Follow the White Rabbit

How to get trapped in an unhappy life

It’s Christmas in July as I’ve come across a philosophical gem that I’m exceptionally excited to share. I intend to discuss a topic that no man, woman or highly articulate child has ever pontificated on before, an entirely original abstraction that I’m dubious you’re even familiar with: the Matrix.

Why will TUC be the first publication in the known universe to shine light on this arcane fantasma? Well… I’m reading a book and on page 55 in but a scant few words the author brings to life the most concise yet all encompassing example of the Matrix I’ve ever seen. Mix yourself a conspiratini and get your red pills from the cabinet, this is going to be epic.

*If you’re unfamiliar with the White Rabbit reference, this 3 minute scene will sort you out

Meet Joe 👋

Joe mixes paint at a hardware store and finds his job so distasteful that every weekend he drinks himself insensate. Fishing is the only light in Joe’s unilluminated existence, and he’s passionate about his hobby. He’s already fished in 20 states and plans to fish all 50 before he expires. That’s a long term crusade but Joe also has a dream for his immediate future: he wants to move to Florida and become a fishing guide.

Joe doesn’t have a mortgage, is unmarried and despite working at a hardware store he makes enough money that he’s not in debt. There is no logical reason that Joe cannot quit the job that’s slowly killing him and pursue a line of work that he believes will make him jubilant to wake up in the morning. There is nothing stopping this man except, that is, for the detestable Matrix. Let’s have a look, shall we… The following is an excerpt from a book that I plan to review next week.

Joe has been thinking about quitting and going to Florida for years. “I can only speak for myself,” he said, “That when I leave work every day, I have this overwhelming feeling like—there’s no way this is all that’s on the horizon for me. There’s time when I say to myself—dude, quit your job… Move to Florida, and be a fishing guide on a boat, and you’ll be happy.”
So I asked—why don’t you do it, Joe? Why don’t you leave?
“Right,” he said. And he looked hopeful. And then he looked afraid. Later in our conversation, I came back to it. “You could do it tomorrow,” I said. “What’s stopping you?”
There’s a part of all of us, he says, that thinks “if I keep buying more stuff, and I get the Mercedes, and I buy the house with the four garages, people on the outside [will] think I’m doing good, and then I can will myself into being happy.”
He wanted to go yet he was being blocked by something neither he nor I fully understood. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to understand why Joe probably won’t go. Something keeps many of us trapped in those situations that’s more than just needing to pay the bills.

The Matrix, duh!

As I said goodbye to Joe, and he began to walk away, I called after him: “Go to Florida!” The moment I said it, I felt foolish.
He didn’t look back.

Right.

So I’m having a bit of a laugh talking about the Matrix because it’s such a bruised cliché, and yet… Isn’t the Matrix exactly what we’re dealing with here? Joe’s life is going so well that he acquires an oxy addiction (which he thankfully manages to kick) just so he won’t feel dead inside at his mortuary end job. He has savings, rents his house and has no wife or children.

There’s no reason why this man shouldn’t take a shot at his dream. God forbid he fails, it’s not like he’s giving up an opportunity to make partner at Schmucks Swindlers & Sue-em-alls. He mixes paint. He could get that same job again, anywhere in the country, before the week is out. But given the choice between a guaranteed thirty years of existential misery, and a minimal risk that could lead to a massive payoff, Joe won’t take a chance. To me that’s difficult to understand.

The risk isn’t that you fail, it’s that you get to seventy and you’re a bitter husk of a human, pissed at the world and tossing in your bed at night because your unfulfilled past scares the sleep away.

That’s the Matrix for you though, it’s a tough cookie because it feels so real. How should we define this phenomenon? According to this book the Matrix is the social programming imposed upon us by a materialistic culture that conditions the citizen to think that happiness only comes in a C Class or better. We become so overwhelmed with advertisements and false ideals of satisfaction that we find it disturbingly difficult to adopt a lifestyle that prioritizes dreams over dollars.

That seems like a fair definition, although I might propose something even simpler. The Matrix is fear, and fear is the mind killer. Or in this case, the life killer. A generalization to be sure, but I will say with some confidence that all of life’s greatest rewards are only available for pickup on the other side of fear.

I had intended to discuss Joe’s anecdote as part of a book review. However, listening to the best Eric Weinstein interview in the galaxy caused me to course correct.

There have been historical moments when I’ve turned off an Eric interview because the chap’s ego was so thick it was sucking the oxygen from the room at an alarming rate. And yet we all contain multitudes. In this interview Eric is gentle and subdued. He asks questions, listens to the replies and then shares a wealth of information so vast that the listener can scarcely believe it’s originating from one man’s mouth.

Being unable to quote the entire interview, let us settle on a brief excerpt that is relevant to the topic at hand.

Francis: We are terrified of being alienated from the tribe. We are terrified of standing out because, as you know, thousands of years ago that meant certain death. But we've been programmed that way. So I think what happens a lot Eric, is that people are scared to be authentic. People are scared to say what they truly think and feel. People are scared to live the life that they truly want because it would mean in part that they risk alienation from the tribe.

Eric: That's a really interesting point. Let's assume that those fears are reasonable, valid, and evolutionarily based. Let's try a different fear. There are slightly less than 5,000 weeks in a life. Think about that fear. One more just went by. Come up with a jar, with like 5,000 sweets in it or something, and just take one out every week. And watch the odds that you're ever going to accomplish anything or do anything or inspire somebody, go down further and further.

Our time on this globe is limited and can end when it’s least convenient. What are we waiting for? There has never been a better moment than now to break the Matrix’s jaw and establish a life that will leave us feeling fulfilled. The risk isn’t that we’ll try and fail, the risk is that we’ll expire with unimaginable regrets because we never even tried in the first place.

I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.

-Mark Twain