Living outside the Matrix is exercising one’s own judgment. It’s questioning the conclusions presented to us as well as the assumptions behind them, and rejecting the ‘many modern myths’ considered as truth in a culture that looks very like the dream world of exploitation in the film ‘The Matrix’. Living outside of this Matrix of mind control is about thinking for one’s self. It’s about being in the drivers seat of one’s life, by being in the drivers seat of one’s mind. It’s asking questions and pursuing answers with critical independent thinking because if we take control of our minds they cannot be controlled by anyone else. Reason is the bedrock of my thinking as I re-examine my fundamental premises and make sure all my conclusions are my own. It takes effort, but the result is that the mind grows wings.
Borrowed from the 1999 Wachowski brothers film starring Keanu Reeves, the Matrix is a useful metaphor for seeing the world in which we live as a dream world pulled over our eyes, a departure from reality. Being in the Matrix is living one’s life according to the erroneous thinking of other people, and according to assumptions that are not true, that means not in accord with reality. The Matrix is a prepackaged cultural download of ready-made assumptions, beliefs, catch phrases, slogans, generalisations and conclusions that people absorb by a kind of cultural osmosis in the absence of any independent thinking – but most of these are at best half-truths, and most often 180 degrees wrong!
Being in or outside the Matrix is not an either or option. Unlike in the film, leaving the real life “Matrix of dominant ideas” is a matter of degree. It’s a process, primarily of thought, but necessarily followed by action. It takes time.
I like to use the Matrix metaphor because the lead character Neo deliberately seeks to know by choosing the red pill. He is pro-active and chooses to think. This is foundational to the solution of any perceived problem. Wanting to know is the first cause of knowledge and it is the precursor to living outside the Matrix. But never forget the equal necessity of action!
The film portrays human existence outside the Matrix as being a harsh and miserable struggle. In the real world, the change of mindset that leaving the matrix entails empowers individuals and makes full control of one’s life possible – its good news all round. This misrepresentation of reality is not without consequences in the assumptions it potentially sows into the mind of the viewer. Although the film inspires thinking to some degree, one implicit take away message is that ‘its bleak out there’, why would you leave the comforts of the known? The point to note about these assumptions that are implicitly left having in our minds through the medium of films and stories, is that they have no power to enter the subconscious as a conclusion unnoticed, if there is a considered conviction there already. If we have previously given conscious thought to an issue and formed our own conclusions, a new and perhaps contradictory one brought to our awareness will be noticed. If we are paying attention, if we are thinking and aware, we can then compare suggested ideas with our own and revise our convictions if necessary, or consciously reject the idea as contrary to our thinking. This is being in control of ones thoughts and premises, knowing ones own motives. It renders us far less controllable.
The roots of the Matrix
At the most fundamental level, our philosophical assumptions have been given a duff steer – whether by intention or error is not the issue here. In spite of the obvious and easily provable existence of an objective reality that exists separate from consciousness, most peoples way of thinking today implicitly entertains the opposite assumption – that reality is subjective, that it is shapable, effected, even created by consciousness. This is subjectivism. This assumption not only has the effect of disconnecting us from reality by short-circuiting the apparent need to rely exclusively upon reasoned thought to know reality, but also of undermining our perceived need to think in general. Why would you bother thinking in order discover knowledge of reality if on a subconscious level you have already accepted that you are making it all up in your head anyway? We have been culturally seduced by the notion of an alternative and allegedly effortless way of ‘knowing reality’ through mystic means such as revelation, feeling, just ‘knowing’, and other new age ideas.
Although few would argue explicitly for subjectivism, due to the irrefutable evidence to the contrary, their thinking implies it. Mysticism is the predominant form of subjectivism – through religions or otherwise, the claim to some other reality apart from the one in which we live/exist. When cultural assumptions are predominantly subjectivist, life is a competition of irrational whims. Might is right and the brute with the biggest club becomes the master. An inevitable consequence of subjectivism is therefore the use of force and coercion. Mysticism is a key root of violence because reference to the ultimate arbiter of truth – reality – is discounted.
Mysticism is a form of subjectivism with a long and bloody history. It is the acceptance of ideas without any supporting evidence in reality; the claim to another reality which we have no ability to perceive using our human senses; it is the claim to knowledge in the absence of proof and often in defiance of proof. Mysticism is not real by definition and should therefore remain disqualified in anyone’s mind as a guide to reality or how to live. It is falseness pretending to be truth. It is anti-life and therefore evil.
