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What Dreams May Come and Choosing Our Lives.

  • Writer: Brad Barrett
    Brad Barrett
  • 1 hour ago
  • 15 min read
What Dreams May Come (left) & I Remember Choosing My Life (right).
What Dreams May Come (left) & I Remember Choosing My Life (right).

The 1998 film What Dreams May Come is a beautiful love story inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is also a visually stunning depiction of the afterlife dimension that won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Indeed, its conceptions of heaven, hell, and reincarnation have parallels with those described by people who have had Near-Death Experiences. This essay will examine these ideas and explain how we choose our lives before birth to contribute to a specific purpose that helps integrate the physical and spiritual realms.


What Dreams May Come is based on Richard Matheson’s 1978 novel of the same name. The title comes from a line in Hamlet which says, “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause” (Matheson, 1978, p.9). The film begins with Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams) meeting and falling in love with Annie (Annabella Sciorra) in Switzerland. The couple marry and have two children, Ian (Josh Paddock) and Marie (Jessica Brooks Grant), only for them to die in a car crash. Four years later, Chris Nielsen is himself killed in a car crash and is escorted by a spirit named Albert (Cuba Gooding Junior) to heaven, where he reunites with his children. However, when he learns that Annie has committed suicide and gone to hell, he and Albert employ a Tracker (Max von Sydow) to take him there. Eventually, Chris finds Annie, but she fails to recognise him. It is only when Chris joins her in hell that Annie realises who he is, and her love for him causes them to ascend to heaven, where they are reunited with their children. The film ends with Chris and Annie reincarnating back to Earth, where they meet as children in a scene that parallels their first encounter.


As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, What Dreams May Come is loosely based on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology. At this point, it is pertinent to give a summary of the myth to place the film into its proper context. According to the myth, Orpheus was a Thracian musician who lived during the Heroic Age (1450-1184 BCE) and fell in love with the nymph Eurydice. However, while collecting flowers in a field, Eurydice was bitten by a poisonous snake and died. Grief-stricken, Orpheus journeyed to the Underworld to retrieve his beloved wife and played his lyre to Hades and Persephone, who were so moved by the beauty of his music that they listened to his request. Hades agreed that Orpheus could lead Eurydice from the Underworld back to Earth on the condition that he not look back to see if she was still following him.


From this point, there are two outcomes to the myth. According to the original account, things went well with Orpheus playing his lyre to guide Eurydice through the darkness of the Underworld towards the light of Earth. However, he grew concerned about his wife and, worried that she wasn’t following him, took one fleeting glance at her. Hades immediately pulled Eurydice back into the Underworld with Orpheus, “condemned to wander the Earth, lamenting his lost wife, and moving those who heard him to tears” (Wilkinson, 2019, p.44). In the second account by Comparative Mythologist John Lamb Lash, Orpheus turns around to see if Eurydice is still following him, only for him to be thrust into a meadow where he loses consciousness. When he awakens, “he finds himself bedded in a patch of flowers with Eurydice in his arms, warm and alive, gazing blissfully and gratefully into his eyes” (John Lamb Lash, 2024). Out of these two versions, Lash’s account is the one that corresponds the most to the ending of What Dreams May Come.


It is worth noting that a Mystery School dedicated to Orpheus existed, known as the Orphic Mysteries. According to Manly P. Hall, Orpheus was initiated into the Ancient Egyptian Mystery Schools where he learnt the secrets of astrology, medicine and music. Hall explains that “By the symbolism of his music he communicated the divine secrets to humanity, and…the gods, though loving him, feared that he would overthrow their kingdom and therefore reluctantly encompassed his destruction” (Hall, 2007, p.67). The Orphic Mysteries were centred around the soul’s journey after death and how to attain a favourable afterlife. Unlike Homer’s view of the afterlife, “Orphism offered something much more optimistic – the idea that with some hard work, one could achieve transcendence and eternal bliss” (Mitchell, 2024). The Orphic Mysteries went on to influence Pythagoras and Plato’s conceptions of the soul, reincarnation and the afterlife.


