After watching the video from the Matrix, i generated new thoughts about the way that we are born and the way we live. It showed me that we are like slaves, and that we do not really have any control over what is done to us. Neo is told that he is born into slavery just like everybody else. I connected this to the article by Miguel Ruiz about domestication and the dream. He talks about us being born into not having a choice, and this connects to what Neo was told about how we are born into being slaves. Also, in the article by Miguel, we see that the things we are taught to believe make us live in this "dream" because we do not have a say in things. In the Matrix, it is a very similar concept because we are shown how people are plugged in when they are born into a world where it is not a reality. This relates to Miguel Ruiz because with him, we understand that we are also living in a "dream" since we do not have a chance to express our own beliefs from when we are born too. I honestly think that this movie is the best example for the concept of domestication and the dream of us people that we are learning about.
I think that the clip is similar to what Miguel Ruiz was talking about in the “Domestication and Dream of the Planet” article. Both the clip and the article talk about humans being bound to beliefs and ideas, and being controlled by them. These beliefs and ideas that we are taught when we are young limit us and don’t allow us to develop into our full potential. However, we still allow ourselves to agree with the ideas and beliefs that we are taught, and allow ourselves to be “subjected to control” by them. We see ourselves through other people’s eyes by judging ourselves. We judge ourselves by thinking “I’m too fat” or “I’m too ugly.” But we weren’t born with these opinions on how a person should look. They were taught to us by others. Furthermore, we don’t know and we don’t think that we are prisoners to other people’s beliefs, because we only know other people’s beliefs.
I found a quote that I thought really connected the “Domestication and Dream of the Planet” article and the Matrix clip. The quote is from the Matrix clip and it is: “You are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you are born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.”
I thought that the article and the clip connected with this quote because the “Domestication and Dream…” article both think that we are taught beliefs that aren’t our own from the moment we are born. And, we can’t smell, taste, or touch beliefs. We do not know or think that we are imprisoned within other people’s beliefs, and we don’t notice that we are imprisoned.
Great thoughts, Tim and Alexis. I'm so pleased to see you working through these different texts and ideas. This is complex and theoretical material - you're doing a great job! Tim, I really enjoy your connection to slavery. I thought of the south and the relationship between white plantation/slave owners and enslaved African Americans.
This clip was almost everything that Miguel Ruiz talked about. The biggest theme I thought both the clip and the article brought was the fact that you need to release yourself from bonds that aren't even there. If you do this you will discover your true self and what you really believe in. Also the fact of what reality truly is. Both talk about how we are taught to believe anything are parent's say. In the matrix clip they talk about how people are usually subjected to illusions of their beliefs. At the end of the clip they say you have to break from the bonds of illusion that you can't see to be set free. A quote from the clip that really connects to both pieces is, "The only thing we know for certain is that nothing is certain." This is great becuase it basically says anything can be fake and you are to stuck in the illusion to break free and find what's real. As Tim said its a great example of slavery and how we are imprisoned in this "reality." Both articles touch on the issue of slavery and how we are blindly trapped in a world of false beliefs and false opinions.
Connor - You really hit the nail on the head with this post! We are bond with invisible chains - formed by years of subjugation and indoctrination by family, politics, popular culture and media, education systems, and religion. We are trained...like dogs...to think and act and exist in certain ways. In school, you are trained to "act" like honors students. Which is different from the way general students are trained to "act" even if one jumps to the other side, the expectations carry over.
This clips is a very interesting connection between Socrates, Miguel, Reality, and the Matrix. The Matrix elaborates on the idea that we cannot percieve that which is "the reality" due to our acceptance of our "alternative reality" where we are taught from birth what is acceptable in this world while suppressing outwardness as stated in the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" with violence and prejudice. It also connects to Socrates and his "Allagory of the Cave" with people being born into bondage with no idea of it, accepting it as it is without question. While the daring few who question the system walk free from the cave with higher purpose and meaning for their reality. Miguel is connecting to Socrates also by the way of expressing that we must push through boundries that we might now even see and in doing so benefit ourselves along with others. The Matrix could also be considered a model of OUR world and reality due to the fact that it discusses the facts that we barely actually question our reality and accept as it is due to "years of indoctrination" as Connor said by our parents, politics, media, education systems, religions, and philosophies. Neo and Socrates are the same, being "awakened" in a sense, concentrating on the unknown and different from the reality they know while everyone else is a slave. Socrates is killed for his views which shows that our reality is a controlling one, destroying any source of challenge to its divine authority so that people will stay with it for their existance. Neo on the other hand is able to liberate his reality from its bondage. But the status quo will never change unless other forces are brave enough to challenge it. For now we will live in a reality of bondage until our ideas are free.
“Domestication and Dream of the Planet”, The Matrix, and the Allegory of the Cave all express the same basic idea; the paradoxical idea that the “reality” we live in is not actually real. In The Matrix, the people are basically a power source for the city, which symbolizes how people conform to the ways of society as they have been taught and then teach others and so on. As Ruiz said, what we see around us in society affects our self image. We conform to the beliefs of those around us for the sake of acceptance because in the grand scheme of things, we all just want to be accepted. When this happens, we get this chain of being told what to believe and then passing it down from generation to generation. When everyone believes the same thing, you are either for them or against them. This makes society more powerful than the individual. So, naturally, each individual wants to conform to society. The Allegory of the Cave also touches upon this idea. The metaphor it provides says that people are chained and forced to see images created by shadows. This is the only life they know; they are never exposed to anything else, therefore, to them, this is completely normal. In the same way, our senses bound us to reality as we know it. If we were to be “unchained”, what we would then observe we would find difficult to believe, having spent our entire lives seeing these images that we thought of as the only reality.
When watching the Matrix clip, i could really relate it to the "Domestication and Dream of the Planet" article by Miguel Ruiz. They both talk about how we live by our beliefs and are being controlled by other peoples ideas. We really have no choice on our religion and it is really forced apon us. This really connects to The Matrix clip because they talk about how Neo is born into slavery and is born into bondage, and really having no say in it like Cam said. We would not question it because there is always some higher power stopping us, and making us see things their way. Also, when trying to connect the articles and the clip, i thought about how we are really bound and we really have no choice but to live in our own "reality" which traps us, making us unable to see who we really are, and what we can become.
The volume on my computer does not work, but from what I gather from the above comments and the small parts of seen of the matrix, it has do with Plato (yeah Cam, I'm pretty sure plato wrote the allegory, but he was refering to Socrates) and the cave, with people being born into bondage, and not realizing it because they have no idea of freedom. I agree with the previous comments. Its like explaining water to a fish, you would first have to get them to understand a world withour water. We are the same way, we couldn'y imagine a world without the rules we live by.
"These prisoners don't know they're prisoners, don't think they're prisoners" when I heard this near the end of the clip, it really made me think of Miguel Ruiz. It reminded me of when Ruiz talks about children, and how they're parents raise them. The child is brought up how the parents perceieve is the right way for the child to act in society. Therefore, as children they are "prisoners", but the children don't think they are "prisoners". That's mostly because they don't realize they're being told what to do, and what not to do all the time. They're "prisoners" because they only want to please people.
