The Cyber-Gospel of the Matrix: Part I – The Construct
I think I would have been more surprised by the premise of this film if I had not been sitting in a psychology class back in 1979, listening to some pre-alternative type questioning his existence. “How do we know what’s real and what’s not? I’m not sure I actually even exist. Lately, I’ve been feeling like I’m part of someone else’s dream!”
The popularization of drugs and Eastern mysticism in the ’60s seems to have opened America up to exploring alternative realities as a cultural preoccupation. In the past 30-35 years, there has been a growing cynicism about government conspiracies and cover-ups; disenchantment with science as our messiah (cloning); paranoia about the prominence of computers in our lives (Y2K) and aliens who walk among us (“Trust no one!”); and a deepening nihilism that’s been given emotional context in the music of everyone from Nirvana to Nine Inch Nails. The world was ripe for a film that seems to challenge our very existence and asks us to throw away our dreams. Oh, well. I don’t listen to the messages in these movies, anyway. I just go for the special effects.
The Matrix (from the Latin word for “womb”) opens in Room 303, with the police converging on some kind of lone-gunman computer hacker. The film offers that sparse, bleak ambience used to convey the sterility of the cyber-industrial future in every movie from Aliens to Dark City. (This film adds blue and green textures to the usual shades of brown and grey, to make it a bit more interesting to the eye.) The Men in Black show up, claiming the hacker is more dangerous than the police understand. What follows is a get-away by the hacker (whose name turns out to be Trinity) that seems to defy time and gravity in ways that leave us concluding that she is an alien or from the future. Neither conclusion is exactly correct, but both are not far from the truth. The scene ends with us shaking our heads, not quite understanding what we’ve just seen, or why, or whether Trinity escaped or was smashed into a bloodless oblivion. Patience. The mysteries will be revealed.
We are then introduced to Neo, an independent computer pirate (played by the usually lifeless Keanu Reeves – either he’s becoming a better actor, or the film was so good, even he couldn’t detract from it!) Neo is being drawn to meet a mysterious underground figure named Morpheus. The Men in Black (called “Agents”) get to him first, but Trinity and the crew rescue him and bring him to Morpheus. Neo is then told his world is not real, and they can help him escape his unseen prison. Neo chooses to join them, and is instructed in living life in a bleak, but free, alternative universe. Morpheus is convinced that Neo is the One, some kind of Messiah that will deliver all the dreamers from their sleep and destroy the fabric of the Matrix, but no-one else seems quite certain, including Neo.
Despite betrayal by a character named Cypher, Neo leads a phenomenal special-effects laden mission to rescue Morpheus from the Agents. Everyone gets out, except Neo, who ends up in a show-down, battling an Agent who just won’t die; running for his life, and returning to Room 303, he catches a bullet in the chest and dies. But, surprise! Trinity’s love brings him back, at which point, he fully realizes his potential and blows away the bad guys. Neo IS the One, after all. The movie ends as he begins his mission to set the captives free from the Matrix.
I’ve heard numerous comments and assessments of the film: great special effects; a rip-off of Geiger’s art-form or Gibson’s cyber-punk ideas; interesting social-political implications; great special effects; Trinity was cool; couldn’t sit through a movie with Keanu Reeves in it; great special effects! Somehow, I always see more. [And whether it's actually there, I put it there, or God put it there for me... well, that's just another way to question the reality of my existence, I suppose.] In this case, I saw a cyber-industrial parable of the gospel that has already led me to see the film three times in less than a month – something I didn’t even do with Star Wars!
The Matrix is a metaphor (a parable) for the contrasting realities of the material world and the spiritual realm (which we call the Kingdom of God). We are first led in this direction by the interesting use of names: Trinity (obvious); Zion (the last human city – salvation); Neo (new, born-again, or first-born); the ship is called the Nebuchadnezzar (a pagan king who became a believer through the proper understanding of his dreams); Morpheus (the Greek god of dreams); Cypher (meaning zero, empty, a person of no significance, a non-entity).
