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Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML: The critically acclaimed novelist and social critic Aldous Huxley, describes his personal experimentation with the drug mescaline and explores the nature of visionary experience. The title of this classic comes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.".
User reviews
LibraryThing member jwcs81
Huxley's "The Doors of Perception" is one of the most interesting books i've encountered. Obviously, its notable for its account of an experiment with the drug mescalin, found in peyote. The fundamental notion of the work is that the mind acts, in its most normal and evolved state, as a "reducing
I found this book to be interesting, informative, and challenging. All symptoms of a good read.
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valve." The world of perception is way too intense for one mind to encounter so it seeks to reduce experiences as a need for survival. A drug induced experience allows for the opening of said "reducing valve" ushering in opportunities to see things "isness" and "suchness." I found it particularly interesting that Huxleys suggested that the increase in drug use is in direct relationship to the lack of "transcendance" provided by organized religion. A shortcoming Huxley thinks the church should be addressing. I found this book to be interesting, informative, and challenging. All symptoms of a good read.
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LibraryThing member RajivC
This is the second time that I read this book. The first time was when I was in college, and we were very open to all things psychedelic. At that time we were all reading the books of Carlos Castaneda, and were fascinated by anything and everything that had to do with mescalin and peyote.
When I
Having said that, it is a very good book. The appendices are well worth the read, and while he does reduce some mystical experiences to the level of an increased amount of carbon dioxide in the body, I don't think that he debunks the actual experience.
This is a remarkable book, by a remarkable author.
When I
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read the book at that time, I read it as an endorsement for the use of mescalin. However, times changed, and when I read it again, I read it as a rather erudite writing on the use of the drug, as well as the experience. Some of that earlier, innocent, magic was missing in this re-reading of the book.Having said that, it is a very good book. The appendices are well worth the read, and while he does reduce some mystical experiences to the level of an increased amount of carbon dioxide in the body, I don't think that he debunks the actual experience.
This is a remarkable book, by a remarkable author.
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LibraryThing member Hectigo
This was an interesting read, especially in the reference frame of more modern research on human perception. Our knowledge of the inner workings of the brain has expanded considerably since Huxley's days, but he's got the basic idea narrowed down surprisingly well. It's quite a testament to how
What especially stands out in this book is the quality of the writing. Huxley has extraordinary ability to convey exotic internal experiences in text, and it's no wonder the book gained quite a following during the rise of the hippie movement. I disagree with the spiritual implications Huxley drew from his experiences, but the parallels to how artists perceive the world are doubly interesting. Transporting, indeed!
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reality can be explored by looking into within.What especially stands out in this book is the quality of the writing. Huxley has extraordinary ability to convey exotic internal experiences in text, and it's no wonder the book gained quite a following during the rise of the hippie movement. I disagree with the spiritual implications Huxley drew from his experiences, but the parallels to how artists perceive the world are doubly interesting. Transporting, indeed!
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LibraryThing member Curtisclennon
Reads like no other book - mesmerising! The title incidently, is where the band 'The Doors' took their name from.
LibraryThing member ToddSherman
“But the man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less cocksure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of
One of the handful of books I’m reading to bone up for my next novel: 𝘛𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘤 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘫𝘢𝘳𝘴.
I didn’t get nearly as much information out of this that I’d expected, but man, it was a great read. Huxley’s one of the few writers who can slip into philosophy as easily as fiction and not bore the living bejesus out of me. He sure had a predilection for the words “antipodes” and “preternatural” in this work, so I’ll make sure to sneak those terms into mine as well.
And now I really, really, really want to munch on some mescaline.
Also, the appendices were nearly as interesting as the proper essays. Another rarity in a writer. I could read a different Huxley book every month.
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systematic reasoning to the unfathomable Mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend.”One of the handful of books I’m reading to bone up for my next novel: 𝘛𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘤 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘫𝘢𝘳𝘴.
I didn’t get nearly as much information out of this that I’d expected, but man, it was a great read. Huxley’s one of the few writers who can slip into philosophy as easily as fiction and not bore the living bejesus out of me. He sure had a predilection for the words “antipodes” and “preternatural” in this work, so I’ll make sure to sneak those terms into mine as well.
And now I really, really, really want to munch on some mescaline.
Also, the appendices were nearly as interesting as the proper essays. Another rarity in a writer. I could read a different Huxley book every month.
