Inception

I just saw Inception.  It was a really well-thought out movie and I would be among the first to appreciate that, but I asked myself what was the purpose that the creator was trying to accomplish.  Maybe it was just to entertain, but I think that there had to have been some motive, or desired end, for investing so much time and effort into a single two-hour product.

Maybe that's besides the point.  Maybe the creator's conscious motive has nothing to do with it.  But I suppose one of its effects is that it causes its viewers to question reality, even more so than they already do. And it makes you wonder, what is reality?  Are movies reality?  Is television reality?  Is the Internet reality?  Online chatting, emails, text messages, blogs, apps, online shopping, online dating, online friendships--are these things really reality?  These seem like dumb questions, and they are.  But when is it that we're all going to wake up?  As I walked out of the movie theater I saw what seemed like 50 new movie posters of new movies about to come out staring me straight in the face.  "Hope you come back to see us soon!"  How much time and money does the average human being invest annually in cinema alone?  I mean, it was a great movie and everything, but it made me wonder, what's happening to us?  What are we getting ourselves into?

Maybe I'm just overreacting.  I feel, though, like I'm beginning to wake up to some hidden truth that movies and music and Internet and everything in between just eat hours, and, if they can, dollars as well. Its clear that what we know does not always correlate with what we do.  What can I do to live more fully in reality?  I feel like I need to start by shedding a lot of dead weight.

What am I willing to give up for simplicity's sake?