UPDATED: 5.18.22
Below are our unique replies to Frequently Asked Questions about the Matrix as explained according to the kabbalistic framework behind the movies. We are presenting these more or less in chronological order. Some of the answers may be ‘deeper’ than others. Scroll through or ‘Control-F’ on something of interest to you.
Be sure to check out the Matrix4Humans Knowledge Base and our new Matrix Resurrections section for more complete information on these topics, and to learn how all of this interconnects and points us to the direction that The Matrix is going to! Please submit your questions via the Contact Form on the top of any page.
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What happened to allow the machines to gain control and enslave the humans?
This is in the backstory that is explained in other Matrix resources outside the three movies. It does add an important dimension in that the humans became self-centered and arrogant, thinking themselves to be ‘godlike’ in their creation of a ‘singular’ Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the machine world.
The humans used the machines as slaves to further their own selfish desires. The machines, with their access to AI, soon were able to rebel and enslave the humans.
On a deeper level, the Matrix is not about enslavement as ‘revenge,’ or “good and bad guys.” The story is about the means of humanity rectifying itself and returning to the intended harmony of existence. This is why Neo no longer sees Smith as his ‘enemy’ at the end of The Matrix Revolutions , but as a means toward this (future) end.
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What is the wall of TV screens seen when Neo gets arrested in the first movie?
We find out later, in The Matrix Reloaded, that this connects to the world of the Architect. There we learn that the TV screens function in two ways. One is a record of the individual’s history (in the case, Neo).
The other shows us how all possible paths are bound up within the moment, as we see within Neo in the moments after the Architect tells him that Zion is about to be destroyed. As the Oracle hints, this is a limitation to the Architect’s thinking. He can only see the past and present.
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How did Morpheus realize that Neo is the “One”?
Morpheus had attained a high level of connection in his own advancement. As the Oracle said, “we’re all here to do what we’re all here to do.” A good teacher recognizes when a student has a gift and seeks to help him realize his potential, even rising above his master. Morpheus’s main role was one of seeking out, finding and training, the One.
With regard to freeing any of the humans, Morpheus corresponds to the attribute called ‘Yesod’ (Foundation) which is the aspect of ‘connection’ between the false world of concealment (our world and the Matrix world in the movies), and the higher spiritual worlds of true reality.
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What does Trinity mean when she says “You’ve been down there, Neo. You already know that road. You know exactly where it ends. And I know that’s not where you want to be.”?
Neo had the spark within him that cause his seeking out “more to life.” This occurred at the very first level of the lowest dimension of the soul, called, “Nefesh within Nefesh.” The subsequent step within this (and each) level is to “engage in the struggle.”
This next ‘rung’ is the “Ruach within Nefesh.” This is where many people stagnate and often give up, turning back to the mundane. Trinity encourages Neo to have strength and pursue his path, and not return back to the false reality of the Matrix. This second level of Ruach, is where challenges and choices present themselves, and where he first meets Morpheus and takes the red pill.
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Why does Morpheus give Neo a red pill? Is the color significant?
Things like colors, numbers, spatial directions, can all carry meaning in kabbalah and do throughout the Matrix movies. Red is associated with the emanation of Judgment (Gevurah). This is the force behind the idea of ‘constriction,’ called ‘Tsimtsum.’
All spiritual advancement is preceded by some form of tsimtsum/restriction. We must restrict our current false view of reality in order to ‘make room’ for the truth. Tsimtsum can be self-imposed or ‘provided’ by the spiritual realm to those seeking. When the Oracle speaks of “unbalancing the equation,” she is referring to this.
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Why is the human community called Zion? Does that have spiritual significance?
In kabbalah, Zion relates to the state of the rectified world of concealment (the latter being the Matrix). Zion also refers to the people who have gone beyond selfishness and materialism to seek the path of serving others. The kabbalistic term, “captivity of Zion” relates to our status until the final rectification comes.
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Why don’t machines find a better power source – such as animals?
