Chapter F – Insights from the Metaphors of the Computer World

What can the computer we built teach us about our own soul?

"It is amazing to see how man builds his tools according to the structure of his own body and soul."

The Sages tell us that the world around us is really a mirror image of our inner world. Everything we see outside is an expression of what is happening inside us. This is the tool with which we can work on and repair that hidden world of our inner being. And if this is so regarding things that are not in our control, how much more so regarding the products that man himself creates. It is amazing to see how man builds his tools according to the structure of his own body and soul. A car engine, for example, is remarkably similar to the structure of the human heart. In the same way, man created the computer, built in the image of his way of thinking. By looking at the world of computers we can learn a great deal about the structure of man's soul and mind, and about the reality in which he lives. Our Sages tell us that "the whole world was created for me" – the whole world cries out to man messages meant to direct him to his destiny, to his soul. The question is whether there is an ear that listens to the hidden voices. (Psalms: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech and there are no words – their voice is not heard!")

The metaphor of the computer world, which is the very heart of the film The Matrix, opens a fine doorway to contemplating the secret of the soul of man and of the world. Through the parable we can understand many concepts and ideas in a more tangible and clear way.

Creating a reality

The first and most important subject is the ability to create – to "create" a reality. In this advanced technological age we see that any average teenager, after one software course or another and with the right tools, can actually create a small world – a virtual reality. Of course, the more the tools are refined, the more real the software looks, until today there are games in which the user enters entirely into the simulated reality and can even play against others who enter it together with him. It would be no exaggeration to say that at this very moment, and at every moment, a very high percentage of the "enlightened" world lives inside the virtual world of the internet. True, this creation is still "something from something," but in our perception we are coming very close to the possibility of creation "something from nothing" – the only difference being that the programmer is located in a place that, for us, is "nothing," beyond our reality. Suddenly it seems possible to us that we are really inside very high-quality software – a virtual simulation wrapping us on all sides until it looks absolutely "real." The story of creation suddenly becomes very simple, understandable and close; the only difference is that here the hardware is biological.

An important hint to this parallel between the Matrix and our world is the fact revealed in the second film, where Neo discovers that his wondrous powers, which break the laws of the world, serve him also in the reality outside the Matrix. This recognition cries out to us that the "real" world outside the Matrix is also programmed!

A person is where his thought is

Another subject illustrated very beautifully in the film through the computer world is that a person is where his thought is. The essence of a person is his mental-spiritual awareness, and it is possible to separate the awareness of the soul from the awareness of the body. Bodily awareness should serve as a tool for developing the awareness of the soul, not as a barrier before it. Part of the tactics of our inner Smith and the other agents of the system is simply to throw our thoughts off the road – to prevent a settled mind.

Why the programs appear in human form

An especially important subject is the recognition that in the film, although all the programs – from the "Source," through the Architect and the Oracle, and all the rest – are not human, they nevertheless appear in human form. Why?! In order to make contact possible with Neo and his friends, who are inside a human world and body. The medium through which the communication takes place is a human medium, and so the programs humanize themselves in order to communicate. We know this well from the computer world, where files of one type must be converted into another to be read in a different format – which does not change their content! With this understanding we can grasp what often seems to us very "primitive" when we open the prayer book and see how Judaism likens the Supreme Consciousness to a human being and attributes to Him human qualities such as anger, forgiveness, will and so on. The "Whole" truly has no form, no image, no limits, nothing! We, in order to communicate with Him and touch Him, build paths that go out from our world, and so they resemble us. He, for His part, communicates with us according to our world of images. The wise person is the one who knows how to look beyond the parable, beyond the type of medium. "And His kingdom rules over all" (u'malchuto ba-kol mashala – also read as "His kingdom is a parable in everything") – the whole world is a parable, a vessel of communication: communication with the Chief Programmer, who stands beyond the back doors of reality.

