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Awakening from the Matrix · Spiritual Sense: Practical wisdom to quiet an overthinking mind and recharge your soul

• 0:00
  Speaker A: You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
• 0:15
  Speaker B: Have you ever wondered, what is the nature of reality? What is this whole thing we call life? Some people say we are living in a simulation, and this whole thing is just some strange and wondrous thing that we are watching that appears real to us. Many people have seen the Matrix, the movie, and there's many other movies and books about this. And it's now something that people are questioning, what are we doing here? And what is the nature of reality? So in today's episode, Shireen has actually written a book called Awakening from the Matrix. And she's going to tell you all about how to wake up out of the Matrix, what the Matrix is, and all sorts of fascinating things in between. So welcome, welcome, welcome. Hello, Shereen.
• 1:07
  Speaker C: Hello, Michael. Okay, this was impromptu. Happy about this book?
• 1:15
  Speaker B: Yeah, tell us all about the book.
• 1:17
  Speaker C: I feel very proud of it because it took a while. It took a whole lot of while to get this going. Okay, so about 13 years ago or so, I wrote a book called True Hollywood Blockbuster. And this is version two of that book, but it's really not second edition because I changed about 40% of the content. And Awakening from the Matrix. Yay. So about the book, the book is actually looking at spiritual reality. What is physical reality? What is spiritual reality in spiritual terms? What. What is the Matrix? And also, why are some movies in Hollywood, they gross over billion dollars, sometimes more. And why is that? And somehow it touches something very deep inside us, these stories, right? And so the book is about that. What about the story that touches us? And actually it's our story. We are looking at something. Even though it feels, you know, fantastic and all kinds of, you know, let's take Avatar, right? They go to Pandora and this and that. But at the essence of it, the story, the hero's journey, the story, everything, we are connecting with it. And so that's. What is the book about, is what is the Matrix like in our daily life, right? Why did even the movie Matrix, Why did it touch us so much? Why does it have a cult following? Because in some shape or form, we kind of know we are living in a Matrix. What do you think?
• 3:35
  Speaker B: I remember when I saw that movie, I was in South Africa and it was just about a month before I had a massive spiritual awakening. Interesting timing. And I remember we were just wandering around in some shopping mall and it just happened to see a movie theater and like, oh, that looks cool. And I didn't know anything about it. And I remember it. It was very powerful experience, actually watching that. I thought something strange is going on. And then when I had a spiritual awakening, like a month later when I came back to England it really did feel like. Like I was coming out of a trance. It was like a foreshadowing in a way, in a good way, right? And we can feel some. Something weird is going on. You know, there's. There's something in life. How come things line up the way they do? And why is it things work out the way they do? And how come challenges somehow have special benefits? And we have some feeling intuitively that there's more to life than what meets the eye and that we're somehow separate from it as well as involved in it. And it's fascinating. And the spiritual knowledge basically tells us that we are spiritual beings having an experience and this is all a grand movie happening and that's all very nice ideas. But then when we experience it it really does feel like we're watching a fascinating movie. And. And it all sort of makes more sense about why things are happening and it's more fun as well. I mean, I think the bottom line is the more I detach from the Matrix emotionally the more I can enjoy it, understand it and play in it, you know. So this is a very fascinating topic. So tell us about your book, because. What? You've written a whole book there. What are you talking about?
• 5:37
  Speaker C: I know, right? The whole book. I could read you the first chapter.
• 5:41
  Speaker B: Could read the whole book. Be here for eight hours. Once upon a time.
