Groundhog Day. Wake up, brush teeth, walk dog, drink coffee, work, eat, workout, eat, tv, scroll, read, zzzzzzz. Rinse & repeat. But something inevitably always feels off. I start getting that feeling like “this can’t be it”. That’s why I’d always move around—city to city, job to job, relationship to relationship. Sometimes what I can’t see is the truth that’s hidden in plain sight. Open up your eyes. Look at the sky, clouds, flowers, birds, butterflies, moon, animals, people all around you. See the things that really matter, and then realize that none of it is actually real.
It’s not a dour way of thinking. It’s just that sometimes you have to forget in order to remember.
There’s this scene where Neo visits the Oracle so that she can tell him if he’s “the one”. Meaning, “the one” with superhuman abilities to manipulate the matrix code. In the waiting room, he notices a little girl bending a spoon with her energy. She hands the spoon to him and says that it’s not about trying to bend the spoon with your mind, it’s realizing the spoon doesn’t exist. With that wisdom, not only does he bend the spoon—he also dodges bullets, stops bullets, fights with one arm behind his back—he fears nothing. He realizes that nothing is real enough to have power over him. He controls his reality.
When it comes down to it, there’s really no reason to walk around with so much fear. Earth is a gift. One big school where we get to have experiences, make mistakes, learn lessons, and discover our soul’s purpose in this lifetime.