When our accurate perception of reality is compromised so is our ability to function effectively within it. We are all familiar with the concept of sanity as being ‘well adjusted to reality’, or in touch with reality. Mysticism by definition lays claim to another reality! An unknowable and imperceivable one. there is no way its claims can be verified by human senses, demonstration or empirical evidence. Its a hoodwink, a con. People are duped to the extent that they accept its claims as real. It is vital that we maintain a clear distinction between what is real and what is not. I do not mean to dismiss mysterious or unexplained phenomena, only to keep clear mental labels on what is knowledge and what is not yet understood, not to substitute invention for enquiry in a desperate attempt to explain the unexplained.
The second fundamental of the Matrix that is anti life, is altruism – the ethics of mysticism. The basic principle of which is that man has no right to live for his own sake. That the only purpose of his existence and his highest moral achievement is service to other. Whether that other is tribe or king or God. Most people confuse altruism with kindness or respect for others, this is not what it is. Altruism means self-sacrifice, self immolation, self-denial and ultimately self-destruction.
Altruism effectively offers no moral guidance by focusing only on the recipient of any action. If it is claimed that action is taken for the benefit of others, it is good. Action taken for one’s own benefit is bad. Much evil has been done by those claiming to be selflessly serving the collective and acting for the greater good. This makes it the dream ticket morality for tyranny and dictatorship.
Real life experience informs us the opposite, that rational self interest is fundamental to our survival and well being. Think of the airplane decompression scenario, where we are told to put on our own oxygen masks first, before helping others. We all ‘get’ that if you help others first in the airplane decompression you are going to be dead in a matter of seconds, then you and those you want to help will perish. If we rationally attend to ourselves first, we are then able to help, and to give, and to enjoy the experience of generosity and offering value to others.
Where most peoples understanding is derailed is that they naturally assume that serving one’s own self-interest requires sacrificing the interests of others. But this is a false dichotomy. No one need be sacrificed at all. On the contrary our self interest is served by offering value to others, respecting rights and trading with others. Rational self-interest creates wealth. Any kind of theft from others or living at the expense of others is counter productive and irrational in the long run even if there are perceived short term gains.
Within the Matrix world of un thinking acceptance, altruism is the assumed good and selfishness is evil. Outside the Matrix it’s OK to be self-centered. Its OK to be self-ish. Which means its OK to be concerned with our own self-interest. It fact it’s essential to be concerned with own rational self-interestst.
It can be overwhelming to assimilate the many up-side-downs of the real world when we break out of the Matrix, out of the world of illusion and unquestioned acceptance of official explanations. Conditioning has been written indelibly in our subconsciousness and must be displaced with consciously reasoned convictions. We must re-program the hard wired assumptions written onto the hard drives of our minds by process of active critical thinking. It is also necessary to integrate new conclusions into a non contradictory sum of knowledge so that (to use a computer analogy) all relevant mental files are updated.
The importance of rational thinking
Thinking is the means of self education and is therefore the only way out of the Matrix. One has to be prepared to question so many assumed truths and think outside the box. To build understanding and awareness necessitates us building our knowledge. This requires thinking. The validity of thinking, this massively important if not crucial life skill, is hugely undermined by the first fundamental of the Matrix – the metaphysical duff steer of subjectivism.
Thinking is not taught in schools or by most parents. Further more, thinking is discouraged in modern education by multiple choice testing where understanding is not required, only recognition. The value of thinking is also undermined implicitly in a culture where meditation is considered a means to enlightenment. It is also discouraged in many religions with men being discouraged from the need to question ‘Gods will’. But by thinking, and specifically thinking rationally, by using logic and the principle of non-contradiction, it is entirely possible these days to deconstruct the many modern myths that comprise the Matrix. All the information is out there. Some shy away from the effort of sifting through it all to discern truth from fiction, but its must be done. The alternative is suffering.
Thinking is crucial. Thinking is our most basic survival tool. It precedes any considered action by definition. Imagine a survival situation in which you need shelter, water, and a plan. You will perish without thinking rationally. Wishing for a warm shelter and for water to drink will not manifest them. Although modern life insulates us from this example, the principle holds. Nothing is created by man until he thinks up an idea, a process, a method, and subsequently constructs something of value. Every material thing we enjoy today, cars, TV’s, computers, food, clothes, furniture, all has to be produced as a value, and thought is the foundation on which it all rests.
