Jonathan Swift And The Psychedelic Adventure Of Gulliver

Jonathan Swift and the psychedelic adventure of Gulliver

Sometimes, I wonder what would be of seduction, if there was no provocation in between. Therefore, today I intend to seduce their attention, taking them to the field of the purest and hard speculation, inviting them- always and when they have the kindness of consenting to me or at least, give a vote of confidence to my claims- to take a look at those great classics of universal literature, from the point of view of a different reading. Reading, of which I hope not because of hypothetical and even strange that it may be, it does not constitute, in the end, something interesting that leads us to those sweet roads of the debate, that for every author- be this fan or consecrated- they result Always the best compensation, for your literary concerns.

It is also, also, and I recognize it from the beginning, that they could have suggested a review, with similar intentions, by Alicia, the Cumure and Universal work, by Antonomasia, of that Mathematical eccentric and king of the paradoxes, which was our good Friend, Mr. Carroll. But it would not be novel, because, if I remember correctly, there were already authors in the past that influenced such a suggestion, noticed, what is doubtful, by the presence of that mushroom – more than probable reference to that ‘food of the gods’, As in the past, Amanita Muscaria was considered, among others, that the editors, skilled manipulators when it comes to safeguard more innocent, a priori, such as cake and mirror.

Jonathan Swift, obviously, is less direct in that sense, but maybe it is for it, as well as for the details in which the plot of his novel, more seductively interestingly interesting.

With a subtlety worthy of the typical British phlegm, Swift, from the beginning of his novel, makes Gulliver himself allane the way, when he shows his desire to ‘travel’. The trip, of course, can be understood in a real way or in that other metaphorical sense, generally associated, either with lysergic acid or LSD either with the moderate consumption of some species of hallucinogenic fungi, such as the aforementioned amanita muscaria, of strong Presence in European forests and widely known and used in numerous sanctuaries and rituals of antiquity, such as ‘vehicle’ essential to connect with other states or levels of consciousness. Or if they prefer, as ‘key’ to open the door of that inner universe, than C.G. Jung defined how the collective unconscious.

In fact and metaphorically speaking, in this one, precisely, it leads us to think then Gulliver, when he tells us that his intention is to ‘embark’ and make the ‘trip’ through sea. The sea, such as the forest or as the caves and caves, have always constituted the most appropriate metaphors to define that collective unconscious proposed by Jung and in a way, they would tend to be, likewise, that ‘descent ad íferos’ or’ descent to The hell ‘, which constituted a recurring theme in medieval literature, based, generally on conceptions and myths prior to it, and in which Christianity also participates, as we all know.

From this point of view, it could be suggested that Gulliver’s journey, that is, his ‘transcendental adventure’, follows the same guidelines as a ‘descent ad Íferos’ or a psychedelic trip: Gulliverr embark and his journey is marked by a storm – The restless dream- that causes the shipwreck of the ship in which he travels- consciousness loses his strength and sense- and causes him the immersion in the abyssal abyss of the unconscious, to lead him to that point where myths speak with their own language , which is the symbol and where there are no limitations of space and time, as in the psychedelic experiences described by those navigators of the interior oceans, and where it is possible to experience the ‘small’ and the ‘large’ of a Determined and apparently ‘real’, as is the case to Gulliver; Experience, which also passed Lewis Carrol’s alice when he "traveled" to Wonderland and omit.

I wonder, as a climax, if the name of the country of the dwarves, suggested by Swift, Lilliput, will not actually be another ‘track’ that reaffirms us in this approach, because already at its root, it is named after that supposed Adam’s first woman, Lillith, who became demonized, queen of the night and Lamia, by Antonomasia, of the ‘dreamers’. Therefore, would they think of an excess of daring or a crazy proposition, suggest that Lili-Pout can be a reference, perhaps, related to the world of the unconscious and a metaphor of this and its part of nightmare, in the meaning of ‘putting or be under the influence of Lillith ‘?.