Love and the Matrix

Love for Plato is that which is part of a relationship. It is the the love of wisdom and learning that is greatest. Socrates is said to have constantly repelled all sexual love advances, and says that he knows what he can give in the relationship, wisdom, but that the other can only give beauty then is not equal. For love is an equal relationship that is based on dialauge and love of the good. The process is that first the love is of someone that is beautiful. Then comes a love of beauty itself, and the desire that all be able to know this love. Love then becomes teaching and learning and the beauty of wisdom.

Love is what drives Neo in all that he does. First it is a love of another, and through this he is able to love himself, sort of. But he still is not ready and has a lot of fear. He is alone with Trinity will everyone else is at the party in the cave. He is the One, but he is still doing everything out of his love for Trinity. He does not really love himself yet. Love is a motivator for most of the characters in the Matrix. From Link, to Morpheus, to Niobe, the counselors, the people who fight for Zion. Love drives all of them.

Neo learns that the programs can love when the two programs are trying to smuggle their daughter into the Matrix to escape deletion. They have the feeling or connection that the word love means or describes. Neo uses this to go into the machine city and try to broker a peace between humans and machines. He appeals to their empathy.

Love in the Matrix is physical and focused at first. This is Neo and Trinity. Then comes a sense of duty and wanting the good for another. Trinity when she goes in the Matrix to save Neo. She gives herself for another. This is also exemplified in all those who are fighting to stay alive and for survival. Finally there is an acceptance and a love of that which greater than each one separately. Love is also what the Oracle uses to unbalance the equation. She is like Diotima, pushing and proding those she encounters toward a purpose that she knows but not for certain, and using love of the good to accomplish her task.

the cave that is the Matrix

The second and third Matrix films relate to Plato and his Allegory of the Cave in many ways. Here the real world and Zion is also a cave. Morpheus’ belief in the One and the prophesy and the end of the war. All are illusions, or just another form of control that the machines have in place. Neo is the one who goes to the light or the Source and finds out the truth. Morpheus and the rest have a hard time believing Neo. The beliefs of those in Zion are false as well, it is just another set of chains.

Neo learns more about the ability of the programs to feel. He did not think that programs or machines could feel. He has to overcome the remaining chains that are holding him. This knowledge becomes the basis for his belief that he can talk and reason with the machines. Reloaded is all about the breaking out of what always has been and providing a new way for all. The sixth version of the Matrix is what changes the equation and provides the foundation for the seventh version, in which there is peace and freedom to choose and to be closer to equality with the machines.

The machines are in a cave of the endless cycle of war and destroying Zion, and then reloading the Matrix program. They are trying to solve the anomaly within their limited field of vision. Neo shows them a different way, and they threaten to kill him because they say they do not need the help of a human. But they do, and in the end reason prevails and they allow Neo to help. Thus changing the dynamic of the relationship between machine and human.

It ends with the Matrix still around and most of humanity still enslaved, even if it is by their own choice. So the cave still exists and beliefs and dogmas are still blinding people to the truth. The process has hope now though. The machines will free any human who wishes it. The chains are loosening and the light of truth found all parties involved in the Matrix.

Here is another poem I wrote, it has been published

The Heart of the World

By Lance Harris

I carry the heart of the world in my pocket

Most days I forget that it is there

Upon the days that I remember I have it

I try to do some good

I try to practice what I preach

I also feel guilty for all the days

I forgot that I carry it

I carry the heart of the world in my pocket

I sometimes retreat from the responsibility that brings

I carry the heart of the world in my pocket

I am trying to constantly remind myself

What I carry in my pocket

I carry the heart of the world in my pocket

I love that I can do this, but

I find it harder to carry somedays

I know how important it is to care for

And I sometimes get overwhelmed

I carry the heart of the world in my pocket

It is heavy somedays and light other days

Somedays it is colder than it should be

Somedays it brings me up

Somedays it brings me down

I carry the heart of the world in my pocket

I carry all the love, all the hate

I carry all the joy, all the sadness

I carry all the faith, all the fear

I carry all the hope, all the despair

I carry all that comes with the heart of the world

I carry the heart of the world in my pocket

And I know that whatever is troubling me

And whenever I feel sadness, or joy, or anger

I know that I am not the only one who

Carries the heart of world in the pocket

We all carry the heart of the world in our pockets

I do this and know I am loved

We do this and know we not we are not alone

We all carry the heart of the world in our pockets

A poem by me in honor of my late grandmother

Madam Hollon

In the old country of Ireland, the heads of the family are called “THE” and “MADAM”. I say this because Poppy was defiantly a THE and Mamie was an elegant MADAM. It is in this spirit that I read the “Breastplate of Madam Hollon”, which is derived from a famous old Irish prayer. A breastplate is the part of the armor that protects the heart and other vital parts. St. Patrick had his, and this one is in the spirit of Mamie.

