Temporary Constructs
“Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose!”
Agent Smith to Neo, The Matrix Revolutions, 2003
It’s worth looking at the entire dialog from Agent Smith in that scene from The Matrix Revolutions:
“Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you’re fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom or truth?! Perhaps peace?! Could it be for love?! Illusions, Mr. Anderson, vagaries of perception! Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose! And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love! You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson! You must know it by now! You can’t win! It’s pointless to keep fighting!” -Agent Smith
This dialog and much of the movies themselves are embodiments of the Absurd. Certainly they have their critics and I know the last two films weren’t as widely appreciated as the first, but I think that’s because people were expecting the kind of over-the-top action of the first Matrix film (PSA leaves Prime on 1 April) , without as much dialog. If you like discussing or reading philosophy, or if you just like thinking about these things as I do, the second and third film were far superior than the first. They’ve spawned an amazing amount of books and literature. I think the first film was amazing, it came out as I was in a transition period in my own life and spoke to all the things I had in interest in at the time like problems posed by Descartes and others. But it wasn’t as satisfying intellectually. I think the real debate, the real evaluation of life and its purpose happens in the later films.
There’s a lot of content there, and I will draw on more later, but first and foremost this stuck out in my mind as the essence of the struggle Absurdists have. In fact, every day I struggle with this. Some days more than others, but there’s not a day that goes by some form of this doesn’t go through my head. Some days it starts with the same thought, “Why get up?” Certainly I haven’t been pummeled by a malicious computer program (although sometimes mornings do feel that way) but the way most of my days start are with this question as it refers to my exit from bed. I imagine I’m not the only one. The scale of this question, ranging from stay in bed, to today’s “the day” make for a sometimes too examined life. But it is a good reminder that every day is a new day and not to get caught up in illusions. I’m not going to quote something as trite as “Carpe Diem” something I’m ashamed to have done in the past, but I do like to think about how every day is the first day of the rest of your life, a life that will inevitably involve monotony and meaninglessness and sometimes despair.
Thus I leave you here lying in bed! A new day to embrace the Absurd will come again, with a rain battering at the window, waiting for you to decide to raise yourself up and go about your business or stay in the warmth of nothingness. To conclude that facing the day without purpose will be neither sterile nor futile. The struggle to get that first cup of coffee should be enough to fill your heart and make you happy.
-DA
René Descartes on Amazon https://amzn.to/2HxHE7U
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes
And Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/44
Prime video (Leaving streaming on MARCH 31/APRIL 1)
The Matrix: https://amzn.to/2HEUCAT
Reloaded: https://amzn.to/2YgQLi6
Revolutions: https://amzn.to/2TpLp0o
