No. You are not. You are still in the matrix. You are that man who is sitting in a dark room, bound to the wall with fetters. You stare every day at the wall in front of you because it has a window that lets in the only source of light. It overlooks a beautiful scene with rolling green hills, blue skies and bright golden sunlight. You can practically feel the winds as they move the plants this way and that. The sunlight is warm and healing on your skin. The grass and trees are rich smelling and soothing. If only you could break through these chains which fasten you to the wall and walk out into this paradise on earth.

What you do not know, is that if you do break free and walk toward that window you will come up hard against the prison wall behind. All that scene is an illusion, artfully painted for you to channel your yearning. You continue to be caught up in your delusion, just unloose these bindings, and you can walk through that window to freedom and that lovely scene you constantly see and long for. Of course, it his paradise compared to the rest of the darkness and restrictions that the room presents.

The system of deception throws up illusion after illusion to prevent you from truly breaking free. Each time you move towards “truth” and “freedom” you are encountering another realm of deception that lures you into thinking you have found “truth”. Sure, you can settle in any of those illusions and live all your life believing that you have discover the genuine and the factual. All your senses, your friends, neighbors, social contacts, political allies, and everyone you encounter will reinforce the notion that you have discovered life’s meaning. You will attach yourself to causes where you find common ground with others and some sense of fulfillment too. You speak a shared language with those around you, you all embrace a collective morality and buy the same arguments, propositions and assumptions. You finally belong.

Nowhere is this scenario more evident in your politics. You have come to a place of common philosophy. You have found your “tribe” and are “living” your “truth”. Every day the headlines provide you with directions as to what you should hate, approve, love. You can find satisfaction in embrace of collaborative causes. You find meaning in the turbulent surge of emotions such as outrage at the latest appalling policy an opposing politician proposes. Righteous anger floods your veins as “they” transgress all the settled virtues your side has prescribed for all. You can release all your pent-up rage, anger, hatred and resentment at your opponents on social media and receive the reassuring feedback of all those other millions of users who echo your same sentiment. Everyone else repeats it so it must be true.

What you do not know is that everyone else is in the same prison, facing the same illusions that you are seeing. No diversion, dissention or difference is allowed.

You can believe this voice is the product of a deranged mind. After all it is one small voice that sounds a little different from the chorus you are used to hearing. It is making you uncomfortable. It is forcing you to question all the assumptions and ideologies you have so eagerly embraced. It is a minority. It should be ignored and shut out.

So, here is an experiment to tell if you are truly “woke”. It is pretty simple, you are told to use it when you are dreaming. Take an action. Pinch yourself. It is the same method, just applied to your mental and intellectual processes.

FIRSTLY

Acknowledge that there is an absolute truth that exists outside of your own consciousness. In other words, if you were suddenly to disappear from this planet or die, this truth would still exist. Christianity teaches that this truth is a person. Jesus said it:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (Joh 14:6 AV)

This word “truth” stems from the very beautiful Greek “Aletheia” which means Truth, what is true in any sense. It speaks to what is objective, reality, fact and so on. It also refers to truth in a moral sense and what is true in things pertaining to God and the duties of man among its other uses. This word is also used when talking about the Christian meaning of truth. It shows up in doctrinal verses such as:

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (Joh 1:14-17 AV)

SECONDLY

Recognize that it is perfectly reasonable for you to seek that truth, whatever you may think it is at the moment. You would be in “good” company. Pilate asked, when standing before Jesus whom he thought was an innocent person on a trumped-up charge, what is truth?

“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.” (Joh 18:37-38 AV)

Perhaps if he had asked: “who is truth”?, Jesus would also have answered.

THIRDLY

Answer this question. Can you see the boundaries of your own ideology? In other words, can you identify the biases and limitations of the ideologies you have adopted? Can you detect their weaknesses?

Were you exposed to or taught about the finite applications that they may allow for in terms of personal choices, public policies or vehicles for attracting political adherents? Can you clearly detect their usefulness or lack thereof?

If you answered “no”, it means that you are deep in the illusion. You have been thoroughly indoctrinated and are the victim of masterful propaganda. True methods of teaching will tell you the weaknesses and limitations of the ideologies and philosophies to which you are being exposed, right up front.