In What Dreams May Come, the Tracker tells Chris Nielsen, “We can go back and be reborn, but only if we choose to” (Ward, 1998). There is a man named Jonathan Lippe who claims to have chosen his life before he was born. In his book, I Remember Choosing My Life in the Afterlife Dimension, Lippe says that after dying in a past life, he was asked if he wanted to live again. After some hesitation, he agreed and was shown a catalogue of lives, ranging from those of wealthy individuals to those with disabilities. Finally, he came to a life that promised, “You will bring a concept to the Earth that will change the way people understand their entire meaning of life” (Lippe, 2002, p.18-19). Unlike the previous lives, this life did not have too many tragic events happen, and Lippe asked what the catch was. The beings told him, “These things must happen to this person in order to shape the behavior [sic] and personality to complete the purpose of the life chosen” (Lippe, 2002, p.19). Lippe subsequently accepted the life mission and was born in 1979.


Understandably, many people have expressed scepticism over Lippe’s claim that humans choose their lives in the Afterlife. One of their main arguments is the question of why anyone would choose to live in poverty or be killed in wars or terrorist attacks. Lippe addresses this question in his book by relating it to a conversation with his father about the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Lippe explained that the photographs taken during that event had a profound emotional impact that was felt by billions of people worldwide. In Lippe’s words, the photographer chose their life to “bring an image to the world that would cause it to shed tears and appreciate the life they have and remind us how quickly we can lose it” (Lippe, 2002, p.18). Indeed, regarding some of the potential lives he was shown, Lippe says that if he chose the life of a wealthy person, he would have had to experience painful events in his life to achieve that wealth (Lippe, 2002, p.17). Lippe realised that the freedom to choose one’s life experiences provides people with the opportunity to create an impact on Earth and change the world for better or worse.


The concept of choosing our lives before birth is not limited to Jonathan Lippe. Similar accounts are found in Ancient Greece. In The Republic, the Greek philosopher Plato recounts the story of a man named Er, who returned to life after being killed in battle. According to Plato, Er recounted what he had witnessed in the afterlife and was told that “he was to be a messenger to men about the other world, and ordered him to listen to and watch all that went on in that place” (Pl. Rep. 10.614). What he witnessed was men, women, and even animals choosing their lives in sequence before drinking water from the Forgetful River and being reborn on Earth. As in Lippe’s account, some lives involved being endowed with good looks, wealth, and strength, while others often ended in tragedy through career failure, immoral behaviour, or poverty. As Er said, “There was no choice of quality of character since of necessity each soul must assume a character appropriate to its choice; but wealth and poverty, health and disease were all mixed in varying degrees in the lives to be chosen” (Pl. Rep. 10.618). The Myth of Er, as Plato referred to it, is one of the earliest accounts of what modern researchers term a Near-Death Experience.


Raymond Moody first coined the term Near-Death Experience (NDE) in his 1975 book, Life After Life. Although all NDEs are unique, many follow a general pattern. According to Moody, a person’s NDE usually begins with the person leaving their physical body after being clinically declared dead and passing through a tunnel of light. Once on the other side, they experience a life review in which their whole life flashes before their eyes. Many also describe meeting deceased loved ones and feeling a sense of pervasive love and peace before being told that they must go back to Earth to fulfil a specific purpose. Raymond Moody’s book revolutionised people’s views about the afterlife and established him as one of the world’s leading authorities on Near-Death Experiences.


It is also pertinent to mention that there is evidence for NDEs having both a material and spiritual basis. In the words of Dr. Bruce Greyson, “I think there is enough evidence to take seriously both a physiological mechanism for NDEs and continued functioning of the mind independent of the brain” (Greyson, 2021, p.11). This means that, in addition to being a brain phenomenon, consciousness also has a non-local existence. In other words, the mind is not produced solely by the brain but works together with it to form concrete reality. This is discussed in What Dreams May Come, where Albert explains to Chris Nielsen, “So if you’re aware you exist, then you do. That’s why you’re still here” (Ward, 1998). It is also one of the key teachings of the French philosopher, Rene Descartes. According to Descartes, the one truth that we can be sure of is the infallibility of our existence, as expressed in the axiom, “I think, therefore I am” (Stokes, 2010, p.73). This insight forms one of the core foundations of Western Philosophy.


