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ALDOUS HUXLEY: THE PROGRESSIVE INTEREST IN MYSTICISM SHOWN IN HIS PROSE WORKS by ETHEL MARGARET FULTON B.A., U n i v e r s i t y of Manitoba, ±9$$ A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS i n the Department of English We accept t h i s t h e s i s as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA A p r i l , I960 i I n p r e s e n t i n g t h i s t h e s i s i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l m e n t o f t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r an advanced degree a t the U n i v e r s i t y o f 3 r i t i s h C o l u m b i a , I agree t h a t t h e L i b r a r y s h a l l make i t f r e e l y a v a i l a b l e f o r r e f e r e n c e and s t u d y . I f u r t h e r agree t h a t p e r m i s s i o n f o r e x t e n s i v e c o p y i n g o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r s c h o l a r l y purposes may be g r a n t e d by t h e Head o f my Department o r by h i s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . I t i s u n d e r s t o o d t h a t c o p y i n g o r p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r f i n a n c i a l g a i n s h a l l not be a l l o w e d w i t h o u t my w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . The U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h Columbia, Vancouver 6% Canada. Department o f ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis i s to indicate and describe the interest i n mysticism apparent i n the prose works of Aldous Huxley, and to show that this interest has developed consistently throughout Huxley's li t e r a r y career. The books, articles and theses referring to Huxley as a mystic, or accepting Huxley's basic interest i n mysticism, make no attempt to account for the progressive stages of mysticism, nor to compare Huxley's pattern of development with that of the traditional mystic. This thesis w i l l indicate at least Huxley's genuine interest i n mysticism, and w i l l show that, as work follows work, each displays a growing comprehension of the progressive stages of mystical experience described as typical of the traditional mystic. As a result of this comparison, i t w i l l be shown that an interest i n mysticism has become a dominating influence i n a l l Huxley's writing. The introduction contains a sampling of criticism to show that c r i t i c s have generally tended to accept the idea that Huxley went through a conventional religious conversion period i n the t h i r t i e s , but an examin ation of his works shows that his interest i n mysticism began with his earliest writing and developed consistently. Chapter I attempts further to substantiate the contention that Huxley's interest has been progressive, by showing that he i s not a person a l i t y type l i k e l y to undergo sudden religious conversions. The biographical data available suggest that Huxley belongs to a psychological type that usually does not experience conversions, at least according to his own theories of personality classifications. Chapter I I includes a general description of the phenomena of mysti cism presented i n the terms of Western authorities and a description of mysticism taken from Huxley's non-fiction. The comparison makes apparent the variance between Huxleyis theories and those of the authorities. The basic difference stems from Huxley's determination to explore the rich and complex fie l d s of Oriental, as well as of European, mysticism. Chapter I I I w i l l attempt to trace and evaluate, through his f i c t i o n , Huxley's developing interest i n mysticism, and i t w i l l be shown that the stages,of development discernible i n the f i c t i o n are not directly comparable to the Five-fold Mystic Way — stages considered necessary by Miss Underbill for normal mystical development. Chapter IV w i l l discuss Huxley's latest publications i n an effort to show how he has related his interest i n mysticism to the problems of con temporary l i f e . On the whole, the thesis i s primarily concerned, not with what Huxley, as a man, privately believes, but with the manifestations of mystical appre hension that occur i n his writings. i i CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I BIOGRAPHY 12 CHAPTER U MYSTICISM UO CHAPTER III ELEMENTS OF MYSTICISM IN THE FICTION. 75 CHAPTER 17 THE LATEST PHASE 125 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 156 BIBLIOGRAPHY 170 i i i On a huge h i l l Cragged and steep, Truth stands, and he that will Reach her, about must and about must goj And what the h i l l ' s suddenness resists, win so. John Donne, Satire III. iv INTRODUCTION Aldous Huxley i s doubtless ore of the most c o n t r o v e r s i a l of con temporary w r i t e r s . He has been l a b e l l e d everything from "elegant f u t i l i t a r i a n " , " s c e p t i c " , " s a t i r i s t " , " n i h i l i s t " , "hedonist", "pyrrhonist", "communist", " p a c i f i s t " , " r e l i g i o u s f a n a t i c " , to "humanist", "moralist", "mystic", and "prophet". Ln l i t e r a r y terms he has been r e f e r r e d to as a f b r i l l i a n t n o v e l i s t " , an "erudite e s s a y i s t " , a "writer of tiresome r e l i g i o u s t r a c t s " . During the f o r t y years that Huxley has been the object of c r i t i c a l controversy, s u r p r i s i n g l y few attempts have been made a t a synthesis e i t h e r of h i s work as a whole, or of the c o n f l i c t i n g c r i t i c a l opinions that have been expressed about i t . Only two book-length studies of Huxley e x i s t . Alexander Henderson's Aldous Huxley, published i n 1936, though a f a i r l y perceptive a n a l y s i s of the e a r l y novels, i s l i m i t e d because i t attempts to evaluate Huxley a t the. mid-point of h i s career. John Atkins' ex c e l l e n t book, Aldous Huxley, A L i t e r a r y Study, published i n 1956, i s as the s u b - t i t l e suggests a l i t e r a r y a n a l y s i s of everything Huxley has written. To my knowledge, three unpublished doctoral d i s s e r t a t i o n s have been wr i t t e n on Huxley. One, "Aldous Huxley: Humanist and Mystic", written by Wilson M. Lowry 1 deals p r i m a r i l y with the problem of value i n the l i t e r a r y thought of the Twentieth Century. Mr. Lowry considers Huxley's b e l i e f i n mysticism (which Mr. Lowry equates with quietism) and D.H. Lawrence's b e l i e f i n the dark gods of the blood as part of a regrettable but general r e v o l t against reason. Mr. Lowry approves Huxley's humanism as expressed as the 1 Wilson M. Lowry, "Aldous Huxley: Humanist and Mystic. The Revolt Against Reason i n the-Twentieth Century". Graduate School, U n i v e r s i t y of I l l i n o i s , 1 9 l i l « 2 life-worshipper's creed i n Point Counter Point, but regrets his interest i n mysticism which developed after 1928 and which, i n Mr. Lowry's opinion, i s a philosophy which negates the value of l i f e on a s t r i c t l y human level. The second thesis "Aldous Huxley: The Defeat of Youth", written by 2 Hermann C. Eowersox , deals mainly with Huxley's poetry. According to Mr. Bowersox, the early poems show that Huxley's main concern i s with the old problem of disparity between what i s 5 and what should be, between real and ideal. The poetry attempts to reconcile this disparity i n l i f e . Mr. Bowersox contends that the poetry contains the basic subject matter of every thing Huxley has written and forecasts Huxley's development as a mystic. Mysticism i s Huxley's solution to the problem of disparity, but Mr. Bowersox suggests i t i s not a real solution, but merely a shifting of the problem to a plane of no existence. The t h i r d dissertation, "Aldous Huxley: The Development of a Mystic", 3 deals only with Huxley as a developing mystic, not with his interest i n mysti cism. The thesis postulates that Huxley i s a mystic. This being the case, Mr. !Dykstra assumes that a study of everything Huxley has written should reveal how a mystic develops, and he proceeds to summarize and survey i n chronological order Huxley's to t a l l i t e r a r y output to 1957* He makes no attempt to explain the phenomena of mysticism nor to evaluate Huxley as a mystic i n terms of other mystics such as Saint John of the Cross or Jacob Boehme, or i n terms of what other reputable students of mysticism such as Evelyn Underhill, Dean Inge, or William James have said. Mr. Dykstra does not show how Huxley's interest i n mysticism might compare with either the 2 Hermann C. Bowersox, "Aldous Huxley: The Defeat of Youth", Graduate College, University of Chicago, I l l i n o i s , June, T9U3* 3 Emanuel David Dykstra, "Aldous Huxley: The Development of a Mystic", Graduate College, State University of Iowa, August, 1957, Microfilm. Christian or the Oriental mysticism or with the religion of mysticism i n general. The thesis i s essentially a chronological summary of Huxley's development as a mystic. Huxley's interest i n mysticism has stimulated a host of c r i t i c a l articles and seems to be the least understood phase of Huxley's development. Few c r i t i c s have attempted to see any real unity i n Huxley's works, or to see that the novelist and mystic are one and the same man* G.K. Chesterton placed Huxley among the "witty, b r i l l i a n t and fashionable bankrupts",** and considered him only as a destructive mocker and an i d o l smasher with no positive aims. The serious interest i n mysticism that marked Huxley's very early short stories seems to have been tot a l l y missed by readers and c r i t i c s alike. As early as 192k i n the story, "Uncle Spencer", Huxley wrote, "Now i t i s possible - i t i s , indeed, almost necessary - for a man of science to be also a mystic."^ Yet, i n spite of this and many similar remarks scattered through the early f i c t i o n and essays, reviewers and c r i t i c s seemed i n 1936 to be surprised by the exposition of mysticism contained i n the novel, Eyeless i n Gaza. Mr. Grube writes of this novel as "clearly a new start, a reorientation i n the l i t e r a r y , as also, one imagines, i n the personal l i f e of the author".^ Newton Arvin speaks of Huxley's "about face", his "change of front".7 fh.e general feeling expressed by most c r i t i c s i n 1936 was that Huxley had experienced a sudden conversion as a result of his acquaintance with Gerald Heard. The conversion was regretted, for i t was thought to have changed the b r i l l i a n t young sceptic into a some-what dull mystic. A new k G.K. Chesterton, "The End of the Moderns", London Mercury, vol. 27 (January 1933), pp. 228-233. 5 Aldous Huxley, "Uncle Spencer", L i t t l e Mexican, London, Chatto and Windus, 19U8 (1st ed. 192k), p. 78. 6 G.M.A. Grube, "Philosophy of Balance", Canadian Forum, v o l . 16 (September 1936), p. 25. 7 Newton Arvin, "Huxley's New Novel", New Republic, v o l . 88 (August 19, 1936), p. 51* fashionable view questions the sincerity of the mysticism and represents Huxley as something of a fake yogi. Professor King, however, protests against the "Academic smart alecks /yho/ l i k e to represent Huxley today as si t t i n g out i n the California desert, contemplating his navel, and thinking o about the identity of Atman with Brahman". The adverse criticism of Huxley during the twenty-five years since Chesterton described him as a "fashionable bankrupt" seems to f a l l into three classifications; that which asserts Huxley's sudden conversion j that which deplores or discredits his mysticism; that which attacks what i t considered Huxley's morbid interest i n disparaging l i f e because i t contains manifestations that are unattractive. The examples which follow (arranged chronologically rather than according"~to types) show that c r i t i c a l opinion changed very l i t t l e during the past twenty-five years, and also that, because i t f a i l e d either to recognize the consistency of Huxley's development, or to estimate his work as a whole, i t tended to be superficial. Messrs. Kunitz and Haycraft, editors of Twentieth Century Authors, i n a thumbnail sketch of Huxley written i n 19h2, claim that "his thought and work may be divided into two sharp chronological sections, the change coming somewhere between 1930 and 1935"«^ To i l l u s t r a t e the current criticism of Huxley, they quote from William So skin and David Daiches. So skin writes of Huxley, 8 Carlyle A. King, "Aldous Huxley's Way to God", Queens Quarterly, v o l . 6 l (Spring 195W, p. 80. 9 S.J. Kunitz and H. Haycraft, eds., "Huxley, Aldous Leonard", Twentieth Century Authors, New York, H.W. Wilson Company, 19^2, p. 699. 5 ...he adopts a rather c h i l d i s h manner of r e v u l s i o n against pheno mena, people, and manners which most men, perhaps h e a l t h i e r but no l e s s s e n s i t i v e men, can accept quite humanly. Mr. Huxley's mani f e s t a t i o n of learning and wit are impressive. His p e r s o n a l i t y . . . i s not.l° David Daiches writes, Huxley, s t a r t i n g with a preconceived romantic view of l i f e , turns to d i s i l l u s i o n e d s a t i r e on f i n d i n g that l i f e as i t i s l i v e d by h i s contemporaries does not j u s t i f y h i s view.... [Be comforts himself i n the end/ with a personal mysticism, a romantic view that w i l l not require to be t e s t e d by the f a c t s . 1 1 Messrs. Kunitz and Haycraft conclude t h e i r sketch by p o i n t i n g out that "the s e v e r i t y of the c r i t i c i s m Aldous Huxley meets i s a guage of h i s proved a b i l i t y " . They say the c r i t i c s are mistaken i n demanding more of the e a r l y s a t i r e when obviously Huxley has grown beyond that type of th i n g . William York T i n d a l l , i n an a r t i c l e published i n 19l|2, dismisses rather c a u s t i c a l l y the Huxley-Heard a s s o c i a t i o n : But a f t e r composing t h e i r manifestoes, master and d i s c i p l e r e t i r e d to C a l i f o r n i a where, when they are not walking with Greta Garbo or w r i t i n g f o r the cinema, they eat nuts and l e t t u c e perhaps and i n o f f e n s i v e l y meditate, Huxley i n Hollywood and Heard on a convenient mountainside. 1 2 Mr. T i n d a l l a s s e r t s that these "wisemen from the East" have only a vege table d i e t , a method of yoga, and Buddhistic contemplation to o f f e r as a s o l u t i o n to modern man's dilemma - a most inadequate o f f e r i n g i n h i s o p i n i o n . 1 ^ 1 0 W i lliam Soskin, quoted i n Kunitz and Haycraft, p. 6 9 9 . 1 1 David Daiches, quoted i n Kunitz and Haycraft, p. 6 9 9 . 1 2 W i lliam York T i n d a l l , "The Trouble with Aldous Huxley", American Scholar, v o l . 1 1 (Autumn 19h2), pp. 1 + 5 2 - l j 6 k . 13 William York T i n d a l l , Forces i n Modern B r i t i s h L i t e r a t u r e , 1 8 8 5 - 1 9 5 6 , New York, Vintage.Books, 1 9 5 6 , pp. 1 7 2 - 1 7 5 . 6 Norman Nicholson seems t o agree with Mr. T i n d a l l that Huxley w r i t i n g as a mystic has l i t t l e of a constructive nature to o f f e r to a contemporary reader. Mr. Nicholson claims t h a t Huxley's development i s progressive but i n s i n c e r e . The progression i s t o t a l l y i n the d i r e c t i o n of negating human value whereas i t should be a f f i r m a t i v e . According to Mr. Nicholson, (Huxley) has taken up the Manichean heresy, so a t t r a c t i v e and danger ous to some.minds, that the material world i s of i t s e l f e v i l and that s a l v a t i o n i s possible only by escape from i t . 1 * * Derek Savage, al s o , considers that Huxley's development i s progressive only i n negation. Huxley, he says, continues from a negative philosophy of f u t i l i t y i n t o a negative philosophy of mysticism - of non-attachment. Writ i n g i n 1952, and using A f t e r Many a Summer (1939), as h i s source of inform a t i o n , he claims that "Huxley's mysticism i s . . . a - h i s t o r i c a l , anti-personal and a t h e i s t i c " . Huxley t a l k s , he says, of the f u t i l i t y of l i f e on the s t r i c t l y human l e v e l , and can suggest as a way out only a t o t a l withdrawal from human l i f e to the l e v e l of e t e r n i t y . Some of the c r i t i c s have not seen a consistent development e i t h e r i n Huxley's supporting of s p i r i t u a l values or i n h i s denying of ordinary human valua s. They simply assume that there i s no r e l a t i o n between tiie Huxley of the e a r l y novels and the Huxley of the period f o l l o w i n g 1937 • Harold H. Watts, Professor of English a t Purdue Un i v e r s i t y , wrote i n 1950 that Huxley s e t t l e d permanently i n C a l i f o r n i a i n 1937 and "subsequently became i n t e r e s t e d i n mysticism". 1^ Dr. Watts has not even bothered to give the correct f a c t s l k Norman Nicholson, "Aldous Huxley and the Mystics", F o r t n i g h t l y , v o l . l 6 l (February 19k7), p. 13k. 15 Derek S. Savage, The Withered Branch, New York, P e l l e g r i n i and Cudaby, 1952, pp. 150-151. 16 Harold H. Watts, "Aldous Huxley", C o l l i e r s Encyclopedia, New York, P.F. C o l l i e r and Son Corporation, Publishers, 1950, v o l . 10, p. 295. 7 of Huxley's l i f e . Huxley did not settle i n California u n t i l 1939, and those c r i t i c s who see Huxley's interest i n mysticism as the result of a conversion f i x the conversion period as f a l l i n g between 1930 and 1936. If such an interest i n mysticism was a sudden departure for Huxley, the evidence seems to support the contention that he became interested i n i t prior, not subsequent, to 1937. In 1955, The London Magazine, i n an attempt to get some accurate c r i t i c a l evaluation of Huxley, presented a c r i t i c a l symposium. A number of distinguished and reputable c r i t i c s contributed articles. These i n d i cated that the c r i t i c s were less impressed by Huxley's interest i n mysticism than by h i s horrified fascination with the physical functions of the human body. Evelyn Waugh gives unstinting praise to Antic Hay as a novel. Angus Wilson praises a l l the early novels as "house party novels" and novels of discussion or conversation, but admits that the "pathological wallowing i n physical disgust" i n Point Counter Point and Eyeless i n Gaza bored him. Francis Wyndham feels that Huxley's treatment of sex verges on pornography, but he sees the emergence of .the teacher from the early novels. John Wain, writing of After Many a Summer, sees no relation between the sex a c t i v i t i e s described and those of a "normally poised human being". Mr. Wain sees the novel mainly as a tract against materialism. Peter Quennell finds that "no intermediate stage between the ecstatic and the repulsive" exists i n a Huxley novel, but Huxley's treatment of sex, i f somewhat distorted and ugly and allowing for no harmless human pleasures, at least serves to e l e c t r i f y his audience fo r more serious discussion. 1? 17 "A C r i t i c a l Symposium on Aldous Huxley", The London Magazine, vol. 2 (August 1955), pp. 51-6U. 8 The more serious discussion i s , of course, of mysticism. John Atk i n s , i n h i s book, published as l a t e as 1956, and i n spite of having made a comprehensive l i t e r a r y a n a l y s i s of everything Huxley had written, s t i l l speaks of Huxley's "sudden conversion". Huxley inhabited t h i s p r a c t i c a l world, claims Mr. Atkins, P u h t i l the Perennial Philosophy routed him out with the violence of a high e x p l o s i v e " . 1 ^ Considering Mr. Atkins as a representative c r i t i c i n 1956, i t becomes apparent that what the c r i t i c s are saying now about Huxley's adoption of mysticism i s v e i y l i t t l e d i f f e r e n t from what they s a i d i n 1936. Huxley himself has continued to grow and develop as a thinker and w r i t e r , but the c r i t i c s seem to have f a i l e d t o keep pace with him. On the whole the idea of a sudden conversion s t i l l seems prevalent i n the minds of most readers and c r i t i c s . Such a view can be h e l d only by those who look a t the outside of the man and h i s works. They may see only h i s disguise. Gumbril, i n A n t i c Hay a warns against t h i s very t h i n g . "Every man i s ludicrous i f you look at him from the outside, without taking into account what i s going on i n h i s heart and mind". Not a l l h i s c r i t i c s , however, have f a i l e d to take i n t o account what i s going on i n Huxley's heart and mind. Charles I. Glicksberg attempts to see Huxley as both a r t i s t and mystic. He writes, For a man i s a l l of a piece; he i s not f i r s t an acidulous s a t i r i s t , given to mordant observations on character and conduct, d e f i n i t e l y amused by the spectacle of the world's i n c r e d i b l e f o l l i e s , seemingly n i h i l i s t i c i n a t t i t u d e , and then suddenly a saint who has renounced the pleasure of the world and adopted an a s c e t i c , mystical philosophy. Mr. Glicksberg i s i n c l i n e d to accept the idea that Huxley went through a 18 John Atkins, Aldous Huxley, London, John Calder (Publishers) Limited, 1956, p. 16. 