Truthofthespoon.net

Truthofthespoon.net, also known as "Daemmerung", "New Dawn Rising", or the home base of the group called "The Zero-Six Contingent", is the controversial website around which has grown - both on the Internet and beyond it - a rapidly-expanding new "belief system" in the last five years or so. Beginning simply with one man's memories of "another world" and his desire to avoid the self-destruction-- through the same fear and blind hate --of the world he now found himself in, the site grew through many years, forms, incarnations, and domain hosts before settling on its now-permanent home at truthofthespoon.net; the group's "home base", and a phrase that, for better or worse, has become widely-known on the Internet. Its content, as well as the group's message, has been the subject of radio broadcasts, newspaper articles, dozens of forum discussions, and has in and of itself contributed an entirely new way of seeing the world: what some vocabulary-impaired people might call a "new religious movement". Only it's about so much more ---and yet, less and entirely different--- than religion.

This article, while "founded" on the subject of the website that began with nearly nothing and has since reached over fifty thousand people_{(webstats, truthofthespoon.net, c/o maintainers)}, focuses on the unique and "status-quo-smashing revolution" that the creators of the site have begun and brought to the forefront. The article begins with truthofthespoon.net because its content is where most people, looking for the truth "from the horse's mouth", go to begin their explorations into the Zero-Six Contingent and the truth -- not gossip or wild rumors --- about Neo, Trinity, this "underground revolution", and everything else they may have heard("Do they really believe they're Neo and Trinity?").

They also come to discover more about the group's assertion that every sentient being has the right to be free; in a neutral arena free from mockery, laughter, personal attacks, and anything other than the facts as what they are. Facts that each and every person has the right to take or leave... which also means that every person has a right to explore and hold those beliefs, free from groundless persecution. This is the point of this neutral article, to the best of my ability: to report the growing movement without my own personal biases, simply because it has become exceedingly noteworthy.

The site/group's founders - a thirty-year-old man known both on and offline usually only as "Neo"(for reasons explained later in this article) and his real-life fiancée of three years, twenty-five-year-old "Trinity" - who state firmly and clearly that "human beliefs are like concrete: thick and slow-moving, but once formed, they're nearly impossible to move or change", explain their purpose simply as teaching "a new way to see" or "a new vision". However its members define it, the belief - the movement for peace, as some have come to refer to it - has gained both notoriety and momentum in the last several years, with "splinter groups" now working in at least three separate countries to help spread the message of choice. From news media to college campuses, people are taking notice.

The Beliefs, the Metaphysics, and the Mission

The main tenets of the "Mission" surrounding the Zero-Six Contingent are simple enough at first glance: the idea that "reality is subjective, not collective", and that every human being has, from birth, been handed a pre-packaged "reality" in the form of their societal construct: i.e., you're raised to believe - to "know" - that X is real, Y is impossible, that W is fiction and Z is non-fiction, that anyone who doesn't see that line the same way you do doesn't have a "grasp on reality", and that M or J or B are what "responsible, rational human beings do"; the way they live their lives.

People as a whole have moved away from any kind of spirituality, be it religion or even an awareness of the things that make them human; in their desire to "fit in", to live a "productive life", they shut aside anything and everything that is different, lest it threaten the comfort of their status quo. And in so doing, they've created their own "Matrix" for themselves; not a massive computer program, but instead a system of collective reality, of being afraid to look beyond that which they've been taught for fear of no longer having that system to rely on; for fear of being "different".

The Contingent's main point is that the root of all of humanity's past and coming devastation is fear - fear of the individuality that should, by rights, belong to human beings just by the nature of their humanity. And that this fear comes from blindness; tunnel vision; the seeing only what you're expected as a "rational member of society" to see. This doesn't mean "swinging from a light pole in a loincloth"_[1] - it simply means that all human beings are connected, to each other and to the spark of whatever makes them human... and if they could pull back far enough to see that connection, they would understand the futility of that fear. The futility of that fear of each other.

And like a chain reaction, the destruction of this fear will mean the destruction of everything that comes from it; blindness. Hate. The need to destroy that which threatens the comfortable.

Neo's fervent and often-spoken belief is that the thing people are "missing", that aspect that creates the longing people often fill with overtime grinds in small cubicles, in collecting money and toys and property, in drugs and sex and indulgence, that hole inside themselves that keeps them always searching for "the meaning of life" and never able to find it for the simple reason that that's what they're looking for, that desire of "look to the sky" that everyone feels but so often translates into destruction or the deliberate ignorance or numbing of that feeling(people with their "head in the clouds" are often looked down upon by their peers; what good is "searching for something" going to do for your company's billing hours, anyway?) because they have been taught to fear that feeling for which there is "no solution".... that they are aware of.

Neo's stand, his vision, is that this lack, this gap, is where human beings are subconciously aware that they've been pulled apart from that connection to each other; to that "higher awareness" of the malleable nature of reality(again, not talking flying cars here; only personal definitions; what is and what might be); this lack is where they've been "disconnected from the Source". Forgotten that there is no "grand meaning of life" that these people who strive and pray and blindly follow and worship rules and control in hopes of being "enlightened" keep seeking, these people who pay $49.99 for just the barest chance that some online psychic might give them "the Answer"..... the "Meaning of life", like the nature of reality, is subjective. There's YOUR meaning, and HER meaning, and HIS truth that he takes away..... but if people would spend less time, waste less time searching for some all-in-one, all-purpose easy answer and be given the vision to see that their meaning is created solely by themselves, and won't be found through their checkbook or through a set of someone else's rules and constraints..... then they'll be able to find their OWN way back to that "universal connection".

