“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see?”

Morpheus, The Matrix.

The System

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The System’  is a term that can be applied to economies and political systems where for the majority of people the net balance is tipped towards external control over personal freedom. Also where there are clear imbalances with:Authority, power and hierarchy over participation and equity.

• ‘You’re a number’ over you’re an individual.
• Conformity to rigid norms over individuality and lifestyle choice.
• Mono-dimensional success goals over pluralistic success goals.
• Quantitative monitoring over a balance of qualitative and quantitative.
• Unfeeling and abstract over empathetic and connected.
• Mechanistic over creative and imaginative.
• Atomistic, self-seeking  and mistrustful vs involved, trusting and giving.
• A feeling of alienation and ineffectiveness in the political process rather than participation and empowerment.
• A feeling that that society divides into a minority of ‘haves’ and a majority of ‘have nots’.
• For the majority a sense that a minority are benefiting unfairly at your expense -  a feeling of being in a ‘20/80? payoff matrix, not an 80/20 one (i.e. 20 percent returns for 80 percent effort).
• An overall ethic of selfishness.

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When The System takes this form, it is a threat to the very economic and political advances that have allowed us to enjoy our individuality, personal autonomy and democratic freedoms. To ensure against this, we need to develop awareness and skills for a smart lifestyle – for you, not The System and its stooges.

The truth about ‘The System’ (the red pill)

Different countries experience ‘The System’ to a greater or lesser extent. The US is a country that experiences it intensely. Another is the UK. The following data is primarily from surveys conducted in the US.

Career satisfaction

More than half of Americans are not satisfied with their careers – based on interviews with 27,000 Americans.

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Overwork

Only 1 in 4 (24%) of  employed individuals in the US  said they rarely or never

• felt overworked
• felt overwhelmed by how much work they had to do
• felt that they didn’t have time to step back and process or reflect on the work that they are doing

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Around half of those with jobs felt one of the above often or very often in the past three months.

• Compared to 1970, American managers are working an additional month per year.
• Americans are working more hours than any time since the 1920s. 63% of Americans work more than 40 hours per week at the office, and 40% work than 50 hours per week.
• The average middle-income US family works four months more in total hours than in 1979.
• People work approximately 8 weeks longer per year than in 1969 but for roughly the same income after adjusting for inflation.
• 40% of employees work overtime or bring work home with them at least once a week.
• American workers get an average of 8.1 days of vacation after one year on the job, and 10.2 days after three years.
• Only 14% of Americans take two weeks or more at a time for vacation.
• 26% of Americans take no vacations at all.
• In one study, half of the UK’s fathers were found to spend less than five minutes a day in direct contact with their children.

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Stress and illness

• 62% of workers routinely end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% report strained eyes, 38% complain of hand pain, and 34% report difficulty in sleeping due to work-related stress.
• The antidepressant market grew 16% per year in in G7 countries between 1989 and 1999.
• 26% of adult Americans report being on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown.
• Sales of Prozac have eclipsed the GDP of small nations.

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Work-life balance

• 88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life.
• 70% of working fathers and working mothers report they don’t have enough time for their children.

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Impact of over-working on personal life

The more overworked people feel:

• The more ‘work-life’ conflict they experience.
• The less successful they feel in relationships with their spouse or partner, children and friends.
• The more likely they are to be neglecting themselves.
• The more likely they are to lose sleep.
• The less likely they are to report that their health is very good or excellent.
• The higher their levels of stress and the poorer their abilities to cope with everyday life events.

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Overwork and authority

• In the US, only 30% of employees say they never have to be accessible to their employers during typical non-work hours and nonwork days.  22% of employees say they often or very often have to be accessible to employees when off work. Employees who are more accessible (by whatever means) to their employers during nonwork hours and days feel more overworked.
• 43% of employees experiencing high levels of feeling overworked say they feel angry toward their employers often or very often versus only 3% who experience low levels of feeling overworked.

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Bullying at work

• In the UK 14% of those at work (3.5 million people) say they have been bullied in their current job.
• Around half of the British ‘workforce’ have witnessed work-place bullying.
• People in professional and associate professional jobs are the most likely to be bullied. Those earning less than £20,000 report much less bullying than those earning between £20-60,000.

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What holds The System in place?

There are two forces at work that keep all the negatives of The System locked in, taking away from our ability to choose and control our own lives:

• Cheating the system – both as the (hard working) authority who shapes or bends the rules of the system on behalf of his own interests (exploiting it and others), or a ’social loafer’ who free-rides the very same system without ‘contributing’.
• Emergent commercial and global forces that no-one can control, although some (a technically and academically equipped managerial class) can willingly conform to and benefit from.

Both of these forces can result in the feeling that one is trapped in a rat-race and the only way to move is to struggle up or slip down the status ladder. You can’t move sideways into alternative but satisfying lifestyles.

Conclusion

Thus our new global economy for the future both holds the promise of extraordinary human freedom and self-expression, but also historically unparalleled loss of control and coercion.

Dr Mark Smith is a cognitive neuroscientist and author. Between 2000-2003 he was a lecturer in the University of Cambridge. Between 2003-2006 he was a project director for an adventure education center in Cornwall. Between 2006-2009 he was an Assistant Professor in Bilkent University, Turkey. He is currently living on the south coast of Turkey, working on the 8020 rule, fluid intelligence and mindfulness. Visit his site at: http://www.smartlifestyles.me

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/mental-health-articles/the-systemthe-matrixand-mental-health-1689531.html