Further Light and Knowledge

I am a big fan of the Matrix. My post about a forgetting pill to erase painful memories got me thinking. http://www.theofrak.com/2012/06/forgetting-pill-to-erase-painful.html

What if it were as easy as taking a pill to forget the hard truths we have learned and go back into the "matrix" (religion or Mormonism if you prefer). Cypher did it.



We condemn Cypher because he betrayed Morpheus. However, what if no betrayal was involved? What if we simply decided that we didn't like the knowledge that God is imaginary and there is no afterlife (or Joseph Smith is a liar)? What if we preferred the comforting lies of religion (or Mormonism in particular) to the hard truth of reality? The ability to erase our knowledge of the true nature of the Matrix might someday be a reality. How many people would do it?

For those of us who left traditional religion, we often paid a tremendous price in terms of broken relationships. Many of us had (or currently have) spouses, children, parents, etc., who condemn us for our "apostate" ways. What if this pain could be erased, and we could be brought back into full fellowship by something as simple as a blue pill.

I, for one, would not take the blue pill. I believe that the truth, however painful, is better than delusion, because it allows you to make the best choices in a given situation. For example, suppose you only had a year to live? While it would be painful to obtain that knowledge, it would allow you to fill your remaining time with the most worthwhile activities. You would hopefully not waste a minute on trifling issues.

How would you feel about someone who knowingly took that decision away from you. For example, suppose your doctor lied and said you were fine. When the truth became apparent and you realized you could have lived your last year differently, wouldn't you be furious with the doctor? Of course, the analogy breaks down with the issue of the afterlife, because we will never know that Heaven doesn't exist and thereby have an opportunity to be angry at theists for telling us that it did.

A better analogy is in the The Decendants. George Clooney's wife was having an affair and he was apparently the last to know. He was rightfully angry at the people who kept this knowledge from him, because he could have made different choices if he had known the truth. I know there are some people who would prefer to live in the delusion that their spouse is faithful, but they are probably in the minority.

I would feel the same way about myself if I were the one who decided to erase my memories and reenter the Matrix. There is a good chance that I would eventually come to the same conclusions about the nature of reality, and I would resent my past self for attempting to erase that hard-won knowledge.

What would you do?

_________________
http://www.theofrak.com - because traditional religion is so frakked up

I used to have nightmares where I suddenly became uber-Mormon again. For a couple years I was terrified that I would relapse and go crawling back.

But no, I would not take the blue pill. My life is much better out of the church than in; I was never very happy trying to fit myself into the little Mormon box.

_________________
A Post-Mormon Life: http://postmormongirl.blogspot.com

I don't understand the first post because "Once I've experienced the truth, I'm incapable of accepting the fantasy" mindset.

But then, I never saw the Matrix so, maybe that's why I'm not "getting it"

_________________
It's good to talk about these things and to sort out the messed up mindfuck we were in.
- SIMS

I would never go back. I am so much happier now outside the church, and I don't struggle with cog dis and trying to make it all work anymore. To follow your Matrix example, I was the guy always spotting the glitches in the system. The software code problems, and the limitations of the world. If I went back in I would just start seeing them again.

The other problem is that I just didn't fit in. As a pinko socialist I was never going to be happy as a TBM. Going back and being happy would require me to also become an Alpha male, gun loving, TBR (True believing Republican)

Let us say it is all true, just for one moment.

Heavenly father had a plan at the start of all things. We had free agency and could obey or not. With free agency we were sent to earth, but HF set standards which are impossible to keep. The penalty for even the most minor transgression is eternal damnation; once we are in hell there is no way out! Hell is not for rehabilitation; it is for retribution! Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord, and does he want his vengeance! So Satan has another plan. He realises that the only way we are going to pass the test is to be forced to obey HF's will. It seems that Satan is the more pragmatic of the two. Maybe his plan was the best and we made the wrong decision in the pre-existence. A third of the spirits in heaven went with Satan; did we really make the right choice to be with the majority?

Once we start becoming familiar with the bible we begin to realise what sort of a character God is; he tells us he loves us all yet thinks nothing of destroying the entire world in the flood. We are given a set of commandments of how to live our lives. The first five of those commandments relate to how we must constantly bow and scrape to god just because he is so powerful. God thinks nothing of genocide, then sends his son on a mission to earth. That son gives us two great commandments, the first of which is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy mind and all thy strength. This seems like a pretty nasty and selfish god to me.

God only gives less than half of the people on earth enough to eat, but sends missionaries to the Third World, not to help them with their immediate needs of food, clean water and clothing, but to convert them to his chosen religion so that they can spend too much of their time worshipping him and waste 10% of their money on his church.

If it were true, god is an evil despot. Personally, I would like to think that I had the integrity to join the resistance and become a Satanist. God may be more powerful than me and certainly would not hesitate to kill me, as he has killed many others, but at least as a Satanist I would die with honour and my integrity intact. Would anybody else prefer an honourable death to a life of shame?

_________________
Mankind is evil because God made man in his own image.

Me too.


Yet, according to the great myth, we would be "punished for eternity" because we . . . thought about it and came up with logical conclusions? Yep, that's a fair punishment for sure (ha).


TBM's think those who "fall away" have been deceived by satan. I believe TBM's have been deceived - like I used to be - by immoral men who knowingly lie with the purpose of deceiving people in order to promote their agenda which involves taking in money for unreasonable purposes.

_________________
It's good to talk about these things and to sort out the messed up mindfuck we were in.
- SIMS

+1

You think about it, the god of the old testament was a raving genocidal maniac. And the god of the new testament wasn't near as bad, but more of an asshole at times, with a few moments of homicidal rage mixed in.

I wouldn't want to re-enter "the matrix" for other reasons any ways. Quite frankly I was fairly unhappy as a TBM most of the time. I usually didn't enjoy church and it had nothing to do with my belief, because I believed. I just was bored/ pissed off/ tithing-poor/ect. most of the time. Sacrament meeting was boring and a pain in the ass with kids. Sunday School and priesthood were boring, when some some overly righteous ass wasn't pissing me off. It was very rare in church that I felt uplifted. I liked my calling as membership clerk because it gave me an excuse to be in the clerk's office instead of Sunday School. Home teaching was a pain in the ass, feeling guilty over not doing family home evening or family prayers. I guess in summary why go back to be bore, pissed off, poor, guilty, annoyed, when I can just not worry about it. Of all these I probably miss feeling guilty the least.

Me too.

I wonder who actually likes the content of LDS Sunday services. Even on my most true believing days, the only good thing about church on Sunday was catching up with friends. I'm still half active, though I spend my time chatting it up in the hallways. And I have noticed that the real ward stalwarts, half the time they are in the hallways chatting it up, too. The other half, they are busy with whatever class they are teaching or leadership duty they've got going on. Funny that a hundred people have to be bored out of their minds so that a hand full of people can feel like they are serving God and doing something useful.