Life in the Matrix

So where exactly is this esoteric circle of ancient and primordial knowledge that is to be distributed among those who are willing and knowledgeable and prepared? Referring to it as the Matrix is probably a poor choice, but really they called upon thousands of years of historical and religious doctrine to write that script. The idea of another place, where one can truly see and know - this idea of enlightenment, nirvana - is actually quite an ancient one. And as is described in the film, it can seem so much easier to just ignore the esoteric circle and live in "the real world." Ignorance is bliss, as they say. Lots of different medias have attempted to convey the idea and process of enlightenment. In his text, The Crisis of the Modern World (1962 translation), the famous French metaphysicist René Guénon explains that,
"The Hindu Doctrine teaches that a human cycle, to which it gives the name of Manvantara, is divided into four periods marking so many stages during which the primordial spirituality becomes gradually more and more obscured; these periods correspond with the Golden, Silver, Bronze and Iron Ages of the ancient Western traditions. We are now in the fourth age, the Kali-Yuga, or "dark age," and have been so already, it is said, for more than six thousand years, since an era, that is to say, far earlier than any recorded in classical history [ie The Fall, origin of consciousness]. Since that time, the truths which formerly lay within reach of all mankind have become more and more hidden and difficult to approach; those who have access to them grow gradually fewer and fewer and if the treasure of "non-human" wisdom that is prior to all the ages can never be lost, it becomes enveloped nevertheless in ever more impenetrable veils, which conceal it from view and beneath which it it is extremely difficult to discover it. This explains why there is to be met with everywhere, under various symbols, the same theme of something which has been lost, at least to all appearances and so far as the outer world is concerned, and which those who aspire to true knowledge must rediscover; but it is also stated that what is thus hidden will become visible again at the end of our cycle, which, by reason of the continuity linking all things together, will coincide with the beginning of a new cycle." (1)
So it's not really crude of me to quote science fiction. As I see it, those authors used a theme that has been in the veins of our species for as long as we have records, cave wall or otherwise. And a theme that old is certainly a powerful thing. Funny how a concept can seem so prevalent (ever heard of heaven?) and yet talked about meaningfully so infrequently in daily life.
For me, one of the most powerful depictions of enlightenment has always been Jonathan Livingston Seagull, that epic children's novel by Richard Bach. It's really quite a powerful novel to be feeding children, and it affected me quite profoundly in my youth. In case you haven't read it, the plot centers around a Seagull who decides to learn how to fly tricks instead of just flying to eat and get from place to place. In his enlightened state, he is invited to transcend to another world of even more profound flight. But this is just a transition stage as well, and so begins the cycle of reincarnation (of course, they don't say it like that to the kiddies...)

The Esoteric Circle

So where does one find this secret knowledge that Ouspensky and so many others have hinted to in their writings? For Ouspensky, there is a secret circle of like-minded people who quest after this knowledge. This circle can range from secret cults and druids to monks, ashrams, the 12 apostles, etc.

"According to this idea, humanity is regarded as two concentric circles. All humanity which we know and to which we belong forms the outer circle. All the history of humanity that we know is the history of the outer circle. But within this circle there is another, of which men of the outer circle know nothing, and the existence of which they only sometimes dimly suspect, although the life of the outer circle in its most important manifestations, and particularly in its evolution, is actually guided by the inner circle. The inner or the esoteric circle forms, as it were, a life within life, a mystery, a secret in the life of humanity" (19).

More than that, Ouspensky believes that this inner circle, comparable to the fables of Dune, or The Giver, or even the collective unconscious, holds a quantity of secret of knowledge that has been passed down throughout all of humanity:
"The esoteric circle is, as it were, humanity within humanity, and is the brain, or rather the immortal soul, of humanity, where all the attainments, all the results, all the achievements, of all cultures and all civilisations are preserved" (19-20).

Ouspensky's Secret Knowledge

"The idea of a knowledge which surpasses all ordinary human knowledge, and is inaccessible to ordinary people, but which exists somewhere and belongs to somebody, permeates the whole history of the though of mankind from the most remote periods" (11).

The idea of secret knowledge does indeed permeate the whole history of mankind, from the Holy Grail to the messages of the Gods. Science fiction novels and worship communities, fantasy films and archaeological conspiracy theorists talk about secret knowledge for as far back as there is written documentation. But what does this mean? Is this some sort of proof in itself? Or is it just evidence that believing in secret knowledge is a product of evolution? Perhaps a function of coping with our ability to project scenarios into the future?

For Ouspensky, history is just the beginning. The experiential, or the 'gut-feeling,' is also a powerful mode of evidence.












"Man is conscious of being surrounded by the wall of the Unknown, and at the same time he believes that he can get through the wall and that others have got through it; but he cannot imagine, or imagines very vaguely, what there may be behind this wall. He does not know what he would like to find there or what it means to possess knowledge. It does not even occur to him that a man can be in different relations to the Unknown....In this incapacity of man to imagine what exists beyond the wall of the known and the possible lies his chief tragedy, and in this, as has already been said, lies the reason why so much remains hidden from him and why there are so many questions to which he can never find the answer" (14-15).

What does it mean to be conscious?

Can a computer be conscious? How would you know?

To which animals do we attribute consciousness? And how is that different from human consciousness?