Friday, September 6, 2013

How you know you're in Wonderland


Florianopolis, Brazil

On my first night in Florianopolis, after surviving 48 hours of grueling travel and going straight on to lead a workshop, I was greeted on my way to my room by a white rabbit, running in front of me across a grassy courtyard. "Alice in Wonderland!" cried a young Brazilian in my workshop group.
    In the morning, I learned that the white rabbit belongs to a hotel employee, is female, and comes when he whistles. It struck me that this white rabbit is better than the one who is worried about getting late in Alice's story. As in that wonderful tale, its appearance tells you that you are in Wonderland, well and truly down the bunny hole. 
But in this case Wonderland is available on demand. All you need to is whistle. 
    I whistled a lot in my Floripa workshop. Every time I wanted the group to come together again for an excellent new adventure in nonordinary reality.
    The rabbit posed while I took her photograph. When I was leaving the hotel on Wednesday, on my long journey home, she came running through the reception, into the cafe where I was waiting for my ride, to bid me farewell. When I whistled, she paused to let me take her farewell photo.

 





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