Jonathan Middleton: Red Pill or Blue Pill

 The classic science fiction film The Matrix offers us a relatively simply question, would we take the blue pill or the red pill. In other words, would you choose a life of blissful ignorance or a life of hard truths.

This is admittedly a very difficult choice to make, and must people would likely very much enjoy the prospect of continuing to live in their state of ignorance. An interesting question to ponder on this topic though is whether this state of blissful ignorance can be considered a form of fantasy escapism?

If an individual is unaware that they are in fact only living in a specially concocted reality and not the 'real world' then are only living in the state that they know. In this situation, the 'real world' may as well be the fantasy. What is real and what is to be considered fantasy would be entirely up to the individual's perspective in the situation. 

Arguably though, if given the choice between the two painful reality or blissful ignorance then whichever option is left unchosen would morph into that fantasy world while which ever is chosen would become that person's new reality. 

In this situation reality is simply a matter of perspective that an individual has the ability to alter and choose the course that they would like to take.


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