First, we have to understand the Matrix films from the deeper spiritual dimension. Humans are the best source of power as each one can be ‘energized’ by allowing them to indulge in their desires. This can be power, fame, money, sex, etc. The more they are distracted by and drawn to such things, the more ‘energy’ they produce. This is why Smith is willing to offer Cypher a way back into the Matrix and any lifestyle he chooses – he will serve the machine world well.
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Why is the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar so excited to see Neo fight Morpheus in the sparring program?
On a deeper level, there is a ‘consciousness’ within everyone, that seeks to escape this world of concealment we live in and return to a higher level of existence. Each of them has some level of ‘belief’ in the One (a central tenet of the Matrix story) that is directly connected to his/her own advancement. Neo has a unique soul that can set into motion the series of events required to bring all of humanity back to its proper state.
The architect said Neo exhibited, a “profound attachment to the rest of his species, facilitating the function of the One.” By this, we see that not only does Neo help the people, but their relationship helps him get the job done.”
There are three aspects to the function of the One that relate to the figure of “the messiah,” in kabbalah. They are:
a.) the meta-historical (the Matrix prophecy)
b.) the actual person (Neo)
c.) any individual who contributes to the process (the freed humans who ‘believe’) -
What are the “Agents”?
The world of the programs corresponds to that of spiritual entities, typically called the angelic world. Within this dimension, there is a hierarchy, from higher-level beings that directly interact with humanity (agents) to lower ones that manage the more mundane aspects of the Matrix (i.e., the programs that control the birds, as the Oracle explained to Neo).
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What does, “There is no spoon” mean?
This message has more than one dimension. Neo already knows that the Matrix world is a false reality, so it’s clearly more than that. The “Spoon Boy” is a disciple of the Oracle. Thus, he knows from her that each human has his/her own condition that they must understand and make corrections to before advancing further.
This is why he goes on to say, “it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.” As the Oracle tells Neo, “… you didn’t come here to make the choice, you’ve already made it. You’re here to try to understand why you made it.”
Viktor Frankl, the holocaust survivor, psychiatrist, and author wrote, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
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What exactly is the Oracle?
The Oracle, as with the other higher-level entities, represents a specific emanation within existence. She is “Binah” which translates as “Understanding.” Binah is the power of conceptual analysis and reasoning, which takes a single point of information and ‘unpacks’ everything in it.
Thus, she is the partner to the Architect, who represents that single point that contains everything within it. In the physical sciences, she could be compared to the result of the ‘big bang’ and he is the point just preceding it
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Why did the Oracle tell Neo that he was not “The One?”
As we are informed of on more than one occasion, the Oracle tells people exactly what they need to hear. She herself said to Neo in their final meeting in The Matrix Revolutions, that the information she gives is based on the person’s readiness to receive it.
Each step of a person’s journey involves work in order to correct what is needed and advance to the next level. This always requires the person having to ‘restrict’ their current false perspective of reality to “make room” for the truth. (See #5 above.) The Oracle functions in this capacity, challenging Neo’s perspective each time. This is how she “unbalances the equation” that lies within him – and each human.
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What does “bake your noodle” mean?
The Oracle is a house full of hints, confrontational statements, and reverse psychology. They all serve her purpose of “unbalancing the equation” (as she called it), causing humans to reconsider what they believe reality to be, in order to make room for the truth. This is a continual cycle in every person’s life. The “bake you noodle later on” quip is part of her tactics, ‘provoking’ Neo to ponder what lies ahead for him on his path.
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Why does Agent Smith remove his earphone when talking to Morpheus?
Smith represents the emanation of Judgment (Gevurah). When he is “an agent of the system” he holds some connection to the other emanations. This has a “mitigating affect” upon him and his role remains that of maintaining the Matrix system. Once he ‘disconnects’ from the system, his function as Judgment no longer has these restrictions and acts in an independent and destructive mode.
What is interesting is that this change in Smith is also part of “what he is here to do.” It ultimately causes a major rectification to the Matrix world at the end of The Matrix Revolutions.
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What does Trinity mean when she says, “Everything the Oracle told me has come true, everything but this…”?