19 Charles I. Glicksberg, "Aldous Huxley: A r t and Mysticism", P r a i r i e Schooner, v o l . 27 (1953), p. 3U6. . 9 conversion period i n the t h i r t i e s , but he does attempt to see some over a l l unity i n Huxley's development as a creative a r t i s t , suggesting that Huxley's best novels, the early ones, were the product of his intensive search for religious unity. According to Mr. Glicksberg, Huxley's early f i c t i o n and essays,, as well as everything he has written since 1936, furnish, a f a i t h f u l documentary of his intense inner struggle to achieve spiritual progress. Huxley has a l l his l i f e been engaged i n a search for truth. The purpose of this thesis, then, i s to establish that Huxley's interest i n mysticism i s the result of a gradual and consistent development completely compatible with his psycho-physical constitution, his heredity and his environment. This thesis w i l l furthermore suggest that there was no sudden conversion period, but that throughout Huxley's writing, he has made a determined effort to answer "the only question that really matters". Huxley himself voices the question: The only question that really matters, the only question whose correct answer can exert a c i v i l i z i n g influence on the future specialist, i s the question asked by Buddha and Jesus, by Lao-tsu and Socrates, by Job and Aeschylus, and Chaucer and Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, by every philosopher, every mystic, every great a r t i s t j Who am I and what, i f anything, can I do about i t ? 2 0 To say that Huxley has found a f i n a l answer to his question would be to mis represent the situation, since "The process of becoming i s a c i r c l e ; the process of becoming more, of growth, i s a s p i r a l " . 2 1 Huxley continues to spiral upward i n his search for ultimate truth. His interest i n mysticism i s not "some weak f i n a l i t y " , i t i s part of a gradual growth towards wholeness. 20 Aldous Huxley, "Censorship and Spoken Literature", Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, New York, Harper and Brothers, 1952, p. 125*1 21 Christmas Humphries, Buddhism, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin Books, 1951, P. 2 3 . 10 Huxley i s s t i l l l i v i n g and w r i t i n g i n C a l i f o r n i a and h i s close a f f i l i a t i o n with the Vedanta A s s o c i a t i o n of C a l i f o r n i a seems to i n d i c a t e a continuing search f o r t r u t h . As w e l l as attempting to trace the gradual growth of Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism, t h i s t h e s i s w i l l attempt also to answer the c r i t i c s who charge that Huxley's mystical doctrine i s a complete withdrawal from l i f e and a negative t h i n g . An attempt w i l l be made to evaluate Huxley's views of mysticism by seeing them i n the l i g h t of accepted a u t h o r i t i e s on mysticism. The t h e s i s , however, does not pretend t o claim f o r Huxley a position,even as a l e s s e r apostle,-in the company o f the great sairrts and mystics of history^- Evelyn U n d e r b i l l says that, Mysticism i s the a r t of union with R e a l i t y . The mystic i s a person who has att a i n e d that union i n greater or le s s , degree; or who aims at and be l i e v e s i n such attainment.. The evidence, then, seems to in d i c a t e that i f Huxley i s a mystic, he could be that i n d i v i d u a l who would aim at and believe i n such attainment. Essen t i a l l y , the t h e s i s endeavours t o show that Huxley's mystical i n c l i n a t i o n s have been a consistent growth, a s p i r a l l i n g upward i n a continuing search f o r that ultimate "union with R e a l i t y " . By t r a c i n g Huxley's progress along the "mystic way", however, an attempt w i l l be made to i l l u s t r a t e what one might c a l l a "mystic norm" and the extent to which Huxley deviates from t h i s norm. I t follows that i n dealing with such a p r o l i f i c writer as Huxley c e r t a i n l i m i t a t i o n s have to be placed a r b i t r a r i l y on the volumes which w i l l be discussed. No reference w i l l be made to Huxley's poetry. As Mr. Webster 22 Evelyn U n d e r h i l l , P r a c t i c a l Mysticism, London, J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 191k, p. 3.. 11 shows i n a capable a r t i c l e , i t can be seen as a microcosm of the macrocosm.^ Certain poems f o r e c a s t an i n t e r e s t i n mysticism, while others can be seen as evidence th a t Huxley a t l e a s t experienced Illumination i n h i s search f o r the divine Ground. This t h e s i s i s d i r e c t l y and c h i e f l y concerned with the ways i n which Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism and h i s knowledge about i t have shown them selves i n h i s w r i t i n g . The l i m i t s of space have made i t impossible to d i s cuss i n any d e t a i l the important question of what a r t i s t i c success Huxley has achieved i n dealing with such m a t e r i a l . The concern here i s t o see Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism as a major and consistent development, and to evaluate t h i s i n t e r e s t . Again, no attempt w i l l be made to tr a c e t h i s development through a chronological study of a l l h i s p u b l i c a t i o n s . That has already been done i n d e t a i l by Mr. Atkins and Mr. Dykstra and more super f i c i a l l y i n a plethora of p e r i o d i c a l a r t i c l e s . Rather, Chapter I w i l l deal with biographic d e t a i l s which tend t o e s t a b l i s h Huxley's psycho-physical type within a framework of c l a s s i f i c a t i o n s t h a t he accepts. Chapter I I w i l l concern i t s e l f with a discussion of mysticism i n general, and then with Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism, i n an attempt to show i t s most important c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . Chapter I I I w i l l attempt, however, to trace through h i s f i c t i o n Huxley's developing i n t e r e s t i n mysticism. The growth w i l l be measured by the frameirork of Miss U n d e r b i l l ' s F i v e - f o l d Mystic Way i n order to see the extent to which Huxley deviates from the mystic norm. Chapter IV w i l l discuss Huxley's l a t e s t p u b l i c a t i o n s i n an e f f o r t to show h i s i n t e r e s t i n mysticism has influenced h i s present tendencies toward both moralism and empiricism. 23 H.C. Webster, "Aldous Huxley: Notes on a Moral Evolution", South A t l a n t i c Quarterly, v o l . h$ (19U6), pp. 372-383. 12 CHAPTER ONE BIOGRAPHY Philip Quarles i n Point Counter Point, writes i n his notebook, "But then I never pretended to be a congenital novelist". Alexander Henderson accepts Quarles as a p a r t i a l portrait of Huxley himself and suggests that Huxley, too, i s not a congenital novelist, but rather a congenital essayist who uses a prose style most easily adapted to reflection and rumination."'" If i t can be said that Huxley is a congenital essayist, much of the "reflec tion and rumination" i n Huxley's prose seems to indicate that he could be considered also as a congenital mystic, or at least, as a person with an inherent interest in mysticism. While much of Huxley's writing can be seen as simply the natural activity of a l i v e l y and erudite mind engaged in the entertainment of others, i t becomes apparent, upon closer inspection, that Huxley's primary purpose i n writing i s to c l a r i f y his own views; the secondary purpose i s to assume or edify others who encounter problems similar to his own. In a l l of the early collections of essays, On the Margin, Along the Road, Jesting Pilate, Proper Studies, and Do What You W i l l , i t seems f a i r l y obvious that Huxley i s consciously casting about f o r what w i l l be his main subject. He con stantly challenges the old accepted values, the orthodox attitudes to l i f e and religion. "Only those who are congenitally very mystical", says Huxley, "ever think of challenging the familiar matter-of-fact 1 Alexander Henderson, Aldous Huxley, New York and London, Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1936, p. 68. 13 views about nature". In challenging such views, Huxley i s i n the process of discovering what his true subject w i l l be. Do What You W i l l , published i n 1929, makes i t clear that Huxley's subject i s "man's spiri t u a l nature" — the subject of a man mystically inclined. Everything i n his nature, his heredity, his environment, his thoughts and actions, contributes to making the things of the s p i r i t Huxley's major concern. In Proper Studies, Huxley stresses the idea that a writer cannot write with equal fluency on every subject and that not only his choice of subject and material but also his choice of the method of treatment i s bound to be coloured, prejudiced and distorted by the writer's own nature. "We have", he writes, "our inborn idiosyncrasies, our acquired sentiments, prejudices, scales of valuej i t i s impossible for any man to transcend himself".^ Such factors as class and money help to f i x , not the nature of the individ ual' s talent and intelligence, but the way i n which such innate endowments w i l l be used, and the ends the individual w i l l set for himself. This theme of the limitations imposed by nature on the amount of change which man can effect i n himself i s picked up again i n Ends and Means. Huxley t e l l s us that, ...what we think determines what we are and do, and conversely, what we are and do determines what we think. False ideas result i n wrong action; and the man who makes a habit of wrong action thereby l i m i t s h i s f i e l d of consciousness and makes i t impossible to think certain thoughts.k 2 Aldous Huxley, Proper Studies, London, Chatto and Windus, 1929 (First ed.. 1927), p. 65. " - 3 Ibid., p. x v i i . li Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means, London, Chatto and Windus, 1937, p. 329. 1U In order to avoid f a l s e i d e a l s and wrong a c t i o n , man must constantly use what Huxley c a l l s " i n t e l l e c t u a l caution" i n h i s responses both t o himself and to the outer world. An i n d i v i d u a l ' s f i r s t r e s p o n s i b i l i t y i s to become as dis c r i m i n a t i n g as possible w i t h i n the l i m i t a t i o n s of h i s type of personal i t y . ^ Proper Studies.(1927) , Huxley b e l i e v e d i t was impossible f o r man to transcend himself. By 1936, however, when he wrote Ends and Means, Huxley, although apparently s t i l l cleaving to the theory that man i s l i m i t e d by both h i s h e r e d i t y and h i s environment, begins to modify h i s opinion that man could not transcend himself. He writes, What we perceive and understand depends upon what we are; and what we are depends p a r t l y on circumstances, p a r t l y and more profoundly, on the nature of the e f f o r t s we have made to r e a l i z e our i d e a l and the nature of the i d e a l we have t r i e d to r e a l i z e . 5 Considering mysticism as a goal, Huxley admits that the i n d i v i d u a l not c o n g e n i t a l l y mystical w i l l have great d i f i i c u l t y i n a t t a i n i n g a f u l l mystical l i f e . In f a c t , the non-mystic cannot understand the mystic's i n t u i t i o n s or experiences, but by being i n t e l l e c t u a l l y cautious, he w i l l avoid being trapped by something l e s s than t r u e mysticism. I f a considerable e f f o r t i s made, he can t r a i n himself at l e a s t to appreciate the philosophy of mysticism i f not t o experience the mystic state i t s e l f . By t r a i n i n g i n "awareness" and "meditation", the non-mystic can come to understand the mystic's exper ience p r e c i s e l y as a non-musically i n c l i n e d person can l e a r n to understand music. The depth of understanding, l i k e the extent of a person's knowledge, 5 Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means, London, Chatto and Windus, 1937, p. 288. 15 whether i t be knowledge of mysticism, music or mathematics, i s s t r i c t l y proportionate to h i s innate nature. A man i s l i m i t e d by h e r e d i t a r y and environmental f a c t o r s not only i n what he knows and i n h i s choice of an i d e a l , but a l s o i n the extant to which he can r e a l i z e the i d e a l . As Bruno explains to Sebastian, Knowledge i s proportionate to being.... You know i n v i r t u e of what you arej and what you are depends on three f a c t o r s : what you've i n h e r i t e d , what your surroundings have done to you, and what you've chosen to do with your surroundings and your inheritance. " Huxley's concern xri.th the problem of h e r e d i t y and environment points to the f a c t that, e s s e n t i a l l y , Huxley i s t r y i n g to answer tte question, "Who am I and what, i f anything, can I do about i t ? " In the essays i n Proper Studies (1927), he suggests t h a t even i f man does answer the f i r s t h a l f of the question "Who am I ? " , he can do very l i t t l e about i t . At that time, Huxley thought i t impossible f o r man to transcend himself. Ten years l a t e r , i n the essays i n Ends and Means, he modifies h i s o p i n i o n and admits that man can transcend himself within c e r t a i n lrbirits. In the chap t e r , " R eligion and Temperament", i n The Perennial Philosophy (19U5), Huxley summarizes what seems to be the culmination of h i s t h i n k i n g on the whole problem of "being". According to him congenitally, by psycho-physical c o n s t i t u t i o n , we are each of us born i n t o a p a r t i c u l a r p o s i t i o n on the h o r i z o n t a l plane. Movement towards the extremities of self-transcendence.— t h a t i s , towards e i t h e r the mystic state or towards the state of sub-humanity - i s l i m i t e d by one's "psycho-physical make-up". I t i s impossible f o r one kind of p h y s i c a l c o n s t i t u t i o n to transform i t s e l f i n t o another kind; and the p a r t i c u l a r temperament associated with a given p h y s i c a l c o n s t i t u t i o n can be modified only within narrow 6 Aldous Huxley, Time Must Have A Stop, New York and London, Harper and Brothers Publishers, 191JL, p. 251. 16 limits. With the best will in the world and the best social environ ment, a l l that anyone can hope to do is to make the best of his con genital psycho-physical make-up; to change the fundamental patterns of constitution and temperament is beyond his power.''' Huxley's "congenital theory" can be illustrated by examining Huxley's own career. His heredity, environment, and what he has thought and done provide ample evidence for the suggestion that Huxley, while striving to learn completely to transcend his own ego, while trying to move to an extreme of spirituality, has only been realizing an ideal consistent with his psycho physical make-up; he has never changed the basic patterns of his temperament or constitution. He has from birth had the potentiality, the in-bred capa city to make spiritual interests dominant throughout his l i f e . Aldous Huxley was born July 26, I89L. His relatives and ancestors con stitute a most distinguished family of intellectuals. His father was Dr. Leonard Huxley, teacher, editor, and man of letters. His eldest brother is the eminent biologist, Sir Julian Huxley. His grandfather was Thomas Henry Huxley, scientist and famous popularizer of Darwin's evolutionary theory. His mother, Julia Arnold, had a no less distinguished ancestry than her husband. Through her, Huxley was the grand-nephew of the poet and writer, Matthew Arnold, and the great grandson of the formidable moralist, headmaster of Rugby, Dr. Thomas Arnold. He was also, on the Arnold side of the family, a nephew of the norelist Mrs. Humphrey Ward, who greatly influenced him in the field of art. Huxley's background seems to account for two main strains, in his development - fi r s t an interest in science and a tendency to test any 7 Aldous Huxley, Perennial Philosophy, New York and London, Harper and Brothers, 19h$9 p. 1U7« 17 theory empirically; second, a reflective and moralistic habit of mind. His home l i f e doubtless gave an early impetus to his search for truth, but where was he to look for Truth — i n science, i n religion, or i n art? A total lack of details and anecdotes concerning Huxley's childhood, youth and intimate personal l i f e , t e s t i f i e s to the man's natural reticence and shyness. Much of Huxley's personality and character can be inferred from the somewhat autobiographical, main characters i n his f i c t i o n . As the f i c t i o n w i l l be discussed i n a later chapter, I shall refrain from deducing any biography from i t now, and shall discuss only those bio graphical details definitely recorded. In the essay on Biran, Huxley t e l l s of his excruciating shyness as a child. He describes the horrible embarrassment Biran experienced while meeting Louis XVIII and recalls what he himself suffered as a boy of fiv e or six when Edward VII unveiled a statue of his grandfather, Thomas Henry Huxley.^ A tendency to v shyness and introversion was heightened considerably when, at the age of sixteen, Huxley became almost t o t a l l y blind from an attack of keratitis punctata. This ended abruptly his studies at Eton and hi s plans for a career i n medicine. During a period of his l i f e i n which he might have participated i n typical English games and s o c i a b i l i t y he was of necessity restricted to a completely reflective l i f e . The blindness which isolated him and threx* him on his inner resources lasted nearly three years. In the f i r s t eighteen months he learned bpaille, but then his sight improved. He began using a magnifying glass and f i n a l l y progressed to thick-lensed spectacles. Unable to see well enough to become a doctor, 8. Aldous Huxley, Themes and Variations, London, Chatto and Windus, 193>U ( f i r s t ed. 195"0), p. 23. 18 Huxley turned to English studies at Oxford. There the young Huxley cut rather a lonely figure at a university whose male population was depleted by the war. In 1915 at the age of twenty-one, Huxley took f i r s t class honours i n English literature at B a l l i o l College, Oxford. During the war he tried a l i t t l e teaching and. cut down trees as part of c i v i l i a n war work. In 1919, he married Maria Nys, a Belgian refugee. That same year he trent to work on the staff of The Athenaeum, edited by J. Middleton-Murry, whom he later lampooned as a religious hypocrite and sexual pervert i n Point Counter Point. The war had completely shattered the illusions of those who had beai brought up to believe i n the old Nineteenth Century ideals. A deeply sensitive young man, Huxley determined to clean out the sludge of hypocrisy that he found about him and began to attack viciously those traditions of his environment that he found hypocritical or inadequate. He decried the Victorian morality of Dr. Thomas Arnold, the scientific materialism of Thomas Huxley, and the interest i n the "higher criticism" and belief i n patriotism of Mrs. Ward. Disillusioned by the discrepancy between l i f e as represented and l i f e as lived, he could find no code, no pattern, no truth on which to f i x , and hence he adopted a stubborn sceptical relativism proclaiming that "no phenomenon i s truer or better than another". With such early publications as Crome Yellow (1921), and Antic Hay (1923), he became labelled as the spokesman of a "lost generation", and earned such epithets as "incorrigibly sceptical", "elegantly irreverent", "amusingly clever"• A l l Huxley's disparagement of Victorian society indicated one thing — that he was desperately i n search of something that would give l i f e meaning. 