Main ideas
- The Red Pill in the Matrix is a symbol for a mushroom, just like Adam and Eve and Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
- The mushroom intoxication brings about a self-awareness and the realization that what was perceived as real was a shadow. Plato's cave. That the garden of Eden was a plantation/ prison
- This is irony, and irony used to encrypt myth-illogical stories as a form of communication between the elites creating literal meaning and hidden interpretation
- This division of interpretation creates a division of reality, one for the elite and one for the slave. This division is internalized as a linguistic/experiential cognitive map, replica, simulation in our brains. A pathway of neurons creating a structure.
- There's an elite structure based on reality, and a slave structure based on the simulation
- The foundation for the slave structure is fear. Fear is necessary for survival, but that part of our brains can be hacked and programmed with conditioned fear.
- Conditioned fear can work like a computer virus and expand and spread itself; God is a virus
- The elite used fear of God as a virus to manipulate the slave class
In the movie The Matrix, the main character, Neo eats a red pill and wakes to discover he has been living in a dreamworld or a computer simulation projected directly into his mind. When he rises from the incubator, Neo “sees” it is all of humanity whom are confined to pods and connected to a giant machine. They appear to be some kind of prisoners or slaves, but unlike salves of the past whose energy was direct at accomplishing tasks, these futuristic slaves are literally drained of their life-force to power the system. Ironically, the futuristic dystopian vision is drawn from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, written over 2,000 years ago.
Instead of a high tech incubator, the characters in Plato’s Allegory are confined to a cave, chained to a wall in such a way that they cannot turn their necks, and can only see the shadows projected on a wall. The prisoners perceive the shadows as real. However, since they cannot turn around, they cannot see that the images are merely shadows created by puppets and puppeteers; and, what they think is real, is actually a shadow of a replica. They believe in a manufactured reality, a collective hallucination, a social constructed reality, or computer simulation. High-tech guru, Elon Musk, recently suggested that we are probably living in a computer simulation. And while it may seem improbable that we are living in some kind of holographic universe, or a computer simulation like Neo in the Matrix, nothing is more likely. (click on the image below to get a excellent example)
Slavery
An important consideration concerning Neo and the prisoners to make is they are a captive audience. Due to their captivity, they are unconscious of the reality that exists outside of their shadow world, and seemingly even aware of their own bondage. Oddly enough, the only thing they seem to be aware of is the simulation; thus, they draw their meaning and purpose from their experiences with it. Ironically, their service reinforces the system which keeps them in servitude. They exist purely to serve the system. But why shouldn’t they? They are prisoners or in Neo’s case a slave; and, a slave is meant to serve.
The whole of Western culture is born out of conquest, colonization, and the subjugation of the newly colonized people. The newly enslaved would lose touch with their culture and be forced to learn a foreign one. Slavery predates written history, but by Plato’s era, slavery had evolved to the point that Aristotle (Plato’s protégé) gave advice for the management of slaves. Consider the following quote from Book One of Aristotle’s Politics:
But is there any one thus intended by nature to be a slave, and for whom such a condition is expedient and right, or rather is not all slavery a violation of nature? There is no difficulty in answering this question, on grounds both of reason and of fact. For that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.
The Greeks developed the institution of slavery to the point of such refinement that Aristotle articulates how large farms should be run by slaves, preferably by diverse tribes to prevent any sort of organization and rebellion by the slaves. He writes :
The class which farms it should, ideally, if we can choose at will, be slaves – but slaves not drawn from a single stock, or from stocks of a spirited temperament. This will at once secure the advantage of a good supply of labor and eliminate any danger of revolutionary designs.
Slavery was as natural to the Greeks as raising cattle is to us. In fact, the word they used to describe the slaves was arthropoda, “two-footed stock”. To distinguish themselves from their stock, they referred to themselves as the estlos, “those who have true reality”. What was this true reality they possessed? They knew the origins of the symbols, and understood that for slaves to remain slaves they must be kept ignorant of this truth. Because without the slaves doing all the work, there would be no time for the elite to educate themselves, write poetry, perform plays and even expound philosophical discourses on the justification of slavery. In short, the Athenian democratic society would not exist without the slaves to perform all the menial tasks of the People. Furthermore, keeping the captives ignorant appears to be part of the process of slavery management. Like a horse wearing blinders, slaves can only perceive what their masters’ want them to. Perhaps the captivating story of Adam and Eve can better illustrate this point.