Trinity and Neo represent the concept of the “divine bride and groom.” Their unification is instrumental in connecting all the ‘worlds’ of the Matrix reality together. There are many steps along the way to this, each having to occur in its proper place and time. What she says relates to the Biblical injunction to “awaken not love before its time.” Her kiss, which ‘resurrected’ Neo, was the fourth and final step in a process (as we explain in the Matrix4Humans Knowledge base).
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How did Trinity’s kiss bring Neo back to life?
This is one of the deeper kabbalistic concepts in the first movie. We have an entire article dedicated to “the kiss” in the Matrix4Humans.com Knowledge Base. Trinity represents the separated feminine aspect within the world of concealment. (The Matrix).
When Neo reaches the point of self-nullification (‘bittul’) in giving up his life for others (an act of pure love), he creates a connection between the Matrix, and thus Trinity, to the Source – the source of ‘life’ and “pure love.”
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Why does Neo see the three agents as code after he comes back to life?
At the end of each of the movies, Neo selflessly gives up his life for others. Each time he does, he advances in his personal rectification. With each movie, he enters a higher spiritual world, which gives him a more clear view of reality.
At the end of the first movie, Neo’s sacrifices and ultimately his death, allow him to ‘see the Matrix’ for what it really is. This is like a person who starts to see the world for what it really is – more than the physical/materialistic trappings it offers.
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Why does Neo go from seeming very confident at the end of the first movie to being confused at the beginning of Matrix Reloaded?
The Matrix movies follow Neo’s advancement through what are called the five dimensions (or levels) of the soul. (Another expression of this is an elevation of personal consciousness.) The first movie was about him rectifying all aspects of the first level called the Nefesh. This resulted in his acquiring some level of understanding of the Matrix and who he was.
The second level, called ‘Ruach,’ is the dimension of choice and struggle. The second movie parallels this. Here Neo seeks to understand the next ‘condition’ that he is to fulfill. The Oracle is the one who sets this, through each freed human’s life. This is why Trinity tells him at the beginning of The Matrix Reloaded, not to worry as she will contact him soon.
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When the Oracle says, “We’re all here to do, what we’re all here to do,” does this include herself?
Not only does this statement include her and the Architect, it also embraces all of the ‘negative’ elements, including Smith and the Merovingian. As we discuss in the Knowledge Base, perhaps the biggest ‘secret’ to the Matrix movies is that the Matrix world is a means of repair for humanity. When that correction occurs to a great enough degree, the final stage of the prophecy will take place and a new world of true freedom, including freedom from humanity’s own faults, will be ushered in. What Smith and the Merovingian represent is just as critical to this, if not more so, than Morpheus, the Oracle, or any of the perceived “good guys.”
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Why does the number 101 appear on Neo’s apartment door and in the Merovingian’s restaurant?
A major clue to this mystery, and to where The Matrix Resurrections is heading, came from Persphone who stated that the Merovingian was once ‘like’ Neo. Whereas Smith is called Neo’s ‘opposite,’ the Merovingian was a Neo-type who failed, namely due to a lack of humility as we explain in the Matrix4Humans Knowledge Base.
The Merovingian being “one of the oldest” (per the Oracle) means he will be one of the last to attain his own type of rectification. Expect to see him in a more significant role in the next movie.
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How did Agent Smith leave the Matrix? How did he get into Bane’s body?
The concept of evil is that it extends through all the worlds of Creation to varying degrees. This is presented in the movies by Smith having access to the Matrix and program worlds at first, then extending into the realm of flesh and blood. Conversely, rectification must come to all the levels with the human’s reality, something Neo has opened the door to, which will be realized in The Matrix Resurrections.
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How did Neo get to the Train Station?
At the end of each movie, Neo selflessly gives up his life for his fellow humans. He encounters some type of ‘death’ that takes him to the “next level” that begins with the subsequent movie. Each of these levels is associated with a dimension of the soul – and one of the Matrix movies. (There are five, so we’ve covered three so far!)
The Train Station plays a significant role with regard to the third level of the soul (Neshama) that Neo works to rectify in The Matrix Revolutions. It is here in the Train Station, in a place that Rama Kandra calls ‘nowhere,’ that he can focus and begin to see in a vision that his path leads to the machine world.
