Inception — The Beginning of Something New
The movie Inception recently captured the imagination of viewers with its mysterious journey into the unconscious. The movie’s flirtation with the relationship between dreams and reality is an ancient concept. While the movie’s plot took the adventure to extraordinary and entertaining depths, there is a very real and substantial connection between dreams and reality. The creative power of dreams and the manifestation of that creativity into our time and space dimension forms real life adventure. The word “Inception” means the beginning of something.
There are daydreams, night dreams, visions and fantasies. All of these dream forms involve our imagination at work. Often dreams are the motion pictures of our life. Most successful artists, businessmen or politicians have followed a dream. They have embarked on some vision of themselves acting out the role of their calling. This is perhaps where we are the most familiar with dreams. We encourage dreaming by our children and encourage ourselves to dream big dreams, to become who we want to be. We teach that one needs to find their dream to guide and motivate them through many choices that life presents. Do I go this way or that? Do I wait or move forward? Should I sing that song, dance that dance or travel that road? The answer is often found in the dream or vision.
Dreams Inform Us and Inspire Us
We don’t necessarily think about how or why dreams like this work. Yet we know that people who hold on to their dreams sooner or later find themselves in the midst of its reality. The dream has impacted the dreamer’s consciousness with a passion and belief strong enough, not only to guide, but to manifest a lifetime of art, science and invention.
The experience of dreams reveals the secrets of natural law and infinite possibilities, which go undetected by the conscious mind until the vision comes. Mankind’s history is full of stories of great inventors creating the products of their dreams. Albert Einstein is said to have envisioned himself riding on a beam of light through space as a youngster. This vision was a guide to his later development in mathematical form, the Theory of Relativity. Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels, as a child played out the role of operating a hotel, which was the beginning of an active imagination that gave birth to hundreds of hotels sheltering travelers all over the world. The imagination is an incubator of ideas and the engine of desire. Henry Ford dreamed and desired to create the first V8 gasoline-powered engine cast from a single block. This was something that engineers thought impossible until they joined their imagination with design drawings that formed the reality. Now if only someone could join in a vision for the next energy source combined with a product that replaces the use of fossil fuel, then our environment could be saved.
What is clear from our modern observations is that dreams are the inspiration upon which many people take action. It is a part of the psyche of man to dream and create, to dream and take action. Dreams remain a part of the mystery of life even as scientists attempt to uncover their secrets in quantum physics. Yet the mystery of how it all works remains. Actor Will Smith puts his dreams in terms of an Alchemist, grasping the symbolism of turning lead into gold. See his video interview with Tavis Smiley:
Dreams are the mystical images that form the creative talent in art and science. Dreams are revelations of the future. They are the communication process from the unconscious to the conscious.
Dreams Language of The Soul – Promises and Warnings
As we can see, dreams and visions that are believed and acted upon can change the course of history and the life of the individual who has the courage to follow the dream. Whether 
the symbolism of alchemy or some other mystery explains the effects of dreams on the psyche of man, it is no denying their impact.
If you prefer to be informed from Biblical tradition, you will see the important role of dreams. The ancient Biblical texts from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from Genesis to Jude, contains stories of a dream process designed by God to communicate with man and influence his behavior.
Abraham dreamed of a son that was promised by God in a vision.1 The future predicted. A son was born. Ambimelech, about to have relations with Abraham’s wife Sarah, was warned in a dream not to touch her.2 He followed the dream and was saved. Jacob dreamed of a stairway to heaven wherein he received assurances of God’s promise.3 Again Jacob, when cheated out of wages by Laban, dreamed of a breeding season that changed the course of nature’s reproduction to form livestock that delivered God’s justice.4
In the New Testament, Joseph is given assurances to marry Mary in a dream to serve as Jesus’ earthly father as her womb was filled with that of the Holy Spirit.5 When Jesus was born, the magi were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod with news about the child.6 They were informed by the dream to follow a different course. As Herod plotted to kill all infants in Bethlehem, Joseph’s dream warned him of danger. He took flight to Egypt to save Jesus from harm.
Modern man must receive the dream. The vision of creativity reveals a Divine attribute made in the form of an image. The dream cautions and guides us even today. It can be the inception, the beginning of something new.
© 2010, Steve Drinkard. All rights reserved.