As for what I thought: "The Matrix is a computer generated dream room. Built to keep us under control in order to change a human being." When I heard that quote it made me think how vulnerable humans really are. At a young age, children believe almost anything. Someone could tell a child that the color purple, is called green. They would believe it. People can make things up all the time and try to get people to believe what they're saying. People say things just to get people under control sometimes.
This clip tells us that we are all asleep just like the Domestication and Dream of the Planet tells us that we are always dreaming. A person that was explaining something at about 1 minute into the clip said we have a "social critique" this right away made a bulb flash in my head reminding me of the many articles we have read that all say that we always try to fit into society and being what they want us to be. Then the person in the movie said you are a slave like everyone else - and this made me think about how Ruiz talks about not knowing what messages we deliver and receive to other people and to ourselves are true and which are just a bunch of lies. You could say not knowing what we are doing is being just like a good slave. They just do what needs to be done and don't think about what they are doing.
The clip on the matrix really confused me, but after reading some other people's ideas it all started clicking a little bit. After watching it for a second time after reading the first few comments, I understood it much better. What I gathered reminded me greatly of the willingness to be disturbed article, in that none The people in the matrix don't want to change, they don't want to think about anything that is non-positive and they will go out of their way to stay happy even if it is unhealthy. They don't care that they are prisoners, they don't care that they don't even really have complete free will, all they know is that they are in their comfort zones and that's where they want to stay. I am having trouble connecting this to The dream and domestication of the planet article, but it does remind me of that article in that it's stating that the people are taught to ignore the "problem" and to accept it, and they've come to believe that this is what's right and nothing else should be considered. I do, however, think this fits perfectly with Willingness to be Disturbed article.
I think that this video clip was very well put together and connected to a few pieces that we did throughout this year so far. While watching this I pulled out some phrases that were said such as “passive consumers”, “blind submission” and “the only thing we know for certain, is that nothing is certain”. Simply with these three phrases it not only sums up what we’ve been working on, but this clip in just a few words. We ourselves are “passive consumers” and suffer “blind submission”. We are passive consumers in the fact we just learn and “consume” what people want us to know, we do this passively, or without question or argument. We allow it to happen because that’s what we know. The “blind submission” is the fact that we can blindly allow ourselves to learn things, and be able to allow teachers and parents ideals, to become our ideals. I also agree with Connors’s interpretation of “the only thing we know for certain, is that nothing is certain” on how he said that it shows we have no clue if anything is real or not but we are so stuck to the illusion that we “know” we just believe everything that happens. Finally during the clip one of the men says “you don’t know” and this reminds me directly to the Willingness to Be Disturbed. It shows that we don’t know what really is always going on, we have to allow ourselves to say we don’t know to truthfully understand what we really want.
I think the Matrix clip does a great job of incorperating both the movie and Socrates story. I found the same as eveyone else when I saw the clip. The two go hand in hand with the "Domestication and Dream of the Planet." While watching I noticed that in the first few seconds Laurence Fishburne says, "The Matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control." This I connected to what Ruiz was saying, how our society has all these lies and agreements to keep us undercontrol. Also in the clip it shows the end of the movie. In that scene we can see Keanu Reeves looking at eveyone walking around in a transe like he is the only one that now really can see the "reality". This I also connected to Ruiz, when he says that the only way for us to see the true reality of things is by breaking the agreements. This clip I think can also be related to "The Power of Doubt". How the only way that we can accept our self is to clear the fog and act skeptical towards everything.
Andrew Lemos This clip talking about the matrix movies really does reinforce everything that was said by Migul Ruiez said in the pieces by him that we have read. The core ideas between the two are identical, we are robots and we don't even know it. Analogies have been made to slavery and I believe that they are appropriate. Slavery in the early United States was absolutely terrible but just think about how many enslaved African Americans, who live before the civil war didn't question their life of servitude, because they were black and there masters were white making them superior and that’s just how it was. The fact that so many of these oppressed people accepted this is disturbing. Obviously they dreamed of freedom and never enjoyed there lives of servitude, but some did accept them. This is the plot of the Matrix, people were being controlled without even knowing it. Ruiez says the same thing. The messages are practically identical.
I'd first like to say that the word's of Neo's master (I'm not sure of the name), and the words of Miguel Ruiz seem to almost exactly mirror each other. It is almost as if Ruiz helped write the movie's screenplay. The universal theme that we are all always in a sort of dream state, is echoed throughout both Ruiz's pieces, and in the movie, to an even more literally level, where the people of mankind are mindless zombies in a dream that masks enslavement by machines. I think the machines in the Matrix can be closely connected to society itself, or at least how Miguel Ruiz describes society. Society is constantly controlling us, and usually never fails in blanketing us with our limitations, vices, and status quos. For most people, when society says "jump", they of course say, "how high". It is because almost from birth we have been endoctrinated into this extremely vicelike, harsh, and unforgiving system that gives us the illusion of freedom, when, for the most part, it isn't really there at all. I can also connect the Matrix to the "Willingness to Be Disturbed". Unlike almost everybody in his world, Neo was naturally able to be disturbed, with a primal instinct that something was never quite right, and while he wasn't always sure what, he always sensed it, however, he felt insane because nobody else ever did. Like very few members of our society today, Neo broke free from his mold, (quite literally),and actually acted upon his restless spirit. I agree with Briana on the point that being raised as child is like prison with a smiley face. The concept of the Matrix has always been an interesting one, and its one that really makes mankind question truly everthing that they know.
This video shows the exact same ideas of all the articles that we've been reading. That we are blinded by the book of law and it is all we see until we can release ourselves from the "chains." When I originally watched the matrix, i didnt think of it in this way at all. infact, i didnt understand it much at all. But the relation to the movie and the concepts that we have been learning about has lead me to understand completely. Both in the matrix and in the articles, We do not see the truth. And in both, in order to gain happiness and see that truth is to because skeptical of reality. And thats the way i see it as far as connections go.
I liked how the clip included the reference to Plato and Socrates 'experiment'. It really got me thinking that if you are lied to all your life and taught to believe something then you aren't going to doubt what is being said to you. In the artical that we read today (The Power of Doubt...") It discussed the fact that what you are being told is lies based on what society wants you to believe. I feel as though that is what Plato and Socrates's experiment was all about. The experiment was explaining that the group of people in the caves were going to believe that what they were living was the extent of their lives. There was nothing better outside of the space they were in. The Power of Doubt connects because it talks about how humans don't try to see through the lies given to us. " Humans believe so many lies because we aren't aware. We ignore the truth or we just don't see the truth."
If anyone can help I am having some trouble getting my point across...
“Black people see themselves through white eyes, they don’t see themselves with their own eyes as authentic human beings, they are viewing themselves through a framework of ideas given to them by the white society” This was shocking, scary and sad when I heard it in the video clip. I hadn’t even thought of what lasting effects not only our treatment of black people in the days of slavery, but also in the present, has had on their mindset. We are all humans, all in the same rank of beings and I think this is an example of some of the horrible results of people not being able to break free from their subjugation and domestication by others. Whether is be by family, friends, society, or the media oppressing them.