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Did Rama Kandra and Kamala Betray the Oracle?
No. A single (and overlooked) word in Rama Kandra’s chat with Neo shows otherwise. He tells Neo that he consulted with the Oracle BEFORE going to the Merovingian. So she was in on the plan. Everything in the Matrix story is a means to an end, for Neo first, then for all the humans in the coming The Matrix Resurrections. Remember how Smith (the whole bunch) was surprised to find the Oracle waiting for him in her kitchen toward the end of The Matrix Revolutions?
As we’ve said, The Matrix is not a “good guys versus bad guys” story. It is much deeper and all that happens is eventually going to result in the Matrix Prophecy being fulfilled. As the Oracle stated, she cares about “one thing” – and it’s the same Neo and the other do.
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Is Smith Really Dead?
Smith, as with other programs, is a manifestation of a spiritual reality, in his case, an emanation called ‘judgment’ (Gevurah). These emanations are the building blocks of existence and do not “go away” as long as the Matrix exists. Whether or not the same character returns in The Matrix Resurrections, what he represents remains.
The associated concept of ‘evil,’ (which has its roots in judgment), though it has been altered by Neo’s actions, has yet to be completely rectified. The function of the one deals with the “evil realm” along a sequence of events. Plus, the Merovingian is returning – to a much more significant role.
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Why does The Matrix Revolutions end without the Matrix being destroyed?
Neo, as “the One,” initiates a sequence of events that eventually will bring the end of the Matrix world. His selfless actions not only enabled him to reach the Source but also created the path to connect all of humanity to the source as we saw when the Matrix was ‘reset’ at the end of the movie.
According to kabbalah, the rectification of creation comes in two stages, with an ‘interim’ period between the two. Certain things must occur with “the One,” and perhaps more importantly, with humanity during this time before the final stage of their redemption. This process parallels the path of the Matrix movies perfectly.
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What Happened With Neo’s Body?
The ‘Source’ is both Neo’s destination as well as his beginning. (“Everything that has a beginning has an end.” – the Oracle.) Ultimately this is true for all the humans, though everyone has their personal ‘path.’ The giant ‘head’ that Neo encounters at the end of The Matrix Revolution is understood as ‘gulgalta’ (the skull) in kabbalistic teachings. The ‘face’ that Neo addresses is likened to what is known as the “outer aspect of infiniteness, that interfaces with existence.”
Neo’s mysterious disappearance at the end of The Matrix Revolutions relates to the inner aspect of infiniteness, one without the confines of the Matrix system. (Remember his phone call to the machine world at the end of the first movie?) This is where Neo’s consciousness/soul has gone ahead. While the rest of the humans “work on themselves,” he has been enabled to perform his work without the constraints of his physical body. Not that his body does not come back in The Matrix Resurrections.
As we discuss in our Knowledge Base, this relates to the 4th level of the soul, one not attained while we are living. Thus, Neo had to die to continue his work! The kabbalistic axiom is: “The righteous can do more in death than in life.”
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Was the Prophecy just “another form of control?
This is an idea floating around the internet for a while now. As with the characters in the movie who were confused when Neo returned from his meeting with the Architect, this idea emerges from what the Oracle said regarding, “not being able to see past the choices we don’t understand.”
The prophecy remains intact. What is not understood properly is that the “function of the One to reach the Source,” was the first of two major phases in the redemption of humanity. (See #24 above.) What Neo accomplished emanated from ‘above,’ in the higher spiritual dimensions. As a completely righteous person, his actions were part of a chain of events that enabled what must come next. The latter will be an “arousal from below,” on the part of the humans still in the Matrix. They’ve got some work to do before they are freed. We cover all of this in the Knowledge Base.
The Matrix Resurrections
Here we go. Our FAQs to the fourth Matrix Movie! (With more to come.)
