Baha’i Perspectives

ronnie October 4th, 2008

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

…Morpheus says to Neo, Keanu Reeves character in Warner Brothers’ movie; ‘The Matrix.’ (here is the scene on YouTube)

Before I hear you sigh; ‘oh dear, sci-fi geek alert!,’ I’m kindly requesting a few minutes of your precious time, even if you found Mamma Mia! far more riveting than the Matrix.

Now, what if I told you that this piece of science fiction is far closer to reality than might first appear? And we’re not talking about Keanu Reeves’ acting skills either.

“The Matrix describes a future in which the reality the perceived by humans is actually the Matrix, a simulated reality created by sentient machines.” says Wikipedia.

In the aforementioned movie quote, Morpheus a prophet of sorts is giving the film’s protagonist, Neo, a computer programmer, the option to see the world for what it really is.

If he takes the blue pill, he stays ‘asleep,’ carrying on with his daily routine but if he takes the red pill he awakens to his inner reality, another world:

In the beginning of his human life man was embryonic in the world of the matrix. There he received capacity and endowment for the reality of human existence. The forces and powers necessary for this world were bestowed upon him in that limited condition. In this world he needed eyes; he received them potentially in the other. He needed ears; he obtained them there in readiness and preparation for his new existence. The powers requisite in this world were conferred upon him in the world of the matrix, so that when he entered this realm of real existence he not only possessed all necessary functions and powers but found provision for his material sustenance awaiting him.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 63)

This quote from Abdu’l-Baha, pre-dates the movie by about 80 years. Abdu’l-Baha is talking about the world inside a mother’s womb being the ‘world of the matrix.’ This world, the only world we know as an embryo, is preparing us for the world we know now, the ‘post-birth’ world.

Both worlds are connected of course, and this starts at conception. You just don’t realise this until you actually arrive here, whether it’s by c-section or naturally.

You can discern hints of it, however, like the muffled voices of our louder relatives.

Conversely you can also make impressions in it, by kicking your chubby baby legs to the glee of your mother’s co-workers.

Now how does this relate to the Matrix film? Well, from my limited understanding of the Baha’i Faith, THIS world, the world of Poverty, Climate Change, Racism, Consumerism, War, Climate change and Sex in The City (okay, it’s not that bad!) is OUR world of the Matrix.

Here we develop our capacity and endowment for the next world, through tests:

Therefore, in this world he must prepare himself for the life beyond. That which he needs in the world of the Kingdom must be obtained here. Just as he prepared himself in the world of the matrix by acquiring forces necessary in this sphere of existence, so, likewise, the indispensable forces of the divine existence must be potentially attained in this world…

(Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 63)

In the womb, we had no choice.

In this world, it’s like the red pill or the blue pill.

Every Manifestation from God, whether Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, Jesus or Baha’u'llah, has offered us a choice like this; the choice of true liberty or to go back to sleep wearing shackles of ignorance and blinded by our ego.

Baha’u'llah tells us when He was ‘awakened’:

O King! I was but a man like others, asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that hath been.

(Baha’u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 11)

He also gives us a choice, rather than a red pill or blue pill, to look with the inner eye rather than the outer one:

O MAN OF TWO VISIONS!

Close one eye and open the other. Close one to the world and all that is therein, and open the other to the hallowed beauty of the Beloved

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

The quote above must not be taken out of context. It is not suggesting that we become aloof from human affairs in this material world. In fact, Baha’u'llah teaches the contrary and I’ll expand on this topic in greater detail in part 2.

The quote above, according to my understanding, is saying that we look at things in this world with a ‘spiritually attuned’ eye, rather than looking at things viscerally. The spiritual world is not another location, or to be experienced solely after we die. It is intricately interwoven into the very fabric of our existence. Like lines of code which make up the physical world in the Matrix movie, in this world we have to read in-between these lines:

The one true God is My witness! This most great, this fathomless and surging Ocean is near, astonishingly near, unto you. Behold it is closer to you than your life-vein! Swift as the twinkling of an eye ye can, if ye but wish it, reach and partake of this imperishable favor, this God-given grace, this incorruptible gift, this most potent and unspeakably glorious bounty.

(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 326)

Now the main difference between the film’s premise and the Baha’i Faith is that in the film, the ‘real’ world, the world that Neo will see if he chooses to know reality, is actually quite dark, and not a nice place at all.

The Baha’i view point is quite the opposite. Should we choose to know the Truth, that reality, that world is paradise.

Thus to conclude, if I were sitting in the dusty old chair that Neo was, and given a choice between ignorance and paradise, I don’t think I’d hesitate to take that leap of Faith to investigate further.

I mean what do you have to lose? Only something to gain.

Other than a few calories from a red jelly bean.

Part 2-Coming Soon

“So, you’ve chosen the pill (presumably). What do you do next? What does this mean? Will it mean you have to take part in two poorer sequels? These questions (except the 3^rd) plus more will be answered in Part 2.”

Tags: afterlife, reality

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