I liked a lot what Connor said and what they said in the video about breaking free from these bonds of illusion that we can’t see or recognize, inhibiting us from setting free. I think this connects to when Ruiz talks about these agreements that we have made with our self and others that we believe to be the right thing to do: the truth. When really it’s all an illusion, many of these agreements as Ruiz says are lies, and by believing lies we aren’t free at all.
Another part of the video that really struck my attention was when they were talking about those prisoners that didn’t know they were prisoners because that’s the only reality they know. I think this best describes the human race as a whole, we don’t realize that we are being oppressed and domesticated by others our whole life, because it’s the only thing we know. We are born into it, so we have no other prior experiences. As we read about in the articles in class, awareness and education of this problem may be our only chance at making a difference. We should all try to be our own, unique selves and break this bond holding us from being free.
Moira N. I related all of the themes they talked about in the clip, to all the themes we have discussed in class. I agree with Henry when he says that it seems as if Ruiz helped write The Matrix. Fist it talks about how we are controlled and we don’t even realize it. This idea was mentioned in The Power of Doubt, What kind of Messenger are You, ”Numb”, “Zombie”, and Domestication and dream of the planet. The clip and the articles and songs I just mentioned all talk about trying to live in the guidelines that others have set for you. They talk about people try to be perfect and reform to what others want you to be. But if you just open yours eyes a little more and ask questions about what is going on, you might end up changing your view of what is right and what is wrong. I also was excited when they made the connection of Greek philosophers to The Matrix. While reading all the pieces by Ruiz and listening to the songs I was think about how we had talked about this last year. I really like this topic and the ideas are very perplexing.
Honestly at the first sentence of this video I realized what most people, if not what everyone connected in watching this. I have never seen the matrix before, but the fact that it related so well to the point Ruiz was trying to make to us was actually, awesome. From what I understood in the video, the people were secretly being used to "charge" the lives of these robotic human beings. In a sense, as Andrew says, they were being used as slaves although they did not seem to know. This relates to Ruiz because by following this "book of laws," that is exactly what we are. We are slaves to others because we strive so strongly to be accepted and we don't even realize it, just as the people of the Matrix had no idea. And just as Joey used that first sentence, I believe that it is basically the summary of what Ruiz was trying to tell us. We live in a world controlled by opinions and fear and lies and rules which seem to keep us sane but none of it is real. He tells us we live in a world that is untrue because of this "book of laws" while in the Matrix their world is untrue because they are secretly slaves to a new generation. Overall, I believe that this video served well as a connection towards "Domestication and Dream of the Planet."
Lydia Hopkins This clip really reminds me of the dong Zombie that we listened to in class. The people in the movie are almost living off of their technology, they are possed by an oustide force making them actually seem like a zombie. In the song when they say "whats in your head" its like someone is trying to get to them somehow and find out what they are thinking but they are so afraid of what society will think of them that they can't. In the clip the guy says "most of these people, are not ready to be unplugged" which means they are content with just living as they are and they aren't yet ready to express themselves as Ruiz talks about in his "The Power of Doubt" article. He also says that "they are so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will do anything to fight and protect it" which is saying to me that they are so used to this way of living that they don't want to change. As another article said that we read, people are afraid of change so they will do almost anything to stop change and stay the way they are only becuase of plain fear.
Good work, folks. The pieces of this complex puzzle of humanity are slowly fitting into place. I look forward to our discussion in class tomorrow. Continue posting and commenting with each other and I'll continue reading!
I think this clip resembles and relates to the ideas Miguel Ruiz is trying to express in “Domestication and Dream to the Planet”. In Ruiz’s essay, he explains how we live in our own dream. This dream is the way we think, and the way we think is the way we live. The way we think came from the way we were “domesticated”. We live by the belief and ideas we obtained growing up. This relates to both “The Matrix” and “The Cave” because both symbolize the idea that we are slaves “born into a prison that we cannot taste, smell or touch. A prison for our mind” (1:50-1:56). This prison is our beliefs and ideas that we gained growing up. Both Miguel Ruiz and “The Matrix” are implying that if we step back and look beyond these beliefs and ideas, only then can we “see the world as it truly is”(4:35).
I have never seen the Matrix along with Courtney and if I am understanding correctly it is about how people are a sort of transport into a unreal thing that they believe is reality. We can clearly see the connection between the articles we have read and this. Miguel Ruiz talks about how we are controlled by our society and how we really need to be able to be able to break away and find ourselves. That's exactly the message i'm getting from this clip. We can see that the men are trying to take control and get "unplugged". I think that this is the same as what Miguel Ruiz was talking about in "The power of doubt" article. We should be able to challenge what is happening and take what we truly believe out and what we don't away. In the clip we see that the man is trying to get away from the fake, trance like, place he was in and go into his reality. Ruiz is telling us to do just that, snap back into our own minds and do what we have come to know realize ourselves is correct instead of what others have tried to tell us.
Watching this clip made me think of the same ideas that Miguel Ruiz’s pieces had within them. As humans we are held back from finding out “reality” or our true selves because of all of the “oppressors” or things that teach us what to believe. The Matrix and the other pieces by Ruiz all talk about how our parent instilled certain beliefs into us that we are taught to believe are correct. So we are tied to these beliefs because we don’t know any better. We live in an illusion of what we think is reality, when actually we are just trapped behind all of the beliefs that others put into our minds. Like Connor said “you need to release yourself from bonds that aren’t even there.” This is what will allow us to come across our true selves and what our beliefs and values really are. After watching this clip, I realized that we really are “slaves” of the world. We do what others want, believe what others tell us to, and follow others because we want to be like them. We are essentially held behind lies and false opinions that we learn from our family, friends and society. That is the illusion that we need to break. We need to become independent individuals that think and experience things for ourselves, without being stuck behind the consequences and lies that we are told. This video really made me realize that we do not make our own choices and nothing is certain.
The first line of this video really stuck with me. "The matrix is a computer generated world built to keep us under control." No, our lives are not computer generated but this still works to explain what Miguel Ruiz had been talking about in Domestication and Dream of the Planet. Before we were born our families were creating decisions for us and making ideas of what they wanted us to be like. We were under control from birth and everyone wants to keep us under control and wants us to believe what they tell us. That also comes into play with the two articles we read in class and for homework today. We need to believe in doubt because then we will become skeptical and won't believe a lot of things that will be told to us. Some things may be lies and we shouldn't believe those. In The Matrix, the people are controlled by computers. In our lives, we're controlled by other people. They control us with their thoughts, ideas, rules, opinions and emotions. They tell us what they want us to believe, and they expect us to believe what they tell us and follow their beliefs. In this clip they also said "institutionalized control which people allow themselves to be subjected to". They are saying that we let ourselves be controlled. In a way that may be correct. When we were born up until a certain age, we didn't have any say in whatever we wanted to do. We had to follow what our elders told us and we had to believe what they said. Their word was true, their word was the only word that mattered. Now since we are all older and make some choices for ourselves, our family and others opinions and rules may not apply so much to us anymore. If they do apply, we don't take them into consideration as much as we used to. Another line that really stuck with me is when they said we are born into a prison that we "can not smell or taste or touch". We are born into these rules and beliefs that we are trapped in by because those are the things we're supposed to believe. It is a prison for our mind. I agree there is a figurative prison that we are born into and we are all slaves. We were all made to believe certain things that people tell us and to pass that message on. That's when the next article about what type of messenger we are comes into this. Do we pass on the truth, or lies? Are we skeptic?
