Now that the Roman Catholic Church has declared that limbo is not an official church teaching, the idea of limbo has been freed from ecclesiastical constraints and available for reflection on the human condition on this side of the grave. Like purgatory, it is a dark place but not deprived of grace. Limbo has traditionally been viewed as a place between heaven, on the one hand, and purgatory and hell, on the other, to which the patriarchs, who lived under the old law, and babies who died before being baptized into the Christian faith have been consigned.
![being in limbo being in limbo](https://images.thestar.com/hSGGKVxqVye39oyGlVvShoDDsAc=/1199x800/smart/filters:cb(2700061000)/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/world/2018/02/04/at-least-two-canadian-women-are-among-800-foreign-isis-families-being-held-in-legal-limbo-by-kurdish-forces/detainees.jpg)
He's lived there for decades, just as Cobb knowingly spent decades in Limbo with his wife Mal. In Inception, one of the final twists is that Saito has accepted Limbo as reality. As the team collectively reunites within the first dream level for the "kick" (a vehicle dropping into water), Cobb stays in Limbo to find Saito, and discovers that the businessman has been stuck in his "infinite subconscious" for decades upon decades. In the third Inception dream level, Saito assists the group but ultimately dies, along with Fischer, who is subsequently sent to Limbo but saved by Cobb and Ariadne.
![being in limbo being in limbo](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PZDmt4TUBvQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
Instead, they drop into Limbo - an unconstructed dream space that only Cobb is familiar with. In the second dream level, Saito plays a minor role while his first-level self remains in a vehicle. Cobb then reveals that the high potency of their mechanical compound means that Saito, or any of them for that matter, can't wake up after a dream state death. He's only there to ensure that Cobb immediately receives his reward after executing the plan. Cobb wants to reunite with his two children, but he can't legally enter the United States after being identified as a suspect in his wife's death. In the first dream level, Saito is shot and wounded, which is the result of Arthur not identifying that Fischer had militarized his subconscious to prevent any type of extraction. Saito accompanies Cobb's team during the 10-hour flight, but doesn't have any dream skills to offer. Related: Theory: Tenet Is A Secret Sequel To Inception