The Matrix, Occult Esotericism,  And How The Deeper Meaning Of The “Red Pill” Became Distorted

By Bernhard Guenther, April 4, 2024

March 31st, 2024, marked the 25th anniversary of The Matrix movie. I watched it on the first day it was released at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 1999.

I remember coming out of the theatre floating with pure excitement and inspiration. I didn’t care much for the new level of FX (which was great, too), but more about the storyline and esoteric symbolism. I couldn’t believe what I just saw.

Back then, I had just started to become aware of the hyperdimensional matrix and occult esotericism in my research, the topic of all topics: Humanity is not at the top of the “food chain,” but occult [hidden] forces feed off humans and keep humans in a “frequency prison” (symbolized in the film by the machines using people’s life force as batteries).

I was also aware of what came to be known as the “Agent Smith syndrome.”

It is based on an occult, esoteric concept/law that whoever attempts to awaken will be interfered with by people close to him, as they become portals through which these forces act. The esoteric term for “The Matrix” is “The General Law,”

Here’s an excerpt from “Gnosis” by Boris Mouravieff, based on Esoteric Christianity, that explains the “Agent Smith Syndrome”:

“… In general, the reaction of those around towards someone who begins to search for the Way is negative.
This negative attitude is the result of the action of the General Law [Hyperdimensional Matrix], which, as we know, tends to keep man in his place.

Not being able to do this directly by the action of Illusion, the General Law, when it loses its dominion over the man who ‘moves’, acts indirectly by the mediation of those around him.

It is a classic situation. From his side, after having passed through moral bankruptcy, he who seeks the Way becomes different from men who continue to live within the limits permitted by the General Law and thus take mirages for reality.

Due to this, he will feel himself more and more isolated. The centre of gravity of his interest will progressively turn to esoteric work, which will end by absorbing him completely.

The ‘World’ will be hostile to him, because its own purposes are different; it is not in his interest to provoke this tendency, and even less to keep it alive. The day will come — if he remains in the same milieu — where, apart from rare exceptions he will be openly or secretly hated….

That is why it is said that: ‘no prophet is acceptable in his own country’ and why ‘the prophet is despised in his country, among his close relations and in his own house.‘

That indication is precise and leaves no room for doubt. He who wants to start esoteric studies is invited to think it over twice and weigh it all before he rushes to cross the moat-threshold.

We repeat that it will not be possible for him to return to exterior life and to find his place, his pleasures and his satisfaction there as in the past.

It follows that he will become more and more of a stranger to his surroundings; that he will lose more and more interest in exterior life, in which only yesterday he participated fully. The appearance of things, and especially of beings, undergoes a deep change in his eyes.

He will one day be surprised to constate that certain faces which only yesterday he found very beautiful now reveal to him marks of bestiality behind their features: not all, but many of them!

However, as well as the difficulties which are the first results of his evolution, such a man will receive comforting impressions, especially in his human relations.

He will be surprised to perceive one day that certain faces which only yesterday appeared to him ordinary, today shine in his eyes with a bright beauty. It is because his sight, sharpened by esoteric work, has acquired the faculty of penetrating beyond the external crust.

It is amongst these brighter beings that he will find his new friends. He will be understood among them, and their community of common aims and interests will be a stimulus and a help for all.“

At the end of this excerpt, you can see the esoteric meaning of having taken “the red pill” and that once you commit to the Way [of awakening], “it will not be possible for him to return to exterior life and to find his place, his pleasures and his satisfaction there as in the past.”

As Morpheus said in the film:

“After this, there is no turning back. 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.”

I was in awe of seeing so many deep, esoteric occult truths about the nature of our reality in one film.

In my naive youth, I thought that this film would “wake up” the world if people would just go see it. But most of my friends back then didn’t get it and thought I was crazy.

Even nowadays, most people are still not aware of the film’s deeper esoteric messages in the context of esoteric INNER WORK, which is the only “way out” of the matrix.

Two years later, after I saw “The Matrix,” 9/11 happened.

I witnessed it live on TV, and I also thought that would “wake people up,” but even to this day, most people still believe this nonsense about some hijackers with box knife cutters (and a guy in a cave planning it all) flying planes into the two towers and collapsing them (and building 7 lol).

I had to go through many more dark nights of the soul (with suicidal thought injections), tough lessons, attacks (that served as initiations and important lessons), and isolation and loneliness to realize that the process of awakening is a tedious battle within and that not everyone is as excited about seeking truth as I was.

In fact, I experienced many times another esoteric truth as conveyed by Morpheus:

“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save.

But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy.

You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.“

Hence, I learned [the hard way] about the “trap of waking up others” in the context of occult and Divine laws and the esoteric meaning of “be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.”

On a positive note, more and more people have become aware of topics I’ve been writing about for 20 years, and there is definitely a larger “awakening” impulse, especially over the past 4 years.

But this “great awakening” is also in danger of getting hijacked because most people still externalize and get distracted by the shadows on the wall.

“The Matrix” and “red pill” memes have become more popular, especially over the years, but with it, even more distortions and superficiality.

The word “awakening” has also been distorted and reduced to some sort of informational, intellectual awareness of “the cabal” and “the matrix” externally and mostly on a 3D level, which is then equated to having “taken the red pill,” a term that has been somewhat “hijacked” by the conservative manosphere trad movement recently.

But being “awake” about the matrix and the various control mechanisms and deceptions – and based on a purely intellectual informational level – cannot even be called “taking the red pill” from an esoteric perspective and “crossing the moat-threshold” as Mouravieff wrote about above.

This stage of awareness is mere baby steps prior to crossing the threshold towards self-realization, which entails psycho-spiritual esoteric self-work, embodiment [soul integration], and alchemical internal transformation to reach a higher level of being/consciousness and spiritualize life, body, and mind, for that is how you truly “stop the bullets” and transform the world via your inner transformation.

As within, so without.

As I said many times before, I wouldn’t claim to be “awake” to the true meaning of the world; the real battle is within, according to the Law of Ascent and Descent.

The more I engage in the work, the more I can see that it is way harder to face yourself sincerely and integrally in the INNER Work than to externalize everything and project your shadow (and unconscious wounds and traumas) externally. Ironically, this just feeds the “architects” of the matrix [and keeps the matrix “in place”], who have their role teaching function in light of the evolution of consciousness.

In light of this 25th anniversary, listen to our #100 Cosmic Matrix episode Debunking Popular Myths About “The Matrix”

In this episode, we discuss how the “Matrix” concept has become very trendy over the past few years. We address some of the popular myths and distortions they see in popular influencer culture, what the core concepts and different multi-dimensional levels of the Matrix are, and much more.

[P.S. Some people claim that the Wachowskis never wrote the film but ripped someone off who sued them. My take is (and I could be wrong) that whoever wrote it did not “consciously” know about the deeper esoteric symbolism and truths put into the film but was creatively open to receiving this creative impulse from positive forces, as tends to happen with other works of art, film, and music as well (and some are inspired by negative forces). The fact that the Wachowski brothers became “sisters” as transgenders shows me that they have been hijacked by negative forces. They seem to have taken on the Woke virus, as shown in their later works and public statements as well. I couldn’t even watch the last Matrix movie to the end. The original creative impulse is hardly there. Just my 2 cents.]