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There are a few interesting moments in Matrix Reloaded that are worth thinking about. However in this reviewers opinion the film fight and chase scenes are far too long and not that interesting. This is part 2 of a three part movie and like any good serial type event it leaves you wondering what will happen in the next episode. Will man re-conquer machines or will man instead live the rest of his life in the matrix. This is also the great question of our generation. In my dream, this movie (along with the original) is about my mind and my inner life. More specifically it is how do I as a human come out of my adult misguided darkness and re-enter into the child's mind of the creation. In my dream this story is all about freedom, liberation and true spiritualism. It is the great journey. The action scenes fill up to much space in my dream. They remind me of the idea that I spend most of my life totally unconscious as to what is going on around me. I seldom stop during the day and ask myself where I am. My world was carefully created by my parents and my peers, as was theirs. My mind was carefully taught what to wear, what to eat, how to behave and how to think. I am in fact highly programmed. My daily life is managed by patterns that I am totally oblivious to. I live in a matrix. Part of my programmed teaching was that I have freedom of choice. I wake up everyday knowing that I am in control and that I can choose to do what I want to do. This false programming keeps me thinking that I am in charge. I am in charge but addicted to so many comfort and pleasure items within my world. The idea of freedom of choice is like my mother telling me that I am ok despite my errant behavior. We learn in part 2 that there are levels and levels of the matrix. The Oracle reminds me that I have deep questions that need to be answered before I can complete my journey. Those old standby's like -- "Who am I? What is my purpose?" will do for starters. Finding answers to those questions according to mystical teachers is part of the spiritual journey to enlightenment. The journey like my dreams, however always have twists and turns. And along the journey we need to find helpers and teachers. There are many in this drama. Oracles like the famous Greek 'Delphi Oracle' are people who we go to answer questions. They are part of our historical unconsciousness. They do not always provide the right answer. In part 1, we learned that Morpheus ( a play on the Christ (or maybe John the Baptist) like figure Orpheus?) had a vision of finding the one who would save mankind. This is an obvious reference to a Messiah figure. In part 2 our hero (Neo) becomes much like Jesus Christ with a black belt. But I also learn that our hero is the 6th in a line of hero's who have tried to save humanity and all have failed. One of my addicted behaviors is to believe that a leader will come that will save us. My conscious world tells me how silly a thought that is but my addicted world keeps hoping for a great leader. In fact our hero Neo is even anticipated by the 'architect' who has created the matrix including the false Oracle as part of the control system to fool Morpheus into following a programmed path to destruction. In my dream the architect is the 'trickster'. He comes to me with questions and riddles that are difficult to answer. He wants me to choose from destroying my anima (see below) or destroying the human race. In some ways it is a lose- lose decision. I can live my life without my feminine side or I can live my life in shame for doing nothing. In the next part 3 of my dream I am sure my hero will try and find a third way. This is also part of the great journey. Carl Jung teaches that conflicts are never over. They keep coming back. I would like to think that I have grown beyond a certain issue only to have that issue re-confront me at a different level. Morpheus proclaims in part one... ?The Matrix is all around us. It?s like projected psyche created by man. It has been pulled over your eyes to shield you from the truth?. It is interesting that Morpheus is a black man in this movie. In traditional Jungian psychology this would certainly suggest a shadow figure for whites. Jung teaches that the shadow appears in dreams to help wake us up to what is going on in our interior side. In this case the shadow figure so believes his own message that he can't see other possible alternatives. He is a true believer and true believers can be very dangerous. Especially one with great passion and charisma. In this case he is convinced that the Oracle can help him find freedom and salvation. The world is full of true believers right now. They come in many forms. They are very dangerous. One way to know them is listen what they teach. They all have simple solutions for major problems and are quick to support separation and violence as a cure for conflict. In my dream fixing our world is very difficult. It requires people to change and be willing to let go old ideas and old possessions. >From the movie: "Agent Smith: Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world, where none suffered; where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world, but I believe that as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering. So the perfect world we dreamed, but your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why The Matrix was redesigned to this...the peak of your civilization." The design of our freedom will not come from a program. It will come from large numbers of us proclaiming our true freedom from our conditioned programming. Neo meets with the Oracle in the Garden. He is conscious enough to know that she and everything in the garden is part of the matrix. He is waking up. She programs him to go off and rescue the key maker who is a prisoner of a powerful man who is married to Persephone. This powerful man is a programmed version of the devil. He plays with peoples emotions for his own pleasure. There is part of me that likes the power of being able to manipulate others. This is a part that is hard for me to see, but I get hints through reflections that it exists. It is part of my shadow. It is the part of my that I have to welcome and be compassionate with in order to soften and become more human. The key maker in my dream hold the key to understanding. He is like the Egyptian God Hermes or the Greek God Mercury. He helps travelers along the road. He doesn't exactly have the answers but he points us in the right direction. In the movie he gets us face to face with the trickster, the architect. He brings us to the moment of truth. Who am I? What is my purpose? And then he disappears. Persephone, the mythological daughter of Demeter and Zeus is married to the devil figure in the movie. In mythology she was married to Hades who abducted her. She is a figure of duality searching true love and passion but also living in the underworld. In my dream she is also part of my feminine side. Part of me that I must have compassion for in order to fully develop a relationship with my highest feminine side, my anima. I think my anima actually shows up in the picture of Trinity. Trinity speaks directly to the idea of the trinity in Christianity. She brings great love and courage to our hero. The number three is considered a sacred number because of ideas like the Christian trinity. However in my studies the number 4 is the more powerful symbol of totality and completion. I guess in my dreaming I am seeing the coming together of 'Trinity and Neo' as the numeric equivalent of the number 4. Possibly the coming together of the masculine and feminine into unity. So therefore who or what is Neo. Neo represents my true self. It is the part of the me that wants to take the journey. The part of me that wants to truly find truth and come out of the matrix. I see Neo as continuing to unfold and suspect that in part three of my dream that we will see him fully unfold into what we all can become. It is time to go back to sleep and do some more dreaming. May 16, 2003 |
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