Matrixism - A religion based on The Matrix

Popeyesays said:
I think it already rivals it.
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Actually, the Jedi religion had more than 500,000 worldwide people claim it as their religion on national censuses. Currently there only two thousand practicing Matrixists.

Of course the Jedi religion predates the advent of Matrixism by about twenty-five years so who knows what the future will bring. That being said Matrixism seems a lot more serious than the Jedi religion so I imagine that its growth will be slower because the people who join are less likely to do it less out of whimsy.
 
Perhaps you could set up a forum where fellow followers could share experiences, and help guide those just beginning on their religious journey. Just a suggestion.Although it would be tough to moderate, but a meeting place would do well to help unite and encourage those who wish to study Matrixism. Actually im sure there are forums, but if I remember correctly Jediism had certain books and techniques to study. Have you read The Matrix and Philosophy?
 
The path of the One also has techniques and books to study. If you peruse the Matrixism website you'll find recommened techniques and quite a few books for study.

Try looking in the Matrixism bookstore:

Matrixism: Religion of the Matrixhttp://www.geocities.com/matrixism2069/storefront

And perhaps check out their webpage title "Hacking":

http://www.geocities.com/matrixism2069/hacking.html

Yeah it's too bad they don't have their own message board but you're probably right that it would be exceedingly hard to moderate.
 
Yeah, I'm more of a Trumanshowian or a Darkcityan. Could be a whole new website on comparitive fictional religion. Let's get the Jedis arguing with Cthulu's mob...

No, the Matrix (and all the others, including stuff like Faust, Metamorphosis and the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is just a metaphor for non-denominational spiritual awakening and anybody who thinks they can proselytise the metaphor over the experience itself is only going to attract the gullible, and not the awakening as intended.

Also, what's the dude got against heroin, cannabis and alcohol? Like nobody's ever had opiate-related awakenings (Coleridge, Beethoven, Keats anyone?) or alcohol or cannabis (Ancient Greece, Persia).

Also, taking mushrooms and LSD in themselves without a philosophical guide leaves one prone to believe the first convincing-feeling thought that arises out of the bubbling cauldron of the tripping mind.

Idiots. Still, it's a laugh, innit?
 
Blizzardry said:
Yeah, I'm more of a Trumanshowian or a Darkcityan. ...

Also, what's the dude got against heroin, cannabis and alcohol? Like nobody's ever had opiate-related awakenings (Coleridge, Beethoven, Keats anyone?) or alcohol or cannabis (Ancient Greece, Persia).

Also, taking mushrooms and LSD in themselves without a philosophical guide leaves one prone to believe the first convincing-feeling thought that arises out of the bubbling cauldron of the tripping mind.

Idiots. Still, it's a laugh, innit?
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If you took just a little time to look at the Matrixism website you'd find that Aldous Huxley's novel Island and his essay The Doors of Perception are recommended reading. So Pathists do have a philosophical guide and are not left "to believe the first convincing-feeling thought that arises" while they are one psychedelics.

And who are you calling "idiots"? You're the one ignorantly commenting on something you know nothing about. To me that's idiotic. Not to mention that you advocate for the use of heroin. .... That's beyond idiotic.

ps - The movie Dark City made its way into the Matrixism bookstore. So while you can still be a "Darkcityan" you'll have to live with the fact that Matrixism has already incorporated and transcended your beliefs. Can you live with that? :D
 
Blizz,

You really shouldn't go around making derogatory comments about the religions of other people. A lot of agnostics would argue that being an atheist like yourself is idiotic becuase "How can you know for sure?"

This place is about comparative-religion afterall. We should be finding common ground not passing dumb insults.

I read the matrixism website. It looks pretty exciting ... cool, daring, even dangerous. Who knows, maybe I'll join.
 
***Moderator Note***

Let's remember the messageboard's Code of Conduct and keep the discussion respectful.

Ben Gruagach
moderator in Alternative section of Comparative-Religion.com
 
The tenets of Matrixism...

2. acceptance of the use of psychedelics as sacrament....

Where do I sign up? Will it be like when you go into a church they give you a bread crumb and a sip of wine... Instead you go in they give you a tab of sunshine yellow LSD. And some petroleum ether :D
 
No, I don't usually dis other people's religions. But this is not a religion. At best its a piece of art. And art is game for criticism. In fact, questioning reality itself calls for criticism of religious beliefs.

