Do you want the red pill or the blue pill?

We love the movie the Matrix, which is very absurd…

In the movie, there is the world everyone believes is the real world, which is in the matrix… and then there is the real real world, which is vastly different. In the latter, humans are mere batteries for machines to consume. It’s a bleak world by comparison.

In the movie, there are only a handful of humans who have escaped the matrix and see the world as it really is. What’s great about this is that these humans have the option of going back into the matrix. They can, in other words, choose to be deceived. They can choose to live in that fantasy world. Or they can choose to see the world as it is.

There is a great scene where Morpheus offers the hero of the film, Nero, the choice:

“Morpheus: This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”

So… do you want the blue pill or the red pill?

The absurd man takes the red pill. He wants to see the world as it is, rather than believe the fantasy concocted by others for him to believe.

We find that people do not want to accept the absurd, because they find aspects of unsettling. Or because they find they like their own pretty little lies more.

It reminds us of another great line from the movie, where a character name Cypher, who knows the matrix is a fraud, chooses to take the blue pill anyway:

“Cypher: You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize?
[Takes a bite of steak]
Cypher: Ignorance is bliss.”

We know several people who can walk right to edge of absurdity, but can’t accept its final ramifications. They’d rather sink back into believing that their life has some meaning, that they are important in some way, that they control their life, that they can cheat death, etc.

There is another great scene in the movie where a boy uses his mind to bend a spoon. The following is a snippet of dialogue between the boy and Nero.

“Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”

Wild stuff…but again it gets to heart of the movie, and the heart of the absurd: What is real? What do we control?

So we ask you: do you want the red pill or the blue pill? If you take the red pill, we’ll show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes…