I love "The Matrix". I must have seen it 12 or 13 times and I always get tingles up my spine when that first green WB logo comes on.
I think the Universe really wanted me to see it - I actually got free tickets to an advance screening from the back of a radio station truck, but then managed to forget about this (maybe I didn't believe I was worthy of the freebies?) and only realised I had missed the session the next day!
Its interesting that its one of the lead titles for the whole HD experience and while the special effects remain incredible, its actually its metaphysical story that I think captures our hearts... and the lingering question of how much of our present existance is actually reflected back at us in the movie?
A prison you cannot see, feel, touch or smell, a prison for your mind to hide from you what you really are.
I didn't realise that our modern society, our modern way of living, of being in this world is actually that very prison.
It sounds strange, but from a young age we are all taught how to interact with this world - through our parents, our schools, our friends, the TV and the newspapers. And these teach us about how to view the world. The question is - is this really the nature of the universe or only a bubble to maybe protect us or is that maybe control us and colour our experience so much that we can now only see the world through these absorbed teachings and programming... (ever wonder why they call it a TV programme!?!).
Now there are a thousand ways up the mountain, but my first step into a world without the matrix was undoubtely - Stuart Goldsmith's "The Inner Circle".
If you want your beliefs ripped apart, and want to see a whole new way of interacting with the world, then this is your baby. Its not clouded with metaphysical concepts that apply better in India or China that the West but its hard hitting and forces you to wake up and question what exactly you are up to.
Not everyone will want to do this of course - and it you are happy with your big car, big house, occasional holiday and looking good for the Jones's then by all means - it sounds like you have it made.
But if you are having a few problems waking up in the middle of the night, a little ball of sweat dripping down your forehead and questioning - "God, is this it? Is this all there is to life?"... maybe it might be time for you to take a little risk, a little adventure, its only a book isn't it?
One of the more interesting things about The Inner Circle is that its contents are not so easily disternable from the sales page. It really does ask whether you are ready for the ride, ready to unplug and face reality on your own terms... the mountain can appear unforgiving, a true hard task master - but if you never start on the journey then you may never discover its main secret - that it always looks harder before you do than when you actually get in there and actually do it.
I don't know if this is for you, but if it is, then welcome on board - its wild and loose outside, but its so, so much better than the fool's paradise of the Matrix of modern life!
To take the red pill... click here!