The Doors of Perception

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The Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences when taking mescaline. This short book is considered to be one of the more profound studies of the effects of mind-expanding drugs and what they teach about how the mind works.

The title comes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell:

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through' narrow chinks of his cavern."

Psychedelic drugs are thought to disable filters which block or suppress signals related to mundane functions from reaching the conscious mind. In this book, Huxley explores the idea that the human mind filters reality, partly because handling the details of all of the impressions and images coming in would be unbearable, partly because it has been taught to do so. He believes that psychotropic drugs can partly remove this filter, or "open these doors of perception." After taking mescaline, Huxley wrote down his thoughts and feelings. He observed that everyday objects lose their functionality and suddenly exist "as such." Space and dimension become irrelevant, and perceptions seem to be enlarged and at times even overwhelming.

Quotes from \"Doors\"

• To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large— this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone and especially to the intellectual.

• I strongly suspect that most of the great knowers of Suchness paid very little attention to art.... (To a person whose transfigured and transfiguring mind can see the All in every this, the first-rateness or tenth-rateness of even a religious painting will be a matter of the most sovereign indifference.) Art, I suppose, is only for beginners, or else for those resolute dead-enders, who have made up their minds to be content with the ersatz of Suchness, with symbols rather than with what they signify, with the elegantly composed recipe in lieu of actual dinner.

• [T]he man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less cocksure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable Mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend.

Cultural references

• Huxley's book inspired the young Jim Morrison to name his rock and roll band The Doors. [link]

• In the Simpsons episode, "D'oh-in' in the Wind", Homer says "Hey, square, expand your mind! The Doors of Perception are open for business."

See also

• Humphry Osmond
• The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
• Tom Wolfe
• Psychedelic drug
• Freedom of thought

Publication data

The Doors of Perception is usually published in a combined volume with Huxley's essay, Heaven and Hell

• The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, 1954, 1956, Harper & Brothers
• *1977 Harpercollins (UK), mass market paperback: ISBN 058604437X
• *1990 Harper Perennial edition: ISBN 0060900075
• *2004 Harper Modern Classics edition: ISBN 0060595183
• *2004 Sagebrush library binding: ISBN 1417628596
• The Doors of Perception, unabridged audio cassette, Audio Partners 1998, ISBN 1572700653

External links

• Huxley, Aldous, "[The Doors of Perception]". (HTML file format).
• * Note: "The Doors of Perception" appears under the "Fair Use" rulings regarding the 1976 Copyright Act for NON-profit academic, research, and general information purposes. Readers requiring a permanent copy of "The Doors of Perception" for their library are advised to purchase it from their book supplier.

 

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