The phrase Through the Looking Glass, “as used in literature by world renowned author Lewis Carroll, can be viewed as a metaphor for any time the world suddenly appears unfamiliar, almost as if things were turned upside down – similar to looking out from inside the mirror to find a world both recognizable and yet turned inside-out.
Comparing today’s global environment vs. one year ago feels to me a bit like Lewis Carroll’s insightful metaphor. Despite all of the apparent unsettledness in the world these days, perhaps there are lessons from Lewis Carroll’s classic work of literature that we can apply to today’s challenges:
You can’t change the past, but you might learn something from it.”As Alice travels thru time and ‘through the looking glass’, she learns that even though she can’t change the past, she can learn from her past to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future. For those of us who have ever made a mistake (perhaps even a life-changing mistake) at one point or another in our lives (probably a universal phenomenon for all humanity), and wish we could have another chance to choose differently, perhaps the best thing we can do is to learn from our mistakes.
The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.” This is a direct quote from Alice’s father in Alice Through the Looking Glass. Albert Einstein said: No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” For the optimists and entrepreneurs who keep trying in the face of adversity and failure, the word ‘impossible’ contains the potential translation: I’m possible.”
Revenge never did Anything for Anyone. More often than not, trying to heal our wounds through revenge, instead of helping us, hurts us even more. As Brazilian author Paulo Coehlo (The Alchemist) has been quoted: Kiss slowly, Laugh insanely, Live truly and Forgive quickly.”
The only thing worth doing is that which you do for others.” Alice constantly does things for others, never thinking about herself. The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others…I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” -Albert Schweitzer
It’s never too late to admit your mistakes and say ‘I’m sorry.’ Is it ever too late to be forgiven? Oftentimes, a simple ‘I’m sorry’ will suffice. How many times have we held on too long to our grudges as well as our mistakes when it would’ve been so much easier to be honest about them (mostly with ourselves)?
Friends cannot be neglected.”The wise and beloved Absolem, who returns as a butterfly, knows that no matter how rocky life gets, a good friend will always be there for you, and vice versa. A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected.
Everyone parts with everything eventually.”It’s not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent, when they are not.” -Thich Nhat Hanh. As we learn from the past, if we can muster the courage to let go of the past while at the same time embracing the things that happened along the way even though it might not have happened the way we wanted it to, perhaps we can tap into our own inner resourcefulness to carry on with renewed confidence and vitality.
Many thanks again to Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) for creating the literary genre of literary nonsense, through which insight and perspective could be communicated via humor and word play. It strikes me that a possible modern day equivalent might be the late night shows/hosts who impart their version of this genre also thru humor and word play. Check them both out if you need a break from the constant onslaught of the daily news media.
"Through the Looking-Glass" is a phrase one might use to describe a setting or situation that is unfamiliar or abnormal. It implies that one has been transported to a strange or bizarre world.
Escorting her through the forest towards the final brook-crossing, the Knight recites a poem of his own composition and repeatedly falls off his horse. Bidding farewell to the White Knight, Alice steps across the last brook, and is automatically crowned a queen, with the crown materialising abruptly on her head.
Looking glass is a somewhat old-fashioned, literary way to say "mirror." The word glass on its own can mean "mirror" too, coming from a root meaning "to shine." After Lewis Carroll's book "Through the Looking-Glass," was published in 1871, looking glass came to also mean "the opposite of what is normal or expected," ...
Thus, the rabbit, and the rabbit hole, becomes a symbol for curiosity, fantasy and escape. Even today, the expression “going down the rabbit hole” is in popular use, symbolizing a journey somewhere unknown, challenging, bizarre or complex, that will take some mental work to figure out.
The story of Through the Looking-Glass describes Alice's adventures as she moves symbolically from child to adult in a strange world entered through a mirror above her drawing-room fireplace. The landscape there is in the form of a giant chess board and Alice enters the game as a white pawn.
Alice looks out over a field, sees a great game of chess in progress, and tells the Red Queen that she would like to join. The Red Queen tells Alice she can stand in as a White Pawn and marks a course for Alice, explaining that when she reaches the end of the game, Alice will become a Queen.
The Red Queen's famous quote. Iracebeth of Crims, also known as The Bloody Big Head, or more commonly known as The Red Queen, is the main antagonist of the 2010 fantasy film Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and its 2016 sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass.
You can't change the past, but you might learn something from it.” As Alice travels thru time and ‘through the looking glass', she learns that even though she can't change the past, she can learn from her past to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future.
Alice's adventure in Through the Looking-Glass is a dream, even though it dramatizes her journey to young womanhood. Even as she wakes, Alice finds that the order of her room seems just as arbitrary and tenuous as the dream world from which she has emerged.
The looking-glass self describes the process wherein individuals base their sense of self on how they believe others view them. Using social interaction as a type of “mirror,” people use the judgments they receive from others to measure their own worth, values, and behavior.
What does rabbit hole mean? Used especially in the phrase going down the rabbit hole or falling down the rabbit hole, a rabbit hole is a metaphor for something that transports someone into a wonderfully (or troublingly) surreal state or situation.
It has also come to mean that a person ended up in a strange or difficult situation; "A complexly bizarre or difficult state or situation conceived of as a hole into which one falls or descends". The idiom is also used to describe drug use, and the experience of an addict.
The Rabbit pulls a watch out of his waistcoat pocket and runs across the field and down a hole. Alice impulsively follows the Rabbit and tumbles down the deep hole that resembles a well, falling slowly for a long time.
Alice's journey through the mirror is often portrayed as a dream, a metaphor for the fantastical and illogical nature of her experiences. This metaphor underscores the fantastical transformation of ordinary objects in the Looking-Glass world.
“You can't change the past, but you might learn something from it” In her journey through time, Alice (played by Mia Wasikowska) learns that no one can change the past, but that you can learn from past experiences to prevent similar happenings in the future.
The theme of navigating a world with nonsensical rules is central to the novel; it is embedded in the premise of this portal story and the setting of the looking-glass world. The looking-glass realm is a place filled with bizarre, incredible environments, customs, rules, and characters.
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865).
Introduction: My name is Kareem Mueller DO, I am a vivacious, super, thoughtful, excited, handsome, beautiful, combative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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