Welcome to The Matrix

Everyone of haughty heart is an abomination of the Lord; hand to hand he will not go unpunished. (Proverbs 16:5) 

“Welcome to the new normal”, quirked Billie as he filled his coffee.  

I used to like annual diversity training. Rather than spending a day not slumped over a computer, we talked about social movements of the 20th century. Today, we no longer recall an age where people had to sit in the back of the bus because of the color of their skin. We fail to discuss the horrors of “civilized” European nations that took 19th and 20th century racism to a genocidal extreme. We even stopped talking about the injustice of a woman getting paid a fraction of what a man gets paid to do the exact same job.  

Now it’s about sodomy, perversion, and how discriminating between good and evil is a form of, well, discrimination. Separating what Hashem wants from us from what He finds an abomination is racist, fascist, and arcane.  

“People like you, David, are a relic of a world long gone. You are the close-minded. You are the weak.” 

Then, this man with the female name, said something I haven’t been called since 1994. “You are the homo!” Everybody laughed at me. I looked at him for a moment and something just clicked. 

“Thanks.” I smiled. Then I walked out of the room for a deep breath. I didn’t even try to decipher what he must have said to cause the room to burst out in laughter moments after I closed the door behind me.  

Billie may look real. He may sound real. The world he sees may appear real, but the truth is that he is nothing more than a trapped soul being continually harvested by his dark overseers to constantly feed on.  

The Kabbalah is clear on this: The evil we do creates spiritual energy for the dark forces of evil to feed on. Exactly like Neo in the movie, Billie lives in The Matrix.  

What is The Matrix? 

The Matrix is a world inside a world. It is a cocoon that lives within our reality, covering everything.  

As long as you’re in the matrix, you live by their golden rule: Who has the gold makes the rules. Silicon Valley and Greenwich Village is where all the money is at, so their lifestyle is the one we all must bow to. As Voltaire said, ‘If you want to know who controls you, look at whom you are not allowed to criticize.‘  

You live by the tyranny of the tongue: The ones with the most entertaining things to say get to talk. It doesn’t matter if what is being said is decent, civilized, or humiliating to others.  

You are bound to beauty: The sexier you look or the sexier you make yourself look, the more eyes on your profile.  

You are a slave to attention: The wilder the act, the larger the crowd.  

In the Matrix, it’s not just about clawing to the top. It’s about pushing yourself center stage. The prize in the Matrix is the ultimate prize for man: You get to play god. You can create right and wrong. You can erase people as if you commanded the earth to swallow them alive.  

Turning on the Light 

The Matrix is a place of darkness where most of us feel we exist. The truth is, it’s only blinders. It’s like putting heavy curtains over every window in the house. You can make it look like nighttime even when it’s midday. But just because the drapes are down doesn’t mean it’s dark outside.  

Just because the emperors of high tech have conned us into this lie, doesn’t mean it’s real. It doesn’t change the truth that exists, and will always exist. Like Egypt, Rome, and Old Europe, even the idols of the internet will have to stand and face reality.  

It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness, for with righteousness the throne is established. (Proverbs 16:2) 

In the real world, royalty is reserved for those who guard their tongue, conduct their business in honesty, give charity, and don’t seek attention.  

Who reigns supreme? King David, who was a shepherd until he was 30. Nobody knew who he was and he had no interest in changing that fact. He worked on his middot. He spoke to Hashem in the fields. Hashem commanded Samuel the prophet to anoint him king.  

He ruled for 40 years. His son, King Solomon, assumed the crown at the age of 14, and held it all of his life, another forty years. Before they became king, they weren’t the most likely to rise to the throne. But they were righteous. They were humble. Hashem chose them. No matter how many people tried to replace them, usurp them, or destroy them, from the moment they took power to their last breath, they were king.  

That’s the real world.   

Even today, as dictators and tyrants come and go, the longest reigning monarch in the history of the next most known monarchy is Queen Elizabeth. When she was a princess, she refused to abandon her people as they fought on the front lines in the Great War for Humanity. There is a picture of her at the time on her knees fixing an army vehicle ready to go back to the fighting.  

From then to now, it is the righteous who reign.  

When a son of King David and King Solomon will emerge, it will be the ultimate and final re-emergence of reality. The matrix will be broken forever.  

Billie is fighting for a world that is set to self-destruct. They all are. They are fighting to become captain of the Titanic.  

The real world is alive and well if you look hard enough.  

Our Place in Reality 

There is a fee to enter the Real World. There is a fee to stay there. The currency in reality is mitzvot.  

How much Torah do we learn each day? How are we holding the laws of physical morality? Are we praying with enough intent? Are we making the people around us, our family, friends, members of our shul and community happy? Do we see Hashem?  

The key to the doors of the great reality is hidden in the answer to a simple question: Which world will you wake up in tomorrow? 

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his wife and children. Since moving to Israel in 2002, David has discovered Torah, writing hi-tech, hiking, coding ReactJS Apps, and hearing stories about the Land of Israel from anyone excited to tell them. Check him out on Highway 60 or email him your favorite Israel story at:  david.ben.horin@spreadyourenthusiasm.com.