I thought I was done with the series I did on The Matrix, but I’m not. That’s what epilogues are for! It’s like a P.S. for writers, and who doesn’t like a good postscript? If you read the series, which started with Part One, you probably appreciate now more than ever that it’s a film…
I was a springboard diver as a kid. I was good, but I was never great. I understand why now. There are two principles that make the difference between good and great in any endeavor. When you learn to dive, you start with the easy stuff, of course: front dive, back dive, maybe a single…
This is the final installment of my series on The Matrix. Have you seen Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 yet? Neo’s meeting with the Oracle is quite built up, so we share Neo’s disorientation when he walks into a shabby kitchen and meets who looks like a mitten-knitting grandmother when we’re…
Last week in part 3, of the series on The Matrix, we discussed how Neo learns he must let go of his sense of control in order to find the truth. We’ve touched on the idea of the mind prison, wherein we trap ourselves by believing our thoughts are us. Inside this prison, we’re compelled…
This is part three of my series on the Matrix, which was released 20 years ago. If you haven’t already read Parts One and Two, you might want to review those first. Perhaps the most famous scene from The Matrix is when Morpheus asks Neo to choose between the red pill and the blue pill.…
Today we’re going to talk about Whataboutism, one of the most popular ways people deceive you. Early last year, the Oxford English Dictionary added the word whataboutism to its catalog: “The technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue.” Whataboutism is the perhaps…
One of my favorite movies is the cult classic, “Office Space” written by Mike Judge, the nefarious creator of Beavis and Butthead. In the film he portrays management as being so incompetent that it’s comedic. But it’s easy to miss the powerful lessons amidst the caricature. Let’s unpack one of the most-loved scenes to learn…
What if there were a way to instantly get the results you want? More money, more time, better employees—whatever you want? I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t that the result of hard work?” “Don’t I have to change as a person?” “What if I haven’t earned those results yet?” You’re thinking too small! You may…
In part one of this series, I deconstructed the infamous, “There is no spoon” scene from The Matrix to begin our celebration of the film’s twenty year anniversary. Next, I want to examine two important, and opposite choices in the movie that represent aspects of the human psyche: the choice Neo makes to leave the…
This spring marks the 20th anniversary of the release of The Matrix, one of the most spiritually significant mainstream films of our time. It’s a movie about waking up, and it brilliantly uses some ancient zen wisdom that I thought I’d unpack in a series of articles. Part of the genius of The Matrix is…