I love finding inspiration in unlikely places! The children’s classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has a great deal. Much of the inspiration emerges through humorous dialogue. One of those places is in Alice’s first conversation with the Cheshire Cat.
Alice begins by asking the Cheshire cat which way she ought to go from where she was.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh. you are sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk far enough.”
Yes, we will get somewhere, but is it a place we want to go? The Cat goes on to tell Alice that everyone is mad here. He includes Alice as well as himself. She takes offense. How could he know that she is mad when he has just met her? His answer is that everyone is mad here.
That reminds me of an ancient teaching story in which a traveler stopped at the gate of a new town and asked what kind of people lived there. The gate-keeper said, “Tell me, what kind of people were in the town you came from?”
The traveler said, that they were the kindest, most generous, helpful people anywhere. He was going to miss them.” The gate-keeper said, “You will likely find the same kind of people here.” The traveler decided to stay. A few hours later another traveler stopped at the same gate and inquired about what kind of people were in the town. The gate-keeper asked him the same question: “What kind of people were there in the town you are coming from?” The traveler replied, “Oh, they were the worst: Liars, cheats, thieves, deceptive and unfriendly gossips.” The gate-keeper said, “You are likely to meet the same kind of people here.” And the traveler decided to keep going to the next town.
We are always meeting our own consciousness.
In the book, Living the Science of Mind, Ernest Holmes wrote: “First, let us begin with the thought that we are all united with an Invisible Force which is creative and we are already one with a Universal Mind in Action.
Next, let us consider that we are all centers in the Mind, and the sum total of all our thoughts is either silently attracting Good or repelling It from us.
And third, let us know that we can change our thinking and in so doing, cause the Law of Good to act affirmatively for us instead of negatively.
Indeed, it is one of our first principles, to begin with the end in mind. In order to work intelligently with divine mind, we need to understand the nature of the Divinity. God can only do for us what It can do through us.”
So we are at choice about whether to accept the Cat’s opinion, that we are all mad, or we can choose to see the good and only the good.
Stephen Covey in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, writes: that the second habit is to “begin with the end in mind.” This is equivalent to knowing where you want to go. You can’t get to New York by car if you are driving south from Los Angeles. Knowing where you are is just as necessary as knowing where you want to go.
This is true about the fulfillment of our desires as well as it is for moving through our world. Where do you want to go?