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charactergoose's review against another edition
5.0
Aldous Huxley's partake and experimental, view on psychadelics really fascinated me, and lead me to other resources in which I questioned my previous beliefs and views on human consciousness. His studies go into depth of his experience on psychedelics, to what he was able to intricately and creatively explain the connection between art and psychology, religion, and the impact throughout human history in nearly philosophical terms. His explanation with historical context will have you asking yourself what connections to art and history psychedelics had a great influence on throughout the Eastern and Western world. I think this would be a great read for those interested in psychology, art, and understanding religion and consciousness as a whole.
slm_7's review against another edition
5.0
Had we all Huxley's capacity to describe what our own doors have shown us. A must read!
ruxandra_grr's review against another edition
2.0
It did not feel very engaging to me, but maybe because Huxley is exploring and coming up with possible explanations for things which we understand much better now, through neurology, psychology and so on. And also there's the matter of outdated language, which grated me and - even with some trying to avoid that - a quite white point of view.
joerourke's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
3.75
enjoyable but clearly written by someone on a lot of drugs so a bit hard to follow the ramblings sometimes
justkirstie's review against another edition
4.0
"confronted by a chair which looked like the Last Judgement - or, to be more accurate, by a Last Judgement which, after a long time and with considerable difficulty, I recognised as a chair - I found myself all at once on the brink of panic. this, I suddenly felt, was going too far. too far, even though the going was into intenser beauty, deeper significance. the fear, as I analyse it in retrospect, was of being overwhelmed, of disintegrating under a pressure of reality greater than a mind, accustomed to living most of the time in a cosy world of symbols, could possibly bear."
"that humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradises seems very unlikely. most men and women lead lives at worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few minutes, is and has always been one of the principle appetites of the soul."
"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 systematic reasoning to the unfathomable Mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend."
"that humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradises seems very unlikely. most men and women lead lives at worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few minutes, is and has always been one of the principle appetites of the soul."
"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 systematic reasoning to the unfathomable Mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend."
girlatsea's review against another edition
i finished doors of perception but didn't really get into heaven and hell
minimalmike's review against another edition
3.0
Writing: 3.26
Story: 3.66
Overall: 3.46
Admittedly, a some of this material went over my head. I'll have to re-read this.
Story: 3.66
Overall: 3.46
Admittedly, a some of this material went over my head. I'll have to re-read this.
rooafza's review against another edition
4.0
Aldous Huxley's vivid description of his experiences while on mescalin, the active ingredient in Peyote. He posits that the primary function of the brain is eliminative, "to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of..irrelevant knowledge by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment, and leaving only..[that] which is likely to be practically useful". Huxley, however, was basing his argument on the assumption, now disproved by modern neuro-imaging, that psychedelics decrease brain activity.
He reports having a spiritual experience towards the end of his trip, feeling fear and panic as well as the most intense beauty. Huxley concludes that the fear was of "of being overwhelmed, of disintegrating under a pressure of reality greater than a mind accustomed to living most of the time in a cosy world of symbols, could possibly bear", due to the incompatibility between man's egotism and separateness and the infinity of God. He points to the hypocrisy of allowing dangerous and addictive drugs like alcohol and tobacco while forbidding people's urge to self-transcendence. He criticizes the reliance of society on "goof pills" to control the soul's appetite to transcend "self-conscious selfhood". Very informative, with many of his points being pertinent even today.
He reports having a spiritual experience towards the end of his trip, feeling fear and panic as well as the most intense beauty. Huxley concludes that the fear was of "of being overwhelmed, of disintegrating under a pressure of reality greater than a mind accustomed to living most of the time in a cosy world of symbols, could possibly bear", due to the incompatibility between man's egotism and separateness and the infinity of God. He points to the hypocrisy of allowing dangerous and addictive drugs like alcohol and tobacco while forbidding people's urge to self-transcendence. He criticizes the reliance of society on "goof pills" to control the soul's appetite to transcend "self-conscious selfhood". Very informative, with many of his points being pertinent even today.