19 Like Guy i n h i s s t o r y "Happily Ever A f t e r " who sees himself as " i n t e l l e c t u a l l y a V o l t a i r i a n " , and "emotionally a Bunyanite",^ Huxley never succeeded ih.axppressing h i s r e l i g i o u s emotions. The S a l v a t i o n i s t i n him craved s p i r i t u a l foodj the i n t e l l e c t sought s c i e n t i f i c proof. He was struggling to h eal the r i f t i n h i s s o u l , t o e f f e c t i n himself a compromise between the moralist and the s c i e n t i s t , the s p i r i t and the i n t e l l e c t . By 1921;, a t the age of t h i r t y , Huxley had a well-established, l i t e r a r y reputation. He had produced s i x volumes of note: two books of poetry, two c o l l e c t i o n s of short s t o r i e s , and two novels. That year he moved to I t a l y , p r e f e r r i n g , as he s a i d , "sunlight to l i t e r a r y company", but the l i t e r a r y company was there as w e l l . Huxley had met D.H. Lawrence f i r s t i n 1915>5 he was immediately drawn to Lawrence's dominating p e r s o n a l i t y and a t t r a c t e d by Lawrence's knowledge i n some of the new r e l i g i o u s c u l t s . Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n s p i r i t u a l i s m and occultism had been made apparent i n Crome Yellow by h i s taking the trouble to s a t i r i z e Annie Besant as Mrs. Wimbush who bet on the horses according to t h e i r horoscopes, by h i s laughing at Barbecue-Smith and h i s Pipe-Lines to the I n f i n i t e . Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n s p i r i t u a l i s m was stimulated by Lawrence's occult dabblings; Lawrence was already acquainted with Madame Blavatsky, Mrs. Besant, and James M. Pryee, a famous Los Angeles y o g i , and was generally informed about the doctrines of theosophy. 1 0 Lawrence was not a devotee of any of the new r e l i g i o n s . His concern, however, with the things of the s p i r i t and h i s hope of escaping from the bondage of c i t i e s and conventions i n order to l i v e simply f a s c i n a t e d 9 Aldous Huxley, "Happily Ever A f t e r " , Limbo, London, Chatto and Windus, 1928, ( F i r s t ed. 1920), p. 172. . 10 William York T i n d a l l , "The Trouble with Aldous Huxley", American Scholar,.vol. I I (Autumn 1 9 l £ ) , pp. H52-U6U. 20 Huxley. He allowed Lawrence to persuade him to a scheme that Huxley's i n t e l l e c t u a l caution warned:him would never work. Reporting the incident l a t e r , Huxley writes, Before tea was over he asked me i f I would j o i n the colony, and though I was an i n t e l l e c t u a l l y cautious young man, not a t a l l i n c l i n e d t o enthusiasms, though Lawrence had s t a r t l e d and embarrassed me with s i n c e r i t i e s of a k i n d to which my upbringing had not accustomed me, I answered y e s . H Lawrence had plans f o r s e t t i n g up i n F l o r i d a a Utopian s o c i e t y of enlightened i n t e l l e c t u a l s who could there escape cynicism and c i v i l i z a t i o n by l i v i n g i n a "state of p r i m i t i v e transcendentalism". But the time was not yet r i p e f o r Huxley t o come completely under Lawrence's influence. He had f i r s t to go "round about" i n h i s own search. The year 1925 saw the Huxleys beginning a world c r u i s e which took them to India and r e s u l t e d i n t h e i r spending a greater part of t h e i r t r a v e l l i n g time i n that country. Je s t i n g P i l a t e , on the surface a c o l l e c t i o n of t r a v e l essays, was the r e s u l t of the t r i p . Huxley had been anxious to investigate the r e l i g i o n s of India; hence, the most frequently r e c u r r i n g and, i n f a c t , the u n i f y i n g theme i n the essays i s h i s i n t e r e s t i n and comparison of the r e l i g i o u s b e l i e f s and customs he encountered. Huxley was appalled at the super s t i t i o n and the ridiculousness,' not to mention the hypocrisy, of the outward r a m i f i c a t i o n s of most r e l i g i o n s . As he moved southward from I t a l y at the outset of h i s journey, he rather s a r c a s t i c a l l y compared the Northerners' fa s t i d i o u s n e s s i n r e l i g i o u s ceremony with the Southerners' a b i l i t y to over look c e r t a i n discordant notes i n t h e i r r i t u a l . 11 Aldous Huxley, "Introduction" to The Le t t e r s of D.H. Lawrence, New York, The V i k i n g Press, 1936, p. xxix. 2 1 In church, the p r i e s t may gabble, as though he were t r y i n g to break a world's record, the acolytes may pick t h e i r noses, the choir-boys sing out of tune, the vergers s p i t j we Northerners are revolted, but the wisely indulgent Southerner passes over these t r i v i a l d e t a i l s , and enjoys the f i n e general e f f e c t of the e c c l e s i a s t i c a l b a l l e t i n spite of i t s l i t t l e blemishes*- 1- 2 Most of the r e l i g i o n s have a propensity f o r overlooking the "blemishes". People were fundamentally the same whether they were Pygmies or Europeans and could accept anything under the guise of r e l i g i o n . Huxley discovered a group of Javanese who c a l l e d themselves Moslems, though a t heart they were animists, and though they also worshipped the reproductive p r i n c i p l e i n nature. An o l d c y l i n d r i c a l cannon served as the symbol. In the natives' minds "an immemorial p h a l l i s m (had) c r y s t a l l i s e d round the o l d gun, t r a n s forming i t from a mere brass tube i n t o a potent d e i t y " . ^ The Indians with t h e i r sacred cows and absurd r i t u a l s were no b e t t e r . Huxley's i n t e l l e c t r e v o l t e d against a l l he saw. He speaks of the t r a v e l l e r s ' desire to leave the "Beaten Track" i n the hope of f i n d i n g the "phantom which perpetually eludes them", of discovering "some mode of l i f e t h a t i s somehow fundamentally d i f f e r e n t from any mode with which they are f a m i l i a r " , and of t h e i r constant disappointment i n f i n d i n g that l i f e i s , at bottom, the same wherever they go. In spite of h i s disappointment, Huxley admits that "I went on longing to get behind that w a l l of green; I went on b e l i e v i n g , i n the teeth of my own de n i a l s , that there was something miraculous and extraordinary i n the other s i d e " . 1 ^ 1 2 Aldous Huxley,. J e s t i n g P i l a t e , London, Chatto and Windus, 191$, ( F i r s t ed. 1 9 2 6 ) , p. 1 8 . 1 3 I b i d . , p. 1 8 2 . 1 U I b i d . , p. 1 7 9 . 22 Although Here Huxley was speaking of his experiences and feelings on the physical journey, his comments seem applicable to his spiritual journey. He went to India i n search of a religion i n which he could believe; his in t e l l e c t rejected the superstition, the sham sp i r i t u a l i t y and hypocrisy which he recognized i n both c i v i l i z e d and uncivilized countries; yet, i n spite of the disappointment he •went on believing that there might be "some thing miraculous...in the other side". In spite of his failure to f i n d something different, some religion i n which he could believe, Huxley begins to retract some of his early statements concerning the concept of God. The idea of an anthropomorphic deity i s ridiculous to Huxley, but he now believes that something exists which goes beyond the idea of a personal god. Huxley sees the danger of thinking of God as a person. Because man makes God i n the likeness of man, God i s given the limitations of man. Science, and, i n particular, the theory of evolution, has enabled man to advance beyond a belief i n an anthropomorphic god. In time, Huxley thinks, science may help us to know about Reality what Gautama knew 2J>00 years ago, but he i s forced to admit frankly that when one i s i n a country l i k e India, with i t s religion, i t s s p i r i t u a l i t y , and i t s d i r t , Ford may appear to be a greater man than Buddha. "One i s a l l for religion u n t i l one v i s i t s a really religious country. There one i s a l l for drains, machinery, and the mirrimum wage." ^ Huxley thinks about the Quakers and their religion of the "Simple L i f e " . He sees i t as the ideal, but recognizes that such a religion i s "the luxury of the refined few"; i t could come into being only because of the advantages of a high c i v i l i s a t i o n ; i t accepts the mechanical achievements of Ford without destroying Buddha. Huxley's interest i n Quakerism i s renewed ten 1$ Huxley, Jesting Pilate, p. 21k. 23 years later when he associates with Gerald Heard. In the meantime, Huxley can only acdept the diversity which exists i n men's religions, moral codes and governments, and yet he persists i n the paradoxical certainty that a oneness underlies the diversity. A common thread seems to him to run through a l l the values of mankind. "Goodness, beauty, wisdom and knowledge, with the human possessors of these qualities, the human creators of things and thoughts endowed with them, have always and everywhere", been honoured. This awareness of the existence of a set of values which i s accepted i n some form by a l l men forecasts the belief ex pressed in The Perennial Philosophy, but Huxley has a long way to go before he can effect a conciliation between the demands of his s p i r i t and those of his i n t e l l e c t . For the next ten years the in t e l l e c t dominated. Huxley had returned from his world cruise s t i l l unable to answer satisfactorily the question, "Who am I and what, i f anything, can I do about i t ? " He had found no spiritual homej nowhere had he found any real meaning i n l i f e . Back i n Europe i n 1926 he renewed his acquaintance with D.H. Lawrence, and made an effort to accept Lawrence's "Doctrine of Cosmic Pointlessness": There i s no point. Life and Love are l i f e and love, a bunch of violets i s a bunch of.violets, and to drag i n the idea of a point i s to ruin everything. Live and l e t l i v e , love and l e t love, flower and fade, and follow the natural curve, which flows on, pointless. 1 7 16 Huxley, Jesting Pilate, p. 290. 17 Aldous Huxley (ed.), The Letters of D.H. Lawrence, by D.H. Lawrence, New York, The Viking Press, 1936, p. x v i i i . 2k Huxley attempted to follow Mrv Lawrence's advice, to stop meddling with religion and eternity, to occupy himself f u l l y i n the present. In occupying himself f u l l y i n the present, Huxley was free to explore the way of l i f e recommended by Mr. Lawrence, what Huxley himself termed the l i f e of "balanced excesses" or integral l i v i n g . Huxley concerned himself more and more with the physical side of man's being. He had hinted i n Jesting Pilate that morality and religion were based on l i t t l e more than the business of health. Lechery, for example, had not been considered a deadly sin u n t i l syphilis became rampant. Now that modern science has a cure for the disease a much more lenient attitude i s taken to wards the s i n . 1 ^ In Proper Studies Huxley elaborates the theory that man i s the victim of his physical type. It i s possible to place most people in one of two main classes — the extroverts or the introverts, the Marthas or the Marys, those interested i n action or those interested i n contemplation, the visualizers or the non-visualizers. An inca.vid.ual from either group i s given the raw material that is used i n building up a personality. A man i s not entirely his own a r t i s t or builder, but his personality i s a product of his own and other, deliberate, human effort. Nature gives man a start and conscious man takes over, but hunger, sex, seasonal changes and bodily i l l nesses affect man physically and mentally; he i s not, therefore, i n complete control of his development. "(The) fluctuations in the body's activity...," says Huxley,"...have a direct effect on the accompanying mind..."^ Huxley's study of natural science led him to the very b i t t e r conclusion 18 Huxley, Jesting Pilate, p. 181 f f . 19 Huxley, Proper Studies, p. 237. 25 that our philosophy of l i f e , our moods and our aspirations are entirely determined by the state of our ductless glands and viscera. Huxley describes Pascal's worship of Death as a "neuralgia-metaphysic"; Proust's invalidism produced an "asthma-philosophy." 2 0 In an essay on E l Greco i n Music At Njght, Huxley denies the suggestion that E l Greco's genius i s the result of poor vision, but he does not deny that E l Greco's defective eyesight may have enabled the a r t i s t to express a strange feeling about a mysterious philosophy. Similarly, many men of genius are affected by their illnesses, physical or mental. E l Greco suffered from defective vision; Dostoevsky, epilepsy; 21 Keats, tuberculosis. Huxley himself shows so much concern with "bowels" not only i n the E l Greco essay but also i n his f i c t i o n and again i n Grey Eminence and The Devils of Loudun, that one might conclude that Huxley's own development might have been affected by constipation. Be that as i t may, Huxley could not long accept a view of l i f e which explained everything i n terms of psychology and physiology. At the basis of a l l man's activity,.the processes of nature, and the voluntary and involuntary manifestations of w i l l , of purpose, of destiny i n the world and universe, Huxley saw a certain mystery. Lawrence had advised leaving the mystery or riddle alone; he advised accepting each impulse from the vernal wood. His desire to set up a Utopian society i n Florida seems to indicate a condemnation of the excessive i n t e l l e c t u a l i t y and the t o t a l reliance on scie n t i f i c truth so apparent i n the c i v i l i z e d world. Lawrence recommended what Huxley interpreted as "integral l i v i n g " . He accepted the a c t i v i t i e s of the i n t e l l e c t , the s p i r i t , and the blood, but he did not want them isolated. Excessive cerebration was meaningless, but intellectual a c t i v i t y which was rooted i n man's organic being enriched l i f e . 20 Aldous Huxley, "Pascal," Do What You Will? London, Chatto and Windus, 1929, p. 261. . . 21 Aldous Huxley, "EL Greco," Music At Night. London, Chatto and Windus, 19U9, (First ed. 1931), p. 61. . 26 Similarly, he did not deny scientific truth, but he also recognized that a truth existed -which could be kno-wn only i n t u i t i v e l y and f e l t only i n the "solar plexus". On the other: hand, pure s p i r i t u a l i t y he disliked and dis trusted as much as abstract knowledge. Lawrence's influence on Huxley was vexy considerable. He gave Huxley the courage to believe i n his spiritual self and frequently reminded him that he indulged the intellectual side of himself excessively. Accepting Lawrence's view of"integral l i v i n g " , Huxley attempted to work out what he called a "life-worshipper's creed". He elaborates this creed i n Point Counter Point and again i n an essay on Pascal i n Do What You W i l l . According to Huxley, the l i f e worshipper's fundamental assumption i s that l i f e on this planet i s valuable i n i t s e l f . He does not bother himself about higher or lower r e a l i t i e s . His next assumption i s that the end of l i f e i s more l i f e . The l i f e worshipper embraces a l l diversities i n l i f e j he does not moderate his exuberances; he does not aim at homogeneous li v i n g , but rather at achieving a v i t a l equilibrium of "balanced excesses" of the different sides of his nature. As Huxley summarizes: The aim of the life-worshipper i s to combine the advantages of balanced moderation and excess. The moderate Aristotelian p a r t i a l l y realizes a l l his potentialities; the man of excess f u l l y realizes part of his potentialities; the life-worshipper aims at f u l l y realizing a l l — at l i v i n g , f u l l y and excessively l i v i n g , with every one of his colony of souls. He aspires to balance excess of self-consciousness and intelligence by an excess of intuition, of instinctive and visceral l i v i n g ; to remedy the i l l effects of too much contemplation by those of too much sociability, too much enjoyment by too much asceticism... In a word, he w i l l accept each of his selves, as i t appears i n his consciousness, as his momentarily true self. 22 22 Aldous Huxley, "Pascal", Do What You W i l l , Chatto and Windus, 19U9, (First ed. 192?), p...282. 27 Huxley names Burns, Blake, Rubens, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Chaucer, Rabelais and Montaigne as models of life-worshippers. He claims that the life-worshipper was the representative man during the Renaissance. Apparently certain epochs have been more conducive to the l i f e of "balanced excesses" than others. The theory of "life-worshipping" or Huxley's theory of integral l i v i n g appears reasonably sane, and Huxley does seem to have attempted to become a life-worshipper. Certainly he has at times been excessively intelligent, excessively religious, but the evidence does not seem to support a suggestion that he has ever been excessively emotional. He admits that he would willingly "bovaryze" (a term he uses to mean alternate between the various aspects of his personality) and become a real life-worshipper, but he seems to have l i t t l e success. If Philip Quarles i n Point Counter Point i s accepted as, at least, a p a r t i a l portrait of Huxley, then, Huxley seems to be aware of his own i n a b i l i t y to become a life-worshipper. Quarles, concerned mainly with his excessive in t e l l e c t u a l i t y , writes i n his notebook, Shall I ever have the strength of mind to break myself of these indolent habits.of intellectualism and devote my energies to the more serious and d i f f i c u l t task of l i v i n g integrally? And even i f I did try to break these habits, shouldn't I f i n d that heredity was at the bottom of them and that I was congenitally incapable of l i v i n g wholly and harmoniously? 23 Quarles's fear that he was "congenitally incapable of l i v i n g wholly and harmoniously", suggests that Huxley fears a^similar congenital incapacity i n himself. 23 Aldous Huxley, Point Counter Point, New York, Random House, The Modern Library Edition, ( f i r s t ed. 1928), p. 38I. 28 His failure at integral l i v i n g could be explained by the fact that Huxley i s not inherently the life-worshipping type, or by the fact that the temper of the 20th century does not lend i t s e l f to life-worshipping. Huxley's belief that certain epochs more than others tend to produce life-worshippers indicates that environment can influence or inhibit their development. On the other hand, Huxley's discussion of Tolstoy seems to indicate the necessity of having a certain inbred capadlty i n order to become a life-worshipper. Huxley points out that Tolstoy was a life-worshipper only u n t i l such time as "he deliberately perverted himself to a death-worshipping consistency". The question arises, did Tolstoy deliberately pervert himself, or was he merely -victim of the strongest member of his "colony of souls"? If not congenitally inclined to be a life-worshipper, a man can only become one within limits. He cannot completely force the diversities of his personality into becoming what he i s not by nature and innate being. Thus Huxley, like Tolstoy, f a i l e d to change himself into a life-worshipper. Rather Huxley's tendency to contemplation seems to have dominated his colony of souls and he has become more of a Boehme than a Chaucer. Point Counter Point, the novel i n which Huxley championed the idea of "life-worship", gives evidence of Huxley's failure to l i v e according to his own creed. Lawrence points up this failure i n a letter to Lady Ottoline Morrell i n 1929. Commenting on Point Counter Point, Lawrence wrote, "I f e e l that only half a man writes the books — a sort of precarious adolescent. There i s surely much more of a man i n the real Aldous." 2^ Lawrence was 2k Lawrence, The Letters of D.H. Lawrence, p. 791. 29 right: Point Counter Point was written by half a man — the intellectual half. Huxley had t r i e d to believe i n the life-worshipper's creed, and also Lawrence's religion of primitivism, but his belief was an intellectual acceptance. As Huxley admitted i n Jesting Pilate, "there i s a l l the difference i n the world between believing academically, with the in t e l l e c t , and believing personally, intimately, with the whole l i v i n g s e l f " . 