My freshman experience at UT was an exhilarating process of self discovery

My freshman experience at UT was an exhilarating process of self discovery. Now, looking back at my first year at the university, I have come to realize many things. I believe that everyone in college chooses between two extremes. This choice, explored through out Alice in Wonderland, is the choice Neo faces in the movie the Matrix.

(I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?)

At some point in our college experience, we must choose to examine the truth or accept the reality that is created for us. Everyone reading this is familiar with the maxim etched into the main building: "The truth will set you free." This statement is perhaps the most misinterpreted and overused statement in the history of education. After reading this simple adage, most students reply, “of course I want to examine the truth. Who wouldn’t want to do that.” Well, honestly, most people don’t want to know the truth and will despise you for exposing it to them. Like Neo's choice in the picture above, or Alice looking down from the precipice of the rabbit hole, I choose to venture into the unknown to discover the truth.

My personal journey of truth continues, so I will not pretend to be a mystical student with a secret key to the universe. However, I will share with you what I have learned from my freshmen experience at the University.

I have found that only exceptional students reach the peaks of individual development. I also know that becoming a individual is a path that is not dependent upon intelligence. Individuation means parting company with the crowd. At first, this is a lonely enterprise and may seem alarming. As a Carl Jung, the great psychologist, once said "most students are content to remain safely with the majority conforming to the conventions held by their friends, parents, church, or political party [1]." The truly exceptional individuals, like Alice and Neo, are compelled by an inner nature to seek out the truth. This inner drive forces them to leave the comfort of their lives and challenge themselves.

(Seriously, I had a Early Modern Philosophy Professor that looked and acted just like this caterpillar)

As Alice responds to the hookah-smoking caterpillar, “I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, because I'm not myself you see.” (pg 47) She wades through Wonderland in search of something. She does not know necessarily what she is looking for, but she continues. Alice repeatedly endures seemingly meaningless encounters with strange creatures all the while dealing with an absurd authority system.

(The Mock Turtle to Alice: education is not what it seems)

This search is parallel to my freshmen experience at the University. Back then, I had no idea who I was or where I was going. So, I thought I would mix up my course schedule and try to find myself. The studies that I endured are as broad and varied as the Mock Turtle's curriculum of “Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with, and then the different branches of arithmetic -- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.” (pg 98) I spent countless hours immersed in wild theories from every corner of education. I have studied Descartes' evil demon, Maslow's hierarchy, Plato's cave, Ohm's law, Diogenes the cynic, and Ellison's invisible man. Sometimes staying awake for days on end cramming massive amounts of information into my exhausted mind. Literally, I have studied so intensely that billows of smoke came out of my ears (this is scientifically possible). I struggled through the academic environment encountering enigmatic professors and dealt with the administration’s bullshit rules. WHY DID I ENDURE THIS MADNESS!

I struggle through the madness and absurdity for the same reason that Alice, Neo, and Lewis Carroll did: I want to break free. I believe that Alice in Wonderland and all of its nonsense language is a choice, just like Neo's choice pictured above. You can read this book and dismiss it as a ludicrous story that pedals to children (blue pill) and toss it aside. Alternatively, you can use the imagery and extraordinary encounters to break free from the rational world. Through this book, you can escape reality, put aside your own struggles, and transcend to a creative, liberating self-consciousness. You can, for the first time, understand something about yourself. In doing so you can find the truth (red pill).

You see, when we read fiction, we may not suspend a critical faculty, but we certainly do exercise a creative faculty. We do not actively suspend disbelief – we actively create belief. In Wonderland, we can accomplish amazing things that are simply not possible when constricted by everyday life. I believe that traveling down the rabbit hole is not only a path to the truth; it is also a path to self-actualization. All you have to do is let go.

The following video is a brief synopsis of the parallels of the Alice in Wonderland, the Matrix, and a critical look at the difficulty people have in freeing themselves. As passionate, embattled English professor John Keating once boldly said, "only in their dreams can men be truly free, it was always thus and always thus will be."

(PS: if anyone reading this has sleeping problems please see me at a later time to discuss)

Irwin, William “The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real” Carus Publishing Company Peru, Illinois pg. 202