Inception, Deception and Perception

I recently purchased the film "Inception" on DVD:

I originally saw the film during it's cinematic release and thoroughly enjoyed the film (this despite working out what the final shot of the film was going to be, as early in the film as Michael Caine's first scene). The film is essentially a thinking man's science fiction philosophical take on the "heist" movie genre. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cob - the lead confidence man with a tortured past, heading up a hastily put together band of specialists who attempt to pull off the perfect crime... and it's all in the mind; quite literally.

Instead of trying to break into a vault and steal gold or some shady government secret, Cobb and his posse are actually trying to plant an idea (inception, hence the title of the film), in the mind of the young heir to a business empire... an idea that when fully realised, will lead to the break up of said business empire. They do this by using technology to induce several levels of shared dream state which they can use psychology, trickery and subversion to infiltrate a mark's secrets and manipulate them into achieving the desired outcome.

The mission is threatened throughout the film by the demons from Cobb's past which erupt from his subconscious into the different dreams... leading to undesirable outcomes. Chief amongst these demons is Mal (Marion Cotillard), a shade of Cobb's deceased wife who embodies his subconscious desire to live out his memories and artificially reconstruct the life he left behind when the real Mal died (her death being the result of his attempt to use Inception to convince her to leave the dream state of limbo).

The time spent in different dream states increases exponentially with each level of dream experienced. It is stated that in the deepest level of dream state - limbo, that the length of time is so great that you can lose track of reality and become lost there and this is a theme I want to explore in a little more detail.

In the film, each dreamer uses a "totem", a crafted item that acts in a unique way in the real world... a way that is significantly different to how it acts in the dream world; the idea being that it acts as a defence and helps keep it's user lucid. Cobb's totem is a spinning top that only falls over in reality... in the dream world, it continues to spin... endlessly. In the final shot of the film Cobb thinks he has reclaimed his life and goes to be reunited with his children... as he does so, we are left with the image of the top still spinning... and a swift cut to black as it just begins to wobble.

Cobb's Totem

The meaning is clear - we are left to draw our own conclusions as to whether or not Cobb has returned to reality at all... or whether in fact the "real world" of the film was just another dream in itself. I personally take the pessimistic view because of certain things that happened earlier in the film. Characters and events seem to constantly urge Cobb to "come home", most notably Michael Caine's father-in-law figure.

This got me thinking about our reality... how the inherited brokenness we share as individuals -  is effectively a false reality which I as a Christian choose to identify as the sinful nature. It is a world, a mindset, that separates us from the God who loves us.

The dream world can seem very real and in most cases (depending on which survey you read), we are not aware it is a dream until we awake to reality. Similarly a reality where we find our spiritual selves at the centre (even if it's on a subconscious level), is in fact an illusion... a nightmarish limbo that is a distorted and twisted representation of the truth. We cannot escape it in our own strength... because so great is its allure and subtle is its deception that we cannot perceive why or how we should leave.

God is like Michael Caine's character.... imploring us to stop kidding ourselves playing in the sandbox of our dystopian fantasy and return home to him.

Whether we choose to recognise his voice for what it is... or acknowledge the true intent behind it, is down to our individual perception. Sadly for some, their state of mind leaves them in a reality described like this:

“You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.

Acts: 28:26b-27

 Those are God's words spoken through the prophet Isaiah and echoed through Paul. You might think that sounds harsh.... but I do not believe God is speaking in anger here.... but in deep sorrow and grief for their circumstance.

But even if we listen to God.... how can we be certain we are living in his reality? How can we know we are not just kidding ourselves on another level?

How?

The answer is that not unlike the characters in Inception... we have a totem. A unique totem.

Our totem is not a personalised crafted image, it it none other than the living Jesus - his ministry, his life on Earth ran at odds with the man-centred way of managing our lives, the "rules of the game". Jesus was totally sold out for his Father...nothing mattered more to him and he showed us the way to live properly. If our lives are not in step with his loving commandments, then when placed alongside him, the physical laws of our personal world are shown up as warped.

