Simulaca & Persistence

If you don't like the Matrix sequels, you likely don't follow the complex philosophy in these
movies. It's heavy, especially if you watched them when you were young.

But these movies are fucking excellent and profound.

“When I look at these machines, I can't help thinking we are plugged into them.”

“But we control these machines.”

“It does make one wonder: What is control?”

“If we wanted, we could shut these machines down.

But we are dependent on what technology provides.
Technology could be used to help mankind or control it.”

Mankind has grown addicted to the machines that enslave us.

"Choice is an illusion made between those with power and those without. That is the nature of
the universe. Causality."
The movies are all trying to tell you something...
 The Matrix: What is the Matrix?
Matrix Reloaded: Why are we in the Matrix?
Matrix Revolutions: How do we get out of the Matrix?

CONTROL IS WHAT THE MATRIX IS

As long as the matrix exists, human beings will never be free.
Through our compliance, we give this system meaning. Intellect divorced from passion fuels the
system of control.

Your lack of care and apathy keep you enslaved.

Neo stops the agents simply by saying "No."

By saying no to the control systems, we are reborn.

Withdraw from what is wrong and do what is right.

Oracle: We can never see past the choices we do not understand. You didn't come here to make a
choice. You've already made it. You're here to try and understand why you made it.

If we can't understand the causal factors that lead us to do what we do, we are doomed as a
species.

Do you know why you are here? Why you make the choices you make?
 Most people simply obey...... Would you kindly?

There is an interesting play in these movies between female energy and male energy

Male / Architect represents order and control

Female / Oracle represents chaos / new age beliefs

The Merovingian represents Hades/Satan (His girl is named Persephone)

He dresses well and speaks of power, controlling those beneath him.

He is TPTB/ illuminati/ whatever name you like

Agent Smith is sickness/ entropy/ breakdown

The machines/ NPCs swarm Zion

This represents the overwhelming amount of asleep people who will fight humanity to save the
system. They blindly obey...

Would you kindly...

Neo knows his purpose

To bring human consciousness to the machine world to save the enslaved.

Sustained willpower will get us out of our current condition. You must persist.
Neo and Trinity approach the machine city and see three pipes feeding off humanity. Feeding off
our energy: Our thoughts, our actions and our emotions.

The ship they are in is called the Logos. Greek for reason

It represents saying No. Coming full circle to The Matrix ending

Neo talks to Deus Ex Machina

The hive mind of the machines. No wisdom or empathy. Only machine-like logic and reason.

Mr. Smith is Death running rampant

Neo is literally fighting death

Smith: Why? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Why do you persist?

Neo: Because I CHOOSE to

 Every day that you choose to persist.

Every day that you keep fighting.

That is you saying No to death.

Death is inevitable.

It is far too easy to give into nihilism, yet humanity doesn't. We keep fighting.

We get up and fight. We persist. Why?

Because you choose to.

 How to Break Free of the Matrix
Morpheus: 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.

There is a growing number of people who have grown disillusioned by the tired old path of the
old world. You know this path well. Go to school for 16 years or more. Slave away at a 9 to 5
job and pray that you live long enough to collect your pension or retirement fund. Maybe you’ll
even be fortunate enough to have decent health.

You see, you’ve been lied to for most of your life. You were told fat was the enemy and your
food has been poisoned with chemicals and sugar. Your teachers said they’d be giving jobs away
since you’re so special. They never thought to teach you how to sell or write copy. They don’t
want you to even think about brand management or social media marketing, because it’s a waste
of time. They told you to be yourself and the right girl would love you for it, but you’re waking
up to these lies.

For thousands of years, humanity lived in small tribes of about 150 people and everyone knew
each other. Hunter gathers and eventually farmers lived in close contact and worked
harmoniously to survive. Farming was the greatest advancement in the history of mankind as it
laid the groundwork for civilization to rise. Farming allowed humanity to stay in one place and
provided more free time.

As technology improved, at some point the quality of our lives stopped improving with each
advancement. Small groups of people got rich, but the society at large began to splinter. One of
the issues with these advancements is the rise of specialization. Henry T Ford created the
assembly line which made the automobile affordable to the average factory worker. In 1925, a
typical factory worker could buy the Model T he helped produce for less than $300. At about
$1,300 a year, the factory worker had a sufficient income.

As of 2017, the average new car price in the United States was $36,113. The median income for
an auto worker is about $43,000 so the purchasing power for the working class has been
decimated over the last 90 years. Despite the advancement in technology for a product that is 100
years old, the automobile is more expensive as far as percentage of income. The American
worker is being overtaxed and overworked as the dollar depreciates due to the cost of war and
corruption in government.

Many of us will play this game of chasing the American Dream, but one day you’ll wake up and
realize how it was all just a big lie. Something will happen, something tragic or unfair. Despite
doing the right things (most of the time) you’ll get the raw end of the deal. For me it was the
family court system which in my experience is all just a scheme to siphon money off the
American people. I didn’t experience a great deal of justice and the only winners in these games
are the lawyers.

It can be a bitter pill to swallow. Or, if you look at it with the right perspective, it can shake you
out of this dream state and let you wake up to what life is truly about. Once you get through the
darkness and emerge on the other side, you’ll never be the same. You’ll have ascended to a
higher consciousness and the world will look foreign. Yet you’ll find peace. Not all the time, but
with a newfound perspective on life, you’ll forgive the world for all its many faults and
appreciate all the beauty in nature, in humanity and even in yourself.

