Matrix Connections

There’s been many attempts to interpret the Matrix solely in terms of the Christian religion. As I see it there are countless others, so here is a thread, to see how many we can find.

I found this one: Neo is akin to a Buddha.

Buddha means the Enlightened One or the Awakened One. Buddha is not a proper name, but a generic term or appellative, referring one who has attained supreme enlightenment and who is regarded as superior to all other beings, human or divine, by virtue of his knowledge of the Truth (Dhamma).
As the buddhist kid in M1 says ”Instead, only try to realise the truth,” when Neo has to try and bend the spoon.
Blind faith is anathema to Buddhism, which clearly urges us to think freely and not to accept things blindly. In Buddhism, free thought is upheld, questions are welcome, and positive doubt is considered the first stepping stone to wisdom. Buddhism believes in human potential. It also asserts human equality, emphasizing personal and social responsibilities, based on the doctrine of kamma (Sanskrit: karma -- action and result).
Buddhists believe in the cycle of birth and death, called Samsara in Pali. This belief is based on the recognition of the continuity of a series of lives from the past to the present and from the present to the future. The present life is not the only one, and it does not dissolve into nothingness at death. Samsara means that there existed lives prior to this one, and other existences will continue after its termination. The process and the continuity of life are sustained by the force of kamma, willful action based on desire, attachment and ignorance. This instinctive clinging to life, which is a universal attribute, is a determining factor for the continuation of existence.
The ultimate goal in Buddhist practice is to be free from this cycle of birth and death. Samsara is considered undesirable as it lacks security and is liable to the vicissitudes and uncertainties of existence, such as old age, disease, death, pain, and suffering. Freedom from Samsara is called Nibbana (Sanskrit: nirvana), metaphorically described as the other shore, or the transcendental state beyond the confusion of worldly existence. It is the state which is completely free from conditionalities and limitations and is therefore not subject to all the conditions in mundane existence. Nibbana is a transcendent state, unconditioned and absolute.

Blind faith in the system, is what keeps humanity enslaved. Believing in something that isn’t real. Samsara in this interpretation is the continuing loops of the Matrix-program, that mankind cannot escape by clinging to the belief that it is real. Escaping Samsara is like escaping from the Matrix, realising that it is NOT real.

Agreed.

Personally my own take on Buddhism and The Matrix, is that if The Matrix were real, than deep meditation, probably to the point of enlightenment, would be 'freeing your mind'... the whole thing in 'World Record' about how people with higher emotion and intrigue fits nicely there too, I think.

'Escpaing' the Matrix, in a phrase, is thinking outside the box (literally!)

~AI

Ikobe> Exactly my point. A couple of the Animatrix stories deals with people either wilfully or accidentally stumbling across the Truth (Dhamma).

Of course there are many other references, like Greek mythology (Morpheus, Persephone, Oracle), but right now I’m off to see if it is at ALL possible to beat Agent on Board in EtM on level hard 🙂

The Greek connections:

To cite a few: Neo is Ancient Greek for "new"; Morpheus is the name for the "god of dreams (and sleep)" in Greek Mythology; and the whole Matrix storyline is a thinly veiled rearticulation of the myth of Prometheus, the half-god (i.e. Neo) who stole fire (i.e godly powers) from the gods (i.e. the makers and keepers of the Matrix) and who pays dearly for doing so.

Persephone, who in Greek mythology is the wife of Hades, the god of the Underworld. Hades actually took her against her will, so she has mixed feelings about him. She also intercedes with him on behalf of mortals -e.g. Orpheus and Euridyce- to help them achieve their goals. This parallels Reloaded.

The evil twins seem to be an intriguingly corrupted subversion of classic mythology's Gemini-twins: Castor and Pollux -- Castor and Polydeuces in Greek myth, unless they are a transposition of Cerberus, the three-headed, snake-tailed dog viciously guarding the access to the Underworld. The latter seems more likely as it is far closer to the actual role of the twins in the movie.

Morpheus speech to the people of Zion is evocative of well-know classic orations, in particular Demosthenes' world-famous Philippics, a series of orations rallying the Athenians against the bold ambitions of Philip the Macedonian. Demosthenes is most probably the world's greatest orator ever.

One or two sentences of Morpheus speech were also dripping with referential winking, pointing to a classic Roman expression and style-figure, best know in the version "Hannibal ad portas (Romanas ipsas est)!" The enemy / barbarians are at the gates (of Rome/Zion).

Cool stuff there, Omega. You could write a book on that 🙂 The Matrix Guide to Mythology...Anyway, re-reading Alice in Wonderland... and near the start there's something, but I can't remember what it is... ah, here we go.

For you see, many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.

Backing up the Alice/Neo thing once more.

its alice in wonderland mixed with some eastern philosophy with soem christian stuff and pinch of modern philosophy. add specular action and good dialogue and then put in oven on 450 degrees for 2 hours... if done properly you have the matrix. personally i think its heavier on the alice in wonderland... but i've been to wonderland so i know what they are talking about.

Happy kine> It’s connected to LOADS of stuff. But instead of just pointing here, there and everywhere, I think it’s fun to find and list the ACTUAL connections.