Inception's Resolution

At the end, Cobb confesses his sin against his wife, which caused her to lose faith that there is only one reality, something his projection of her causes her to say to him when Cobb and Ariadne go to limbo purposely. He also admits to himself and the projection that she, the one who had sabotaged or attempted to sabotage his efforts to accomplish great tasks in the dream worlds, was his own mind's creation; it was his own self-destruction at work in his mind and conscience. And he admits it when he answers Mal's question about what he felt and believed - guilt ever-present, irrepressible guilt. But that does not solve his problem; someone else - Saito - has died. What kind of guilt will Cobb have over that? And will he really overcome the guilt induced by Mal, his conscience. Can confessing to yourself cleanse from sin?

Saito, the one who seemed all-powerful monetarily, who looked out for Cobb like a guardian angel, who could punish the 1st architect at the beginning of the movie and have him removed like a godfather (or God), who could promise to Cobb that with one phone call he could have Cobb pardoned forever (the arrangement), had essentially died and gone to limbo. Notice that Cobb does not remain with Mal, the guilt-inducing human love. No, he follows Saito into the grave. And it is not Cobb who solves the problem by the gun, it is Saito. Saito saves Cobb after Cobb follows him, and Saito "honors the arrangement." Like the God who kept His promise of redemption, salvation, and forgiveness, Saito keeps his and sends Cobb to real life instead of into a life "full of regret, waiting to die alone." It is a very different thing from saving oneself. It is also very different from following Mal into death - "going down is the way forward," for that would not save either. But following Saito would because Saito had induced Cobb into taking a "leap of faith" based on Saito's promise of ultimate power, the power to forgive eternally. Amazing.

When Cobb returns to his children, they are laughing and telling him what they are building. Interesting parallel to the architect Cobb, who had ceased being able to build because of his guilt. Also interesting that our work as adults would be compared to that of children, particularly in light of the top that never ceases spinning as the movie ends. We are like children, building our toy accomplishments in dreams and in the real world, but in the end it all crumbles to pieces, like the buildings in the limbo world in which Cobb and Mal had built. Ultimately, even this world is not truly real; it's only a preparation for the next. And the resolution of guilt, which we cannot accomplish in any way other than by faith, is the most important accomplishment.