2 5 Huxley's acceptance of the life-worshipper's creed was never more than academic because his psycho-physical constitution was such that he could not live i t personally and intimately. His latent inclination to mysticism was begirining to dominate his l i f e ; however, because Huxley had academically recognized the necessity of balanced l i v i n g , there was slight p o s s i b i l i t y of hi s becoming one-sidedly fanatical, or of allowing one of h i s "souls" to take possession of his "colony of souls". Huxley was inclined by nature most to a contemplative l i f e , but having already academically accepted l i f e - worship, his intellectual caution prevented him from excessively indulging the most dominant soul i n his colony; so that when, i n his mature l i f e , he f u l l y accepted mysticism i t was as a balanced and reasonable individual. Huxley gained from Lawrence the conviction that a religion, some r e l i gion, was necessary for man to l i v e . Both: men were groping toward some idea of wholeness i n a l l the phases of man's l i v i n g . Regrettably, Lawrence was to die i n the 1930's, s t i l l a young man. Huxley had to continue his search for truth alone, but .Lawrence had helped Huxley over the period of negative scepticism; he had prepared the way for Gerald Heard. 25 Huxley, Jesting Pilate, p. 289-30 Even before meeting Heard, Huxley was concerning himself with social reform. In essays i n Proper Studies and Do What You W i l l he expresses the opinion that f a i t h i s necessary i f there i s to be a po s s i b i l i t y of improving the material and psychological conditions i n which men exist and of providing the chance for every individual to l i v e a good l i f e . Man may be limited by heredity and environment, but i t i s the duty of the state to provide an opportunity for man to realize his potential as nearly as possible, and the duty of the individual to make an effort to achieve this end. Huxley's interest i n morality was beginning to showj Heard merely focussed i t i n a particular direction. With a growing sense of moral obligation to his fellow man, Huxley f e l t increasingly concerned at the imminence of another catastrophic war. On October 1$, 193U, he read a letter i n the London Times i n which Canon Dick Sheppard renounced war and asked any who agreed with him to send him a post card. That Huxley sent a post card i s not i n the least surprising. As a result of Sheppard's letter, a meeting was held i n Albert Hall, Londcn, i n June, 1935, at which The Peace Pledge Union for the Renunciation of War was formed. Associated with the movement were many such distinguished intellectuals as Sheppard, Bertrand Russell, Gerald Heard and Aldous Huxley. Huxley gave unstintingly of his time and money. In 1936 he wrote the pamphlet, What Are You Going To Do About It? asserting the p a c i f i s t doctrine of active non-violence which he later developed more f u l l y , i n Ends and Means. In 1937, Huxley edited An Encyclopedia of Pacifism. During this time he was associated closely with Heard's publications, The Ascent of Humanity (1929), The Social Substance of Religion (1931), and The Sources of C i v i l i z a t i o n (1935)* Heard's religion, summarized b r i e f l y 31 from The Source of Civ i l i z a t i o n , i s one of non-violence and non-attachment to the material world and to self. Violence and values can never be com patible. Life can evolve only by sensitiveness and awareness. Therefore, i f man i s to climb any higher on the human scale and to avoid f a l l i n g into an abyss of sub-humanity, he must conceive a means of expanding his conscious ness i n such a way that the individual can transcend his own ego and become aware of his relationship to hut&anity as a whole. We are, i n a quite l i t e r a l sense, "members of one another". Man's continued existence depends on a recovery of that extra-individuality, "that something not ourselves that makes for righteousness". Our only hope i s a psychological revolution i n favour of a united consciousness. Our only hope of escape from material destruction and mental derangement i s , i n plain terms, a new religion, and the new active religion i s Pacifism or active non-violence. Heard's philosophy was not just theory. War was imminent. It became an empirical necessity to do something constructive. Huxley, the in t e l l e c tual, the moralist, the empiricist, was impressed, and, as William York Tindall points out, Heard's wide experience as a member of the British Society for Psychical Research, his mastery of psychoanalysis, palaeontology, anthro pology and physical science, was extremely appealing to Huxley whose interest i n spiritualism and occultism had been made apparent by the satire of Mrs. Besant i n Crome Yellow. Lawrence had given Huxley some reason to be less sceptical of occult practices, and Heard insisted that his experiences could be s c i e n t i f i c a l l y tested. According to Tindall, Heard shows that man's psychic unity i s destroyed by individuality and personality. Excessive awareness of individuality and personality causes conflicts within man and within his society. Reason i s 32 an added curse as i t negates intuition and the act i v i t y of man's animal sense. This psychic fissure between man, a rational being, and man, an intuitive animal, causes a l l his sorrows including loneliness and consti pation. The division i n man's psychic unity can never be remedied by p o l i t i c a l or economic adjustments. Only a religion that teaches that health and material well-being flow from Right Doctrine can solve man's, and hence the world's, i l l s . 26 Heard's influence on Huxley was very considerable. Not only did Huxley accept Heard's theory of non-violence and non-attachment, but he joined Heard i n 1937 ou a t r i p to the Quaker communities i n Pennsylvania, a group i n which Huxley had shown interest i n Jesting Pilate. The Quakers, they considered, were a group whose religious practices and spiritual a t t i tudes would be most l i k e l y to restore psychological harmony to man's whole l i f e and economy. While i n America, Huxley and Heard also v i s i t e d Black Mountain College i n North Carolina, where Dr. Rhine was investigating telepathy i n the hope of putting extra sensory perception on a more scien t i f i c basis. As a result of their travels, Heard wrote The Third Morality, and Huxley wrote Ends and Means. In Ends:, and Means, Huxley states that, "like so many of my contempor- 27 aries, I took i t for granted that there was no meaning /to l i f e / " . He cannot yet affirm what l i f e does mean, but he i s prepared to engage i n a study and a way of l i f e which may reveal the ultimate meaning of our existence. He sees the philosophy of non-attachment as the key to trans cending one's own ego and the means of coming to know a Spiritual Reality. 26 William York Tindall, "The Trouble With Aldous Huxley", American Scholar, vol. II (Autumn 19U2), p...k57.. 27 Huxley, Ends and Means, p. 270. 33 He can accept a philosophy of non-attachment because i t appeals to his inte l l e c t as well as to his emotions. The greatest argument for the v a l i d i t y of non-attachment i s the universality of i t s acceptance by the great philosophies and the great religions. According to Huxley, Non-attachment to self and to what are called 'the things of this world' has always been associated i n the teachings of the philos ophers and the founders of religions with attachment to an ultimate r e a l i t y greater and more significant than the self. 28 In 1939, Huxley seems ready and anxious to experience "an ultimate reality"; but intellectually, he must be cautious and not involve himself i n some fanatical religion. As non-attachment has been preached for three thousand years by Buddha, Lao-Tsu, the Greek Stoics, Jesus and a multitude of philos ophers and teachers i n their wake, non-attachment becomes the best of starting-points for one who i s i n search of Spiritual Reality. In the essays i n Ends and Means, Huxley concerns himself with "Beliefs", "Religious Practices", "Ethics"; he begins to give free reign to his innate spiritual impulses, and he openly admits his interest i n mysticism. In making such an admission, Huxley does not say that he w i l l become a mystic. He realizes that certain constitutional types have d i f f i c u l t y i n experiencing genuine mystical intuition and he may well be one of the types that has d i f f i c u l t y . Though he does not seem yet to have established i n his own mind his psycho-physical classification, he admits that, "My own nature... i s on the whole phlegmatic, and, i n consequence, I have the greatest d i f f i c u l t y i n entering into the experiences of those whose emotions are easily and violently aroused." 29 Huxley also admits that although he admires Blake and 28 Huxley, Ends and Means, p. U. 3k Lawrence, he i s bewildered by them. However, by displaying confidence and making an effort at understanding, he may come to know men who are of a type opposite to, or unlike, his own. Similarly, he hopes, the non-mystic may come to share the mystic's experience. Conceivably, by committing himself to an arduous training period, a non-mystic may achieve "a mystical union with the integrating principle of a l l being". By 1937, Huxley showed himself more than prepared to undertake the mystic journey; he had already begun to practice non-attachment. Ross Parmenter who interviewed Huxley i n 1937 reports that Huxley admitted being most seriously troubled about finding a working philosophy of l i f e . He discussed an increasing interest i n mysticism as a religion but f e l t sure that there was no p o s s i b i l i t y of his ever subscribing to an orthodox religion such as Roman Catholicism. He could not understand the adoption of Anglo-Catholicism by his friend T.S. KLiot. P o l i t i c a l a c t i v i t y was unsatisfactory as Huxley f e l t himself to be t o t a l l y unsuited to p o l i t i c a l l i f e . Parmenter quotes Huxley as saying, "I have no power to organize things and am very bad on committees and am incapable of addressing mass meetings." Xet Huxley knew that he could not continue to l i v e without some spiritual conviction. Parmenter says of Huxley, "/I found hiity7 a kind, gentle, soft-spoken, thoughtful man — entirely free from a sort of intellectual arrogance.... Also I had expected him to pontificate a b i t , but he didn't".3° Parmenter's description belies the c r i t i c s who have pejoratively represented Huxley at this stage as a religious fanatic, a dogmatic writer of tracts. William York Tindall suggests that 30 Ross Parmenter, "Huxley at Fcrty-Three", Saturday Review of Literature, v o l . 27 (March 19, 1938), pp. 10-11. . 35 Huxley and Gerald Heard, having fai l e d to convert the world to pacifism, sought asylum ir o n i c a l l y i n California, i n a land noted for materialism — the opposite theoretically to non-attachment.^ Wealth, as Huxley points out i n Ends and Means, i s a barrier to non-attachment because men tend "to identify themselves with what i s less than self", but extreme poverty i s equally a barrier. Sex mis-used can be as much a barrier as money. Any "such lust for ownership i s as blinding and as separative as ordinary avarice". 32 Mr. Tindall seems to suggest that Huxley's decision to settle i n California i n 1939 contradicted his ideals. The facts behind the decision indicate no such contradiction. F i r s t Huxley had to l i v e somewhere; the English climate had never suited either him or his wife, Maria. He had gone to Italy for sunlight i n 192k, but an Italy overrun with "Fascist Brown shirts" held no appeal for Huxley. California, on the other hand, offered a suitable climate. Second, Huxley sought an intellectual climate i n which he could pursue his study of mysticism. To deny that Gerald Heard's decision to settle i n California influenced Huxley's decision would be absurd. But Mr. Tindall's suggestion that they settled i n Hollywood i n order to go "walking with Greta Garbo"33 ±s +iie height of t r i v i a l i t y and absurdity. "Every man i s ludicrous," Gumbril reminds us, " i f you look at him from the outside, without taking into account what i s going on i n his heart and mind." Very much of what was going on i n Huxley's heart and mind 31 William York Tindall, "The Trouble with Aldous Huxley", American Scholar, v o l . I I (Autumn 19k2),p. U59« 32 Huxley, Ends and Means, p. 310. 33 Tindall, "The Trouble with Aldous Huxley", p. k$9* 36 was a fervent desire to answer the question "Who am I?", i n the hope of finding a personally satisfying religious philosophy. In California not only could he remain under the tutorship of Heard, but he could engage i n new studies in'oriental mysticism. The th i r d reason for Huxley's settling; i n California was his hope that he might there be able to do something about his eyesight. It had been f a i l i n g steadily and rapidly since 1937• In 1938, Huxley t e l l s us i n the Preface to The Art of Seeing, he had heard of the Bates "method of visual re-education and of a teacher Mrs. Margaret D. Corbett of Los Angeles, who was said to make use of this method with conspic uous success." The method demands of the patient mind control and mental as well as physical discipline. That Huxley should settle where he could practice seriously a method not incompatible with his ideas on non-attachment and which might restore his vision seems the most logical thing i n the world. Once settled i n California i n 1939, Huxley made his major concern his personal, psychological freedom. To assist i n obtaining such freedom, Huxley turned to a study of the philosophies of mysticism. He sought enlightenment i n the oriental mysticisms from Swami Prabhavananda of the Ramakrishna Mission i n Hollywood. Here he learned Hindu scriptures and associated himself with the Vedanta Society of Southern California. This society publishes Vedanta and the West, a periodical dealing exclusively with new translations of, and ar t i c l e s on, oriental religious thought. The publication i s edited by Swami Prabhavananda, Brahmachari Prema Chaitanya, and Brahmacharini Usha. The edi t o r i a l advisers are Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood. This group has been v i t a l l y concerned 3k Aldous Huxley, The Art of Seeing, New York and London, Harper and Brothers Publishers, 19h2, p. v i i . 37 with the dissemination of Oriental thought, not because they would have us a l l s i t and contemplate our navels, but because they find value i n i t and possibly think that the very survival of c i v i l i z a t i o n depends upon a better understanding of different cultures and religions. In 19k6, Huxley published The Perennial Philosophy. Essentially, the book contends that there i s a Highest Common Factor which exists i n a l l religions. Huxley had hinted at such a thing i n Jesting Pilate i n which he expressed the belief that men of a l l races and creeds hold a similar set of values. Written very large i n The Perennial Philosophy i s Huxley's old concern with the different types and classes of people and the need fo r man to determine his type i f he i s to have any success in his attempts to answer the question, "Who am I, and what, i f anything, can I do about i t ? " In Proper Studies, Huxley had roughly grouped people into the introverts and extroverts, the Marthas and the Marys. By the time he was writing Ends and Means, his classification was on a more pretentious basis: people were either "viscerotonics" — those who crave emotional experience — or "somatotonics" — those who crave muscular experience.^ The i n a b i l i t y of one type of person to understand or to share the experiences of the oppo site type constitutes one of man's greatest problems. The solution l i e s , of course, i n man's readiness to transcend his own ego, to recognize that, because men f a l l into different classifications of type, each type w i l l have to seek a different method by which to achieve i t s union with the Divine Ground. Until the individual becomes regenerate i n this respect, we cannot hope for a f u l l y regenerate c i v i l i z a t i o n . 35 Huxley, Ends and Means, p. 236. 38 The Hindu, according to Huxley, has three ways leading to God: the way of works, the way of knowledge, the way of devotion. The f i r s t involves action without attachment: the second, knowledge of Self and of the absolute Ground of a l l being with which Self i s identical; the third, liberation through intense devotion to a personal God or divine incarnation. Huxley takes the three basic psychological types which may be said to correspond to these three methods of finding God from the categories of the psychologist Sheldon. The Endomorph i s the soft, rounded Pickwickian figure whose temper ament i s viscerotonic; he loves eating, comfort and luxury. The Mesomorph i s the hard, big-boned, strong-muscled Hotspur-type, whose temperament i s somatotonic; he loves muscular activity, seeks power, likes competition, i s callous about people's feelings. The Ectomorph i s the slender, stringy, weak, unemphatic, over-sensitive Hamlet-type, who suffers from his unprotected nervous system; his temperament i s cerebrotonic; he i s over-alert, sensitive, introverted, often given to excessive intellectuality and sensuality, but rarely to action. This type needs protection by society — and, i n fact, i s one of those to whom the monasteries and universities serve as shelters. Everything i n Huxley's l i f e points conclusively to the fact that Huxley f a l l s into the th i r d category — the ectomorph-cerebrotonic. His method of seeking God i s through the laborious accumulation of knowledge of Self and of the absolute Ground of a l l being with which i t i s identical. The introvert or ectomorph cannot act; he does not go through conversions or sudden changes as does the mesomorph. The extrovert or mesomorph, unaware of what happens i n the lower levels of the mind, misinterprets a quick change of mind for 36 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. LL9. 39 revelation. 37 Huxley then, an ectomorph-cerebrotonic, i s debarred from sudden conversions by his type, yet constantly seeks a philosophy of religion by which to l i v e . "How (a man) ought to l i v e and what he ought to believe i s conditioned by his essential nature, constitution and temperament." Huxley's search, conditioned by his psycho-physical constitution, has led him through a series of beliefs or attempts to believe. He had t r i e d hedonism, aesthet- icism, rationalism, indifference, life-worship, non-attachment. Huxley's search has taken him round about the h i l l on which Truth stands, but his efforts have consistently led to that belief which seems most i n keeping with his temperament, a belief i n mysticism. Exactly what Huxley's brand of mysticism i s , the extent to which he can be c l a s s i f i e d as a mystic, and how i t compares with the other accepted philos ophies of mysticism w i l l be discussed i n the next chapter, Huxley lives today as something of a mystic i n Southern California. His f i r s t xfife, Maria Nys, who bore him one son, died i n 19$$. In 1956 he married Laura Archera. Huxley has continued., writ ing, his latest publication being Brave New World Re-Visited, 1958. In 1959 a new edition of his collected essays was published by Harper Brothers. Huxley's interest i n mysticism seems to dominate most of his current a c t i v i t i e s . In 1959 he completed a year's assignment as "professor at large" at the University of California i n Santa Barbara where among other things he lectured on the need to rise to new levels of intellectual capacity and personal efficiency and the sp i r i t u a l aspects of such a r i s e . His lecture series also contained a study of the "Natural History of Visions". 37 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. 155• ko CHAPTER TWO MYSTICISM "The aim and purpose of human l i f e i s the unitive knowledge of God."1 What the "unitive knowledge of God" i s , only the mystic can t e l l us. This knowledge may come i n momentary flashes of intuition or revelation, but, contrary to common opinion, such flashes are often preceded by a long, arduous process involving severe mental, emotional and physical discipline. The arduousness and severity of the mystic's pilgrimage towards the unitive knowledge of God, as well as an attempt to explain that knowledge, i s recorded i n Huxley's l i t e r a r y works. If, however, we are to test the v a l i d i t y of Huxley's interest i n mysticism, we must have some knowledge of the subject as recorded by other reputable students of mysticism, or by mystics themselves. As i t would be quite impossible to deal i n any coherent fashion with the o r i g i nal works of such great mystics as St. Teresa, Meister Eckhart, St. John of the Cross, Jacob Boehme, or the Oriental mystics, reliance on secondary sources and upon quotations contained i n them i s necessary. Evelyn Underbill's Mysticism i s recognized as a classic study of the history and manifestation of mysticism i n western c i v i l i z a t i o n and, i n particular, the Roman Catholic Church. An attempt w i l l be made to summarize the phenomena of mysticism from her major book, Mysticism, and to use her definitions as c r i t e r i a i n 1 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. 