• 5:48
  Speaker C: Once upon a time. No? Okay, let's start with the first chapter. You wake up. Check your phone. Scroll. Move through your morning routine. Head to work or school. Interact with some people. Worry about the same problems. Fall asleep planning for tomorrow's repeat performance. Something feels soft. Not in your body in your being. It's not your tiredness. It's a pull, a whisper a subtle longing for something real something more. The Matrix has you. Now pause and consider this. What if this reality the one you're so certain about is actually a limited perception? What if you're experiencing only a fraction of what's truly available to you? In the groundbreaking film the Matrix humanity exists in a simulated reality. While intelligent machines use their bodies as energy sources most people live their entire lives believing the simulation is real never questioning the nature of their existence. Only when Neo takes the red pill does he awaken to the startling truth he's been living in an elaborate illusion. You didn't choose the system, it choose you. You were born into a world that teaches you to forget. Forget your light, forget your power, forget who you really are. They call it life, but it's a program. Rules, roles, scripts. Be nice, stay busy, look good above all, don't ask questions and it all seems normal until something cracks. The illusion of identity. Have you ever caught yourself saying I'm tired or I'm angry? These simple phrases reveal a fundamental misunderstanding about who we are. We identify so completely with our physical bodies and emotional states that we believe we are them. But. But what if you're not your body? But what if you're not even your thoughts or emotions? What if, like Neo, you've been living with a case of mistaken identity? You are light, embodied in form. Your eternal essence expressed through presence Your truth manifesting as a person. Consider this. You say, I have a body. Just as you say, I have a car. You don't say, I am a car. So who is this I that has a body but is not identical to the body the Matrix wants you to believe you're a name, a gender, a job. It wants you to chase approval, success and comfort. But the truth? You're not a body. You're not your thoughts. You're not the story others wrote for you. You're a soul, a being of light a spark of divine presence. This distinction isn't just philosophical wordplay. It's the first crack in the Matrix the beginning of awakening to a broader reality. When Neo begins to question his reality Morpheus tells him you felt it your 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. Many of us feel that splinter or nagging sense that there must be more to life than our daily routines and struggles. That feeling is your intuition trying to wake you up to a greater truth about who you really are. Souls in bodies, actors in costumes. Imagine an actor completely forgetting they're in a play. They've become so absorbed in their character that they believe the costume is their real body. The staged interactions are their real relationships and the script contains their real thoughts. They suffer with every scene but when the actor remembers, everything changes. They still play the part, but without dependency. They don't suffer. They perform with freedom. This is you. You are the actor. The soul. You've forgotten, but the moment of remembering is here. This is what has happened to most of us. We've forgotten that we are spiritual beings. Having a human experience. We've mistaken the costume, our physical body for our true identity. We've forgotten we are actors in a grand production. A personal glitch. When I was 24, I was watching the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico. The sky was ablaze and something deep stared in me. Why am I here? What am I doing? What is the purpose of my life? I thought about it and thought about it, but no answer satisfied me. Later that evening, lying down with the echo of the ocean still inside me I felt the vastness of the sky pressing in. Too big to hold, too mysterious to name. And in that silence, a thought rose in me. Someone knows the answer. Something is going on that I don't know about. There's more to this than I am able to see. The next day, I walked into a meditation center. And when I heard the first profound truths about the soul, the self and the nature of reality, the. That was when the first crack in my Matrix happened. Okay, it's not too long. The journey of awakening from. I could stop.
• 12:02
  Speaker B: No, no, no.
• 12:03
  Speaker C: This cliffhanger, the journey of awakening from our personal Matrix begins with a simple but profound, profound shift in awareness. Recognizing that you're not your body, your thoughts, or even your emotions. You are the conscious awareness, experiencing all these things. In meditation practices around the world, this awareness is often referred described as the witness or the observer. The part of you that can watch your thoughts and feelings without being caught up in them. This observer is not affected by what happens to the body or the wild fluctuations of emotions and thought. It remains steady, peaceful and complete. When Neo first learns to see the Matrix for what it is he is initially overwhelmed. Everything he believed about himself and his world is challenged. But with this new awareness comes incredible freedom and power. Similarly, when you begin to identify with your true self the spiritual being behind the physical costume rather than with the body and personality you access a freedom that transcends physical limitations. You start to see beyond the matrix of illusions that have defined your life. The call to wake up. In every great story, the hero receives a call to adventure. An invitation to leave the ordinary world and venture into the unknown. Neo receives his call through a mysterious message on his computer. Wake up, Neo. The Matrix has you. Your call might come in different forms. A persistent feeling that there must be more to life and an inexplicable yearning with deeper meaning. A crisis that shatters your previous worldview. Or perhaps even this book finding its way into your hands at just the right moment. This is your call to rise, to remember, to choose. You can ignore it and stay in the familiar comfort of the Matrix. Or you can answer and begin the greatest journey of your life. The journey to awakening. The choice, as Morpheus would say, is yours. The first step, waking up isn't easy. The Matrix is clever. It doesn't just imprison you, it makes you love your chains. But the fact that you're reading this means something is steering. A part of you knows. This is your moment to question, to listen, to see. Because the truth is, you were never asleep. You were dreaming. Now you rise.
