Aldous Huxley is the author of the famous book “A Happy World”. He was also a curious and restless man, fascinated by the so-called “altered states of consciousness”. He has deepened these kinds of experiences through different paths.
This writer had a great spiritual search throughout his life, so at some point he practically became a mystic. In 1953, Aldous Huxley read about the use of mescaline for the treatment of schizophrenia. Under the supervision of Dr. Humphry Osmond, he decided to try mescaline and other psychedelic medications. I wanted to enter the world of visionary experiences.
“The face can never be completely opaque, the soul is always shown through its walls. -Aldous Huxley-
Through all these experiences, he has written some extremely interesting essays. First, the doors of perception. Then “Heaven and Hell”. In these stories, he details his journey through visionary experiences. It also details the ways in which it has managed to achieve them. Then we will talk about five of the means described by him.
Fasting is a widespread practice in the world, in particular many religions recommend the practice of fasting as a means of reaching mystical states, food deprivation triggers a whole chain of effects on the human body that also end up influencing the functioning of the brain. Modify.
Most of the time, religions speak of fasting as a means of purifying the body and mind. Huxley says it’s also a mechanism for achieving visionary experiments. When the body stops eating food for a while, it is very common for the person to have special foods. visions and emotional states in which happiness merges with sadness.
Many forbidden visions in religions and in various philosophical currents speak of the power of gemstones and crystals, gold and jewellery have more than a high market value, they are recurring images in mystical visions, even contexts that do not include jewelry speak much about crystals and their powers.
According to Huxley, this is due to the fact that gems and crystals emanate from light. They are transparent or translucent. Careful and silent contemplation of these elements of nature offers visionary experiences according to the writer. In other words, they can generate the appearance of images on oneself.
According to Aldous Huxley, if you stay in a place where there are no sensory stimuli, after a while visionary experiences will occur, you will start to see and hear many things that we do not have access to in our normal state of consciousness. The type of practice is very common in Buddhism.
This observation of Huxley has even been confirmed by science, it has been established that spending too much time in the dark causes the release of large amounts of brain hormones that generate the activation of various neurotransmitters, after three weeks even the production of DMT, a molecule found in hallucinogenic drugs, occurs.
Another way to live visionary experiences is the careful and concentrated contemplation of works of art, in particular paintings and works of religious architecture. Huxley says that many of them are the result of other visionary experiences in their own right, and therefore facilitate the process of reaching new states of consciousness.
Huxley himself draws up a list of the artists who best convey a visionary experience through his works, quotes Andrea del Castagno, Caravaggio, Goya, Rembrandt, Georges de la Tour, William Blake and Fra Angelico, and attaches special importance to Zen art, noting that the poetry and music of this medium induce other states of consciousness.
Fireworks were not only created to make shows that people enjoy, but were initially seen as a magical and transformative experience that had great effects on those who contemplated them, careful observation of the drawings that form in the sky can become a mystical experience.
The same goes for pompous processions, in which powerful sculptures, seds, unusual clothing and very large and luxurious pieces are exhibited. Huxley said contact with these images leads man to reveal visions, which may manifest themselves at the time of observation or later, during dreams.
Mystical experiences are part of the field of psychology, to be more precise, they are part of what we call spirituality, it is a transcendent phenomenon that is already studied by science, but that has not yet been fully understood or confirmed by it.
Images courtesy of J. Robinson