The Alice in Wonderland syndrome

Published
27

“Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”…….Alice follows the white rabbit down the hole into Wonderland where her eyes themselves are normal but her sense of vision, sensation, touch and hearing malfunction. In other words perception and reality are worlds apart.

Lewis Carroll, the author of the book ‘Alice in Wonderland’ once said, “If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.” The eye is a fascinating organic contrivance relaying imagery to the mind for human recognition of so called reality which is in fact just perception. If this is so then with everything that we all are looking at and more importantly looking for in our daily lives can we perceive good and keep an optimistic vision for the future of our country no matter how hopeless and lost we may feel at most times?

It is said that what one perceives is a result of interplays between past experiences, including one’s culture, and the interpretation of the perceived. According to this, yes it is true that all our senses are acquainted with nowadays whether its law and order, militancy, natural calamity, frustrated brutality, affairs of state, or even sports is nothing but darkness and obscurity. This is precisely what Wonderland was all about as Cheshire pointed out, “But I don't want to go among mad people,” said Alice. “Oh, you can't help that,” said the cat. “We're all mad here.”

The question though is, isn’t it more important to at least try and see the glass half full rather than half empty? The concept of ‘perception-in-action’ says that perception is a requisite property of animate action; that without perception action would be unguided, and without action perception would serve no purpose. Maybe if we all contemplated upon another quote by Mr Caroll often indirectly supported by a colleague of mine which says, “One of the secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others,” we could then see a better present and future for the country putting the past into the behind.

Hasaan Haider is a Multimedia Content Producer at Dawn.com. * Photo by writer.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.

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