I agree with Ashley and how she felt about the way they described how some people view themselves. I was shocked that someone would say that. That statement could be used for anyone. We may not see ourselves through the framework of what we're supposed to be, but there is that imaginary "framework" and ideas that shaped us into what we are.
One last thing that stuck out in my eyes was: "The life you've led is not in fact the totality of what is possible for you." There is so many things that can we achieve in one life time but we may not get to all of them. What we do achieve is not at all the limit of what we can achieve. There's always more out there for us to do. Also they said if we could release ourselves from bonds we could see the world as it truly is. If we become free of everything trapping us into certain beliefs and ideas, we could see the world in so many different ways than we already do see it.
I do not honestly know how to start this blogg post. I feel like the matrix in general was just one giant mind game. To mess with peoples perception on life, and i have not even seen the movie, but just seeing that clip makes me think, and think. Just as much as our article "The Power of Doubt: when being skeptical is a good thing." By Miguel Ruiz. This article was one giant reminder of my low self-esteem and low confidence. Its not that we all try to be down on ourselves it has programmed in our brains that were not good enough, that there is always going to be better. However, in my argument, what is the better case then? How can you become better, if you are not the best? I truly wouldn't want to be the best at anything, its lonely to be at the top, and looking down isn't as helpful to you as it is looking up to someone. We cant all be perfect, and we cant all be the best, some willing to be the best or try their hardest may have the same satisfaction as someone getting no where but still being themselves and doing what they want. It depends on the person, and their judge of character on how they live their life and allow people to see them. i wouldn’t want to be seen in a negative way, or a weak way. This is where egos come in, because behind every weak innocent scared naive person, is an ego covering all that up. Like makeup covers a face or a blemish.
Without that, "makeup" people would be bare and that frightens most people. That ego, (makeup) is everyone’s safety blanket that turns into your own personal feelings and beliefs once you add them into your daily life.
The last thing I got out of the matrix clip was being born. When we were born, we were “perfect” in our own world, because we had no doubt in our mind, no one could tell us we were wrong because there was no right there was no wrong at that age, we just breathed the air and lived the life curiously. Growing up is the hardest part of life, and realizing how wrong you can be, and seeing flaws and feeling doubt makes it that much harder.
I think this clip was very interesting to listen to because it seemed to be the line that connected each of our articles together like a graph. This clip of the Matrix magnificently highlights some of Miguel Ruiz’s great points in the “Dream and Domestication of the Planet”. As Alexis said earlier, “Both the clip and the article talk about humans being bound to beliefs and ideas, and being controlled by them.” And, I completely agree with her statement. We as humans are controlled by our beliefs and ideas (our culture). Our lives revolve around it. As Connor also pointed out, the clip and the article, both, speak of how humans must be our true selves and we can do this by “breaking free from our bonds and chains” What I believe that both the Matrix and Mr. Ruiz are depicting as bonds and chains are really our society and culture. We are truly restricted by both since everything we do revolve around them. The line from this clip saying that “The only thing we know we know for certain is that nothing is certain.” can easily be connected to the most recent article we read, “The Power of Doubt”. Both say how being sure that everything is uncertain and having the ounce of doubt always keeps us in check and save us from conforming to the lies we are lead to believe are right by others. Overall I think this was a very interesting clip and never before now did I know that the film “The Matrix” had such deep and philosophical meaning behind it.
I have heard of the Matrix before but I never got the theme of the entire movie. Now that I have seen the clip I can get the idea of what they are trying to point out. The first line out of the entire clip is "The matrix is a computer generated world built to keep us under control." What I think that line means is that our people have been ordered around by people who want to make ideas for us. Think back to the time the 1700s when the British were trying to make Americans pay taxes for tea and stamps. Unlike some people who would have just obeyed and not get in trouble we rebelled,started a war with the British then overthrowing them and starting our own goverment and laws. At that point we were tired of the British telling us what to do.
Today, we are "slaves" and have little power in what we say is right or wrong. What I mean is that we have mixed reviews over radical views such as our views of blacks,asians and homosexuals. It took nearly a century for slavery of blacks to be abolished and another century for them to have equal rights, but there are still people who view the blacks negativley. Just like the issue of homosexuals, it has mixed up views of it. Some people absoulutly hate and forbid same-sex marriage while others think that we should give it a chance. We really can't make a descion and make it permanet. Like "The Power of Doubt" by Ruiz, we have and always will have mixed reviews over everything. Even if we can solve a situation; there will always be mixed views about something.
I remember watching parts of the Matrix as a child, and perceiving the movie as some sort of bazar fantasy, however after both reading and analyzing the articles that we have discussed in class I now believe that this movie reflects the truth of what our society and world truly is at its core. Its scary to believe that our minds are captured in this "fog" or illusion, that separates us from what we believe life is like, and what life truly is like. The movie "The Matrix" and the "Domestication and the Dream of the Planet" both discuss the main idea of how we are unable to make our own choices in life and due to our 'domestication' as a child it is impossible for us to have thoughts and beliefs solely based on our own judgements. Therefore, in ways we can be compared to 'zombie' like creatures. This idea was clearly expressed in the clip from "The Matrix" when it shows a busy city street where everyone but Neo seems to be trapped in a daze carrying on with their normal activities, unfazed by the world surrounding them. They are depicted as mindless, showing blank facial expressions, and seemingly few gestures or acknowledgments of the people or things surrounding them. There is also a scene when there are a group of people waiting a a crosswalk, and as the crosswalk sign turned green, as if it was in one swift movement, everyone began to walk across the street. This reminded of a point brought up by one of my classmates during a class discussion, when he mentioned that we all respond to a bell. We report to class before a bell, and we leave class after the sound of a bell. This is similar to how we stop and go at a crosswalk based on the change of a color. In all, all of the articles we have discussed in class, as well as the music we have listened to and "The Matrix" clip all seem to tie into the idea that we are blinded by what we have been taught to believe, and in result we are blinded from who we are, and what life is truly like.
After watching the video from the Matrix, i generated new thoughts about the way that we are born and the way we live. It showed me that we are like slaves, and that we do not really have any control over what is done to us. Neo is told that he is born into slavery just like everybody else. I connected this to the article by Miguel Ruiz about domestication and the dream. He talks about us being born into not having a choice, and this connects to what Neo was told about how we are born into being slaves. Also, in the article by Miguel, we see that the things we are taught to believe make us live in this "dream" because we do not have a say in things. In the Matrix, it is a very similar concept because we are shown how people are plugged in when they are born into a world where it is not a reality. This relates to Miguel Ruiz because with him, we understand that we are also living in a "dream" since we do not have a chance to express our own beliefs from when we are born too. I honestly think that this movie is the best example for the concept of domestication and the dream of us people that we are learning about.
