Your mind makes it real

But does it really?

Your mind makes it real. - Morpheus in “The Matrix”

Many will recognize the quote, “Your mind makes it real” from the movie The Matrix. The idea that Morpheus was conveying to Neo was that they were living in a fake, computer-generated “reality” in which you could truly exercise mind over matter, if you only believe. I recently had an old episode of Star Trek, which far pre-dates The Matrix, running in the background while I was taking care of some chores, and I heard Mr. Spock utter something that expressed a similar sentiment only it differed slightly in its implications, but a concept that very much reflects a phenomenon that seems rather prevalent in society today.

While trapped in what appears to be an inescapable replication of Tombstone, AZ, forced to play part in a re-enactment of the shootout of the O.K. Corral, one of the crew is shot prior to the face-off. The doctor examines the crewman to find him dead. Having already experienced something else that defied logic, and apparently reality, Spock, referring back to the death of crewman, makes the following observation:

You made your examination under conditions which we cannot trust. We judge reality by the response of our senses. Once we are convinced of the reality of a given situation, we abide by its rules. 

There is a difference here in that the concept proposed in The Matrix says that reality is shaped by one’s thoughts, whereas Spock’s proposal, which now dominates our political and social landscape, is that we judge reality by our senses (whether accurate or not) and we are shaped by our thoughts about reality. Our behavior is based on our perception of reality. This raises the question, “by which of our senses do we judge reality?” This also exposes the problem.

For the past three years (actually, more if you really consider it), those from whom most expect to receive trustworthy information, the government and the media (but I repeat myself), have been basically telling us, “don’t believe what you see - believe what we tell you to believe.”

So, believing what they have been told, convinced by their sense of hearing rather than their own sight, the followers are convinced they live in a particular universe, one that doesn’t exist, and thus they abide by the rules of this alternate reality into which they’ve been immersed. This explains why people have capitulated to lunacy such as:

• wearing masks to protect against a virus from which masks couldn’t protect

• taking a novel, experimental injection, the dangers of which were greatly underestimated to protect against a virus about which the dangers were greatly exaggerated

• seeing an increase in sudden deaths among young healthy people and rejecting that it could be caused by novel experimental injections despite the fact that never before the introduction of those novel experimental injections were these sudden deaths so prevalent

• all white people are racist

• people who are not white can’t be racist

• men can be women and women can be men

• disapproving someone’s behavior is the same as hating that person

• drag shows can be family friendly

• gender has nothing to do with biological sex, but mutilation of biological sex organs is “gender-affirming”

• and so many more…

While Spock used critical thinking to reason through what he and the crew were experiencing, and was able to discern reality from illusion, what has been happening in our society is quite the opposite. Fueled by high-octane agitprop, people are basing their understanding of reality on their emotions; critical thinking has been relegated to those denounced as “deniers,” “haters,” and “extremists.” This line of (il)logic leads to a solipsistic slant, the likes of which produces the idea of “my truth” as opposed to objective truth.

Those who believe in “my truth” have succumbed to the conundrum Spock pondered. They have rejected objective reality, judging reality based on information that cannot be trusted, and becoming so convinced, that they abide the “rules” of that false reality. Then, when “your truth” (or objective truth) stands in opposition to their truth, they insist that you reject your truth in favor of theirs, and if you refuse, you will be coerced or cancelled.

Contrary to the Matrix mythos that “your mind makes it real,” those who have slid into this semi-solipsism will, at some point, run against the impenetrable palisade that is objective reality. Had Spock not recognized the dilemma in which the crew found themselves, and the rest of the crew awakened to the reality of their situation (that what they were seeing and experiencing was not real), they may have perished in that illusory O.K. Corral, meeting their demise at the non-existent hands of their imaginary foes. If those who claim to be woke don’t wake up to the alternate universe in which they are choosing to live, they may meet the fate that the crew of the Enterprise only narrowly escaped.