Neo is the most unlikely candidate for a savior that we’ve seen in over 2000 years! There was no star above his crib when he was born, no wise men nor angels to herald his birth – but there was “the prophecy”.

Enter the average man. Thomas Anderson. A person who, when found on the window ledge of his office building trying to escape to a scaffold, says “Why is this happening to me? What did I do? I'm nobody.”

Nobody, huh? Isn’t that what we all think? That I am nobody? That I am so small and of such little importance that no one has ever taken notice of me, and indeed, never will?

Yet just a moment earlier, in his boss’s office, he was grilled for being late to work. His boss said, “You have a problem with authority, Mr. Anderson. You believe that you are special, that somehow the rules do not apply to you.”

Moving from homo sapien to homo illuminate requires the recognition that there is nothing in your world, as you have defined it that is meaningful. Neo comes to this recognition when he meets with Trinity, Switch and Apoc in the car under the bridge. When confronted with a seemingly unreasonable request, he balks and is prepared to leave the car, when Trinity reminds him “…you have been down there, Neo. You know that road. You know exactly where it ends. And I know that's not where you want to be.” This is key. There is only one road in the dream. You play it over and over and over again. It looks like it’s many different roads. This one a country lane, that one a downtown city street. But they all end in the same place. Death. What ever you get can only be lost. In the end you always die. Becoming the savior is to look for a completely different path – one with a completely different end. Life.

Looking for this other path has led Neo to Morpheus, whom he now meets in person.

Morpheus: I imagine, that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Neo: You can say that.
Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees, because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo: No.
Morpheus: Why not?
Neo: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus: I know exactly how you feel. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it you're entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that brought you here. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Neo: The matrix?
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is? The matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes, to blind you to the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
Morpheus opens a small case, and takes out two pills, one red and one blue. He holds them out, one in each hand.

Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real. What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world, and the real world?

He looks beside him, there is a mirror, cracked so the perception is distorted, and everything reflected in it seems separate. This is the world as the savior asleep sees it. As the pill he has taken starts to take effect, the mirror unifies, his perception is no longer distorted, everything becomes singular – and he reaches out to touch it – because the last thing a homo-sapien includes in his view of singularity, on the path to awakening, is himself – the mirror sticks to his finger and slowly engulfs him, totally – and as his view of himself is included into the mirror, he dies to the dream world.

He is ‘reborn’ into the “real world” without a clue what that really means – he goes through a physical transformation in which his muscles are rebuilt and he learns to see with eyes that he has never used before. Then his training begins. He is plugged into a training program, where he starts to understand what is and isn’t real.

Morpheus: What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

Morpheus: Do you believe that my being stronger, or faster, has anything to with my muscles, in this place? You think that's air you're breathing? Hm. Again.

Neo starts to realize that it is how these signals are interpreted that determines being awake or asleep. It is the understanding that everything in the dream world is an illusion that allows for a new paradigm to immerge. Neo, like all of us, have a thought structure that is based on our past experiences. He has to unlearn what he has learned. He has to become aware of what he infers on the present from his past experiences and detach that inference – he has to free his mind.

What keeps the world in chains but your beliefs? And what can save the world except your Self? Belief is powerful indeed. The thoughts you hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is the truth. A madman thinks the world he sees is real, and does not doubt it. Nor can he be swayed by questioning his thoughts' effects. It is but when their source is raised to question that the hope of freedom comes to him at last.

Yet is salvation easily achieved, for anyone is free to change his mind, and all his thoughts change with it. Now the source of thought has shifted, for to change your mind means you have changed the source of all ideas you think or ever thought or yet will think. You free the past from what you thought before. You free the future from all ancient thoughts of seeking what you do not want to find.

Lesson 132, ACIM

Morpheus: What are you waiting for? You're faster than this. Don't think you are, know you are.

This is key. He must know. This knowledge is not based on a belief of something that might be true, it comes from the experience of who you really are. The experience of being The One.

Morpheus: Come on! Stop trying to hit me and hit me!

This reminds me immediately of the quote from Yoda in Star Wars, The Jedi Strikes Back, where he says ‘Do, or do not. There is no try.’ Trying is impotence. It implies uncertainty, a lack of knowing.

Morpheus: You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.

Fear, doubt and disbelief are all elements of uncertainty, a lack of knowledge.