The truth is the world is whatever you make it. You can’t control the world, but you can control
your reaction to it.

There are so many ways to gain a better appreciation for the beauty this world has to offer. No
matter what is going on with the outside world, even if it is falling apart, we can remain calm and
still through meditation. Minimize outside stimulus and sit still and straight. Breathe slowly and
focus on the breath. Stay calm and ignore the outside world. If your mind wanders, acknowledge
that thought and return to your state of calm and quiet.

Meditation has been truly life changing for me and I can’t endorse it enough. For five minutes of
your time, this is the most positive way to affect your life. Keep a meditation journal and record
what the universe shares with you. Track your progress and maintain this habit. It takes time, but
writing has been truly cathartic to me. It helps me organize my chaotic thoughts and get
frustrations and anger off my mind in a calm and controlled manner. It will also help you track
your progress which at times will be very slow. By reflecting over a written piece from months
ago, you are better able to recognize the changes that you have made. Be mindful of your
thoughts for they become your actions, and your actions become who you are.

The trick is to want for less than we have. To not let consumerism consume our time, money and
energy. Find what makes you truly happy and solely focus on that. Focus on personal growth
over aspirations of material gain. Maintain the body, mind and spirit in good health.

In a world so full of high speed connections, we have never been more disconnected from each
other. Most relationships are superficial and fleeting. The average person will simply move from
thought to thought without deeper reflection. They’ll do this with tweets, books and other content
they consume. Take a breath and meditate on these thoughts. Dare to delve deeper and see what
new ideas present themselves.

We have lost connection with the natural world. We have artificial friends, artificial characters in
video games, artificial flavors and artificial plants. What happened to living in the real world?
Humanity used to worship nature and respect our relationship with the natural world, yet now we
conquer and plunder it for resources.

Get outside and surround yourself with the beauty of this green world as often as possible. The
peace and quiet found in nature reduces stress and can remind you that as ugly as the world may
seem, it still has plenty of beauty to offer.
 • Stop making celebrities famous.
• Don’t mindlessly consume what you don’t need or love.
• Freedom comes from avoiding debt.
• Inner peace comes from abstaining from worldly possessions, and instead seeking the
truth.
• Be conscious of the environment and your footprint upon it.
• Do not be wasteful. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
• Buy secondhand and local to support your community.
• Look for an alternative source of income so that you are not a slave to your job.
• Lower your cost of living expenses and avoid debt.

Paying interest on loans is ensuring your slavery to the Matrix

This system has an expectation of you. They want you to consume copious amounts of beer and
food, then to sit on the couch and watch sports or TV all day or glued to your phone perusing
social media in lust and envy. It wants your eyeballs so that it can continue selling you the lies of
the American dream, and to keep you fat, dumb and uninvolved.

Say no to a life of mediocrity and get off the couch, turn off the television so that you can go find
your life’s true purpose. Every day you should be exercising, getting out in nature and reading. If
you say you don’t have time for this, you are lying to yourself and preventing yourself from
attaining the life you deserve. Take a real hard look at your priorities and see what is truly
important to you. Do you really need to watch 15 hours of Netflix every week? That is time that
could be spent reading all those books sitting on your shelf. How many baseball games do you
want to watch before you want to exercise yourself? Are video games providing you an escape
and faux sense of accomplishment when you really should be out creating something or
exploring the real world?

Spend too much time watching TV and engaging in mindless internet comments and the system
will suck you in. The news is basically just propaganda at this point and they know that hate and
anger sells. Both sides are bought and paid for by giant corporations that just want a dumb, angry
and overfed population. If they can keep their viewers fat and angry, they’ll continue poisoning
their mind with this mindless infotainment.

The world is not as negative or divided as they would have you believe. While they focus on our
differences, I challenge you to focus on our similarities. Stop hate debating people online and
find common ground. Get out of your echo chamber and look at the other side’s point of view.
You don’t have to agree with everyone or everything, but you should be able to have a
conversation without getting angry or muting the opposition. Keep an open mind as strong minds
know that over time, opinions change. Even Obama flip flopped on gay marriage when the
polling numbers changed.
It is OK to grow as a person, and we shouldn’t have to feel ashamed of our pasts, so stop looking
for tweets that someone wrote 4 years ago. In my youth, I would make fun of someone for
suggesting yoga, but today it has helped me evolve as a person. It helped me foster a new
outlook on life and be a much more uplifting and positive person. It encourages me to be a more
mindful consumer and to eat better. Food is fuel and we so often forget that. Giant corporations
have us lusting after artificial food that has left us overfed and malnourished. We should be
eating a cleaner and more natural diet. Our culture encourages sloth and gluttony, yet there is so
much more to this life than binging on Netflix and alcohol.

You are the fabric and structure of existence itself. The universe is a fireworks show to celebrate
existence. Be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. Paraphrasing a
bit here but credit goes to Alan Watts for his enlightened state.

Thanks for reading.

And thanks for persisting.

Keep fighting.

If you love my writing, be sure to check out my book Reclaim Your Manhood, available on
Amazon.