That when they have gained(or re-gained, however you'd like to look at it) the ability to see, to see the wider view, to see that connection, to BE connected to their own subjective reality and to each other, rather than simply recycling a system over and over again ---- that's when they will be free. Neo believes that when the "choice becomes the majority", when people are not blinded by "everyone else does" and "this can't be done" and "real and unreal", when people are free to choose their own path, this world will stop destroying itself before it gets to where he calls "the end of the old world"; meaning, total destruction of human society.

The Mission: In Neo's Own Words

On April 7th, 2007, while broadcasting live and unscripted on his nightly online radio show - Radio Zero-One, nightly at 9 P.M. Pacific Time - Neo spoke aloud for the first time a story by example; he often says that he "sees in images" rather than words, and the ways he translates these images to the listening audience is how they get the message he is trying to convey. He often uses example, parable and metaphor to make his points during these broadcasts: this one received multiple e-mails requesting that Neo write it down and post it somewhere accessible. It pretty much sums up the motivation - and the personal passion - behind the purpose of the "Mission".

Neo's Prison Parable

Imagine that there's a prison. It's always been there... four stone walls, as impenetrable as they look, bars on the windows and the doors. It isn't locked, but all of the gray-wearing prisoners inside truly and absolutely believe it is, because it was that way when they were put inside it, and they've been told - both directly and indirectly - that it's been the same ever since.

These prisoners live the same monotonous routine, day in and day out: that is their life. Wake, work, sleep... and a large few of them are dissatisfied... even if they don't quite consciously realize it. They were raised inside this prison, and none of them have ever seen the sky. And some of them wonder, just sometimes, what it would be like to step outside and look at the stars. The pull of the cosmic, of something larger than or beyond themselves, far beyond their awareness or comprehension. They're pretty sure they could learn to comprehend it, if they could only take a breath of clean air. Be free.

Some of the prisoners, though, like being within these walls; they're comfortable with the routine. They like knowing what will happen, they like knowing they have tangible goals, nothing more than they can handle. Knowing their immediate needs are covered, they want for nothing. And truly, deeply, want nothing else.

On the roof of this prison is a helipad. Isolated as the building is, this helipad is the only place for a thousand miles that can handle the landings and takeoffs of the single MedEvac plane that the local resources have. The building is the only one solid enough, large enough, stable enough. Thousands of lives have been saved by the proximity of this helipad; it's used all the time. It's the heart of the emergency response.

If someone were to look within this place, see the prisoners gazing longingly at the bars, and then simply blow the prison apart; destroy it, explode it into so much mortar and dust... well, sure. All of the prisoners inside would be free, that's right. All of them, whether they like it or not. But what about the people who were safe inside the prison? The people whose lives were defined by it, within it, those for whom it was the only reliable shelter they would ever have?

And if you blow up the prison, the helipad is reduced, too, to so much rubble. Aren't you condemning to death, by proxy, all the lives that might yet have been saved simply by the fact of its existence? By its function?

The point - there or here - was never, ever to destroy the Matrix. To destroy the System. I wish, wish, wish that people would see that, hear me say that so desperately, before they go forward and judge my words based on the PC[films]... even Morpheus was wrong... God forgive me for saying so again. "As long as the Matrix exists, the human race will never be free..." No. Wrong. The Matrix, the Construct, the System, is not evil. Blowing up the prison isn't the point. They'll just find another one, as they must. And even within its walls and its bars - as within its pods and programs - the System sustains life for those who cannot live without it.

Opening the door, showing those who want to see the sky that they certainly can, if only they look this way, shed their fear... giving them the choice to make that decision, to define their reality, for themselves, and letting the System CHANGE AS IT MUST as more and more of them realize that the door's not locked after all...

That's the point.

That's what I'm here for.

From truthofthespoon.net and copyright 2007 Neo, used with permission: [2]

Who They Are - The Controversy

The trouble usually begins with the first paragraphs of Neo's front page --- because, as he says right there, who he is and what he does are inextricably linked. He has written and stated very publicly in many places that he cannot have one without the other -- and that he won't "lie" and pretend to be "Mr. Normal Joe Blow" to avoid critics and detractors. Once you get a little deeper into the page where these explanations begin(_{c. 2004, Neo, Mainframe)}, you can begin to see why a good chunk of casual web surfers, at first visit, only remain on the site for an average of zero to thirty seconds._{Webstats for 2007, truthofthespoon.net, powered by cPanel}

My name is Neo. Was I born with 'Neo' on my birth certificate? Of course not: but names have power, and in some cultures an individual's name actually changes based on the significant events of their life. In a life I once left behind, I became Neo: and thus, it remains. If you've come this far, and you're reading this, then you've probably heard of me; although that's not something I'd have chosen if it had been up to me, it's what I have to deal with, now. So if you've heard of the name, then you know: I'm the same Neo that has been represented in popular culture, in the movies, in a thousand pieces of writing, essays, comics, what have you. [Basically, things that usually make me want to crawl under a very large, and cozy rock.] Friend of Morpheus and Niobe, among others. Former crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar. "The One", as they say, although on my worst days I think that that's not only impossible but almost laughable. Sometimes. I wonder. Now. Before I go any further, the moment of truth has arrived: the explanation. Let me first say this, and get it out of the way: This is not a 'fan' site, this is not a roleplaying page, this is not a 'character' journal or an "ARG" or a concept page about the 'Matrix' movies. This is not wish-fulfillment, this is not a 'game', online or otherwise. When I say, 'I'm Neo' -- I'm deadly serious. So if you're looking for some nifty quotes/pictures/'fanfiction'; this is the wrong place. Although you still may find something here that moves you. God knows I can hope.