ReplyDeleteAlexis Ariza
ReplyDeleteI think that the clip is similar to what Miguel Ruiz was talking about in the “Domestication and Dream of the Planet” article. Both the clip and the article talk about humans being bound to beliefs and ideas, and being controlled by them. These beliefs and ideas that we are taught when we are young limit us and don’t allow us to develop into our full potential. However, we still allow ourselves to agree with the ideas and beliefs that we are taught, and allow ourselves to be “subjected to control” by them. We see ourselves through other people’s eyes by judging ourselves. We judge ourselves by thinking “I’m too fat” or “I’m too ugly.” But we weren’t born with these opinions on how a person should look. They were taught to us by others. Furthermore, we don’t know and we don’t think that we are prisoners to other people’s beliefs, because we only know other people’s beliefs.
I found a quote that I thought really connected the “Domestication and Dream of the Planet” article and the Matrix clip. The quote is from the Matrix clip and it is: “You are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you are born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.”
I thought that the article and the clip connected with this quote because the “Domestication and Dream…” article both think that we are taught beliefs that aren’t our own from the moment we are born. And, we can’t smell, taste, or touch beliefs. We do not know or think that we are imprisoned within other people’s beliefs, and we don’t notice that we are imprisoned.
Great thoughts, Tim and Alexis. I'm so pleased to see you working through these different texts and ideas. This is complex and theoretical material - you're doing a great job! Tim, I really enjoy your connection to slavery. I thought of the south and the relationship between white plantation/slave owners and enslaved African Americans.
ReplyDeleteThis clip was almost everything that Miguel Ruiz talked about. The biggest theme I thought both the clip and the article brought was the fact that you need to release yourself from bonds that aren't even there. If you do this you will discover your true self and what you really believe in. Also the fact of what reality truly is. Both talk about how we are taught to believe anything are parent's say. In the matrix clip they talk about how people are usually subjected to illusions of their beliefs. At the end of the clip they say you have to break from the bonds of illusion that you can't see to be set free. A quote from the clip that really connects to both pieces is, "The only thing we know for certain is that nothing is certain." This is great becuase it basically says anything can be fake and you are to stuck in the illusion to break free and find what's real. As Tim said its a great example of slavery and how we are imprisoned in this "reality." Both articles touch on the issue of slavery and how we are blindly trapped in a world of false beliefs and false opinions.
ReplyDeleteConnor - You really hit the nail on the head with this post! We are bond with invisible chains - formed by years of subjugation and indoctrination by family, politics, popular culture and media, education systems, and religion. We are trained...like dogs...to think and act and exist in certain ways. In school, you are trained to "act" like honors students. Which is different from the way general students are trained to "act" even if one jumps to the other side, the expectations carry over.
ReplyDeleteCameron G.
ReplyDeleteThis clips is a very interesting connection between Socrates, Miguel, Reality, and the Matrix. The Matrix elaborates on the idea that we cannot percieve that which is "the reality" due to our acceptance of our "alternative reality" where we are taught from birth what is acceptable in this world while suppressing outwardness as stated in the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" with violence and prejudice. It also connects to Socrates and his "Allagory of the Cave" with people being born into bondage with no idea of it, accepting it as it is without question. While the daring few who question the system walk free from the cave with higher purpose and meaning for their reality. Miguel is connecting to Socrates also by the way of expressing that we must push through boundries that we might now even see and in doing so benefit ourselves along with others. The Matrix could also be considered a model of OUR world and reality due to the fact that it discusses the facts that we barely actually question our reality and accept as it is due to "years of indoctrination" as Connor said by our parents, politics, media, education systems, religions, and philosophies. Neo and Socrates are the same, being "awakened" in a sense, concentrating on the unknown and different from the reality they know while everyone else is a slave. Socrates is killed for his views which shows that our reality is a controlling one, destroying any source of challenge to its divine authority so that people will stay with it for their existance. Neo on the other hand is able to liberate his reality from its bondage. But the status quo will never change unless other forces are brave enough to challenge it. For now we will live in a reality of bondage until our ideas are free.
“Domestication and Dream of the Planet”, The Matrix, and the Allegory of the Cave all express the same basic idea; the paradoxical idea that the “reality” we live in is not actually real. In The Matrix, the people are basically a power source for the city, which symbolizes how people conform to the ways of society as they have been taught and then teach others and so on. As Ruiz said, what we see around us in society affects our self image. We conform to the beliefs of those around us for the sake of acceptance because in the grand scheme of things, we all just want to be accepted. When this happens, we get this chain of being told what to believe and then passing it down from generation to generation. When everyone believes the same thing, you are either for them or against them. This makes society more powerful than the individual. So, naturally, each individual wants to conform to society. The Allegory of the Cave also touches upon this idea. The metaphor it provides says that people are chained and forced to see images created by shadows. This is the only life they know; they are never exposed to anything else, therefore, to them, this is completely normal. In the same way, our senses bound us to reality as we know it. If we were to be “unchained”, what we would then observe we would find difficult to believe, having spent our entire lives seeing these images that we thought of as the only reality.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa Soforenko
ReplyDeleteWhen watching the Matrix clip, i could really relate it to the "Domestication and Dream of the Planet" article by Miguel Ruiz. They both talk about how we live by our beliefs and are being controlled by other peoples ideas. We really have no choice on our religion and it is really forced apon us. This really connects to The Matrix clip because they talk about how Neo is born into slavery and is born into bondage, and really having no say in it like Cam said. We would not question it because there is always some higher power stopping us, and making us see things their way. Also, when trying to connect the articles and the clip, i thought about how we are really bound and we really have no choice but to live in our own "reality" which traps us, making us unable to see who we really are, and what we can become.
Braeden Dorocz
ReplyDeleteThe volume on my computer does not work, but from what I gather from the above comments and the small parts of seen of the matrix, it has do with Plato (yeah Cam, I'm pretty sure plato wrote the allegory, but he was refering to Socrates) and the cave, with people being born into bondage, and not realizing it because they have no idea of freedom. I agree with the previous comments. Its like explaining water to a fish, you would first have to get them to understand a world withour water. We are the same way, we couldn'y imagine a world without the rules we live by.
Briana Ruggiero-
ReplyDelete"These prisoners don't know they're prisoners, don't think they're prisoners" when I heard this near the end of the clip, it really made me think of Miguel Ruiz. It reminded me of when Ruiz talks about children, and how they're parents raise them. The child is brought up how the parents perceieve is the right way for the child to act in society. Therefore, as children they are "prisoners", but the children don't think they are "prisoners". That's mostly because they don't realize they're being told what to do, and what not to do all the time. They're "prisoners" because they only want to please people.
