Reality, it is a concept that many struggle with. What is reality? What is real? No one really knows. The nature of life is the greatest mystery of all time. Forcenturies, the question of purpose and meaning has been one of humanity’sdriving forces. Why are we here? What are we meant to do? We live our lives,day after day, in what we call the real world. But, what if, as in The Matrix, realityis fiction?In The Matrix, reality is a world of the future, when our greatestaccomplishments, are our greatest failures. Computers evolve to a state beyondartificial intelligence, they become life forms themselves. In a vain attempt tostop the solar powered machines, humanity covers the earth in darkness. Inorder to maintain themselves, humanity becomes the machine’s power source,and the Matrix is created to control their minds.Strangely enough, the film contains ideas both of orthodox and GnosticChristian tradition. On the side of orthodoxy, there is one main point: choice. Although not a large part of the film, all of it is based on one thing, the choice. The blue pill, or the red one. Much of the remainder of the film reflects gnosticideas. The least and most obvious connection is creation and redemption.In gnostic thought, the world was created by an imperfect, misguidedentity. This entity created life, although flawed. In The Matrix, machines, andthe Matrix itself, are created by humans (imperfect creatures). The only maindeviation is that, in gnostic thought, the creator had nothing to do with the divineworld. But in the film, the creator could alter the matrix, and after his death, hidreturn was prophesied.As in gnostic thought, Neo comes from the ‘real’ world, goes into the‘shadow’ world in order to free the saved. In this one of the reasons the gnosticswere an outlawed group: a dualistic world. In gnosticism God and his angels arein heaven, the real world. The Demurrage, the creator,...
