"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."
The phrase above is from an English poet, painter; William Blake - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. This renowned work is one of William Blake's books, a series of texts written in imitation of biblical books of prophecy, but expressing Blake's own intensely personal revolutionary beliefs.
His idiosyncratic views where later adopted by many philosophers, artists including one of my favorite novelist and critic Aldous Huxley. He shared the same revolutionary concepts, Huxley explores the unmapped areas of human consciousness. Experimenting with mind-expanding drugs, such as LSD and mescaline - a naturally-occurring psychedelic alkaloid, he explores, as only he can, the mind's remote frontiers.He managed to forge a kind of new history of the psychedelic experience.
The result of his contribution to knowledge and personal experience led to "The Doors Of Perception/Heaven & Hell(1954)"- a book that became essential for the counterculture during the 1960s and influenced a generation's perception of life. The title comes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.These two stunning essays are among the most profound studies of the effects of mind-expanding drugs written in the 20th century.
Further complementarity is unnecessary due to the controversy over the use of recreational drugs.
e-book: the doors of perception
3 comments:
http://gabosalbin.blog.hu/2008/09/15/blokk_blog_kreativ_blogger
i love Huxley`s sleek irony and his keen eye for humans` incongruities and cultural masquerade. and although many have said that what he did was not literature but acid-tounged journalism, i still find depth in what he wrote. My fave is The Island.I definitely must grab some time to read The Doors.. before i pass away .
Amberzoyd, thank you for all your comments, I really appreciate your attention and I apologize for this late reply.
I strongly recommend The Doors of Perception, not only for the undeniable fact that it is based on an experiment with mescaline thus resulting the so called '"acid"-tongued' journalism, but it is also an exceptionally good read...it's a marvelous book, in my humble opinion :)
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