blueblaze - the matrix

so first of all, you need to have enjoyed the movie "the matrix" before you can even understand this post. if you haven't, stop reading, go watch the movie, and then please continue reading. secondly, i have to share some of my root assumptions as i find them to differ from a majority of other people's root assumptions. first, i guess i should define what i mean by root assumption. so in any system, be it the individual, church, corporation, government, or group you have a basic and fundamental set of agreed-upon, regardless of whether or not they are necessarily agreeable, rules, codes, laws, ideas, etc. here is where i like the word "assumption" cuz it is more general than the aforementioned words. i also like the word "root" cuz it gives you a definite sense and even possibly a visual of the assumption being fundamental and root-like as the foundation from which all other ideas and group consciousnesses spring, just as a tree or plant sprouts and rises from its root system. gosh, hopefully i am making sense and haven't lost y'all already. so in any given intersection of space and time, humanity has a set of root assumptions. for example, we all, well most of us, agree that the earth is a sphere. then more and more finite sub groups under the overarching group of humanity have their own root assumptions. for example, in the west we have a focus more on the individual whereas in the east there is more of a focus on the group. so with all that said, i will share some of my root assumptions so you will be able to understand what i mean by the matrix. first of all, i will out myself right now (no, not in the way many of you assume or predict i should based on my gender identity within the currently available choices of the matrix - sorry to disappoint, but at this intersection of time/space there are no boxes in the matrix in which i fit ;) ) by telling y'all that this hike is primarily a spiritual journey above all else. my mind is in the realm of the topics of these blueblaze posts for a majority of time as i hike the seemingly unending miles. i only share what i think i can verbalize in a way that will be comprehendible and what i think people are ready to integrate. there is the primary root assumption of my hike - spiritual awakening. why, you may ask? this process actually started way back in 2007 with a series of very personal and life changing events, culminating with (here is where i will out myself again) my death this past labor day. yes, my death. when my gall bladder ruptured and i was air-lifted to the hospital to have it removed, i actually died for 2 minutes. to say this was life changing is stating it mildly. i haven't shared this with anyone as i have spent the six months leading up to my decision to hike processing my own death experience. so as for root assumptions, prior to 2007 one of my root assumptions was: not sure about god, but i basically believe in a biological model where we exist and then die, end of story. sound familiar? maybe your's varies a little, but i have found this to be common in western cultures. ya, my existential root assumption has changed quite a bit. first, i should say that as a psychologist i believe that reality is all perception and is therefore what you make of it. starting in 2007 i began changing my reality to include the possibility there is existence beyond the biological model - that we do eternally exist. who was i to argue with the world's oldest religions? then there came a point where i made a choice and said to myself: it doesn't matter what the real Truth is, with a capital T, i am choosing my reality to be that i have a soul, eternal and separate from this vessel of a body that currently carries it, which can never be harmed or destroyed in any way. now remember before you judge me, for you too where once a slave in egypt (love that phrase), that i have already acknowledged that reality is of your own creation and that it is what you make of it. this is what i can tell you of what happened when i died: one enters a place i will call "the in-between." not like with ghosts who are actually trapped in a quasi dimension because of their inability to accept the reality of their own physical death. this is a reality of your own making. if you believe in heaven, heaven it shall be. if you believe in hell or purgatory, there you shall be. this will be your reality until you become conscious of the reality of your physical death and that you still "exist." for me, i was already in this frame of mind so i went on to an immediate gestalt review, not linear (hard to describe), of my life - my dharma and my karma. (please just look up concepts or words so i don't have to be too verbose, which for many of you i fear i already am) aka - my intentions for this life and my desires. there was no judgement. there was just choice. in my case, it was remain or move on. the sense was: rejoin fully with "the one," (insert god or whatever your favorite phrase is, but for me this being of perfect unity was unnamable), or return to this current life, cuz my body was salvageable, or a new reincarnation to continue experimenting with separation and duality. there even seemed to be a countless number of choices within which i could continue my learning about separation from unity - in other words earth was only one choice of many three dimensional places, within many dimensions. well, needless to say, i chose to return to this life. i was, however, fundamentally and forever changed cuz my root assumption changed. i chose a spiritual versus biological belief system and then had my proving experience to back up my belief. what is the Truth with a capital T? idk! i think that only the avatars and our fragmented souls when we choose to rejoin "the one" know the Truth. i choose to believe in my current root assumption because it is just a happier and more pleasant one than any others i have experienced. let me make it clear that while i may integrate concepts from the world's religions, religion is ultimately the creation and machination of man and therefore fundamentally flawed. i believe our little three dimensional school of separation here on earth would actually be a much happier and freer place if indiviual spiritualism was the order of the day and religion no longer existed. so anyway, there you have some of my root assumptions. i chose to share this so as to be even more authentic with y'all and so as to give you a basis for this concept of the matrix. now i don't mean some evil machine created technological matrix like in the movie, but a matrix nonetheless. look up the word matrix. hinduism has the concept of maya, with which i actually gravitate more towards, but i use the term matrix for the western mind because it is so technological in its essence. within any given culture or group consciousness on earth, there is a matrix into which people plug themselves. i observe this so clearly cuz currently i am not plugged into the american matrix on a daily basis. the biggest human matrix i could possibly plug into on this hike is the thru-hiker culture. but i have been blissfully in a bubble of no hikers, so clarity is a great gift at the moment. i of course enjoy plugging back in from time to time, but i have to admit it is quite overwhelming at times. i accept being called feral by the woman at skyland restaurant on day 46 cuz thru the eyes and perception of someone fully plugged into the matrix i must absolutely look wild and feral. i mean, i am. i am unplugged and untamed by the matrix in which i physically live. i want to be clear that i am not placing any negative, or even positive, value upon the matrix. it just is. this further hits home as i read "the hunger games" in camp in the evenings on my iphone (a part of the matrix i still refuse to unplug from). this is a conceptually brilliant literary example of a matrix with an utterly disagreeable root assumption. do you agree with people starving in this world when most americans just throw food away? of course you don't. it is our current matrix. i can see it so clearly because i am unplugged. this is the whole purpose of my hike - the spiritual awakening that comes from physically removing myself from the matrix in which i live. does everyone need to do exactly this? no. would the world be a better place if everyone found there own way to unplug even for a brief moment? yes. be a revolutionary. be change. step out of the matrix of your life and take a look around. what are you afraid of?