Simulated Reality

In the science fiction film, The Matrix, Neo the computer hacker ( Keanu Reeves) discovers that his reality is not real. His mundane reality is simulated via the computer program called the Matrix that feeds his brains the false experience. There has been a war between humans and intelligent machines. When humans block the machines’ access to solar energy, the machines use the Matrix to control Neo and other enslaved humans imprisoned in pods for the humans’ bioelectrical energy.

About the movie, Matrix, Professor Bruce Hood writes,

‘ This plot may sound too fantastic to believe, but the movie is not that far off the mark when it comes to understanding the nature of the human mind. Of course, we are not enslaved humans controlled by machines, but there again, how would one ever know?’

In his book, The Self Illusion, Bruce Hood says that each of us really does have a matrix in our brain and ‘we are our brains, but the brain itself is surprisingly dependent on the world it possesses and, when it comes to generating the self, the role of others is paramount in shaping us.’

According to the neuroscientist, we all entertain illusions of a unique self and security is one of our major goals in life. This is quite true if we examine our aspirations and intents in all our endeavours. We want to be free to live a life that we think we want but we are unwilling to let go of all the trappings that come with our education and upbringing.

If we are honest with ourselves, we want to live a reasonably good life just like everybody else. We desire comfort and security but we want to have freedom in life yet we have certain self-imposed expectations about how it should be. We also want to fit in where we are.

We have to transcend the matrix in our mind if we want to break through the confines of restrictions imposed by self or society.

To be able to carry on living on your own terms, you will have to be unafraid, have enough self-knowledge to know that life is a manifestation of the mind and the mind is influenced by all the information and connections around us. We must first begin to know our mind and understand our true self otherwise we will always be influenced with all the ideas and people around us and that can be overwhelming and causing constant conflicts within us. Our ultimate goal is to be present.

About what is the self, according to Jiddhu Krishnamurti ,

‘ Do WE KNOW WHAT we mean by the self? By that, I mean the idea, the memory, the conclusion, the experience, the various forms of nameable and unnameable intentions, the conscious endeavour to be or not to be, the accumulated memory of the unconscious, the racial, the group, the individual, the clan, and the whole of it all, whether it is projected outwardly in action or projected spiritually as virtue; the striving after all this is the self. In it is included the competition, the desire to be. The whole process of that is the self;and we know actually when we are faced with it that it is an evil thing. I am using the word ‘evil’ intentionally , because the self is dividing: the self is self- enclosing: its activities , however noble, are separative and isolating. We know all this. We also know those extraordinary moments when the self is not there, in which there is no sense of endeavour, of effort and which happens when there is love.’

— Excerpt from The First and Last Freedom Chapter IX WHAT IS THE SELF