This bit of a poem by Lawrence may sound much like the Matrix movies where machines are literally running the world and man is just a slave and a power source, but that isn't what he is talking about. While that frightening scenario remains a distinct possibility, Lawrence is talking about a different kind of machine. A machine that doesn't have cogs or gears, keyboards or monitors. The machine being referred to is a machine of ideas and thoughts: the social machine. A social machine that tells people they are free, but then strongly encourages them to behave in certain ways.

Or course, there has to be social rules in order for society to exist such as rules against murder and rape, but those are not the type of social rules that upsets Mr. Lawrence (and others). The rules he is talking about are those designed to benefit the general social structure without benefiting the individual persons who make up the society. Rules that are rarely written down and made official like laws. These are rules like: you must get a job to support the corporate structure so the corporate kings can get paid millions while the worker bees can barely afford to stay alive. Rules that say it is your duty to consume, consume, then consume some more. Rules that say we must value material possessions above all else. Rules that say religion and spirituality must be pushed aside and minimalized in order to prevent it from interfering with corporate profits. That is the machine that is feeding on your life and now, in many cases, has more rights than we humans do. Yes, Lawrence was right, the machine is feeding on us and grinding us to mulch, unless we wake up and take our rightful place.