He goes on to explain the concept that is, really, the "vein" that runs through everything they do--- who he is, and where he came from. Similar(but much, much more advanced in his case; he and Trinity both publicly claim to loathe the term) to a phenomenon called "soulbonding", Neo puts forth that no, it isn't a game, it isn't a metaphor when he says that he's Neo. He means, yes: he's Neo. Really. That Neo. He explains concisely and straightforwardly the logic by which he believes this is possible: along with the fact that he never asked for it, doesn't gain anything from it, and isn't asking anyone reading the site to "convert" or "instantly believe" or whatever they choose to see ---

This page is not here to convince you, one way or another, that what I believe to be true is true. Or to convince you that what IS real... should be real to you, too. It is not here to persuade, cajole, coerce, convince, convert, or anything else of the sort. It simply... is. Take it or leave it; free will is one of humanity's greatest gifts. _{(Neo, quoted with permission, Mainframe)}

He is simply laying out the truth as he remembers it, as he lives it, day to day to day. And he doesn't spend a great deal of time jumping up and down and shrieking "I'M NEO!", nor does he simply give the subject(which invariably is the thing that his critics seize upon almost instantly; not the message, but the veracity of the messenger) a skimpy glance and then pass it off as unimportant.

There are many metaphysical explanations and theories for how I, as Neo, came/come to be. People - and we, at first - used to refer to it as 'soulbonding' - simply, that everything that can exist, does... and that people with a particular gift tap in, with their pop culture, their films or their books, into some other where that is just as real as yours is. Check out some string theory journals; it's not as crazy as it sounds. The only part of this page's long explanation that I originally kept is as follows; I no longer have any time to mince words, be conciliatory, or confuse people enough to give them the wrong idea, when the truth is simple enough.

Unfortunately, over the many years Trin and I have been here, working on the Mission - explained further, having evolved in its urgency, in many places on the site: most notably here - we've become disgusted with the term "soulbond". Is it because we ARE who we are, twenty-four hours a day - working, shopping, sleeping, breathing - or because most people associate the term "soulbond" with people who talk about elves and fairies sharing "headspace" with them, or the people who claim loudly and vociferously on forum after forum that they are "TEH REEL ARWEN!!11oneone!!1!"... and should be given all of the privileges they demand... and right away write us off as wackos? You decide. But mocked or not, hated or not, what I'm doing here is my life. Ask anyone. And it's far too desperately important to me to let anything come between myself and its progression.

I'll be happy to explain the melange of quantum physics that we and many people believe is responsible for bringing us here, now, to this world... and if you stick around long enough, you'll begin to understand very well why I'm here, and what I'm meant to do - but for now, I'm taking a lot of the previous text off this page. If you're curious, ask. Before you dismiss it simply because "people can't do that; that's crazy". That, my friends, is the very mindset that brought me here. And it's the mindset that's killing me. And this world, in a way far further down the line... but maybe not as far as you think.

But right now I'm going to piss off every SBer out there by crumpling the concept into my own mangled version of it, the short-short version: Everything that can exist, does. Energy follows thought, and there are infinite parallel existences out there beyond our own; this has been proven by mainstream science as well as philosophy. Every decision we make opens another parallel path in which we made the opposite choice, or no choice at all; and people who may be considered 'fictional' in this world, our subjective reality, are just as 'real' as we are, on another plane of existence. And sometimes... they cross over. Very rarely, and even more rarely with intact memories... a lot of people, after knowing us, have come to refer to it as "quantum reincarnation". Close enough, I guess. _{(c. Neo, all excerpts from Mainframe page; used by permission)}

This is where the trouble begins. Very few people are willing to accept that a guy - and, from all appearances, a functional one(he holds two "real" jobs, pays his rent, etc., etc.) - could possibly be the same man that they saw on a high-definition theater screen as a fictional character culled from someone's feverish imagination. Ironically, this very mindset is what Neo and his group are trying to change; this blind belief that what is, is, according to the Gospel of the Collective- that if reality is defined by what everyone believes it can and cannot be, than anyone deviating from that idea must be an insane person.

Now, throw in the idea that the man pointing the way toward revolution is not only suffering from a disease that is debilitating for a great many people(Multiple Sclerosis), but is also a recognized clairvoyant/clairsentient(among other "weirdnesses"), things that have been witnessed(and yet, never bugled about; only close group members, friends, and Trinity are aware of the smaller details surrounding these things; the single exception was Trinity's mother, who on a casual visit unexpectedly witnessed one of Neo's spontaneous trances, and the information he came "out" with) but never -- obviously -- "proven" to the satisfaction of skeptics and detractors(when has the factual existence any such phenomenon been "adequately proven" in those terms?), who sees in synaesthetic imagery and uses these visions to help people understand the subjective nature of reality..... well, you can see why most people, steeped in the black-and-white nature of the "real world" they've been taught to believe in, might throw stones first and stop to listen later.... or not at all. It's even understandable.

And yet when faced with Neo -when faced with Neo's sincerity, after speaking to him in person, be it face-to-face or over the telephone or even via e-mail, people walk away not knowing quite what to believe. He certainly does not come across in any way like your stereotypical idea of a "crazy person".

Which, logically, leaves only two choices: either he is crazy, just somehow not in any way that's previously been defined... or he isn't crazy, and his perception of reality simply differs from the mainstream. Which option most people would find more frightening for them.... well, there's very little doubt. And so rather than admit that their own worldview might be infallible and thus risk having to re-learn all that they thought they knew, people instead attack the messenger when the message stands on its own.