• 15:22
  Speaker B: Beautiful. Where are we up to?
• 15:28
  Speaker C: That's just the first chapter. I'm not reading the whole.
• 15:30
  Speaker B: No, no, but is that the whole the end of the first chapter?
• 15:33
  Speaker C: That's the end of the first chapter.
• 15:34
  Speaker B: It's great. What a great book. What a great book.
• 15:36
  Speaker C: The next chapter is about being the digital self.
• 15:40
  Speaker B: The digital self, what does that mean?
• 15:43
  Speaker C: The digital self? Okay, I'll just read the first story of the chapter. The Spiritual Metaverse. Aiden, an ordinary college student, transformed into a winged warrior when he entered virtual reality. After leading his guild to victory one evening, he removed his headset and a profound question arose. Who was just flying through that world? Though initially the answer seemed obvious, a deeper realization struck him. He wasn't actually the winged character. That was merely a digital costume. He was the consciousness directing it. This insight sparked a powerful parallel. If he wasn't his digital avatar in the metaverse, the perhaps he wasn't his physical body either. Maybe the body was just a biological costume, something his true self wore to interact with the physical realm in the simulation. You play many roles, but the one who plays the true self is not the body. You are the actor. The body is your avatar. You, the soul, are the one behind the scenes, unseen and immortal.
• 17:30
  Speaker B: Magical. Magical. What a great book. So I highly recommend everyone gets a copy of it. It's in the link below the video. We have a opportunity for you to get in. This is. It's very, very deep, right? Because we need to know what we're dealing with in life. Like what is this thing that we're. We're in. I was having some really magical meditation the other day, just practicing. I am only that consciousness and I'm not anything else at all. Right? Because all the stress and worries and the problems are all because of stuff in the Matrix. And the Matrix is a never ending, shifting, moving, transient digital thing that just kind of keeps changing form and shows up different, you know, different levels of monsters and, and characters and creatures and issues. So what we're really getting into here is going from understanding to an experience. And you know you've had an experience because you feel profoundly liberated and. And the things that were previously challenges seem to be a lot more challenging, a lot more interesting, amusing, so serene. Tell us more about this book. What happens next in the book?
• 19:06
  Speaker C: I want to read a portion. Yeah, you read the Maya, the Matrix within. So when we say Maya, right? We've spoken about Maya in our previous episodes, and Maya really is. In Sanskrit, the word Maya means illusion. And people say, oh, the world doesn't exist. The world is an illusion. It's not a physical illusion. The world does exist. This does exist, right? I mean, this body does exist. I'm in here playing the part of Shireen. I exist. So the world does exist. But when we say Maya, and this is what actually is the crux, or what the Matrix actually is. Maya is the inner matrix, an invisible simulation overlaid on top of reality. It is not just a digital illusion, but a spiritual distortion, a code running in the background that alters your perception. In ancient terms, Maya means illusion. But within the Matrix, Maya is the default operating system, coded with vices like ego, greed, lust, anger, fear and attachment. When I view the world through this internal matrix, my perception is warped. It's as if I'm wearing virtual reality goggles coded by vices. I don't see people as they are. I see them as threats, tools, or objects of desire. Maya filters reality, distorting my vision like colored lenses that obscure the pure truth. The Matrix of Maya doesn't only distort the outer world, it hijacks my inner dialogue. Fear, whispers, commands, procrastination, displays, delays, upgrades. Ego installs viruses. These internal agents of Maya become the governors of the system. They run the show. The Earth has become their playground. They define what's normal. But the deeper truth is this. The world isn't an illusion. My view of the world is the Matrix isn't out there. It's within me, embedded in the corrupted perceptions I've accepted as reality. There are only two states of consciousness. Body Consciousness and Soul Consciousness, which is divine Consciousness. Body Consciousness runs on Maya's operating system. Soul Consciousness is our original, innate nature. When I switch to Soul Consciousness, I exit the inner matrix. My perception upgrades. My world shifts. Even if the outer simulation stays the same, they are only two states of consciousness. Maya tells me I am the user and the owner of everything. Soul Consciousness shows me I am a servant of truth, here to love and uplift. When everyone thinks they are the supreme user, the system turns into a Battleground of egos trying to control each other. But when I unplug from Maya and serve instead of control, I help reboot the system for myself and for the world.
