Escaping the Matrix

I remember holding my first baby and already looking forward to the moment when I could start to watch movies other than the Wiggles.

We passed a family milestone on the weekend. Maddi, Josh, Daniel and I watched the Matrix trilogy together. It was a moment I had waited sixteen years to enjoy!

I remember how impressed I had been with the original movie, and it was interesting to see both how dated some parts of it were, and yet how well even the special effects came across all these years later.

A personal surprise was how much more I enjoyed the second and third movies a decade later. I remember feeling quite disappointed with both movies the first time around, but experiencing them again, one after the other gave me a new appreciation for the number of complex philosophical issues that the story had as part of its subtext.

I remember when the first movie came out, how many discussions it provoked about whether or not we all, at some level were plugged into a matrix of some sort, where our ability to make choices was being limited.

I find it interesting that the one thing that the machines could not cope with was free will, the ability to choose that is fundamental to being human and is what makes us unable to be predicted by an algorithm. That is not completely true though. Real choice requires reflection.

My desk calendar quote for today is from Henri Frederic Amiel. He said:

The man who has no inner life is the slave of his surroundings

I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with one of my kids who is feeling powerless about school. It is an interesting journey to get to the point where they can move beyond blaming everyone else and start to accept responsibility for their own life.

I realise as I look back, how easy it is to fall into an attitude of helplessness, of being a victim of life’s circumstances. Ephesians 4 indicates that immaturity is about getting tossed around by life, rather than knowing who you are and where you are going. In some ways, many of us are plugged into a matrix of other people’s decisions and circumstances which mean we don’t actually make many free choices. We are continually reacting.

I noticed a whiteboard where somebody had pointed out that we are human-beings not human-reactions. The essence of being human is the ability to be, to choose in the moment and not to allow our choices to be taken away from us.

One major area I have discovered where this is true is the whole area of forgiveness. At the Poatina Morning Tea this morning, the devotion was about the Lord’s Prayer. One of the things that struck me was that the only part of the prayer that was dependant on us was “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sinned against us.” Jesus made it clear both here and elsewhere that our forgiveness is predicated on our ability forgive others. Why is that? Isn’t Grace a free gift?

I saw clearly this morning that a lack of forgiveness is actually a lack of faith. In harbouring blame, we are in fact saying that someone else, apart from God, has power over our lives. Forgiveness ultimately an act of self empowerment, declaring that nobody apart from God will set our agenda for us.

Forgiveness though, requires an inner life. It requires the space to pull back and realise that my reactions are my reactions, and no-one else’s. It requires a conscious act of the will, that often goes against our feelings. Forgiveness is rarely easy, but it is the way to escape the matrix of other people’s agendas. Jesus also makes it abundantly clear that it is pretty hard to have a relationship with God without it.