Practising the art of creating possibilities
People respond so differently to new ideas. While some people jump with excitement at the thought of new possibilities and irrational ideas, unfamiliarity can others uncomfortable, give up, or find it safe to be a skeptic.
This is so well illustrated in this conversation between Alice and the queen in Through the Looking Glass.
“I can’t believe that!” said Alice.
“Can’t you?” the queen said in a pitying tone. “Try again, draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.”
Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.”
“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
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I like the point that the Queen is making that those who immediately think the impossible IS impossible, can use their imagination to visualise how the impossible might look and that the impossible could be possible if they are prepared to practice a new way of looking at things.
Yet, even today, I would imagine that the adults reading this book to their children would suppress a smile at this point and think “Well, yes that’s funny but it’s not true.”
That’s a good point, Robyn.
Children would see the value in spending half a day believing impossible things. My three-year old nephew can simply never stop asking ‘why’ or ‘why not’ to every new thing that he’s introduced to or idea he gets. I wonder what is that cut off point when we stop asking ‘why not’?