We learn to use our bodies to navigate the material world and with varying degrees of skill we climb what ever mountains of achievement we choose. But we do not yet give as much attention to the mastery of our mind and the development of our thinking. Given that it is our mind that manages our life, it would seem urgent that we learn how to think.
Of course it is possible to exist in the short term by stealing from others who have thought and produced. It is possible to exist as a parasite and consume off the backs of other men. But this is not living. This is not what man can be. This is reverting to the lowest form of human existence. If humanity has any hope at all it must consciously reject parasitic existence (living by violence) and choose ‘living as man qua man‘. This means living in true accord with our nature as rational beings, not as brutes and thugs, not as masters and slaves, but as traders of value. To live off the thinking of others is to be intellectaully subservient to those who you percieve to be ‘in the know’. It is to acquiesce to so-called’ authority out of the necessity – some one needs to know how to live. To be rational, to thrive, to produce, to achieve, to be happy, to be outside the Matrix you have to think.
Each of us alone has the choic to think or not to bother, to figure it out or let some one else, to seek to understand or just copy, mimic and follow the actions of those who appear to know better. To think we must awaken the ‘eye’, the ‘I’, the ‘one’ the ruler who draws the line. Then the individual is born.
As a result of un-thinking and evasion of the effort to understand, people become more and more reliant on the understanding of the group, the collective, and they give increasing value to what ‘they say’, or to what the leaders say. This is common place today. Peoples behaviour will not change before their thinking changes.. Remeber you mind runs the show!
So what is thinking?
The greatest myth around the concept of thinking is that everyone knows what it is and how to do it. We all take the concept of thinking as a given and therefore beyond question, but it is not. Although thinking is what makes us human, a function of our unique form of consciousness, and it is what distinguishes us from the primates and lower animals, it is not automatic. It arises from our unique ability to conceptualise, to form concepts, but this is volitional – we have to choose to do it. What thinking is requires a more in-depth discussion than is possible here, and I look into it further in the podcast episode “What is thinking?”. The point to make here is that thinking is fundamental and any notion of avoiding it and simply tuning into the ‘universe’ as a means to so-called “enlightenment” is a duff steer and a road to nowhere. The idea of ascension to a higher conscious without thought is a contradiction in terms. Meditation or mindfulness or any other form of mental quietude are great tools and have value, but are emphatically not means of acquiring knowledge. Rational thinking on the other hand, mans distinguishing feature as a rational animal, very much is.
Thinking is purposeful mental activity with the acquisition of knowledge as its goal, but to achieve that goal, to accurately identify reality, our thinking must be effective and efficient. This means it must be scrupulously rational. We are not infallible, we can and do make mistakes. But if we remain rational and logical in our thinking, contradictions and errors will reveal themselves and can be corrected.
Thinking is the asking and answering of questions, and developing and exploring sub-purposes. Thinking must most crucially involve the deliberate integration of new knowledge and conclusions into the sum of ones knowledge. We must think in principles and not be concrete bound. Thinking must be able to prove ideas and identify what is knowledge and what is not. It must be able to link complex concepts back to the facts of reality from which they are derived, and it must recognise a contradiction as an indication of error.
The Matrix
The philosophical fundamentals of the Matrix are the metaphysics of Subjectivism (Mysticism) and the ethics of Altruism
In a day to day sense, the Matrix is people living unconsidered lives, following each other through an unquestioned existence and just doing what everybody else does. It is herd mentality, a mindset of dependence, dumbed down compliance and readily swallowed cultural fast food. The Matrix is propaganda and deception. It is a whole stack of what I call duff steers, or modern myths, that although widely held as true are demonstrably false. I am not talking conspiracy theories here, I mean lies such as mercury amalgam fillings are safe in your mouth; fluoridated water helps reduce tooth decay; that cholesterol causes heart disease; that our highest moral action is self-sacrifice; that a central controlling authority is needed to effectively organise anything (including society); that capitalism is immoral and the enemy; that Co2 is the great bogey-man that it is claimed to be; that it is best not to judge others and therefore not be judged …and so on.
The Matrix is unconscious living in the sense of not having conscious awareness of one’s philosophical convictions, one’s beliefs about the nature of reality and of what is possible and what is not. This means not knowing and understanding the foundations upon which one’s values and motives are based. The Matrix is ‘not knowing’ what you think about fundamental issues. Or, if you do regurgitate some swallowed lines, it is not being able to explain and justify them. Consequently it is confusion between what is real and what is fiction. Its a chronic sense of unexplainable terror because people don’t know how to live, who to listen to, or what to do, in a time of multiple crises and stress, in an endless sea of information and disinformation.
