One of my favorite movies growing up was The Matrix. To a teenager who had never really dove into philosophical questions posed by the movie (and without the internet being what it is to explore these questions easily) it definitely gave me much food for thought. One of the recurring questions posed in the movie is what is ACTUAL reality? Not simply the reality we experience but what is the TRUE reality. Below is a snippet from the movie posing this question:
******
Neo: This isn't real...
Morpheus: What is "real"? How do you define "real"? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then "real" is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain...
This is the world that you know. The world as it was at the end of the 20th century. It exists now only as part of a neural interactive simulation that we call "The Matrix." You've been living in a dream world, Neo... This is the world as it exists today...
******
The reminder of this concept, perceived reality vs. actual reality, was sparked by my reading of Fr. Stephen Freeman's article 'Theophany - Showing the World to be the World'. It took me back to that place as a teenager where this question was bouncing around in my mind. I think many young minds in our current culture are wrestling with this as they navigate a confusing landscape that offers only blurred pictures of the world that God created. Turning to ancient philosophical thought, such as Plato's cave, or pop culture, like The Matrix, still offers unsatisfactory answers however.
Fr. Stephen in his article hits the nail on the head:
...we are not asking God to make something to be other than it is but to reveal it to be what it truly is. Asking God to show the Jordan to be the Jordan is simply the most blatant example of this principle.
Our Orthodox Christian faith reveals that actual reality is found in our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of the universe who created all reality that we can experience. If we want to know what reality is, we have to know Him. Running around like a chicken with our head cut off trying to use man's philosophy or AI (artificial intelligence) to figure out what actual reality is, we will only move further from God and true reality. Just as Absolute Truth is only found in the person of Jesus Christ, Absolute Reality can only be found in the person of Jesus Christ.
As we celebrate the great mystery of Theophany on January 6, the literal meaning being 'the showing forth of God', let us re-center ourselves on the Person who is the source of reality, which is Jesus Christ. Through this great feast day, the blessing of the waters service and the blessing of our homes, my prayer is that we will see reality more clearly; more accurately to what it actually is. That we could see the people in our lives, not as broken sinners as we so often see them as, but as people made in the image and likeness of God. That we would not see our sins as 'not that bad' but as the reasons we disconnect from the source of Life and the love God offers to us. That we would not see the creation as a means to our self-gratification but as a means to glorify God and an invitation to steward this great gift He has given us.
If we can see and live like this, then we will respond like Neo does when he finally sees true reality; we will simply say 'Whoa' as we see reality as our awesome God intended it to be.
In Christ,
Fr. Steve
******
Neo: This isn't real...
Morpheus: What is "real"? How do you define "real"? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then "real" is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain...
This is the world that you know. The world as it was at the end of the 20th century. It exists now only as part of a neural interactive simulation that we call "The Matrix." You've been living in a dream world, Neo... This is the world as it exists today...
******
The reminder of this concept, perceived reality vs. actual reality, was sparked by my reading of Fr. Stephen Freeman's article 'Theophany - Showing the World to be the World'. It took me back to that place as a teenager where this question was bouncing around in my mind. I think many young minds in our current culture are wrestling with this as they navigate a confusing landscape that offers only blurred pictures of the world that God created. Turning to ancient philosophical thought, such as Plato's cave, or pop culture, like The Matrix, still offers unsatisfactory answers however.
Fr. Stephen in his article hits the nail on the head:
...we are not asking God to make something to be other than it is but to reveal it to be what it truly is. Asking God to show the Jordan to be the Jordan is simply the most blatant example of this principle.
Our Orthodox Christian faith reveals that actual reality is found in our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of the universe who created all reality that we can experience. If we want to know what reality is, we have to know Him. Running around like a chicken with our head cut off trying to use man's philosophy or AI (artificial intelligence) to figure out what actual reality is, we will only move further from God and true reality. Just as Absolute Truth is only found in the person of Jesus Christ, Absolute Reality can only be found in the person of Jesus Christ.
As we celebrate the great mystery of Theophany on January 6, the literal meaning being 'the showing forth of God', let us re-center ourselves on the Person who is the source of reality, which is Jesus Christ. Through this great feast day, the blessing of the waters service and the blessing of our homes, my prayer is that we will see reality more clearly; more accurately to what it actually is. That we could see the people in our lives, not as broken sinners as we so often see them as, but as people made in the image and likeness of God. That we would not see our sins as 'not that bad' but as the reasons we disconnect from the source of Life and the love God offers to us. That we would not see the creation as a means to our self-gratification but as a means to glorify God and an invitation to steward this great gift He has given us.
If we can see and live like this, then we will respond like Neo does when he finally sees true reality; we will simply say 'Whoa' as we see reality as our awesome God intended it to be.
In Christ,
Fr. Steve
RSS Feed