• 23:17
  Speaker B: It's very deep. It's very deep. It's. Maya is like a virus, isn't it? It's the Mr. Smiths of the world. But in our head, I could read more. Yeah, why don't you read another. What has. What have you personally found most enthralling in writing this book and thinking about these things and using it?
• 23:46
  Speaker C: You know, like Aiden, the little guy college student who was doing his avatar in a simulation. We also pick our avatars in this world, and we pick avatars based on this very deep Maya that's going on. Very deep vices that are going on. Right. And let's call them archetypes. And we pick these archetypes, and we don't even know. We have auditioned and picked an archetype, Right. For example, let's say I picked an archetype victim that I've auditioned for and picked a victim archetype. And I'm playing this avatar as a victim. You know, woe is me. The world is against me. This is wrong. That's wrong. That person did this, and this should have happened this way, and it didn't happen this way. And all of those things are going on. And what I don't realize is how powerful me auditioning and picking that archetype is. Because when I audition and pick a victim archetype, right. I also attract tyrants or abusers. I attract them because that's the character I want to play in the Matrix. And so if I decide to not do that and be a spiritual hero. Spiritual hero doesn't mean that you're having a cape and, you know, you're going and actually rescuing people or doing any of those things. The spiritual hero is whatever you're doing. If, like, let's say even if you're a cashier somewhere, you will be doing possibly the same thing or something else. It doesn't matter what you physically, your roles in life are, but mentally, you will start to think differently. You will start to be soul conscious. You will start to come out of the Matrix. And so the whole book is about that. How to, like, come out of this matrix and live a spiritual hero life where you have transcendental experiences.
• 26:41
  Speaker B: So you're being liberated from the. The prerequisite idea of who you are. You know, I'm this person and I'm stuck in this thing. And this is. This is Woe to me. And there's nothing I can do about it but to realize we've picked our avatar and we've attracted all these situations to us and we're operating from some strange, you know, virus type thinking patterns and programs in our head. So how does somebody get out of it? Then all this, this layers and layers of mess.
• 27:21
  Speaker C: By first recognizing, right? Oh, reading the book.
• 27:25
  Speaker B: Read the book. There you go.
• 27:26
  Speaker C: Read the book. First recognizing, right? And also one of the things are recognizing that we are in a movie, recognizing that we are playing a part that's not real. You, like Shireen is not the real me. I am a soul, you know, eternal, immortal. I'm a soul. And recognizing that it's a game. And the interesting thing about recognizing that it's a game is that as soon as you watch the game, right? And you know it's a game, and as soon as you're watching the game, how to play the game will come back to you. If you forget it's the game and you're just going around thinking you're Shireen or you're thinking you're Michael, then you forget how to play the game. But as soon as you know it's a game and you know that you're playing the part of Michael or I'm playing the part of Shirin, how to do the movie, how to be a hero in this movie, how to come out of it. It's like innate nature comes back to you.
