Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Psychology The Doors of Perception The Doors of Perception The Doors of Perception, written by Aldous Huxley in 1954 was the first essay of its kind to deal with not only the physical effects of mescaline but also attempted to rationalize the fundamental needs satisfied by the drug by its takers. Mescaline is the active chemical in peyote, a wild cactus that grows in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. Huxley volunteered to boldly go where few Americans other than chemists, native Americans, and researchers dared to go by ingesting synthesized mescaline in a controlled experiment to measure it’s psychological effects. The idea was that since Huxley was an accomplished writer he would be well suited to catalog the effects of the drug in a way few researchers would have. The story of Huxley’s journey to the center of his mind is well told and is highlighted by rational and logical observations on the nature of madness, perception and the very human need for such occasional hallucinogenic departures from reality. Huxley’s expected hallucination included lying with his eyes shut, visioning many colored geometric shapes, animated architectures, rich with gems, and landscapes with heroic figures of symbolic dramas. This was realized quickly by Huxley as an absurd expectation. When being asked about spatial relationships, he states this as a difficult question to answer. Yes, the room did not appear to have 90 degree angles, but the perception of shapes seemed to him as really unimportant facts. He realized his mind was not perceiving the world in terms of spatial categories, as we are taught to perceive the world. When asked about time Huxley replied " there seems to be plenty of it". Time had lost any real meaning and he was not concerned much with it. In fact, he seemed concerned with very little. The idea of doing things, even simple things, seemed to be not worth the effort. It was far more enjoyable to contemplate more esoteric ideals than to deal with the humdrum of daily life and relationships. This reluctance to pursue human relationships disturbed Huxley at first. It seemed as though the experience on mescaline left no room for human relationships, which is as he later conclude exactly how it should be. One should not be concerned with the banal nature of one’s life when one has had one’s ego dissolved into the "Mind at Large" as he puts it. Huxley hypothesizes that since mescaline lowers the blood sugar in the brain it has effectively allowed his senses to be more aware of this "Mind at Large", which is in a sense the universal mind. This universal mind is what allows us to perceive things which are seemingly beyond perception and accounts for genius, artistic innovation and madness. It is with similarly unhindered senses that Huxley believes the schizophrenic must be forced to experience the world. When the realization that madness lies not far from the state in which he is in Huxley comments to the overseer that, "if you started out in the wrong way, everything that happened would be a proof of the conspiracy against you. It would be self-validating." Huxley believes to have found where madness lies and when if asked if he thought he could control it, his answer is a resounding "No". The idea that one could induce a state of near madness seems to be a valuable tool in the understanding of schizophrenia. Huxley realizes that besides the great beauty of his illuminated environment there is the possibility of having it all crescendo into a self-validating psychosis. Being a stable and mature adult, Huxley is nevertheless able to fight off such spiraling madness. Mescaline itself would not produce such a true psychosis on its own he surmises; it would take an unstable person and make them more unstable. It is with an open mind and the promise of no ill affects that Huxley approaches this experiment and that is precisely what he receives: A delightful departure from himself into a world of unmitigated sensory experience. The need to leave oneself behind for a while and experience the world in a different way is as old as time itself. For centuries, man has known that certain plants or distilled liquids would produce altered states of consciousness. This need for transcendence is not new nor does it show signs that it is on the decline. One need only frequent the many bars that line the streets of every town in America to know that people yearn for a break from their lives occasionally. It is this need for transcendence that drives the human race. Huxley realizes this of course and has the good sense to see that the approved sources of transcendence leave something to be desired. Alcohol creates at best a less inhibited moron and at worst an alcoholic and always comes with the price of a nasty hangover. Cigarettes will ease the nerves of those who smoke them but at the price of lung cancer, emphysema, and other health problems. Mescaline on the other hand causes no hangover and leaves the user no more eager to return to its other-worldly effects than he was before. These benign aspects of mescaline are evidenced by its widespread use within the Native American Church of America. Several studies have shown the ritual users of mescaline to be in no worse health than other non-users of similar physical attributes. In fact, the users of mescaline within the church are often more contented with life and usually abstain from drinking completely. It is this usage as a spiritual catalyst that Huxley believes would be most useful to society and the needs of humans. The idea of combining chemical modifiers of consciousness and spirituality is not a new concept, the cult of Bacchus in Roman times being a prime example. However, since the Christian era and its sometimes repressive policies, man has had to get his religion in one place and his release from daily suffering in a bottle. This problem Huxley believes is solved by the model set forth by the Native American Church, where religion, spirituality and chemical transcendence are all happily united in one common ritual. Aldous Huxley was a unique individual in his thinking and in his courage to express ideas not always popular within mainstream media. His views were seen as extreme by many conservatives and inspirational by the new breed of free thinkers coming up in his shadow. His influence can be seen in many prominent "Beat" generation figures and 60s icons such as Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsburg and others. It is this deification by his successors that have led many to discount him as a quack the same as the others. But for one who has truly read The Doors of Perception with an open mind, it becomes readily apparent that Huxley was no drug fiend or pseudo-psychologist. He is rather a brilliant writer with a good sense of history and the needs of man who found in a substance something more than Dope. Bibliography: Word Count: 1170
Copyright © 2005 College Term Papers, INC All Rights Reserved.