Introduction

“If I had a world of my own … nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t” ~ Alice, from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
 
‘We’re all mad here, I’m mad, you’re mad’
‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice.
‘You must be’ said the Cheshire Cat,
‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’
~ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
 
`Well, it no use YOUR talking about waking him,' said Tweedledum, `when you're only one of the things in his dream. You know very well you're not real.'
`I AM real!' said Alice and began to cry.
`You won't make yourself a bit realler by crying,' Tweedledee remarked: `there's nothing to cry about.'
`If I wasn't real,' Alice said - half-laughing though her tears, it all seemed so ridiculous - `I shouldn't be able to cry.'
`I hope you don't suppose those are real tears?'
~ Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll
 
“I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, Sir, because I’m not myself you see” ~ Alice, from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
 
“Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.” ~ Alice, from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
 
“Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool ”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
“One's values are profoundly changed when he is finally convinced that creation is only a vast motion picture, and that not in it, but beyond it, lies his own reality.”
~ P. Yogananda
 
“Is this living Splendor, this beaming Sun of Life, beyond the slightest touch of earthly sorrow, suffering or pain, my real Self? O wonder of wonders, am I this immortal Being, happy beyond measure.” ~ Gopi Krishna
 
“There’s really only One here! All appearance of multiplicity is a dream, an illusion—conjured up by the one Self for the purpose of multiplying Its enjoyment. To have experienced this Self directly, to know with complete and absolute certainty that there is really no one here but you—this is the real freedom, the ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction of all man’s thirst for truth, the final salvation.”
~ Swami Abhayananda
 
“These individualized souls, we must not forget, are manifestations of the Divine. Nonetheless, while inhabiting or being associated with bodies, they pass through various experiences which may serve to forge a strong bond with the material world. However, over time, the indwelling Divinity instructs those ‘individualized souls’ by those very experiences in the errors of their ways, and returns them by various and sundry ways to the awareness of their true nature, guiding them by the most blessed path to the reformation of their loving intent and the restoration of their natural bliss. This is known as ‘the evolution of the soul’.”
~ Swami Abhayananda

“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.” ~ Alan Watts

“You are all gods, if you only knew it.” ~ P. Yogananda

“Now when God plays hide and pretends that he is you and I, he does it so well that it takes him a long time to remember where and how he hid himself. But that's the whole fun of it - just what he wanted to do. He doesn't want to find himself too quickly, for that would spoil the game. That is why it is so difficult for you and me to find out that we are God in disguise, pretending not to be himself.” ~ Alan Watts
 
“I had ambitions to set out and find, like an odyssey … this home that I’d left … I was born very far from where I’m supposed to be, and so I’m on my way home” ~ Bob Dylan

The Enchanted Universe section looked at creation through the discoveries of the mystics and modern science. What we assume to be the universe turns out to be a mirage – a holographic projection of light waves shaped into the objects of creation and displayed on the screen of time and space. Through the magic spell of maya, or cosmic hypnosis, it all looks and feels quite real. But it is not.

The mystics tell us that the universe was created by Spirit as a fantasy playground. To enhance the enjoyment of His creation, Spirit fashioned a multitude of unique individualized extensions of Itself in order to play and be entertained in creation through many forms. The form that offers Spirit the most freedom to play, create and be entertained is the human form. Human beings have unique and distinguishing features. Humans have self-consciousness, i.e. humans are aware of themselves, aware of being conscious, and have the ability to explore their consciousness and fathom their existence.  A human is the only form with a soul that is capable of fully expressing divinity. As well, human beings have been given free will in order to make choices of their own volition and to act as mini-creators in Spirit’s creation. We are gods – individualized Spirit. Why do we not feel like gods as we undertake our adventures in creation’s playground?
 
The stupendous voyage that each soul takes though the realms of creation has been described by various mystics over the ages. It is a remarkable odyssey in which one encounters all the dualities of this world - bliss and sorrow, pleasure and pain, immortality and mortality, limitless awareness and narrow vision, light and darkness, war and peace, rise and fall of great civilizations, laughter and tears, etc.
 
Each of us starts and ends with the infinite consciousness of the Supreme Being. In between, we participate with various levels of consciousness in the phantasmagoria of the cosmic playground – an illusory fantasy land of vibratory light energy.
 
The first sub-section, Adventures in Wonderland, characterizes the several states or stages that the soul goes through during its experiences within creation.

The following sub-sections are also included; all topics that relate closely to the above;

• Cosmic Hypnosis
• Ego-consciousness and God-consciousness
• Karma and Reincarnation
• Destiny and Free Will
• Why is there Suffering?

Top of Page

Adventures in Wonderland