Escaping the Matrix

I have a confession to make: at the time when I was still watching movies, The Matrix was in my Top Five all-time favorites, although I never actually thought about what the other four movies would be… To me, it was a good parable of our lives, since we really do live in a matrix.
 
Judaism tells us in many, many places that our lives on Earth are merely an illusion. If you saw the movie, do you remember when the traitor (I forget his name) was sitting at a fancy restaurant with an Agent Smith, enjoying his delicious, juicy, perfectly seared steak?
 
He said, “I know this steak doesn’t exist, but when I put it in my mouth the Matrix is telling my brain that it’s juicy and delicious.”
 
Traitor was ahead of the game, because he knew he was living in an illusion. But what about us? How many of us really know that this world is complete sheker (lies)? How many people have even heard of such a concept to begin with? What does it mean to be living in a world of lies?
 
Let’s think about it- what is a typical day like? You get up, take the kids to school, go to work, pick up the kids from school, do the homework/dinner/bedtime yelling thing, do some work from home, watch TV or go online, oops, did you forget to eat dinner? And after an exhausting day, you go to bed. And the next morning, you’re right back on the hamster wheel.
 
First things first: if you aren’t living with a higher purpose in your life, then by default you’re completely stuck in the world of lies. All of your actions are geared, consciously or unconsciously, toward burying you deeper in the matrix of materialism.
 
So the first step to escaping the matrix would be to ask yourself: “What am I living for?”
 
If you find that you’re living to support your fantasy world of overpriced steak dinners and plain T-shirts that cost $50, then Mazal Tov, you’re a matrix junkie. It’s true, the dream home with infinity pool in the backyard is truly awesome, but in the world of Truth, they don’t exist!
 
The next step to escaping the matrix would be to ask yourself: “How did the world of lies entrap me?”
 
Elementary, my dear readers! The matrix has a deadly arsenal of weapons, not-so-commonly referred to as “Weapons of Mass Distraction.” Unfortunately, everyone who is connected to the matrix is either severely injured by these WMD’s, or outright murdered.
 
Television- I think it’s the leading weapon of the Other Side to control the masses, a la project MK Ultra. Jew think I’m talkin’ crazy?! Let’s just see about that…
 
We learn how to live our lives through watching television and movies.
 
For example:TV sets the standards of when children are expected to reach certain social milestones, such as: by (approximately)10 years old, girls and boys are supposed to like each other. By 12-13, they’re supposed to start dating. Girls younger than 10 are supposed to  begin dressing provocatively and acting sexy. By 13, boys are supposed to have an overactive sex drive, which consumes their being to the core day and night. Apparently, they’re never supposed to out-grow this phase. If a boy or girl is still a virgin by age 16, then like, something is, like, seriously wrong with him/her. By 16, girls are supposed to know all about being femme fatales, and boys are supposed to have scored with at least 10 girls. It’s a point system, didn’t you know??
 
Commercials are just as damaging as shows. We’re mercilessly bombarded with messages that compel us to want things that we don’t need, like a new car every 3 years or less. Each year becomes more or less a repetition of the previous year, with a handful of differences here and there. Summer = cruising, vacations. Fall = pumpkins, Thanksgiving (you know, that holiday where we celebrate the genocide of the Native American Indians.) Winter? Who has the budget for that anymore?
 
And of course, we can’t forget about movies. In my opinion, movies are even more damaging to a person than television. Take intimacy, for example. The love scenes are not only FAKE, they’re also FAKE, larger-than-life, and terribly misleading. I can’t even begin to imagine how many couples’ marriages have been destroyed because of this one area. I’m a mind reader, you know, and I can tell you that this is what’s going on in couples’ heads when they watch a love scene together: “Hey, why can’t my wife be as sexy and voracious as Angelina Jolie?” “Hey, why can’t my husband be as romantic and Don Juan-esque as Brad Pitt?”
 
What do you think happens when they get home? Fireworks? NOT!
 
The matrix also forces us to develop tastes for things that we might never have wanted, if we were just given the opportunity for real freedom of choice. For example, a decadent lifestyle is  promoted as the ultimate goal in life. We need to make lots of money so we can enjoy, well, anything we want to enjoy! As a result, we feel tremendous pressure to work in order to achieve a lifestyle that we don’t need or necessarily want.
 
Even our mundane interests are controlled by the matrix. Fashion is one of its favorite methods of control. Can anyone tell me why the same styles repeat themselves over and over again every year?? Why do you need new espadrilles every summer?? What’s wrong with last year’s? And why in the world did 1980’s fashion make a serious comeback in recent years?? What is it, an experiment to see if the sheeple will accept whatever hideous fashion trends are shoved down their throats?
 
Which leads us to step three in escaping the matrix. Ask yourself: “How much of my work/efforts in life is in order to attain or maintain a lifestyle that I can’t really afford?” Can you imagine how much less stress you’ll have if you decide your standard of living all by yourself, without any added pressure from the media and society?
 
The Other Side is not happy with a job half-done, so it decided that we need to be plugged in to the matrix from the moment we wake up until the moment we fall asleep with our iPhones clutched like a teddy bear in our hands. So along comes the internet and social media. What, you have to go to the bathroom? Quick- better post that on Facebook! Tell everyone, including the NSA, everything about your life at all times! What better way to spend an otherwise meaningless day than typing nonsense with your 937 “friends”?
 
The last and very crucial part of our 4-step program to escaping the matrix is to disconnect from social media and all unnecessary online adventures!
 
I’ve lived most of my life in the matrix. And to be honest, sometimes I get dragged back into it for one reason or another. But overall, I can say that I am doing my best to rid  my mind of all the garbage programming that has mercilessly infiltrated it. My life at this point is focused on one thing- plugging into The Creator, Who is the source of real life, and not empty illusions. Like the popular ’90’s song goes, “Free your mind, and the rest will follow…”