Players and programs

Another fact that becomes clear from the parable of the computerized Matrix is that various figures appear within the reality of the Matrix. Some of the figures are indeed "players" who have a real body outside the Matrix. And some of the figures that look "human" to the naked eye are nothing more than part of the software! They have no reality beyond the illusion; they look human, but really they are "only" programs. Perhaps this is why it is relatively easy for us, "the gentle of soul," to cope with the harsh violence of the film – simply because we understand that the agents and the other programs are not "real"; they are only part of the software. This understanding gives us a glimpse of a very delicate subject that many find hard to accept: the difference between a person who has a soul and a person who has no soul – and the one who understands will understand.

In addition, forces from the world beyond can "enter and dwell" (as an ibbur or a dybbuk) within the figures in the Matrix.

Ten contractions – the compressed world

Another subject clarified by the computer metaphor is the way the world was created. The book "Me'or Einayim" teaches that the world was created through ten contractions (tzimtzumim). As it were, the infinite consciousness contracted itself ten times so that our limited minds, with their weak processors, could cope with the enormous, infinite file. The contraction, the compression, is a kind of special WINZIP program that compressed the higher spiritual qualities into a material format to which we can relate. The whole material world is therefore full of compressed "icons," and behind each of them hides an infinite spiritual power; all that is needed to release it is mastery of the compression program. (See the chapter on the work of character traits.)

A life program made for each person

An unparalleled psychological effect is achieved by Morpheus and the fighters of Zion through their understanding that "the One," and each and every person, is placed from the outset within a life-reality programmed especially for him, and that throughout his life he goes through the special training program prepared for him, with all its hardships, in order to bring him to the fulfillment of his personal destiny. This knowledge allows him to accept the difficulties that pass over him, recognizing that coping with them and overcoming them is the very purpose for which they were designed and sent to him. This recognition also helps him choose his path – to accept the path dictated for him – and not to sit and zap between the stations, eaten up by the feeling that perhaps at this very moment he is missing the other channels. That feeling comes from believing Smith, who convinces him that the purpose of life is to end, and that there is no continuation: this life is all there is, and that's it. Then he constantly feels the pressure that perhaps he is missing out. The soul's drive to fulfill its spiritual destiny throws in his face the fact that he really does not feel full and satisfied – a feeling that makes him look for more and more earthly substitutes on the other channels. The fighters of Zion, by contrast, make peace with their role, accept their path and know that everything is directed from above. They are therefore free to advance toward fulfilling their destiny within the framework of their lives ("from your land, from your birthplace and from your father's house"), and with the fulfillment of their destiny – to the feeling of satisfaction and happiness that flows from the confirmation they feel in realizing their purpose. A settled mind.

Even when things do not flow exactly the way they would like, they believe that everything that happens happens for the good, and that if they are still alive – it is a sign that all is well. The Sages taught us that whoever lives with such faith – that everything happens according to a plan, for the good – draws to himself the flow of the good purpose.

Restart – the power to begin again

Another lesson drawn from the software metaphor concerns the possibility of change. Every person has the ability to reprogram himself – that is, he has the ability to do a RESTART of his being. Apart from the forced "restart" that a person undergoes when he reaches a dead end in his life, unable to advance toward his purpose – when he is taken out of the Matrix and sent back for another attempt as a new figure – there is the possibility for a person, on his own initiative, to "restart" himself in the same figure, with the same tools, and to download new updates that will help him on the way to the goal. Within this change, the history of the problems is erased. It is no longer he who did them; he is already someone new. This may sound childish, but it is one of the mightiest tools of spiritual growth and progress: teshuvah (return). The ability to be born anew in the same body – "this day I have begotten you." Someone without this mighty tool may live a large part of his life with self-anger and inner non-acceptance of his "falls" from the standards of values he expects of himself – something that can fix him in place and color his life in gloomy colors. As long as we related to our lives in the "normal" way, we did not grasp how it is possible simply to erase. Now, with the help of the Matrix, we understand that we are inside software, and all that is needed is to learn its language and how to use it. It is possible to become the programmer and to create myself anew. "Don't let who you are get in the way of who you can become."

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Translated from the Hebrew chapter "הבנות והארות משמוש במטפורות מעולם המחשבים" by Roni Ayalon-Hirsch.