(RJT: Funny this should come around just now,  that movie went by on tv
here in the past couple of days.  And I have it on tape...)

9.  THE MORPHEUS PROPOSAL
    by Jim Davidson 
    Special to TLE      http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/>     Issue 223

When we first meet her, the character Trinity is in a room numbered 303.
Throughout the film, "The Matrix" there is a delightful motif of
numbers. A little later, we meet the character "Neo" who, we are
told is "the one." Delightfully, Neo is an anagram of
"one." After a knock on the door, we learn he is in room
"101."

"Let me give you a piece of advice: be honest. He knows more than you
can imagine," says Trinity at a critical juncture in the film. As with
the other advice throughout the film, this advice is excellent.

Neo enters a non-descript room. Standing against the windows opposite the
door is a tall, bald, black man in a long leather coat. After introducing
himself as Morpheus, he says, "I imagine that right now you're feeling
a bit like Alice.tumbling down the rabbit hole? I can see it in your eyes.
You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting
to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth."

Morpheus continues, "Let me tell you why you're here. You're here
because you know something. What you know you can't explain. But you feel
it. You've felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the
world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your
mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do
you know what I'm talking about?"

With a voice full of uncertainty, Neo asks, "The Matrix?"

"Do you want to know what it is?" Morpheus inquires very deliberately.

At a nod from Neo, Morpheus continues, "The matrix is everywhere. It
is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look
out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when
you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the
world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the
truth."

"What truth?" asks Neo.

"That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into
bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A
prison for your mind.

"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see
it for yourself.

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.

"You take the blue pill. The story ends. You wake up in your bed and
believe whatever you want to believe.

"You take the red pill. You stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep
the rabbit hole goes.

"Remember. All I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more."

As everyone who has seen the film "The Matrix" quoted above
recalls, Neo chooses the red pill. "The Matrix" is available for
viewing on VHS
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000K2SC/inspacetoday> or
DVD http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000K19E/inspacetoday>.
In a few more days, its sequel will be released in theaters everywhere. You
should buy this film, you should watch it, and you should understand it.
Then go watch the sequel, which promises to be excellent.

The Matrix of the film is a metaphor for another system, a system which is
also designed for control. It is designed for the benefit of those who
operate the system, and it endeavors to hide the truth that all of its
subjects are slaves.

To understand this metaphor, we should examine a bit more of the dialog
from the film. Reading this dialog is no substitute for watching the film,
and you should certainly go to great lengths to rent or buy and watch this
film. It is possibly the most interesting film of the last fifty years. It
stands up to other excellent films such as "Casablanca,"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305736650/inspacetoday>
"Grosse Pointe Blank,"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558908382/inspacetoday> and
the "Star Wars" serial as commentary on the nature of political
society.

What Is the Matrix?

"You wanted to know what the matrix is, Neo?

"You've been living in a dream world, Neo. This is the world as it
exists today. Welcome to the desert of the real.

"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to
survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

"The human body generates more bio-electricity than a 120 volt battery
and over 25,000 BTUs of body heat. Combined with a form of fusion the
machines had found all the energy they would ever need.

"There are fields, Neo, endless fields where human beings are no
longer born. We are grown. For the longest time, I wouldn't believe it. And
then I saw the fields with my own eyes, watched them liquefy the dead so
they could be fed intravenously to the living. And standing there, facing
the pure horrifying precision, I came to realize the obviousness of the
truth.
 
"What is the Matrix?

"Control.

"The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under
control in order to change a human being into this. 

"As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free."

The above quote comes from the Warner Home Video DVD, "The
Matrix" by the Wachowski Brothers. I've transcribed the actual lines
as delivered by Laurence Fishburne, though the subtitles available on the
DVD are somewhat similar.

The average American makes $38,000 per year annual income. This figure is
somewhat deceptive, since it includes a large number of non-working
persons, and fails to count the incomes of a wide array of non-filing
adults, children, and "illegal aliens" among others. Over the
course of a forty to fifty year career, the average American will make over
$1.5 million in income.  The government will obtain up to 38% of the
income, and various other governmental systems will take a further 12% of
income. Plus, the funds the individual spends on rent, food,
transportation, and other incidentals will be taxed as income of others.

In other words, the system has found all the money it will ever need.
Better still, the currency used in all these exchanges will very likely not
be free market money. Instead, it will in most instances prove to be
Federal Reserve Notes. This fiat money is allegedly legal tender, though
there are no penalties for refusing it. Redeemable for nothing, the Federal
Reserve Note is a promise to pay - but only in further Federal Reserve
Notes. The system which issues these notes is not a part of the Federal
government, it is not a constitutionally authorized entity, and it benefits
from monetary inflation to a considerable degree.

