The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell [9780061729072]

Overview

"A genuine spiritual quest. . . . Extraordinary." — New York Times

Among the most profound and influential explorations of mind-expanding psychedelic drugs ever written, this landmark work of consciousness exploration includes two complete classic books—The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell—in which Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, reveals the mind's remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human consciousness. This edition also features an additional essay, "Drugs That Shape Men's Minds," now included for the first time.

This foundational work of psychedelic literature details Huxley’s transformational journey and includes:

• Firsthand Psychedelic Experience: Follow Huxley as he swallows four-tenths of a gram of mescalin and meticulously documents the profound changes in his perception of reality, from seeing the "Inner Light" in a vase of flowers to understanding the "divine source of all existence."
• Consciousness Exploration: Delve into the theory of the brain as a "reducing valve," a concept that explains how the mind filters reality and how psychedelics can temporarily open the doors of perception to a vaster, unfiltered awareness known as "Mind at Large."
• Visionary Art and Perception: Discover a new way of seeing art and the world, where the folds in a pair of trousers or the legs of a chair become "living hieroglyphs" and reveal the "unfathomable mystery of pure being."
• The Nature of Heaven and Hell: Go beyond a single journey to explore the crucial differences between blissful and terrifying visionary states, examining the psychological conditions that can turn a spiritual quest into an infernal experience.