As for what I thought: "The Matrix is a computer generated dream room. Built to keep us under control in order to change a human being." When I heard that quote it made me think how vulnerable humans really are. At a young age, children believe almost anything. Someone could tell a child that the color purple, is called green. They would believe it. People can make things up all the time and try to get people to believe what they're saying. People say things just to get people under control sometimes.
mark-
ReplyDeleteThis clip tells us that we are all asleep just like the Domestication and Dream of the Planet tells us that we are always dreaming. A person that was explaining something at about 1 minute into the clip said we have a "social critique" this right away made a bulb flash in my head reminding me of the many articles we have read that all say that we always try to fit into society and being what they want us to be. Then the person in the movie said you are a slave like everyone else - and this made me think about how Ruiz talks about not knowing what messages we deliver and receive to other people and to ourselves are true and which are just a bunch of lies. You could say not knowing what we are doing is being just like a good slave. They just do what needs to be done and don't think about what they are doing.
The clip on the matrix really confused me, but after reading some other people's ideas it all started clicking a little bit. After watching it for a second time after reading the first few comments, I understood it much better.
ReplyDeleteWhat I gathered reminded me greatly of the willingness to be disturbed article, in that none The people in the matrix don't want to change, they don't want to think about anything that is non-positive and they will go out of their way to stay happy even if it is unhealthy. They don't care that they are prisoners, they don't care that they don't even really have complete free will, all they know is that they are in their comfort zones and that's where they want to stay. I am having trouble connecting this to The dream and domestication of the planet article, but it does remind me of that article in that it's stating that the people are taught to ignore the "problem" and to accept it, and they've come to believe that this is what's right and nothing else should be considered. I do, however, think this fits perfectly with Willingness to be Disturbed article.
I think that this video clip was very well put together and connected to a few pieces that we did throughout this year so far. While watching this I pulled out some phrases that were said such as “passive consumers”, “blind submission” and “the only thing we know for certain, is that nothing is certain”. Simply with these three phrases it not only sums up what we’ve been working on, but this clip in just a few words. We ourselves are “passive consumers” and suffer “blind submission”. We are passive consumers in the fact we just learn and “consume” what people want us to know, we do this passively, or without question or argument. We allow it to happen because that’s what we know. The “blind submission” is the fact that we can blindly allow ourselves to learn things, and be able to allow teachers and parents ideals, to become our ideals. I also agree with Connors’s interpretation of “the only thing we know for certain, is that nothing is certain” on how he said that it shows we have no clue if anything is real or not but we are so stuck to the illusion that we “know” we just believe everything that happens. Finally during the clip one of the men says “you don’t know” and this reminds me directly to the Willingness to Be Disturbed. It shows that we don’t know what really is always going on, we have to allow ourselves to say we don’t know to truthfully understand what we really want.
ReplyDelete-Joey F.
ReplyDeleteI think the Matrix clip does a great job of incorperating both the movie and Socrates story. I found the same as eveyone else when I saw the clip. The two go hand in hand with the "Domestication and Dream of the Planet." While watching I noticed that in the first few seconds Laurence Fishburne says, "The Matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control." This I connected to what Ruiz was saying, how our society has all these lies and agreements to keep us undercontrol. Also in the clip it shows the end of the movie. In that scene we can see Keanu Reeves looking at eveyone walking around in a transe like he is the only one that now really can see the "reality". This I also connected to Ruiz, when he says that the only way for us to see the true reality of things is by breaking the agreements.
This clip I think can also be related to "The Power of Doubt". How the only way that we can accept our self is to clear the fog and act skeptical towards everything.
Andrew Lemos
ReplyDeleteThis clip talking about the matrix movies really does reinforce everything that was said by Migul Ruiez said in the pieces by him that we have read. The core ideas between the two are identical, we are robots and we don't even know it. Analogies have been made to slavery and I believe that they are appropriate. Slavery in the early United States was absolutely terrible but just think about how many enslaved African Americans, who live before the civil war didn't question their life of servitude, because they were black and there masters were white making them superior and that’s just how it was. The fact that so many of these oppressed people accepted this is disturbing. Obviously they dreamed of freedom and never enjoyed there lives of servitude, but some did accept them. This is the plot of the Matrix, people were being controlled without even knowing it. Ruiez says the same thing. The messages are practically identical.
Henry Sales
ReplyDeleteI'd first like to say that the word's of Neo's master (I'm not sure of the name), and the words of Miguel Ruiz seem to almost exactly mirror each other. It is almost as if Ruiz helped write the movie's screenplay. The universal theme that we are all always in a sort of dream state, is echoed throughout both Ruiz's pieces, and in the movie, to an even more literally level, where the people of mankind are mindless zombies in a dream that masks enslavement by machines. I think the machines in the Matrix can be closely connected to society itself, or at least how Miguel Ruiz describes society. Society is constantly controlling us, and usually never fails in blanketing us with our limitations, vices, and status quos. For most people, when society says "jump", they of course say, "how high". It is because almost from birth we have been endoctrinated into this extremely vicelike, harsh, and unforgiving system that gives us the illusion of freedom, when, for the most part, it isn't really there at all. I can also connect the Matrix to the "Willingness to Be Disturbed". Unlike almost everybody in his world, Neo was naturally able to be disturbed, with a primal instinct that something was never quite right, and while he wasn't always sure what, he always sensed it, however, he felt insane because nobody else ever did. Like very few members of our society today, Neo broke free from his mold, (quite literally),and actually acted upon his restless spirit. I agree with Briana on the point that being raised as child is like prison with a smiley face. The concept of the Matrix has always been an interesting one, and its one that really makes mankind question truly everthing that they know.
Kyle Ratte
ReplyDeleteThis video shows the exact same ideas of all the articles that we've been reading. That we are blinded by the book of law and it is all we see until we can release ourselves from the "chains." When I originally watched the matrix, i didnt think of it in this way at all. infact, i didnt understand it much at all. But the relation to the movie and the concepts that we have been learning about has lead me to understand completely. Both in the matrix and in the articles, We do not see the truth. And in both, in order to gain happiness and see that truth is to because skeptical of reality. And thats the way i see it as far as connections go.
I liked how the clip included the reference to Plato and Socrates 'experiment'. It really got me thinking that if you are lied to all your life and taught to believe something then you aren't going to doubt what is being said to you. In the artical that we read today (The Power of Doubt...") It discussed the fact that what you are being told is lies based on what society wants you to believe. I feel as though that is what Plato and Socrates's experiment was all about. The experiment was explaining that the group of people in the caves were going to believe that what they were living was the extent of their lives. There was nothing better outside of the space they were in. The Power of Doubt connects because it talks about how humans don't try to see through the lies given to us. " Humans believe so many lies because we aren't aware. We ignore the truth or we just don't see the truth."
ReplyDeleteIf anyone can help I am having some trouble getting my point across...