As Beardsley Ruml pointed out in the 1940s, with the ability to issue
currency, the government has no need to tax. It can print as much money as
it will ever need. Therefore, in his view, the function of taxes such as
the income tax and the inheritance tax, is not to fund the government or
provide for constitutionally mandated functions. Instead, the function of
these taxes, he wrote in his article for American Affairs magazine, is the
redistribution of wealth. From whom? From those capable of producing
wealth.

To whom? To those unable or unwilling to produce wealth.

In other words, the tax system exists to plunder. It loots from the
productive to provide salaries for bureau-rats and payments to those unable
or unwilling to work.

A similar scheme is the Social Security system. It loots from the
productive to provide, not only for those unable to work, but also for
those who have "retired" without regard to whether they are poor.
The Social Security system has no "trust fund." Funds paid in
currently are paid out immediately. There is no investment of the funds.
The entire system is a Ponzi scheme. As long as new investors are compelled
to pay into the system, and as long as more of them, or more productive
ones, can be found, the system can remain afloat. However, it is not moral.

The average person paying into the system as of 1998 when Forbes magazine
did an analysis, makes $35,000 per year. The average person receiving
payments from the system makes $65,000 per year. At that time, those
receiving payments were estimated to get $70,000 or so more out of their
Social Security checks than they had ever paid in. However, those paying in
were estimated to have as much as a quarter million dollars less paid out
"eventually" than they had paid in. Between the $250,000 in lost
payments and the $70,000 in excess receipts are one generation and $180,000
worth of bad bureaucracy.

Moreover, these optimistic figures are based on a scenario of continuing
operations. Most Americans under the age of 45 believe that they have a
greater chance of being abducted by aliens than they do of receiving a
penny from Social Security. The system is bankrupt, it is unable to provide
for the security of those contributing to it, it provides payments to many
who are wealthier than those being taxed, and it is not ethical. It is
theft, the same as all other taxes.

Do not be misguided by the ideal of order. The average individual seeks
useful order. He wants to be able to conduct business with his neighbors
and with complete strangers with a certain amount of confidence. He prefers
that the tall buildings in his neighborhood not be devastated by thugs who
hijack passenger jets. He prefers to stay far from wars so that his
property is not looted or plundered.

In contrast to this useful order, this modicum of order, we have the
surplus order imposed by the state. The term "surplus order"
appears in the book _Powershift_ by Alvin and Heidi Toffler.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553292153/inspacetoday> It
is an excellent book which you should buy and read. Surplus order does not
benefit the individual. It exists only for the benefit of those who control
the state. Surplus order consists of terrorizing all individuals everywhere
so they obey whatever dictates the rulers attempt to impose. It includes
kicking in doors at 4 a.m., revoking passports, refusing travelers the
opportunity to fly, tearing children away from their screaming parents, and
burning seven dozen Texans to death in their church, to name but a few of
its more dire consequences.

Free Your Mind

Morpheus continues, "You have to let it all go, Neo..fear...doubt and
disbelief. ...Free your mind!"

The advice is extremely good. You can do worse than follow this advice. Let
go of fear, let go of doubt, let go of disbelief. Don't be limited by what
you've been told all your life about how the system is your friend, how the
government is necessary, how you are the beneficiary of its protection, its
largesse, its regulations. Understanding is the first step on the path to
freedom. Free your mind and everything else follows.

How? How can you free your mind from a lifetime of conditioning? By
refusing to fear, refusing to be beguiled, refusing to be taken in. Strip
away the illusions and realize your own potential.

Lesson of the Other Potentials

"Do not try to bend the spoon," says the young boy. "That's
impossible. Only try to realize the truth."

"What truth?" asks Neo.

"There is no spoon."

Doubtfully, Neo replies, "There is no spoon?" He can clearly see
a spoon in his hand.

"Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends; it is only yourself."

Later in the film, Neo repeats the words "there is no spoon"
while shooting at an elevator cable. He obtains the results he desires.

I submit that there is no government. "The government" is an
illusion, sometimes consensual. In fact, there are only individuals.
Individuals in "the government" get away with murder, theft,
lies, deceit, fraud, violence, viciousness, and betrayal. Were those
individuals without governmental sanction, they would be merely bullies,
killers, and thieves. They would deserve no greater respect and no swifter
punishment. As "the government" however, they are understood to
be immune from prosecution, immune from lawsuits, immune from criticism.
Even their own treason against the constitution is considered acceptable,
whereas it is considered treasonous to accuse them of treason.

