Study Questions for:

Aldous Huxley
Huxley and God. Essays

14. Reflections on the

Lord’s Prayer — II

[1] How does Huxley express—the other way around—the

statement that the end of man’s existence is to use his op-
portunities in space-time in such a way that he may come
to the knoweldge of God’s kingdom of timeless reality?

[2] What advantage does Huxley see in underlining the ’is’

in the expression ’as it is in heaven’?

[3] What can one do to be delivered from the evil of self-

hood?

[4] What is purgation good for?

[5] Can you explain Huxley’s statement: ’We need grace in
order to be able to live in such a way as to qualify our-
selves to receive grace’?

15. Reflections on the

Lord’s Prayer — III

[1] In what sense are the virtues of unregenerate men just

filthy rags?

[2] In what sense can God forgive our debts and trespasses?

[3] Of what does the evil in the phrase ’deliver us from evil’
consist?

[4] How does Huxley understand Christ’s prayer?

[5] How do most people understand the Lord’s Prayer?

 16. Distractions — I

[1] What are the two great ’provinces’ of ’Our Kingdom’?

[2] How can the notion of abstractions be described?

[3] What is harmful about distractions?

16. Distractions — II

[1] How should distractions be treated in times of recollec-

tion?

[2] What are the two methods of making profitable use of

distractions?

[3] How should distractions in common life be dealt with?

[4] What does Huxley mean by living in the moment at the
moment?

18. Idolatry

[1] How does higher idolatry differ from primitive forms of

idolatry?

[2] How does Huxley describe current education?

[3] What does the following sentence mean: ’In academic

circles, mystics are almost as rare as fetishists; but the
enthusiastic devotees of some form of political or social
idealism are as common as blackberries’?

[4] What is ’technological idolatry’?

[5] What is ’political idolatry’?

 [6] What is ’moral idolatry’?

[7] In what does the evil of moral idolatry consist?

[8] Why can Jesus Christ not be made an idol?

[9] What does grace do?

[10] Why can it be said that the idolatrous worship of ethical

values in and for themselves defeats its own object?

19. Action and

Contemplation

[1] How does the contemplative see the active life?

[2] How does pragmatism see the relationship between action

 and contemplation?

[3] What is the fundamental principle of the life of spiritual

religion?

[4] What does Western mystical tradition think about the life
of action?

[5] How is the mystic the ’salt of the earth’?

20. Knowledge and

Understanding

[1] How does knowledge differ from understanding?

[2] How do knowledge and understanding differ in regard to

communicating with others?
 20. Knowledge and Understanding 7

[3] Name some sins closely related to the sin of imagining

that knowledge and pseudoknowledge are the same as un-
derstanding!

[4] What does Huxley call the greatest paradox of our exis-
tence?

[5] What is the easiest way for a skeptic to achieve faith?

[6] Why is concentration not the way to understanding reality

in its fulness?

[7] Why can the doctrine ’know thyself’ be a hindrance to

understanding reality in its fulness?

[8] In what sense is it absurd to try to become master of my

fate, or captain of my soul?

[9] Why does total awareness seem to be humiliating?

[10] What does Huxlex call ’the last word’?

21. The Sixth Patriarch

No questions

22. Notes on Zen

[1] What is a koan?

[2] Why is the idea that a person can be saved by giving as-
sent to the propositions contained in a creed seem to a
Zen Buddhist to be the wildest, the most unrealistic and
dangerous of fancies?

[3] Why does Zen not want to arouse religious emotions?

23. The ”Inanimate” Is

Alive
[1] What is the answer to the question on how life got into
the world that Huxley prefers?

24. Readings in
Mysticism

[1] What rule for choosing books on mysticism does Huxley

recommend?

[2] What do the two branches of spirituality consist of?

[3] Which of the books recommended by Huxley have you

read?

25. Symbol and

Immediate Experience

[1] How can the two main kinds of religion be described?

[2] How can the two types of symbol-manipulating religions

 be described?

[3] How did it come about that in the tradition of Western

Christianity the mystics have been assured of a tolerated
position?

[4] Why have myths been less dangerous than theological

systems?

[5] How does Huxley describe the mystical experience?

[6] What are some of the changes brought about by mystical

experience?

[7] How can the theology of mystical experience be ex-

pressed?

26. Shakespeare and

Religion
[1] Name four or five aspects of Shakespeare’s thoughts on
religion?

27. The Yellow Mustard

[1] What is the meaning of the title of this poem?

28. Lines

[1] Can you interpret this poem in accordance with Huxley’s

teachings on mystical experience?

[2] What could the meaning of ’fire’ in the final verse be?