Inception: Putting on 4-D glasses

No, that is not a typo but an attention grabbing tool to draw your attention to the fact that there are more dimensions or perspectives to this movie than first meet the eye.

And that in itself is wonderful news. What that implies is that the movie “Inception” can be utilised as a tool to encourage integral thinking - to encourage the taking on of multiple perspectives.

The media is filled with different takes on the movie. 

The Jungians are able to dissect it and see all the ways in which it reflects the journey down to the center of inner space. There are archetypal characters that need to be faced and met with along the way.

The followers of Joseph Campbell immediately notice the use of myth in the storyline.  Ariadne is the maiden who gives the youth Theseus a thread to help him out of a labyrinth. Cobb’s journey becomes that of the hero on his journey.

Lucid dreamers have picked up on the accuracy of the film in depicting some of the characteristics of lucid dreams.  The ability of the lucid dreamer to have some control over the dream is crucial to the plot.

Music lovers focus on the score and the incorporation of Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien”

Name analyzers trace the relevance of all the names used in the movie to people, companies and concepts that exist or once existed. “Mal” is the French for “bad”; COBOL was one of the earliest computer programming languages, etc.

Avid movie fans and critics write reviews on how this movie has made use of cinematic history and incorporated storyline, techniques and scenes which can be traced back to previous movies.  For example, Arthur and his assailant move from the wall to the ceiling and back very much in the same way as Fred Astaire danced around all four sides of a room in the movie “Royal Wedding”.

And so the list continues.

Personally the movie confronts me with thoughts on the limitations of language.  It is known that the language we use influences how we think and view life. Each of the above-mentioned perspectives of Inception are an attempt to put into words not only a particular perspective but also a particular experience of the movie. As such both writer and reader are limited by language.

In “Integralese” we talk about moving up through the stages of development. But what is “up”? What if “up” is “down” and each stage of development is a casting off instead of an adding on of another layer.  Are we spiralling upwards drawn by Eros, or downwards, or towards our center,  or all of these at the same time?

Overcoming the paradoxical nature of language can take us to another level of reality. 

In one of the dream scenes we are very aware of a lack of gravity.  So too language is a necessary gravity in a 3Dworld. As all mystics know language is often merely an attempt to express the indescribable.

I would love to see “Inception” without a soundtrack.  A purely visual experience of the movie would no doubt add yet another perspective to its interpretation.  At the same time it could give me a small glimpse into the world of many people on the Autism spectrum who think in images not language and are often confronted by fast moving images which take the place of words in thought.

Whether it be reading all the reviews doing the rounds or discussing them in integral circles or classrooms, the individual is encouraged to realize that all of the takes on the movie are relevant. Each one adds another dimension to the movie which we might not otherwise have recognised without their help.  New perspectives are taken and horizons are broadened.

At the end of the movie Cobb walks away from the spinning top.  He no longer wishes to know whether it will stop spinning or not.  The viewers are faced with that question and are left to interpret it.

This for me is an invitation to take on as many perspectives as possible. (Or maybe this post is just my attempt to plant that possible thought in your mind!)