2k2. order to e s t a b l i s h a background against which Huxley's mysticism may be judged. References w i l l also be made to works dealing with mysticism by Dean Inge, W i l l i a m James, Christmas Humphries and others who discuss O r i e n t a l philosophies to give support to Huxley's i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of mysticism or to show where opinions c o n f l i c t . Miss U n d e r b i l l a s s e r t s that mysticism i s the highest manifestation of r e l i g i o u s experience: Mysticism i s e s s e n t i a l l y a movement of the heart, seeking to, transcend the l i m i t a t i o n s of the i n d i v i d u a l standpoint and to surrender i t s e l f to ultimate R e a l i t y ; f o r no personal gain, to s a t i s f y no other worldly joys, but purely from an i n s t i n c t of love . 2 Mysticism, as she describes i t , i s , fundamentally, an emotionally r e a l i z e d experience r e s u l t i n g from an a s p i r a t i o n of the soul towards i t s sources, a desire to b r i n g harmony out of the chaos of l i f e by achieving union with the "ultimate R e a l i t y " . The c e n t r a l tenet of mysticism a s s e r t s that the soul of man and the Universe and God are i n nature One: Unity ( i f man can f i n d i t ) runs through a l l d i v e r s i t i e s and harmonizes them. The mystic aims a t complete i d e n t i f i c a t i o n with the Absolute or Transcendental world. Iden t i f i c a t i o n involves self-transcendence. A l l men have a desire f o r s e l f - transcendencej that i s , a desire to escape the confines of t h e i r own egos. The most common manifestations of average i n d i v i d u a l s seeking to transcend themselves, or to escape themselves, are alcoholism, motion p i c t u r e addiction, s o c i a l a c t i v i t i e s , r e l i g i o u s a f f i l i a t i o n s . Within t h i s deep-seated urge 2 Evelyn U n d e r b i l l , Mysticism, New York, Meridian Books, Thirteenth ed. 1957, ( F i r s t ed. 1910), p. 71. for self-transcendence i s a germ of capacity to become mystics, but few develop the heightened spiritual perception needed to be mystics i n the f u l l e s t sense. The powers which make contact with the Transcendental Order possible are dormant i n ordinary men who only respond to the world of sense. In 3 mystics no part of the self i s dormant. The most common sense of identification experienced by the average individual i s an identification with the sublime i n nature. Poets, whose mystical potential i s usually greater than that of an average man, very often tend to identify themselves with the i n f i n i t e l y f r a i l and i n f i n i t e l y powerful element behind nature — the divine essence i n the Universe. Tennyson, who was tormented by his i n a b i l i t y to believe i n any orthodox religion, seems i n a moment's insight to have experienced something of the mystic's longing f o r union, and he expressed his desire to identify with nature i n the following l i n e s : Flower i n the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies, I hold you here, root and a l l , i n ray hand, L i t t l e flower — but i f I could understand What you are, root and a l l , and a l l i n a l l , I should know what God and man i s . ('JFlower i n the Crannied Wall".) Arnold, who also experienced a tremendous yearning for insight but no assurance of any absolute Reality, expresses his desire for identification with nature i n terms very lik e that of the true mystic. 3 Underbill, Mysticism, p. 63. Calm soul of a l l thingsJ make i t mine To f e e l , amid the city's jar, That there abides a peace of thine, Man did not make, and cannot mar. ("Lines Written i n Kensington Gardens," Stanza X.) Arnold's awareness of a transcendental force of which nature i s a mani festation i s not unlike that of Wordsworth, who i s generally accepted as a mystically-inclined poet i f not as a true mystic. Wordsworth, i n lines which Huxley i s fond of quoting, speaks of, A sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused Whose dwelling i s the light of setting suns, And the round ocean, and the l i v i n g a i r , And the blue sky, and i n the minds of men. ("Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,".'Lines 95-99.) I f not expressing the unitive knowledge of God, Wordsworth at least gives voice to a moment of Illumination. Finally, an example from a poet usually considered to be a true mystic w i l l show that considerable d i f f i c u l t y exists i n determining what i s poetic and what i s mystic insight. Blake captures the mystic sense of union with the absolute Reality i n the following li n e s : To see the world i n a grain of sand, And a heaven i n a wild flowerj To hold i n f i n i t y i n the palm of your hand, And eternity i n an hour. ("Auguries of Innocence, " Lines 1-k.) Because the sublime i n nature i s most easily recognized, manifestation of God or a divine power i s the inspiration for the commonest and simplest expression of mystic wonder. Illumination coming from such experience with nature involves an expansion of consciousness, an exaltation of personality, and an increase of intuitional and transcendental capacities. Most poets like most individuals ain at, or are satisfied with, only the temporary identification. Their experience of the "ultimate Reality", then, i s a much less complete, less permanent one than that of the true mystic. Mystical poets seek to impart only a vision of Reality, to communicate only an emotionally experienced Union, whereas the true mystic seeks to go beyond the apprehension of Eeality and to unite permanently with i t . The poet, such as Tennyson or Arnold, or Wordsworth, who has a true poetic.capacity experiences as part of his a r t i s t i c insight an exhilar ating sense of freedom which i s akin to the heightened state of conscious ness familiar to the mystic who has reached the stage of niuminatiai, but the end of the poet's vision i s the poem; the end for the true mystic i s -the attainment of the f i n a l stage — the Unitive L i f e , the Unitive Knowledge of God. While, the experience of identification with Nature., which involves a transcending of self, i s the most common manifestation of mysticism known to the average individual, many substitutes are sought. The arts — music, poetry, painting — are a l l reputable means of self-transcendence. Other procedures or rituals engaged i n , and often mistaken for mysticism, are occultism, spiritualism, visions, trances, and the awareness of apparitions. Most of these are cheap substitutes for the real mystic state. St. John of the Cross points out that the higher the mystic goes, the fewer manifest ations are needed because the vision of God i s ultimate. No intermediary i s necessary for such Absolute vision. The true mystic's experience i s the culminating point not of a single faculty but of man's whole nature. The mystic does not enter his quest to satisfy a high ambition, to seek a vision to know the happiness of a Beatific Vision, the ecstasy of union with the Absolute, or for any other such personal reward. The mystic's only motive i s love and those who seek divine Union from any other motive are, i n St. John's words, "Spiritual Gluttons".^ Even the mystic's prayer has nothing to do with seeking the union with the Absolute. According to Miss Underbill, U St. John of the Cross, quoted from Underbill, Mysticism, p. 92. Mystical prayer, or 'orison'... has nothing to do with p e i t i t i o n . It i s not articulate; i t has no forms. 'It i s , ' says 'The Mirror of Dr. Edmund,' 'naught else but yearning-of the s o u l . ' — the expression of man's metaphysical t h i r s t . In i t , says Grou, 'the soul i s united to.God i n i t s ground, the created intelligence to the Intelligence Increate, without the intervention of imagination or reason, or of anything but a very simple attention of the mind and an equally simple application of the w i l l . ' 5 The mystic feels that his prayer i s but a free and mutual act of love, a supernatural intercourse between man's soul and the divine; but a r i g i d discipline of the mystic's rich subliminal mind i s needed for his "orison". As Miss Underhill sums i t up, then, Mysticism i s the art of union with Reality. The mystic i s a person who has attained that union i n greater or less degree; or who aims at and believes i n such attainment. ° She continues to point out that the results of such union or belief i n i t are clear: Because he has surrendered himself to i t , 'united' with i t , the patriot knows his country, the a r t i s t knows the subject of his art, the lover his beloved, the saint his God, i n a manner which i s inconceivable as well as unattainable by the looker-on. 7 Miss Underhill shows that, contrary to a f a i r l y common opinion, the mystic who has achieved union does not detach himself from l i f e and i t s a c t i v i t i e s ; he does not withdraw from society or negate l i f e i n any way. As a result of his union with the true Self, the mystic's l i f e i s enriched i n a l l i t s phases. The non-mystic, the individual who has never died to self, cannot conceive the enrichment the mystic feels i n his l i f e anymore than he can imagine what the mystic state i s . 5> Underhill, Mysticism, p. 306. 6 Evelyn Underhill, Practical Mysticism, London, J.M.Dent and Sons Ltd., 191k. p.3. 7 Ibid., p.k. The inconceivability and the unattainability of the mystic state by those who are not mystics raises two questions: one, how can a non-mystic test the v a l i d i t y of something he experiences himself which might be an i early stage of mystic experience, a moment of Awakening i f not a moment of Illumination; two, how can a non-mystic recognize as the real thing the description of the mystical experience given by a mystic? The d i f f i c u l t y of discriminating between the poet's experience and the mystic's experience and expression of these experiences has already been discussed. The "looker- on" faces a real problem when he attempts to distinguish true mystics from poets who temporarily experience mystic states, and from others who are merely mystically inclined i n a purely intellectual sense, and from charl?. atans. He faces a similar problem i n himself when he attempts to* identify a sense of awareness i n himself i n terms of an absolute Reality, as distinct from other phenomenal experiences that result from delirium, fasting, drugs or any number of false methods of inducing what might be mistaken for a mystic state. Miss Underbill and other students of mysticism suggest certain aids to help the non-mystic become discriminating. William James i n his le c tures on mysticism sets out "marks" whose presence i n an experience, he says, may j u s t i f y us i n calling i t mystical. The following i s a brief summary of his "four marks" of the mystic state: 1. Ineffability. — /The mystic state/ defies expression...no adequate report of i t s contents can be given i n words... It must be directly experienced; i t cannot be imparted or transferred to others. 2. Noetic quality. — Although so similar to states of feeling, mystical states seem to those who experience them to be also states of knowledge. They are states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the.discursive i n t e l l e c t . . . 3. Transiency. — Mystical states cannot be sustained for long.... half an hour, or at the most an hour or two.... h* Passivity. — Although the oncoming of mystical states may be f a c i l i t a t e d by preliminary voluntary operations....which manuals of mysticism prescribej yet when the characteristic sort of consciousness once has set i n , the mystic feels as i f his own w i l l were i n abeyance, and indeed sometimes as i f he were grasped and held by a superior power..." Accepting James's four "marks" as c r i t e r i a to help recognize the states of consciousness peculiar to mystics, the next necessity i s to discover whether or not there i s some standard method of attaining such states. What general pilgrimage or ordered movement does a mystic experience i n establish ing his conscious identification with the Absolute? Miss Underbill's answer i s that the achievement of the mystic's form of enhanced l i f e comes, ...neither from an intellectual realization of i t s delights, nor from the most acute emotional longings. Though these must be present, they are not enough. I t i s arrived at by an arduous psychological and spiritual process — the so-called Mystic Way — entailing the complete remaking of character and the liberation of a new, or rather latent, form of consciousness; which imposes on the self the condition which- i s sometimes called 'ecstasy 1, but i s better named the Unitive State." The Mystic Way of which Miss Underbill speaks involves five definite stages through which the individual must pass i n order to become a true mystic.^ The f i r s t stage i s that of Awakening. The Awakening i s "an intense form of the phenomenon of 'conversion', " but, as Miss Underbill says, the term conversion i s not to be confused with the commonly-described religious conversion which involves the sudden and emotional acceptance of certain theological beliefs. Conversion i n the sense of mystical awaken ing i s an unselfing or a dying to the world of ego. The individual 8 William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, [K Study i n Human Nature being the Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion Delivered at Edinburgh i n 1901-190|7, New York, Mentor Books, 1958, pp. 292-291*. 9 Underhill, Mysticism, p. 81. 10 Ibid., p. 167. ks becomes aware of a transcendental consciousness or of a larger world- consciousness pressing i n on his individual consciousness. He begins to see the need of realigning his l i f e i n order to become possessed by the Spirit of God. The second stage i s Purgation, a period of pain and effort during which the individual decreases his own sense of self i n order to increase his sense of God. He becomes detached from, or non-attached to, the things of the senses — the physical world. This period involves a tearing off of the old way of l i f e ; by obedience, poverty, and chastity, one becomes prepared for the presence of God. The third stage i s called Illumination. This period of fulfillment follows Purgation. The mystic experiences the presence of the Absolute, the presence of God. The exper ience i s only i l l u s o r y or fleeting. During Illumination a mystic knows only moments of t o t a l b l i s s ; he only glimpses ultimate Reality; he does not attain a permanent state of Union. The stage of Illumination i s the one i n which the mystic's and the poet's or artist's experiences most resemble each other. According to Miss Underhill, "Many mystics never go beyond i t , and, on the other hand, many seers and artists not usually classed amongst them, have shared to some extent, the experiences of the illuminated state."H The true mystics, however, those with the greatest souls have two more stages through which to pass. The fourth stage, which i s called either the Purification of the Spirit, or the Dark Night of the Soul, i s experienced when the individual becomes aware that the sp i r i t u a l u p l i f t , elevating joy, happiness pr delight, known during the moments of Illumination have been only temporary. The mystic 11 Underhill, Mysticism, p. 169. feels despair at not being able to achieve lasting Union. A sense of his own unworthiness and sinfulness overwhelms him. The purifying process of purgation i s carried to the very core of his self. The "I-hood", the w i l l , must be t o t a l l y eliminated. "The human instinct for personal happi ness must be k i l l e d . " The mystic doubts that he w i l l ever know tot a l Union. A sense of being abandoned by God overpowers him at this stage. The mystic feels a t o t a l privation, an o v e r t i m i n g sense of the absence of God. The sense of being loved and caressed by a tender father i s no more. Many mystics, Miss Underhill explains, give up at this stage and, rather than face the prospect of complete f a i l u r e , revert to and become satisfied with the moments of inspiration granted during the Illumination stage. The mystic who survives the Dark Night of the Soul i s rewarded by achieving total Union — the f i f t h and f i n a l stage of the Mystic-Way. Almost a l l personal emotion i s ineffable i n discursive language. It follows, then, that the extent of joy known to the mystic i n this stage i s , ' as William James pointed out, beyond the non-mystic's understanding. The mystic, i n attempting to describe the Unitive Life, must of necessity, Miss Underhill claims, use words glossed with a psychological explanation which i s incapable of encompassing i t . She shows that the Unitive Life i s the f i n a l establishment of that higher form of consciousness which has been struggling for supremacy during the whole mystic way. Miss Underhill can explain the Unitive Life only i n esoteric terms which she defines by other esoteric terms. Essentially, the Unitive Life i s the long-sought i d e n t i f i cation of the self with Transcendental Reality. The mystic i s t o t a l l y united.with God. The self has become the Self. "I l i v e , yet not I but God i n me." Since Miss Underhill writes from the Christian and Roman 5.u Catholic bias, she stresses the idea that the Divine Love, the Fire of Love, has done i t s work and the Unitive Life i s the Spiritual Marriage of the mystic's soul with God. The mystic who apprehends Reality with this sense of the consummation of the communion of marriage with God i s the intimate-personal type of mystic. For the second type, the trans cendent-metaphysical type, the Absolute i s impersonal and transcendent and the f i n a l attainment of union i s described as deification, or the transmutation of the self i n God. 1 2 Huxley's interest, as we shall see later, inclines to the transcendent- metaphysical mysticism as described by Miss Underbill, but with certain definite exceptions. Miss Underhill seems to stress that the Unitive Life i s the goal, the end. As she says of the Unitive L i f e , "the s p i r i t of man having at last come to the f u l l consciousness of rea l i t y , completes the c i r c l e of Being...." Huxley's association with the California Vedanta Society indicates a preference for the idea that even the achieve ment of the Unitive Life i s not the goal, the end, but merely part of a continuing growth. Man comes to " f u l l consciousness" only to discover that an even f u l l e r consciousness constantly awaits him. s s Rene Guenon stresses the importance of "becoming" and shows that the basic difference between Eastern and Western Metaphysics centres i n the use and understanding of this word "Being". Guenon claims that man, even i n achieving a mystical state, has s t i l l not achieved his f i n a l goal or end. A further achievement ever l i e s ahead of man so that he i s always i n a 12 Underhill, Mysticism, p. kl5*. 13 Ibid., p. kill. state of "becoming", never i n a state of "being". Guenon's suggestion that man i s constantly i n a state of becoming seems to express a view similar to that expressed by Christmas Humphries i n his study of Buddhism. As Humphries explains, The process of becoming i s a c i r c l e ; the process of becoming more, of growth, i s a spi r a l , either up or down according as the growth i s towards or away from wholeness. Buddhism begins with the Buddha's Enlightenment and ends with man's. And the f i n a l Goal? We know not, nor i s i t yet, or l i k e l y to be for aeons to come, our immediate concern. The faint of heart w i l l ever seek some resting place, some weak f i n a l i t y ; for the strong, the f i r s t and the last word i s and ever more w i l l be — Walk Onl -*-5 The Unitive Life for the Buddhist i s a continuing growth, never a f i n a l end, but the growth i s no longer i n the half l i g h t of partial knowledge but i n the f u l l l i g h t of the unitive knowledge of the absolute Ground of a l l Being. With this unitive knowledge the mystic's l i f e i n the world of every day l i v i n g i s enhanced i n such a way as to make the mystic more interested and active i n daily a f f a i r s . Miss Underhill makes a similar point. She says that the'Unitive Life means the completion of the c i r c l e of Being, but she goes.on.to say that the s p i r i t of man now "returns to f e r t i l i z e those levels of existence from which i t sprang". Thus the mystic instead of being a "morbid and solitary" contemplative detached and withdrawn from l i f e , becomes a "pioneer of humanity", "a sharply intuitive and painfully practical person". Mystics have a super-normal v i t a l i t y as a result of the Union l h Rene* Gue'non, Man and His Becoming According to the Yedanta, translated by R.C. Nicholson, New York,. The Noonday Press, 1958, p. 162. 