Obedience, how do you become obedient? You guessed it, sacrifice. They work in tandem. In order to understand the essential, innate nature of sacrifice let's look to where it matters most. The family. It is within the family where sacrifice of one's desire is learned--child's to parent's desires, parent's to child's needs, spouse's to spouse's desires and needs. Looking at sacrifice within the family, we can see the great merit, honor and purpose of sacrifice beyond its use for mere financial success. Keep in mind that in order to be truly successful, one must concentrate on inner qualities that will reflect outward to the material world.

In saying this, I am reminded of Neo in the movie The Matrix, the one, the great sacrificer, the messiah, if you will . His focus is on the family, the human family, the greater good. In an attempt to save all those in the Matrix, he is willing to put his very life on the line-freedom, liberty, his main purpose not his personal comfort. These words invoke such names as William Wallace, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and George Washington.

In order for Neo to succeed, he has to believe in himself first. Upon his visit to the oracle, to see if he is "the one" chosen to free the people enslaved by the machines (machines using human electromagnetic energy to power their cities) he asks the Oracle if he is "the one."

(I've edited or taken out some lines to clarify my point.)

Oracle: I'd ask you to sit down, but you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase.

Neo: What vase?

Oracle: That vase.

Neo hits the vase and it crashes to the ground.

Neo: I'm sorry.

Oracle: I said don't worry about it. I'll get one of my students to fix it.

Neo: How did you know?

Oracle: What's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?

Oracle: So, what do you think? You think you're the one?

Neo: I don't know.

Oracle: But you already know what I'm going to tell you.

Neo: I'm not the one.

Oracle: Sorry kiddo. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something.

Neo: What?

Oracle: Your next life maybe, who knows? That's the way these things go.

What it comes down to is belief and continual obedience to that belief that you can succeed, that you can get it done, that you can overcome, that you are the one to get the job done. Neo eventually believes, so much so that he is able to destroy the previously untouchable agents-the bad guys. He believes so much (overcoming the conventional-the matrix) that he is able to do amazing, unheard of things within the matrix: fly, fight hundreds of agents (Smiths), know what's happening before it happens.

In subsequent films, Neo's faith and his exercising of that faith creates such strength he is able to fight the machines in the real world, outside of the virtual world. To a great degree, he is motivated by needs beyond his own. By including so many others in his desire to succeed, his motivation is millions times greater than if he were merely attempting to accomplish a desired outcome that solely benefits him.

Herein lies the secret to success. Find others you can help, tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, each multiple inspiring and strengthening you in your purpose. But maybe you don't think you have what it takes. You say, "Well, there's' only one Neo." (Actually, there's been six Neos, according to the Architect in The Matrix Reloaded.)

But an important question to ask is does Neo have a unique, innate ability that only he possesses? A superhuman strength? Or is it simply his ability to consistently and obediently apply his faith through extreme difficulty and fear that enables him to succeed, excel, and exceed others? How many potential Neos are out there in the real world? Are there a finite number only because they have unique strength and motivation? or are we all Neos who merely lack the proper patience, faith, and obedience to our inner will or knowing?

What about you? Do you have the ability to believe and the obedience needed to consistently follow the path needed with the faith required to build your strength, to build your world, creating greater purpose, meaning, importance in your life, eventually reaching out to many others, to reach down and lift them, unplug them from the matrix that is sapping their energy, robbing them of their lives?

Only you can know for sure if you have the desire, faith, guts, support, imagination, faith, obedience it takes to be a Neo, one of greatness. Bottom line, do you choose to be an observer, plugged into the matrix used by others, or a doer, a Neo saving millions of worlds without end?