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LibraryThing member TakeItOrLeaveIt
anyone who has interest in the future and everyone who has experimented with acid or psychedelic drugs in general must this book (preferably before the drugs)
LibraryThing member juliana_t
I enjoyed Huxley's perspective as a research subject experiencing the effects of mescalin for the first time. Also enjoyed the description of art/artists and how Huxley sees art history as connected to the visionary experience of a 'mescalin taker.'
LibraryThing member andyray
As did AA co-founder Bill Wilson and former senator Eugene MacCarthy and Ram Doss and manyh others, Huxley writes of the experience of ingesting mescalinl, also known as peyote, a drug that southwest American natives have used for eons as a spiritual aid. he explained things that put its proper use
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into place for me. When I was raging and thinking hurtful things, if I had dropped that or LSD then I would have had a "bad trip," but now that I have a serene heart and a loving soul, I want to have some; i want the experience. Show Less
LibraryThing member alanfurth
In this book, Huxley tries to make sense of his experience with mescaline, a drug used for centuries by indigenous peoples of North America and Mexico to induce spiritually significant altered mental states.
Huxley's prowess for narrative and articulate reporting make the book a particularly
He cites the work of Cambridge philosopher C. D. Broad to support his conclusion that we are all potentially "Mind at Large," which in principle supports the age-old mystical notion, articulated from a scientific point of view by Bernard Haisch in his book "The God Theory" that we are manifestations of an overarching consciousness that creates our universe through its will to realize its infinite potential.
Huxley's views on the function of the brain as a sort of filter that extracts a finite portion of reality from the infinite sea of consciousness is also consistent with Haisch's theory:
"To make biological survival possible, Mind at Large has to be funneled through the reducing valve of the brain and nervous system. What comes at the other end is a measly trickle of the kind of consciousness which will help us to stay alive on the surface of this particular planet."
To this, Haisch adds:
"If this interpretation is true, your consciousness is limited and attenuated for very good reason-to permit you to exist and function in ordinary reality. The danger, which is clearly evident in the world today, is that you mistake restricted consciousness and and its attendant limited reality for a complete explanation. As a result, you completely misinterpret your own nature."
Huxley's prowess for narrative and articulate reporting make the book a particularly
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engaging read, but are not enough to allow him to transmit the full gist of what he experienced with mescaline -- he makes clear from the outset that he seems to have experienced a totally different reality that cannot properly be reduced to ordinary language.He cites the work of Cambridge philosopher C. D. Broad to support his conclusion that we are all potentially "Mind at Large," which in principle supports the age-old mystical notion, articulated from a scientific point of view by Bernard Haisch in his book "The God Theory" that we are manifestations of an overarching consciousness that creates our universe through its will to realize its infinite potential.
Huxley's views on the function of the brain as a sort of filter that extracts a finite portion of reality from the infinite sea of consciousness is also consistent with Haisch's theory:
"To make biological survival possible, Mind at Large has to be funneled through the reducing valve of the brain and nervous system. What comes at the other end is a measly trickle of the kind of consciousness which will help us to stay alive on the surface of this particular planet."
To this, Haisch adds:
"If this interpretation is true, your consciousness is limited and attenuated for very good reason-to permit you to exist and function in ordinary reality. The danger, which is clearly evident in the world today, is that you mistake restricted consciousness and and its attendant limited reality for a complete explanation. As a result, you completely misinterpret your own nature."
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LibraryThing member VVilliam
An interesting read, although very lacking in parts. I enjoyed Doors of Perception quite a bit, and found Huxley's insights onto mystic visions and their relation to religion insightful. He also does a nice job giving the feeling of experiencing mescalin with him. Heave and Hell, however, was very
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dissappointing. I felt that most of his claims were ill founded and that he made several leaps in logic that weren't valid (like religious singing's purpose is to expel oxygen to create visions). Huxley is also very much an art scholar, so familiarity with various art styles is a must. The appendixes are worth a read as well. I would recommend this book to someone interested in how visions/drug experiences are reflected in art and the social conscience. Show Less
LibraryThing member dbsovereign
If you ever have or ever plan to do any kind of mind-altering substance, you might want to check this book (written back in 1954 !) out, along with Timothy Leary/Ram Das (Richard Alpert) and Ralph Metzner's book _The Psychedelic Experience_ which was written back in 1964. A clear message now - be
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here now - when you worry about the past or try to project yourself into some certain future riddled with expectation, you will almost certainly be unsuccessful. This is also, in case you hadn't already noticed a central part of both the teachings of this guy we all know as Jesus and also of that poker/happy-faced guy from India known as Buddha. Show Less
LibraryThing member Nicholas_Floyd
When I first read The Doors of Perception / Heaven and Hell, most of it was lost on me, and I assumed this was because at the time I lacked any experience with psychedelics. The second time I read the book — many years and many psychedelics later — I still found myself struggling to follow
Lesson One: don't alienate the reader.
