Breaking Out of The Matrix: How to Do It, and Why we Need To

A recent newsletter from Mark Queppet had a new take on the issue of bots in social media. How many social media accounts are actually real? How many posts are actually being created by real people, as opposed to bots?

In Queppet's view: it almost doesn't even matter, because so many people on social media function like mindless bots themselves anyway. They just suck in whatever information they get from their little political or social silo, and then turn around and regurgitate that in their own social media feeds — rather than thinking for themselves.

That's the situation we now find ourselves in: each of us living in his or her own echo chamber of propoganda disguised as "news," entertainment, and distraction. Like in the movie The Matrix, this creates a false sense of reality. I wrote about this not long ago, using Pilar Gerassimo's descriptive phrase: Our Unhealthy Default Reality.

It would be one thing if this matrix (of news, entertainment, and social media) really enhanced our lives, making us feel happy, peaceful, and confident -- equipping us to get more done and be more successful.

But as we instinctively know, it does the exact opposite. The matrix leaves us less happy, more insecure, more anxious, and frequently outraged.

How do we Break Out of This?

Here I want to go back to Queppet's article, because he puts it so well. The only way we free ourselves from what our culture is doing to us is to get into communities that help us think more clearly, and challenge the status quo -- especially related to how the world inundates us with its messages.

I was struck by what Queppet had to say about this in his article -- because it so completely captures what we are creating with the Renewed Man Community. We're creating a place where we can strengthen each other, and help each other grow ... especially as men in a world that seeks to entice and control men with artificial sexual content.

I want to quote it at length. Note that it's written for men, and talks about men ... but what he has to say is also true for women:

"The point here is that this is the way society is going, and you'll end up sucked into the borg in some form or another unless you ACTIVELY RESIST IT. Social programming is one of the strongest human forces in existence - if you aren't tapped into a community that is pushing you to excellence, then you are left floating like a leaf in the stream of this unholy abomination that we call modern culture.

"Even if you say 'Mark - I don't need a community to resist this stuff, I'll NEVER sacrifice my morals!' Let me ask you some questions:

1. Do you use porn?
2. Do you spend more time than you should on videogames, social media, sports, or TV?
3. Are you giving less than 110 percent toward realizing your mission in life?

"If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you ARE being corrosively influenced by this culture. You can go at it alone like a tadpole trying to swim against tsunami... or you can team up with with some like-minded brothers who will help forge you into the amazing man that you're meant to be. As far as I can tell, tight knit communities of men focusing on becoming exceptional men is the ONLY path to realistically save society from itself."
 

Personal Update

Charlene and I had a sobering experience of participating in a church closing service. Jacob's Well Chruch -- where I served for several years about a decade ago -- closed its doors on July 24. The Christian faith, and the power of God, is on the move as powerfully as ever ... and yet the Christian Church in the West is having its troubles. (But that's a subject for a different newsletter!) 

As I said in the last newseltter, the Renewed Man Boot Camp pilot group is finished, and we have established an ongoing network called "The Renewed Man Community."