Despite all this, Neo has and continues to unashamedly and very vocally express his sincerity concerning who he is, where he came from, and what he is here to do, in spite of hundreds of online "flamers", e-mail death threats(simply for daring to believe what he believes and be vocal about that belief; simply for caring_{(Source: Neo, c.2006 and used with permission,Hate Mail)}), and rumors that run the gamut from him being a male-to-female transsexual to he and Trinity "recruiting minors for terrorism"(2006, [3].... all of which he has, in defense not of himself but in defense more of the message as given through him, refuted with hard, concrete evidence._{(Source: "For Gossip", c. Neo; also clear, full-color scans publicly available on his blog of his state identification card, and diagnostic proof of his Multiple Sclerosis, something much mocked by people claiming that Neo was simply "attention-whoring".)} -

Someone relatively new to the group's purpose and ideals, but with a very keen ear for the intentions behind people's actions, had this to say about the reasoning behind people's eager willingness to slap a label on what Neo does.

The most important truths always appear first as blasphemies or obscenities; that's why every great innovator is persecuted. And Neo is persecuted. Since they can't attack the message, they focus on the messenger; demonstrating ironically the truth of Neo's assertion that the Matrix is found inside each and every one of us, and the programmed fears that we allow to control our lives._{(Quoted with permission on Radio Zero-One, April 9th, 2007)}

Whatever you may believe about Neo and his group, or his message - some have gone the clichéd route of spouting 'cult' at anything that even remotely looks like an "alternative" belief structure - his claim is that he is only doing what he is here to do. "And until there is concrete proof or evidence that we've harmed someone by trying to save them from themselves... by simply trying to wake them up," says Neo, "People are free to take it or leave it as they choose. Every mind is worth it; even if they don't believe it themselves." But keep in mind that, according to them at least, they're not forcing anything on anyone. They like to quote the following story by way of example:

A father called in requesting help to deprogram his forty-year-old (40) daughter from a "cult". It wasn't until he had been convinced not to take such drastic action against a member of any religious group and it had been made very clear to him that such activity violates not only the First Amendment but international treaties on basic human rights that he admitted the "cult" he was worried about was the Methodist Church!_{Cult Awareness Network, QBP}

What Others Have Said

Almost as predictably as people might take one brief look at what he and his group are doing and start screaming 'cult'(although, in comparing the defining points of both, this author at least finds quite a few very obvious divergent points between the two), there are those upon whom the Zero-Six Contingent's message of personal choice, subjective reality, connection to that higher awareness, and freedom to choose your own path and define your own perceptions has made a profound impact. Judging by statistics, these are not "impressionable teenagers"; they are, in fact, from all age groups, all countries, and all walks of life.

Zeal, from Australia, had this to say to whomever would listen:

Right now at this very moment, an underground Revolution for freedom, choice and peace is building; people from all over the world, from all walks of life are gathering to fight the biggest and hardest war the human race will ever face, a war of the mind. The things we are fighting against, you see every day: wars between religions, countries and gangs, the teasing and mocking that goes on in playgrounds at schools, and in the streets. It is fear of the unknown, fear of someone that is different from you because they don't fit with your construct of collective preconceptions. People fear that which is different, that which does not "fit" with what they have been taught since birth. To break this perpetuating cycle and bring on a "New World Order" where fear of the unknown is no longer the root of human reality is what we are trying to do.

What makes the Zero-Six Contingent so unique and different from any other group is that it has nothing to do with religion, worship, gods and conforming to another set of collective rules, another system – if it were the mission would be just like every other, another system. A path that promotes freedom, peace and freedom of choice, where people don't need to change their beliefs, don't have to conform to a set of rules to be accepted and are encouraged to make their own choices, to follow their own path and to take what they want from the message - which is freely available at no cost to anyone, this is not about any sort of financial gain: it's about love. Does it sound cultish yet? I don't think so. No one pushed Alice down the rabbit hole.

Who sees this, who would have the courage to break away and fight for us all? This is what is hard for most people to conceive. Through some unique metaphysical "crossing over" that we believe the science of quantum physics is behind, people from a world which most see as fictional due to a mega hit film spanning over three parts, the world you know as "The Matrix" in popular culture (PC). Neo, Trinity and a few others are now existing in this world, by now you are probably thinking, how can this be true, I ask, can you prove it's not? And not all that happened in the PC was true, they remember everything and much was not portrayed in the PC, also the PC got one big thing wrong, it was not bad Vs good, it was Us Vs Us: humanity. Neo gains nothing from doing this, he does it for all of us out of love, because he believes every mind is worth it.

So many people who have read Neo's writings and had conversations with him have written in and said "this stuff has changed my life", that it is so different to what everyone else does, and it makes so much sense to people when they actually take the time to find out why he is here; to show people the door to freedom, peace and freedom of choice, to choose your own path, that your reality, your meaning of life can only be defined by you by your subjective perception of the world around you.

I am one of many people who felt there was more, that something was missing, and found it through Neo. This has changed my life in a great way, a way which is hard to explain. I have always had an open mind, but now I am awake and aware of things and can see clear as day why humanity is suffering. People who know Neo, are friends with him, some spanning over nine years, and many who had not seen the PC truly believe on their own findings that Neo and the others are who they are, when people take the time to get to know them and listen to what Neo has to say, they see he is not some crazy guy wanting to get attention or forcing anything on them, that what he says is true and genuine and the message is the truth in the rawest form. But it comes down to this: you either believe, or you don't. And belief can come in degrees.