Ashley Moreau 10/5/10 Period C
ReplyDelete“Black people see themselves through white eyes, they don’t see themselves with their own eyes as authentic human beings, they are viewing themselves through a framework of ideas given to them by the white society” This was shocking, scary and sad when I heard it in the video clip. I hadn’t even thought of what lasting effects not only our treatment of black people in the days of slavery, but also in the present, has had on their mindset. We are all humans, all in the same rank of beings and I think this is an example of some of the horrible results of people not being able to break free from their subjugation and domestication by others. Whether is be by family, friends, society, or the media oppressing them.
I liked a lot what Connor said and what they said in the video about breaking free from these bonds of illusion that we can’t see or recognize, inhibiting us from setting free. I think this connects to when Ruiz talks about these agreements that we have made with our self and others that we believe to be the right thing to do: the truth. When really it’s all an illusion, many of these agreements as Ruiz says are lies, and by believing lies we aren’t free at all.
Another part of the video that really struck my attention was when they were talking about those prisoners that didn’t know they were prisoners because that’s the only reality they know. I think this best describes the human race as a whole, we don’t realize that we are being oppressed and domesticated by others our whole life, because it’s the only thing we know. We are born into it, so we have no other prior experiences. As we read about in the articles in class, awareness and education of this problem may be our only chance at making a difference. We should all try to be our own, unique selves and break this bond holding us from being free.
Moira N.
ReplyDeleteI related all of the themes they talked about in the clip, to all the themes we have discussed in class. I agree with Henry when he says that it seems as if Ruiz helped write The Matrix. Fist it talks about how we are controlled and we don’t even realize it. This idea was mentioned in The Power of Doubt, What kind of Messenger are You, ”Numb”, “Zombie”, and Domestication and dream of the planet. The clip and the articles and songs I just mentioned all talk about trying to live in the guidelines that others have set for you. They talk about people try to be perfect and reform to what others want you to be. But if you just open yours eyes a little more and ask questions about what is going on, you might end up changing your view of what is right and what is wrong. I also was excited when they made the connection of Greek philosophers to The Matrix. While reading all the pieces by Ruiz and listening to the songs I was think about how we had talked about this last year. I really like this topic and the ideas are very perplexing.
Cortney Roque
ReplyDeleteHonestly at the first sentence of this video I realized what most people, if not what everyone connected in watching this. I have never seen the matrix before, but the fact that it related so well to the point Ruiz was trying to make to us was actually, awesome. From what I understood in the video, the people were secretly being used to "charge" the lives of these robotic human beings. In a sense, as Andrew says, they were being used as slaves although they did not seem to know. This relates to Ruiz because by following this "book of laws," that is exactly what we are. We are slaves to others because we strive so strongly to be accepted and we don't even realize it, just as the people of the Matrix had no idea. And just as Joey used that first sentence, I believe that it is basically the summary of what Ruiz was trying to tell us. We live in a world controlled by opinions and fear and lies and rules which seem to keep us sane but none of it is real. He tells us we live in a world that is untrue because of this "book of laws" while in the Matrix their world is untrue because they are secretly slaves to a new generation. Overall, I believe that this video served well as a connection towards "Domestication and Dream of the Planet."
Lydia Hopkins
ReplyDeleteThis clip really reminds me of the dong Zombie that we listened to in class. The people in the movie are almost living off of their technology, they are possed by an oustide force making them actually seem like a zombie. In the song when they say "whats in your head" its like someone is trying to get to them somehow and find out what they are thinking but they are so afraid of what society will think of them that they can't. In the clip the guy says "most of these people, are not ready to be unplugged" which means they are content with just living as they are and they aren't yet ready to express themselves as Ruiz talks about in his "The Power of Doubt" article. He also says that "they are so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will do anything to fight and protect it" which is saying to me that they are so used to this way of living that they don't want to change. As another article said that we read, people are afraid of change so they will do almost anything to stop change and stay the way they are only becuase of plain fear.
Good work, folks. The pieces of this complex puzzle of humanity are slowly fitting into place. I look forward to our discussion in class tomorrow. Continue posting and commenting with each other and I'll continue reading!
ReplyDelete-Donovan
ReplyDeleteI think this clip resembles and relates to the ideas Miguel Ruiz is trying to express in “Domestication and Dream to the Planet”. In Ruiz’s essay, he explains how we live in our own dream. This dream is the way we think, and the way we think is the way we live. The way we think came from the way we were “domesticated”. We live by the belief and ideas we obtained growing up. This relates to both “The Matrix” and “The Cave” because both symbolize the idea that we are slaves “born into a prison that we cannot taste, smell or touch. A prison for our mind” (1:50-1:56). This prison is our beliefs and ideas that we gained growing up. Both Miguel Ruiz and “The Matrix” are implying that if we step back and look beyond these beliefs and ideas, only then can we “see the world as it truly is”(4:35).
I have never seen the Matrix along with Courtney and if I am understanding correctly it is about how people are a sort of transport into a unreal thing that they believe is reality. We can clearly see the connection between the articles we have read and this. Miguel Ruiz talks about how we are controlled by our society and how we really need to be able to be able to break away and find ourselves. That's exactly the message i'm getting from this clip. We can see that the men are trying to take control and get "unplugged". I think that this is the same as what Miguel Ruiz was talking about in "The power of doubt" article. We should be able to challenge what is happening and take what we truly believe out and what we don't away. In the clip we see that the man is trying to get away from the fake, trance like, place he was in and go into his reality. Ruiz is telling us to do just that, snap back into our own minds and do what we have come to know realize ourselves is correct instead of what others have tried to tell us.
ReplyDeleteWatching this clip made me think of the same ideas that Miguel Ruiz’s pieces had within them. As humans we are held back from finding out “reality” or our true selves because of all of the “oppressors” or things that teach us what to believe. The Matrix and the other pieces by Ruiz all talk about how our parent instilled certain beliefs into us that we are taught to believe are correct. So we are tied to these beliefs because we don’t know any better. We live in an illusion of what we think is reality, when actually we are just trapped behind all of the beliefs that others put into our minds. Like Connor said “you need to release yourself from bonds that aren’t even there.” This is what will allow us to come across our true selves and what our beliefs and values really are. After watching this clip, I realized that we really are “slaves” of the world. We do what others want, believe what others tell us to, and follow others because we want to be like them. We are essentially held behind lies and false opinions that we learn from our family, friends and society. That is the illusion that we need to break. We need to become independent individuals that think and experience things for ourselves, without being stuck behind the consequences and lies that we are told. This video really made me realize that we do not make our own choices and nothing is certain.