Another factor that determines our experiences is the interplay between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, which are connected by the corpus callosum. The left brain is logical and analytical, while the right brain is emotional and intuitive. In My Stroke of Insight, Jill Bolte Taylor recounts how on 10 December 1996, she had a stroke which caused her left hemisphere to shut down. During her experience, Taylor describes feeling a pervasive sense of bliss and peace, likening it to the Buddhist concept of Nirvana. In essence, her “stroke of insight” was “that at the core of my right hemisphere consciousness is a character that is directly connected to my feeling of deep inner peace. It is completely committed to the expression of peace, love, joy, and compassion in the world” (Taylor, 2008, p.133). According to Sarah Elkhaldy, our right hemisphere is directly connected to the divine mind, which in Hermeticism is called The All. She explains, “The key to reconnecting with source lies in quieting the dominance of the left brain and embracing the intuitive flow of the right brain” (Elkhaldy, 2025). This is where our inspiration and creativity come into being as a conduit for achieving inner peace and happiness.


One of the core messages of What Dreams May Come is the idea that we all create our reality, both in the afterlife and on Earth. This is directly tied to the Law of Attraction, which states that the thoughts and feelings you put out are what you attract into your life. As Rhonda Byrne explains in The Secret, “Your thoughts determine your frequency, and your feelings tell you immediately what frequency you are on” (Byrne, 2006, p.31). According to Quantum Theory, everything that can possibly happen at every moment does so in other dimensions, with only one outcome being manifested in the physical dimension (Lippe, 2002, p.136-37). In the afterlife, Chris Nielsen creates his heaven through the thoughts and interests that defined his life. As Albert says to him, “Now you’re creating an entire world here, from your imagination, from paintings you love, anything you want” (Ward, 1998). We create our own happiness through the Law of Attraction.


In The Republic, Plato mentions that after souls have chosen their lives, they are assigned a Guardian Spirit to guide them through their lives (Pl. Rep. 10.620). The Ancient Greeks called these Guardian Spirits daemons [Not to be confused with the word “demon” – BB], which in modern parlance are synonymous with guardian angels. In her book Angels 101, Doreen Virtue states that each person is allotted two guardian angels during their life and that “Guardian angels are protectors and guides, ensuring that we stay safe, happy, healthy, and fulfil our life mission” (Virtue, 2006, p.2). In What Dreams May Come, Chris Nielsen's guardian angels take the form of people whom he greatly admired in life: his doctor, Albert and an Asian flight attendant, Leona (Rosalind Chao). According to Doreen Virtue, both guardian angels assume an active and passive role to help individuals with their lives on Earth and their transition into the afterlife. In her words, “One is loud and bold, to ensure that you’ll work on your Divine life purpose; the other is quieter, and serves to comfort and soothe you” (Virtue, 2006, p.2). This is reflected in the characters of Albert and Leona, whom Chris Nielsen eventually realises are his son, Ian, and daughter, Marie.


The depiction of hell in What Dreams May Come is very different from the version that organised religions would have their followers believe. As Albert tells Chris Nielsen in the film, “The real hell is your life gone wrong” (Ward, 1998). In The Tenth Insight, James Redfield describes the hellish realms of the afterlife as “Mental constructions…set up by souls who in life lived very restrictive control dramas and could not wake up after death” (Redfield, 1996, p.143). Redfield explains that these realms are established by souls as a means to feel safe after having repressed the mysteries and insecurities of life. In the case of Annie Nielsen, the loss of her husband and children was a traumatic event that caused her to take her own life. As her husband tells her in the film, “Good people end up in hell because they can’t forgive themselves” (Ward, 1998). According to Redfield, one can overcome these negative control dramas by bringing them fully into consciousness, a process Carl Jung referred to as integrating the Shadow aspect of the psyche [For more information on integrating the Shadow, read my essay, Joker: A Jungian Analysis – BB].