• 28:45
  Speaker B: It's a real liberation. I, I've always found this, this awareness that I'm not this person and I'm watching it happen and in, and creating it. But, but it's, it's a, it's a, it's a big, big performance, isn't it? And, and it makes us feel very light that, you know, this isn't me, but I can do whatever I want, you know, and it's kind of fun. Rather than feeling trapped and like, this is me and this is my personality and this is what I'm like. And this is what I do, what I don't do. We are free to recreate ourselves in the Matrix and also be detached from the whole thing. It's a huge, huge relief, actually. All the anxiety and stress and worries is all related to the Matrix and even like money and, and various physical things that we consider success. They're all Matrix money. Do you know? I mean, like, no one actually has anything really, because it can all, especially money now.
• 29:54
  Speaker C: It's just digits.
• 29:56
  Speaker B: It's literally just digits nowadays. It's not even digits. We don't even see it. It's just like cards and numbers. And you put a number in and press a button and something happens. It's. It's all very odd. And we think, oh, this is real. And this is all very serious. And it's all very, like, important. But then it keeps changing and it always keeps changing and it's always changing, changing, changing, changing, changing. Our body's changing. And the. If you buy a house, the house itself is changing slowly. And there can be leaks or you could move. So even things, the physical that we think, okay, this is solid. At least this is solid. It isn't. And I often go to, like, beaches and. And rivers and places like that when I'm out and about. And they all look different all the time. You go back and everything's moved around. The river's moved and the beach has moved and trees fall down. Everything's changing all the time. I'm about to go to England shortly. Ish. And I haven't seen people for 18 years. Right. So, like, they'll all look different, probably. Right. And so it's just, like, constant change. So once we understand the Matrix, we can sort of be a bit more okay with the fact that it's just shifting about and not get. So why is it changing?
• 31:19
  Speaker C: You know, there's some very important things we need to understand about the Matrix. I could read those portions to you.
• 31:30
  Speaker B: Yeah, of course. That's why we are here.
• 31:33
  Speaker C: Okay, let's talk about Nishaya, the decision to wake up. So nischaya is a Sanskrit word for certainty or decision. Also indicates faith with certainty and acceptance. Nishaya means more than certainty. It is conscious activation. When I choose to accept a new reality. Not just intellectuality, intellectually, but with full determination, my system starts to rewire. Imagine fully accepting that you are an actor in a cosmic simulation. You're not the character, you're the soul behind the avatar. This isn't a metaphor. It's a system. Truth. And the moment you accept this with Nistya, with conviction, your operating system upgrades. Awareness, reboots. State of being. Knowing transforms into becoming. And the other thing which is very important to understand is this is part of the Bhagavad Gita, is that there are three states of consciousness. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.
• 33:03
  Speaker B: And.
• 33:06
  Speaker C: To understand. Right, okay, let me read that. To understand how we've become trapped in the inner matrix of illusion, we must examine the three fundamental energies that shape every scene, character and behavior. In the simulation, sattva Rajas and Tamas. These Sanskrit codes define the operating state of your consciousness, your internal operating system. So Sattva is the virtue state. Sattva is the original program. It's your soul's factory setting clarity, balance, joy and wisdom. In Sattva, the system runs clean. No distortion, no bugs. Like Neo, fully awakened. You see the code behind reality and operate with precision and purpose. When I exist in Sattva, I, the soul, flow effortlessly with truth. I experience clear perception, unfiltered by ego or fear. Inner peace that holds steady no matter the scene, intuitive wisdom, effortless virtue and connection with all beings. And the sour? In this state, the soul radiates light. Consciousness runs at full bandwidth. Sattva is the highest and purest state, the way the system was always meant to run. So let's say Rajas. It's called the desire state. Rajas is the overclocked middle layer. It's the ambitious operating system, obsession, comparison, striving without fulfillment. Rajas is the soul caught in the lo of doing, achieving and proving. Think of Rajas as a system running too many background processes. The energy drains faster than it restores. The output is never enough. In this state, you experience constant striving, intense desire, restlessness and burnout. Competitive energy. In the Matrix, this is the rebel, still trapped in the system, fighting the code, but still coded. Rajas fuels the illusion that salvation lies in external upgrades. But the more we chase, the more entangled we become. And people in the world these days really feel Rajas is the highest, right? Like achieving, overachieving. They really feel Rajas is the highest?