ReplyDeleteIsabella
ReplyDeleteThe first line of this video really stuck with me. "The matrix is a computer generated world built to keep us under control." No, our lives are not computer generated but this still works to explain what Miguel Ruiz had been talking about in Domestication and Dream of the Planet. Before we were born our families were creating decisions for us and making ideas of what they wanted us to be like. We were under control from birth and everyone wants to keep us under control and wants us to believe what they tell us. That also comes into play with the two articles we read in class and for homework today. We need to believe in doubt because then we will become skeptical and won't believe a lot of things that will be told to us. Some things may be lies and we shouldn't believe those. In The Matrix, the people are controlled by computers. In our lives, we're controlled by other people. They control us with their thoughts, ideas, rules, opinions and emotions. They tell us what they want us to believe, and they expect us to believe what they tell us and follow their beliefs. In this clip they also said "institutionalized control which people allow themselves to be subjected to". They are saying that we let ourselves be controlled. In a way that may be correct. When we were born up until a certain age, we didn't have any say in whatever we wanted to do. We had to follow what our elders told us and we had to believe what they said. Their word was true, their word was the only word that mattered. Now since we are all older and make some choices for ourselves, our family and others opinions and rules may not apply so much to us anymore. If they do apply, we don't take them into consideration as much as we used to. Another line that really stuck with me is when they said we are born into a prison that we "can not smell or taste or touch". We are born into these rules and beliefs that we are trapped in by because those are the things we're supposed to believe. It is a prison for our mind. I agree there is a figurative prison that we are born into and we are all slaves. We were all made to believe certain things that people tell us and to pass that message on. That's when the next article about what type of messenger we are comes into this. Do we pass on the truth, or lies? Are we skeptic?
I agree with Ashley and how she felt about the way they described how some people view themselves. I was shocked that someone would say that. That statement could be used for anyone. We may not see ourselves through the framework of what we're supposed to be, but there is that imaginary "framework" and ideas that shaped us into what we are.
One last thing that stuck out in my eyes was: "The life you've led is not in fact the totality of what is possible for you." There is so many things that can we achieve in one life time but we may not get to all of them. What we do achieve is not at all the limit of what we can achieve. There's always more out there for us to do. Also they said if we could release ourselves from bonds we could see the world as it truly is. If we become free of everything trapping us into certain beliefs and ideas, we could see the world in so many different ways than we already do see it.
I do not honestly know how to start this blogg post. I feel like the matrix in general was just one giant mind game. To mess with peoples perception on life, and i have not even seen the movie, but just seeing that clip makes me think, and think. Just as much as our article "The Power of Doubt: when being skeptical is a good thing." By Miguel Ruiz. This article was one giant reminder of my low self-esteem and low confidence. Its not that we all try to be down on ourselves it has programmed in our brains that were not good enough, that there is always going to be better. However, in my argument, what is the better case then? How can you become better, if you are not the best? I truly wouldn't want to be the best at anything, its lonely to be at the top, and looking down isn't as helpful to you as it is looking up to someone. We cant all be perfect, and we cant all be the best, some willing to be the best or try their hardest may have the same satisfaction as someone getting no where but still being themselves and doing what they want. It depends on the person, and their judge of character on how they live their life and allow people to see them. i wouldn’t want to be seen in a negative way, or a weak way. This is where egos come in, because behind every weak innocent scared naive person, is an ego covering all that up. Like makeup covers a face or a blemish.
ReplyDeleteWithout that, "makeup" people would be bare and that frightens most people. That ego, (makeup) is everyone’s safety blanket that turns into your own personal feelings and beliefs once you add them into your daily life.
The last thing I got out of the matrix clip was being born. When we were born, we were “perfect” in our own world, because we had no doubt in our mind, no one could tell us we were wrong because there was no right there was no wrong at that age, we just breathed the air and lived the life curiously. Growing up is the hardest part of life, and realizing how wrong you can be, and seeing flaws and feeling doubt makes it that much harder.
Umar H-
ReplyDeleteI think this clip was very interesting to listen to because it seemed to be the line that connected each of our articles together like a graph. This clip of the Matrix magnificently highlights some of Miguel Ruiz’s great points in the “Dream and Domestication of the Planet”. As Alexis said earlier, “Both the clip and the article talk about humans being bound to beliefs and ideas, and being controlled by them.” And, I completely agree with her statement. We as humans are controlled by our beliefs and ideas (our culture). Our lives revolve around it. As Connor also pointed out, the clip and the article, both, speak of how humans must be our true selves and we can do this by “breaking free from our bonds and chains” What I believe that both the Matrix and Mr. Ruiz are depicting as bonds and chains are really our society and culture. We are truly restricted by both since everything we do revolve around them. The line from this clip saying that “The only thing we know we know for certain is that nothing is certain.” can easily be connected to the most recent article we read, “The Power of Doubt”. Both say how being sure that everything is uncertain and having the ounce of doubt always keeps us in check and save us from conforming to the lies we are lead to believe are right by others. Overall I think this was a very interesting clip and never before now did I know that the film “The Matrix” had such deep and philosophical meaning behind it.
I have heard of the Matrix before but I never got the theme of the entire movie. Now that I have seen the clip I can get the idea of what they are trying to point out. The first line out of the entire clip is "The matrix is a computer generated world built to keep us under control." What I think that line means is that our people have been ordered around by people who want to make ideas for us. Think back to the time the 1700s when the British were trying to make Americans pay taxes for tea and stamps. Unlike some people who would have just obeyed and not get in trouble we rebelled,started a war with the British then overthrowing them and starting our own goverment and laws. At that point we were tired of the British telling us what to do.
ReplyDeleteToday, we are "slaves" and have little power in what we say is right or wrong. What I mean is that we have mixed reviews over radical views such as our views of blacks,asians and homosexuals. It took nearly a century for slavery of blacks to be abolished and another century for them to have equal rights, but there are still people who view the blacks negativley. Just like the issue of homosexuals, it has mixed up views of it. Some people absoulutly hate and forbid same-sex marriage while others think that we should give it a chance. We really can't make a descion and make it permanet. Like "The Power of Doubt" by Ruiz, we have and always will have mixed reviews over everything. Even if we can solve a situation; there will always be mixed views about something.
Ellen Postle
Melissa Sorkin -
ReplyDeleteI remember watching parts of the Matrix as a child, and perceiving the movie as some sort of bazar fantasy, however after both reading and analyzing the articles that we have discussed in class I now believe that this movie reflects the truth of what our society and world truly is at its core. Its scary to believe that our minds are captured in this "fog" or illusion, that separates us from what we believe life is like, and what life truly is like. The movie "The Matrix" and the "Domestication and the Dream of the Planet" both discuss the main idea of how we are unable to make our own choices in life and due to our 'domestication' as a child it is impossible for us to have thoughts and beliefs solely based on our own judgements. Therefore, in ways we can be compared to 'zombie' like creatures. This idea was clearly expressed in the clip from "The Matrix" when it shows a busy city street where everyone but Neo seems to be trapped in a daze carrying on with their normal activities, unfazed by the world surrounding them. They are depicted as mindless, showing blank facial expressions, and seemingly few gestures or acknowledgments of the people or things surrounding them. There is also a scene when there are a group of people waiting a a crosswalk, and as the crosswalk sign turned green, as if it was in one swift movement, everyone began to walk across the street. This reminded of a point brought up by one of my classmates during a class discussion, when he mentioned that we all respond to a bell. We report to class before a bell, and we leave class after the sound of a bell. This is similar to how we stop and go at a crosswalk based on the change of a color. In all, all of the articles we have discussed in class, as well as the music we have listened to and "The Matrix" clip all seem to tie into the idea that we are blinded by what we have been taught to believe, and in result we are blinded from who we are, and what life is truly like.