Garden of Eden as Plantation
Adam and Eve were created by the Lord specifically to work in the Garden of Eden plantation. The Lord misleads them and tells the couple that that if they eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they will surely die. Meanwhile, the Serpent contradicts God and tells Eve that she will not die, but become like God (knowing good from evil). Eve eats the fruit, and persuades Adam to eat some. Sure enough, their “eyes were opened,” and they became like Gods—self-aware. When the Lord finds out, he banishes them from Eden, fearing that since they have “become like one of us,” they might also eat from the tree of Life and live forever.
The Garden of Eden was a socially constructed program or a simulated reality that could exist only as long as the captives were ignorant. The illusion of control could be maintained over Adam and Eve until they developed self-consciousness. Ironic, that the way out of Eden was to break the rules, and develop self-awareness. But maybe that’s the point of these stories, to be ironic. After all, the word irony comes from the Greek eironeia, which means “feigned ignorance.” Furthermore, in A Rhetoric of Irony, Wayne Booth suggests that some metaphors are fixed or stable. These stable metaphors are not infinite ambiguities, but specific covert references intended to be reconstructed with meaning different from on those on the surface. Once a reconstruction of meaning is made, the reader is not invited to undermine it further.
Irony as a code
By use of figures of speech with multiple of interpretations, a writer/artist could encrypt ironic schemes into their works. Sometimes, as in verbal irony, the intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning. The effect is the slaves understand the literal message, whereas the intended meanings are known to the esthlos, or those who know possess. If a slave should question the literally meaning, they are answered with something that will reinforce the continuation of the literal interpretation, but never with an affirmation of the deception, always pleading ignorance. This corruption of code/language creates a false impression in the mind, bad code or a mind virus — a corrupted belief.
When a whole group shares this corrupted belief, a collective hallucination begins to take form within that group. The hallucination is not a shadow image or digital download, it is a neurolinguistic model of the world generated by the brain based on experiences, composed of language, bound by beliefs, and reinforced by fear. This linguistic model of the world is more than words and experiences. It's the grammar of the language providing a structure for thinking, organizing, classifying, analyzing. The model also incorporates the “grammar of society”; social norms, customs, rules, laws (social and physical). Essentially, a culture based operating system for the brain. All brains generate this simulation, but some brain’s create a more accurate representation of Reality.
Language as cognitive map of reality
When people think about life as a computer simulation, it is easy to image a virtual reality, where a user wears a headset that digitally downloads their consciousness to a computer generated universe; however, the opposite is true, we “digitally” download the environment into our brains. Instead of being programed with digital code, the brain is programmed by sensation. Sensation is input in the form of waves: light waves, sound waves, etc. These waves of information are picked up by our sense organs, coded into an electrical impulse, sent to the relevant areas of the brain for further processing. And all the while the brain is creating an experiential or cognitive map of these experiences, including language, creating a memory bank.
Memories start before we acquire language, and language is dependent on memory. Language begins as sensational experience, and can be embedded with emotion. The first distinction made by babies concerning language is tone. Parents often overemphasize tones with baby talk, which is helpful to the infant learning to distinguish the various sounds of a language. In addition, adults often raise the tone of their voice when talking to a baby, which signifies an emotional element being communicated.
The acquisition of language is the same for all normal infants since they all have the same nervous system. What makes us different aside from our physical differences? The experiences we have; and, the language used to describe those experiences. Furthermore, our experiences need to be explained to us by our parents and family, who program us with language used to describe those experiences. So, we are not blank slates, but more of an integrated operating system, like a computer, with various hardware competes working together, with software provided by our DNA, and programmed by our parental units.
