FROLIO – Formalizable Relationship-Oriented Language-Insensitive Ontology

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Highlights from the book The Doors of Perception (with Heaven and Hell and another essay) by Aldous Huxley, ed AC Grayling, Harper 1954-2009, ISBN 978-0-06-172907-2

Introduction

In this classic, the writer Aldous Huxley relates his personal experiences when experimenting with Mescalin (a drug found naturally in certain plants), and his reflections afterwards. He recounts experiencing something beyond normal day-to-day life, and he tried to put a philosophical gloss on it all. He points out that certain activities and conditions, which were more common in history than now (e.g. we don't usually starve or flagellate ourselves), have similar effects in giving people visions of a "world beyond". He even suggests that drugs may be a better trigger for religious experience than preaching.

Chapter	Page	Highlight
1 -	22	Bergson's theory that the function of the brain, nervous system and sense organs is eliminative not productive, i.e. it's to screen out overload. Each person is potentially Mind at Large.
	24	Other worlds, with which we erratically make contact, are parts of "Mind at Large". When we are conscious, a reducing valve operates.
2 -	56	The schizophrenic's sickness consists of "the inability to take refuge from inner and outer reality in the homemade universe of common sense".
	62	The longing to transcend ourselves, if only for a few moments, is and always has been one of the principal appetites of the soul.
	63	Lots of modifiers of consciousness exist - e.g. herbal narcotics, synthetics, alcohol, tobacco.
	74	All our education is predominantly verbal. (RT: not sure I agree - don't we learn partly through private experiences?)
3 -	86	Besides drugs, hypnosis is another method of getting us to escape from the conscious grind.
	87	Mescalin (and LSD) reduce the blood sugar, lower the brain's efficiency and effectively weaken the reducing valve. They also cause a vitamin deficiency. Nicotinic acid is an inhibitor of visions (it counters Mescalin).
	88	The same phenomenon applies to people with restricted diet - e.g. fasting hermits, famines.
	92	At the "antipodes of the mind" (see this) we are more or less completely free of language, and are outside the system of conceptual thought. (RT: see also this more recent book.)
	93	Our linguistic habits lead us into error; in the context of this book, we say "I imagine" when we mean "the curtain was lifted that I might see".
4 -	114	Getting into visions, one sees lots of light and colour, ideal gems and visionary gold. This is in contrast to drab conscious life for most people.
	115	But we have so much more colour and light in normal life nowadays, so there may be less need.
	120	Action does not come naturally to the inhabitants of the mind's antipodes - nothing much happens.
	125	Festivals, rituals etc can help reveal the divine 'not-self' (in its Buddhist meaning).
Appendix 1	143	High concentrations of CO₂ may encourage visions - helped by chanting, shouting etc.
	145	Similar effects can be caused by stroboscopic light - but it may also bring on epilepsy.
Appendix 2	150	Our ancestors were often very undernourished through winter; and also during Lent (or Ramadan).
	153	Flagellation, used in the Middle Ages (even now in some places) can also affect body chemistry - releasing histamine and adrenaline, not to mention toxins from wounds.
	157	Fireworks too, even magic lantern shows.
Appendix 3	D8	William James - pointed out the likeness between drunkenness and the mystical and pre-mystical states.
	D14	Yoga exercises can have an effect too, especially those involving reducing breathing.
	D15	Bergson: "the psychic disposition was there, potentially, only waiting a signal to express itself".
	D16a	Huxley's prophecy: "That famous revival of religion, about which so many people have been talking for so long, will not come about as the result of evangelistic mass meetings or the TV performances of photogenic clergymen. It will come about as the result of biochemical discoveries that will make it possible for large numbers of men and women to achieve a radical self-transcendence and a deeper understanding of the nature of things".
	D16b	"From being an activity mainly concerned with symbols, religion will be transformed into an activity concerned mainly with experience and intuition - an everyday mysticism underlying and giving significance to everyday rationality; everyday tasks and duties, everyday human relationships."
Odd		Chiaroscuro (darkness at the centre of art) and Grisaille (e.g. grey stained glass).
thoughts:		It all sounds a bit like 'soma' (the ubiquitous drug in 'Brave New World') to me.

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This version updated on 24^th January 2011

If you have constructive suggestions or comments, please contact the author rogertag@tpg.com.au .