Criticism on Author Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley

The purpose of this work is to explore Aldous Huxley's view of religion, his belief in "moderate" applicable use of mind-altering and mind-expanding drugs as well as the prediction he made for the future of mankind. This will be done through reading of his works, as well as one interview.

Aldous Huxley has been described as many things such as the great "English novelist," "essayist," "iconoclast," "social prophet," and "proponent of psychedelic drugs." Born Aldous Leonard Huxley on July 26, 1894, into a distinguished family of the intellectual elite due to his experiences was somewhat set apart from the family to which he was born. His mother died with Cancer when he was 14, that as well as other events in his life were the elements that set him apart. At age 16 he suffered from an eye illness that kept him from fighting in World War I as well as pursuing his dreams in Science.

His work, Brave New World" is in some ways similar to George Orwell's "Utopia." Huxley's brave new world was written prior to Hitler's rise to power in Germany. The Huxley's came to the U.S. In 1938 where he pursued screenwriting.

I. What Huxley believed concerning the Use of Mind-Expanding Drugs:

Huxley became famous for his use of LSD and then writing of it during the 1950's. It is thought that he was seeking a drug to expand his mind in an attempt at self-escape. He wrote the following concerning the nature of drug use in religion:

For these Native Americans, religious experience is something more direct and illuminating, more spontaneous, less the homemade product of the superficial, self-conscious mind. Sometimes (according to the reports collected by Dr. Slotkin) they see visions, which may be of Christ himself. Sometimes they hear the voice of the Great Spirit. Sometimes they become aware of the presence of God and of those personal shortcoming which must be corrected if they are to do His will. The practical consequences of these chemical openings of doors into the Other World seem to be wholly good. Dr. Slotkind reports that habitual Peyotists are on the whole more industrious, more temperate, more Peaceable than non-Peyotists. A tree with much satisfactory fruits cannot be condemned out of hand as evil. (The Doors of Perception)

It is clearly seen from this statement above that Huxley did believe that moderate use of certain drugs could be beneficial. In fact, to support this belief it is worthy to note that the U.S. government just released funds for the experimental use of LSD in the cases of trauma and schizophrenic patients for yet again another study of the substance.

II. Huxley and Religion

In his last work, "Shakespeare: An Essay" Huxley asks, "And what about religion?" He then answer by stating:

The Lord is used to designate things as different from one another as Satanism and satori, as fetish-worship and the enlightenment of a Buddha, as the vast politico-theologic of financial organizations known as churches and the intensely private visions of an ecstatic."

Huxley further wrote that:

He (Shakespeare) knew, of course, that established churches and the regimes they support are great machines for consolidating power and acquiring wealth..."

Huxley was known for his cynical view of religion. However, he was dynamic in his writing concerning religion and spent much of his life exploring religion even venturing into Buddhism at one point in the 1960's. He had previously announced himself to be "officially an agnostic" in his 1929 essay entitled "One and Many." In his essay on Shakespeare Huxley defined religion stating that:

Religion is not merely a complex of behavior-patterns and organization. It is also a set of beliefs."

In reference to religion Huxley wrote in his book "Doors of Perception" that:

Countless persons desire self-transcendence and would be glad to find it in church, But, alas, "the hungry sheep look up and are not fed." They take part in rites, they listen to sermons, they repeat prayers; but their thirst remains unassauged.

Perhaps it was this view, which is not altogether a false statement that led Huxley to seeking God through other more personal avenues and with the help of LSD.

Huxley and His Predictions for Future Generations:

In a 1969 interview Huxley gave an explanation concerning the way that he conceived his work "Brave New World" as he stated that:

The new forces of technology, pharmaceutics, and social conditioning can iron modern humans into a kind of uniformity, if you were able to manipulate their genetic background, if you had a government unscrupulous enough you could do these things without any doubt. We are getting more and more into a position where these things can be achieved. And it is extremely important to realize this, and to take every possible precaution to see they shall not be achieved."