Inception: A Lesson About Our Thoughts
The movie Inception is a 2010 blockbuster by Christopher Nolan starring Leonardo Dicaprio. It is an action/adventure/sci-fi movie that follows this team of thieves led by a guy named Cobb(Dicaprio). These thieves steal information by going into people’s dreams. Seriously though, unless you try to avoid mainstream media you have seen it. In fact I’m willing to bet you’ve seen it more than once. Anyway, in the movie Cobb implanted a thought into his wife Mal. They were both in a dream at the time and he wanted them to wake up. In order for them to wake up they would have to die because in the movie if you die in a dream you wake up. So Cobb implanted the thought “This is all a dream” into her mind. It worked and in the dream Mal agrees to commit suicide and they wake up. However something went terribly wrong. The thought persisted even though she was no longer sleeping. She continued to think that she was in a dream.
Do you remember this scene?
In this scene Mal is threatening to jump off the ledge of a skyscraper. Cobb is across the street in another building trying to talk her down. She is fully convinced that she is dreaming and if she dies, she will wake up in reality. Cobb, in the adjacent building, is trying desperately to convince her that she is not in a dream and if she jumps off this ledge she will really die. All Cobb had were his words but they crashed impotently against a thought that was completely fixed in her mind. How powerless and frustrating it must have felt.
This scene really spoke to me because there have been countless times in my career as a clinical therapist I have come across clients who have a destructive thought that is so ingrained that there is nothing I could do to budge them on it. I really did feel like Cobb shouting out a window to Mal. No matter how long I processed, reality tested, weighed evidence, and flat out pointed out the sheer impossibility of the thought some people were not able to budge. If the thought was just “oranges smell funny” then it wouldn’t be a big deal. However, many of the times these ingrained thoughts were fundamental to the person’s belief about themselves or the world. Many of these thoughts were quite destructive. I have encountered thoughts like “nobody loves me”, “people who are close to me will hurt me”, “I am dying”, "I am worthless", “I am going to contract a terminal illness”. These people would be so much happier if they were able to consider the possibility that some of these thoughts were not completely accurate.
So let me ask you. How many of your thoughts are completely accurate? Think back to 10 years ago. How of what you believed back then is true now? How accurate are your thoughts now looking back from 10 years in the future? Our thoughts are not always right but that is okay. It is not okay when those inaccurate thoughts are destructive and fixed. So as someone who worked as a therapist/counselor for many years here is a piece of advice: if someone who cares about you challenges one of your thoughts, consider it regardless of how fiercely you believe that thought to be true. This fluidity of the mind will lead you to greater truth and ultimately a better life. Who knows. Someone may figuratively talk you down from jumping off the ledge.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
Proverbs 12:15