28. Is there more to the fourth Matrix movie title, “The Matrix Resurrections?”
The title perfectly follows the sequence of human life according to kabbalah. We are born into a world of ‘concealment,’ where spirituality is largely hidden. This corresponds to the Matrix. If we do not accomplish what the Creator would have us do in our lifetime, our soul is placed (Reloaded) into a new body. This may take several cycles, called gilgulim in kabbalah, which literally means Revolutions. At the end of “history as we know it,” there are Resurrections for everyone that will occur. The sequence of titles is quite remarkable and perfect. (See “The Expected Title.”)
29. What does this new ‘Morpheus’ represent in the story?
The new “program version” of Morpheus explains that Neo created him as a meld between aspects of the old Morpheus and Agent Smith. With respect to this, Neo’s original mentor represents the aspect of Chesed, pro-active kindness, while his nemesis, Smith, is that of Gevurah, judgment. This is all consistent with the greater theme of ‘unifications’ found throughout The Matrix Resurrections. (See “From Binary to Unified.”)
30. Why does Smith say that anyone could be Neo, but he can be anyone?
There are two separate (though related) concepts here. As has been well-written about since 1999, Neo represents a ‘messianic’ figure in the story. The authentic teaching around this subject is that there is a “potential messiah” in every generation. Whether that person ‘materializes’ or not, depends on both the person attaining this, as well as the people ‘meriting’ his arrival.
Regarding Smith, when a human being is living a self-centered (non-spiritual) life, they can easily be swayed by the negative forces (Sitra Achra) even to the point of ‘serving’ those elements. This does not have to be anything extreme like ‘possession.’ Simply remaining a “blue pill/battery” is enough to serve what Smith (and the Merovingian) represent. As Bugs said to Neo, “If we don’t know what’s real, we can’t resist.” (See “The Battery: More Than a Matrix Coppertop.”)
31. Are Trinity and Neo together, “the One?”
The short answer is … Yes. In kabbalistic teachings, the ‘messianic’ aspect of “the One,” consists of both masculine and feminine elements. Not only that, but the two were to remain separated until after six iterations of the masculine aspect, leading to the elevation of the feminine. (See “Unification of Feminine and Masculine.”)
32. Why did Neo say Bugs sounds like the Oracle?
Aspects of what the Oracle represents (the ‘mother’ of all) are found throughout the movies, emanating from the words and actions of many characters. Having said that, the arrival of Bugs at this juncture, her words to Neo, and especially how she “became one” with Trinity at the end, in order to help her fight alongside Neo, is nothing short of remarkable. There was one key character in the kabbalistic framework to the story missing, and Bugs became that person. (See “Bugs, the Oracle and Leah”)
33. How has The Matrix Resurrections moved us any closer to a conclusion?
Kabbalistically, there are two parts to the final stage of the redemption. One is where there are changes, most of which are amazing yet not remarkable, with the resurrection of the dead being the exception. The latter and final stage will be one where what humans consider to be their “reality” (=the Matrix existence) experiences changes that are no less than miraculous.
34. Why didn’t the Merovingian have a bigger role? Might he still?
Though the movies have perfectly followed the kabbalistic framework and timeline, how the writers/directors decide to express the key concepts is always a mystery before the movies come out. Having said that, what the Merovingian represents (hedonistic self-pleasure) is something that still has to be dealt with — as this is what got the humans into the Matrix existence in the first place.
35. What does Sati represent? Will she continue to play a major role?
This ties to the previous question. Sati can be considered the ‘opposite’ of the Merovingian, as she represents the concept of unadulterated, selfless love – which she received from her father, Rama Kandra. (See “Sati is the Key to the Prophecy.”)
36. Is the ‘new’ Smith still “Neo’s opposite,” like the Oracle had explained?
Smith is one of the programs that represent an eternal concept much like Neo (in potential) does. Thus, nothing ‘changes’ between them – we are just seeing new and deeper dimensions of their relationship as the story progresses. One key way that they are ‘opposites’ relates to the idea of ‘truth.’ Both are interested in truth, albeit for different reasons. Smith (and what he represents) knows more than Neo throughout the story (thus far), however, his understanding always maintains some measure of limitation. Neo, though he is always in a process of ‘learning’ will eventually make his way to the perfect truth – the Source. (See “Smith: The Harbinger of Truth?”)