When I saw The Matrix for the first time, I was quite impressed. As a reader of religious texts and a psychedelian, I was glad that it was made. It's practically an exercise in comparitive religion in itself, with all the right literature and religious references.

But...

It is a fictional Hollywood movie. It's not even a religious film, like The Passion. It's a bit of fun. Criticising a website that promotes the metaphor as religion is not disrespecting other people's religions at all.

Abdul Baha wasn't talking about a computer generated reality created by artificial intelligences to farm us for our bio-energy (I'm pretty sure!), and he is also an important link in the leadership chain for a religion that preaches against sacraments.

This is not just because I don't believe in the Prophecy of The One, or am willing to follow some stop-gap religion until He shows up. This is not a difference of belief debate. This is my personal criticism of somebody who for all intents is telling everybody to take acid and stick posters up with the word Matrixism on them. Nowhere on the website does it give information on what to do in a bad trip, any advice on staying lucid in the maelstrom of new thoughts and feelings, just that if you take acid, you're awake, and if you smoke pot, you're not.

Yes, I am advocating the use of opiates. Mothers in labour love a hit of the stuff as much as wounded soldiers or crazy classical creative types. It's a powerful medicine and used with respect is capable of providing inspiration and spiritual awakening, as well as instant relief from a wide variety of human pains. If you're going to dis a medicine on the basis that many people abuse it, then you're discounting all the alcoholics, the acid burnouts, the obese fast-food and chocolate addicts, and countless other things that people screw themselves up on.

This is not a religion. This is a piece of culture-jamming protest art, and an interpretation of a Hollywood movie. Similar to the Jedi way, which was an amalgamation of Buddhist, Hindu and the 60's ethos of Fighting the Man. Yoda is just Yogi and Buddha combined. A bunch of catchphrases a religion is not.

The spaghetti monster religion is one I like. It's challenging, and nobody really believes in His Noodly Self, but being able to say you're part of it challenges bad logic and may even help prevent non-science being taught as science in schools.

My faith in God remains unshaken by the matrixian heathens. ;)

Peace, everybody...
 
Matrixism is most definitely a religion. In fact it's now my religion.

How can one not be offended when a atheist heroin junkie claims that the religion you follow is not a real religion?

Well I guess you can feel sorry for the poor addict.

ps to Blizard - We're not matrixians we're Matrixists or Pathists and the words are properly capitalized. So get it right and quit fomenting religious bigotry :D
 
Nah I see where he is coming from, I think it is quite sad when people get a bit "carried" away with films... Such as the Jedi thing. I kinda knew someone who made 'fight club' his religion, giving away all his things, everything, clothes, music, games, furniture and so on... I don't look at any of these as religions just as fan boys of films. Maybe I am being too harsh... Anyway have to go... The Cult of the One: Barney, is in session...

program-art-barney.gif

Hail the One!
 
I'm not addicted to heroin. You got that completely wrong. I actually have a love and respect for the milk of the poppy, have enjoyed it on many occasions for medicinal and spiritual reasons.

"Matrixism is a newly emergent religion based on the motion picture trilogy The Matrix"

I have been doing what I do for longer than the Matrix movies have been out. I've read deeply into many religious texts and shamanic artwork, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to Tommy, and have plenty of experience with psychedelic awakening. I'm even the prophet for a minor religion of myself (my girl and my little brother and a few select friends who've agreed with me), so I respect other small religions starting out. However, if this is a religion, the info on the FAQ and the info on the front page sould be swapped. The main pages talk in terms of fact rather than metaphor, and go on to mention the time-line of the movies, recommending LSD and mushrooms, and denouncing alcohol and heroin (because nobody's ever been addicted to acid, have they?), and yet the FAQ explains that it's all nonsense anyway and they're really an amalgamation of metaphors. If it's a religion, it's an offshoot of Psychedelianism, founded officially by Timmy Leary with precedents throughout history among most cultures. But psychedelianism is not a religion, it's a practise, where the user is invited to compare dogmas and perhaps come up with his own.

