Can’t get more
post-modern than that, you mean?
It’s a nice film, but it isn’t really a Christian film in my opinion. Yes, if you want to see it as Christian, you can get that out of it… but that’s just the point… the film is postmodern - it can mean whatever you like! It means everything and nothing at the same time.
I wouldn’t disagree with that.
Here is what I mean by Gnosticism and Buddhism:
-How is the creator God in the Matrix?
The Creator God in the Matrix is the Creator of the real-world. The “Architect” is the Gnostic demi-urge, who creates an ‘alternative’ world.
-What is the technique Neo uses to do his funky tricks (hint: there is no spoon)? And who teaches him?
That’s basic physics. The ‘spoon’ is simply a set of subatomic particles that we humans decide to group together and call a ‘spoon’. We can replace those subatomic particles with other subatomic particles – is it the same spoon, or a different one? In either case, there’s no absolute separation between the subatomic particles that make up the ‘spoon’ and the subatomic particles that make up the ‘air’ around the ‘spoon’.
The one who teaches Neo this wasn’t the Buddha. It was a little kid who had some psychic abilities, and who (admittedly) had some physical and philosophical similarities to the Buddha.
-Where does Neo go in the finishing scene of Matrix 3? (hint: nowhere)
Well, you’re assuming he went nowhere. The Oracle claimed that he’ll be back, so he obviously went
somewhere. Did Jesus go “nowhere” when He descended into Hades, or when He ascended into heaven?
-Is the main problem evil/sin or ignorance and blindness?
Blindness/igorance leads to sin. But in Buddhism, this ignorance is not a simple “not knowing in your head”; it’s a “not knowing in your heart”.
Sin in Greek means “to miss the mark”. If you’re blindfolded, and try to shoot an arrow into a target, most likely (unless you’re a Zen master or something) you’re going to “miss the mark”. Ignorance-in-the-heart, or spiritual blindness, leads to evil actions and sin in general – that’s basic Buddhism, I admit, but it’s also consistent with Christianity.
-Is Neo God incarnate or just a god reincarnate?
Whether God incarnates or re-incarnates, God would still be God, no?
To your objections: Neo didn’t come to liberate Smith… Smith is Satan.
Satan (read Job) is the adversary who challenges those who believe in God to prove their faith. God allows Satan to roam the earth, causing havoc. Satan is the boxing partner who improves our game. Satan is the person whose very action leads to the salvation of those he offended. Satan is the lover of drama, the great trickster, the wily coyote. He loves to corrupt.
God created Satan, and Satan is always under the control of God. Satan will have to undergo infinite purification before he can sit at the table of God. Infinite purification means the infinite and absolute consumption of Satan into his original state of ‘no-thing-ness’. It is only as ‘no-thing-ness’ that Satan can find liberation and salvation; because it was out of ‘no-thing-ness’ that God felt called to create the cosmos. Neo freed Smith from his greatest enemy, that is, from himself.
I have always seen Morpheus as God the Father (creating a nice “Trinity” with the three persons of the Godhead), rather than John the Baptist, but I can understand your interpretation.
Morpheus, as John the Baptist, always searching for the Messiah, and sometimes mistaken for the Messiah, cried in the wilderness. Neo, of course, is the One, the Messiah, the pure Human and pure Code. Trinity is Mother Mary, whose love was so powerful, it could invoke the very descent of the Neo and usher in his emergence.
The Matrix series is not about the Father; it’s all about the Son, John the Baptist, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s the Four Gospels, pure and simple. It doesn’t go into the Book of Acts, and thus doesn’t involve the Holy Spirit. The Matrix series is thus theologically incomplete: it’s Christo-centric, choosing not to address the Father, nor Pneumatology. As such, it cannot be considered truly Canonical.
As for the cross-shape, I wont argue against that. The Warchowski makes a rather all-round patchwork-philosophy, and Christianity is a part of it.
Agreed.
) to transgress the computer and the real-world, to unite computer and humanity. When Neo ‘entered’ Smith in the first movie, Neo ‘gifted’ Smith with the ability to transgress both worlds as well. Smith didn’t earn this gift, but it was a ‘liberation’ for him. But Smith was, morally, the anti-Neo, the anti-Christ (if you will), so even though he could transgress both worlds, he could not sacrifice himself for the sake of love. It was this sacrifice that Neo freely offered, for the sake of the salvation of the worlds.
