Oh man! I can just feel the nostalgia, remembering one of the most beautiful, iconic film scenes of all time! Simba seeing his deceased father Mufasa in the heavens, guided by our eccentric but wise comedic Shaman baboon named Rafiki! Great childhood times!
But in the last couple of years, going through my own journey and experience with lucid dreaming, I began to view this wonderful scene unusually.
I've come up with a theory that may upset many you and your fond childhood memories of The Lion King so if you do not wish to have your present views of the film altered then click away fast as can from this article.
So here it goes.
Simba's journey was inspired by the hallucinogenic effects of the Iboga plant native to the western central region of Africa. Here is some evidence to my theory.
Before Simba sees his father, Rafiki guides a confused & bewildered Simba through a jungle tunnel, a tunnel similar to what many iboga experiencers have claimed to see when ingesting the drug as well as feeling confused in the beginning of the iboga experience. Another similarly is the chanting music that plays intensely throughout the scene, akin to the tribal music played while under iboga.
This also represents the massive and rapid unblocking of Simba's third eye, running and cutting through all the mock, vines and cob webs that are in the way of his psychic vision, entering from the normal realm to the ether realm.
Making it to the other side, Simba doesn't feel and see anything extraordinary. Rafiki assures the impatient lion to wait and see what happens. When Mufasa appears, everything else disappears from Rafiki to the earthly background, implying that Simba was seeing him in his head and through his third eye.
The circular tunnel symbolism surrounding the Mufasa ghost scene is quite prevalent in these examples above and is quite similar to what I have seen in vivid lucid dreaming as well.
Now what seals the theory for me is this major difference from the VHS release to the blue ray release of this scene below.
Why have Mufasa's clouds disappeared in the Blue Ray version from the viewers perspective? Was this to imply further that this was in Simba's head all along? Wheater deliberate or not, this drastic change is quite strange from the original version. I wonder if they changed it believing more people were ready and mature enough to view this scene in an unconventional way. For me it proves my theory further.
What I love about this scene is that Rafiki is always by Simba's side, similar to the Shaman ways of guiding their subjects and making sure that no harm comes to them while under a spiritual psychedelic trance.
So that's it for my theory. I am not suggesting that Simba's journey was any less real or especially any less important, nor it is meant to offend anybody, regardless of their beliefs or experiences.
I am simply offering a different view on this beautiful, iconic scene.
Thank you all for reading my theory and have a good day!
MSWonders