If you answered “Yes” to this question, you are beginning to sense the breadth and depth of the illusions to which you have been exposed and are currently enmeshed. Keep on going in your search for truth.

FORTHLY.

If you are brave enough, begin to listen to those around you. Do they demonstrate the same fanatic fervor about the group ideology as those on the other side whom they are encouraging you to eschew? Do they express the same evangelistic fervor in their zeal to measure your and each group members’ conformity to the overarching group think? Do they allow others with different notions to exist, explain and expose their ideas to you and others in your group? Do they allow you to dissent or stray away from prevailing orthodoxies?

FIFTHLY

This step is most telling of all. What happens when you raise doubt about the prevailing ideology? Do they shut you out? Do they “entertain” them and quickly guide you to a “tolerant” or “open minded” conclusion? Do they hastily distract you with some other ideas that feeds your emotions? Do they encourage you to “feel” and respond emotionally to the question under consideration? Do they use your emotions to tell you what your thoughts should focus on? In other words, do they manipulate your emotions?

One of the central promises of the Jesus of Christianity is freedom. He pointed out that those whom the Son set free would be free indeed.

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (Joh 8:31-36 AV)

The word “free” is the Greek “eleuthero” which means to liberate, make or set free, deliver, and set at liberty.  It appears in only five other verses in the New Testament (Rom. 6:18,22, 8:2,21, Gal. 5:1).

This freedom is just as it says. You are free indeed. Liberated to think for yourself. At liberty to reason with God (Is. 1:18). You are free to accept or reject. You are delivered to live in the spirit or walk in the flesh (although this is very highly undesirable). You are unfettered to have your mind and mental processes renewed and healed to reflect the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).

Yes, you might think, you don’t consider it freedom when that same Christian God tells you that you can choose, but if you do not choose His way you will be cast into hell. You believe He punishes those who do not walk according to His way by condemning them to eternal damnation.

Perhaps you may be right. Then your resistance to Him would be justified. You can even entertain the notion that the freedom He is offering is merely another illusion.

Consider this however, what if He, living outside of time, is inserting Himself into our temporal reality to warn us about the two sets of alternatives, choices and consequences which were not created for us. What if these choices and consequences were laws set in motion from eternity, and we stumbled into them by succumbing to the manipulation of an evil being who acted in rebellion and is destined for eternal damnation? What if that being is trying to trap us into joining him in his eternal misery by enticing us to walk his way, instead of the way that leads to true freedom? What if the being you call “god” is truly good and is constantly interrupting enemy propaganda to send you messages that are meant to awaken you to what is really going on? What if God is truly reaching down into time, this limited physical realm and trying to rescue you from all this illusion to bring you into all truth?

SIXTHLY

Test yourself. are you courageous enough to explore these possibilities? What if you find out that this is when you become truly awaken? Here is the good news, if you begin this exploration and find that it is indeed truth, you will want to continue along this journey.

not only did God provide this avenue of escape for you, but He also made it so that we can choose to love or hate, reject or accept. He outlines the consequences of each choice, but He doesn’t force us to choose. Yes, there are consequences attached to each choice, but we have not been preprogramed to make either.

We can remain with the illusions, knowing and accept them for what they are, now that we have been alerted to them. Many people do. They return to familiar comforts, unwilling to risk the loneliness or pain of estrangement which may result from abandoning the dominant and overarching illusions which parade as a “unifying force”. Life is easier when they ignore the uncomfortable and substitute it for the “broad way”  

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Mt 7:13-14 AV)

On the other hand, we can catch hold of that eternal Hand that is reaching down through all the fog and deceptive mist of ideologies, philosophies, multitude of words and ideas to rescue us and place us in a bold, empowering truth that lets us interact with Him with mutual freedom, openness, honesty and love. Most wonderful of all, our surrender to God’s freedom and truth removes our illusions and places us in relationship with truth.

Learn More about Spiritual growth and maturity from:

Sproul, Wendy. 2017. March to Maturity: Grounded and Built. North Charleston, South Carolina. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

The Matrix (1999)