(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

In a comment to waysmeanstonola I mentioned that I thought The Matrix was more of a rendition of Neoplatonism than of Gnosticism. The same really cannot be said of Matrix Reloaded, which borrows quite heavily from the Gnostic literature, almost directly.

Neo and Trinity: the marriage of Christ and the fallen soul

The example given is not an exact match, but this explains the imagery of the "bridal chamber" as an image of redemption in Gnostic mythology:

As long as she was alone with the father, she was virgin and in form androgynous. But when she fell down into a body and came to this life, then she fell into the hands of many robbers. ... But then the bridegroom, according to the father's will, came down to her into the bridal chamber, which was prepared. And he decorated the bridal chamber.

For since that marriage is not like the carnal marriage, those who are to have intercourse with one another will be satisfied with that intercourse. And as if it were a burden, they leave behind them the annoyance of physical desire and they turn their faces from each other. But this marriage [...]. But once they unite with one another, they become a single life. Wherefore the prophet said (Gn 2:24) concerning the first man and the first woman, "They will become a single flesh." For they were originally joined one to another when they were with the father before the woman led astray the man, who is her brother. This marriage has brought them back together again and the soul has been joined to her true love, her real master, as it is written (cf. Gn 3:16; 1 Co 11;1; Ep 5:23), "For the master of the woman is her husband." From Exegesis on the Soul

The Oracle: the Archon who turns against Yaldabaoth

And Zoe (Life), the daughter of Pistis Sophia, cried out and said to him, "You are mistaken, Sakla!" - for which the alternative name is Yaltabaoth. She breathed into his face, and her breath became a fiery angel for her; and that angel bound Yaldabaoth and cast him down into Tartaros below the abyss.

Now when his offspring Sabaoth saw the force of that angel, he repented and condemned his father and his mother, matter. He loathed her, but he sang songs of praise up to Sophia and her daughter Zoe [aka Eve -SS]. And Sophia and Zoe caught him up and gave him charge of the seventh heaven, below the veil between above and below. And he is called 'God of the forces, Sabaoth', since he is up above the forces of chaos, for Sophia established him. from The Hypostasis of the Archons

The encounter with the Architect: encounter with Yaldabaoth in the third aeon

This encounter is described in a little bit of detail in the Second Book of Ieou, which unfortunately is not online yet (and my copy of the translation is still packed away). The detail on this is actually not very helpful except to students of Gnostic esoterica anyway.

Interesting note: the Second Treatise of the Great Seth suggests that the archons (programs like the Oracle) will rise up against Yaldabaoth (the Architect) in Matrix Revolutions. Let's see if this prediction holds.

Comments

[rubylou.livejournal.com]

I was astonished at how closely Reloaded followed Gnostic Christianity.

A friend of mine was recently hypothesizing Agent Smith as Legion---and we've had no end of fun debating about the Merovingian. This month has been a blast for discussion, due to this flick, let me tell you. ;-)