Went to the new Matrix Movie

Chris and I went opening night to the new Matrix movie. Brave ending in my opinion. I liked it and will see it again.

What is more important is the conversation that Chris and I had before and after the movie. We talked about values and truth and life. We are determined in and through our lives to love God and People while learning the appropriate place for things. Friends help each other in keeping their priorities right. We agreed that we would support each other in being faithful to our wives... This is the real stuff of life.

2 hours at the movies... this dream landscape provided a reference point for conversation to unfold. Now if we could only have the same level of open conversation over the scriptures... we might find not just inspiration, but God given guidance.

I am greatful for a movie that makes it clear that winning isn't everything. Do we need a common enemy before we can make peace???

I am not a big fan of Hegel... and the series is true to Hegel's categories of...

Matrix 1: Thesis
Matrix 2: Anti-thesis
Matrix 3: Synthesis

What is concerning to me is the lack of prayer and reflection that is going on when people consume media. Everything we witness, real and unreal impacts us at some level. To be aware of what is going on in our souls takes intentional time and space. See my link to "Space for God", and try the "Online Prayer Guide".

Media is a given in our current culture. What I find young people want from adults is not so much rules about what is good and bad in it. But the tools to understand it and the means to understand how it is effecting them. Often if they can get beyound the addictive elements of our own culture... they will begin to self select a healthy diet. Model this... Don't just consume media... reflect on it... deconstruct it... and build tools for insight... Don't just tell the kids... show them!!!!

Both Chris and I have cut down our TV consumption a lot. I watch less than 4 hours of TV a month now including the news. Take a fast from some of these things and let your soul breathe... maybe even pray a little bit more.

Chris and I went early to the theator and we felt abused by the manipulative advertisements before the movie started. I will have to figure out a strategy of skipping the hype before movies... find my own exit out of "the Matrix" "To see it for what it really is".

(Their is a little book by Soren Kierkagaard that I really like... called "This Present Age" where he explores the necessity of a religious stance that is necessary for us to become fully ourselves... I have heard that C.S. Lewis explored a similar theme in his novel "Till We Have Faces".)

Be the fingerprint in this world and history that God intended you to be.