there is no spoon

on march 31st, 1999 a little movie called the matrix came out and wowed people worldwide. i still remember exiting the theater and wanting to go back in to see it again. everyone has a favorite part, a favorite line, a favorite effect, and i'm no different. the part that still sticks with me to this day, is when neo is waiting to see the oracle and he's watching this bald kid, bending spoons with his mind. i haven't watched the film in years, but i still remember the dialogue...

kid: do not try and bend the spoon... that is impossible. instead, only try to realize the truth.
neo: the truth? what truth?
kid: there is no spoon.
neo: there is no spoon?
kid: only then will you realize that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

later in the film, neo repeats the line "there is no spoon" right before he attempts to do some humanly impossible feat. he's standing on the roof of an elevator and trinity is holding on to him. with one hand, he's holding onto the cable suspending the elevator, and in the other he has a gun. he's about to shoot the cable and propel the both of them to the roof of the building. before he does this, he chants, "there is no spoon." it's not very audible, especially when you're surrounded by a theater full of people, but it's there. so he shoots the cable and, well, you know what happens.

there is no spoon. ever since i heard that line, it's been a mantra that i've tried to live by. i wanted to get the url www.thereisnospoon.com, but some bastard got it first. it used to be a tagline on my old bjflores website. it's a little quote on this page, down at the bottom of the menu on the right.

i try to use it to remind me of the possibilities out there. to remind me that i can accomplish anything i want to. to remind me that i can go wherever the fuck i want to go and do whatever the fuck i want to do... and perform some humanly impossible feat...

like going up to a girl and talking to her if i think she's cute. or calling her if i have her freaking number already.

but i haven't been living up to the mantra lately, and i need to work on it.

wake up, brian james... there is no spoon, and i keep forgetting that.

Comments

dk said…
there is a great inspirational motivational speech that can be told with the speech title "there is no spoon".
7/12/2007 3:20 PM
brian james said…
you better not steal my thunder and use this for toastmasters! plagiarist!
7/12/2007 4:02 PM
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