Residual Self-Image

“Matrix” is one of my favorite movies since it provides me a couple of insights. I want to start with this quote from Morpheus.

“Your appearance now is what we call residual self-image. It is the mental projection of your digital self”.

In this scene, residual self-image is described as the subjective appearance of a human inside. In fact, characters carry over their previous appearances rather than their actual physical appearances in the real world.

This phenomenon happens not only in the movie but also in our everyday life. For instance, I will soon turn 43, but I don’t feel different from when I was in my 20s. This means my residual self-image is that of a young version of me. In psychology, it is an idea that refers to people who maintain a mental image of themselves that doesn’t not correspond to their current state. I do believe that to understand this concept helps us to get out of our self-produced negative feedback loops. We make a decision based on past experiences. To put it in another way, we are all operating on some level of residual self-image. What is tricky is that certain aspects of residual self-image are almost impossible to change, because of individuals subconscious image of oneself.

For instance, if you failed a task, you would probably avoid the task again, because you believe that you are incapable of doing that. But, unless you continue to try, there will be no improvement. In other words, you are stuck with your residual self-image. In Matrix, the solution is to swallow the red pill. Since this world is not existing in a movie, we need figure out this mind dungeon by ourselves.