Purple pills

The scene from The Matrix movie, when Morpheus offers Neo two pills, a red and a blue one, is already occupying the prominent place in the symbolic thinking of modern generations used to the idea of questionable separation between virtual and so-called “true” reality. The blue one is soothing, and if he takes it, as a consequence, Neo will continue to sleep, deeply and safely involved in the matrix, with his life being nothing more than a program.

The red one signalizes danger. If he takes it, Neo will wake up in the real world, free from the bondage he is not capable of understanding while submerged into his computer-made-up life. He is warned, though, that the truth can be painful and that he should not take this choice lightly.

Some thirty years ago, I thought that the spiritual journey was a similar choice. You abandon the safe path and the road traveled by many, and you take off for the uncharted territory. Whatever you will find there, it will be reliable and real, in comparison to the big pile of lies created by so many torpid people.

Now, with the passing of time, as I watch what spirituality has turned to, during the last decade or two, it is hard to see anyone offering red pills anymore. The blue ones had a certain “give up” halo around it, so it is not popular to even mention them. Instead, there is an abundance of purple pills all around! They are offered as red, but since they are not posing any danger to the illusion, they are truly not red. However, since they have to offer them in the name of some kind of awakening, they should not be blue, either.

So, they came out with the purple ones! Purple is the color you get when you mix red and blue. It is a nice picture of today’s false spirituality. When another false Morpheus comes and offers you an exit from bondage, he will not offer you the purple pill, or the choice between blue and red. Instead, you can have them all! Just say what you want: money, love, health, a cosmic energy, angels to assist you, 11th dimension to live in… or maybe just money, ’cause you can buy the rest anyway.

No warnings, no danger, no side effects – just fulfillment of your deepest desires, in a dream, as purple as it gets.

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