The Matrix

Morpheus calmly sat in front of Neo explaining his choice: choose to swallow the blue pill and he will return to his life as he knows it or take a red pill which will open up his senses to the realities of his true life. In actuality his real life was only a perceived "matrix" while the unperceived reality was truth. He was a victim of the matrix, a simulated reality created by sentient machines to control the real world.

A curious thought - what if the world we live every day is actually such a matrix - a simulated reality created by ourselves to hold up a self-referenced individual starving for recognition? Even more so, what if our religious world is so veneered that we have lost touch with the reality of the master?

The churches I grew up in helped to create this matrix. Their list of dos and don'ts was an endless attempt to create a world built on the mirage of religiosity that was controlled by the man-made system. Those with the "power" to detach from negative practices and behaviors assume titles of "spiritual" proudly carried about with badges of honor. They grasp their new role tightly as if their hold determines their holiness. The slippery slope of spiritual leadership is built upon fear of failure and upholding an image recognized by others as spiritual success. Such self-generated lists of dos and don'ts, and such self-referenced efforts to be holy, are doomed to failure because, as Paul indicates, "they are merely human rules and teachings." The result is a matrix community in which we are afraid for others to see us as we really are. We have grown accustomed to playing church games and look at each other as spiritual competitors.

The church matrix is all about detachment which ultimately leads to a community of false selves. It has become so much the norm that we deem this simulated reality as true reality.We interact and worship together wearing this false skin so that others will accept us. We live in a simulated spirituality under girded by the fear of being discovered for who we really are. Our religious false self wants to keep our "God" in the box of our control.

The truth of the spiritual life is not associated with detachment or our control at all. It is all about attachment to God himself.

We need to take the red pill of "his genuine loving presence" in order to be released from this binding matrix of religious simulation. Centering my life in him helps me see past the religious matrix of rules and methods into a world built on the freedom of true love and acceptance...a world in which I can truly be me.

This is what Paul meant when he said, "don't become so well- adjusted to your (church religious) culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead fix your attention on God (centering). You'll be changed from the inside out (see through the matrix)." Romans 12 The Message