Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 209.58.72.172 (talk) at 14:13, 19 November 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

In July 2004 a new religion emerged known at present as "Matrixism", and those who affirm this pathway are called "Matrixists". About 400 people currently identify with this emergent religion. There are 4 beliefs or principles affirmed:

• Belief in the prophecy of the One
• Psychedelics as sacrament
• Reality is multi-layered, semi-subjective
• Adhere to the principles of at least one major religion until the One comes

Those who identify with Matrixism indicate that the Matrix films are a sacred text that each one should read and interpret (a spin on the Protestant maxim "everyone's one's own interpreter); other critical elements are located in the psychedelic as suggested by Aldous Huxley's Doors of Perception; and notions of the Matrix suggested by Abdul Baha (one of the early teachers of Baha'i).

Matrixism is expressed by fellow travellers connecting with one another via the Internet.

Some fans of the films are scornful of Matrixism, as suggested by the various reactions posted on message boards throughout the internet.

It might be suggested by some that Matrixism is simply a game of "let's pretend" escapism. Others might find no serious correlation between the four principles of Matrixism and the plotline and script of the Matrix films.

How the participants actually see themselves - allowing their dignity to remain in context and not deconstructed by others - is undoubtedly another matter which is most precious to them as spiritual actors.

Matrixism certainly points to a desire for individuals to make sense of their place in the cosmos and to affirm life as it is expressed in a society of risks. The mythic themes of the Matrix films certainly offer a rich seam of material for semi-subjective myths to be constructed by those who pursue the path of Matrixism: the simulacra of Baudrillard, the gnosis of the esoteric traditions (now shorn of secrecy), the Messianism and apocalypticism of orthodox Christianity, the way of Zen, the comic book superhero genre of fiction and folktales, and much more.

Christians connected to traditional churches and exilic/emergent churches have lessons to learn from the hyper-real spirituality that Matrixism represents (and there are many more examples one can find of hyper-real faith).

Hyper-real faith refers to the Internet as the context in which the participants or adherents primarily converse or express their spirituality -- i.e. "hyper" is the moniker picked up from the web jargon "http" (hyper-text); so "hyper-real" indicates a cyber-based reality. This is a neo-logism that some sociologists of religion are using as a way of demarcating cyber-based spiritualities from other forms of spirituality.

Bibliography

• Possamai, Adam, Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament, Brussels: P. I. E. - Peter Lang, 2005.

• v
• t
• e