I'm not sure who Huxley's intended audience might have been, but it certainly was not the casual reader, regardless of psychedelic experience. Below is a list of the names that Huxley casually references without any explanation, seemingly under the assumption that the reader is already well familiar with each:
Pickwick, Sir John Falstaff, Joe Louis, Lungarno, Meister Eckhart, Suzuki, Braque, Juan Gris, Bergson, Wordsworth, St. John of the Cross, Hakuin, Hui-neng, William Law, Laurent Tailhade, Botticelli, Ruskin, Piero, El Greco, Cosimo Tura, Watteau, Cythera, Ingres, Mme. Moitessier, Cezanne, Arnold Bennett, Vermeer, The Le Nain brothers, Vuillard
That's just from the first forty pages or so. I gave up and stopped writing them down after that.
Lesson Two: be clear and concise.
In the passage below, Huxley describes a chair that caught his attention during his mescaline experience:
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I spent several minutes — or was it several centuries? — not merely gazing at those bamboo legs, but actually being them — or rather being myself in them; or, to be still more accurate (for "I" was not involved in the case, nor in a certain sense were "they") being my Not-self in the Not-self which was the chair.
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Under the influence of psychedelics, I too have felt entranced by common household objects, toiled over the distinction between self & not-self, etc., so I can relate to the sentiment, but the passage above (along with many others) struck me as rather confusing.
Huxley was clearly a pretty smart dude, and the book contains interesting ideas (some more believable than others), but overall the book simply left me scratching my head.
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along. I generally don't write negative reviews, but I think this book offers at least two valuable lessons to writers.Lesson One: don't alienate the reader.
I'm not sure who Huxley's intended audience might have been, but it certainly was not the casual reader, regardless of psychedelic experience. Below is a list of the names that Huxley casually references without any explanation, seemingly under the assumption that the reader is already well familiar with each:
Pickwick, Sir John Falstaff, Joe Louis, Lungarno, Meister Eckhart, Suzuki, Braque, Juan Gris, Bergson, Wordsworth, St. John of the Cross, Hakuin, Hui-neng, William Law, Laurent Tailhade, Botticelli, Ruskin, Piero, El Greco, Cosimo Tura, Watteau, Cythera, Ingres, Mme. Moitessier, Cezanne, Arnold Bennett, Vermeer, The Le Nain brothers, Vuillard
That's just from the first forty pages or so. I gave up and stopped writing them down after that.
Lesson Two: be clear and concise.
In the passage below, Huxley describes a chair that caught his attention during his mescaline experience:
--------------------
I spent several minutes — or was it several centuries? — not merely gazing at those bamboo legs, but actually being them — or rather being myself in them; or, to be still more accurate (for "I" was not involved in the case, nor in a certain sense were "they") being my Not-self in the Not-self which was the chair.
--------------------
Under the influence of psychedelics, I too have felt entranced by common household objects, toiled over the distinction between self & not-self, etc., so I can relate to the sentiment, but the passage above (along with many others) struck me as rather confusing.
Huxley was clearly a pretty smart dude, and the book contains interesting ideas (some more believable than others), but overall the book simply left me scratching my head.
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LibraryThing member guhlitz
This particular reading had my mind space cornered in several areas of subjective reality. Huxley's illucidating writing was defined and very subjective of course from his own experience with the ontological experiences of perception. Subjectivity begets subjectivity, and the beauty which is
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invoked within this text is provacative beyond reasonable doubt, and in my opinion unparralled by any other pschedellic laureate from this particular era. Huxley was well into his fifties when Albert Hoffman's LSD came to market; leading me to believe Aldous had quite the foundation of intellect and knowledge to extrapolate upon. And the greatest Door of Perception...Huxley's wife administering LSD directly into his blood, while he lay dying in the hospital, sending him to the heavens on Nov. 22, 1963....the day John F. Kennedy was assasinated...."People are strange, when you're a Stranger" Show Less
LibraryThing member peterjameswest
I bought this book a long time ago and only recently started reading it. Initially it caught my eye as something that might be interesting from a psychology perspective. Doors of Perception is difficult to define in terms of who will like it. It deals with how we perceive images, colour and the
The book also covers many aspects of different paintings by various artists and touches on spiritual experiences. It talks about a valve that filters the world so that our brains can cope with the level of input, and how to open that valve to allow more input into our brains so that we experience beyond the normal reality.
