Alessio Puppi's

Alice in Wonderland: An Initiatory and Alchemical Journey in a Rational Perspective

Lewis Carroll, with Alice in Wonderland, created a work that can be read from multiple perspectives: from psychoanalysis to philosophy, from alchemy to the initiatory journey. However, in a more rational key, Alice’s adventure can be interpreted as a metaphor for human adaptation to a changing reality, highlighting the contrast between logical thinking and the chaos of sensory experience.

The Initiatory Journey as a Cognitive Adaptation Process

Alice’s journey begins with her fall down the Rabbit Hole, an event that marks a detachment from the familiar world and a descent into the unknown. This passage is not only symbolic but also represents an immersion into a new system of rules that challenges her adaptability.

From a rational perspective, Alice’s path is analogous to the process of learning and cognitive development in individuals: as a child grows, they must confront situations that overturn their previous certainties, forcing them to reformulate their mental categories. In this sense, the entire journey can be read as a process of adaptation of the mind to new logical and perceptual structures, reflecting the cognitive mechanisms of the human brain in solving problems and creating new interpretative models of reality.

Nigredo: The Disintegration of Identity and the Chaos of Perceptions

In the alchemical tradition, the nigredo phase represents the dissolution of matter and the primordial chaos from which transformation is born. In Alice’s case, this occurs when she enters Wonderland and loses her sense of proportion: drinking a liquid makes her shrink, eating a cookie makes her grow enormously.

In more concrete terms, this experience can be interpreted as an allegory of the bodily and mental transformations of childhood and adolescence. The body changes unpredictably, emotions intensify, and the sense of self is questioned. Alice must learn to control these changes to successfully interact with the new world around her.

Furthermore, the loss of fixed references recalls the crisis of Cartesian rationality: in Wonderland, the laws of logic are overturned, language is ambiguous, and wordplay reveals the relativity of meanings. This initial destabilization is necessary for the protagonist to rebuild a new understanding of reality, based no longer on absolute certainties but on adaptability.

Albedo: Learning Through Paradox

After the initial confusion, Alice begins to navigate Wonderland, attempting to understand its dynamics. Here, emblematic characters such as the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts come into play, each representing a challenge to her rationality.

• The Caterpillar poses the fundamental question to Alice: “Who are you?” This inquiry shakes her identity, prompting her to reflect on the fact that self-knowledge is fluid and changeable. From a rational perspective, this episode can be seen as a reference to neural plasticity: individuals continuously evolve, modifying their self-perception based on experience.
• The Mad Hatter and the March Hare live in an eternal now, in a circular time that challenges the linear concept of growth and change. In a scientific context, this can be associated with the perception of time in the human brain, which does not follow a rigid scan but is influenced by memory, emotions, and the subject’s psychophysical condition.
• The Queen of Hearts, with her arbitrary command “Off with their heads!”, embodies illogical and capricious power. Here, Carroll shows how authority can be based on incoherent rules, reflecting social structures that often rely on conventions rather than rational principles.

At this stage, Alice is no longer merely a victim of events but begins to decipher the language of the new world, adapting to it. It is the transition from disintegration to understanding, where the individual learns to interpret chaos to derive a personal order.

Rubedo: Synthesis and Return to Reality

The final phase of the journey coincides with the alchemical process of rubedo, or the integration and attainment of a new awareness. In the Queen of Hearts’ courtroom, Alice witnesses an absurd trial where the sentence precedes the verdict—this is the last paradox she must face before awakening.

If in a spiritual interpretation this phase would represent enlightenment or the achievement of the philosopher’s stone, in a more rational approach, it symbolizes the return to logic after facing chaos. Alice does not deny the dream world but rejects it as a stable structure of reality: she has learned to navigate the absurd but now recognizes the limits of magical thinking and irrational rules.

Conclusion: Alice as a Model of Critical Thinking

Through her journey in Wonderland, Alice embodies the transition from a dogmatic and rigid mind to a more flexible and adaptable one. Carroll’s story can be read as a metaphor for the development of human consciousness: from initial confusion and disorientation to the deconstruction of pre-existing models, up to the synthesis of a new understanding of the world.

There is no magic, no transcendence: Alice’s true power is her ability to learn and adapt. Her journey, therefore, is not an initiation into a higher reality but an immersion into the possibilities and limits of the human mind. In an era where uncertainty is constant, Alice teaches us that the best tool for facing the world is critical thinking and the ability to adapt.