The Gospel according to Neo: 'The Matrix' as a phenomenon shaping public opinion about religion

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | May 09, 2003 | Josh Burek

[ffusco]

"Logic is a field of pretty flowers that smell Bad"-Spock

[ffusco]

Gnostics were influenced by Plato and concept of Demiurge (imperfect creator) is present in Plato's philosophy.

The Greek gods were imperfect and humanistic. They exibited all vice and virtue, basically behaving like drunken sailors on Earth, yet they all get their come-upence and demonstrate the universality of life.

[Blackyce]

Demiurge is Gnostic thing not a Platonic thing, you've got it out of order. The gnostics were influencd by Plato, but, then again, so was the early church, and later, most notably, St Augustine.

[cornelis]

I agree. But it makes the grade with groupies. Which of these have even read Plato? The Matrix despises beauty. Neither Christian nor Platonic. My guess is they are inserting a bug . Call Orwell.

[cornelis]

The Greek gods were imperfect and humanistic

Olympians, yes. But not all Greek gods were Olympians.

[A. Pole]

Demiurge is Gnostic thing not a Platonic thing, you've got it out of order.

See the dialogue Timeous where Plato talk about Demiurge. Platonic Demiurge failed to create the perfect world - the perfect image of the perfect eternal Forms, because he has to work what is given to him - the imperfect changing matter.

"The world of Becoming, which is constantly changing, can never completely imitate the unchanging Forms which are the Models for sensory objects. The Demiurge is constrained by the materials he has to work with. Nothing in this world is Everlasting or Unchanging. Eternity (the Form) can only be imperfectly mirrored in the physical world by something which is itself changing. The Demiurge, though constrained, tries to produce the most perfect copy that he can." (See the chapter Plato's Universe of Evolution of the Concepts of Space and Time by Michael Bradie and Comer Duncan.

[cornelis]

Right. The Socratic Cosmology given in the Timaeus is a must read:

Now to discover the Maker and Father of this Universe were a task indeed; and having discovered Him, to declare Him unto all men were a thing impossible. However, let us return and inquire further concerning the Cosmos,--after which of the Models did its Architect construct it?

Was it after that which is self-identical and uniform, or after that which has come into existence; Now if so be that this Cosmos is beautiful and its Constructor good, it is plain that he fixed his gaze on the Eternal; but if otherwise (which is an impious supposition), his gaze was on that which has come into existence. But it is clear to everyone that his gaze was on the Eternal; for the Cosmos is the fairest of all that has come into existence, and He the best of all the Causes. So having in this wise come into existence, it has been constructed after the pattern of that which is apprehensible by reason and thought and is self-identical.

[DoctorMichael]

{{{Hands over my eyes.......hitting the SCROLL DOWN button with my big toe}}}...........

LALALALALALALALALALALALA.......I won' read THIS!

[DoctorMichael]

"There is no spoon".

[ffusco]

Thanks for the info. And sparing the bolts of lightning. ; )

[narses]

Ping.

[ladyinred]

It is a pretty sad group that derives it's idea of religion from a fiction movie. From reading the article, I would say this is anything but Christianity.

[Tribune7]

I liked the Matrix. I saw it and understood quite clearly its inner meaning and the profound message it was trying to convey.

Bascially, what would best describe this effort is that it is a "science fiction" movie.

Now if I really wanted to blow your mind I would have told you, you were going to read this.

[Tribune7]

That kid was watching stock footage of "Night of the Lepus" (which was also heavily used in Natural Born Killers)

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Hey, if you didn't understand what I said, then I wasn't talking to you.

There are definitely people out there who understand perfectly what I was talking about, and others who can easily figure it out with a little research.

But granted, I was starting a little bit ahead of "the average bear."

[Luke Skyfreeper]

(This was, after all, a thread about the metaphysics and philosophy behind "The Matrix.")

[ThinkDifferent]

And the idea of humans beings as living batteries is too stupid to even consider.

From a thermodynamic perspective, that's true. But (begin hand-waving) maybe the machines weren't using humans for actual energy, but instead were using their neurons for computation, since there are plenty of areas where human brains perform better than computers.

[Tex_GOP_Cruz]

"People called Romans, they go house?"

"Except that 'domus' takes...the locative." I love that dialogue. (Incidentally, they get the form right in the sketch, which is 'domum,' but they call it a locative. It's really an accusative. 'Domi' is the locative, which is the same form as the genitive.)
:-)

[Antoninus]

"The Matrix" is what passes for intellectual discourse among the brainless Hollywood elite and their vapid followers. It's a good action movie, but I spent more time laughing at how cheesy their attempts at intellectual depth were than anything else.

Post-modernism is dead, dude.

[goldstategop]

Post modernism is gibberish. Gnosticism and by extension, mysticism will be around for the ages. There's something about Plato's "Forms" and the notion of a perfect world existing this one that has exercised the human imagination for millenia. Gnosticism was originally pre-Christian and later entered Christianity and fused Platonic philosophy with the Christian understanding of the Messiah and Heaven. The Gospel Of John is seen by many as taking the language and ideas of Gnosticism to refute it. The Matrix is a fascinating movie apart from its title and one can enjoy just as a pure sci-fi action movie or for the deeper meanings intuited in the story that it plays out. Come to think of it, that's a lot of fun.