Large parts of the book are rambling and lack focus. It uses the word 'preternatural' more times than you will find anywhere else on earth.
Probably a more oppressive editor would have done wonders for this book. There is some good content, largely in the latter sections of the book and the appendices, but you need a fair amount of stamina to dig them out of Huxley's clearly intelligent but rambling discourse. If he'd found someone to help shape his thoughts into a more concise and structured book it would be easier to chew. Still, if you have an interest in perception, hallucinations, or mind altering substances and experiences, you may well find some insight here. Artists with an edge in how we perceive and render colours and objects may also enjoy this book.
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reality around us, and tries to analyse what makes this perception vivid or lacking in different people. It covers the use of drugs such as Mescalin and the effects that these drugs have on our perception. He takes the drug as part of an experiment and undergoes an interview and practical session to see how it has affected his vision and thinking.The book also covers many aspects of different paintings by various artists and touches on spiritual experiences. It talks about a valve that filters the world so that our brains can cope with the level of input, and how to open that valve to allow more input into our brains so that we experience beyond the normal reality.
Large parts of the book are rambling and lack focus. It uses the word 'preternatural' more times than you will find anywhere else on earth.
Probably a more oppressive editor would have done wonders for this book. There is some good content, largely in the latter sections of the book and the appendices, but you need a fair amount of stamina to dig them out of Huxley's clearly intelligent but rambling discourse. If he'd found someone to help shape his thoughts into a more concise and structured book it would be easier to chew. Still, if you have an interest in perception, hallucinations, or mind altering substances and experiences, you may well find some insight here. Artists with an edge in how we perceive and render colours and objects may also enjoy this book.
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LibraryThing member smichaelwilson
The Doors of Perception:
“The effective object of worship is the bottle and the sole religious experience is that state of uninhibited and belligerent euphoria which follows the ingestion of the third cocktail.”
To put it bluntly, The Doors of Perception is a first-hand account of Brave New
The Doors of Perception is probably one of the most scholarly and grounded first-hand accounts of a hallucinogenic journey you'll ever read, as Huxley takes periodic breaks to expound upon drugs (not all, mind you) as a tool to aid in understanding the perceptions of those suffering from metal illnesses and seeing how the "genius" sees the world, as well as the religious connotations in and human necessity towards chemically aided transcendence.
Huxley would later experiment with LSD and continue to support the clinical and societal benefits of hallucinogenics, and would receive injections of LSD on his deathbed at his request. This book is an a must read for anyone interested in the scholarly pursuit of better living through chemistry, or the history of the modern approach and examination of such drugs.
“The effective object of worship is the bottle and the sole religious experience is that state of uninhibited and belligerent euphoria which follows the ingestion of the third cocktail.”
To put it bluntly, The Doors of Perception is a first-hand account of Brave New
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World author Aldous Huxley's documented experience of tripping balls on mescaline. I've always found it telling how high schools (at least in the eighties and nineties when I attended) would eagerly lead students through an anti-drug perspective of Brave New world without bothering to mention Huxley's later experimentation and promotion of hallucinogenics as positive tool towards psychological and philosophical growth. The Doors of Perception is probably one of the most scholarly and grounded first-hand accounts of a hallucinogenic journey you'll ever read, as Huxley takes periodic breaks to expound upon drugs (not all, mind you) as a tool to aid in understanding the perceptions of those suffering from metal illnesses and seeing how the "genius" sees the world, as well as the religious connotations in and human necessity towards chemically aided transcendence.
Huxley would later experiment with LSD and continue to support the clinical and societal benefits of hallucinogenics, and would receive injections of LSD on his deathbed at his request. This book is an a must read for anyone interested in the scholarly pursuit of better living through chemistry, or the history of the modern approach and examination of such drugs.
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LibraryThing member hennis
Interesting read about how a great writer experiences mescalin. Second part (heaven and hell), I found less interesting. Appendices are interesting again..