 Seek not within the world to find your Self. Love is not found in darkness and in death. Yet it is perfectly apparent to the eyes that see and ears that hear love's Voice. Today we practice making free your mind of all the laws you think you must obey; of all the limits under which you live, and all the changes that you think are part of human destiny.

Lesson 127, ACIM

Neo at this point is borrowing Morpheus’ belief in him. Morpheus almost has him convinced that he is The One, when he is taken to see the Oracle, but convinced or believing is not knowing. The trip to the Oracle covers a lot of ground. Let’s look at it point by point:

Neo: I used to eat there. (looks toward passing restaurant.) Really good noodles. I have these memories from my life. None of them happened. What does that mean?
Trinity: That the matrix cannot tell you who you are.

This is important – I’ll reference it later.

In the apartment of the Oracle:

Two girls are levitating toy blocks. A bald boy is staring at a spoon, which bends. Several bent spoons lay in front of him. He hands a straight spoon to Neo.
 

The world is nothing in itself. Your mind must give it meaning. And what you behold upon it are your wishes, acted out so you can look on them and think them real. Perhaps you think you did not make the world, but came unwillingly to what was made already, hardly waiting for your thoughts to give it meaning. Yet in truth you found exactly what you looked for when you came.

There is no world apart from what you wish, and herein lies your ultimate release. Change but your mind on what you want to see, and all the world must change accordingly. Ideas leave not their source. This central theme is often stated in the text, and must be borne in mind if you would understand the lesson for today. It is not pride which tells you that you made the world you see, and that it changes as you change your mind.

But it is pride that argues you have come into a world quite separate from yourself, impervious to what you think, and quite apart from what you chance to think it is. There is no world! This is the central thought the course attempts to teach. Not everyone is ready to accept it, and each one must go as far as he can let himself be led along the road to truth. He will return and go still farther, or perhaps step back a while and then return again.

But healing is the gift of those who are prepared to learn there is no world, and can accept the lesson now. Their readiness will bring the lesson to them in some form which they can understand and recognize.

Lesson 132, ACIM

Neo enters the kitchen of the Oracle, who is sitting in front of an oven. 'Beginning to See the Light' plays faintly in the background.

Oracle: I know you're Neo. Be right with you.
Neo: You're the Oracle?
Oracle: Bingo. Not quite what you were expecting, right? Almost done. Smell good, don't they?
Neo: Yeah.
Oracle: I'd ask you to sit down, but, you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase.
Neo: What vase?
Neo turns to look for a vase, and as he does, he knocks a vase of flowers off a table.
Oracle: That vase.
Neo: I'm sorry.
Oracle: I said don't worry about it. I'll get one of my kids to fix it.
Neo: How did you know?
Oracle: Ohh, what's really going to bake you're noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?

Neo turns to look at the vase because of what the Oracle said. In turning, he breaks the vase. Cause and effect are not separate. The Merovingian makes the same point in the part two. “We are all victims of causality.” What the savior must realize is that he is cause of his effects. (This becomes clearer in part three – but I won’t spoil that for you, here)

Oracle: You're cuter than I thought. I can see why she likes you.
Neo: Who?
Oracle: Not too bright though. You know why Morpheus brought you to see me. So, what do you think? Do you think you are the one?
Neo: Honestly I don't know.
The Oracle points to a sign over the kitchen door.
Oracle: You know what that means? It's Latin. Means 'know thyself'. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Being the One is just like being in love. No one can tell you if you're in love, you just know it, through and through, balls to bone. Well, I better have a look at you. Open your mouth, say aaah.
The Oracle looks in his eyes, mouth, and looks at his palms.
Oracle: Ok... I'm supposed to say, hmmm, that's interesting, but, then you say...
Neo: But what?
Oracle: But, you already know what I'm going to tell you.
Neo: I'm not the one.
Oracle: Sorry, kid. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something.
Neo: What?
Oracle: You're next life, maybe. Who knows. That's the way these things go.

Here’s the crux of the problem – he doesn’t KNOW. He is still looking outside of himself for the definition of who he is. He looks to Morpheus, Trinity, the Matrix, even the Oracle to be shown who he is. But the only one who could possible KNOW is him. That’s why he is The One. He is the only one who could know who he is.  Homo sapiens define themselves by what they PERCEIVE their environment tells them they are.  The shift to homo illuminate occurs when you stop looking outside yourself for that definition.  Your certainty of who you are allows your light to shine so that the light is what is reflected back to you, and this reflection you RECOGNIZE as Yourself.