About 155 years ago, Henry David Thoreau composed a speech called "On
Civil Disobedience." In that speech, which is available here:
http://www.houstonspacesociety.org/civil.html> (RJT: And here,  in
the files section,  as well...!) he said that the government had not done
anything. It had not settled the West. It had not educated the people. It
had not opened new avenues of trade and commerce. All that had ever been
done was done by individuals.

He pointed out that if trade and commerce were not made of a substance akin
to India rubber, it would not be able to bounce over all the obstacles
constantly put in its path by government. Indeed, if legislators, he said,
were tried and punished for the results they produced, rather than
understood for their intentions, they would be equated with the miscreants
who put obstructions on railroad tracks.

Moreover, the government was simply a tradition, passing itself down from
generation to generation. It was nothing more than tradition - the special
treatment of those in the government nothing but a habit. He also wrote,
though I believe mistakenly, that the government could be bent to the will
of one man, and (correctly, in my view) was therefore of less consequence
than one man.

However, if there is no government, then what is bent? Not the government,
but the individual. If you attempt to bend the government to your will,
then you will find that it is you who bends.

In this particular fashion, I believe, all the efforts of Libertarian Party
members, Republicans, Democrats, and others are made pointless. You cannot
reform the government. There is no government for you to reform. You cannot
make the government better. There is no government to improve. You cannot
make the government obey the constitution. There is no government to be
made obedient.

Your efforts to bend the government only result in you being bent. You may
believe that you can stick to your guns, remain true to your principles,
and bend the government. However, you will find that you are bent in the
process, whether corrupted or made weary and stooped over. If you remain,
as some noteworthy individuals such as Dr. Ron Paul, unbendable, you will
still not find the government bent to your will. Why not? Because there is
no government.

Lesson of the Agent

"Do you hear that Mr. Anderson?" asks Agent Smith. "It is
the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of your death."

The sound folio is of a screeching subway train. Why is a train so
interesting as the metaphor for inevitability? Those of you readers who
have ever been arrested may know why. It is often used by the agents of
government or "law enforcement" to intimidate suspects,
perpetrators, witnesses, and others.

The government agent would say that there is a train coming. You can either
get on it, or get run over by it. The train is too powerful to stop. You
can't stop it. So, are you going to get on it? This type of false reasoning
is used to coerce plea bargains, guilty pleas, false testimony, and a host
of other ills. Don't be taken in.

In his confrontation with Agent Smith, Neo proves the train is not the
sound of his death. His death comes, but is hardly inevitable.
Miraculously, Neo recovers from death with the metaphorical love of a good
woman. He recovers from death because that isn't real, either.

Centuries ago, Ben Franklin wrote
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0880889187/inspacetoday> that
three things are inevitable: the weather, death, and taxes. I disagree on
all three counts. I'm for weather control, life extension, and free
markets.

Another Lesson about Agents

Earlier in the film, we are introduced to a crowd of people walking down
the street. Morpheus and Neo seem to be wading through them, against the
stream as it were. They are ordinary people from every walk of life --
teachers, lawyers, tradesmen. Most of them have become so inured to the
system they are not ready to be unplugged, says Morpheus.

A beautiful woman in a red dress walks by, distracting Neo. Morpheus asks
if Neo is still listening, or looking at the woman in the red dress. Neo,
flustered, turns toward Morpheus who tells him to look again.

Suddenly, behind Neo, there is an Agent holding a gun at him. Morpheus has
the simulation frozen.

He points out that anyone still hard-wired into the system is a potential
enemy. Anyone in that condition can be turned into an Agent at a moment's
notice.

Indeed, subsequently, while Neo is fleeing from Agent Smith and others, he
races down a hallway. Then he bursts into an apartment where we see two old
ladies. As he rushes to the back door, we see one old lady on the sofa,
another in the kitchen chopping vegetables. As he reaches the back door,
THUNK! A knife is embedded into the door jam. He turns back and sees the
second old lady has become an Agent in just the split second since we first
saw her. He continues to flee.

By analogy, this ability of Agents to corrupt any individual who is
"still hardwired into the system" is much like the ability of
government agents to corrupt individuals who are still trying to obey the
government. If you are filing taxes, you are certainly making errors.
Obedience to the law is no excuse, for the laws are so convoluted, so
byzantine, so hard to follow that you must inevitably break many of them,
even in the process of scrupulously obeying others.