Trinity reflects a number of Godly qualities (strength, assurance, faith, loyalty, grace and love), but in her first meeting with Neo, she represents a disciple of God – a witness – who builds trust with him by sharing the experience (testimony) they hold in common: “I know why you’re alone, Neo. And why night after night, you sit by your computer. You’re looking for Him. I know, because I was once looking for the same thing. And when He found me, He told me I wasn’t really looking for Him. I was looking for an Answer. It’s the question that drives us mad. You know the question, just as I did. (Neo: “What is the Matrix?”) The answer is out there, Neo. It’s looking for you. And it will find you. You know it.” Morpheus often fills the role of God, the Holy Spirit – the teacher, the enlightener, the comforter. He takes the Search one step further: “You may have spent the last few years looking for Me, Neo. But I’ve spent my entire life looking for you. Are you still looking, Neo? (Neo: “Yes.”) Then go to the Adam(s) Street Bridge….”
Neo is a Seeker. In fact, when we first see John Anderson (Neo), his computer is on search mode. He is drawn to Morpheus, whom he has never seen. Like all true Seekers, Neo is looking for more from life than the empty existence he has experienced so far. And although he is a bit of a misfit, a rebel, and a sceptic, deep down he is searching for the Truth. What is the Matrix? What is the meaning of Life? What is his purpose? What is the point?
His compulsion is explained and confirmed by Trinity. She is a Seeker too, but she’s found her Answer. Or rather, it found her. And she gives Neo hope that he will find his Answer, as well. The goal of the true disciple/witness is not to force the Gospel on the unsuspecting or unwilling, but to seek out the Seekers, and confirm to them that their search is not in vain.
Jesus is the answer, but He knows that every one is asking the question in their own way. Morpheus emphasizes that the search is actually prompted by God. We may be seeking Him. But He is searching for us, like the Father in the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11 ff). We seek, because He first sought us. We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4). Neo gets a call from Morpheus warning him that the Agents are closing in on him. As long as he listens to Morpheus, he succeeds in eluding his captors. But he is frozen by his fear of the heights, of the difficulty, and of the apparent flimsiness of the scaffold (the Cross) to save him. He drops the phone, loses his connection, and falls into the hands of the Enemy.
Gracefully, God is persistent and patient with us. Neo gets another chance, if he will meet Trinity at the Adam(s) Street Bridge – the foot of the Cross, the nexus of the cross-roads in his life. This is the place where God offers a bridge between Man (Adam) and Himself. But Neo is treated a bit roughly – the Gospel is harder than he anticipates. And he wants to back out. Trinity stops him with this warning: “You don’t want to go down that road again, Neo. You know exactly where it ends. And I know that’s not where you wanna be.” Like the Israelites, Neo is tempted to return to Egypt as soon as things get a bit rough. But in his heart of hearts, he knows there is nothing back there for him. Trinity and the disciples then help Neo remove a bug from his system. He is surprised to find the bug is real. He thought it was just a product of his imagination. Like sin, it became so much a part of him, he didn’t even know it was there.
Neo finally meets Morpheus face to face, and is confronted with the difficult Truth of his reality. Trinity warns him to be honest. It is the only way to really hear God. Morpheus proceeds to tell Neo what he has been trying to get at in his seeking: “Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know, you can’t explain. But you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life – that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that’s brought you to Me. Do you know what I’m talking about?” (Neo: “The Matrix?”)
“Do you want to know what it is? The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the Truth. (Neo: “What Truth?”) That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage – born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.”
This is the heart of the gospel. We are NOT alright. The world is not alright. Something is terribly wrong and it drives us mad trying to get at it. The world is not what it seems. We are not what we ought to be. We are living in a dream, a delusion, and we are slaves to the deception. We cannot wake ourselves from the nightmare, but if we are willing to take the risk to face the Truth, He will wake us up to a new world. Like Neo, each of us must make a choice. Neo is offered a blue pill that will allow him to return to his delusions, or a red pill that will change his life forever.
“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”
Neo takes the red pill. He is not sure what lies ahead. But he is certain he does not want what he’s left behind. What choice will we make? To sleep? Or to live?
Dave Hart of Sanctuary
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