The Matrix Effect

[Howard_Hughes]

So every once in awhile I'll notice some strange patterns occurring in my life. They don't necessarily have any noticeable impact on me, except that they cause me to think outside the box, but I've come up with a name for it: The Matrix Effect. Ill learn about or discover something I've never heard about or seen in person, and then all of a sudden I start seeing it everywhere. This happens to me all the time. Its as if things are "uploaded" into my perception of the universe. I cant imagine many people will get this reference, but its very similar to playing the game Grand Theft Auto. Its something about the way they program the spawning. You wont see "Car type A" on the streets at all, but if you happen to find one on the street, or in a parking lot; once you start driving it around, ALL YOU SEE is "Car type A." Its slightly comical in a game, but its kinda weird in real life. It also reminds me of when they download information into someone's brain in the Matrix. This happens to me all the time and I'm sure most of you can remember experiencing a similar situation before. Anyway, here are two times that its happened to me in the last week:

I enjoy browsing the dating site OkCupid for a variety of reasons. Mostly I'm just curious about other people that are out there. I recently was talking to a woman who ended up being a Dom in the BDSM lifestyle. I know what it is, but its not something that I've ever had any first or second hand experience in. Anyway, this woman is looking for a Sub in the lifestyle. The conversation wasn't really going anywhere from there, but something strange happened after that. All of a sudden all these woman started making profiles on OkCupid, and they were all Doms looking for subs. Before...never saw any profiles like that, then all of a sudden there are 4 in my general area.

Earlier today I was thrift shopping at a local outlet named "Ollie's." My eye was caught to a snack bag. It read: "Brownie Chips." They sound awesome, but they dint look that appetizing. Never heard of or seen anything like that. Then i go to Giant and what do i find? Freakin, Brownie Chips. WHAT THE HECK IS A BROWNIE CHIP? Whats going on?

Haha i guess hearing about it second hand really takes away from that mysterious "syncing up" feeling things like that give you, but i know most of you have felt something similar and wondered what mysterious force could be driving such a thing.

I dont postulate this to be an actual theory, but i like to imagine for a second that i am literally the creator of the entire universe I experience, but so is everyone else with the universe they expererience. Everyone has their own universe (perception), but everyone's universes intersect and when they do it allows for the transfer of information between them, AKA, "The Matrix Effect" Apparently i just downloaded the "BDSM Culture Pack" and "The Useless Snack Pack" Expansions for my real life Sims experience.

 

[Alada]

I dont postulate this to be an actual theory, but i like to imagine for a second that i am literally the creator of the entire universe I experience, but so is everyone else with the universe they expererience.

Well in a sense that's true, but the reality we experience seems dependent upon our levels of knowledge and awareness and utilisation of same, the C's "People who pay strict attention to objective reality right and left, become the reality of the 'Future'" comes to mind.

It's probably not helpful to take every little thing that comes to our attention as a sign of anything significant, certainly not without any due process of thinking them through thoroughly. Sometimes there are quite simple explanations, which if we stopped to think would become apparent before imagination can take hold and veer thoughts off into the subjective.

Seems your activities in general are on the silly side, they produce silly thinking. E.g. browsing dating sites, while not being aware that such activity is monitored hence the other similar (most likely fake) profiles 'suddenly appearing' in your area. Not being aware that snack food producers will take the opportunity to jump on the same snaking trend bandwagons at the same time, hence the chips, and so on.

The only 'matrix effect' you should be worried about perhaps is whatever is hindering your own ability think – maybe browsing dating sites for whatever reason and playing GTA and the like has something to do with that. Perhaps they were created by the matrix especially for you? ;)

 

[nicklebleu]

I think what you describe also has a lot to do with perception. We usually filter out most of the information that hits our senses and consciously process only the stuff our mind has "prioritised" - for whatever reason. Once we become consciously aware of something else, our filter adjusts to that and all of a sudden these formerly hidden things permeate through to our consciousness. In addition to the "targeting" that Alada has referred to.