As already mentioned, we create our own reality through the Law of Attraction. This extends to the afterlife, with a person’s beliefs and expectations aligning them with their vibrational frequency. In Conversations with God: Book 3, Neale Donald Walsch explains that hell does not exist and that a person’s belief in hell causes them to experience it both on Earth and in the afterlife. In his words, “I said that hell does not exist. Most of what you experience does not exist, yet you experience it nonetheless” (Walsch, 1999, p.73). According to Walsch, the soul responds to and recreates the mind’s most powerful suggestion and produces that in its experience, which explains why many people’s afterlife experiences vary (Walsch, 1999, p.75). When we realise that there is no hell, this shifts our vibrational frequency and frees us to experience what is real and desirable. As Michael Bernard Beckwith explains in The Secret, “Learn to become still, and to take your attention away from what you don’t want, and all the emotional charge around it, and place the attention on what you wish to experience…Energy flows where attention goes” (Byrne, 2006, p.145). Put simply, the trick is not to stay in the Shadow side of the psyche for too long; learn to acknowledge it and focus on what brings you happiness and fulfilment.


According to Bruce Greyson, 75% of people who have undergone NDEs reported similar experiences: A blissful state of peace and tranquillity that exists outside of time (Greyson, 2021, p.131). This begs the question: If the afterlife dimension is like this, why do people choose to incarnate in the physical dimension? In The Tenth Insight, James Redfield explains that each person comes from a soul group with a particular truth to offer humanity on Earth. However, many soul groups in the afterlife are fragmented and out of resonance with each other due to the lack of an atomic structure and consensus about what should happen in the future. According to Redfield, “It’s this agreement, this consensus, this unity of vision on the Earth, that also pulls the soul groups together in the Afterlife dimension” (Redfield, 1996, p.188). In other words, the physical plane is where the true unification of souls takes place and is behind the long historical journey that human beings have undertaken.


At this point, it is essential to explain how the Law of Affinity relates to what we have discussed so far. The Law of Affinity can be summarised as follows: “Through their own vibrations and wavelengths, every creature comes into contact with other beings, with other powers of the universe, which are endowed with the same vibrations and wavelengths” (Seiler, 2011, p.20). In other words, every vibration attracts and moves towards a similar one to join with it. In What Dreams May Come, this is referred to by Albert as being a characteristic of soul mates and says, “It’s extremely rare, but it exists. Sort of like twin souls tuned into each other…apparently even in death” (Ward, 1998). In her 2011 article, Thoughts are Magic, Ursula Seiler says that “When two people sincerely and purely love each other, their etheric counterparts live in a truly heavenly world” (Seiler, 2011, p.21). This is reflected in Chris and Annie's marriage at the beginning of the film, with their pure love for each other echoed in their version of heaven, which is a painting of where they first met.


The Law of Affinity also helps explain the difference between sexual lust and romantic love. James Redfield expresses this difference in The Celestine Prophecy in terms of how lust and love affect our energy fields. According to the Third Insight, “When a person has sexual thoughts the person’s energy field sort of swirls about and actually propels out toward the person who’s the object of the attraction” (Redfield, 1993, p.49). In contrast, when two people fall in love with each other, according to the Eighth Insight, “the two individuals are giving each other energy unconsciously and both people feel buoyant and elated” (Redfield, 1993, p.191). In other words, lust is seeing another person purely as an object for sexual gratification, while love is appreciating the beauty of another person to the point where it brings spiritual fulfilment in both people. As Teilhard de Chardin asked in The Phenomenon of Man, “At what moment do lovers come into the most complete possession of themselves if not when they say they are lost in each other?” (Teilhard de Chardin, 2008, p.265). In summary, the Law of Affinity shows us where our consciousness is attuned in terms of our vibration and wavelength.