15 Christmas Humphries, Buddhism, Penguin Books, 1951, p» 23. 16 Underhill, Mysticism, p. klU. 52. i n which they participate. The Unitive Life i s "an ordered l i f e i n every state". According to Miss Underhill, as a result of experiencing- the Unitive L i f e , the mystic i s more dedicated to God and to humanity. Very l i t e r a l l y the mystic understands the paradox of unconditional self-givingi "He that loseth his l i f e f o r my sake shall find i t . " Turning now to a f u l l discussion of Huxley's exposition of mysticism, we f i n d that on the whole he agrees with the central tenet of mysticism, that an individual seeks to transcend himself and to surrender t o t a l l y to the ultimate Reality. "Holy indifference", "non-attachment", "abandon ment", "refusal to prefer", "the less of self, the more of Self", "Our kingdom must go before God's can come": these and similar phrases are typical of Huxley's exposition of mysticism. As they stand they seem some what paradoxical and contradictory, i f not meaningless. However, i n the li g h t of the discussion of Miss Underbill's second and fourth stages of the Mystic Way — Purgation, and The Dark Night of the Soul — the general meaning of Huxley's phrases becomes clear. The f i r s t principle of mystici involves self-transcendence. In order to transcend self, an individual must die to the conscious egoj hence, "the less of self, the more of Self" The self must die to the material or conscious world i n order to identify with the Transcendental Order. To aid i n negating self, the mystic must practise "holy indifference" to the sensual world or, i n other terms, must practise "non-attachment" to the things of the senses — the physical world Our kingdom, the kingdom of the flesh and of sensuality, the ego-centred kingdom, must go before God's kingdom, the kingdom of the Perfect Way, the absolute Reality, can come. As Huxley says. $3 The heavenly kingdom can be made to come on earth; i t cannot be made to come i n our imagination or i n our own discursive reasonings. And i t cannot come even on earth, so long as we persist i n l i v i n g , not on the earth as i t i s actually given, but as i t appears to an ego obsessed by the idea of separateness, by cravings and abhorr- ences, by compensatory phantasies and by ready-made propositions about the nature of things. Our kingdom must go before God's can come. I? The doctrine of non-attachment presented i n these lines i s central i n Huxley's thinking. He had accepted i t as an essential starting point for his theory of pacifism and as the foundation of his ethical philosophy long before he applied i t , as he does here, to the spiritual development of the mystic. On the whole, Huxley accepts the basic starting point of mysticism expressed by Miss Underhill and other students of mysticism: the mystic i n seeking to surrender himself to the ultimate Reality must transcend the limitations of the individual standpoint. Like Miss Underhill, Huxley recognizes that the mystic's experience i s not easily verifiable. He explains that care must be taken to distinguish between the a r t i s t ' s experience and that of the mystic. Art expresses symbolically the superhuman, the sp i r i t u a l , the pure metaphysical idea, but "Art i s not the discovery of Reality...it i s the organization of chaotic appearance into an orderly and human universe."18 If the a r t i s t i s also a true mystic, then the a r t i s t ' s expression of his experience may provide the non-mystic with the best and most accurate account of the state that he i s capable of receiving or of understanding. Huxley considers that Beethoven, i n his later years, had achieved union with the ultimate Reality. The 17' Aldous Huxley, The Devils of Loudun, New York, Harper and Brothers,195>2, p. 286. " : .18 Huxley, Jesting Pilate, p. 91. 5!l Benedictus i n Missa Solemnis i s , he says, the beatific vision* A non- mystic cannot experience the vision from music, but he can be made aware of "a certain blessedness lying at the heart of things, a mysterious blessedness" Like William James, Huxley recognizes the i n e f f a b i i l t y of the mystic state. No "Spiritual Calculus" exists i n which to discuss the "divine Ground". The problem i s one of semantics. A mystic i s forced to describe ...one order of experience i n terms of a symbol-system whose rele vance i s to the facts of another and quite different order.... Direct Knowledge of the Ground cannot be had except by union, and union can be achieved only by the annihilation of the self-regarding ego, which i s the barrier separating the 'Thou' from the 'That 1.^ God i s Truth, the primordial Reality, and he must be worshipped "in s p i r i t and i n Truth". Such a statement signifies the "apprehension of a Spiritual Fact". According to Huxley, a statement about truth asserts that the verbal symbols which compose the statement correspond to the facts to which the statement refers, but a knowledge of words about facts i s not equivalent to a direct and immediate apprehension of the facts themselves. Huxley insists that a mystic cannot be understood through words alone. Such a fact, however, need not deter the mystic from attempting to record his exper ience^ but the onus does f a l l on the non-mystic not to confuse the expression of the experience with the experience i t s e l f . Huxley quotes Father Surin 1s statement i n his diary as a not-inadequate expression, as f a r as description i n words i s possible, of the experienced Fact of the mystic's peace: 19 Huxley, Music: at Night, p. UU. 20 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. 35. A peace that i s not merely a calm, l i k e the l u l l of sea, or the tranquil flow of mighty rivers; but i t enters into us, this divine peace and repose, lik e a flooding torrent; and the soul, after so many tempests, feels, as i t were, an inundation of peace; and the reli s h of divine repose not only enters the soul, not only- takes her captive, but comes upon her, l i k e the onrush of a multi tude of waters.21 But even this impressive description — no matter how f u l l y i t i s compre hended by the non-mystic — cannot be thought of as the equivalent of the spiritual and emotional experience described. It i s impossible f o r the non-mystic to comprehend what i s essentially the immediate experience of the mystic. In general, Huxley's theory of mysticism agrees with the description of the phenomena of mystic experience given by other mystics or students of mysticism. He tends, however, to make four major stresses which might be interpreted as deviations from Miss Underbill's norm. The f i r s t of the things he emphasizes i s the need to get from what William James c a l l s "Manuals of mysticism" a preliminary training that w i l l f i t him to achieve the mystic state. Although this emphasis i s i n accord with the ideas of both Miss Underhill and James, i t leads Huxley carefully to investigate an area of mysticism with which neither of them i s primarily concerned, namely, the rich and complex f i e l d s of Oriental mysticism. Second, Huxley stresses the fact that the "unitive knowledge of God" does not imply union with a rational, self-conscious, anthropomorphic Deity. He shows how Christian mysticism f a i l e d i n the Seventeenth Century because of a "tendency /to substi tute/ Christ and the Virgin for the undifferentiated Godhead of the early 21 Father Surin, quoted from Huxley, The Devils of Loudun, p. 310. mystics". d Third, Huxley feels the need to relate mysticism to science. Mysticism has suffered, he thinks, from the erroneous conception that i t was s t r i c t l y a business of i n t u i t i a i , f a i t h , emotion, and revelation. As Huxley says i n "Uncle Spencer", "Now i t i s possible — i t i s , indeed, almost necessary — for a man of science to be also a mystic." Huxley believes that a v i t a l relationship exists between mysticism and the new studies of psychology, psychiatry, and parapsychology. He suggests that modern science does support the contention that s p i r i t and matter are one. The Baconian sp l i t between the things of the s p i r i t and those that dan be s c i e n t i f i c a l l y tested seems, i n Huxley's view, no longer v a l i d . He believes that science and mysticism need no longer be incompatible. Finally, Huxley stresses the universality of mysticism. A l l people experience the need for self- transcendence. True mysticism teaches the right means of self-transcendence, and that through right means right ends of social reform could be effected. Huxley's emphasis on the f i r s t of these points, the need of training i n mysticism, showed i t s e l f i n his early interest i n the conception of the Unitive Life as "an ordered l i f e i n every state". In Jesting Pilate he wrote that, Mysticism, which i s the systematic cultivation of mental quietness, the deliberate and conscious pursuit of the serenest kind of happiness, may be most satisfactorily regarded as a rule of health. Mystics attribute their happiness and their creative powers to a union with God.... Leading a virtuous and reasonable l i f e , practising the arts of meditation and recollection, we shall uribury a l l our hidden talents, we shall attain i n spite of circumstances to the happiness and serenity and integration, shall come, i n a word, to be completely and perfectly ourselves. 23 22 Aldous Huxley, Grey Eminence"., London, Chatto and Windus, 1956 ( f i r s t ed. 19Ul), p. 95. 23 Huxley, Jesting Pilate, pp. 191-192. 57 Mystical emotions, then, can have a definite conduct value; the man who feels them i s enabled to l i v e his l i f e serenely and confidently i n a manner unknown to other men. But how can other men share or experience the conduct value? A training plan i s the answer. The Oriental mystics are far more advanced and organized i n this respect than are the Christian mystics. The Oriental mystics accept, f i r s t of a l l , that men are divided into a variety of types, and that each type needs to follow a different route i n order to achieve knowledge of the divine Ground. Mental discipline helps a man to become conscious of the identity between his inmost self and the immanent and transcendent s p i r i t of the Universe. The Hindu denies the existence of gradations i n reality, of higher or lower r e a l i t i e s . Therefore, the mystic aspires not only to Union with the ultimate Reality, but i n uniting becomes one with or a part of the Reality i t s e l f — "Thou are THAT." The world of duality i n which we l i v e i s falsely imagined. The physical world i s not a real i t y divorced from the spi r i t u a l world. An absolute Reality pervades a l l . As Humphries explains, "Since the Reality pervades a l l , everything individual i s the whole potentially, or, i n religious, language, every individual i s a potential Buddha.... "Thou art THAfw,1 and J a l l other 'thou's' are equally THAT."2k The only way for the aspiring mystic to realize the potential Buddha within him i s through the Yoga practice best suited to his individual personality. Huxley explains the three possible methods of self-education. The f i r s t , the bhakti-marga, i s the path of devotional faith i n a personal God, the way of the emotional personality; this i s the path followed by most 2k Humphries, Buddhism, pp. 15>0-15>1. 58 Christians, or, to use Miss Underhill's phrase, this i s the way of the "intimate-personal type" of mystic. The danger, Huxley explains, i n thinking of God as a transcendent person rather than as an immanent and transcendent principle of integration l i e s i n the tendency to deify images of saints used as intermediaries, or to deify national leaders. The acceptance of God as a transcendent person and commander-in-chief can lead to the persecution of those who f a i l to share the belief. Huxley's belief that the Christian mystics choosing the bhakti-roarga x-ray distorted mysticism so that they ceased to be true mystics w i l l be presented later. The second method, the karma-marga i s the path of duty or works, the way of the active personality. The third method, the inana-marga i s the path of Knowledge, the way of the intellectual and contemplative personality. The type choosing this way of the inana-marga i s called, by Miss Underhill, the "transcendent- metaphysical" mystic. He accepts God as an immortal and transcendent principle of integration. Huxley considers this way to be the way of the Christmas Humphries' comments seem to support Huxley's contention that there i s need for a training plan i n mysticism and that the Buddhists offer the most advanced plan. Humphries states that, ...the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism, acknowledged by a l l schools, i s the noblest course of s p i r i t u a l training yet presented to man. It i s far more than a code of morality. If the f i r s t five steps on the Way may be classed as ethics, the last three are concerned with Bhavana, the mind's development. ^6 Humphries devotes several chapters to a study of the Eight-fold Path. For 25 Huxley, Ends and Means, pp. 23k-2k6. 26 Humphries, Buddhism, p. 22. 59 our purposes here, we have space for only the briefest summary of an involved system of training. The summary i s taken from Huxley's enumeration of the separate "means to saltation". "These are simultaneously ethical, intellectual and spiritual" and collectively make up Buddha's Eightfold Path for complete deliverance: . . . . f i r s t , Right Belief i n the...truth that the cause of pain and e v i l i s craving for separative, ego-centred existence...; second, Right W i l l , the w i l l to deliver oneself and others; third, Right Speech, directed by compassion and charity tovjards a l l sentient beings; fourth, Right Action, with the aim of creating and maintaining peace and goodwill; f i f t h , Right Means of Livelihood, or the choice only of such professions as are not harmful, in. their exercise, to any human being or, i f possible, any l i v i n g creature; sixth, Right Effort towards Self-control; seventh, Right Attention or Recollectedness, to be practised i n a l l the circum stances of l i f e , so that we may never do e v i l by mere thoughtlessness, because 'we know; not what we do 1; and, eighth, Right Contemplation, the unitive knowledge of the Ground, to which recollectedness and the ethical self-naughting prescribed i n the f i r s t six branches of the Path give access. 27 The Buddhists believe that a sound training plan such as the Eightfold Path i s an indispensable "means to salvation"; they recognize, however, that care must be taken i n the training of men's minds. Religious self-education through meditation can be mis-directed; witness the Japanese who used Zen- Buddhist mind-training i n the service of militarism. The Buddhist, doctrine never considers anger or violent emotion to be anything but wrong or disgrace f u l ; hence, a Buddhist could never be trained for bloodshed or violence under the guise of "righteous indignation". To him, equal imity i s the desired state; and he does not ju s t i f y violent action, wars and atrocities, as acceptable means of righting wrongs, or of securing other desirable ends. 27 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, pp. 202-203. 6o Huxley thinks the issue of "righteous indignation" coupled with the Christian tendency to choose the bhakti-marga, the path of devotional faith i n a personal God, rather than the inana-marga, the path of knowledge, marks the parting of the ways between Christian and Oriental mystics. The Oriental philosophy Huxley seems most to identify himself with, the Vedanta Metaphysics, which i s the philosophic foundation of Yoga, teach that Self i s Brahman, but false knowledge and perception leads to opposition of self or one's ego to the Brahman or ultimate Reality. The paradox l i e s i n the fact that only as one transcends self can one be absorbed into Brahman. This paradox i s precisely the paradox i n Christ's teaching that "except as a man shall lose his l i f e for my sake, he shall hot enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Huxley points out, however, that Christians have hi s t o r i c a l l y disregarded this teaching of Christ. They have, instead of losing their l i v e s for Christ, undertaken to save them for their own sakes, on the practical argument that self-preservation iS the f i r s t law of nature. They have i n t h i s way j u s t i f i e d themselves i n feeling a "righteous indignation" toward their enemies. And, firm i n their belief that a personal God, a Commander-in-Chief, i s directing them, they seek to enrich their lives through conquering their enemies in war. Huxley's dislike of wars and his refusal to accept a personal God lest He become a Commander-in-Chief accounts i n a very considerable measure for Huxley's preference for Oriental mysticism. He f i r s t expresses his distaste for the Christian's a b i l i t y to j u s t i f y bloody wars i n his Encyclopedia of Pacifism (1937"). His brief historical account of Christianity attempts to show how and why Christian religions have f a i l e d and why Oriental religions are preferable. Huxley's own preference becomes even more definite i n Grey Eminence (l9Ul) when he traces the history of Christian mysticism i n considerable detail. 61 Huxley points out i n An Encyclopedia of Pacifism that, according to both Plato and Confucius, to die courageously i s less noble than to l i v e humanely, harmoniously, and intelligently. Europeans have preferred m i l i tary heroism and martyrdom to rational idealism. Confucius was a rationalist. His teachings inculcated f i l i a l pietyy good manners and an amiable epicurean ism which appealed to the "endomorphy-viscero tonic" type (the Pickwick type). The whole of Confucianism was reinforced by the teachings of the mystic, Lao Tsu, an "ectomorphy-cerebrotonic" type (the Hamlet type). The s p i r i t u a l i t y of Taoism, l i k e that of Buddhism, has strong ethical overtones; one should return good for e v i l , cultivate humility, refrain from assertiveness and self- importance. Huxley claims that both India and China have attempted to sub ordinate military, p o l i t i c a l , and financial power to spiritual authority, accepting the premise that man's f i n a l end i s the "unitive knowledge of God" not material gain i n a lower rea l i t y . As both India and China become Westernized, he sees a tendency to place an increasing emphasis on militarism rather than on scholarship and harmonious l i v i n g . 28 Mohammedanism, Huxley says, has always been a religion of the "mesomorphy-somatotonic" type (the Hotspur type). Mohammedans, Huxley suggests, incline to holy wars, persecu tion, violent action. According to Huxley, i n the late Middle Ages, as the Christian Church became the "Church Militant", Clhristiahity came to resemble Mohammedanism. Christ belongs to the "ectomorphy-cerebrotonic" type (the Hamlet type). He followed h i s dharma to i t s spiritual goal and taught that the Kingdom of Heaven i s within. Christ's teachings ignored r i t u a l , legalism, hallowed days 28 Aldous Huxley, An Encyclopedia of Pacifism, London, Chatto and Windus, 1937, p. 16 f f . 62 ...\vand places. He emphasized restraint of action and desire. Like Oriental mystics, Huxley says, Christ was t o t a l l y indifferent to material splendours; he was devoted to the idea of non-attachment, even i n family relations. In Christ's acceptance of the cross there was no element of "righteous indigna tion"; i t was the ultimate i n non-resistance. Christ triumphed. The early Christians sought to emulate Christ's martyrdom not through feats of militarism but through acts of humility, subjection, passivity. They refused military service u n t i l the Fourth Century. Then, Christians, out of grati tude to Constantine for deliverance from crushing persecution, fought for him. Christ's teaching of pacifism, or active non-violence, was, according to Huxley, regrettably forgotten. The Cathari and Albigenses i n the Thirteenth Century sought to reinstate Christ's teaching that men should love, not hate, one another. They were mercilessly persecuted as heretics for refusing to become soldiers of the Church. 29 In order to j u s t i f y the "Church Militant", Christians had to stress the idea of a personal God. As Huxley points out, Christianity i s the only great religion to stress belief i n a personal God. Confucian, Hindu and Buddhist philosophies a l l disclaim the intuition of any ultimate personality sub stantial to the Universe. Belief i n a personal God heightens the believer's energy and strengthens his w i l l , but the end can be undesirable as well as desirable. The Deity thought of as a person compels the believer topproject his own personal limitations oh God, or to see himself capable of assuming supposedly God-like power. One can give free reign to the all-too-human tendencies of pride, anger, jealousy, or hatred, by thinking one i s behaving 29 Huxley, An Encyclopedia of Pacifism, p. 21 f f . 63 l i k e a God who i s Himself a person subject to passion. 3® It becomes apparent, In Huxley's view, that the "intimate-personal" type of mystic who accepts God as transcendent only, as a personal Deity, i s i n great danger of distorting the idea of the personal God into that of his being l i k e man himself who i s subject to passions. Once this happens, Huxley says, the mystic can never achieve union with the absolute Reality because he has diverted a l l his emotional and sp i r i t u a l energies into the worship of a false personal God. The bhakti-marga, the path by devotional f a i t h , lends i t s e l f to corruption because the emotions are not checked by the i n t e l l e c t . In seeking the personal God by way of the bhakti-raarga, the "intimate-personal type" encounters a second obstacle to true mysticism. Huxley feels that the stronger his conviction, and the greater his desire to gain union with a personal God, the more d i f f i c u l t i t i s to gain the mystical union, of the soul with the integrating principle' of a l l Being. Miss Underhill c a l l s the period when the personal God dies to the mystic, the Dark Night of the Soul. According to Huxley, not a l l mystics experience the Dark Night of the Soul, but only those Christian mystics who after having envisionedihe Virgin, or Christ, or a personal Deity and then discover that God i s not a person, suffer this period of blackness. Such Christians or non-Christians do not experience the death of a personal God. St. John of the Cross and, according to Huxley, a l l the' pure mystics emphasized the necessity of purging their minds of any idea of having "relations with super natural personalities". These Christian mystics began with a belief i n "the 30 Aldous Huxley, The Olive Tree, London, Chatto and Windus, 19hi ( f i r s t ed. 1936), pp. 197-198. .. personality of the triune God and i n the existence and ubiquitous presence of other divine persons, such as the Virgin and the saints". As they advance along the mystic way, the "awareness of a personality fades". As i t fades, the mystic experiences intense anguish at losing contact with the personality. The perioil of anguish or loss i s Miss Underbill's Dark Night of the Soul. Huxley describes the period similarly, ...the anguish of losing contact with personality...constitutes what St. John of the Cross calls the Night of the Senses, and i t would seem that the same anguish i s an element of that s t i l l more fr i g h t f u l desolation, the Night of the S p i r i t . St. John of the Cross considers that a l l true mystics must necessarily pass through this terrible night. 31 Huxley contends that true Catholic mystics disappeared proportionately as increased reliance on saints as intermediaries and on the use of images appeared i n the practice of Catholicism. The substratum of real mysticism has to be impersonal. Dean Inge i n his essay on the"Characteristics of Mysticism" lends support to Huxley's views by stressing the impersonality of the ultimate Reality. Similarly, Inge discredits the use of images, visions, or trances i n the mystic's efforts to gain the Unitive Li f e . Dean Inge, unlike Miss Underhill, sees the mystic's journey as having only three stages: the Purgative, the Illuminative, and the Unitive L i f e . 32 He puts no special emphasis on:the Dark Night of the Soul as a major stage of the mystic's journey. Miss Underhill, however, i n her l a t e r book Practical Mysticism describes the mystic's journey also as merely threerstages of contemplation. Huxley's own advance seems to be more i n the nature of a gradual movement from one stage of contemplation to another. Each stage 31 Huxley, Ends and Means, p. 290 f f . 32 William Ralph Inge, Christian Mysticism, New York, Living Age Books, Meridian Books, 1956 , pp. 3 -36 . seems to affirm more strongly the belief i n the p o s s i b i l i t y of attaining union with ultimate Reality. In Grey Eminence, 19Ul, he traces the growth of Christian mysticism and his concern with i t s failure due to stressing a personal deity seems to emphasize his own preference for the impersonal Being of Oriental mysticism. In Grey Erninence (19hi) Huxley shows how the Church interfered with the practice of true mysticism. No personal deity was connected with teachings of the early Christian mystics. One of the earliest and most influential accounts of mysticism i s given by the Fi f t h Century Syrian monk referred to as pseudo-Dionysius, who passed himself off as DIonysius, the Areopagite, St. Paul's f i r s t Athenian convert. The mysticism of pseudo- Dionysius shows the heavy influence of Neoplatonic and Oriental mysticisms. The emphasis i s on "the f l i g h t from the alone to the Alone", on a complete stripping away of self i n order that the soul may enter into the Presence of the Absolute Godhead. In the Fourteenth Century, the unidentified author of The Cloud of Unknotting summarized the doctrines of Dionysius and a n t i c i - •3-3 pated i n his writings what became the doctrines of St. John of the Cross. J J Huxley shows the similarity between the mysticism of The Cloud of Unknowing and that of the Indians. They affirm "Thou art That", the Atman (self) i s the same substance with the Brahman (Self). A Sufi mystic could say "I went from God to God u n t i l they cried from me i n me, 'Oh, thou I'." 3U In his summary of The Cloud of Unknowing, Huxley says that sin i s the mani festation of e v i l ; that the greater the sense of sin, the greater Is man's 33 Huxley, Grey Eminence, pp. 59-60. 3h Ibid., p. 62. 66' ego, the greater his tendency to separateness. To be a mystic the feeling of self has to be destroyed; separate individuality must cease to exist: When he has sorrowed for the sin of his separate individuality, the contemplative must take the unanalysed sense of his own being and annihilate i t i n a sense of the being of God. He must work u n t i l the blind s t i r r i n g of love, the beating against the cloud of un knowing, the naked intent to be made one with God as he i s i n him self, have actually taken the place of his sense of self, so that when he knows and feels of his own being, he knows and feels as much at least of the being of God as he has been able to experience through the v e i l s of the divine darkness. 35 In l i r e with Oriental and Keoplatonic mysticism, then, Christian mysticism up to the Seventeenth Century stressed the universal doctrine: "The more of creature, the less of God." According to Huxley, St. John of the Cross £l5U2-159l) was the last Christian mystic i n the true tradition of the pseudo- Dionysius. In the Seventeenth Century, Pierre de Berulle and his followers stressed the image of Christ and the Virgin as intermediaries between God and man. Man was too sinful a creature to make contact or to unite with God. As a result of the emphasis on the personalities of Christ and the Virgin who would intercede between man and God, would-be mystics according to Huxley, were prevented from ever gaining the highest state of union or of enlightenment with the ultimate impersonal Reality. St. Pierre^ de Berulle and the Jesuits made mysticism dogmatic and orthodox; they destroyed i t s universality. Huxley thinks that the practice of true mysticism i n the Catholic Church has steadily diminished since Father Benet and Pierre de B e r u l l e . ^ In i t s place have developed pseudo-mysticisms involving belief i n , and reliance on trances as being essential to mystical manifestations. The agdeptance of superstitions, power complexes, and grotesquely distorted 35 The Cloud of Unknowing, quoted from Huxley, Grey Eminence, p. 77. 36 Huxley, Grey Eminence,.ip. 98.. 67 views of the mystic, has become part of Catholic mysticism. Grey Eminence, and The Devils of Ioudun contain bold illus t r a t i o n s of the atrocities that can result from a mysticism that stops with a belief in a personal deity, that f a i l s to check the emotions with the in t e l l e c t . Dean Inge lends support to Huxley's view of mysticism i n western countries. He speaks of the "debased supernaturalism which usurps the name of Mysticism i n Roman Catholic countries". Dean Inge does not mince matters. He has no time for ridiculous fables passed off as spiritual truths; no more does he accept occultism or "psychical research" as phases of mysticism. He has l i t t l e hope for mysticism within the Catholic Church because of the "irreconcilable antagonism between the Roman Church and science". ^7 The suggestion Dean Inge makes, that sci e n t i f i c facts and mysticism are compatible, isrsimilar to the thi r d major stress i n Huxley's exposition of mysticism. Huxley, i n 192k, had indicated his belief i n the compatibility of science and mysticism. He seems to be aware that mathematical minds can be closely related to mystical minds. Calamy t e l l s us that Newton abandoned mathematics for mysticism when he was th i r t y years old. 3°" Newton's physical theories, li k e those of the natural scientists Democritus, Epicurus, and Boyle, were later proved by scientists. Conceivably, Calamy thinks, Newton's mysticism w i l l also be proved by scientists. Already the " s p l i t " between the higher and lower r e a l i t i e s or between s p i r i t and matter, begun i n Plato's day and made so definite by Bacon's famous "render unto f a i t h 37 Inge, Christian Mysticism, pp. xiv-xv. 38 Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves, London, Penguin Books, 19 5 l ( f i r s t ed. 1925), p. 312.. 68 the things that are faith's," has been p a r t i a l l y bridged by scientific experiments. Many of Huxley's essays show an interest i n sci e n t i f i c experiments which support his gradual belief that there i s only one energizing force i n l i f e . This force can manifest i t s e l f i n matter, mind, or s p i r i t . This concept develops into Huxley's idea of "wholeness" or "oneness" and helps him ultimately to negate any suggestions of opposites existing i n l i f e and to affirm a steadfast belief i n an ultimate Reality. In Jesting Pilate, Huxley discusses the experiments of Sir J.C. Bose which attempt to show "that everything including the 'inanimate' i s alive". We have for too long, says Huxley, "made a habit of regarding matter as something dead". 39 i f , as the Bose experiments attempt to prove, l i f e does exist i n matter, then the old opposition between animate and inanimate objects ceases to exist. Humphries points out that, according to Buddhist philosophy, the duality of the world i n which we l i v e i s falsely imagined. Spirit and matter are one and the same and at the same time interchangeable. He explains that the world i s a phenomenon subject to flux and change. The concept of' continuous flux and change gives real support to the mystic's belief i n a timeless world or eternity. Although Huxley's ideas may be faulty, i n an essay i n Beyond the Mexique Bay, he indicates a tendency to believe that men have spatialized time into circles of days, months, years to the extreme limit i n order to make time bearable. The continuous flux of time i s thus parcelled up. The mystic moving i n concentric circles of time simply contracts them to a point. "The xdiole of his existence i s reduced for him to the here, now." Time i s spatialized to the extreme l i m i t . 39 Huxley, Jesting Pilate, pp. 155-156. I4.O Aldous Huxley, Beyond the Mexique Bay, London, Penguin Books i n Association with Chatto- and Windus, 1955 ( f i r s t ed. 193k), p. 156. 69 The d i f f i c u l t y with this thesis, as Huxley himself points out, i s that once out of his mystic trance and i n spite of the reality of his sense of timelessness, the mystic discovers that the flux s t i l l goes on. Time and eternity would seem to be contradictory concepts. In The Perennial Philosophy, however, Huxley denies any contradiction i n the idea that man i s at one time eternal and at another i n time. Man i s a body, a psyche, and a s p i r i t . He must learn to l i v e on the human plane as well as i n harmony with the divine Ground. His body i s always i n time, while the s p i r i t i s always timelessj the psyche i s the amphibious "I" — at one time, eternal and at another, i n time. As man i s constituted, the "I" cannot always remain identified with the s p i r i t ; i t must also identify with the boay> Anyone who has never experienced the shift of the "I" from the body to the s p i r i t and eternity has d i f f i c u l t y i n over coming the sense of contradiction i n the terms time and eternity, but,' as Huxley sums up, ...the eternal now i s a consciousness; the divine Ground i s a s p i r i t ; the being of Brahman i s chit, or knowledge. That a temporal world should be known and, i n being known, sustained and perpetually created by an eternal ©om'sciousness i s an idea which eontains nothing self-contradictory. The empirical testing of the mystic's contentions i s a most recent development. Huxley has engaged i n experiments i n the hope of learning more about the mystic state. As more w i l l be said about these experiments i n a later chapter, i t i s enough to say now that Huxley's brand of mysticism i s not, to use Dean Inge's phrase, any "debased supernaturaHsm", or any k l Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. I87. 70 romantic version of yoga. It i s a mysticism i n the tradition of the world's great mysticisms, and i s based on empirical facts. The need for a unity between the mystic and the scientist i s well expressed by Bertrand Russell i n his essay "Mysticism and Logic". He states at the outset, Metaphysics, or the attempt to conceive the world as a whole by means of thought, has been developed, from the f i r s t , by the union and conflict of two very different human impulses, the one urging men towards mysticism, the oilier urging them towards science. 2^ Hume, Bertrand Russell claims, i s the classic example of the unchecked scien t i f i c impulse; whereas i n Blake, the mystic impulse dominates. What i s needed i s a combination of both. Russell Is very guarded i n his accept ance of mysticism. He admits that "an element of wisdom /may/ be learned from the mystical way of feeling, which does not seem to be attainable i n any other manner". He ins i s t s , however, that one must apply "a sufficient restraint". -* Huxley would be the f i r s t to agree; an intellectual caution i n one's attitude towards mysticism i s , i n his view, a cardinal virtue. Dean Inge supports the idea that true mysticism must have an intellectual basis and points out that this i s the difference between Miss Underbill's evalua tion of mysticism and his own. She sees mysticism mainly as a movement of the h e a r t . ^ Huxley's fourth major stress i n his study of mysticism i s the importance of universality. As this has already been touched on i n the section dealing with his interest i n Oriental mysticisms and i n the section i n which the k2 Bertrand Russell. Mysticism and Logic, New York, Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957 ( f i r s t ed. 1912), p . l . U3 Ibid., p. 11. hk Inge, Christian Mysticism, p. i x . ii necessity of getting beyond the personal Deity i s discussed, l i t t l e more needs to be added here. In The Perennial Philisophy (19U6) Huxley attempts to prove the universality of mysticism. He extracts the "Highest Common Factor" i n al 1 -fiergreat religious theologies, and attempts to show that the Taoist, Buddhist, Hindu, Neo-Platonist, and Christian mystics give> funda mentally, the same answer to the question: "What i s the That to which the thou can discover i t s e l f to be akin?". They a l l assert, i n effect, that "The divine Ground of a l l existence i s a spiritual Absolute...." A l l religions have much i n common, according to Huxley, and i n support he points to the similarity between the Hindu Trinity and the Christian Trinity. Goodness, wisdom, mercy, and love are attributes that came from the Trin i t i e s which are manifestations of the ineffable and attributeless Godhead. Most religions have their incarnations of God i n certain individuals; the Christians have Christ, the Indians and others have Krishna. But for a l l the great religions God i s immanent and transcendent, supra-personal as well L5 as personal. ^ Four basic doctrines l i e at the core of the Perennial Philosophy. Huxley summarizes them i n the introduction to the Bhagavad- Gita: F i r s t : the phenomenal world of matter and of individualized con sciousness — the world of things and animals and men and even gods — i s the manifestation of a Divine Ground within which a l l partial r e a l i t i e s have their being, and apart from which they would be nonexistent. Second: human beings are capable not merely of knowing about the Divine Ground by inference; they can also realize i t s existence by a direct intuition, superior to discursive reasoning. This immediate knowledge unites the knower with that which i s known. h$ Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. 2 1 . 72. Third: man possesses a double nature, a phenomenal ego and an eternal Self, which i s the inner man, the s p i r i t , the spark of divinity within the soul. It i s possible for a man, i f he so desires, to identify himself with the s p i r i t and therefore with the Divine Ground, which i s of the same or like nature with the s p i r i t . Fourth: man's l i f e on.earth has only one end and purpose; to identify himself with his eternal Self and so to come to unitive knowledge of the Divine Ground. k& In singling out the Highest Common Factor, i n narrowing mysticism down to the Perennial Philosophy, i n concentrating on i t s universality, Huxley attempts to show that mysticism i s no rare thing, though the attain ment of i t i n i t s pure state i s the rarest phenomenon man can experience. Jocelyn Brooke says, Huxley shows i n The Perennial Philosophy, that his own mysticism has involved no intellectual surrender, no sudden "Act of Faith"; i t i s the result, rather of a prolonged and c r i t i c a l investigation of the available evidence, conducted with the caution and detachment of a scientist.^ 7 That few individuals should reach the mystic's f i n a l goal i s not surprising when one considers the arduous effort needed to attain i t . Yet, as Kenneth Burke points out i n his Rhetoric of Motives, the goadings of the"divine" — of "the great mystery" — head the l i s t i n the hierarchy of motives.^ Miss.Underbill claims that the powers which make contact with the Transcendental order are dormant i n ordinary men who respond only to the world of sense.^9 Huxley deviates from Miss Underhill's contention and agrees with Burke showing that the goadings of the "great U6 Aldous Huxley, Introduction to Bhagavad-Gita, New York, Mentor Books, 1958, p. 13. U7 Jocelyn Brooke, Aldous Huxley, Writers and their Work: No. 55, London, Longmans, Green, published for Br i t i s h Council, 1 9 0 U , P* 27. U8 Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives, New York, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1952, p. 333. k9 Underhill, Mysticism, p. 63. 