I bind myself today to the strong virtue of Love

I believe in the Trinity of God

The Creator, The Son, & The Divine Spirit

I join today with all that resides in Heaven

And the belief in Angels

I bind myself today to the idea of Heaven on Earth

The light of stars

The wonder of water

The color of the rainbow, and double rainbows

The flash of lighting

The hunger of the hummingbird

The redness of the Cardinal

The unity of nature, from the pebble to the mountain.

I devote myself today to the virtues of the Creator

To the care for the sick

To love everyone I meet,

I believe in the Truths of Faith

God’s strength will lift me

God’s wisdom will direct me

God’s eyes will watch over me

God’s ear will hear me

God’s voice will speak through me.

I bind myself to the love and protection of Christ

For Christ is with me

Christ is in front of me, and behind me

Christ is in me

Christ is below me, and above me

Christ is to the left and the right of me

Christ is in the eye of all those who see me

Christ is in the mouth of all those who speak to me

Christ is in the heart of all those who think of me

I bind myself to all these

And to the Holy Spirit, which makes these possible.

I also devote myself today to live in the light of love

And to the joy and happiness the present moment can bring.

Amen & Awomen

I wrote this because I believe that Mamie, or Madam, really tried to live this way everyday. I am not saying that she was perfect, but that she really did try. I also think that she succeeded on more levels than she could have known herself. I think that St Patrick is up there now saying that if anyone else were to have binding prayer, madam is the right woman.

Everyone should help

EVERYONE SHOULD HELP COVER THE COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

How would you like to find out that you have been paying for your neighbors water bill for the past year? This is how the state’s current funding of public education works now. It is mostly funded by property taxes, the rest which is not much is between bonds and donations. The lottery has helped some as well. Since about 40% of Texans rent, the other 60% of Texans are paying for the majority of public education.

There are two bills before the Texas congress now that propose to restructure the funding of public education. They want to increase and expand the sales tax and cut property taxes to cover the rising cost of public education. Now of course as with any thing from congress, either state or federal, nothing is that simple. I downloaded a copies of the bills and got a severe headache about six pages into it.

I began this thinking that I want to persuade you adopt this bill, but there are some problems with it. I want encourage you to educate yourself on what your reps are doing down in Austin. I want to encourage you to contact your rep and tell him or her that you are for the idea that everyone needs to help cover the cost of public education. And there might be some items in the bill that you disagree with, that is OK. Let the people down in Austin know that too. Say I think you have a great idea here, but I do not like this one part of the bill. Maybe you can ask them why that part was put in, or why another part was taken out.

The key is that this is a move in the right direction, and while most of the items are OK, there may be some that you take issue with for many reasons. Whatever you think I want to encourage you to let your rep know.

I am going to give you some of the proposed details of the bills known as House Bill 3 & 4, or HB3 & HB4. Under these bills, the sales tax would be increased to 7.25% or up one cent. It would also be expanded to cover bottled water, car washes, auto repair. Groceries, medicines and diapers would remain exempt. And there would also be a snack tax, on such items as chips, sodas and cookies and other unhealthy foods. They would raise the cigarette tax by one dollar and increase the liquor tax.

They would also increase the taxes for car and boat sales from 6.25% to 7.35%. And elective cosmetic surgeries would have a 7.25% sales tax.

And a part of the bill that proves how out of touch with everyday people the politicians are is they are proposing to increase the gas tax.

The property tax would decease by 1/3 of its current rate.

I think that you can agree that we all don’t want to pay more taxes. But this plan does not make it to pay more, but to try and spread the burden equally. We all are going to have to pay taxes, that is one of the two certainties in life, along with death.

There was a case in Ohio were that state’s supreme court found that a property tax to fund public education was unconstitutional. It was biased and resulted in inequalities among the school districts.

While this plan is not perfect and also not set in stone, yet. It is a move in the right direction. I am a firm believer that nothing that comes from congress can be perfect. But they do try, and ultimately we are the ones responsible for putting them there in first place. They have to answer to us. If they do not we can vote them out next time.

I want to encourage you to right, e-mail, or contact in some way your rep. And tell him or her what you think about this bill, and even other concerns that you have. I am going to give you two web sites one is for looking up who your rep is and from there you may contact them, thru the website. And the other is to look up the bill HB3 and HB4.

www.house.state.tx.us

www.capital.state.tx.us

HB3 is 71 pages long and though an interesting read, my headache came back.

