I am unapologetically fascinated by consciousness. I’m truly delighted to be utterly confused by its mysteries. Books like Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland saturate the reader with all sorts of philosophical, esoteric and psychedelic imagery and metaphor. In fact the Guardian rates it at number 18 in its 100 best novels http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/20/100-best-novels-alice-wonderland
And movies such as The Matrix reference the ‘down the rabbit hole’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDadfh0ZdBM idea to explore the concept that reality might not be all that we ‘see’.

Alice In Wonderland (as it is commonly known) is quite frankly ‘trippy’ – you don’t have to read between the lines its IN YOUR FACE. She drinks a potion, goes big and small, meets a caterpillar – sitting on a mushroom (probably Psilocybin), smoking a bong! There is the Cheshire cat who keeps fading in and out. All the while Alice calmly and politely navigates the craziness and accepts that this is just all part of the experience. Not sure I would be so level headed.

There are scientists and others pushing the boundaries in this area and I salute them. I don’t pretend to understand it all or even want to but I am open to the possibility that there is an unseen world behind the veil of visible. It is a fringe idea – I’m comfortable on the edge – sometimes that’s where you get the best perspective.

Someone who is really challenging these ideas and the use of altered states of consciousness is Graham Hancock. He radically proposes the evolution of human consciousness coincides with the use of psychotropic plants and that there is a war on consciousness (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b6-0yW7Iaw). He suggests that escaping ‘The Matrix’ can reveal the world of ‘Avatar’ (its interesting that an incomplete scene from Avatar depicts a ritual that causes Jake to alter consciousness, astral travel and see the future).

This is a complex and emotive subject – it is the ‘Woah’ of Neo when Morpheus confronts him with the ‘jump test’ to free his mind (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtz4Tzr9WJk). But for people ‘seeing’ other versions of our world – I ask that we all hold our judgement and consider the possibility that we might be the ones not ‘getting it’.

Finally – don’t watch the Disney version of Alice In Wonderland – READ THE BOOK! Especially an older edition, the pictures are out of this world.