Why do we search for the dead among the living?
Neo - alive or dead, it makes no difference. I think he's dead; but even if he's alive, he is blind, and powerless. Once he returned to the Source (just as Prophecy said he would, mind you), he was disconnected from it and thereby lost his power.
The One, however, will return. Neo was the One, but the One is not Neo.
The One was a systemic anomaly (a unique abberation to the system of equations) that was the result of the eventuality of an unbalanced equation in the gargantuan mathematical simulation known as the Matrix. So saith the Architect.
In plain english, the anomaly is result of a giant math problem that just doesn't equal out. Most of the time, the math of the Matrix works. Eventually, however, thanks to the addition of choice, it boils down to a final equation that doesn't come out to 1=1. Now, how the h*ll does this result in a superhuman capable of rewriting the cade of the Matrix? It results in a human connected to, and empowered by, the Source. The Machines (read: The Architect) require the anomaly to return to the Source to be disconnected, after he has done his duty of restoring Zion, thus allowing the Machines to balance the equation. Then, left powerless, the One is simply a man.
Matrix versions were completely different, such as the version that was "perfect" (maybe everybody lived in trees, and never went hungry?). This last version of the Matrix, the one we are currently in, is the one that involves choice. It is the only version that has worked. By all accounts, there have been six systemic anamolies, including Neo. So, all six iterations of the anamoly have been in this version, because the anomaly is a direct result of adding the infinite variables of choice into a finite mathematical equation. And because choice is still very much a part of this version of the Matrix (hence, our newly-Awakened redpills), it is highly likely that the equation will once again become unbalanced and result in another systemic anomaly.
Just because Neo changed the cycle, through choice, did not mean he ended it completely. He only ended the cycles as we know them. As the Oracle knew them.
We may see Neo again; perhaps he will surface as a blind prophet. But if we do, he will no longer be "The One".