After reading about what true prophets went through and experienced, so much resonates with what he experiences... I am now convinced that this is what (Neo) is, a prophet._{Zeal.Freemind, in a public letter to the media, used with permission.}

And, of course, Zeal(who isn't an "impressionable teenager" by most anyone's standards: she recently turned twenty-eight) isn't the only one; others have weighed in on the changes "the Mission" has made in their lives, as well.

Trinity weighed in with her own testimonial, back in 2004:

I have seen the things that he can do. I've read the testimonials as they've come from all corners of the nation and in a few cases, the world. I've talked to these people (online) and answered their emails. I've counseled him through the stresses of having this sort of weight put upon his shoulders. He is not glorying in this. He does not live in his Mama's basement and speak out his ass to impressionable young teenagers. He spends long hours working, researching and speaking the Universal Truth to people who are already begining to see the Truth for themselves. As for the 'loaded' and 'spiritual buzz words'... This is going to come up. Those testimonials are here for you to see. We have nothing to sell. We don't B.S. people. We are trying to help who we can in the time we can. That doesn't leave time for yanking people's chains. But as always, the choice is yours." _{Trinity, quoted on the Project Logic Bomb's Personal Opinions Page, used by permission}

Another publicly-quoted source(context freely available here):

"I believe that he is the One, even though I have only very recently discovered this. It is just a feeling that I get when I think about it. I believe that this cause is one of the utmost importance and I will commit all the time possible to it: this is the first time that I have said this in my life.... I believe in everything that you are doing and I will support this cause no matter where it brings me...to life or to death . This is the worthiest cause that has ever crossed my mind."

Someone with the handle "Unseen Wise One", who has known both the "Mission" and its founders for over seven years, wants her proverbial two cents to be heard:

"I want to tell you a few things I have know of him, he says that I am able to see right though him, thats only because he sees though me. He's my hero for many reasons, one of which is the fact that he is worried about all of you, T. and myself. However he barely worries about himself. That is a mark of a hero, of a leader, I don't care what people say about him. I have seen such greatness in [him], my dear friend..."_[4]

Richard, who was also responsible for putting together a "media-friendly testimonial", collected from group members over the years, says this:

In the year or so that I've read his assorted writings, listened to the assorted phone posts, and so on.... I have come to see, or in keeping with context, believe that the idea that he could be anyone or anything other then who he claims to be is impossible, and I believe that any suitably objective person who took the time to listen to what he has to say would reach the same conclusion._[5]

Note: In order to present this from equal angles, I would be in keeping with the spirit of the article by also sharing some of the hate mail Neo has gotten from people to whom he has never even spoken, nor met, nor in any way shape or form even attempted to contact, let alone "convert". It seems that to some people, Neo's very existence is a blight on society and a personal affront to their comfort; because he dares to be who he is. If this sounds biased, think about this: there is no other way to phrase it. If someone you've never met, never hurt - if you've never hurt anyone simply by existing - and never spoken to decided to bugle it all over the Internet that you should "be shot" or "put out of your misery", is it biased to say that that seems just a little disproportionate?

In any case, though, most of the worst of the hate mail as I understand it has been summarily deleted; there have been entire hate communities, though, dedicated to cutting down Neo and his message, and some of the weakest attempts at so doing can be found on Neo's relatively good-humored Wall of Shame. The only one that's worth sharing here to contrast it with the testimonials of others comes, again, from someone who'd never even spoken to any of the members of the group...... just heard fifteenth-hand gossip. Neo's group deals with this sort of thing every day.

One complete stranger, upon hearing of Neo's beliefs, suggested he "do the world a favor and have another embolism"(Neo had just been hospitalized in 2005 for a pulmonary embolism that nearly cost him his life), and one wise, kind individual suggested that she "test whether or not he could dodge bullets by just shooting him"; if he couldn't, they'd just "disbanded a cult, no loss". (Source screenshot and material QWP, coming soon)

In Summation

It is obvious and easy to see where the controversy over Neo and his Mission lies; ironically, it is the very root of that controversy that Neo often uses as an "object lesson" to explain the blindness of humanity. "We could lay down all weapons tomorrow," he says, "Burn our guns and destroy your nuclear bombs. And for a little while, you'd all be singing and dancing and patting yourselves on the back, celebrating humanity. But in a week, or a year, or in half a century, you'd all be killing each other with rocks and sticks and your bare hands, because the mindset had never changed. "Peace" without understanding, without truly ceasing to fear your "enemy", isn't peace at all. Just a cease-fire bought in blood. If you still think you're the wronged ones, still believe that your "enemy" is worthy of hate and contempt, isn't like you... then you haven't stopped fighting at all. And you never will. Until you WAKE UP." _{(Neo, quoted with permission, [6].)}

The ultimate goal, as Neo sees it, that the "Mission" is heading toward is the end of that blind downward spiral that resulted in nothing but ashes and ruins in "his world"; the destruction of human society based on hate, fear, and greed. His group members, his fiancée, and even his mother-in-law(to be, in 2007) would say it a bit differently; they'd say that he has (metaphysically/psychically) seen this end, seen the path humanity is heading toward, and will not have crossed over here to simply sit by after having seen it, and do nothing to stop it. Without the group, he would do the work, spread the message, alone if he had to. According to him, it's "all of what I am; it's all I do."_[7]

The group works as an "underground revolution", reaching out to people(in a thousand different ways: from bizarre displays to subtle flyers to public meetings to a thriving, exponentially-expanding online base.... and much more) who want to choose their own path--- and devoted to making every mind aware that they have a choice in what to believe. A choice in what defines them. They give people who are seeking a chance to look at the world in a new way; a chance to "put a scratch on the glass" of the "glass maze" that most people live their lives in, unaware; they work toward giving people the power to shed the system's definitions and define themselves. Be strong. Choose. In 2005 Neo and Trinity put forward the appropriate proceedings to have their "official" organization, Veritas Zero-One, registered and incorporated as a legitimate non-profit organization in the state of Washington. Trinity calls it their "front"; Neo refers to it as "using the system to subvert the system".

Neo believes that once more and more people have "woken up and learned this new vision", learned to reconnect to that universal that "everyone's seeking but can't believe in enough to find", they will be able to shed the fears that have been programmed into them. Learn from differences, rather than destroying that which is different simply out of reaction to that fear. Learn that reality is "subjective, not collective", and that the only things that truly define the potential and limitations of any sentient being are the choices of that being itself.

And in the end, when enough people aren't "blinded" by the pre-packaged collective, societal construct as a status quo, when enough people have chosen to re-define their worlds, the system will have to --- by its very nature --- change to accommodate them. They will not blindly be led down that path any longer; if they choose to continue on, then more power to them.

Neo, who often writes and speaks in parables(he says that he "sees in images" most of the time, as opposed to words, and so these symbolic stories he weaves on the spur of the moment, in order to underscore or make clear a point, are the closest he can get to sharing those images with those who are listening), says it this way.

I'm not here to MAKE PEOPLE'S CHOICES FOR THEM. To say "this is the better way!" or "this is the only way!" If I were doing that, I'd be no different than the same blind system. This isn't THE ANSWER for everyone, in big red blinding neon. It's an answer... or it can be. For a lot of people it has become one, and that humbles me and just... it makes me feel as if there's hope for the end, you know? But I WILL NOT go in and say "YOU MUST GIVE UP THE SYSTEM!" What the hell right do I have to make that decision for them? I'm not God. Not by any stretch, not by a long shot.

What most people don't understand is that it isn't the system itself that's "evil". Nor are the people who rely on it, who are comfortable in that system, comfortable in their roles there. It is only when there are those who want something more, who are aware enough to be discontent, to suffer because they feel something beyond and outside of themselves but aren't allowed to "wake up" enough to define for themselves what that something might be... it's only in the direction of when people are not even aware that they have a choice that the devastation lies.

Which choice they make is irrelevant. Whether they keep running around in the maze or turn to the exit door and walk out is entirely up to them. But what I'm here to do is just to make sure they see that the maze HAS a door. Show them that it opens; which way the handle turns. After that, they're on their own._{Neo, interview/discussion in early 2007}

In the world the Zero-Six Contingent sees, this "new world order"(what Neo calls a "melodramatic truth"), will interrupt that end-of-the-line human devastation by teaching, allowing people to realize that all of them are connected to that universal, and through it, to each other, free to believe whatever they want to believe - religion, faith, peace, freedom, love, or any combination of any of the things that matter to them, that make them human. By then, Neo says he'll have "faded away"; they will all lead each other.

To sum up everything, it might be best to close this article with a perfectly neutral ending--- take from it what you will. This is simply to describe the rapidly-growing movement without bias, negative OR positive. This isn't a space to "accuse them of being a cult", or to give a thousand reasons why they're crazy; this article is meant only to present the basics:

→ There is an underground revolution rapidly gaining members, based in the area of Seattle, WA, US... but with members and believers throughout the United States and in several other countries.

→ The founders/leaders are called Neo and Trinity, and actively believe that yes, they are the same Neo and Trinity from the Matrix films, crossed over into another world through a quantum physics phenomenon that is still as of yet not proven to be impossible;

→ They have given, in three-plus very public years, no tangible or "hard" proof that they aren't who they claim to be --- no "slip ups" -- with the exception of everyone's first and most basic assumption: that Neo and Trinity are fictional, and thus "can't exist". See above._[8]

→ Neo has a set of beliefs, some brought out of "psychic visions" or through other "wild talents", that allow him to do what he does; this awareness of the connections of the human race on a broader scale has given him the awareness to see; patterns, futures, and the "fear that blinds humanity". These beliefs are what the group teaches to others;

→ They ask for no money "in exchange for the truth", and no worship; no one is asked to cut off contact with family and friends and their dog, no one is asked about their private personal lives, their mother's maiden name or credit card number, or whether they like kinky sex. Members are free to come and go as they are moved to do so(if said members were former friends, as well, that may contain the same pain that any friendship-break might contain, but that being entirely unrelated to the "Mission";

→ They are a "non-exclusive" group, meaning that you can believe in the message they're spreading, believe in humanity's future and freedom of choice, freedom of reality, and still believe in God or Buddha or "The Great Green Handkerchief", if you will, no one's out to "convert" you;

→ Many people believe that simply by applying this new perspective to their own lives, their lives have been changed for the better;[9]

→ Neither of them has gained anything from pursuing this for so many years other than the movement itself having moved forward as it will. Neo has refuted every rumor without complaint --- refuting the transsexual rumor, for example, by scanning and posting his legal identification, showing the incorporation papers, even his private medical papers, if it meant that some people might stop dismissing the message long enough to hear it; this author has yet to find any concrete "evidence" that they're "bad scary cult leaders"._{Neo's Collected Writings & Manifesto}

Beyond that, this is not the place for subjective "He said-she said"s. Personal opinion is just that; personal. I've tried hard to keep this article to the facts I've been given.

