The Matrix Spirituality.

“You take the blue pill — the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill — you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I’m offering is the truth.” — Morpheus

Coach Stu has this great ability to watch almost any movie and glean spiritual nuggets from it. They’re always there, because movies are stories about life, and no matter how convoluted or sensationalized the script is or how deeply hidden the truth about us is, if it’s about life, it’s about spirituality. In the case of The Matrix, even I don’t have to be an Einsteen to see the parallels.

A blue pill. A red pill. And a choice.

Pretty simple, really. We make this choice every day, whether we realize it or not. But, unlike Neo, we get to switch any time we want. The kicker, however, is that when you choose the red pill, those new revelations now become part of who you are — you can never un-know what you now know. Taking the blue pill after you at some point had taken the red pill doesn’t wipe away the past; it only changes the future. And as hard as we try to get the blue to dumb down the consequences of red pill knowledge or experience, it’s like erasing a hard drive — there are always traces left behind.

For most of us our spiritual/religious/theological experience is in the blue pill.

We are born into a tribe of belief where the red pill is never even offered. You have blue friends who think blue thoughts, who are taught blue doctrine, who live blue lives.

And so do you.

I’m not saying that this is all bad…it’s just…well…limiting. There are other words we also use to justify the blue pill. Words like comfortable…secure…true truth…orthodox…biblical. You get my meaning. If it’s red, then it’s typically a slippery slope. Way too mystical. Unorthodox. False. Scary. Too difficult. And, of course, the biggie — eternally damning.

Richard Bach, in his book, “Illusions” offers this beautiful perspective:

“The original sin is to limit the Is. Don’t.” ― Richard Bach, Illusions

Don’t be silly; we can’t limit “The IS [God]”. Hmmm…really? Then what do you think free will is? It’s nothing more than our ability to expand or limit God…in and through our lives. How else does God express his/her eyeball-to-eyeball, hugfull love in the world except through us? We’re the distribution center for radical, amazing love. We can choose to express this love, or not, to any degree we choose.

The truth is that we all limit the Is. We can’t help it. Trying to fully understand a concept like God, which is way beyond our understanding, is futile. We do the best we can with what our mind can understand, all the while missing the greater point…

Which is this:

our heart's understanding gets a lot closer than our brain ever can.

Why…because it transcends our blue pill, Newtonian left-brain theology, and understanding and goes down the red pill rabbit hole of Spirit and mystery and wonder. You either strap in for the ride of your life or…you don’t.

You see, the blue pill expression of love usually looks a lot like it did yesterday, last year, and ten years ago. Not bad, but, again, just stale. Just so much less than what it could be if we would but ponder taking the red pill. When did you last say, “Wow, I’ve never looked at it that way! Tell me more about how you came to that [God] understanding…”

Of course, the alternative reaction is, “Wow, how can you look at it THAT WAY!!!. That’s not CHRISTIAN!” You do realize that this is the voice of experience, here, as this is not a hypothetical scenario. The IS just got “limited”.

Now, before everyone goes crazy, I’m certainly not saying that everything that you experience in the red pill world is good, healthy, or true. Far from it. The question for each of us is whether or not the upside potential gain of a red pill experience/life is worth risking the downside consequences of struggling with it and possibly getting it "wrong."

Another choice.

Unfortunately, blue pill existence typically keeps us from abandoning ourselves to the red pill Holy Spirit, where trust is coveted more than right belief. Here’s a tip: find some people who embrace a red-pill diet and see for yourself. I’d be willing to bet there are some in your blue tribe; you just aren’t aware of it. What have you got to lose except mediocrity, the mundane, your comfort zone, and your limiting of the IS. But please, please don’t say “your salvation.” You might heap a lot of other stuff on you because of your choice, but hey, Jesus never said that following Him would entail blue pill existence.

Quite the opposite. Jesus was handing out red pills all day long. I dare you to follow Him and try one…

Namaste.