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Aldous Huxley, Psychedelics Enthusiast,
Lectures About the Visionary Experience at
MIT (1962)
in Literature, Psychology | March 17th, 2014 8 Comments
Tweet 230
48
5.5k Like
Today, those who get turned on to Aldous Huxley (as they might have said back in the 1960s) get it
through his books: the dystopian novel Brave New World, usually, or perhaps the mescaline
memoir The Doors of Perception. But during Huxleys lifetime, especially in its final years from the
late 1950s to the early 60s, he made no small number of adherents through lecturing. Having
transplanted himself from his native England to California in 1937, he eventually achieved great
regard among the regions self-styled intellectuals and spiritual seekers, giving talks at such
mystically high-in-the-zeitgeist places as Hollywood and Santa Barbaras Vedanta temples and even
Big Surs famous Esalen Institute. But the prolific speech-giver also went farther afield, to far squarer
venues such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, in 1962, he recorded the
album Visionary Experience: A Series Of Talks On The Human Situation, which you can hear on
Ubuweb, or right below.
Part 1
Part 2
At that point, Huxley had already gained worldwide fame for his views on better living, which was
sometimes achieved, he believed, through psychedelic drugs. This might have already sounded like
00:00 00:00
00:00 00:00
old hat in, say, the San Francisco of the late 1960s, let alone the 70s and onward, but in these
recordings Huxley says his piece in I still cant quite believe it the MIT of the early 1960s. But
Huxley, diagnosed a couple years before with the cancer that would claim his life the next, had
nothing to lose by spreading the word of his substance-induced discoveries. These would, as you may
remember, even facilitate the death itself, Huxleys final visionary experience. To learn even more
about all those that preceded it, see his collection Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary
Experience (1931-1963), thats available on the Internet Archive. While we here at Open Culture
dont endorse drug use, we do endorse the words of Huxley as a substitute, and perhaps an even more
vivid one.
Related Content:
Aldous Huxleys Most Beautiful, LSD-Assisted Death: A Letter from His Widow
Aldous Huxley Reads Dramatized Version of Brave New World
Zen Master Alan Watts Discovers the Secrets of Aldous Huxley and His Art of Dying
Colin Marshall hosts and produces Notebook on Cities and Culture and writes essays on cities,
language, Asia, and mens style. Hes at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer.
Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook.
by Colin Marshall | Permalink | Comments (8) |
Comments (8)
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
1. Dan Colman says . . . | March 18, 2014 / 7:46 am
Hi there,
Does anyone know what Facebook page highlighted our Huxley post? Just curious.
Thanks,
5.5k Share
Dan/editor
2. Ramon Long says . . . | March 18, 2014 / 8:51 am
Here is the link to the Facebook page that shared this link:
https://www.facebook.com/AldousHuxleyAuthor?ref=stream
3. Sami says . . . | March 18, 2014 / 9:13 am
@Dan: It was the Aldous Huxley FB page.
4. Dan Colman says . . . | March 18, 2014 / 9:15 am
Cool, thanks for letting me know.
Cheers,
Dan
5. ScottD says . . . | March 18, 2014 / 1:57 pm
This was so utterly fascinating. I definitely have a strong desire to experience these mystical
visions and ecstatic states. Huxley is almost preternaturally eloquent and profound. Thanks so
much for helping bring this to peoples attention.
6. Candi Parshall says . . . | March 18, 2014 / 6:52 pm
Thank you for posting!
7. Oliver Hockenhull says . . . | March 19, 2014 / 3:16 pm
We also posted it on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NeuronstoNirvana also if
anyones interested in more about good old uncle Aldous : ) heres a discount code
RMRW6DUJ for $10. for one of my old films it was a joy to make as I had the fortune to
meet Laura Huxley while shooting it. Laura Huxley also required that I show her previous films
before she gave me her permission to make the doco on AH. Full disclosure technically its
dated! And it was done on the cheap. Still honoured to have done it. You can get the film here:
https://www.createspace.com/204885 excellent review over at this site
http://filmref.com/journal/archives/2005/04/aldous_huxley_the_gravity_of_l.html and
another review herehttp://aposta.uv.es/vicordo/firstpaper/articleson/gravity.html peace, oliver
8. MWende says . . . | May 22, 2014 / 5:20 am
Hi Am a Belgian citizen and travel to Kenya every year. I have a blind friend and was trying to
finf him braille books in English, which i cant find here in Europe. am looking for
downloadable audio books, so I can give him an old MP3 of mine with books.
Hes been blind since he was born, dropped at the road by his parents cause he was to much
bother, and raised true a NGO where they thaught him Shiatsu massage.
His name is Jackson. Any suggestions where I can find downloadable books ?
Thanks
Monique
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