Jesus showed us the way to freedom... by dying once for all, he provided the doorway... the opportunity, the universal offer to leave the dominion of our human imperfection and embrace the freedom and liberty of abundant life:

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:14-19

So the offer is on the table... and once again we draw nearer, ever nearer... to Christmas - that time of year when we celebrate the birth of the child who was and is called the Light of the World. When the light comes... is it not time to wake from our slumber and embrace the new day?

 

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

(Ephesians 5:14b)

Fulfillment?

This time tomorrow I shall not be in the UK.

That's quite a daunting prospect for me... afraid as I am of the whole idea of flying.

However, as I prepare to head out into the skies above Europe, one thought occupies my mind. It is the memory of a vision I had many years ago whilst praying. I've shared it here before, but I have special reason for raising it again now.

In my vision, I saw an eagle hovering over a cliff top and stripping the nest of it's young.

I felt very strongly that God was saying to me, that this was his desire for me - that he was going to take away the things that forced me to stay on the ledge, he was calling me to fly with him. This image remained with me and was bolstered by a two friends independently telling me the same story (but crucially ending it differently).

The story concerned a man who had stolen an eagle's egg and had taken it home to his farm to hatch it among his chickens.

As the eagle grows, it pecks the dirt along with the chickens it has lived among. Then one day, as it reaches adulthood; a great eagle flies over the farm. Looking up, the eagle asks his chicken "siblings" what it is. They tell him that it is an eagle and that it belongs to the sky... but they are chickens and they belong to the ground.

Sadly in one version, the eagle takes heed of the chickens... and lives out it's days believing it was nothing more.

Crucially though, I also heard a version where the eagle listens to an unheard voice... a deeper call. It beats it's wings, takes to the sky and lets the thermals take it up to be with it's own kind.

My fears and anxieties would have me peck in the dirt till the end of my days. The people who have pegged me in a certain light, would have me remain in the mould they have cast for me. Since I booked my holiday last year, a lot of things have been happening to try and discourage me... the political unrest flaring up in Gaza... the increase in the number of planes dropping out of the sky.

This is me saying no to it all. This is me saying, I've got to trust that voice within - the one who calls me from the cliff side... trust him no matter what happens and no matter where he takes me. This is me breaking through the latex barrier that protects me and yet prevents me from exposing myself to situations where I can potentially thrive.

And as I take to the skies literally, in a very real sense my actions will be heralding a far more important flight somewhere deep within my soul.

A passage for you as I leave. Please ignore the fact that it is sometimes regarded as a
cliché, it is not. It certainly is not for me in my current context:

"Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40:28-31

Jesus also said that he who wants to save his life will lose it, but he who is prepared to lose it for him, will live. We often tend to regard that saying as to the physical concept of life and death. I'm not sure that's the only way it should be seen though. Jesus also told the parable of the talents. That's a tale where a man loses everything because he's not prepared to risk what he's been given. Now I'm not advocating gambling here. I'm talking about the willingness to invest in things God tells you to invest in, even though you don't see a potential harvest. That's the kind of living sacrifice I talk about. If we aren't prepared to take those risks, then I truly believe that parts of us begin to die.

As Captain Kirk once said: "risk is part of the game if you want to sit in that chair."

In fact I'll play you out with the theme song from the much maligned Star Trek series, Enterprise... because it encapsulates a lot of what I am speaking about.

May God bless you until my return.

Excuse Me... Do I Know You From Somewhere?

I can't remember if I've brought this up before, but I keep running into this girl in Stratford-upon-Avon. This isn't the girl at the estate agents... a long time has passed since then, and I believe she has vanished off the face of the Earth. No, this is a girl who I once stepped out the way for, whilst I was waiting for my friend Rob to buy a breakfast bap from a trailer canteen. We've crossed paths several times since, because Rob parks his car on the same stretch of road every Thursday/Friday.

Rob has nicknamed her "The Mona Lisa Girl" because as he puts it, she has an enigmatic "I know something you don't know" smile on her face whenever we see her.

I suspect this is probably because she thinks that Rob and I are actually an item, which is hilarious (and also more than a little tragic)! I think his wife might have something to say about that.

