When INTJs Write

“But I don't want to go among mad people,” said Alice. “Oh, you can't help that,” said the cat. “We're all mad here.” ~ Lewis Carroll

Could you imagine, would you imagine, if only for but a moment, that Charles L. Dodgson were to be alive with us this very day? A twisted chap that one was, indeed! If in fact he was with us, which he isn’t, but he could be – might be – if he were, but he isn’t, so he ain’t, and that is the logic behind our favorite prose of his: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

It’s been a great weekend for many movie-goers and Alice fans to see Through the Looking Glass in live action, with a little help from computer generated cinematography and the like. But imagine this if you will, if in fact Lewis Carroll were with us today, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland nor Through the Looking Glass may have never seen the light of day.

If Charles L. Dodgson were a boy today, he would probably be labeled somewhere on the spectrum. Charles excelled at math. He was actually a mathematical genius. He was melancholy in his disposition, but at the same time took interest in what most people considered useless aspirations. Dodgson also had a stammering problem. He got on well with children, but didn’t have much use for adults. It is theorized that a young Alice Liddle was the subject of his famous prose, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Alice Liddle ~ 1858

When you have a gentleman like Dodgson, there are things to be considered about his wacky children’s story. Is it just a story, or could there be something more? It is a well-known fact that Dodgson was an INTJ (Myers-Briggs). Interestingly enough, so was mathematician and author, C. S. Lewis (Narnia series).  The difference between the two being Dodgson was also a logician ~ one who is adept at logic (driven by logic).

One of the most reiterated quotes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is: “I’ve believed six impossible things before breakfast.” What if Dodgson really did believe six impossible things before breakfast, and figured out how to make them possible, yet couldn’t express them in adult terms?

Scientists and mathematicians around the world should take a long look at the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Hunting the Snark, Sylvie and Bruno, and in fact, all of Dodgson’s work as He wrote them. However, to make the scientific adventure worthy of the endeavor, one should read it as though one were a child with all preconceived notions thrown out the proverbial window, and at the same time, keeping all one’s own scientific knowledge at the forefront of one’s mind.

As an INTJ and author myself, I often use metaphor and symbolism in my writing to make sense of some of the complex thoughts that go on in my inner world, as did Dodgson and C. S. Lewis.

Both Dodgson and Lewis focused on quantum theory in their writing – traveling between dimensions and even through time. Lewis (to my knowledge) did not publish books on mathematical theory, however, Dodgson did. What if…just what if…Dodgson used his writing as a means to sort out his thoughts on quantum theory? What if, buried in the midst of all his works is the key to unlocking quantum theory? What if it has been plain as the noses on our faces this past century and we didn’t even know it? Perhaps the answer isn’t in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass, but these are only his thought boards to something even greater.

It sounds silly, but as Jane Austen, another prolific INTJ, once said, “Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.”