Heaven and Hell.

HUXLEY, Aldous.

Item Number: 111753

Chatto & Windus: London, 1956.

First edition of this philosophical classic by the author of Brave New World. Octavo, original cloth. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch of shelfwear. Jacket design by John Woodcock. An exceptional example.

Heaven and Hell is a philosophical work by Huxley, published in 1956. The title is derived from The Marriage of Heaven & Hell by Blake. It discusses the relationship between bright, colorful objects, geometric designs, psychoactives, art & profound experience. Reference bring out two possible sides of mystical experience. When doors of perception open one can experience both extremes. But the import of the essay but it points us to the reality that can be Heaven and Hell in ordinary lived experience. Essentially, Huxley defines these "antipodes" of the mind as mental states that one may reach when one's brain is disabled (from a biological point of view) and can then be conscious of certain "regions of the mind" that one would otherwise never be able to pay attention to, due to the lack of biological/utilitarian usefulness. Huxley states that while these states of mind are biologically useless, they are nonetheless spiritually significant, and furthermore, are the singular 'regions' of the mind from which all religions are derived. Today, Huxley says people can reach these states of mind without harm to their bodies with the aid of certain drugs. Essentially, Huxley says this state of mind allows a person to be conscious of things that would not normally concern him because they have nothing to do with the typical concerns of the world.