Let's Talk About The Social Matrix
Wanna take the red pill or the blue pill?
I’m not talking about becoming an ‘alpha’ male materialistic asshole; I’m talking about the social matrix.
The social matrix is like a russian doll-set of cultures, norms, and values which are founded on assumptions about how we and the world should be. It is not an ‘evil’ thing, there is just more beyond it.
When we ‘escape’ the social matrix, we do not cease to exist or function within it, it is just that our identity and perception transcends the belief systems that are baked into it, and thus in us.
Doing this tends towards more personal success in life, as energy that was used on psychological defences, fantasy, and projection gets freed up.
Why does the social matrix matter?
If we identify with parts of the social matrix, we are subject to its judgments and limits; it conditions our sense of purpose, value, and our perspective. It hems these aspects in, and in that sense, it controls us and what is possible for us as a unique person.
Instead of living a societal story, we could live our own individual story, in balance with the collective world. So this isn’t about acquiring power in order to control, consume, or simply ‘be better’ than others (whatever that could mean), it’s about finding our own truth within the context of wider humanity, and then integrating that into an ability to help one’s self and the world from a place of authenticity and awareness.
Without this awareness and understanding of conditioning and the psychological wounds we harbour, we cannot transcend the social matrix. One does in this sense does become a slave to society as well as forces of the past that often give us a powerless feeling over out lives.
Self transformation is partly about transcending and including the social matrix that conditioned us into a wider whole — these parts are not lost in us, they are integrated into a wider context, opening up new possibilities. Some aspects of ourselves that may have been created in the social matrix, such as feelings of guilt and shame, do burn away on a deeper level.
If you’ve felt anxious, depressed, uncreative, unfulfilled, lazy, unworthy, and so on, the social matrix almost certainly played a role in the creation of these feelings and/or beliefs.
A Word On Andrew Tate’s ‘Red Pill’
For people like Andrew Tate, the social matrix refers to how society is teaching and controlling people to be weak, disempowered, broke, and out of touch with their inner power, and in this way I do agree. It serves no one to be weak and incapable, including yourself! The red pill for them means seeing these qualities in yourself and actively setting out to build yourself up. Again, I agree; qualities like strength, resilience, focus, and intelligence are not problematic in themselves, it’s all about ‘how’ and ‘why’ these ‘whats’ are being used for.
However, breaking out of the social matrix doesn’t mean manipulating people, pursuing wealth for status or selfishness, or taking advantage of others. Simply put, buying a Bugatti, having the freedom to do whatever you want, and manipulating people are already part of the social matrix. While the tools and beliefs involved in taking the red pill here can be useful for personal empowerment, they don’t really lead to positive relating to others, deeper meaning, or the kinds of qualities needed to live a truly meaningful life. Some people can benefit from these kinds of teachings up to a point, but as Tate’s life already exemplifies, they are not sustainable or life-enhancing.
So, while the red pill movement is a response to some unhealthy aspects of society, there is a danger in the narrow perspective of these red pill bros. Breaking out of the social matrix is about having control within it and over it. Because power and scarcity underpin their view of the social matrix and the world, then not everyone can break out of it nor have control over it. Appreciate too, that human beings have a way of painting themselves with halos while demonising others, and the red pill movement and its gurus are no exception.
A ‘might makes right’ world cannot be a healthy or thriving one; it under appreciates intelligence, kindness, and openness. When we look at human history, amidst fluctuations, the world has broadly become more creative, peaceful, harmonious, abundant, and interconnected than before, this is because connection (whether it be knowledge, relationships, or technology) creates deeper and more valuable things, making any pair of things more than themselves on their own.
To make connections happen, they need space that facilitate them. Take the rule of law as just one example, it has protected inventive people’s ideas and initiatives from being stolen and hijacked by forces of crude power of selfishness, and because it protects these people, it encouraged them to create and now the modern world, through the industrial revolution, was born partly in thanks to this. Now, the rule of law is partly corrupt, always has been, but on the whole, it has allowed these improvements to happen. Being self-centered and using people for your own gain can only take you so far, as Andrew Tate’s life is a testimonial to.
So What Is the Red Pill?
The comfort zone is partly tied into this as far as our identity and perspective is concerned. Taking the red pill is the not-so-easy path, but it is a worthwhile one all the same. The red pill isn’t about becoming tough, assertive and disciplined (on their own), but rather, it involves a process of allowing our beliefs, limits, identities, and clingings to fall away to make space for deeper and wider aspects of life such as love, connection, truth, fulfillment of our potential, and so much more, all in our own unique way.
It asks us to play a bigger beneficial game: how can I win as myself on my own terms, while helping other people to win? How can I make sure this is the case and truly search in myself for darker motivations that might cloud this and lead to my own and other peoples’ suffering? How can I steer my actions towards sustainable, balanced, and life-enhancing outcomes in this vein? The world as it is today, including all that you love and value, ultimately exists because of things like relating, sacrifice, kindness, and openess.
Neo doesn’t take the red pill to become a millionaire chad with babes on demand, going on to become a soulless slave of the material and riddled with syphillis; he breaks out of the matrix to help humanity and discover the truth! When you take the red pill, your allegiance goes to truth, and truth is a lot deeper than the material and social.
Taking the red pill asks us to openly question our attachments and beliefs, including attachments to who we thought we were and believed at a conscious and unconscious level. These then are transmuted and disidentified with, freeing up energy. The culmination of this process leads to your being becoming ennobled, creative, related, full, flowful, and a lot less influenced by the pushes and forces of the world and your circumstances. You become truly strong, truly joyous, and truly capable of positively influencing your life and others.
The process of this is like tearing apart glue that is stuck between your fingers — one finger being your evolving self, the other being the attachment that is being let go of. Afterwards, there is more freedom, and you still have both fingers! There may be some torn skin, but that will heal.