The Doors of Perception / Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley

Unlike 'The Doors of Perception,' 'Heaven and Hell' does not recount any specific experience that the author had with mescalin. The second essay, 'Heaven and Hell,' provides a more general analysis of the ability of human beings to achieve transcendence and knowledge. Religion becomes especially important when he discusses his views on why people take drugs and how people try to achieve visionary experiences. Huxley also makes reference to a variety of religious beliefs throughout this essay. He relates many of them to the works of famous artists or authors both to better explain his visions to the reader and to prove the powerful visionary effects that art can produce. Huxley describes the visions he has while under mescalin in very vivid terms.

Huxley also broadly explores why people take drugs, some of what they experience when they are under the influence of drugs, and the need for all people to have visionary experiences. The essay explains how the author comes to be involved in the experiment and what happens while he is under the influence of the drug. The first essay in this book, 'The Doors of Perception,' describes an experiment that the author enters into in 1953 to test the effects of mescalin (more commonly spelled mescaline, but mescalin is what Huxley uses throughout), the psychedelic ingredient in peyote. The main themes of the book are transcendence, utility, thought, and self-awareness. Huxley's experiences and opinions with the subject matter make him an informative author. The work is philosophical in nature and presents many ideas that may seem controversial or difficult to understand. His paternal grandfather was Thomas Henry Huxley, the famed zoologist known as “Darwin’s Bulldog.” His family had both literary and scientific intellectuals-his father also had botanical laboratory-, and his brothers Julian and Andrew Huxley eventually became famed biologists in their own right.The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley is a volume containing two essays on the subject of visionary experiences, transcendence, and truth. His father, Leonard, was a schoolmaster and editor of the literary journal Cornhill Magazine, while his mother, Julia, was the founder of Prior’s School.

Partners: Maria Nys (married 1919, died 1955) Laura Archera (married 1956)Īldous Leonard Huxley was born in Surrey, England, on July 26, 1894.

Notable Works: Brave New World (1932), Perennial Philosophy (1945), Island (1962).

Education: Balliol College, Oxford University.

Parents: Leonard Huxley and Julia Arnold.

Known For: His eerily accurate portrayal of dystopian society in his book Brave New World (1932) and for his devotion to Vedanta.

The Doors of Perception / Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley