The Matrix: Myth and Meaning

The Matrix trilogy famously borrowed from many sources of pop culture, philosophy, and religion. The Matrix series employs especially well concepts and ideas from Hinduism wrapped around a slam-bang action adventure story. While many people easily detect the Christian and Buddhist symbolism in the series, this post will discuss the Hindu symbols and mythology used in the series, with the most emphasis being on the second film, The Matrix Reloaded. 

The Matrix follows the journey of Neo, a computer hacker who discovers that our world is not real, but a simulation created by artificial intelligence to trap humanity. He is led by a guru, Morpheus, who guides him into this newfound knowledge of reality. Hinduism teaches the concept of Maya, that the world around us in spiritually unreal.  This is what Neo discovers during the course of the first film. The second deals with his life after ascending to the position of “The One,” who has the ability to change things within the world, i.e. The Matrix, and who is prophesied to bring about the end of the war with the machines. Neo exhibits incredible powers at the end of the first film, such as dodging bullets, and even coming back from the dead, which brings to mind astounding feats like Rama’s defeat of 14,000 demons singlehandedly in The Ramayana. 

When Neo fights his way into a dark tower that contains a room that it is said that if he enters he can end the war and save his people, he instead meets the creator of the Matrix, who reveals to Neo that the One was created to help control the human population. His dharma is to save the human race by restarting the free human population, outside the Matrix. Neo is given a choice to either fulfill his “dharma”, the purpose he was created for, or to let every human being the machines have trapped perish. Meanwhile, the love of Neo’s life is being pursued by warriors of the machine world, and it looks like she is going to die. The Architect shows Neo what is happening to her and insists he must make the choice his five predecessors as the One have made. Neo rejects the Architect’s offer, and uses his powers to rescue his love from falling to her death from a skyscraper. But he’s too late, and she dies in his arms. But Neo doesn’t accept this reality, and reaches inside Trinity’s Matrix avatar and resuscitates her heart with his hand. 

With the choice to reject what he has been told was his dharma and destiny since he first discovered the reality of the Matrix, Neo truly begins to understand what his purpose is for himself. By the third film, Neo ends up creating a state of Moksha, whereby the Machines agree to let those who wish to leave the Matrix to do so. This breaks the societal cycle of Samsara the human community living outside of the Matrix had unknowingly been experiencing. 

Neo was told by his guru that his destiny was to end the war and save humanity using his powers. That destiny was short on details, of course. Once Neo learned the truth that his five predecessors had chosen to collaborate with the machines rather than let the whole of humanity die (and if given the choice to make, would you and I do anything differently?), and that his true purpose was to continue “the war” his dharma should have been clear. His duty as the savior of humanity should be to capitulate to the machines. But he refuses and chooses instead to save his lover. This choice eventually leads to him thinking of a new solution to the human/machine conflict, where both sides get what they most need and want, though it comes at the cost of Neo’s life. 

Neo’s breaking of this cycle by specifically not doing what he had been led to believe is his duty by his friends and his foes alike, reflects a 21^st century understanding of the great truths revealed in ancient religions. A myth like the Ramayana is not just a religious text, it’s also a story completely immersed in the ancient culture of India. Something like Rama’s banishment of Sita simply because his people think she may be unclean, even though Rama himself knows that she is worthy, but he banishes her to be a good example to his people would never fly as upright behavior in our day and age in our culture. The Wachowskis show their reverence for the myths that inform the story while also critiquing what the average uninformed audience member would expect of someone on a religious journey of awakening, since many people in our secular world think that religion comes down to doing what you are told. Neo refutes that idea, by following his heart and exemplifying his true dharma by actually ending the war, not repeating what his former lives had done by merely appearing to end the war. 

Since the series was marketed as essentially a sci-fi/kung-fu movie, but it is really about awakening to your true self and state in the world, many audience members were disappointed by the second and third entries in the series. Of course this mirrors what many religious people have experienced with those who do not choose to make the journey toward enlightenment. It takes diligence and an open heart to be enlightened, and the same is true for understanding the deeper mythic meanings of The Matrix series.