3. A Crucial Narrative

Although this one looks like the second lesson on the surface, it has something much deeper behind it. We could use a variety of narratives and stories told throughout the ages, but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll focus on the first Matrix movie. 
If you haven’t seen it or don’t remember much, start with this crucial scene:
There is something fundamentally ancient about the film’s narrative. It follows a very, very old story structure when it came to the character arc of its main protagonist, Neo.
In 1949 Joseph Campbell famously coined the term the hero’s journey — or the monomyth — in his book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces.
Campbell summarized the concept of the monomyth by writing, 
“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
I recommend you watch a great video on it at https://youtu.be/Hhk4N9A0oCA
What makes a hero? - Matthew Winkler
Campbell’s main contention was that almost all myths of ancient civilizations followed this basic, yet powerful narrative. Even modern storytellers such as George Lucas famously drew direct inspiration from the monomyth when crafting the original Star Wars trilogy.
But there’s something deeper and unique to the movie. Just like Neo, we don’t and can’t understand our full potential; we can’t comprehend it because we’ve never seen it before. Potential is something that should always be yearned for, even if it’s never achievable to its fullest.
“Do you believe it now, Trinity?” Morpheus asks after Neo and Trinity rescue him from seemingly impossible odds.
“Morpheus,” Neo says, “the Oracle… she told me —”
“She told you exactly what you needed to hear,” Morpheus replies. “That’s all. Sooner or later, Neo, you’re going to realize just like I did the difference between knowing a path and walking a path.”
Watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHjMhYoY4Mg
Matrix 09 Knowing the Path & Walking the Path
The Oracle’s role was not to tell Neo that he was the One, but to set him on the right journey. She had to set him on an adventure of self-discovery.

The final point to make comes right after the Oracle tells Neo that he’s waiting for something. Neo asks, “What?”
“Your next life, maybe,” the Oracle replies. “Who knows? That’s the way these things go.”
When she mentions Neo’s next life, I first thought she was talking about the concept of reincarnation, but then it dawned on me that in the first Matrix film, Neo literally died at the hands of Agent Smith and was subsequently resurrected after the prophecy came to its full fruition.
Neo had to die and be brought back before he could become the One in its entirety.
Watch it at https://youtu.be/8m_qMDOQIcI
The Matrix: Neo Resurrected
In many ways, we all have to be reborn throughout the course of our lives. Whether it’s a symbolic ritual like a religious baptism, or moving to a new city for a fresh start, we all go through deaths and rebirths in our lives as we grow and begin to become. In psychology, the mind is understood in terms of sub-personalities working together to form a whole. In times when drastic changes are called, certain ‘yous’ literally have to die when it’s standing in your way or to make room for the new.
As I said before, the character of Neo seems so ordinary, and that’s not by chance. Neo is a character, yes, but he is also all of us.
Monomyth stories are not eternally enduring for no reason. Epic stories — whether it’s the Odyssey or the Matrix — help give structure to our everyday lives because they offer meaning. They encourage us to step outside of our known world to experience life to its fullest.
That is what stories such as the Matrix teach us. Clinical Psychologist, Jordan Peterson, teaches that these ancient archetypes are built into our culture and, to a lesser degree, into our biology (see: Jungian archetypes & this paper.) Philosophical arguments for these go as far as claiming they can be said to be “more real than real”, or “more real than the physical,'' depending on how we define ‘real’. They’re driving forces behind cultures for thousands of years, living longer and having more impact on the world than most other ‘real’ things.
 Essentially they help us look at the world through a lens that helps to provide meaning and understanding. As such, stories such as the Matrix are essential tools to help us achieve personal transformations.
To finish this off, consider this foreshadow before Neo dies and is resurrected: 
https://youtu.be/WunUrzSGFH4 - You are my personal Jesus Christ | Matrix
And consider this description of an entire 15-lecture-series created by the beforementioned Canadian professor, Dr Peterson:
The Bible is a series of books written, edited and assembled over thousands of years. It contains the most influential stories of mankind. Knowledge of those stories is essential to a deep understanding of Western culture, which is in turn vital to proper psychological health (as human beings are cultural animals) and societal stability. These stories are neither history, as we commonly conceive it, nor empirical science. Instead, they are investigations into the structure of Being itself and calls to action within that Being. They have deep psychological significance.
Source: https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/bible-series/
Lastly, try combining some of these videos with some explanations in-between and seeing if it all clicks a bit more by watching this playlist in order: