Different logics

There are always tales that require us to put our logical faculties on hold. There must have been enough incidents in your own life when you can’t help but say that this is all utter nonsense, there’s no way such a situation can arise… (This is particularly true of certain types of movies as one of my friends so recently mentioned :) )

However, sometimes the tale, the movie, the story is better enjoyed if you shut down the part of you that keeps whispering snidely about how improbable or plain impossible the situation unfolding before you is. Those with some exposure to literary jargon usually call this ‘a willing suspension of disbelief’… :)

However I often think that all these improbable tales etc are just other possible worlds with their own logic. It might not be so readily apparent to the casual observer, but the story must run true to the logic of its own world, if not our own. Otherwise it is just a senseless mishmash of ideas, not a world which entices you in.

The best example would probably be Alice in Wonderland. The world down the rabbit hole has its own logic, which can only be appreciated if you willingly let yourself be drawn in, if you refrain from mentally ridiculing the story as utter nonsense. I liked the book when I first read it, and found it full of delightful humour, sometimes outrageous, sometimes whimsical or plain absurd, sometimes satirical, but always without malice on subsequent readings. Nothing could probably sum that world up better than what Alice says... "Curiouser and curiouser!" :)

A new world is like a lake of spelled water. You look in, you see a world... It is initially a reflection of your own, but gradually your gaze gets caught, and you begin to see beyond the reflection and get drawn into the depths... There's a moment when your mind resists, and then you step in.. and the world laps about your feet... it swirls about you while you take comfort from the solid ground you are standing on and then you take another step... And thus are you drawn in.. though still dimly connected to your own....

(This must sound like utter nonsense hmmm? :) )

I used to get the same feeling while gazing in the puddles formed after a rainy day. I must have been young... I remember once that I was thinking about what the term सातवां आस्मान meant. I looked in and saw the intense blue of the sky reflected in the puddle... There were clouds and everything... I remember wondering for a while if this was the "roof" of another world... (actually remember getting dizzy for a few minutes... :) ) And if there's another world above the sky we see... And then I got sucked back to this world when I noticed the gravel at the bottom of the puddle... I get that flash of dizzyness occasionally to this day... maybe because I am quite willing to suspend disbelief in the usual scheme of things :D

I was quite a silly child sometimes :) and I don't think I'm much better now. The only difference probably is that now I retain a firmer hold on this world while taking a dip into another...

This post somehow got on another track.. I was thinking of taking it somewhere else altogether.. but no matter... It ended up on an interesting path afterall...

And to all those who are too rooted in the logic of this world.. I'd just like to say... try tasting the logic of another world, another tale, another movie... you might actually become addicted.. :D