As words are learned, it is through experience, and these experiences are loaded with emotion. The process of acquiring language is also involved in creating memories, and framing those memories with emotion. It is like a computer being programmed with a language, and our family does the programming (at least at first). It is this linguistic programming that lays the foundation for our brain’s to build a cognitive map of the universe. Word by word, like cobblestones, our minds constructs routes of thinking, or neural pathways that establish connections to various parts of the brain. And like a computer, our brains’ are vulnerable to viruses, or bad code, which can be programmed into our nervous system. One part of the brain that can be hacked is the system involved in identifying threats and responding to threats.
Fight or Flight
Fear is one of our most primitive emotions and necessary for survival. It also causes a physiological reaction in the brain, which leads to the release of powerful stimulating hormones. The hypothalamus initiates the fight or flight when triggered by a perceived threat. It sends out impulses to glands and smooth muscles; and, to the adrenal medulla to release epinephrine and norepinephrine. At the same time, the hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) into the pituitary gland, which then activates the adrenal-cortical system. The pituitary gland secrets the hormone ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) into the bloodstream where it arrives at the adrenal cortex, and stimulates the release of approximately over 30 hormones into the bloodstream. The sudden release of hormones causes changes in our bodies which help us eliminate the threat or escape it. These changes include: raise in heart rate and blood pressure, dilated pupils, veins in skin constrict, blood glucose levels rise, muscles tense up, smooth muscle relax, and nonessential systems shut down (digestive, immune). So with heart’s racing, muscles pumped with adrenalin, pupils dilated to improve vision, we are ready to do battle or run like hell to escape it. And sometimes, neither happens, and people and animals freeze with fear, especially children in situations where they cannot defend themselves or run away.
There are arguments for humans being born with innate fears. Some believe we are born with fears; and, that these fears are embedded in our DNA. Others have suggested that we are only born with fear of falling and fear loud noises. So where do we pick up all our of fears? We learn them. In fact, some fears are explicitly taught to us: commies, terrorists, school shooters, and global warming. And unironically, it is ironic that these learned or conditioned fears actually will orient much of our thinking, how we respond to stimulus, and how we develop our personalities.
Conditioned Fear, learned fears
In the 1920, psychologist or madman, John Watson set out to prove that humans were born a tabula rasa or blank slate; and, our minds and personality were subject to environmental influences. In one experiment on an infant known as Little Albert, Watson introduced a variety of animals, including a monkey, a dog, a rabbit and a rat to Albert, whom showed no fear of such animals, and seemed to enjoy. However, when Watson introduces a clanging sound every time Albert touches the rat, Albert beings to cry. After several parings of the stimuli together, Albert would cry at just the sight of the rat, and at the sight of other furry animals, including a Santa Claus mask. Watson used Albert’s natural fear of loud noises to create a new fear. It was not just a fear of white rats, but a classification of things that were furry. It is as if the fear was working like computer virus and spreading to other parts of the mind.
Computer/ Mind Viruses
Computer viruses often come from people or sources we know and trust. They can come from an email, website, downloaded software, or a thumb drive. The malware appears to us as familiar or non threatening. These malware programs also seek to replicate themselves. They use their hosts’ for their own propagation, usually at the expense of the computer system, crashing them, and entire networks. Conditioned fear can work similar to a computer virus or malware corrupting our thinking. Instead of “bad coding,” sensory input is encoded inaccurately into our brain. As a result, a person’s concept of what is possible or real is distorted; and, often in a way that influences a person’s behavior. Conditioned fear also works by hacking the process of evaluating and responding to perceived threat by changing what a persons views as a threat; and, how to respond to the perceived threat. Furthermore, another symptom of conditioned fear is its ability to weaken the host’s cognitive and reasoning abilities, which effectively creates a huge hole in the brain’s firewall. Like a fifth column lowering the drawbridge, this allows even more fears to be exploited. Theoretically, this programming of the mind could be done with any subject or idea, and with far more sophistication than banging a gong.
