On the free book shelf at the Bodhi Tree, I stumbled across a rare find.
Ah, a pristine copy of the "Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley which chronicles his experimentation with the hallucinogenic drug, mescaline.
During that time span, Huxley fervently explored the inner workings of his mind at a quaint little house in Llano in the Mojave Desert.
The big thrust was on the topic of contemplation, mysticism, and a mind-expanding experiment that would lead him to conclude that both "mescaline" and the controversial drug "lysergic acid" (LSD) were "drugs of distinction" which should be exploited for their "supernaturally brilliant visionary experience".
The book went on to become a best-seller in the psychedelic 1960s and inspired the name of the legendary rock band "The Doors".
For those of you into trivia, Huxley also appeared on the sleeve of a landmark Beatles album - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - which scholars and Beatle fans alike are quick to point out featured a curiously surreal tune - "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" - which they assert refers to an LSD trip embarked on by the fab four.
In retrospect, the mind-bending adventure on the part of Huxley, appeared to be brought on by a lofty quest to go beyond this realm of existence.
The book is rife with colorful insightful text.
"The urge to transcend self-conscious self-hood is, as I have said, a principal appetite of the soul. When, for whatever reason, men and women fail to transcend themselves by means of worship, good works, and spiritual excesses, they are apt to resort to religion's chemical surrogates such as alcohol and "goof pills" in the modern West, alcohol and opium in the East, hashish in the Mohammedan world, alcohol and marijuana in Central America, alcohol and coca in the Andes, alcohol and the barbiturates in the more up-to-date regions of South America."
However, Huxley never deluded himself, if we are to believe his musings in one telling section of the cult classic.
"I am not so foolish as to equate what happens under the influence of mescaline or of any other drug, prepared or in the future preparable, with the realization of the end and ultimate purpose of human life: enlightenment, the beatific vision. All I am suggesting is that the mescaline experience is what Catholic theologians call a "gratuitous grace", not necessary to salvation but potentially helpful and to be accepted thankfully, if made available."
"To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and the inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by "Mind at Large" - this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone and especially to the intellectual."
A number of the profound ponderings and other-worldly observations put forth here were undoubtedly triggered by the potent swagger of the mind-altering drug.
A worthwhile read, if you can find it in print.
He said what?
"An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex."
