History Headscratchers / WhatDreamsMayCome

** Most religions do believe that people who commits suicide go to hell unfortunately, so there’s nothing to be surprise about it. I heard a Catholic priest saying once that people who commits suicide because of some clinical illness like depression may be forgiven as that would be officially been insane, and insane people is not accounted by their sins (you need to be sane to sin, a schizophrenic is not accountable for the murder he/she commits for example while in a delusional state), and of course it doesen’t apply to those of other cultures who have never had the Gospel preached upon them (as you need to know what sin is to sin), but different churches may differ on this regard. However the book that inspired the movie is more based on Swedenborgian Christianity (alongside Theosophic and Esoteric ideas). Swedenborg’s teachings is that you have a PersonalizedAfterlife depending on your mental thoughts, you basically create your own heaven or hell depending on your thoughts (literally, from the house you live in to the people you interact with). And although he doesn’t mentions suicidal as going necessary to hell as evil and selfish people do (again a SelfInflictedHell) the afterlife some of they may create at least for a while would be a reflection of their last thought which in heavily depressed people may mean bad news. Notice how Annie basically lives in an incredibly depressing version of her house.

*** It seems to say "If you're DrivenToSuicide due to losing everyone you love, you'll go to hell." FamilyUnfriendlyAesop for sure.

** ** Most religions do believe that people who commits suicide go to hell unfortunately, so there’s nothing to be surprise about it. I heard a Catholic priest saying once that people who commits suicide because of some clinical illness like depression may be forgiven as that would be officially been insane, and insane people is not accounted by their sins (you need to be sane to sin, a schizophrenic is not accountable for the murder he/she commits for example while in a delusional state), and of course it doesen’t apply to those of other cultures who have never had the Gospel preached upon them (as you need to know what sin is to sin), but different churches may differ on this regard. However the book that inspired the movie is more based on Swedenborgian Christianity (alongside Theosophic and Esoteric ideas). Swedenborg’s teachings is that you have a PersonalizedAfterlife depending on your mental thoughts, you basically create your own heaven or hell depending on your thoughts (literally, from the house you live in to the people you interact with). And although he doesn’t mentions suicidal as going necessary to hell as evil and selfish people do (again a SelfInflictedHell) the afterlife some of they may create at least for a while would be a reflection of their last thought which in heavily depressed people may mean bad news. Notice how Annie basically lives in an incredibly depressing version of her house.

** This actually is explained in the film when Chris is first informed what happened. The newly dead create their own afterlives subconsciously on death, and can only control them manually through practice. The afterlife created by a suicide victim is the absolute peak of their depression and despair made manifest and self-reinforcing.

** This actually is explained in the film when Chris is first informed what happened. The newly dead create their own afterlives on death, and can only control them manually through practice. The afterlife created by a suicide victim is the absolute peak of their depression and despair made manifest and self-reinforcing.

** The entire movie works on the principle of ''reincarnation'' (typical Eastern mysticism) and then incorporates the more Western (Judeo-Christian) aspects of heaven and hell. [[InterfaithSmoothie You shouldn't go scratching your head at syncretic concepts that make little sense when mixed together like oil and water.]]

** This troper got the impression that committing suicide is kind of like accidentally inflicting intractable depression on one's soul. The action causes the soul to get stuck in a painful loop, and it's very hard to break out of it (I don't buy that hardly anyone breaks out of Hell).

** What does this say that a person would inflict hell on themselves for having committed suicide in despair over the loss of their family, even if they can be reunited in heaven? Or that this was not made clear to them?

** What does this say that a person would inflict hell on themselves for having committed suicide in despair over the loss of their family, even if they can reunited in heaven? Or that it was not made clear to them?

** In the movie it is established that nobody actually sends people to hell, that place is a self-inflicted penance.

* What kind of message does the film send by saying who becomes depressed after losing their family and kills themselves goes to hell? For one thing, since clinical depression is a medical disorder, I doubt that a notion of "free will" applies to it. The film also brings up the problem of reconciling hell with a just and loving god in general, of course.

* What kind of message does the film send by saying who becomes depressed after losing their family and kills themselves goes to hell? For one thing, since clinical depression is a medical disorder, I doubt that a notion of "free will" applies to it. The film also brings up the problem of reconciling hell with a just and loving god in general, of course.

* What kind of message does the film send by saying who becomes depressed after losing their family and kills themselves goes to hell? For one, clinical depression is a medical disorder, and thus I doubt that a notion of "free will" applies to it. The film also brings up the problem of reconciling hell with a just and loving god in general, of course.

** I think this is something that's addressed in the book; it's not that they know when they'll die, it's that they know how old they should be when they die. Annie's suicide was "violating the order" because she would have lived for another thirty years or so if she hadn't killed herself. IIRC, there's a point made that had Chris not gone after her, Annie would have been kept in Hell at least until the years she hadn't lived had passed.

** I imagine it "violates the order" because it's ''not'' predetermined.

* The alternate ending also brings up a niggling question of predestination. They know, before they are even reborn, exactly how many years they'll live before they die the next time around. If the future is predetermined like that, doesn't that mean that ''Annie's original suicide was also predetermined''? And if so, claiming that suicide "violates the order" of the Cosmos is disingenuous at best and downright evil at worst.

*** Fourth, in the theatrical ending Annie wants to prove herself. Chris, meanwhile, just wants to be with her.