There are over 20 types of computer malware, including worms, trojan horses, bots, spyware, ransomware, and viruses. These programs have the ability to steal your information, overwrite and delete files, steal your logins, passwords, steal your money, hold your computer for digital ransom. However, maybe most sinister of all is installing a backdoor for remote access of your computer, and making it part of a zombie botnet like the Storm Worm virus of 2006. People began receiving an email with the subject line “230 dead as storm batters Europe," which turned out to be a trojan horse, with a worm. The email was a trojan horse appearing to come from a friend family member, what the user thought of as a reliable or trusted source. The worm took advantage of a security flaw in Microsoft’s operating system to install a program, which permitted the creator to remotely access the computer and use it as part of a botnet, or a collection of infected computers. The Storm worm virus sent used the infected computers to spread the virus, send out spam, and take part in DDoS attacks against anti-spam websites. In a way, that’s how the idea of God works.
God as a mind virus
Is the notion of God a trojan horse with a mind worm virus? The idea of God is introduced at an early age by a trusted source, a family member. This occurs when an individual is too young to question the concept of god since they lack the reasoning skills to do so. God is described as a being whom is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, meaning that god is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere. If a person is inclined to believe in an omnipot god, then this belief/virus has the potential to substitute real threats for imaginary ones as well as appropriate responses. Furthermore, the belief interferes with processing of logical thinking by making the impossible possible, while more reasonable answers are dismissed. For example, a person actually believes stories of people walking on water, resurrection, and an immaculate conception, instead of regarding these ideas as metaphoric or symbolic in nature. Once a person believes these ideas they are susceptible to believing other superstitious ideas as well. Consider the belief in an afterlife. The fear of avoiding Hell is so motivational that many choose to disregard this world or Reality for a promised experience after death.
In a sense, the concept of God can be programmed into the amygdala/hippocampus like a trojan horse virus installed on a computer. The belief in God changes how the brain perceives threats. Instead of identifying real threats, the brain regards God as the number one threat; and, something to be appeased. So our fears and purpose are redirected toward the ideals of God: morality and ethics—total mind control, the box. Consider how the other infected hosts get together once a week, and download updates from the central server to keep the virus stable. They all get the same message, sing the same songs. The zombie network of infected hosts tend to wear the same type of clothes, eat similar foods, and some even mutilate the reproductive organs of their offspring. The infected direct much of their energy to spreading the virus. They contribute to the network by investing in the church; and, by contributing offspring to continue the cycle until the simulation runs its course. Or until one takes the red pill. Then the conditioning can be broken.
The Original Red Pill
Are mushrooms the red pill? Could they be an anti-virus? The mushroom experience offers the user some kind of psychic metric, with which the user is able to calibrate the simulated version of reality against Reality. For Neo, the red pill (mushroom) gave him “sight” to see the Matrix, and in the process become godlike. For Adam and Eve, their eyes’ were opened to reveal that they were living in captivity; and, in the process became like the gods. Moses also used the mushroom knowledge to become godlike and free the enslaved of Egypt. St. John encouraged the early Christians to know the truth, and it would set them free. Free from what? Free from the oppression of conditioned fear.
When Jesus talked about destroying the temple, he was referring to the structure in the mind created by conditioned fear. Eating the Body of Christ, or mushrooms can erase the learned helplessness patterns of fear that constructed the temple or structure of thinking; and, in the process, restore the user’s original settings. Removing conditioned fears is literally the cure of many modern mental illnesses. The illnesses described as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar, Post Dramatic Stress, various phobias, etc, are in effect the result of pattered thinking manifested by fears into learned helplessness that influence an infected person’s thoughts.
The cure is breaking the patterns and making new ones. So if you ready to break out of Eden, or climb out of the cave, or unplug from the matrix, the mushroom maybe your ticket to a place where you can see everything as it is, including yourself. Perhaps from that heavenly perspective get a better view, showing you the path to being the person you want to be. Or maybe seeing yourself is more of a trip to hell as delusions dissolve. Sometimes a person comes to realize how much of the person they appear to be is a false version of themselves corrupted to take part in this simulation reality, a fake person for a fake world. A person can be overwhelmed by guilt, remorse, sadness, for feeling deceived, and rather than see this as an opportunity to change, they become fixated on their failures and feel hopelessness and despair, which often lead to an existential anxiety or Hell.
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