Unravelling the philosophy of ‘No Spoon’
For a considerable part of my late teens and early twenties, I dismissed The Matrix as just another action flick. I remember wondering why some people went gaga over black leather jackets and slow-mo bullets every time I saw an ad about this movie.
Fast forward to this day, I watched the movie thrice in the last two years. Believe me when I say I cannot get enough of it! I love it all - the black leather jackets, the slick action sequences, the larger-than-life characters, and more than anything - the way the movie sheds light on the truth.
The Matrix is not just another great Hollywood movie. It is an extraordinary artistic creation that bends your mind. It keeps you awake at night and makes you question your reality.
Every time I watch The Matrix, I find something to be obsessed about. The first time I watched the movie, I swooned over Agent Smith. It was fascinating to watch a negative character who had so much insight and depth to him. Unknowingly, I ended up rooting for him during some scenes — even though a voice at the back of my mind screamed, “We should be rooting for Neo!”
Agent Smith does not conform to the rules like the other agents. He is supposed to be a program with one job - to be the gatekeeper of the Matrix. He is not supposed to think or feel. But he thinks – not like an ordinary human but like a philosopher and feels – not just any emotions but intense feelings of anger and hatred. I caught myself sympathising with him when I learned that just like the humans, he himself is sick of the Matrix and wants to get out of it.
The second time I watched the movie, I found something new to blow my brain away with. It’s the scene where Neo goes to see the Oracle. While waiting for his turn, Neo sees a little boy trying to bend a spoon with his mind. The spoon bends like the laws of nature don’t apply to it. As Neo watches with fascination, the boy begins to tell him -
Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Boy: Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.
I think I was caught up so much in the magnificence of the visuals and brilliance of the plot that the first time I watched The Matrix, the awesomeness of the exchange between Neo and the boy did not strike me, or perhaps my small brain was not ready to appreciate the beauty this scene.
But my oh my, when I found this masterpiece of a scene during my second watch, I could not forgive myself for having missed it the first time. The subtlety of the scene made me appreciate it all the more. In the grand scheme of things, this scene does not look like much. But the layers of meaning a single line in this scene holds are what I would call spellbinding.
The line ‘There is no spoon’ is an eye-opener for Neo. You see him taking the line into his mind in this scene, but it is much later that he truly understands its significance.
From the beginning, you find Neo grappling with his fears, unable to free his mind. He is entrapped in disbelief and finds it difficult to accept the truth. There is always an underlying doubt in him about himself and about the world that he lives in. Every time he tries to do the jump he fails. I would like to think that “the jump” is a symbolic representation of taking a leap of faith. Until the very end, Neo is unable to make that leap.
In the face of impossible odds, Neo tells himself ‘There is no spoon’ and you know, in that moment he realises that he is not bound by anything, that absolutely anything is possible from him in the Matrix. Knowing that there is no spoon, helps him let go of his preconceived notions and his fear. It’s when Neo ultimately accepts the truth rather than running away from it that he is finally able to free his mind.
As I finished watching the movie for the second time, I realised this was the philosophy that I was looking for. I was constantly trying to bend the spoon and always ended up failing. I was trapped in the limits that I had created for myself, in a prison of my own making.
Was it entirely my fault? It was partially mine. But, I believe to a great extent it is because of the way the society that I am living in has been constructed. I never learned to question it, instead, I gave in to it. I was so deep in this labyrinth, that I forgot there was a way out.
To get out, all I had to realise was there was no spoon, there never was one. This understanding made me question things. Why am I anxious about things in the future? Why am I wallowing in the regrets of the past? It’s just expectations set by the social construct that I’m living in that dictate I should live a certain way. When you stop giving control to the system over yourself, you truly become free. You realise your opportunities are limitless – that anything is possible.
For me, this realisation has brought in a sense of liberation. Especially when trying to survive in a world that’s cruel and unfair, remembering that there’s no spoon is a relief.