In her novel Atlas Shrugged
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452011876/inspacetoday>
author Ayn Rand has a character point out that the purpose of these laws is
not to keep the people honest and law-abiding, but to make them all guilty.
Guilty of something.

(RJT: Here's the quote:)

Herewith, from ATLAS SHRUGGED (1957):

"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?"
said Dr. Ferris.  "We *want* them broken. ... We're after power and we
mean it. ... There's no way to rule innocent men.  The only power any
government has is
the power to crack down on criminals.  Well, when there aren't enough
criminals, one *makes* them.  One declares so many things to be a crime
that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.  Who
wants a nation of law-abiding citizens?  What's there in that for anyone?
But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced
nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and
then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the
game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."

(RJT:End quote)

By attempting to obey the law, by filing taxes and participating in the
process, by leaving your children in public school or your family at a
known address, you leave yourself vulnerable to coercion and control. Many
individuals have been turned into informants on the strength of the threats
to their way of life, their families, or their health. If you are dependent
upon the good will of agents of government for your survival or your
lifestyle, you may become very disappointed when you learn that those
agents have no good will. Indeed, they are not agents of the properly
constituted government,
which is nowhere to be found.

Don't rely upon the good will of others, wrote Robert Heinlein.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0399122427/inspacetoday>
After all, some men don't have a good side. If, instead, you find a way to
engage their self interest, you are much better off.

The Neo Proposal

"I know you're out there," says Neo. "I can feel you now. I
know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of
change."

I think these statements are very well delivered. The script writers were
brilliant in coming up with much of this dialog. The system is afraid of
change. The system is terrified right now of the Internet. The ability to
bypass the mainstream media and get information without their approval or
knowledge is frightening to those who believe in a hydraulic empire of
information.

(RJT: Which is why they're doing their best to _control_ it!)

George Carlin points out that we call the mainstream a stream because it is
far too shallow to be a river
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786887583/inspacetoday>.

Neo continues, "I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell
you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to
begin. I'm going to hang up this phone and then I'm going to show these
people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world
without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or
boundaries. A world where anything is possible."

Indeed, that is the opportunity before us. We have the opportunity to break
free from the matrix of control, from the system. We have the opportunity
to live in a world without government, without rulers. We have the
opportunity to have no borders, no boundaries, no rule except self-rule, no
control except self-control, where anything is possible. Which world would
you rather have?

Many years ago, I wrote a couplet as part of the Anthem of the Ama-Gi.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ama-gi/>
    "I don't believe in predestined fate
    The future is what we choose to create."

It isn't up to me to create the future for you. Nor is it up to me to free
your mind. "I can show you the door, but you must walk through
it," says Morpheus. I cannot free you. You must free yourself.

Once you've asked yourself which world you'd rather have, and once you've
taken time to watch this film "The Matrix" I urge you to go see
"The Matrix Reloaded" which should prove to be as excellent a
film as the first. You may be especially pleased to learn that the
Wachowski brothers envisioned the Matrix as a trilogy.
- - -

Jim Davidson is an entrepreneur. He is currently working with Coast Salish
people in Vancouver to organize a free port facility and exploit certain
nuances of the Jay Treaty; he also trades gold through his Gold Barter
Holdings venture, with its auction service GoldBarter.com and exchange
service Cambist.net. He writes frequently for liberty oriented
publications. Some of his writings are linked from his home page at
http://www.ezez.com/free/freejim.html>.
- - -

"The Matrix" is a film starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne,
Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano, written and directed by
Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, executive producers Barrie Osborne,
Andrew Mason, Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, Erwin Stoff, and Bruce
Berman. It is a Silver Pictures production produced by Joel Silver and
presented by Warner Brothers in association with Village Roadshow Pictures
- Groucho II Film Partnership. More information on The Matrix film trilogy
can be found at http://www.whatisthematrix.com/>. The soundtrack
album
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000IFW8/inspacetoday>
features songs by Ramstein, Rage Against the Machine, Deftones, Prodigy,
Rob Zombie, and Marilyn Manson. The program content, artwork, and
photography is copyright c 1999 Warner Brothers. The use of quotes from the
film dialog in this essay is fair use for the purpose of film review and
film analysis. The essay by Jim Davidson is copyright c 2003 Jim Davidson,
and may be duplicated in whole provided all links and text are included.

---