Atomists and the Matrix

Empedocles states that all things are a combination of the four elements, earth, fire, air, and water. The four elements move through the forces of Love and Strife. Love brings them together and Strife pulls them apart. The elements do not change, but the portions of them in the things in the world changes through the constant struggle of Love and Strife. This struggle between Love and Strife plays out in the Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions. The fact this is the sixth time that the Matrix has been reloaded. The One sacrifices itself for the sake of humanity, but in doing so allows the machines to destroy Zion. The One then is dispersed and chooses 23 individuals who start the process over again. Love causes the five prior Ones to choose to save humanity, even it sacrifices some. Strife is the war. The machines want this cycle to continue over and over until they figure out the solution to the anomaly that causes the One in the first place. This is a seemingly endless struggle, and is balanced in the way it plays out. The Oracle throws the sixth version out of balance, by adding Love into the Strife of the cycle of war. But a much more focused Love, between Neo and Trinity. Neo loves her more than humanity, and that causes him to choose differently. Throwing off the balance that Strife of the cycle of the war and destruction, and then reloaded that the machines have come to expect. So ultimately the Matrix Trilogy is about the struggle of Love and Strife, or Love against the background of the Strife of endless war. Neo is Love and Smith is the ultimate Strife. And balancing and unbalancing of those forces is what the purpose of the Architect and the Oracle do as well.

Anaxagoras says that there is no coming to be or passing away because all things are a mixture of ingredients. These ingredients are always there and always in motion. It is this motion that mixes together to make something and the same motion dissipates the mixture so it can mix in another way. All things are just the temporary mixes of those ingredients. Also all things are in all other things, except nous or mind. Inside the Matrix all people and programs are connected and can be accessed by the mind. Smith is able to take over everything inside the Matrix because of this similarity and it is the extreme example that everything is everything. The mind is that which is outside of this process and constant motion. It allows the free humans to jack into the Matrix and interact with the programing. The program is always changing, adjusting, tweeking the program. It is in constant motion. It will also disperse old programs or those that have no purpose. It will then remix them into another program. The program of the Matrix is a great example of the ideas of Anaxagoras.

Democritus states that being and becoming are the result of the arrangement and rearrangement of atoms. The atoms are in motion and that motion causes them to come together and break apart. He says that like atoms attract other like atoms, and that the various arrangements are the result of a necessity on the one hand and chance on the other. The atoms that humans receive are what causes the senses and the basis of knowledge. The Matrix is all about the passiveness of the senses and knowledge. They are just received by the mind or brain and that is what makes it real.

Hume & Aristotle

I started out trying to not like this idea of useful and agreeable, but the more I think about it the more it seems to fit. It is just not quite complete. When I say someone is a good person, I am saying that based on my judgement of the kinds of things I have seen that person do. Things which are both useful and/or agreeable to that person or those around him or her. Hume says everyone does that. Do we approve or disapprove of the action of that person? Hume says that sentiment is real basis for morality, and that if all things were equal then reason alone would not be able to decide what is moral. The decision would then be made based upon how we feel about the issue. We approve or disapprove of what the result will be. Approval is granted to those things which are either useful or agreeable or both to us or to another or both. Disapproval would be the opposite.

This is really close to to how I see myself making judgements and decisions. The interesting thing is when someone chooses to do something that is not useful or agreeable. I think Hume would throw this one into the vices column. Here is where I do disagree with Hume. There is more to morality than just feelings. Also there are those who have “monkish virtues” and are happy and good. I think that Hume goes a little to far by laying down a judgement that the virtues promoted by the church and monks are really vices. But there is also some truth to that. For me, Aristotle’s mean is what virtue is. It is subjective enough to ebb and flow as needed. It is not either extreme, for the extremes are vices. So humility can be a vice if taken too far, just as pride can be a vice if taken to the extreme. The virtue is the mean between those extremes. The mean is not the same all the time and for everyone. It is moderated and adjusted based upon practical wisdom. Hume also says that there is a level of reason in making a moral decision.

Hume is right that there is subjectivity in virtue and making moral decisions. Hume is also right that approval or disapproval is granted by judging the usefulness and/or agreeableness of the action. He is incorrect in placing pride as a virtue and humility as a vice, just one example of his monkish virtues. The real virtue or personal merit is not found at either extreme, it is found in between. This mean is different for each of us, even for the same trait. It is through the use of reason that we are able to bring our beliefs or morals or virtues into practice in the world as that which is useful and/or agreeable.