Morpheus: …Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know, you can’t explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. Like a splinter in your mind — driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Neo: The Matrix?
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
(Neo nods his head.)
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us; even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch; a prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
I used to feel like Neo, maybe you do now.
I look at the world a bit differently than most. I try to look at things logically and not emotionally. I believe there is the world we think exists and there is the world as it really is. I try to look at what is really going on in the world and I hope to inspire you to do the same.
I think being in the engineering business has led me to look at things without looking through the filter of my emotions. We have all heard the old analogy about whether we look at the glass as being half full or half empty. When someone asks us to look at the glass in this way they are trying to get us to look at something through the filter of our emotions rather than using our reasoning.
I reject that entire concept. The glass of water is neither positive nor negative and looking at it either way has absolutely no effect on the glass of water at all. We should say, “The volume of water I have is equal to half of the capacity of my glass”. Right now, you are probably asking what the difference is. Let me explain. When you concentrate on how you “feel” about the glass you are making yourself a helpless bystander that has no control over the situation and merely hoping that if you have the right attitude everything will just work out.
What would be more productive would be to recognize that your glass contains half its volume in water. Then you must DECIDE if it would be better if your glass’ capacity was full, empty, somewhere in between or perhaps it is best where it is. Once this is determined you must DECIDE on what action to take to achieve the desired volume of water. Do you need to find a faucet to obtain more water, pour some out or do nothing. The glass is neither “good” nor “bad”, it is what it is. We need to look at the big issues in the same way; thoughtful not emotional.
In order for us to be in control of our own lives we must stop letting others frame the issues for us in a way that keeps us from even considering some possibilities. I don’t know why it is, but humans appear to have a great need and desire to fit in and be accepted by our peers. We desperately want to fit in with what is “popular”. We don’t want to be seen as different or odd, we certainly don’t want anyone to make fun of us. We certainly want to fit in with society and we also find subgroups to fit in with so that we can have more personal relationships. We pick a party, denomination, club or other organization to join that we like. We find out what the group likes, believes and looks like then we do everything in our power to go along with it all. We just don’t want to stand out or upset anyone. I am not saying that this is bad, I am only showing you what is.
So the purpose of this blog is to talk about things maybe you haven’t thought of before. Hopefully, you the reader can point out some things to me I hadn’t thought of. I intend to keep the discussions civil here. I believe there are three reasons why people get angry when they are in a discussion. One, they realize they are on the wrong side of the issue and they have no choice but to shout the other side down so that their message cannot be heard and assassinate their character in an attempt to discredit the message by association. Two, they have no clue why they believe what they believe and when someone logically destroys their beliefs they just lash out at them like a child might. Third, they get frustrated because they are right, have logically presented their case and the other person refuses to see the obvious. It can drive them insane when you prove beyond a doubt that up is up and someone else wants to say up is down when it is painfully obvious that it is not. Sometimes you just have to realize you are spitting into the wind and stop it.
I am going to try my best to be civil at all times here (Disclaimer: I am a sinful human and will probably fail spectacularly at this from time to time). I am going to try not to use as much sarcasm and humor as I might like. I have found that sometimes humor doesn’t come across the way you meant it in print. Additionally, sometimes a sarcastic or facetious remark can be taken out of context and used as a weapon against you.
So let’s take the red pill, see what the world is really like. Maybe together we can step out of the herd, be outstanding rather than blending in and make the world a better place!
God Bless,
Mike Bennett
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