So situational awareness has a lot to do with it - something we all are well advised to practice and improve.

 

[Buddy]

I don't see anything extra-ordinary, necessarily. Is it possible you're just crediting an extraordinary amount of significance to a 'first time?' Consider the chips. They could be a new product in that market. Your first exposure just happened to be in Ollie's and because you actually noticed them for the first time, you were more likely to notice them in other locations later. As for the Dom, maybe you just happened to chat up the first of a trending influx of that particular profile. Things like that can happen in waves. The GTA I don't think is in the same class as your real life examples because the software programming is not living and its parameters of possible operation have much narrower built-in, man-made limitations.

This is not to invalidate your metaphysical view though, I'm just offering what I think of as a more practical possibility to explore and maybe get out of the way first.

 

[psychojen]

Are you talking about synchronicity? I used to experience it all the time. Not anymore tho.

 

[MusicMan]

Hello Howard_Hughes, I know that of which you speak, but it has not happened to me in an advertising sense but in nature itself.

When I discovered fractals, and had figured out that they are repetitive patterns, I began to notice fractals everywhere in nature. Stands of trees growing, all with similar shapes, various plants - the one that stood out for me is broccoli - break a piece off and it looks just like the original.

Then there are clouds, and coastlines, and braided streams.. it was like a whole new universe opening up !

 

[Konstantin]

Its not so strange after all. My explanation of this situation is that once we have consciously introduce something new to our mind, after our mind have some kind of awareness about that thing, then we are starting to notice that same thing in many situations around us, even we have been in the same place situation or place and never seen that before.
So once our awareness is on much higher level about specific thing we are starting to see it all around us when it appears.
That is what Cs are talking all the time about raising your awareness.
That is what Gurdjieff was talking about observing ourselves.Its some part of it at least. At first you need some consciousness extra efforts for something , and when our awareness about it is deeply in our conscious mind , then it becomes part of you and you start to notice that in your everyday life.

 

[cubbex]

I don't see anything extra-ordinary, necessarily. Is it possible you're just crediting an extraordinary amount of significance to a 'first time?' Consider the chips. They could be a new product in that market. Your first exposure just happened to be in Ollie's and because you actually noticed them for the first time, you were more likely to notice them in other locations later.

I agree. To begin with, extra ordinary is more or less an illusory concept, if you'd know the complexity that goes on in the brain and in any organism, in order to produce ordinary experiences, you'd like to think extra ordinary is quite redundant.

 

[Sol Logos]

With Jung's dream interpretation pretty much all dream content no matter how banal could be loaded with symbolic meaning for the dreamer. Synchronicity was basically the same but instead of the dream, symbolic meaning could be just as loaded in everyday events and like dreams repetition of these would help draw our conscious attention to the meaning of them for us. I heard an interview recently on a study of these kind of events. Here's an excerpt:

Robert Perry: CMPE which stands for a Conjunction of Meaningfully Parallel Events. It’s basically an extreme form of synchronicity. Most of our paranormal events that we’re studying now, they’re inner experiences with hopefully a veridical component but in the end they seem to say something about our abilities or our ultimate nature being perhaps immaterial. But with CMPEs their statement seems to be more about something other than us that seems to giving us messages.

_http://www.skeptiko.com/robert-perry-on-the-science-of-synchronicity/

 

[Kisito]

It may be seen as the synchronicities, the fact that so rare and similar events happen at the same time, this is sometimes due to the wave effect. When we walk on the beach, we can discover rare shells, but similar in the vicinity. This may be because the wave carried them. And that these shells would come from one place. Several years ago, I went proposed my artistic photos to a magazine. I was proud and I thought my pictures were unique. bosses magazine, told me, it's amazing, yesterday we bought the same photos to a young woman. This is repeated with other photos I thought original. When we speak of "artistic movement" is not due to a person but to the directions of social changes. We must also consider the currents and waves and cosmological aliens. All this to say that these synchronicities, may be normal, but they seem to announce major changes in our environment.