Now the other week I had to bus in to work and the strange thing is, I could have sworn she got on the bus for the morning journeys... I'd have never have thought she lived round my neck of the woods... maybe she has a doppelganger, I thought. Whilst I sat there pondering whether or not this was in fact the same person (and trying very hard not to look like I was staring), something else occurred to me. There has been something familiar about her that I couldn't quite touch upon. I contemplated in my mind what it could possible be

The first thing that popped into my mind was this old blog I had written many moons ago. That is why she is so familiar, she bears a striking resemblance to the imaginary girl from my dream back then. I'm not putting stock in my unhealthily hyperactive imagination though... it gets me into trouble... during my teens it sometimes even controlled ME!

The trouble with me is that when I'm not focused I go off on my own wibbly wobbly adventures... and when I am focused, I am so intense. I need to find some kind of happy medium.

Oh and when I find that happy medium, there is one last trap that I tumble headlong into...

...there is an old Weetabix advert that sums it up so perfectly:

I always seem to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Just when I'm getting somewhere, I start to get cold feet and doubt myself and cloud my mind with worry about serious stuff. One day.... God willing, I'm going to get past that pesky sheriff in my subconscious and do something like this:

I try not to let it occupy my mind because I know that when you do, it shows and that scares the ladies off like nothing else. I can't help it though, every so often I grow tired of waiting and find myself feeling frustrated. Sometimes I think that my time alone is a necessary sacrifice repaying for my last disastrous relationship... and that things won't turn around until an equal length of time has been spent "in exile". I have nothing solid to base this theory on, it is merely a suspicion and ill feeling that I have.

Well that's enough about me banging on about relationships or rather lack of... back to business!

The Unknown Bride

Sorry to have been away so long, I've been away in Abergele, Wales; representing my company at the launch of a new very sheltered housing development - Tannery Court/Cwrt Barcdy. I impressed a few locals with my layman's knowledge of Emrys Ap Iwan (we held the launch at the school bearing his name).

I try to keep my writings on Myspace, separate from my blog here (to maintain the accurate impression that they are separate entities). I usually only enter dreams on Myspace, however because of the strength and nature of the last dream I experienced, I thought on this occasion I would replicate it here:

I dreamed I was getting married at my parents church in Alcester... it seemed to be an arranged marriage. I have never met the woman before me, yet I seemed to have little choice about the situation (although logically one would think I would have, seeing as I was dressed for the occasion).

This woman was blonde and fairly tall, her hair extended to about midway down the length of the back. Most significantly, I could tell she was emotional and genuinely seemed to need me... the wedding was important and she was sure she could be a good wife if I gave her a chance, though I knew her not. She had some kind of spinal problem as she seemed to stoop a lot.

I remember coming away from the centre of the church to discuss this in the lady chapel (where the choir gets changed at St. Nick's). On the way in I saw Mrs Stally, widow of the first vicar I knew at St. Nick's and mother of an old childhood friend. On the way out I saw Steve Burch... our last vicar at Great Alne... and I was just walking over to go and ask him what he made of it all... when rather annoyingly I woke up. I could have done with some sage advice about that and a real life issue that is bothering me... although I'm not sure whether the advice of an imagined friend is the same as a real one.

The feelings I most remember are that I was incredibly tempted to go through with the ceremony because I had great compassion for the woman. I felt uneasy being plunged into the ultimate commitment with a complete stranger... and I felt that heroic part of me that tends to be the gallant knight wanting to say yes and hang the consequences... because a lady was in need. The other part of me was saying that hang on you've been at the whim of ladies in need all your life and it has led you to danger... is this wise?

I felt that I should say yes... that this woman was different... and that all the rottenness of the past had happened to dissuade me from making the correct decision.

Oh and the other night in my dreams I saw the moon shining a silvery blue. It was huge and you could make out the pock marks of all the craters... it seemed a lot nearer to Earth than it should have been. It was night in my hometown and there was trouble in town.

Any people with the spiritual gift of interpreting dreams would at this point be very welcome and in fact strongly desired... as my life seems to be heading on a one way trip into the surreal at present.

