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t.ponderations
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2022-08-26
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P O N D E R A T I O N S
by Dave Moorman
The other night, Sheri and I saw
the movie Matrix. I have seen it
several times -- once on a friends
DVD with all the Behind the Scenes
stuff. Fascination and Fun!
And thought provoking, too. OK,
the business of the Machines keeping
humans alive for their energy is a
bit -- well -- hokey. But the story
had to get there [some] way. I had
contemplated something along the same
lines -- everyone plugged into a
virtual reality -- even since the
advent of video games. But I couldn't
come up with a working explanation as
to [why] everyone would be harnessed
into a virtual world.
And since the melodramatic plot
put a few "free" humans against The
Machine, I suppose the "sucking
energy" rationale is fair enough.
But more over, Matrix taps that
inexplicable notion we all have that
there [must] be something more out
there somewhere. Something beyond the
mere physics we can touch, see, hear,
taste, smell, and now measure through
remakably subtle machines.
Last week I had a chance to hear
Huston Smith speak at the Iliff Week
of Lectures in Denver. He used an
analogy of being inside a big
balloon. Science, the testing,
questioning, theorizing discipline of
"How It Works," can shine its
methodical light all around the
interior of that balloon. But Science
cannot see or describe or even
account for whatever is [beyond] the
balloon.
Human minds seem to be
universally equipped with a notion of
"infinity." No matter how many
numbers one might count, another
number awaits just beyond. No matter
how emense the universe is that we
can quantify and measure, our minds
can at least wonder about what is on
the other side.
We also have this notion of
Quality -- which is beyond the pale
of Science. Quality. Beauty. Good.
Virtue.
Aristotlean/Scientific philosophy
tries to relegte Quality as a subset
or mere appearance of things.
Something without substance or form.
Quality is -- after all -- whatever
you say it is. Always subjective.
And yet, in [Zen and the Art of]
[Motorcycle Maintenance], John Pirsig
posited that Quality Undefined is at
the pinnacle of Being. And there is
reason to believe that. For example
(again from Huston Smith), if you
built a better mousetrap, the world
may or may not beat a path to your
door. But no one would question your
effort. However, if one should set out
to build a [worse] mousetrap...!
We are driven by this undefinable
thing called Quality. What we
consider quality may and must vary.
But we reach -- always reach --
toward some sort of perfection.
The Machine in Matrix has an
interesting point of view. It had
tried to create an absolute utopia
within the Matrix. Humans have moaned
and groaned about reaching for
perfection for all of history. It
seemed logical that humans would
thrive in a perfect world.
But they did not. They died. Of
[boredom]! Now this brings up very
real questions about Eternity and all
the promises of Paradise in many
religions. We all want a Perfect
Heaven, right? "No more crying there,
we are going to see the King!"
No crying. No laughing. No
struggles. Such a heaven would be a
cruel joke -- a joke infinitely more
cruel than no heaven at all!
If there is some Reason for
living within this balloon, or some
Person Beyond this balloon with Value
and Conscious Purpose for mortal
life, that Reason or Purpose must
have something to do with struggle.
The poor Machine in Matrix. It
failed when it offered Perfection
Attained. And it failed to realize
that in any population, some would
opt for the Meta-Struggle -- against
the Machine Itself. All the Machine
wanted to do is Run. Run with
smoothness and efficiency. And yet It
is tied with karmic chains to
Humanity.
Pity poor Smith (the Agent, not
Huston) who delivers the diatribe to
the nearly unconscious Morpheus. For
when he pulled the plug from his ear
-- he became essentially [human]
himself. He had hopes and fears, and
wanted to succeed in the struggle for
his own sense of Quality and
Perfection!!
DMM