As we approach the end of this essay, I would like to explore how Gnosticism and Epicureanism can help us appreciate life and come to terms with death. The Gnostics were pagans dedicated to the life force, Eros, and grounded in the life source of the Earth. They would have viewed the beings who presided over people choosing their lives, as described in the Myth of Er, as Archons, who Stephan Hoeller defines as “An inferior cosmic being ruling over and imposing limitations on creation” (Hoeller, 2002, p.237). Whether or not this is accurate, the Gnostics certainly believed that human beings would act in a morally responsible manner without being dictated by divine decree or a superhuman scheme of reward and punishment. As John Lamb Lash explains, “We do not reach natural goodness by behaving in a certain way, following a set of rules. We act from it whenever we are fully alive in the authenticity of being human” (Lash, 2006, p.267-68). This was the basis of Pagan morality, with everyone being equal before the power of fate.


Finally, let us turn to the philosophy of Epicureanism. Although he was a materialist and believed that the gods had no interest in humankind, Epicurus taught that the ultimate meaning of life was the experience of pleasure and the elimination of pain. As evidence, Epicurus gave the following analogy: “every animal, as soon as it is born, seeks for pleasure, and delights in it as the Chief Good, while it recoils from pain as the Chief Evil, as so far as possible avoids it” (Cic. Fin. 1.9). Epicurus also believed that the most significant obstacles to happiness were the fear of the gods and death. He taught that the gods did not punish human actions because that would have only distracted them from their natural state of pleasure and happiness (Stokes, 2010, p.29). He also taught that if one could banish fear of the future by facing it with confidence, one could attain tranquillity and live in the present moment. In his words, “he looks forward to it, but finds his true enjoyment in the present” (Cic. Fin. 1.19). Whether one is a spiritualist or a materialist, this is a universal truth.


What Dreams May Come is an excellent reworking of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Its colourful depiction of the afterlife won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. In addition, its conceptions of heaven, hell and reincarnation tie in with the phenomenon of Near-Death Experiences and the concept that we choose our lives before birth. In conclusion, being true to ourselves and experiencing love helps align heaven with earth, thereby leading humanity to a higher state of awareness and peace.


Bibliography

Byrne, Rhonda. The Secret. New York, Atria Books, 2006.


Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De Finibus. Translated by H. Harris Rackham. Cambridge, Loeb Classical Library, 1931.


Elkhaldy, Sarah. Divine Mind: Direct Connect to Source. Gaia, 2025. https://www.gaia.com/video/divine-mind-direct-connect-to-source?fullplayer=feature


Greyson, Bruce. After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond. London, Bantam Press, 2021.


Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages. Radford, Wilder Publications, 2007.


Hoeller, Stephan A. Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing. Wheaton, Quest Books, 2002.


John Lamb Lash. “Intermission: The Return of Eurydice.” YouTube video, 36:07. July 1, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD6aenwfzok


Lash, John Lamb. Not In His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology and the Future of Belief. Vermont, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2006.


Lippe, Jonathan. I Remember Choosing My Life in the Afterlife Dimension: Charades and Parades. Pembroke Pines, Xlibris, 2002.


Matheson, Richard. What Dreams May Come. New York, Tor, 1978.


Mitchell, Robbie. “What are the Orphic Mysteries?” Ancient Origins. Last revised July 8, 2024. https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/orphic-mysteries-0021052


Moody, Raymond A. Life After Life. New York, Harper One, 2001.


Plato. The Republic. Translated by Desmond Lee. London, Penguin Classics, 2007.


Redfield, James. The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure. New York, Warner Books, 1993.


Redfield, James. The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision. New York, Warner Books, 1996.


Seiler, Ursula. “Thoughts are Magic: Change Your Mind, Change Your World.” New Dawn. January-February 2011.


Stokes, Philip. Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers. London, Capella, 2010.


Taylor, Jill Bolte. My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2008.


Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. The Phenomenon of Man. New York, Harper Perennial Modern Thought, 2008.


Virtue, Doreen. Angels 101: An Introduction to Connecting, Working, and Healing with the Angels. Carlsbad, Hay House, 2006.


Walsch, Neale Donald. Conversations with God: Book 3. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1999.


Ward, Vincent. What Dreams May Come. USA, PolyGram, 1998. DVD.


Wilkinson, Philip. Myths & Legends: An illustrated guide to their origins and meanings. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2019.

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