There is more to the difference between Maul (spelled phonetically). After Cobb taught her to doubt her reality, Maul had no standard for distinguishing between God's reality and the dream world. She was a post-modernist or, at least, a nihilist. Her decision to go back to the limbo world - accomplished by suicide - is apparently based on pure desire. There, she had her husband to herself, and they built and lived without any interference from others. It was a selfish world, built around her love that was so possessive and possessed. Because she has no standard to compare this world with (like the thimble top), she cannot distinguish between real and unreal. So, we without the bible, cannot distinguish between the real and the unreal. Our modern problem has never been lack of information; it's been too much.
Notice Cobb's speech at the end to his wife, his projection of his wife, that is. He tells her she is a product of his imagination, and that he did a poor job. That's for sure. His lovely wife (or his projection of her) was a monster in his subconscious, killing and torturing people indiscriminately and always trying to subvert Cobb's jobs, his success. (By the way, this is eerily similar to I Peter 3:7, which warns husbands: "ye husbands, dwell with [them] according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.") Cobb's main problem was guilt. He could not escape his guilt for giving Maul the existentialist idea of standardless, meaningless unreality.
Cobb knew the person he saw in his dreams was not real. So, why did he keep going back to the dream world to relive past events. He was doing what we do all the time. We always go back to the memories of failure and sin, and we think we can fantasize that they didn't happen, or conjure some sort of change, or figure out something to cure the past. But we can't. At least Cobb had the temptation of what seemed so real - the dream world. We know our minds can't fix our past, yet we still try. It's utter folly. It's better to face the consequences, the discipline for the past, and live in the enjoyment of redemption and forgiveness, with all beginning with Him.
Interesting sidenote: The song they used to clue them about an upcoming "kick" back tow wakefulness was the Edith Piaf 1940's song, "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien." It's about regret, but the words could be interpreted as a popular Christian song about redemption and conversion. The French translated to English is as follows.
"No! Not a thing! No, I don't regret a thing.
Did I rise? Did I soar? Did I fall? It means nothing at all!
No! Not a thing! No, I don't regret a thing.
All is paid, Swept away, Cast away. I have no yesterday!
I have made a small fire Of my old memories. All past pain and desire Drift away in the breeze.
Up in smoke, my old loves With the tremors they caused. Up in smoke, my old life; I am done with what was!
No! Not a thing! No, I don't regret a thing.
Did I rise? Did I soar? Did I fall? It means nothing at all!
No! Not a thing! No, I don't regret a thing.
All I know, All I do, All I am, All begins now with you!"
I misspelled Mal's name. Sato is actually Saito. Ariadne is obviously associated with the Ariadne of Greek mythology, who was associated with sleep and dreams. Not a biblical reference but interesting, in any event.
ReplyDeleteCobb decides to follow Ariadne's advice and face his projection of Mal at the end of the movie. He realizes that it's not her that he thinks about constantly; it's his constant guilt, every moment. He tells her she's just a shade, poor reflection of the real person. This is very true; his projection of Mal was of a murderous, mischievous imp, intent upon punishing him. Then he told her he had to let her go. Finally. Same with us; we hold onto so much - guilt, fleshly affections, etc. - things that can only hurt us in the end. Cast off the things that entangle you, as if preparing for a race. Hebrews.
ReplyDeleteAriadne is the architect of the settings of the dreams involved in Cobb's scheme. As the namesake of the mythical goddess of dreams, the Ariadne experiences, as shown to the audience, the most vivid dream deaths - violent stabbing by Mal in the stomach, glass in the face at the cafe, and falling in limbo. At the cafe, Cobb speaks to Ariadne about genuine inspiration. In that very discussion, Cobb is about to reveal to her what she had not known - that they are in a shared dream. When she realizes it, the world in which they are sitting begins to explode. It's like her eyes are opened; though she was blind now she sees. Genuine inspiration by God reveals a world demolishing truth - that we are not who we think we are and God is not who we thought He was.
ReplyDeleteIn confronting Mal at the end, or at least the memory he created of her, he answered her question as to what he believed what he felt. He said he felt guilt, no matter what he did, and while he wished he could stay with her, she was not real. He also admitted to her, i.e., to himself, that he had put in her mind the idea that she could not trust reality. Mal says to Cobb and Ariadne as they enter her room at the end: "So sure of your own world, your own reality. How do you know that he is not as lost as I was?"
ReplyDelete