From the Keyboard of Joe Neckbone: June 2017

Let's revisit the movie "The Matrix" for a few.

I am particularly fond of that movie because it gives many examples from many different schools of thought (and yes, even religions) without the weight of the dogmas associated with those faiths or ways of thinking.

One of the more interesting questions asked in the film (and trust me, this film asks a LOT of interesting questions) is during the fight sequence between Morpheus and Neo. Morpheus asks "How did I beat you?". This question is so important that I used it as a title for this piece.

If you don't remember the scene here it is again, take a moment to view it...

He asks the question at 2:39 into the video if you want to skip right to it.

What follows is a small monologue that not only lays the foundation for the Matrix films (or at least THIS one), but is actually a metaphor for the world we as melanated people live in.

Morpheus: How did I beat you?
Neo: You… you’re too fast.
Morpheus: Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? Do you think that’s air you’re breathing now?

Let's pause at this moment and break down what's going on. Morpheus, as the master, is attempting to break down the mental walls of his student, Neo. Neo has constructed (and fully believes in) a reality for his world, complete with rules and laws. Morpheus is attempting to break that reality down and quite literally "free" Neo's mind.

So let's apply this simple lesson to our world. In the fight for personal and collective cultural empowerment many of us (us meaning melanated people of color) are like Neo. We have been born into a world that has rules and laws that we follow because no one told us anything different. The reality is that those rules and laws can be bent or broken, every day, and success often means breaking, bending or better yet ALTERING them.

The French writer, Honoré de Balzac once said (translated from the native French):

"The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed."

What does this mean? How does it apply to Morpheus? What the heck am I talking about? Well, in the modern, post-millenial times while you rarely have access to the underlying code of a system, what you do have access to is your ability to recognize and subsequently obey (or not) the RULES of that system.

To put this into plain English, I'm saying that the system (and note, this applies to ANY system) is set up to anticipate and expect that most everyone will follow the rules, that's how systems work. Also, keep in mind that really good systems are also set up to account for some rule breakers (the most common rule breakers). Systems however are NOT designed to account for the unexpected, and this is how opportunity happens. This is exactly what Morpheus was trying to get Neo to wrap his mind around, push past what you know (or think you know), be unexpected.

So lets sum this all up, here's the big takeaway:

Don't just break the rules, do the unexpected
Be ready to exploit opportunities once the flaw in the system is exposed
Don't always believe the rules, always question why they are in place
Take the time to understand the rules, this is where opportunity reveals itself

Keep Fighting...

.

Morpheus: How did I beat you?
Neo: You… you’re too fast.
Morpheus: Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? Do you think that’s air you’re breathing now? - See more at: http://www.matrixfans.net/movies/the-matrix/quotes/#sthash.sV52OyGX.dpuf

From the Keyboard of Joe Neckbone

Friday, June 16, 2017

"How Did I Beat You?"