I will tell you how to free yourself from the matrix if you are having a hard time

And in that way you have woven yet another Matrix for yourself, to replace the Matrix before that.

What was the saying, easier to go through the head of a needle or some such?

Bend down, and there it is:
No need to wrest it from others.
With the Way, in complete agreement
The mere touch of a hand is spring:
The way we come upon blooming flowers,
The way we see the year renew itself
What comes this way will stay;
What is gotten by force will drain away.
A secluded person in an empty mountain,
As rain drops, picks some blades of duckweed.
Freely to feel the flash of dawn:
Leisurely, with the celestial balance.

- Ssu-k'ung T'u (837-908)

Even if it is a "replacement" you have freed yourself from the mass brainwashing all around you. The events stop affecting you. Their fear and programming will no longer work and a lot of this started being put in as a child. Better to unplug and build your own, than sit in and be controlled by theirs.

Create your own propaganda, your own world. Take back the driver seat...

The next step is to control your own mind and subcounscious process. Harder than the first step

That is not the Matrix you are imprisoned in, but freeing yourself from the herd mentality is very helpful, this is true. But you don't necessarily need to destroy your entire life in order to get there. In reality, what you need to free yourself from is inside of you, is you.

yes, harder, but enjoyable to try and you know yourself better.

This mind, since time without beginning,
Is originally motionless.
Though we may speak a thousand
Thoughts, it is just that the workings
Of natural potential are spontaneously so.
Though we may feel myriad influences
And make myriad responses, from the
Beginning the fundamental essence
Has always been still.

— Qian Dehong (1495-1574)

Trust me that list will not "destroy" your life at all. It actually frees you. It isn't for everyone or I should say not everyone will try it.

Well you see, I "left home" 10 years ago in order to do just that, sold everything I owned, abandoned my entire life and moved to the country side into a buddhist monastic center, in order to do just as you suggested. I've been studying with monks for the entire time.

Believe you me.. you do not need to tear your life apart. But if one is truly serious about wanting to Awaken, walking the path full time, you should seek internally. Everything else is just secondary.

Here, I usually stay AC but this might be handy.

Realize that you are God looking in the mirror and if you want to change the reflection and that means changing the angle and you are the angel. Capeesh?

There is no other task but to know your own original face. This is called independence; the spirit is clear and free. If you say there is some particular doctrine or patriarchy, you’ll be totally cheated. Just look into your heart; there is a transcendental clarity. Just have no greed and no dependency, and you will immediately attain certainty.

— Yen-t’ou (828-887)

So basically you become a hermit in the woods somewhere ending up with a long beard and talking to small rodents.

How's that going to help?

Yes, but the secondary is a distraction and a pulling away from what you speak of. I find it odd you studied with monks all that time and consider minimalism, removal of propaganda, eating basic, not wasting money, and controlling what you allow into your head and body tearing your life apart, esp when it does the opposite.

Who said to go live in the woods and be a hermit lol. You think the removal of those things makes one a hermit?

The Matrix was as movie

not a new understanding of reality

People think they reveal deep shit

by repeating other people...

Yes, saying the matrix currently is just another way of saying herd mentality, group think, the borg mindset, the ocean of brainwashing.

Why are these things a distraction? What is it inside of you that is being distracted? Why is it under the control of external influences in this way? Removing all of these influences won't change the presence of that functionality, but if you have nothing to test that functionality against, how can you resolve the issue?

Do you see what I mean?

Some people bear repeating if those things work. It isn't that deep.

All things are free-flowing, untrammeled. What bondage is there, what entanglement? You create your own difficulty and ease therein. The mind source pervades the ten directions with one continuity; those of the most excellent faculties understand naturally.

— Tzu-hu (800-880)

(these are all zen quotes, as I enjoy zen quotes :D )

It worked for me and has worked for others. But, to explain step one and why.

You do not really own objects, they end up owning you. Think of moving time when people need help moving all their "stuff" the digging through and finding all the things they forgot they even had. The buying or renting larger homes to house their stuff and add more. The mindless shopping and waste that takes place as well. People have been conditioned to buy and consume. They have come to believe shopping (as well as eating in restaurants, going to the movies, watching everything pumped out by mainstream media) is somehow "living" and without those things they somehow think suffering comes, when it is the reverse. You also can save money, look at all the worthless objects people buy. That singing fish thing years ago comes to mind. "oh isn't it cute". Now its in some box. It did not give value, it stole value from you.

I understand where you are coming from, but the idea the list above is somehow destroying or tearing ones life apart isn't true. Those things are not "life" or "living" or "enjoyment" when people think they are that is an issue. There is another side to be on for those who want it.

This isn't breaking from the matrix... it is just living like a pauper. Read everything. Learn formal logic. Think for yourself. Maybe then one day you'll look in the mirror and realize you are not living the life of a clueless idiot.

No need to live on ramen to break from the matrix. Just use your damn imagination. Breaking the matrix is about creating your own reality. Then you can live like a king, if that's what you want.