Know Thyself: Surviving the Matrix.

“You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?" A quote from Neo. A character in the movie called The Matrix. A movie about a man who discovers that the world he is living in is an illusion that could either be a prison or a paradise. He must "wake up" to determine the truth of his existence.

Have you lived this moment? A real moment that defied all five senses, like a splinter in your reality, dividing the world into two distinct pieces.

There have been two times in my life when the world I inhabited warped and warbled like the refracted image in a raindrop. A glitch in reality. Though I was awake, the reality was surreal, leading me to question my state of awareness. I identify these moments as accidental interactions with the boundary points of "The Matrix".

I'd like to show you how I finally escaped this "prison". In addition, how I left the escape hatch open for you to do the same.

My first interaction with the "Matrix" was in Advanced Physics class, alongside two other students and a professor. Seated in a cold classroom filled with microscopes, spectrometers, and various scientific tools, We were discussing the Saddle Point method and how the energy of this potential problem went to zero. I could feel reality expand and contract around me as the teacher traced out the shape of a saddle and with one long stroke on a chalkboard, he demonstrated how, numerically, the answer ended at a zero point. He and the two students started laughing in earnest about the outcome. They held their bellies as they delighted in the result of zero energy. I tried to feign amusement, however, all I could manage was a confused smile. A flash, as the professor turned back to the board and I would testify in any court that I saw green lines of code out of the corner of my eye.

The second time was when I was at one of the highest levels of my career I was forced to wear a chicken suit.

The Matrix, in the same-titled movie, is a simulated reality masking the real world. All my life I was taught how to navigate the system, and how to seize the American dream. The rules were simple. The pathway to a fulfilling life was clear. One, get an education and go to college. Two, graduate with a degree, get a job, and climb the corporate ladder to success by working for a good corporation. Three, start a family. Fourth, retire and go find a great pond to fish in until the end of your days. Like The Matrix, these instructions were masking the real world.

During my first encounter with The Matrix in that Physics classroom, I began to sense something awry. After class, I went to the library and sat at the quiet table surrounded by bookshelves arrayed like military regiments located on the bottom floor. I took out a pen and, in the shadow of the army of authors, began to draw a mental picture of myself. More specifically, words that identified who I was, what I was hoping to gain, how I was going to arrive, and why I wanted to arrive in the first place.

I might have seen the measure of myself, I might have seen why I didn't laugh at the physics jest.

I'll never know.

Before I could finish, my friends arrived and disrupted my meditation. They invited me to a fraternity party happening later that night. "There will be girls." One of them said. All memories of the world warping while the students laughed, dropped deep into a rabbit hole in my mind.

It didn't resurface for years.

Much later in life, deep into the third step of how to navigate the system, and how to seize the American dream. College, check. Family in full swing, check. Working for a well-established corporation, check. I was confronted with the existence of The Matrix for the second time. I was an established and vetted leader in the company. An award-winner, connected in the community. a proven pillar of my department. When the leadership changed, all of my accomplishments evaporated. I was tasked to organize and implement multiple strategies designed to maximize our revenue for a signature event. One tactic included an energetic associate wearing a chicken suit to entertain the crowds. I rented the suit, prepared my team to use it, and shared the status reports with my new leader. As the event drew near, a change of plans occurred and new directions were issued. Reality fluxed and bent as my new leader reported in a meeting of department heads that I would be the one wearing the suit. I was completely unsettled. Me? The top performer, wearing a chicken suit? The edges of The Matrix frayed and I saw the overlay of the illusion against reality.

From that day, Like Neo, I began to see the intricacies of The Matrix, my corporate environment. I struggled to identify the role that I was asked to play. I worked to decipher corporate hierarchies, workflows, and office dynamics. Like Neo, I was determined to discover what was real and what was illusion.

When I reached this deciding point, I remembered the technique I used years ago at the quiet table, in the library on the basement floor. At the time, I had no name for the technique.

I crafted a mind map.

A mind map is a visual representation of ideas or information centered around a main thought or concept. From the central thought, one radiates out ideas that are connected by direct or indirect relationships, associations, or details.

Imagine Neo going through the mind map process in the back seat of that Black Lincoln Continental while the rain soaked his world and uncertainty flooded his mind.

Neo first identified a concept or idea that he needed to understand to make a critical decision. Second, he parsed direct associations with the central idea. Third, he took those first-level associations and used those ideas to identify the next level of related thoughts or the second-level associations. He repeated this process, down to the seventh level of association, the mind can only process up to 7 levels simultaneously.

I applied this mind map process to paper. Grab a sheet of paper and try it with me.

1. What is the prime concept or idea? Identify it in one word or as few as possible. Write this in the center of your paper.
2. Once you have the main concept at the center of my page. Identify the 1st level associations as a single word that directly represents the main concept idea. (Single words are better than full sentences.)
3. Repeat the process for the 1st-level associated words down to the 7th-level. (The mind cannot process past the seventh level assocations so feel free to stop there.)

Neo, just like you, did the work, he now sat in the back seat with organized data and facts. Nonetheless, he was not yet ready to decide. Organized knowledge is not enough to make a superior decision. The Critical Thought Synthesis must be completed. Neo, armed with the knowledge from his mind map, organized the data.

If you completed your mind map, you have access to organized data as well.

Neo applied his insight and life experiences to how he interpreted the data.

You should take the time to do the same. Meditate on the information. How does it align with your values? How does it mesh with the physical and spiritual laws you live by? How does it make you feel?

In the scene, Neo opens the door to leave, not certain of the truth the information and insight yielded. Trinity gently shares a unique perspective providing him with one more piece of information. It is at this point that Neo transforms. We know this because he takes a very decisive action. He closes the door and stays in the car.

To complete our Critical Thought Synthesis, we need that bridge from the synthesis of knowledge and wisdom to dive into understanding. Our bridge, our "Trinity" comes in the form of alternate sources of experts, people with differing opinions, or people we trust.

Then we transform

The Matrix may not be a physical place, but, the reality of it rains down on us like torrential rain on a black Continental. Knowing yourself is the key to escape. Create your mind map and gather the data for your main concept or purpose. Meditate on the information by applying your experience, insight, and the rules you abide by. Synthesis will occur once you get diverse opinions and perspectives on the conclusions you have obtained.

Lastly, you will reach an understanding, you will make a decision and the latch will open. You will step through...

And find the real you on the other side.