Thoughts are Things

We continue our discussion of Inception this week with a look at how "thoughts" or "ideas" are illustrated in the movie.  Think back and you will realize that every idea is actually an item or tangible thing. The Cobalt Engineering job involved stealing expansion plans from a competitor; those plans were a confidential document. Mal's reality was represented by the top, and when Cobb left it spinning round and around that showed that her reality wasn't in fact real. Robert Fischer wanting to split up his father's empire was the alternate Will, but the love of his father was in fact the Pinwheel from his youth. Yesterday I quoted Napoleon Hill in that we can achieve whatever we can conceive and believe, and these symbols illustrate the importance of belief.

Thoughts are in fact tangible things, and it is our desires that make them stick and last.  How many times have we started a new year with a resolution to lose weight?  Maybe we made it a few weeks, hit the gym regularly and even lost a few pounds only to see us back indulging in old habits before spring without achieving our initial goal of better health.  Why does this happen?  Because the idea is great, and something that we desire; however, our true "desire" betrays us.  It's not until we make that mental switch (the focus of power that we've discussed previously this week) that we make lasting change.

Cobb needed to plant the idea in Robert Fischer's mind to break up his father's empire, but it was his father's love that cemented it and made it real.  "We all long for reconciliation, catharsis," is how Cobb describes it, and how true that is.  The reason most in the world feel lost, alone, abandoned, etc. is because they lack the peace and confidence that come with this powerful experience.  We are fed daily ideas and concepts that will supposedly bring us happiness (yes, inception is alive and well in our digital world dominated by the media), yet often times the cycle is only perpetuated as we buy into what we are told. That disconnect between the idea and desire leaves a hole of despair that only grows deeper over time.

Are your thoughts treated as living breathing things requiring constant attention and nurishment? Are you looking for happiness yet cannot seem to find it?  Remember that there is a difference between what is actually real and what the world would have you believe is real, and the sooner you bridge that gap the sooner you experience the peace for which you long and desire.

Calling all Lions!!