Moksha: Aldous Huxley's Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience (Paperback)

~ (Author), Michael Horowitz (Editor), Cynthia Palmer (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A controversial, mind-expanding book that confirms Huxley's position. . .as the father of the modern drug movement. -- Publisher's Weekly

A pharmacological goldmine, supplementing Huxley's classic, The Doors of Perception. -- Publisher's Weekly

A remarkably stimulating, worthwhile volume. -- Publisher's Weekly

Huxley had spent years preparing himself for the fearful psychedelic voyage, and he made it without question when it presented itself. . . . He did it, and then the world will never forget it. -- Timothy Leary, author of Politics of Ecstasy and Outside Looking In

Huxley was a gifted explorer of transcendental experience, spirituality, and consciousness expansion. It is this side of his remarkable mind that we glimpse in Moksha. -- Whole Life Times

The extraordinary richness with which Aldous Huxley describes the depth of his research on LSD and mescaline distinguishes him from thousands of researchers who have experimented with drugs over the years. -- San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle

The main writings of Aldous Huxley about psychedelics and the visionary experience have now been gathered into a single volume [which] should stand as an unparalleled guide to investigators. -- Island Views

Then I read The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, and it just rolled from there. That is what really put me over. -- Terence McKenna

This collection supplies a good account, in breath and depth, of Huxley's views on psychedelic drugs and is and excellent place to start in exploring the larger implications of Psychedelic drug research. -- Lester Grinspoon & James Bakalar, author of Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered

Review

"Moksha is more than a book about psychedelics--although it may well be the most intelligent, well-rounded one of its kind. It is also another chance to spend hours in Huxley's fascinating company as he talks about art, literature, religion, psychology, and ecology."
(Los Angeles Times )

"A remarkably stimulating, worthwhile volume."
(Publishers Weekly )

"This book collects all of [Huxley's] words on the subject and is a valuable addition to the psychedelic literature."

(Andrew Weil, High Times )

"Then I read The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, and it just rolled from there.  That is what really put me over." 
(Terence McKenna, Archaic Revival )

"Huxley had spent years preparing himself for the fearful psychedelic voyage, and he made it without question when it presented itself....He did it, and the world will never forget it."
(Timothy Leary, Politics of Ecstasy )

"[Huxley was] the world's most influential advocate of psychedelic drugs."

(High Priest )

"A pharmacological goldmine, supplementing Huxley's classic, The Doors of Perception."

(Publisher's Weekly )

"A controversial, mind-expanding book that confirms Huxley's position...as the father of the modern drug movement."
(Publisher's Weekly )

"This collection supplies a good account, in breath and depth, of Huxley's views on psychedelic drugs and is an excellent place to start in exploring the larger implications of psychedelic drug research"
(Lester Grinspoon & James Bakalar, Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered )

"The main writings of Aldous Huxley about psychedelics and the visionary experience have now been gathered into a single volume [which] should stand as an unparalleled guide to investigators."
(Peter Stafford, Island Views )

"The extraordinary richness with which Aldous Huxley describes the depth of his research on LSD and mescaline distinguishes him from thousands of researchers who have experimented with drugs over the years."
(San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle )

"Huxley was a gifted explorer of transcendental experience, spirituality, and consciousness expansion.  It is this side of his remarkable mind that we glimpse in Moksha."

(Whole Life Times )

"Moksha is an exceptionally alive and illuminating track of the process of discovery."
(Soho Weekly News )

"Huxley was one of the first in the modern West to realize the potential value and spiritual implications of drugs. We are fortunate to have this experiential record of drug experiences."
(Rhea A. White, Exceptional Human Experience Network )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Park Street Press (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892817585
• ISBN-13: 978-0892817580
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,736 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN INFORMATIVE AND POIGNANT READ, June 7, 2003

By	Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This volume brings together selections from Huxley's Brave New World, Doors Of Perception, Heaven And Hell and Island, as well as magazine articles, letters, lectures and scientific papers. It also includes writings by Timothy Leary, Laura Huxley and Dr. Humphry Osmond. Leary's interesting account of a 1960 meeting with Huxley at Cambridge is titled Mushrooms For Lunch, whilst the same year's Harvard Sessions is a report of a psylocybin session where Huxley took part in a group experiment. Other very thought provoking chapters include Dr. Humphry Osmond's May Morning In Hollywood and Huxley's own Disregarded In The Darkness, Doors, Mescalin, Heaven And Hell and Brave New World Revisited. But the highlights of the book are Laura Huxley's 1962 account of her husband in a psychedelic state and especially her moving account of his illness and death, titled Nobly Born. The appendix is titled Instruments For Use During A Psychedelic Experience and the book concludes with an index. This is a brilliant collection of this refined author's best work and an insightful investigation into the use of entheogenic substances for the expansion of consciousness. I also recommend Huston Smith's Cleansing The Doors Of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogentic Plants and Chemicals, William James' Varieties Of Religious Experience the title Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness by Ralph Abraham, Terence McKenna and Rupert Sheldrake.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great visionary, September 20, 2006

By	Stefan Isaksson "www.stefanisaksson.se" (Malmoe, Sweden) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Moksha is a word in Sanskrit which means "liberation", and liberation is probably the best word to describe Aldous Huxley and his writings. Liberation from external forces, from norms and views of reality that the authority figures of the West have told you are "real" and "true", liberation from everything that stops you from finding your own path in life and the creation of your own truth.

In the world of fiction, Huxley is perhaps best known for his novel Brave New World, in which he painted a rather gloomy picture of a not-too distant future where the people are controlled by the use of Soma, a synthetic drug enabling everyone some time-out from their own miserable existence. This theme was continued in the later book Island, where the name of the drug has been changed to Moksha and is seen as a positive thing, a way for the individual to find his or her own means of evolution instead of a cheap escape from the dreaded reality. However, Huxley was more than just a writer of fiction, and in Moksha the reader is treated to a glimpse of this man's amazing intellect. Besides some of the many letters he wrote during his lifetime, you'll also find excerpts from different lectures held all over the world, interviews, and important sections from some of this best fictional writing, such as Brave New World, The Doors of Perception, Island, and Heaven and Hell.

The larger bulk of the text is about psychedelic drugs and their beneficial use in different sorts of therapy as well as their ability to help mankind in the expansion of human consciousness, and it's quite a pleasure to experience Huxley's fascinating ideas about these types of drugs, especially since they in later years came to be treated as a total menace to society. Even in these alleged times research on their beneficial use is still considered a crime more or less everywhere, which actually is nothing but bizarre since they've been proven to be very useful when administered correctly by professionals. But not everything in the books deals with this, because Huxley had tons of interesting views and things to say about such topics as art, literature, religion, psychology, and ecology.

From time to time it's a very demanding book, but if you just take your time and explore the often complicated thoughts and ideas, then Moksha will give you not only a good insight in the mystery that is human perception of reality, but also a splendid presentation of one of the most progressive thinkers in modern times.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food For Thought, June 22, 2003

By	andy7 (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Aldous Huxley was clearly a man ahead of his time: imagine an English intellectual in the 1940's writing about mecaline and LSD, how they relate to psychology, sociology and religion in modern times.
This was not a cult leader or an Edgar Cayce/Aleister Crowley sort of philosopher: his essays were published in periodicals as varied as the Saturday Evening Post and Playboy Magazine (!). He was one of the ultimate explorers of the mind. Many of his thoughts from the 40's and the 50's still sound as relevant today as the day they were written.
His timeless thoughts are his genius. I recommend this book highly.