Uncertainty about what you must be is self-deception on a scale so vast, its magnitude can hardly be conceived. To be alive and not to know yourself is to believe that you are really dead. For what is life except to be yourself, and what but you can be alive instead? Who is the doubter? What is it he doubts? Whom does he question? Who can answer him?

He merely states that he is not himself, and therefore, being something else, becomes a questioner of what that something is. Yet he could never be alive at all unless he knew the answer. If he asks as if he does not know, it merely shows he does not want to be the thing he is. He has accepted it because he lives; has judged against it and denied its worth, and has decided that he does not know the only certainty by which he lives.

Lesson 139 ACIM

Not knowing who you are, you have tried to define yourself. This definition is always shifting, you are always changing your mind about who you want to be and who you think you are, so there is no substance upon which to base your knowledge And you know this. It may not be in your conscious awareness, but you know it.  It's there, like a splinter in your mind.  Therefore there is always an element of uncertainty in that definition, in fact, it is nothing but uncertainty. True self knowledge starts only when you admit that you don’t really have a clue who you are.

Oracle: Are you sure you want to hear this? Morpheus believes in you, Neo. And no one, not you, not even me, can convince him otherwise. He believes it so blindly that he's going to sacrifice his life to save yours. You're going to have to make a choice. In the one hand, you'll have Morpheus' life. And in the other hand, you'll have your own. One of you is going to die. Which one will be up to you. I'm sorry, kiddo, I really am. You have a good soul. And I hate giving good people bad news. Ohh... don't worry about it. As soon as you step outside that door, you'll start feeling better. You'll remember that you don't believe in any of this fate crap. You're in control of your own life, remember? Here, take a cookie. I promise, by the time you're done eating it, you'll feel right as rain.

Neo has been told of a choice he must make. Morpheus’ life or his own. And then, reminding him that he doesn’t believe in fate, the Oracle has alluded to another possible outcome. But that alternative is not available at THIS point, because he does not believe that he is The One.

The only way out of this pickle is for him to change his mind; for him to wake up. For him to come to the realization that he is THE ONE.

Tank:  Neo, this is loco. They've got Morpheus in a military-controlled building, even IF you somehow got inside, those are agents holding him. Three of ‘em. I want Morpheus back too, but what you're talking about is suicide.
Neo:  I know that's what it looks like, but it's not. I can't explain to you why it's not. Morpheus believed something, and he was ready to give his life for what he believed, I understand that now. That's why I have to go.
Tank: Why?
Neo:  Because I believe in something.
Tank: What?
Neo:  I believe I can bring him back.

He has come to the realization that this other alternative exists. All he has to do is… KNOW.  His certainty of himself will allow him to overcome having to make that difficult choice of which the Oracle spoke. 

Tank: Neo, no one has ever done anything like this.
Neo: That's why it's going to work.

Now we have one of the most amazing fight scenes ever to grace the silver screen.

In the end, there is Neo and Trinity in the subway station, waiting for the phone to ring. She wants to tell him something and that gives just enough time for Agent Smith to materialize out of a drunken bum.

Neo turns to run. And then stops. He remembers He IS The One.

Agent Smith and Neo exchange gunfire. They land with their guns against each other's heads.
Agent Smith: You're empty.
Neo: So are you.
They fight hand-to-hand. Neo slams Smith against a post, breaking Smith's glasses.
Agent Smith: I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson.
They fight some more.

They fight some more. Smith throws Neo onto the subway tracks. A train approaches.
Agent Smith: You hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of your death. Goodbye, Mr. Anderson.
Neo: My name... is NEO.
Neo throws Smith upward, against the ceiling. Smith lands on the tracks, and Neo jumps onto the platform as the subway arrives. The subway hits Smith and the body of the bum dies.

Smith walks out of the train's door. This time Neo runs from the station.
 

I ask to see a different world, and think a different kind of thought from those I made. The world I seek I did not make alone, the thoughts I want to think are not my own.

For several minutes, watch YOUR mind and see, although your eyes are closed, the senseless world YOU think is real. Review the thoughts as well which are compatible with such a world, and which you think are true. Then let them go, and sink below them to the holy place where they can enter not. There is a door beneath them in your mind, which you could not completely lock to hide what lies beyond.

Seek for that door and find it.

Lesson 131, ACIM