Aldous Huxley writes here about self-transcendence and the various methods used in its pursuit. He expresses opinions about the use of
drugs which might surprise many readers, until it is realized that they were written before his first experiences with
psychedelic drugs: the following is the Epilogue to
The Devils of Loudun, published in 1953. Very soon thereafter, Huxley was to take the psychedelic drug mescaline under the guidance of the Canadian
psychiatrist and researcher Humphrey Osmond. In 1954 and in light of his first psychedelic experiences, Huxley published
The Doors of Perception which represented a
complete metamorphosis in his
thinking about the use of drugs for self-transcendence and personal growth. Such complete reversals of thinking on the basis of evidence are, unfortunately, far too rare among professionals of any kind, and the comparison of what is written here with
The Doors of Perception should provide an important lesson to the many researchers and politicians who have since denounced psychedelic drugs as a "scourge of humanity": in the following piece we hear some of the very same ignorant pronouncements about drugs still echoed today by those having the least direct knowledge of the properties or potential of psychedelic drugs to assist
humanity to find a more satisfying and ecological mode of existence.
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