The Physical manifestation of the mental Matrix is the consequential erosion of property rights through creeping government controls and expansion of the state and state power. It is the religion of statism. It is creeping collectivist tyranny, the violence of coercion and the ubiquitous belief in the need for government and central planning. It is the subordination of the individual to the state, which then has the power to sacrifice any individual for the so-called ‘greater good’ of society. The Matrix encourages entitlement mentality, or parasitic living on the efforts and thinking of others. It is the enforced level playing field where merit is penalised and inefficaciousness and need are rewarded. The Matrix is the creeping triumph of altruism and mysticism over reason in the minds of men.
The Matrix is the human farm onto which you have been born. It is the system by which a few economically control and exploit the majority, benefiting from and perpetuating their unconsciousness. The un-thinking masses live only to serve the group. Their minds entertained and distracted into oblivion, their bodies poisoned by their food and environment. The Matrix is suffering, in body and in mind.
The Matrix is irrationality.
The real world, or objective reality can only be known through thinking and the use of your faculty of reason. Success in reality can only be achieved through an ethics of rational egoism.
Living outside the Matrix?
Living outside the Matrix is thinking for one’s self and it’s a consequence of independent living. It is reclaiming the confidence in one’s own mind to know what is real, what is true and therefore what to do. It is trust in the supremacy of one’s own judgment and knowing that their is no higher authority than your own sovereign intellect.
Living outside the Matrix is making lifestyle choices based exclusively upon one’s own rational judgment. The only way to learn to trust your own judgment is to habitually think for one’s self.
Join the conversation and leave a comment below
Nigel Howitt
January 2017
Carlo says
Thanks for your article. Very true
Craig says
Nigel,
What a compelling article, one of the most insightful and true takes on the current state of the world and in turn our perception of reality.
I’m at a very deep point in my awakening out of the system, seeing things I was once blind to.
Reading this article was exactly how I would like to articulate my thoughts and it was like reading a summary of all that i feel in this moment.
One of the problems if you can call it a “problem” (What is a problem?, what is a word?, but don’t worry we don’t need to go that deep) is the veil over the vast majority of people’s eyes existing our current world “system” or matrix, so distracted by what is given to them as the absolute truth, and many and I was once included in this bracket do not even consider something else, do not consider opening their mind and hearts to another perception, they so blindly accept what is that it takes such a massive varied degree of situations to wake everyone one, there is no one thing that will do it. My story is my story but how can one awaken another when the populous have subliminal “stuff” and situations going on all around them every single moment of every day drilling it deep into their subconscious of what is “fact” when it is just as you say in your article simply someone else’s perception or viewpoint that the majority resonate with so don’t question it, so follow it as being a life.
A life now is not what a life was when we first developed critical or rational thinking, I wonder what and when exactly in hiostory it changed and what changed it to produce this “life” we are all made to live now..?
Anyway, love the article.
Much love and respect,
Nigel Howitt says
Thank you very much Craig. I am sure one day all humans will be rationally informed and think for themselves. There is an evolutionary imperative to do so.
J says
How and where do we begin this process. If the process has already begun, where is it happening? How evolved is this new world order? Who is this random seeker who feels privy to such questions?! 🙂
Mike says
Interesting, but not I feel a complete picture although very rationally presented, consider some of the ideas in this video, we should always remain open enough to challenge everything, especially the creations of our own intelect ? https://youtu.be/NjcMx4JZVlY
L J King says
Is there a place where people can go to set up yurts or tiny homes that you know of? I was just wondering. No place near me in the center of the USA.
Nigel Howitt says
I know of a few places in the UK, but not in the states. This is even with the severe restrictions on what you can do on your own land here in England. With the huge amount of space you have over there. I would hope there are some people living in yurts.
Ada2 says
I appreciate this. A comment passed by my partner last night led me to a search on articles that can help him understand he is deeply embedded in the matrix, while I am not. Most of the things you have mentioned here are exactly what we argue about.. while I have chosen to “live consciously” away from power struggles and politics and wealth accumulation tricks.
it’s such a mess… his comment was “living outside the matrix is cowardice” you should learn to fight back the vultures who are in your life, not ignore their attacks.. become a bitch like them”
that really pushed me back.
Nigel Howitt says
Thanks for your comment Ada. I can understand this. It is difficult when One of you is inside and the other is not.
Jamar Ceaser says
thanks you made my day with truth love it we must stand on it firm