The world of dreams

I had a chance to see Christopher Nolan's new film, "Inception," again last night and remain fascinated not only by his filmmaking techniques but by the concept itself.

"Inception" focuses on the world of dreams. The simple premise is that skilled experts can extract information from subjects or plant ideas — called inception — through elaborately built dreams. As the film plunges deeper into the plot, going four and five layers deep, the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred. But what's at the heart of the film is still very human struggles with the concept of guilt and remorse.

I can't help but think about what it says about the human mind. Our minds, our ability to reason, and our God-given intellect is probably the most amazing thing about the human condition. But it's also what makes us the most vulnerable. Our minds can be beautiful things but, like so much else in our lives, they are fragile.

We see this a lot. People who are great thinkers who advanced society's understanding of truth, science, and mathematical concepts are also sometimes the ones that suffer the greatest of mental breakdowns. That's what the film "A Beautiful Mind" was all about. I touched on this idea briefly on Monday night when I talked about attending a funeral in the spring for a man that was a great servant of God that touched many people. He had a brilliant mind that allowed him to communicate the truth of God in a beautiful and moving way, but ultimately his beautiful mind turned in on itself and led to his untimely death. It is a sad reminder, to me, of the fragility of the human condition.

I think of that too when I look at "Inception." The central character, Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) has a beautiful and powerful mind. He quickly masters the art of the dream world and becomes the best at extraction and deception. But he is haunted by the ghosts of guilt and regret. And soon, despite all his mental prowess, it is his ghosts that lead to his downfall. They interfere with his work, make him doubt his world, and lead him down a rabbit hole from which there is no escape.

The beauty of Nolan's film is his honest exploration of the ideas of guilt and regret, and how those ghosts can haunt us. Even though we try to put on a brave face and bury our feelings down deep, they always linger, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Cobb eventually tries to face those ghosts, but he tries to battle them all on his own, feeling he can master it. That is the humanistic instinct — the lie of our sinful nature that tells us we are masters of all we surveil. But we can't do it on our own, and when we try we slip further down the path to ruin.

We are all haunted by our own ghosts, but I am thankful I have Jesus Christ on my side. He is bigger than all our demons.