Changing our minds to overcome undesirable habits can be difficult. And so can transcending personal limitations to get extraordinary results. However, with the right inspiration – accomplishing both can become a lot easier. We can accomplish both with inspiration from Neo – a character from the 1999 science-fiction blockbuster “The Matrix.”
In one scene of the movie, Neo learns what is at stake – and why he matters – from one of his key allies, Morpheus. During a training simulation, Neo learns the battleground of the ongoing war/conflict between humans and machines/sentient programs. For us, the battleground is to overcome those habit-patterns and transcend limitations that we experience in our own lives.
The message from Morpheus to Neo is clear: someone will have to fight and defeat – or die trying – the Agents inside of their world of the Matrix. Think about those habit-patterns we try to overcome as Agents who are living within a world of their own as part of your mind. Understand that only you can overcome those Agents if you want your mind to be truly free.
Neo’s responses throughout this dialogue with Morpheus conveys a combination of uncertainty and disbelief. We hear him say: “Someone” [has to fight]? “Why” [am I the one to defeat them? And “I can dodge bullets?” – when Morpheus responds with one final line.
“No. When you are ready, you won’t have to.”
Being ready – preparedness for a mission – has a deciding impact on our success. It means practicing – patiently and persistently and continuously until that often-unscheduled moment arises when you need to perform. Because in those sudden moments of difficulty, we will fall back to the levels of our training and practice. This is why preparedness will always trump planning. Because plans are just ideas that are constantly being adapted when confronted with updated information.
It is rare that we can get to reference those plans in the moment when they might be able to make a difference. And so, they are just a small part of the process. And so instead, we cultivate preparedness. All the scenes with Neo in the Matrix seem to be building within him preparedness for the battle.
One example of this is when a boy tells Neo that “there is no spoon” as a way of him understanding the truth. The outside world can be – if we choose and believe it to be so – a reflection of our inner world. But in those moments of consequence only we can stand up with conviction to decide.
The internal struggle with our habit-pattern Agents is not clearly visible to us. Why? Because it just happens naturally and on default from personal programming. As a result, these habit-patterns feel very real. They feel as though they have this vice-grip around the way we live, the choices we make, and the behaviors that we keep repeating. Those habit-patterns manifest in our physical world in the form of whatever object/subject/environment – food/digital media/parties – that habit we need to engage with to act out that habit. Changing the pattern begins to feel like we are trying to make a spoon bend just by looking at it, or thinking about it. One thing is clear,we can’t run away from our habits – we must confront them until we understand that they are not outside of the context of our inner-world. As a result, our true power is the influence that we can have over that internal struggle. We can decide the level of impact that our own wants, desires, attitudes, have on our lives. Our habit-patterns are a reflection of our inner-world.
We can see a visual representation by thinking about those scenes of the Matrix. What happens inside of the Matrix but feels real, looks real, and seems real – as explained by Morphus. How can it not be real? But – what if we were able to see the truth? The truth that those habit-patterns that seem to have a tightening control over us do not actually exist – and that they can be manipulated, and even outright rejected. If we can see this truth, then we can also see that on the other side of rejecting those habit-patterns we can start to focus on freeing our mind to focus on our actual priorities for the present and future.
Towards the end of the Matrix, Neo is killed by the Agents he is fighting after essentially being trapped. And then he comes back to life with the help of a kiss from Trinity – an ally. After being revived, the Agents – who had rightly declared him dead just moments earlier – fire bullets at him again.
Neo looks at the imminent threat, says “No.” He extends his hands as a physical representation of his declaration. The incoming bullets come to a full stop in mid-flight. Neo examines one of the bullets. He drops it to the floor, and the rest follow suit. The main Agent Antagonist – Smith – watches with incredulity. Smith then tries to defeat Neo but he is unable. Neo seems to be moving and reacting with a speed that is simply too much for Smith. Neo goes on to defeat Smith – and is formally recognized as the One.
What if we could take the cue from Neo and begin a practice of saying “No.” The scene of “No” in the Matrix is a dramatization that should never be tried at home of course. I do think that we can use the scene from the Matrix as a strong visual reference as a way to stop the habit-patterns of our mind from causing us to act on those thoughts, wants, desires, or reactions that threaten our ability to live fully.
We often give importance to saying “No” to other people. It’s either something we struggle with, but want to get better at – or over analyze in terms of how the rejection will impact the person being told “No.” While valid, this does not do anything to really address the internal struggles that we have with ourselves. We are better off using “No” to address our own internal conflicts. Self-rejection can be powerful because it is our way of directly challenging something that we alone had created in our minds as something that was desirable or inevitable. When we say “No” it means that it will not happen – there is nothing to negotiate. And when seen this way, self-rejection may be the key to unlocking real self-acceptance.