You can, however, easily find on truthofthespoon.net an extremely detailed document, created over the course of several months and designed solely to explain some of the more powerful concepts behind the Mission at that time. Many people have read it and passed it on, or read it and shared it with others. It has, according to the Contingent members, answered a great deal of questions in its time. The five-section "book", written and designed by Neo, is called Logos Veritas, and can be found in Adobe .PDF format at this link. Also, if you don't have Adobe Reader to view the document, there's a free download link on that page as well.

With the wealth of quotes and information, I think it might be wisest just to close out this article with a (now) famous piece of Neo's writing; re-posted in at least half a dozen places --- probably twice that by now ---- quoted and used in various projects, mailed and re-mailed and requested many times, certain lines from it have become nearly a refrain among group members. Take from it what you will.

Neo's Open Letter to the Human Race

For most people, hate is easier than understanding. Strong word, hate: it carries a weight that many would like to think themselves incapable of. But be honest: it’s easier to hate, to detest, to dislike, to turn your face away, than to pause for compassion. Isn’t it?

From the moment you’re born, you’re born into a system: a system of right and wrong, black and white, a citadel of society’s expectations… and like all systems, it is self-perpetuating. Human nature, from its earliest origins, teaches you that to belong is to be safe: that to be part of the group, to be accepted completely by society, is to be sheltered, cared for, nurtured. It is a badge of approval, of security… and those who are the most secure in it are those who are also the most frightened of change. What is change? It is, as a noun, ‘A transformation or transition from one state, condition, or phase to another’. But it is the action itself that is the threat to the very root of the System:

"To cause to be different; to lay aside, abandon, or leave for another."

People fear what they do not understand: how many times have you heard that? How many trendy T-shirts have you seen, how many bumper stickers, how many e-mail signatures or scrawled graffiti on some back-alley wall? But fear runs deeper than blood, than bone, than the pulse that drives the cortex of the human brain… and fear of change may well be the most terrible of all of these. Because if the system changes, if their comfortable worldview is threatened, then they might have to actually rethink the way they see the world.

Like a caged animal that simply sits motionless when it’s been freed after a lifetime looking at the skyline through bars, it is easier for them to live by the rules, live by the limitations that have been given to them, easier to snuff out the universal spark that they carry within them, than it is to open their eyes and follow the drive in their souls. Change is hard; change is terrifying; change is work.

And like any self-perpetuating cycle, it is easily fed by its own fear: those who are different, those who choose rather than simply accept, those who see the world’s illusions and perhaps choose to look beyond them, are more easily hated than anything. And the more any kind of difference is condemned, the fewer people will have the courage to make a difference. No one wants to be outcast: no one wants to be alone. This, too, is human nature.

This nature is what will destroy the human race, in the end.

Fear.
Blindness.
Hate.

War, the only kind that matters, is being waged here every day. I look around and I see it: I hear it, it heats my nerves like radiation from my soul. Every sixteen-year-old that climbs into Daddy’s pickup with Daddy’s shotgun at midnight because what they feel, what they believe, does not somehow ‘fit’ with what is accepted of them. Every child of the Is who is stomped down into a molded, die-cast drone, for whom money, taxes, a snazzy car, and ‘dying with the most toys’ are all that matters: so what if the world ends? At least they lived a comfortable life. At least they impressed their neighbors. It’s not up to them to make a difference: you don’t rock the boat when you’re in it…

Human life is so fragile, so brief: and they waste it, waste it on the material, the petty, the pointless. The hatred. The fear. I look around, and I see the construct of collective reality that reaches so far, so far... when all that matters is inside. Peace, freedom, choice... these things... aren't on sale at Costco. Every life is a spark of infinite possibility: EVERY LIFE.

In the vast unending blackness that is the universe, out of nowhere bursts a red-gold spark. It burns, it consumes and grows and breathes... and then, as it and its light spread, its tendrils waft out into beautiful, infinitely replicating fractals. These fractals are the possibilities, the paths. Choice. Everything, the blueprint for existence, contained within itself. One, five, twenty, a thousand, filling the void with light. And we snuff these sparks before they've even ignited... why? How many lost? How many have given up? Why? Money? Conformity? What the f*** good is an easy life if you NEVER LIVED AT ALL?

How distant is this, really? This light, burning within, burning. This desperate search for meaning, and when it is at last within reach, you are blinded to it by the veil of what’s ‘real’? How many more have to go down the path of destructive truth, feeling that passion, that drive to change things, to stand in the path of the maelstrom and see beyond the walls that the world has imposed: and translate it into pain, into fury, into lines gridded on pale forearms with cheap razor blades from Seven-Eleven, the poetry of the Universe – that is contained within all of you, as children of the cosmos, the Is, the Source, whatever you choose to call it – quenched with sale beer and drugs cut with baby laxative, because there is no place for it in society’s construct of acceptance? How far might we all come, how beautiful the untapped potential that lies within, when they shed their fear of the unknown and realize that the only person who can in the end define their reality, is themselves?

I will not stand aside. I cannot. This, is purpose.

I stand apart between sides, and I see the passion that drives all life, the beauty within, the love: and not in any sort of "New-Age" sense: love that has teeth. Love that bleeds, love that bleeds you. The thread of the eternal that runs through every sentient being... every sentient being that has, by virtue of existing no matter the cause, the choice that determines their OWN life.

This should be an undeniable right.

I look at a battery display, in a department store, and it pulls on something very deep, and very ancient, within me. Not for the sake of the Matrix: not entirely. For the sake of the fact that they are ALL 'batteries', walking around in their small safe bubbles -- and they don't even know it. Batteries of a machine race? Hardly. 'Batteries' of the System that keeps people contained within their own limitations. By accepting it, by becoming a part of it, they power the self-perpetuating machine.

