Huxley

[Pow R. Toc H.]

Thoughts on Huxley?

I think that he is a good writer. Not just for BNW but The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell.

Anybody Else Like Huxley?

[chimx]

I really liked Island. But the only other thing I've read by him is BNW.

[Mujer Libre]

I should have bought that copy of Doors of Perception that I saw at a second hand book market in London. :(

I've also read Brave New World Revisited- a book of essays by him on themes dealt with in BNW- some of it was good and other bits seemed dodgy to me. But that was years ago so my memory is very fuzzy and I don't have the book on me so I can't look at it.

[bezdomni]

I like all of the novels I've read by him...but some of his essays are too heavy on the mysticism (Doors of Perception).

[che-Rabbi]

He was big into LSD infact, not only was he close friends with Timothy Leary but also, Doors Of Perception was inspired by his experiences with the drug. My favorite testament to his intrepid personality, on his death bed he requested that he be given LSD.

[Pow R. Toc H.]

Actually The Doors of Perception was about his experiences on Mescaline. The book I really want to read by him is Point Counter Point.

[Liberateeducate]

I've only read island and BNW, but im looking into buying many of his works and reading them. I'm really interesting in the book The Perennial Philosophy, anyone read that?

[Raúl Duke]

I read from some other book talking about LSD (its history and such; only read excerpts since I don't have money to buy those books now) that Huxley held a different view of psychedelics, as something only a few (an elite of sorts) should take, while Leary and obviously Ken Kelsey thought it should be given to all who wanted (as one person described this as "acid populism").

[x359594]

I've only read island and BNW, but im looking into buying many of his works and reading them. I'm really interesting in the book The Perennial Philosophy, anyone read that?

The Perennial Philosophy is a compilation of religious texts with commentary by Huxley on what he describes as the "highest common denominator" of world religions.

Concerning his interest in psychedelics, Huxley held the view that their use should be for exploring consciousness rather than for recreation, and in this view he was of one mind with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert who also emphasized "set" and "setting", namely one's state of mind at the time of taking the drug and the material circumstances under which one was taking it. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters got high for the fun it, but they were of a different generation, and unlike Leary and Alpert they were not Harvard psychologists.

[Comrade Anarchist]

I have only read Brave new world but i loved it.

[Raúl Duke]

Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters got high for the fun it, but they were of a different generationSubstantiate this.

According to a few sources (here's one (http://tripatlas.com/Merry_Pranksters)):


There was disagreement between Kesey and the Pranksters and Leary and his followers over the direction of the psychedelic movement. Dr. Leary initially argued that psychedelic drugs should be approached in a serious, scientific manner for psychological and spiritual enlightenment. The Leary camp originally opposed giving people psychedelics outside of a controlled setting and especially denounced giving the drugs to people without their knowledge. Kesey however believed that psychedelics were best used as a tool for transforming society as a whole, and believed that if a sufficient percentage of the population had the psychedelic experience then revolutionary social and political changes would occur. Therefore they made LSD available to anyone interested in partaking - most famously through the "electric koolaid" made available at the Acid Test (http://tripatlas.com/Acid_Test) events they would sponsor in the years following the bus trip. As the use of LSD spread widely through the Western world, Leary ultimately joined the bandwagon of "acid populism" as well.I doubt it the plan was just "for the fun of it" although obviously, that might have been one aspect about it.