Doors of Perception; Heaven and Hell: References

"Mescalin research has been going on ever since the days of Lewin and Havelock Ellis. Chemists have..."

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:59:56 -0400

“Mescalin research has been going on ever since the days of Lewin and Havelock Ellis. Chemists have not merely isolated the alkaloid; they have learned how to synthesize it, so that the supply no longer depends on the sparse and intermittent crop of a desert cactus. Alienists have dosed themselves with mescalin in the hope thereby of coming to a better, a first-hand, understanding of their patients’ mental processes. Working unfortunately upon too few subjects within too narrow a range of circumstances, psychologists have observed and catalouged some of the drugs’ more striking effects. Neurologists and physiologists have found out something about the mechanism of its action upon the central nervous system. And at least one professional philosopher has taken mescalin for the light it may throw on such ancient, unsolved riddles as the place of mind in nature and the relationship between brain and conciousness.
There matters rested until, two or three years ago, a new and perhaps highly significant fact was observed. Actually the fact had been staring everyone in the face for several decades; but nobody, as it happened, had noticed it until a young English psychiatrist, at present working in Canada, was struck by the close similarity, in chemical composition, between mescalin and adrenalin. Further research revealed lysergic acid, an extremely potent hallucinogen derived from ergot, has a structural biochemical relationship to the others. Then came the discovery that adrenochrome, which is a product of the decomposition of adrenalin, can produce many of the symptomes of mescalin intoxication. But adrenochrome occurs spontaneously in the human body. In other words, each one of us may be capable or manufacturing a chemical, minute doses of which are known to cause profound changes in conciousness. Certain of these changes are similar to those of which occur in that most characteristic plague of the twentieth century, schizophrenia. Is the mental disorder due to a chemical disorder? And is the chemical disorder due, in its turn, to psychological distresses affecting the adrenals? It would be rash and premature to affirm it. The most we can say is that some kind of a prima facie case has been made out. Meanwhile the clue is being systematically followed, the sleuths—biochemists, psychiatrists, psychologists—are on the trail.”

C.R.E.A.M.: Faking Death

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:00:22 -0400

C.R.E.A.M.: Faking Death

Samsung trolls Apple via Payment

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 22:41:35 -0400

Samsung trolls Apple via Payment

"Why [Native Americans] should have venerated [the peyote cactus] as a deity became apparent when..."

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 07:55:52 -0400

“Why [Native Americans] should have venerated [the peyote cactus] as a deity became apparent when such eminent psychologists such as Jaensch, Havelock Ellis and Weir Mitchell began their experiments with mescalin, the active principle of peyote. True, they stopped short at a point well this side of idolatry; but all concurred in assigning to mescalin a position among drugs of unique distinction. Administered in suitable doses, it changes the quality of conciousness more profoundly and yet is less toxic than any other substance in the pharmacologist’s repertory.”

- Huxley, Aldous. The Doors of Perception, and Heaven and Hell. New York: Harper & Row, 1963. 9. Print.

Aldous Huxley : The Doors of Perception - Heaven and...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:53:00 -0400

Aldous Huxley : The Doors of Perception - Heaven and Hell
Penguin Books - Harmondsworth, 1963
cover : detail from Max Ernst’s ‘Cocktail Drinker’

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aorloff/5457818577/

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Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:51:29 -0400

"Addendum By Jhan and June Robbins Not long ago novelist and philosopher Aldous Huxley, in his book,..."

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:50:59 -0400

“Addendum
By Jhan and June Robbins
Not long ago novelist and philosopher Aldous Huxley, in his book, “The Doors of Perception,” made startling news by reporting that a drug called mescalin, extracted from desert cactus, produced in him a remarkable peace of mind and sharpened perception.
This month even more exciting news is breaking - of certain wild mountain mushrooms that secrete a mysterious drug having similar but perhaps even greater powers than mescalin. Eating the mushroom not only produces enchantingly beautiful visions and a thrilling feeling of total happiness, but os also used by Mexican Indians to diagnose illness and to “transmit” messages.
This amazing report comes from Valentina P. Wasson, M.D., a well-known pediatrician, and her husband, R. Gordon Wasson, a prominent New York banker. The Wassons are the authors of “Mushrooms, Russia and History,” published May 13 by Pantheon Books. This contains an account of a long-forgotten Mexican Indian rite based on mushroom worship and the strange properties of the “sacred” mushroom. The Wasson’s work appears in a two-volume edition limited to 510 copies at $125 each.
In a current issue of “Life” magazine, Mr. Wasson tells his story of how he took part in a ritual seance of the mushroom cult in a tiny village high in the mountains of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. The ritual was conducted by a local shaman, or wise one. Above, This Week brings another exciting aspect of the mushroom story, this time in the words of a woman who is also a doctor.
Mushroom “Postal System”
Dr. Wasson’s scientific curiosity was aroused by her husband’s experience. She wanted to know if the mushroom would still be effective without the shaman’s ritual. One rainy afternoon during their stay in a remote mountain community she and her 18-year-old daughter, Mary, obtained a handful of the mushrooms. In the accompanying article Dr. Wasson tells This Week readers about the exhilarating and fantastic mental experiences that followed.
During their stay in the remote Indian village the Wassons learned more about the powers of the “divine” mushroom. They observed that sometimes the mushrooms serve as a postal system. When a villager wanted to know about the welfare of a friend or relative in a distant area, he might go to a shaman, who chewed the mushroom, and then delivered reports which the villagers accept as accurate. The Wassons themselves received a detailed description of the activities and state of mind of their son, Peter, thousands of miles away in the States. Although it sounded so outlandish at the time that they smiled tolerantly and dismissed it from their minds, the clairvoyant performance of the mushroom-eating shaman later proved true!
The Wasson expedition has turned over its collection of dried and preserved mushrooms to scientific research. An outstanding group of French scientists is now at work on this project.
As for the uses of the mushroom, Dr. Wasson believes that if the active agent can be isolated and a supply assured, it will become a vital tool in the study of psychic processes. Beyond this, Dr. Wasson, with scientific caution, declines to commit herself. But it can hardly be doubted that as the drug becomes better known, uses will be found for it, perhaps in handling alcoholics and narcotic addicts, in treating terminal illness accompanied by acute pain and in mental diseases. The mysterious properties of the “sacred” mushroom pen fascinating perspectives, both in medicine and in the realm of extra-sensory perception.”

"And it seems to me perfectly in the cards that there will be within the next generation or so a..."

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:50:07 -0400

“

And it seems to me perfectly in the cards that there will be within the next generation or so a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing… a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda, brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods.

— Aldous Huxley, 1959

”

- http://facsimilemagazine.com/2009/09/index.html

Map of locations where peyote is found to grow naturally.

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:45:47 -0400

Map of locations where peyote is found to grow naturally.

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Peyote cactus

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Peyote cactus

Cover Art

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Cover Art

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Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:38:44 -0400

http://ia600803.us.archive.org/zipview.php?zip=/27/items/olcovers3/olcovers3-L.zip&file=39648-L.jpg

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:38:29 -0400

http://ia600803.us.archive.org/zipview.php?zip=/27/items/olcovers3/olcovers3-L.zip&file=39648-L.jpg

c86: Aldous Huxley - Heaven & Hell, 1956 Design by John...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:38:07 -0400

c86:

Aldous Huxley - Heaven & Hell, 1956

Design by John Woodcock

via Boy de Haas

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