But it's just one guy and a few friends talking about what they've seen in a movie and how it applies to what they're finding out about the world they live in. It's not a religion. If you call yourself a Matrixist, then surely you can see how the front page of your faith's official website is misleading?

No offense intended, but I would be equally disturbed at a Church of Trainspotting that advocated taking smack.
 
Well we disagree on many points.

You say psychedelics are addictive when in fact they are not.

You say heroin can induce profound religious experience. I believe that it doesn't.

... and the list goes on.

Anyhoo, to eack their own. Have a nice life and good luck with the opiates.
 
It's ok. I don't expect you've heard of Baudelaire, Coleridge and Edgar Allen Poe...

And having volunteered in drug information and advice, I've personally met about 30 LSD addicts.

The point I'm making is that ALL these chemicals have benefits and risks and using what we have at our disposal, whether it be speed ("It's not method in our madness, it's the madness in our methedrine" - David Byrne), opiates, mushrooms or acid, we should be respectful and not ignorant to the risks.

I can't agree with you because my own personal life experiences have taught me otherwise. And most of my friends who use opiates for spiritual or meditative reasons would disagree with you.

I don't believe that they produce religious experience, I have personally had profound religious experiences from poppy tea, raw opium, or occasionally pure heroin. Now who's dissing MY religion?

I still love you though... :)
 
Blizzard & 17th,

You guys act like Matrixism is only about the use of psychedelics when in fact there is much more to the religion.

First there is the prophecy and Matrixism's connection with Abrahamic and Dharminic traditions. It seems that all the world is waiting for a Messiah, return of the Messiah, Mahdi, future Buddha, incarnation of Shiva or Vishnu etc. Stating the imminence of this from a post Baha'i perspective is a noble attempt at a syncretic world religious movement.

Secondly there are new social laws specific to Matrixism. The reason's for their being are not spelled out; But when have prophets ever been so transparent as to fully explain their reasons? In the contexts of postmodern thought the laws of Matrixism seem to be well reasoned in MHO.

Lastly there is the statement regarding the semi-subjective nature of reality. This is in keeping with the modern scientific while opening the door to higher ways of looking at the world. Again the higher ways of looking at the world are not spelled out on the website but there is referrence among Matrixism's recommened reading. And should everything be spelled out by Matrixism anyway? They are after all looking for the next One.

So again there is much more to this religion, this meme if you will, than just its sacrament.

ps - You talk about informing people of the risks associated with drugs but it seems that you deliberately are misleading people who read this forum. To correct your errors;

1) LSD is not addictive like opiates (i.e. heroin). Blizzard sights anecdotal evidence when scientifically and clinically psychedelics are considered to be non-addictive.
2) Heroin is highly physically and mentally addictive so much so that people often resort to crime (even against their own family) to feed their addiction.
3)People often overdose and die as a result of using heroin.
4)It is nearly impossible to overdose on LSD. There has never been a case of someone dying from an LSD overdose.

Letting people believe that these two classes of drugs are comparable is not only wrong it is irresponsible. ... but I digress.
 
Ok, heroin is physically addictive because it mirrors our own "home-made" opiates, like endorphins. If we take it for extended periods of time, our endorphins don't need to pump anymore, and the opiates take over. If you come off it the next day, there is usually no withdrawal. If you've taken it for long enough, you'll feel a body without endorphins - painful. Comparable to a vicious flu fever.

Knowing this, why would anybody take it for extended periods of time? Sheer psychological dependency and lack of willpower. And please don't give me this nonsense about people committing crimes against their families for the drug. These people are criminals without the drug. They are taking the drug because something has already snapped in them to the point where they couldn't care less about themselves and the people around them.

They did not take opium to receive mystic insights on the scale of Kubla Khan, or to assist in Zen and Yogic meditation, or even for the lucidity of a stilled mind. There is a HUGE difference.

Labelling herbalist alchemical practise with nihilistic criminality is just not where it's at. Calling me a junkie because I choose to use all God's plants wisely is very different to me calling the Matrixist website irresponsible because it's reactionary and pushes drama over actual content.

As for acid. True, it's not known to be physically addictive. However, there is a very real and documented psychological addiction. It's a beautiful and important part of the shaman's garden, but it's risks need to be.

Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps only in my deluded fantasy do people occasionally freak out, end up in murder cults, develop incurable recurring flashbacks, kill themselves, or develop paranoias about demons. Yes that's it. Really, in the REAL world, I'm sure people trip along happily with nothing but a copy of Doors of Perception (and understand all the heavy language) and a handful of Matrixian Symbol posters to stick up. Sweet. If only there were a drug that could get me there!

When I took LSD I had made my choice. I still stand by it. The NASA astronauts that died on their way to the moon knew it was a possibility. They were willing to stake their lives on the chance that they would advance science for humankind, and make history in the process. Nobody put up posters saying "Fly to the Moon, it'll be fine..."

When I first started in herbalism, alchemy and mysticism, I was taught to understand and respect the role ALL medicines play in improving our lives spiritually and physically, the risks and dangers involved with each one, and that education stood me in good stead.

God, if I could count the amount of misguided reactionaries I've seen ranting on about the movies they've seen and the acid trips they've had, it makes me really sad. All the screaming, freaking out and floods of tears have made me stronger, but I'm one of the lucky ones.

I have no problem with you believing in the coming of The One, really. Or even taking a good metaphor (and it was a good one, if derivative and a blatant Hollywood cash-cow) and using it as a guide on your journey of inner discovery. If you REALLY believe that this one website is how you would like your spirituality to be defined, then I can't really dis your Matrixism, or Pathism.

In fact, I'd like to compare experiences and findings with you.

But I'd have to see something that says this isn't just some guy sticking up a few assorted ideas based on a movie, backing it up with a FAQ that is a complete mishmash of religious and philosophical quotes mixed in with a "you don't really have to do anything" clause.

I mean, is this a genuine path? The website says it's a religion based on a movie. Then goes on to tell you to join another religion and wait for the messiah. What is it? Is it a mystic discipline? Which Abrahamic traditions? A way of life? Or just another Join Me or King Danny? Come on, even the Discordians are more organised! The Church of the Subgenius has more inspiration. And they never get much airtime on these forums.

Now obviously, if we're up for criticising each others way of life, we're up for getting it. I don't really mind being called a Junkie or having my beliefs ripped on, because it's all in good humour, isn't it? If you did any damage to my philosophy I would thank you. As I'm sure you would.

I think you run a little deeper than that. Peace, dude...
 
Blizzardry said:
And please don't give me this nonsense about people committing crimes against their families for [heroin]. ...

As for [LSD]. True, it's not known to be physically addictive. However, there is a very real and documented psychological addiction. ...

I mean, is this a genuine path? The website says it's a religion based on a movie. Then goes on to tell you to join another religion and wait for the messiah. What is it? Is it a mystic discipline? Which Abrahamic traditions? A way of life? ...

I think you run a little deeper than that. Peace, dude...
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The truth is that many people become addicted to heroin the first time they use it. It is that physically addictive. And yes it is true not all heroin addicts become slaves to organized crime. But it seems that there are more than enough deaths attributed to heroin overdose to support the notion that the good addicts end up committing suicide just so that they won't do harm to other people. Many many people overdoes on heroin.

As for LSD psychological addiction to it is not only not well documented it is virtually non-existent. Why? Because LSD really isn't addictive at all. I believe that the anecdotal cases of LSD addiction that you site are really people who take LSD in combination with other drugs. Good science says that it is the other drugs (stimulants, opiates, barbituates, etc.) that they are addicted to.

Anyhow, we clearly disagree about this subject of entheogens and we have played it for all it is worth. I for one would like to just agree to disagree.

I will grant you that Matrixism and its website are rather light perhaps even whimsical (I would say fun). Matrixism is after all based in part on a Hollywood movie. How serious do you want it to take itself? That being said is not good humor one of the characteristics of a true mystic? I believe that is written in tradition.

Matrixism is pluralistic in terms of its relation to other religions. I find this refreshing. Most religions exclude themselves from each other and thus become a source of division and prejudice. Matrixism at least takes a step (small or large?) in the right direction towards exchange and understanding.

As it is stated on the Matrixism homepage it comes from the lineage of the Baha'i Faith which is an Abrahamic religion.

Lastly you are right I do "run deeper" but I'm not really here to expose all of my depths. Truly I hardly know you.

Peace to you all the same as long as you are truly peaceful and fair.
 
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