Life as a Battery
If you look hard enough through Matrix forums and blogs from the past 20 years, you will find a lot of discussion on the battery. There have been technical discussions on how much power a human body really produces, if this was an efficient method, etc.
This is all well and good from a scientific perspective but it misses something important about the concept in the Matrix story.
Matrix Urban Dictionary
“Listen to me, coppertop. We don’t have time for twenty questions. Right now there’s only one rule, our way or the highway.”
‘Coppertop’ (a type of battery) is a slang term for those who have not yet been freed from the Matrix. On a simple level, they are still functioning as batteries for the machine world.
By the way, if you didn’t catch it – when Morpheus holds up the battery to show Neo (the image above) you can hear the sound effect from the original coppertop battery commercial.
Back to the chase …
Simulation Designed for Stimulation
Architect: Thus the answer was stumbled upon by another – an intuitive program initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche.
As with just about everything else in the Matrix, this too has more beneath the surface.
- Why do the machines create the elaborate Matrix world for the humans?
- Why not simply have them lie in their comfy pods, all hooked up getting their physical nutrition, and simply derive the energy from them?
The reason behind all of this is for the purpose of getting the maximum amount of energy out of the human for the machine world. By providing various forms of excitement, wealth, success, etc., in their “Matrix lives,” the humans are ‘energized’ to greater degrees and provide additional power.
We see this exemplified in the desires of Cypher and willingness of Agent Smith make it happen:
Cypher: And I want to be rich. You know, someone important. Like an actor.
Agent Smith: Whatever you want, Mr. Reagan.
Indeed. It benefits the machine world to give the people “whatever they want,” playing upon the innate self-serving aspects of humanity.
Another aspect of this, is creating problems for humans. This also plays on human self-centeredness and emotion, causing negative feelings such as the fear, doubt and disbelief, that Morpheus instructed Neo he had to rid himself of.
The Architect’s discussion with Neo in “Matrix Reloaded,” laid it out for us. His job is to create the best environment for maximum energy production. Part of doing this was designing a Matrix world that he could control – one that appealed to the worst within humans:
“I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature.”
Kabbalah and Energy
Kabbalah teaches a lot about energy in the spiritual sense, particularly as it relates to what is called our “evil inclination” (Yetzer Hara) which is the self-serving aspect of our nature.
To a degree, we need this for self-preservation and matters of advancement. However, this part of us usually does not know when to say ‘no.’
When we live life in a selfish manner, we feed spiritual energy into the “other side” (Sitra Achra), sometimes called the “evil realm.” (Represented by characters such as Smith and the Merovingian.) This causes a cascade of negativity through our environment as it occurs on both a personal and global scale.
Ironically, it is not so much the machines and programs that imprison the humans – it is themselves. Thus, when humans separate themselves from self-centered behaviors, the Sitra Achra dies off.
The negative forces are parasites. They cannot exist without nourishment from their very enemies. As soon as they are suspended from drawing energy, they are nullified.
Divine Presence in Exile, Shabtai Teicher
Is the Devil in the Details?
What is interesting is the role the Oracle plays in this scheme.
As the Architect revealed:
I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus the answer was stumbled upon by another – an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche.”
For what purpose would she be created to investigate the human psyche? Sure it’s to help create a more suitable Matrix environment, but what’s the point? Every time a Matrix world has been built, it has been destroyed.
If we view the Matrix story at the usual, “good guys and bad guys” level, then the Oracle would be considered as ‘evil’ as the Architect. As he points out, she is the one that figured out the working details for the ‘enslavement’ of the humans.
She didn’t seem to do much to shed light on her status either. Consider this fascinating exchange:
Neo: If I had to guess, I’d say you’re a program from the machine world. So is he.
The Oracle: So far, so good.
Neo: But if that’s true, that can mean you are a part of this system, another kind of control.
The Oracle: Keep going.
Neo: I suppose the most obvious question is, how can I trust you?
The Oracle: Bingo! It is a pickle, no doubt about it. The bad news is there’s no way if you can really know whether I’m here to help you or not. So it’s really up to you. You just have to make up your own damn mind to either accept what I’m going to tell you, or reject it.
How can we interpret her intentions? Is she playing games? Trying to confuse Neo? She clearly is part of the system as Neo says. Doesn’t that make her one of the “bad guys?”
Yet, she’s clearly helping the humans throughout. Doesn’t that make her one of the “good guys?”
If The Matrix is another “good versus evil” story, with the machines and programs simply out for revenge in their enslaving of the humans for their energy, then her character makes little sense.
As we discussed in our intro article on the Sefirot, the aspect of human emotions or feelings relates to the six emanations that lie between Malkhut (the Matrix world) and Binah (the world of the Oracle.) This is the battleground where the negative sources ‘oppose’ humans. It is also where we learn to overcome. The Oracle/Binah is the aspect of guidance for the humans/us to navigate our way through the mixed world of opposites.
As we wrote in that article:
In the Matrix, especially with Neo, the repair of these six, is especially associated with the means of returning to the Source. (Working up the path of the One.) This is the aspect of knowing (connecting to) one’s “true self,” as we discuss in our article on the Temet Nosce sign in the Oracle’s apartment.
Going forward, we explain how all of the characters that ‘oppose’ the humans (Smith, Merovingian, etc.) are really a “means to an end.”
We’re going down some very deep rabbit holes.
