Long before the psychedelic drug movement of the 1960s, Aldous Huxley wrote about his mind-expanding experiences taking mescaline and participating in ecstatic meditation in his essays The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell. In The Doors of Perception, Huxley blends Eastern mysticism with scientific experimentation to produce one of the most influential works on the effects of hallucinatory drugs on the human psyche. Heaven and Hell focuses on how science, art, religion, literature, and psychoactive drugs can expand the everyday view of reality and offer a more profound grasp of the human experience. Huxley’s essays The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell ushered in a whole new generation of counter-culture icons such as Jackson Pollock, John Cage, Timothy Leary and Jim Morrison. In fact, Morrison’s band name The Doors was inspired by The Doors of Perception. HarperTorch brings great works of non-fiction and the dramatic arts to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperTorch collection to build your digital library.

Two classic texts in one volume reveal Huxley's explorations into the mind's remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human consciousness.

Among the most profound explorations of the effects of mind-expanding drugs ever written, here are two complete classic books-The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell-in which Aldous Huxley, author of the bestselling Brave New World, reveals the m

The Doors of Perception is a philosophical essay, released as a book, by Aldous Huxley. First published in 1954, it details his experiences when taking mescaline. The book takes the form of Huxley's recollection of a mescaline trip that took place over the course of an afternoon in May 1953. The book takes its title from a phrase in William Blake's 1793 poem 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'. Huxley recalls the insights he experienced, which range from the "purely aesthetic" to "sacramental vision". He also incorporates later reflections on the experience and its meaning for art and religion.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The drug mescalin, the active principle of peyote, has a unique position among drugs. It changes the quality of consciousness more profoundly than any other substance, and yet it is less toxic than any other. #2 We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes. #3 To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. To see others as they see themselves is also a most important gift, but what if these others belong to a different species and inhabit a radically alien universe. #4 The change that occurred in me was not revolutionary. I became aware of a slow dance of golden lights.