Christopher Nolan’s latest mindbender focuses on the way that our subconscious ideas shape our waking life. The basic idea behind Inception is that if you can get inside someone’s dreams, you can steal what’s important to them, and maybe even force them to think something that goes against their beliefs.
The fact of the matter is, Inception isn’t nearly the three-level-dream-near-impossibility that the movie makes it out to be. Everyday, ideas are planted in our heads that are not our own.
Constant sexual billboards reshape our own personal self images or ideas of what’s attractive. Advertising makes us think that the newest gadget or service will give us satisfaction.
More insidious are the messages we pick up from those around us. Constantly being bullied as a child, or growing up in an unhealthy home teaches us lies that can shape what we decide to do with our lives. Repeated failures can convince us that it’s not worth taking risks.
Beyond what we see, there are spiritual forces at work, whose main weapon is lies. Trying to distract us from what matters.
Perhaps the role of the Church is to call out the lies of society, and to form a community that demonstrates what it means to live in Truth. And perhaps the role of the individual Christ follower is to dig out the deeply planted lies within, and discover who they truly can be.
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