Sleep Like a Koala

Koalas are professional, dedicated sleepers. They’ve no hesitation to put in twenty hours of sleep a day. Yes! That’s right, they can go as far as 80% of the day spent in another dimension. With around ten hours of sleep per day, sloths look like hyperactive absolute mad lads with OCD compared to them.

Does this make koalas the laziest mammals or the most Jungian ones? Do they go into the realm of sleep and dreams to escape from reality or rather to gain a better understanding of it?

“Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside, awakes.” — Carl Jung

The origin of the word “koala” gives us some hints. It’s the concatenation of two words: KO and ALA. KO means to be knocked out, hence describing the sleeping habit of this cute animal. And ALA is short for Alala, a sound we usually emit when scared, surprised, or anticipating some dreadful consequences. However, Alala isn’t a sign of passiveness. Alala is also “the personification of the war-cry in Greek mythology”. It’s a sound of readiness for the fight! It’s a sound acknowledging that the situation, as difficult and scary as it may be, should be (and is going to be) dealt with. Gaining knowledge about our instincts and understanding our drives is an arduous endeavor. It takes tremendous courage to follow the path to consciousness.

Staying in the Matrix can be very enjoyable. Who wouldn’t want to savor eucalyptus leaves all day long? Touching ground from time to time, only to reach for another tree (restaurant). Who would refuse the warming feeling of good cuddling with the tourists (willing to pay a fee for catching fleas)? Staying in the Matrix is staying hypnotized, in the middle of reality, and yet utterly disconnected from it.

“Staying in the Matrix” or “moving forward on the path to consciousness” isn’t so much a choice as a matter of belief. And koalas’ answer is clear. It’s the great Church of the Sleeper. Contrary to the belief that they’re asocial animals, koalas’ minds are densely interconnected, uniting in the worship of sleeping. Most likely believing in the cycle of reincarnation, Koalas take as much time as possible to explore their unconscious, working to make the awakening happen.

Koalas don’t go to sleep but enter the battlefield. They enter the aboriginal Dreamtime looking for transcendence.

Fight for yourself! Explore your unconscious! Sleep like a koala!