In Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, “Through the Looking-Glass,” the White Queen tells Alice, “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” And she recommends this practice to Alice.
Alice’s belief in impossible things allowed her to have great adventures, far beyond the limitations and possibilities set out for her by other people’s beliefs.
In Tim Burton’s 2010 version, Alice in Wonderland, Alice is portrayed as a teenage ingénue caught between two worlds: the staid expectations and beliefs of her Victorian era social structure (as lived and endorsed by her family), and the world of the possible, as taught and demonstrated by her late father, a man with visions of grandeur and adventure in far-off lands.
Like Alice, we have a tug-of-war inside within us.
Our biology drives us in two directions at once: First, toward security, certainty, and stability — that which is already known, the status quo.
The second drives us toward novelty, variety, and the stimulation we get from change. We live inside this tension, and our lives are a function of how well we deal with these opposing urges.
Some people are driven back and forth, first one way and then the other, in vibrating extremes. Others become stuck and frozen, unable to act. Still others feel ambivalent, unable to decide between options.
The healthy middle ground is a wise balance that includes both, and the use of awareness and discernment to know which you need at the moment, and what would serve you in the long term.
In children, you can see this back-and-forth movement when a young child leaves his or her mother’s arms, and crawls off to explore the world. At some point, the child feels the separation, and turns back to the Mother, either checking in with eye contact, or coming back for a hug and the feeling of security and oneness.
Once satisfied, the child leaves Mother’s arms and returns to exploration.
Is there an advantage to believing six impossible things before breakfast?
Beliefs create our experience of reality. If you believe only in possibilities determined by others, your possibilities are limited to the programmed reality you got from your parents, teachers, and culture.
If you believe in magic, miracles, and the possibilities of the impossible, you open space for what is not already here.
Artists who break new ground create never-been-done-before impossibilities, as do cutting-edge scientists, architects, and experts in every human enterprise.
The impossible creates space for the new, beyond the safe confines of what already exists. Every great invention was once an impossible dream. Every great adventurer was once a crazy dreamer.
Martin Luther King believed that there could be peace between the races. Impossible!
John F. Kennedy believed that we could land a man on the moon within ten years. Impossible!
The German people believed the Berlin Wall could be brought down. Impossible!
In Burton’s portrayal, Alice had lost her “muchness” by the time she fell down the rabbit hole. In the midst of her culture’s social expectations, she had been separated from the child-like qualities of self-possession, independence, and belief in the impossible.
Through her adventure in Wonderland, she regained the ability to believe in the impossible. As she remembered her True Self, she grew in her ability to do the impossible.
And by slaying the Jabberwocky, she fulfilled her mission, became a hero of heart, and found her way in the world.
Have you lost your ability to believe the impossible? Have you dreamt impossible dreams?
If not, don’t give up hope! You can restore your own ability by removing the overlay of other people’s dreams for you, and their indoctrinated beliefs, which make you small and limited.
There are many people who do not want you to become your full and glorious self. You might have to leave them behind. Their limitations do not belong to you.
Those who hold power do not want you to remember your infinite capacity. If you suddenly remembered who you are, you would become difficult to control with false beliefs, fear, and lack.
There is little support in our culture for people to believe or do the impossible. Exceptions are made for the very few — those who have dedicated their entire lives to achieve such glory, such as Sean White with his Double McTwist on the snowboard, Barack Obama in his first election, and James Cameron, whose breakthrough movie, Avatar, exposed impossible beauty and invention.
You can achieve your own brand of glory if you learn to use beliefs correctly, as a tool of manifestation.
I have believed myself into many impossible successes, including many money miracles that each brought in tens of thousands of dollars.
Anything is possible, and miracles do happen.
Beliefs make things possible, but to create in the world, there is also plenty of work involved. Simply saying affirmations is not enough. You start with belief, a vision, or an intention, but then the real work begins.
You have to remove the limiting beliefs that come up (automatically) when you create something new. You have to bring your attention and energy down through the chakras from crown (thought) to ground (actions).
The art of manifestation is a path you walk, not a sudden relocation into a magical land. Alice had to do battle with the nasty Jabberwocky. Martin Luther King did battle with both police and the public. Presidents do battle with politicians on the other side of the aisle.
There is no free ride to manifest the impossible. But it doesn’t cost anything to begin.
What six impossible things do YOU want to believe before breakfast?
Lion Goodman is the creator of Clear Your Beliefs®, which you can discover on Soulvana.
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