God bless

N

Bits & Bobs

My sister was knocked off her bicycle in London the other day. I would post up a few pictures, but I don't think she really wants me to. Needless to say she looks like she's been in the ring with Tyson... although I assure you if that were the case, he'd have come off MUCH worse... I talk from my own experience as a sibling. In her own words though, she currently looks like Pete Burns - so you can imagine how swollen her face is!

Psycho drivers cutting up cyclists on left hand turns is a trait typical of any sprawling metropolis. I have no love for cities, they are way too claustrophobic for my liking. I prefer to visit them and be blown away by their architecture and scale. They are good in small doses. For the most part, I like to walk down the street with a good deal of personal space... can't be doing with playing sardines on the pavement. I've always felt that packing people tightly into an urban environment is asking for trouble. When people live within that much proximity of one another, I can't help but think that it helps encourage road rage. Without personal space and the ability to get out of the constant gaze peoples faces... I can't help but think it's a contributing factor to road rage and aggressive relations between neighbours.

So here's hoping and praying for a swift recovery for my sis Charlotte!

On a lighter note I was mucking about with Yahoo's music video feature the other night and I was really impressed! Not only can you browse for music video's by your favourite artists, if you are signed into Yahoo... then you can also personalise the video player to suit your own music tastes. this appears to work in a similar way to Amazon's recommendation system. It takes data that you supply it with (in this case, your rating of music videos that Yahoo's player randomly selects) and compares it with songs/artists that other people who rated it well, have also chosen. All I can say is that it's both fantastic and addictive. You can rate things from OK to unmissable and you can even block songs or artists who you find offensive or downright dull. I took great delight in wiping out the entire Westlife back catalogue! I don't think I'll bother sticking Cd's in the computer for a while I've had so much fun!

And finally in totally unrelated news, my habit of having strange and vivid dreams seems to be resurfacing... and it is having noticeable effects on my psyche. Rather annoying effects. There's a rather attractive and seemingly nice girl who works for one of the local estate agents, it's been a pleasant experience passing like ships in the night every evening at the Post Office. However, ever since I had the dream last night I've felt like I should maintain a safe distance. Not out of fear or anything negative. It's just in my dream, I saw a girl who I was very keen on a while ago after a brief encounter... and when I woke up I just felt that showing any interest in any other girl would be wrong and disrespectful. This is CRAZY! I owe no particular loyalty to the girl, to the best of my knowledge she has never reciprocated any of the feelings I had for her... if the poor lass was even aware of how I felt at all... I'm like Mr Invisible here sneaking around in the shadows tying his guts in knots with endless "what ifs" and "maybes". Even if there were hope, she is a long way away. What is wrong with me... no matter how much distance I try to put between myself and any emotional attachment to her... a couple of months later she always seems to crop up in my subconscious! Is there no getting away from this? I feel like Sisyphus!

Any psychologists who can offer advice as to what my subconscious is trying to do to me (apart from drive me insane) are welcome to chip in and offer there opinions... this is damaging my calm!

Normal service will resume shortly...

Favourite advert at present is the Tetley's advert with the guy turning up to a pub fancy dress party that has a movie theme. Not only does he arrive in full replica Roman Armour (presumably as General Maximus from Gladiator), but he turns up with an entire Roman legion with ballistas and catapults to boot! Awesome. that's my style.... all or nothing!

Yet Another Strange Dream

Everyone at my office agrees that when it comes to intense dreams... I top the lot! Take Saturday night's unconscious episode for example:

I am walking alongside a man, on the way to a petrol station. He tells me that he will have to die... otherwise he will not be able to help me. We continue walking.

As we arrive at the petrol station, he tells me it's very important I focus on what is important to me if he is to be any help to me at all. I ask what he means. He tells me that i am going to be executed and I will not be able to survive if he does not help me. I ask him if that means he is going to "join up with my mind in order to sustain my life force" and he says yes.

I start picturing things in my mind... but being a dream they aren't really sensible at all. The chap next to me disappears.