LibraryThing member autumnc
Careful- the Doors of Perception is a life-changer.
LibraryThing member drwhy
Huxley's fascinating account of LSD experimentation in the early 1950's.......Title of his book was taken as a name
by the Rock group, "The Doors of Perception"
by the Rock group, "The Doors of Perception"
LibraryThing member pancakekiller
could huxley get any better? i think not.
LibraryThing member sarahtakash
It was good- but pretty matter-of-fact. I felt as though he was just recounting what he did. It was interesting, but nothing novel or inspirational for me- probably because I had already known.
LibraryThing member joeydag
I think I read this when I was in college years ago. I don't remember much but it was interesting material.
LibraryThing member wickenden
Aldous Huxley: respectable when one mentions "Brave New World", despised for "The Doors of Perception". This book is two books in one, the first well known. Huxley experimented with mescaline and LSD, going so far as order himself injected with many cc's of LSD on his deathbed. What a trip that
A wonderful book by a legend.
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must have been! He believed that LSD and other "pschedelic" drugs opened up a "valve" that normally stays closed except for intense periods when humans are mating, meditating or engaged in some intense activity. The valve is required for evolutionary survival, but it closes of much perception that is useful, just not for the everday.A wonderful book by a legend.
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LibraryThing member jakebornheimer
The Doors of Perception is very interesting, but Heaven and Hell is complete nonsense.
The former is fascinating for being a trip report by a person born pre-1900. In addition, Huxley was definitely an excellent writer who was able to accurately relay his experience. And his experience was
The latter piece is a bunch of hogwash, written 2-3 years after his mescalin experience, that largely attempts to rationally explain psychedelic phenomena. Huxley seems to have drunk the Jungian Kool-Aid and sincerely believes that the chemical changes in the brain due to mescalin have the effect of allowing us to access sense-data from the collective unconscious - in his words "the Mind-at-Large". There are many similarly foolish claims here too. One could give the excuse that he lived long enough ago to make these ideas plausible, but Huxley himself opened Heaven and Hell by remarking that at that point in time (1953) the study of the mind was in the naturalist/collector stage of scientific progress, and that they were not yet ready for classification, analysis, and theory. He knew what he was doing was likely to be without merit, but he did it anyway. Skip Heaven and Hell.
The former is fascinating for being a trip report by a person born pre-1900. In addition, Huxley was definitely an excellent writer who was able to accurately relay his experience. And his experience was
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remarkably similar to mine! I especially enjoyed the kind of 'literary criticism' he performed during and after the experience, in which he discussed the similarities between the psychedelic experience and Buddhist notions of the dharmakāya & Buddha nature, as well as its relations to art and literature. An interesting fact that I just stumbled upon when writing this: at the time of the book, Huxley was if not blind, then quite visually impaired. This calls into question the intensely visual aspect of his experience. In the book he described with what seemed to be perfect clarity his visual experiences. How much of this was his experience, how much was mescalin, and how much was his experience with the aforementioned literature of art and visionary writers? Overall though, The Doors of Perception was compelling and well worth reading.The latter piece is a bunch of hogwash, written 2-3 years after his mescalin experience, that largely attempts to rationally explain psychedelic phenomena. Huxley seems to have drunk the Jungian Kool-Aid and sincerely believes that the chemical changes in the brain due to mescalin have the effect of allowing us to access sense-data from the collective unconscious - in his words "the Mind-at-Large". There are many similarly foolish claims here too. One could give the excuse that he lived long enough ago to make these ideas plausible, but Huxley himself opened Heaven and Hell by remarking that at that point in time (1953) the study of the mind was in the naturalist/collector stage of scientific progress, and that they were not yet ready for classification, analysis, and theory. He knew what he was doing was likely to be without merit, but he did it anyway. Skip Heaven and Hell.
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LibraryThing member vyode
"the doors..." changed the way i look at things [ like black moon (movie) ]. "heaven hell" brings to mind jewels. i am thankful for the former.
LibraryThing member RickGeissal
As I expected Aldous Huxley wrote a book that is very meaningful to me about different methods of getting thru doors to see what is real. I had not known that he had used mescaline as one of those methods, but he did; and what he wrote about that experience was enlightening.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1959 (together in collection)
1954 (Doors of Perception)
1956 (Heaven and Hell)
ISBN
3492100066 / 9783492100069