Fate

I am a deeply spiritual person, but I am an atheist. I grew up in a Hindu family, but none of my parents were religious in any meaningful way. Please don't me wrong, I understand the culture, the gods, and customs, the caste system...I am more than educated in the religious books, literature and philosophies. I not only understand all that but throughly enjoy it. The historical and political elements of Hindu mythology fascinates me, and I often compare them to Greek, Celtic, and Persian mythologies. Trouble is Hinduism is a bit strange. It is one of those relegions, where you can only be born Hindu, you can never be converted. Yeah, I know what some of you modern people will say, yes, you can learn to practice the relegion, sure, but technically you can't be Hindu :) Meaning you can't become one just my practicing it (technically). Funny thing is, if you can't become one, can you 'undo' being a Hindu? I don't know. I guess, I can be converted to another religion, but I am not sure how that works either. Traditionally, it was told (although this is a later construct) that if you have crossed the oceans (kalapani) or eaten a cow, you could be toast. I have done both many times, so by that logic, I am certainly toast :)

That brings me to the question of 'Fate'. Maqtab. Yeah, Alchemist is one of my favorite book. When I first saw Matrix in 1999, it was a game changer movie. The fundamental concept was an instant hit among the gamers and computer geeks. It had cinematography well ahead of its time. It was clearly a cool movie.

But later on, as I watched it a few times, I started to feel a much deeper element into the movie that I didn't realize in the beginning. It bridges many philosophical questions that many of us in the mid-life (or any other phase of life) have for a while. In the scene above Neo meets Morpheus for the first time, where he is the proverbial Alice in Wonderland....tumbling down the rabbit-hole.

Morpheus : I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Neo : You could say that.
Morpheus : I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that's not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo : No.
Morpheus : Why not?
Neo : Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.

Isn't the conversation above is a feeling we all have sometime? We all like to be in control of our lives, but as the days go by....each day exactly like the next... doing the grind...are we really in control of our lives?

In a short story collection, "The Elephant Vanishes" the protagonist in Murakami's story "SLEEP", says, that her everyday of the week is an exact replica of the next. When her husband and son leaves her every morning for work and school respectively, they say the goodbye the same way, uttering the same words, waving in synchronous way like clones! Nobody even notices, that she is not sleeping for 17 days!

“My very existence, my life in the world, seemed like a hallucination. A strong wind would make me think my body was about to be blown to the end of the earth, to some land I had never seen or heard of, where my mind and body would separate forever. “Hold tight,” I would tell myself, but there was nothing for me to hold on to.”
― Haruki Murakami, Sleep

Aren't we, who are doing the 8-5 grind every day, still feel this way. Our promise of the financial freedom is nothing but an mirage. It simmers in front of us at some untouchable distance....we try hard to get to it...but when we get there it vanishes!

Morpheus:
What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.
Neo:
No, I don't believe it. It's not possible.
Morpheus:
I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.

In the scene above Morpheus explained to Neo what Matrix is, and how human being are nothing but a 'battery' to the machines. When we work for someone else, in a less satisfying job, aren't many of us feel the same way?

Hive as an ecosystem is a potential promise to break this bondage. It is a way to provide us with financial freedom. It is a social experiment and a work in progress. It is not easy, it is certainly not perfect, but we never promised it would be easy, did we? We just said it would be the truth. So it is upto you if you want to take the red pill or the blue pill :)

Here is a closing thought, if you are Neo, which pill you take, does it matter? What is the difference? I say, if there is fate, and this movie is big into it, I say it will eventually lead to the same outcome, don't you think?