The Dangers of Hope
In the second Matrix movie, “Matrix Reloaded,” the Architect says to Neo:
“Hope… it is the quintessential human delusion – simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness.”
And he would know, because he had been abusing this weakness for the sixth time up to that point if you follow the story in the movie. In fact, Neo was part of the problem: An intentional creation by the Architect with the purpose of giving humans inside the Matrix hope so they could continue to be exploited for as long as possible. As explained by the Architect, he found out that humans would only “accept the program” if they were given a choice. By giving them a choice, not only do you make them feel in control (while in reality they have no control), but if the choice also promises a better future, you also give them hope. If there’s no choice and no hope, there’s no reason to continue and so the entire system comes to a halt and, as agent Smith put it in the first Matrix movie: “entire crops are lost.” To keep the system going and to have everyone accept their current situation, you have to give them something positive to look forward to, you have to give them a reason to make the choice to continue… you have to give them hope. And Neo served that purpose in the Matrix as the savior everyone was waiting for to help them escape from the Matrix and to bring them better times. And the “prophecy” of the coming of the One (Neo) kept everyone going and kept the system running.
The Matrix movies tell us a lot more about life than most people will realize. It is another one of those Hollywood movies that shows us how we are being controlled and manipulated while being disguised as entertainment. There’s a lot more to say on this subject, but I’ll leave that for another post. The important thing for now is that you realize that the story in the Matrix movies is based on real life. Similar to how “the machines” used Neo to give all the humans they were manipulating a false hope, so too are people around the world being manipulated on a large scale with, for example, the many different religions. They are being manipulated to accept their current reality, or life, in the hope that things will be much better in the near future. For some it is until they die and “go to heaven/paradise”, for others it’s until their savior (Jesus, etc.) returns to earth whenever that may be, and there can be many more reasons. Whatever is needed to get people to believe and to give them hope. In the meantime, people choose to “accept the program” that’s forced upon them and continue to live life and keep the system going while hoping for better times. And this is of course exactly what those in control want everyone to do.
A blatantly obvious example was during the election campaign of Barack Obama. Obama got associated, even literally (how much more in your face can they get?), with the hope everyone in the USA and around the world needed. After all the devastation that was caused in the USA and around the world during President George W. Bush, everyone was hoping for change and for better times. So Obama became the Neo everyone (especially those in the USA) was waiting for. Those in control knew exactly what they were doing when they associated Obama with “change” and “hope.” You could say that it was brilliant manipulation, but it’s not so brilliant when you consider the fact that this kind of manipulation is business as usual for those in the know. In fact, they have done this many times before, just like the Architect in the Matrix. And just like he says in the movie, they have become “exceedingly efficient at it.” You just have to look at how the world swallowed the message of hope from Obama hook, line and sinker to see just how efficient they’ve gotten at this game. What this means is that, apparently, you can cause all kinds of devastation to people and manipulate them as much as you want, as long as you give them a reason to go through all of that (at the same time the illusion of choice) and give them hope for a better future. While everyone has accepted the message of hope and thinks that things will actually change soon, in reality and especially behind the scenes nothing at all changes and those in control continue with their own agenda. The manipulation continues while everyone “accepts the program.” Since Obama became president of the USA, has anything really changed? If you do even a little bit of research, you’ll find that nothing of any significance has really changed, and things have continued exactly as George W. Bush left them. Just watch the documentary “Obama Deception” by Alex Jones for more information on this.
So the reason why hope is humanity’s greatest weakness is simply because it can be used to deceive us and make us a passive herd of sheep, even if just for a while until we are given another reason to have hope again (thus continuing the cycle of manipulation). This is why it is important to be very critical of everything around you and not easily accept things without hard verifiable evidence, facts, and certainly not on blind faith as, for example, religion expects from you. If you have any hopes, always make sure they are based on realistic expectations, which themselves are based on verifiable facts and measurable progress. You have to be as objective as possible, very honest to yourself and very rigorous and ruthless when it comes to this. Critical thinking is very valuable here and I cannot stress this enough. If you’re able to apply all of this in your daily life, then you will be capable of getting the most out of your hopes in life and you can really make having hope one of your greatest strengths instead of weaknesses. Yes, you can.
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