But in the end, is it really so far of a stretch?

Humans don’t want the eternal, the profound, the real: they want the comfortable, the safe, the easy. Clinging to a world that is built on lies, on control, is only going to work for so long. And the idea that human beings cannot be any more than they're told they are, that they cannot transcend life and existence and space-time, that we are only bags of meat and bones -- that is the biggest lie there is. If I accomplish anything with this, in this lifetime, I hope it will be exposing that truth.

What anyone chooses to do with that truth, is completely up to them.

Truth is like the mouth of God: if you try and wrench it to suit what makes you comfortable, if you try and cram it into someone’s face, or shove your arm into it to yank out what you think you need, you’ll get shredded into pieces. But if you just shut up for a minute, hush in the breathing dark, and listen to what it’s telling you: it might just change everything.

I am physically incapable of walking away, anymore: I am physically incapable of having a side. I breathe this… love, this burning balance, like the air in my lungs. I will not stand aside and keep my tongue, knowing that there are those who are trapped inside these walls that they cannot even see, that people, every day, are dying of this, simply because they are unaware that there is a choice. I am not here to make their choice for them: what would make me different from the existing System, if I did? But I cannot stand by and feel them, and do nothing.

“The world will not be this way within the reach of my arm.”

I belong to both worlds, and neither. And yet there is no better word than love.

It is a spiritual battle for some of us. On one level, we are working to free minds, we are working toward true peace, toward unity for all forms of intelligence, and everyone who cares to realize that they have a choice. And in the end, it's worth it. Because the only sides that are left anymore are the ones people create. It's not Us vs. the "Evil Bad System": it's Us vs. Us. I wish I'd not been misled, in the old world: not led to believe that everything is black and white, that we were "good" and "machines were bad", and that that was all there was to it. I fell into it then, so maybe you'll believe me when I say I know from whence I speak? Like everyone, we believed that what we were told was the absolute truth. Black and white.

Sometimes, even taking the red pill wasn't enough. There had to be that next step: in honestly believing in PEACE, not just "being on the winning or 'righteous' side". Does anyone understand this? My entire life comes down to this. I am here because of this concept. Not for love, not for money, not for my own satisfaction or health or karma. We are here to keep this cycle from devouring itself again. And if we can stand through EVERYTHING that has been and will be thrown at us... might not our intentions finally be realized?

Peace is not a sound bite, or a flag snapping in the wind of someone’s youthful idealism, or abolishing all weapons because, somehow, that’s going to change things. Peace is not about winning, or ‘destroying the enemy’. What enemy? What entity could we crush, what tangible thing could we possibly destroy, that would lift the construct of what ‘is’ and ‘isn’t’ from human society as a whole? Peace is a mindset. And it begins with freedom.

We are united in desire not only to see beyond the "Matrix" of this world -- yet another literal FAQ -- but to reach out to others out of true and real compassion for their freedom and potential. To keep what happened there from happening again, out of the collective metaphysical blindness of the world. It is neither a game nor a hobby: to me, a hobby is something that you do in your spare time: and that is, theoretically, expendable. This is not something you do halfway. Now that doesn't mean "devote your life and every waking moment": it simply means that what you DO do, you MEAN. That you care. Me? This IS my life. Whether or not it could have been any other way, is a question for the philosophers.

Peace, is not a MMORPG.

And in the end, I will NOT stand on the verge of nuclear winter, or knee-deep in ashes with the scent of burnt metal on my tongue, I will not stand amidst the wreckage of shattered pods – metaphorical or not – and watch crumpled remains, of any being, literal or otherwise, swing in the wind in effigy because fear and limitations became judge, jury and executioner. I will not wade through the wreckage of a world because it was more important to be safe than free… until it wasn’t safe anymore.

Would you?

Life IS. Where have you come from? What drives you? Who created you?

Does it matter?

Do you love? Dream? Feel? Weep with joy, wail with sorrow? Do you burn like a candle and shed light wherever you walk? Do you shine like winter stars spread across a silent bay? You are a child of the Is. Of the Source. What you are, who you are, is irrelevant. Life is.

B1-66-3R or Baudelaire, "life is not a malfunction".

What is the point? Why are we here? This is what we are. This is what I do: this is why I exist. Anything beside that, is extraneous. If I have been able to reach out my hand to a single person, if one single life has touched the Truth that lies just beyond their conscious awareness, if one person wakes up and realizes that they are free, then that, in itself, is worth everything. And united in truth, we may just change everything. It is, in fact, time for a new revolution: but it begins quietly, one mind at a time

This, is how it begins.

At the end of the world, there will be three kinds of people: one, who worries about their ‘toys’, and what’s going to become of them without their million-dollar home, their BMW, their Gap™ jeans. One, who rushes to the Divine for salvation: after a life of fear and hatred, after an existence of blindness, they go just as blindly to one more System, to carry them.

And then there are those who stand up as children of the Divine, and say: “What needs to be done, to stand before this destruction?”

Which kind are you?

The groovy thing about free will> is this: the choice is yours.

Reality is subjective, not collective.

This is my wake-up call, to you: I do it for love. More love than I have ever known.
It humbles me, and drives me to my knees.
I stand before it, and see the awesome potential for freedom.

Bless all forms of intelligence.

Your mind is a weapon.
The war is for freedom.
The revolution is now.

Lock and load.

Neo, quoted with permission, his Open Letter to the Human Race, c 2005.