A lady is standing across the forecourt. She presses a button and red lightning shoots into the ground behind me. I tell her she has missed, but she says there is always a second chance. Two heavies come and put me into position and she presses the button again. I feel terrible and intense pain in my brain and I start blacking out... I really feel like i am dying.

I come round and I am being carried down a flight of stairs by another man. He sympathetically says the words "Poor soul... good soul!" He carries me into a room where some children are playing with board games. He tells them to watch over and look after me, he tells them that I will probably not be able to respond much because I have been through a very nasty experience and the powers that kept me alive are still at work inside me.

He lays me on a bed and leaves, the kids chat to me for a while. At first I have to fight the urge to close my eyes... as I can feel myself slipping away... but eventually the nausea and blacking out begin to stop and I feel confident enough to rest without any fear of death. I turn over in bed and look at the wall, there are bible references from the synoptic gospels on the wall.

Then I woke up.

Again it's a heavy dream with a strong narrative structure, and it has stayed with me all this time. Rob thinks it might be an idea for me to read up on the synoptic gospels... that maybe God is trying to remind me of something important. Although it is a lot of reading ... I am strongly considering doing it. Heck it always pays to know your Bible better.

Strange Dreams

Alright, I haven't a clue what's going on inside my head at the moment. All I know is that my subconscious is throttled up to overdrive when I sleep at the moment.

Saturday Night:

I dream I am Jack from Lost (only a bit more successful with Kate), I discover a nest of brown wasps in the ground which I disturb by accident. They swarm of course, but they are weird... instead of stings they have four bright orange "spikes" that point outward from their midsection. They shoot them out like porcupines shoot quills... if you get hit by them, the area of skin they hit dries out and goes as hard and cracked as clay (unless you splash water on it... then it just bleeds... nice.

I also dreamed I was back at school (firstly on a visit to Bath, but later the school itself). In this dream Bill Clinton is addressing our assembly... then there is a UN Conference in Scotland. It is at this point that I uncovered a secret Government project to build a "brick shaped" aircraft known as the X-2. I prove it because the drag marks where it launches and lands are evident on the school's front lawn. To shut me and my mates up, we are taken to the conference on board the X-2... the insides of which looked like something from a believable science fiction film.

Sunday Night:

I dream I am talking to a friend on MSN, it is night time... I think it would be nice to surprise them and visit them. I climb out of a window and lower myself down a thick rope... I pass through a portal and let go of the rope. It is daytime. I stand in the presence of my friend and several other people on their driveway (if they even have a driveway... I don't know! I ask if I am in Wales and the answer is no. then I ask if i am in Wigan and the answer is "No, Wytham." I didn't know such a place existed (when I woke up I checked and yeah it does... on the outskirts of Oxford). They are pleased to see me, but it's not a good time. I think to climb back up the rope... but it is gone. They say their father will take me home and we meet, however he has travelled 200 miles already that day and is shattered. He agrees to take me home, but I insist he only takes me as far as a neighbouring town as it isn't fair on him. As we travel by car... I wake up.

Monday Night:

This one is Harry's fault!!!!!!!!! We had spent a good portion of the evening talking to two Mormons (who had the audacity to appear in my dream). In this dream, I think I hear God telling me to look at the scripture where he is before the Sanhedrin... and also to look at Matthew 28.

What is going on in my head??????????????????????

Ups and downs

Well that's two pregnancies in one week. Again, I am happy for my friends... but it just ties my guts up in knots. Have you ever heard the song "Sit Down" by James? There is a line that sums up how I feel.

"If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor!"

That's what it's like. To see other people flaunting the things you hunger for? It really stings.

On the positive side... I had a really bizarre dream 3 nights ago. I dreamed that a very polite, sweet and attractive Latino looking girl came up to me and said something like "Hello, God sent me to go out with you, he made me for you." She wasn't someone from my memory, and she didn't appear to be anyone famous. Anyway, shortly after this revelation I had the great misfortune of waking up!

I can only hope this proves prophetical. although one should always be careful of saying such things... you never know the cost. A ticket to the mission field in South America may precede it...

LOL!