• 35:50
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's promoted. The American culture is all basically Rajas worship in many ways, isn't it? And you know, push, push, push. Like be, you know, like stay up all night. You know, hustle, hustle, hustle. Stress, stress, stress, you know, get there in the end. But it's the second stage. It's not the highest stage. And then, and then what's the last one? Tamas.
• 36:16
  Speaker C: Tamas? Tamas is the crash state. Depression, inertia, despair. The light of consciousness dims, the screen fades. In Tamas, the soul forgets. It even is a soul. Like a machine riddled with viruses, the system becomes sluggish, confused and erratic. In Tamas, the soul says nothing will ever change. Why bother? You experience lethargy, resistance, confusion, addictive destructive loops, hopelessness, heaviness, spiritual amnesia. Tamas is where the Matrix thrives, where the majority sleepwalk through the simulation, unaware of the code, unaware of their power. Every soul begins in Sattva drops into rajas and often bottoms out in Tamas. The same cycle plays out in systems, economics, nature, even time itself. A river flows clean, rages in flood, then stagnates. Societies do the same, but there's a back door out of the loop. Through Nischaya, firm conscious awareness, you can reverse the flow. You can exit Tamas, cool the fire of rajas and return to the light of Sattvam. This isn't theoretical. It's how you reclaim your original nature. Return to Sattva, restore the light. All right.
• 37:57
  Speaker B: All right. This is. This is. What a great book. So I highly recommend everyone gets. Gets a copy. NishJ is a very deep thing that, that when. When we have certainty about something, we're solid about it, then we snap out of something, you know, until we're like Neo in the Matrix. He finally had certainty like that. That's. I think, the best scene in the whole movie is right at the end when he. When he gets shot. And then he realizes that he hasn't actually died because it's. There's nothing there. And then he wakes, he has that. The moment of certainty of Nish awakening. And then he sees what he's dealing with and then he becomes a master of the Matrix. And that's. That's what we can do. So when we wake up from this body consciousness really just means we think we're this person in the Matrix and our spiritual awakening is where. No, I'm not. I'm different from all of this stuff. And it opens up this beautiful feeling of freedom and power. And all of those programs, even though they might be going on somewhere, they're. They're down below. They're not. They're not wrecking our life any kind of. They kind of seem, if anything, quite amusing. So. What a great book, shreem. Let's give you a round of applause. Let's all give Shereen blessings. What a great. Well done, well done. And I highly recommend, you know, to read the whole thing because this is very, very deep. Very, very deep. And you can read the book and then look at your life and then read the book and look at your life like that, because you can. This is happening right now where. This is the Matrix. We're in it all the time. It's just whether or not we're aware what we're dealing with or whether we've fallen asleep again, you know, so you can. You can read a blessing or you can read another quote from the Matrix book instead of a blessing.
• 40:10
  Speaker C: Yeah, a quote from the Matrix book. Okay. You know one of my best quotes from the Matrix book, there is a story that I always talk about. I have to find the quote. It's this. The quote is this. The most profound wisdom is that which can walk in the world.
• 40:58
  Speaker B: That's very deep. Ah, well, thank you for writing this great book, sharing and thank you for.
• 41:09
  Speaker C: Humoring me and doing this.
• 41:11
  Speaker B: Well, what a great book. Yeah, I've been aware of this and we've been talking about this for a while and it's great to see it finally out and ready to go. Is there any meditations that go with it?
• 41:25
  Speaker C: Yeah, they are meditations.
• 41:27
  Speaker B: Oh good.
• 41:27
  Speaker C: So I'm doing them right now so.
• 41:32
  Speaker B: I'm sure by the time you get a copy they'll be ready. And may you enjoy being in the Matrix and staying liberated from it. What a fun game. Lots of love and talk to you soon.