I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species, and I realised that you’re not actually mammals. You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment; but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.
Agent Smith, THE MATRIX (1999)
A little unnerving, right? A rather true and fair observation of the humans on this planet, Earth, and our reality, however. And whilst most of us go about our lives, content with what the system and its rules have in store for us, there are those who like to go against it. To challenge society, to face adversity, to pursue a life that isn’t just your stock-standard average body and health, 2.5 kids, a white picket fence, a grind job that you dislike, and an 11 day holiday once a year.
As you more than likely have already gathered, I recently watched The Matrix. At the weekend, in fact, and I literally had not seen it since circa 2000. A whole 16 years ago (where did those years go?). I may have caught an odd scene or two if they played it on TV back in my schooling years here and there, but I can’t recall that. Nor can I recall being as affected as I was this time around by its story-line.
Why so affected, you may ask? It may not seem like much, given that it seems to be just your standard “action movie”, but the underlying core themes, dialogue, and philosophy riddled throughout it is truly a testament to the incredibly talented Wachowski’s, and really, a perfect perspective of the conformity and regulation of our society as a whole.
Highlighting the inoculation of humans worldwide to fit in and listen to the higher order, is what this movie also does best. It shows us a world where we’re lost in our ways – unknowingly – and living a life where we don’t question things, we don’t analyze situations, and we blindly follow the leader. Of course there are exceptions to this, and of course there are challengers out there that constantly yearn to hinder the pull towards a world that is controlled by a sole enterprise, but with a destiny somewhat instilled upon each of us upon birth, during one scene in particular (pictured below), it really makes you think: what if?
The creepy human fields.
What if we were just being manufactured by intelligent A.I, too sophisticated for our own understanding? What if we were living in a dream world, a superficial reality where the borders, the rules, and the path, were already chosen for us; already injected into us. What if we were being shaped from a young age, in schools and causing us to think that life is here just to be “completed”? That life is here just for us to show up on time, complete a task, repeat it for a number of successful Earth orbits, and retire at an age too old to appreciate all that our tiny, blue speck has to offer?
Or, is that already happening?
Those what if’s seem a little too far-fetched for my liking. I mean, after all, a destiny being chosen for us just doesn’t sit right with me. We all have a choice each and every day, don’t we? A choice where we don’t have to conform to the system, accept paths that are laid out before us, replicate what everyone else seems to be doing… Right?
Well, you did make a choice to read this, didn’t you? Or, did I make you read it? Well, who made me write it then? The Wachowski’s? If so, who made them write the movie? Was this all planned from the beginning, or did coincidental events over time line up to result in this very situation?
Like a dog chasing its tail, sometimes we’ll never know clearly defined answers to some of our most dire questions. What we will know, however, is that today, is a day that we own. A day where we can do whatever the hell we want, for however long we want. Is what you’re doing today what you want to be doing? Is what you’re going to be doing tomorrow what you want to be doing?
It’s needless to say that sometimes we of course have to deal with the cards that we’re dealt, but often, more often than not, we hold the power to mould things to how we want them. You want that new job? Seek it. You want that six pack? Approach someone that can help you. You want that shiny, red Ferrari? Put the steps into place that will get you to that car yard.
There aren’t any free rides in this thing we call life, but it sure as hell is full of opportunity, chance, and a myriad of paths that exist out there for those that want a life that challenges the average one.