Robin Williams' Most Spiritual Role: How 'What Dreams May Come' Offered A Glimpse Into The Afterlife

[hrmjustin]

Antonia Blumberg

Hollywood lost one its great actors on Monday to an apparent suicide, leaving many stunned and saddened. Robin Williams was just 63 years old when he was found dead in his Bay Area apartment, police reported.

In addition to the brilliant comedic performances for which he is commonly known, Williams left a trail of subtle, dramatic roles in his wake, including the 1998 film, "What Dreams May Come."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/robin-williams-spirituality_n_5670268.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

1. I loved the way this movie looked, both heaven and hell

There was just one thing I didn't like, the ending. He and his wife are reunited, in heavenly bliss together for eternity. So why did they go back to earth, after they had both won?

(St. Paul writing in 2 Timothy 4, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing." just flashed through my mind.)

[kentauros]

2. I haven't watched the movie in years,

but my guess for the ending (and what I vaguely remember) is that they were continuing a cycle of reincarnation. If you believe in that, then we all have hundreds of lives, whether in the "past", the present, or the "future." Plus, life in physical reality is indeed 'fun' to our souls. It may seem like torture to us, but our minds aren't as expanded at this moment as they are when in the afterlife

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

5. There was nothing about cycles of reincarnation in the film

Indeed, the reason he went to hell to rescue his wife was that they were to be separated for all eternity. He would rather be in hell with her than in heaven without her.

Incidentally, I am currently re-reading Dante's Divine Comedy, and Dante makes it quite clear that if you are in hell, you are there forever. There is no getting out.

[el_bryanto]

6. That's always been my fundamental problem with Hell as a concept

Infinite punishment for finite evil. Even Hitler, as bad and as evil as he was, didn't actually commit infinite evil, as such is impossible.

Bryant

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

7. I am not going to try to explain either eternity or hell as doctrines

Since such explanations would be long and rather technical in parts. Briefly, both heaven and hell are outside time, in an eternal "now" (that's not a good way to put it, but it's as close as I can come in a single sentence).

I said that I have been re-reading Dante. Dante makes it quite clear that each person is given a choice right at the end: To put God first or to put himself or herself first. God will ratify whichever choice is made. God does not send anyone to hell, they send themselves. As C. S. Lewis put it, "All who are in hell, choose it." One of the medieval theologians -- I want to say Bernard of Clairvaux or Catherine of Sienna, but I won't swear to either one -- said that the souls after death have the light of God shining on them. Those who love God bathe in the light, those who do not are burned by it.

[hrmjustin]

3. Interesting point.

I guess they were stressing life is important.

[okasha]

4. Maybe there was some unfinished business

in the life they'd just left or in another. I want a couple more go-rounds, at least. One to spend a full lifetime as a working artist and another to go to space.