One afternoon in Los Angeles in 1953, Aldous Huxley took mescalin, the active hallucinogen from a sacred cactus known to Mexicans as peyotl. The Doors of Perception is his account of his experience that day.
Perhaps best known for Brave New World, which sits alongside George Orwell's 1984 as two of the great dystopian novels written in English, Huxley took a keen interest in the human species, evolution and neuroscience. In particular, it was his belief that the workings of the brain, which had evolved over many millions of years with the primary instinct to ensure survival, mitigated against the true experience of the world around us. Thus it is not psychoactive substances that distort our perceptions of reality; rather, it is evolution that has, for perfectly sound reasons, eliminated elements of reality that we do not need for survival. It is the human mind as a filter of reality.
In Huxley's telling, mescalin opened doors that otherwise block our view of the richness of the boundless plains of reality all around us. In that afternoon in LA, he experienced the suspension of time and space, and the melting away of the ego. He talks about artists and their heightened ability to perceive things. He talks about the experiences of schizophrenics, portraying their moments not only of despair, but also of unadulterated joy. He talks about the profundity of religious experience, in particular of the philosophical divergence between the Eastern and Western views of the world. In each case, they provide access to a reality we do not otherwise perceive or need for any practical purpose.
Not the easiest read, perhaps because of a certain grandiosity in Huxley’s prose, but it is worthwhile to end with a quote: "The function of the brain and nervous system is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant knowledge, by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment, and leaving only that very small and special selection which is likely to be practically useful."
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It is not the cover I selected. I have this copy already. Not that I dislike this one. It’s just the other cover means a lot to me. And I lend it to a friend. That later introduced me to my fiancé and mother of my unborn child. (She in labour now.) I wanted the blue book cover specifically. Sorry to be an utter pedantic Karen on it. Apologies. But that’s the only reason I ordered a new copy. This copy. Show as the product.
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