73 mystery" are awake i n a l l men. When a man responds to the world of sense, his response may i n fact be subconsciously dictated by his deep-seated urge to self-transcendence, by his desire to escape from the uncomfortable consciousness of his own ego*. In the "Epilogue" to The Devils of Loudun, Huxley l i s t s what he c a l l s the "Grace-Substitutes" employed by men and women to escape from the torment ing consciousness of being merely themselves. The most common substitutes are alcohol, narcotics and drugs, used to obliterate the conscious self. Man induces oblivion, trances, delusions and thus gets beyond the limits of the insulated ego, at least temporarily. The experience of such escape could be the means of making man aware of that "something f a r more deeply interfused", but the danger i s that the alcohol or drug becomes the God. The second substitute i s sexuality. Like alcohol, sex can be the mani festation of the "radical Otherness" immanent i n every human being, but l i k e alcohol i t can make a man sub-human. The third substitute i s crowd delirium. This can be more dangerous than debauchery as "herd-intoxication" can lead to mob-manias, lynchings, wars. Hitler capitalized on the "herd- instinct" i n man. Identification with a group relieves the individual of responsibility and becomes a ready escape from self. The fourth substitute for self-transcendence i s some ecstasy-producing r i t e of rhythmic sound. When coupled with the herd-intoxication frenzied a c t i v i t i e s , orgies and violence usually result. Finally, there i s corporal penance — self- whipping, or hair shirts. The identification of the self-tortured person with the physical, suffering body, relieves the individual from a sense of other guilts or frustrations. ^° 50 Huxley, The Devils of Loudun, pp. 315-323-TU Actual self-transcendence can move i n three directions: horizontal, which i s harmless; downward, which i s harmful and can make men sub-human; and upward, which leads to the awareness of the divine Ground. With so many substitutes for true self-transcendence an intellectual caution i s a pre-requisite for the mystic. In view of the d i f f i c u l t i e s involved, i t is not surprising that the majority of individuals never complete the arduous journey along the mystic-way. Fortunately for the less persevering and less gifted, a number of pilgrims of every race, and across the ages, have experienced and recorded the mystic state. As Huxley, drawing his opinions from Al-Ghazzali, sums i t up i n The Perennial Philosophy, ...the mystics /are regarded not only as the ultimate source of our knowledge of the soul and i t s capacities and defects, but as the salt which preserves human societies from decay.... It i s they who, dying to themselves, become capable of perpetual inspiration and so are made instruments through which divine grace i s mediated to those whose unregeperate nature i s impervious to the delicate touches of the S p i r i t . 5 1 Tn summary Huxley's most outstanding beliefs regarding mysticism can be b r i e f l y stated as follows: that mysticism as well as being a movement of the heart should have a firm intellectual basis; that mysticism moves beyond a belief i n a personal Deity; that mysticism i s universal; that mysticism leads to "an ordered l i f e i n every state"; and that "The aim and purpose of the human l i f e i s /to gain/ the unitive knowledge of God." 51 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. 301. 75 CHAPTER III ELEMENTS OF MYSTICISM IN THE FICTION Deducing an author's biography or psychological development from his f i c t i o n a l -writing i s , at best, a very dubious process. However, i n the l i g h t of the established facts of Huxley's biography and the overt state ments about his interests, feelings, and beliefs concerning mysticism i n his non-fiction, i t i s possible to see that the attitudes of characters i n his f i c t i o n give evidence of his own attitudes and of his increasing belief i n mysticism as a way of l i f e . Though an author can never be' t o t a l l y identi f i e d with any of his characters, their actions and thoughts very often Indi cate the author's own interests and i n many cases a particular stage or phase of the author's psychological development. Alexander Henderson claims that, Inevitably the characters of every novelist are only personifications of himself.... A l l a writer's knowledge and experience i s , i n reality, l i k e that of anyone else, only knowledge and experience of himself. If Mr. Henderson's contention i s accepted, i t should be reasonably safe to assert that the"-experiences of Huxley's characters reveal something of Huxley's own personal development. D.S. Savage states somewhat categorically that "Huxley's work as a whole has taken the form of a thinly disguised auto biographical sequence...."2 1 Alexander Henderson, Aldous Huxley, p. 55 ' 2 D.S. Savage, The Withered Branch, p. 129. 76 Charles Glicksberg suggests that a very great deal of Huxley's f i c t i o n was written for purposes of s e l f - c l a r i f i c a t i o n and that one can, therefore, deduce Huxley's psychological development by carefully examin ing the characters i n his f i c t i o n . He describes Huxley as a "subjective and confessional novelist" each of whose central characters is' always a J projection of himself. They are tormented intellectuals who are emotion a l l y deficient, indecisive, incapable of feeling deeply, and without roots or powerful passions. Totally inhibited, they are at home only i n the world of thought and ideas. The chief trouble of a Huxleyan here i s that "...he cannot f a l l i n love, throw off the accursed burden of self-conscious ness, devote himself ardently to a cause, believe violently i n an ideal."3 Huxley's novels always contain a character or two who could be c l a s s i f i e d as ectomorphic-cerebrotonic, or Hamlet-like, types. Denis, GtMbril, Calamy, Philip Quarles, Walter Bidlake, Bernard Marx, Anthony Beavis, Pete Boone, Sebastian Barnack, John Rivers, are a l l , according to Mr. Glicksberg, young intellectuals desperately concerned with the spectacle of corruption i n t his world, the total lack of values, the perversion of instincts, the general dehumanization of l i f e , and the tragic loss of f a i t h . ^ The con cern about l i f e , the desire to find a "working philosophy" that these central characters show i s precisely the concern that Huxley expresses i n the prose works discussed i n the previous chapters. Many of Huxley's f i c t i o n a l characters are interested i n mysticism as a way of l i f e . They can be seen as representing particular stages i n a mystic's development. Huxley's own developing interest i n mysticism can be charted by identifying him with the characters i n his novels. A comparison of Huxley's search for truth, 3 Charles I. Glicksberg, "Aldous Huxleyi Art and Mysticism", Prairie Schooner, vol. 27 (1953), p. 31*6. U Ibid. 77 apparent i n the f i c t i o n , w i t h Miss Underhill's " f i v e - f o l d mystic way" provides an opportunity to evaluate Huxley's mysticism. The comparison w i l l attempt to i l l u s t r a t e the point that Huxley underwent no sudden con v e r s i o n i n the t h i r t i e s . At the same time, the comparison should demon strate the s i n c e r i t y and i n t e n s i t y of Huxley's b e l i e f i n mysticism as w e l l as the extent to which h i s experience d i f f e r s from the experiences of the great mystics of h i s t o r y r e f e r r e d to by Miss U n d e r h i l l . The f i r s t stage Miss U n d e r h i l l c a l l s the "Awakening of the Se l f to consciousness of Divine R e a l i t y . " That Huxley was awakened to the needs of h i s so u l , that he was concerned with the desires of h i s s p i r i t , t h a t he recognized t h a t the " S e l f " was the essence i n man which responded to and could i d e n t i f y with a divine essence i n the Universe, i s evident i n Limbo, h i s f i r s t volume of short s t o r i e s published i n 1920. Dick, i n the " F a r c i c a l H i s t o r y of Richard Greenow", i s a disturbed, young i n t e l l e c t u a l f i l l e d always "with a vague, but acute, discontent. He wanted something which h i s f r i e n d s could not give him; but what, but what?" 5 Dick has a temporary f i t of being v e r y r e l i g i o u s i n p r i v a t e . He prays with f r e n z y and t r i e s to mortify "the f l e s h with f a s t i n g and watching. He even goes so f a r as to f l a g e l l a t e himself He would pass h a l f the night stark naked, i n absurd postures, t r y i n g to hurt himself."6 Dick sees himself as "a hermaphrodite, not i n the gross obvious sense, of course, but s p i r i t u a l l y . " ? Dick recognizes that he has two independent $ Aldous Huxley, " F a r c i c a l H i s t o r y of Richard Greenow", Limbo, London, Chatto and Windus,.1928 ( f i r s t ed. 1920), p. 8. 6 I b i d . , p. 12. 7 Huxley, "Richard Greenow", Limbo,,;p. 37* ?6" personalities which separately control him: in one, the intellectual masculine dominatesj in the other, the sent mental feminine controls. As the young male intellectual, Dick says, "I have a l l the feelings of Bunyan xiiithout his religion. I regard the salvation of my soul as important." Dick "felt in himself the desire to search for truth and Q the ability — who knows? — to find i t " . Dick's experiences seem to suggest that Huxley i s awake to the needs of his soul. He describes Dick's state of drunkenness as one of increased perceptiveness of the senses. Again, while the ending of the story isi. bitterly humourous, ironic and even tragic, the description of Dick's delirium in the asylum suggests at least the possibility that the author himself under quite different circumstances, may have had some comparable experience which might be seen as a vision or moment of awareness of an outside power. - Like Dick, Guy, in "Happily Ever After", recognized that "Intellec tually, he was a Voltairian, emotionally a Bunyanite".? Guy asked the same questions as Dick: What is one to do?... What the devil i s right? I had meant to spend my l i f e writing and thinking, trying to create -something beautiful or discover something true. But oughtn't one, after a l l , i f one sur vives, to give up everything else and-try to make this hideous den of a world a l i t t l e more habitable? 1 0 Both Dick and Guy experience the conflict between politics and philosophy. They are concerned with assuming their share of the responsibility for making civilization work. But how, they asked, did one engage in p o l i t i cal reform or indulge the intellectual Voltairian without crushing out of 8 Huxley, "Richard Greenow", Limbo, p. 37. 9 Huxley, "Happily Ever After", Limbo, p. 172. 10 Ibid., p. 1^7. 79 existence the emotional Bunyanite? Huxley, like his young male characters would seem to be awake to the needs of his soul. At the same time he seems to f e e l compelled to assume a certain responsibility for c i v i l i z a t i o n , and the c i v i l i z a t i o n bequeathed to the Twentieth Century by Thomas Henry Huxley's generation had l i t t l e to recommend i t j apparently, i t no longer allotted an individual to indulge an innate religious capacity. Dick dies in an asylum, and Guy i s k i l l e d i n the war; neither achieves any spiritual fulfillment. Huxley himself seems torn between the desire to attack the old values i n despair and disgust and a desire to concern himself with something beyond the material world and physical l i f e . Huxley's awareness of the something beyond the material world and physical l i f e may not correspond exactly to the "Awakening" that Miss Underhill describes as stage one of the mystic-way, but the early f i c t i o n seems to show a more-than-average concern with man's spiritual needs. Miss Underhill, while describing "the Awakening of the transcendental,consciousness" as an "abrupt" and "decisive event" does go on to say that, Sometimes the emergence of the mystic consciousness i s gradual, un marked by any definite c r i s i s . The self slides gently, almost imperceptibly, from the old universe to the new... In another type ...there i s no-conversion i n the ordinary sense; but a gradual and increasing lucidity, of which the beginning has hardly been noticed by the self, intermittently accompanies the pain, misery of mind, and inwarcl struggles characteristic of the entrance upon the Way of Purgation. 1 Huxley's awakening resembles that of the type which experiences no conversion but i n which the gradual increase i n the lucidity, of the soul i s accompanied by pain and "misery of mind". 11 Underhill, Mysticism, pp. 176-177. 80 In the early f i c t i o n , Huxley seems caught on the horns of an excru ciating dilemma. Like his youthful heroes, he seems aware of the fact that he had a Soul, but he did not know how to attend to i t s needs i n a world i n which.any suggestion of " l i f e to come", or eternity, or the mystery of something beyond, had disappeared with the publication of The Origin of the Species. Spode, i n "The Tillotson Banquet", feels this dilemma and the complete f u t i l i t y of contemporary l i f e and, at the same time, he seems gradually to f e e l an awareness of some mysterious qualities, some gracious visitants, that his mind can apprehend* What was the use of his own youth and cleverness? He saw himself suddenly as a boy with a rattle scaring birds — -rattling his noisy cleverness, waving his arms i n ceaseless and f u t i l e activity, never resting i n his efforts to scare away the birds that were always trying to settle i n his mind. And what birds! wide-winged and beautiful, a l l those serene thoughts and faiths and emotions that only v i s i t minds that have humbled themselves to quiet. Those gracious visitants he was forever using a l l his energies to drive away.... But then, was i t possible to alter one's l i f e ? Wasn't i t a l i t t l e absurd to risk a conversion? 12 Denis, i n Crome Yellow, and Gumbril, i n Antic Hay, both seem to sense some mysterious power that would give meaning to their lives i f they could only make contact with i t , but lik e Spode, they f e l t i t "a l i t t l e absurd to risk a conversion". Denis i s acutely aware of the inade_quacy of his self-conscious i n t e l l e c t . He knows that i f l i f e i s to be enjoyed, he must become a pagan, but his poignant consciousness of h i s soul, "a tenuous, tremulous, pale membrane", makes him f e e l that the paganizing process i s too laborious to be undertaken. At the end of the novel, unlike Spode, Denis, too confused even "^ Eb r a t t l e / his noisy cleverness" sends himself a te l e gram as an excuse to escape from the hedonistic society of Crome, though he 12 Aldous Euxley, Mortal Coils, London, Penguin Books, 1955 ( f i r s t ed.1922) p. 85. 81 r e a l i z e s that i n h i s s o c i e t y such escape i s f u t i l e . , Denis ends h i s gloomy r e f l e c t i o n s with a question and an answer: "....what on earth was he going to do i n London when he got there? He climbed wearily up the s t a i r s . I t was time f o r him to l a y himself i n h i s c o f f i n . " 13 S i m i l a r l y , Gumbril knows i n t u i t i v e l y , as w e l l as from h i s r e l a t i o n ship with Emily, that there i s something more to l i f e t h a n the s u p e r f i c i a l a c t i v i t i e s of h i s hedonist f r i e n d s ; y e t , rather than r i s k t h e i r r i d i c u l e , rather than " r i s k a conversion", he, l i k e Spode, p e r s i s t s i n " r a t t l i n g h i s noisy cleverness" to scare away the goadings of h i s s p i r i t . Like Denis, Gumbril does not succeed, but, older and braver than Denis, he gives a l a s t dinner f o r h i s i n t e l l e c t u a l and s o p h i s t i c a t e d f r i e n d s and t e l l s Myra Viveash on the eve of h i s departure, "I have a premonition... that one of these days I may become a s a i n t . An unsuccessful f l i c k e r i n g s o r t of s a i n t , l i k e a candle beginning to go out." 11 The mystic tendencies i n Huxley are vaguely awakened, but he does not yet know what to do about i t . Not u n t i l l°2it do we f i n d Huxley growing up and preparing to " r i s k a conversion". In "Uncle Spencer" he asserts that there i s more to, l i f e than a round of e r o t i c a c t i v i t i e s , that we waste our time when we concern ourselves with only mundane experiences: What an i t c h we have to know whether Mr. Smith makes love to h i s secretary, whether h i s wife consoles h e r s e l f , whether a c e r t a i n cabinet m i n i s t e r i s r e a l l y the satyr he i s rumoured to be. And meanwhile the most i n c r e d i b l e miracles are happening a l l round us: stones, when we l i f t them and l e t them go f a l l to the ground; the sun shines; bees v i s i t the flowers; seeds grow i n t o p l a n t s , a c e l l i n nine months m u l t i p l i e s i t s weight a few thousands of 13 Huxley, Crome Yellox-r, p. 123. 1U Huxley, A n t i c Hay, p. 229. 82. thousands of times, and i s a child; and men think, creating the world they l i v e i n . These things leave us almost perfectly indifferent. 15 This passage seems to indicate that Huxley himself i s no longer "perfectly indifferent" to the "incredible miracles... happening a l l round us". He i s gradually beginning to see his own role, a role that would allow him to develop his latent mystical tendencies and at the same time help his fellow men to become concerned with something more than whether "Mr. Smith mates love to his secretary". "Someday", Huxley writes, " i t may be, the successful novelist w i l l write about man's relation to God^ to nature, to his own thoughts and the obscure r e a l i t y on which they work, not about man's relation with woman". J-° Huxley's later novels were an attempt to do just that — to show man's relation to God, but before he could show man's relation to God, Huxley had f i r s t to c l a r i f y h i s own. In "Uncle Spencer", he reconciles his scientific; mind with his newly-awakened mystic intuitiveness. "Now i t i s possible — i t i s , indeed, almost necessary — for a man of science to be also a mystic." ^7 Huxley seems prepared to "risk a conversion", to indulge his religious bent of mind openly but he i s not;.prepared to give way to any excess of emotional feeling, nor to accept suddenly any particular religious creed. He says i n "Uncle Spencer" that mysticism at one time could be only combined "with faulty knowledge and fantastic mental eccentricity", but he suggests that now a more rational mind can accept the truth of mysticism. Huxley, then, seems determined to s i f t and select from his "twenty tons of ratiocination" what i s meaningful 15 Huxley, L i t t l e Mexican, p. 6k. 16 Ibid, p. 65. 17 Ibid., p. 78. 83 and helpful i n a search for the mystic state. The period of s i f t i n g and selecting that Huxley appears to experience during the 1920's seems comparable to the second stage of the mystic-way — the Purgative Stage. The device of "noisy cleverness" -which had kept Huxley from indulging his innate desire "to humble his mind to quiet" i r o n i c a l l y became the instrument of purgation. By means of sophisticated witl and satire, he systematically begins cleaning out the sludge. In what might be called the stage of Purgation, he attacks many of society's established beliefs and i t s panaceas, such as science, orthodox religion, new religious cults, art, sex, and p o l i t i c s . In "Uncle Spencer" Huxley had suggested the p o s s i b i l i t y of science supporting mysticismj yet, paradoxically, science became the object of a most bitter attack. The reason i s obvious. The idea of scie n t i f i c detachment was producing only a race of Shearwaters who seemed to have lost sight of any overall purpose i n their investigations. Instead of trying to produce scie n t i f i c evidence that l i f e did have purpose and meaning, science devoted i t s e l f to absurd experiments, apparently for the sake of experiment. A l l that Huxley could find i n science at the stage he had reached i n 1923, was a cock "not knowing -whether to crow or cluck" because i t had had engrafted into i t a hen's ovary. Such scie n t i f i c experiments seemed only to imply that sex, character, personality and soul were nothing more than obscure chemistry. Shearwater, the physiologist, proves that his s cientific detachment leads only to a f a t a l lack of integration between the conflicting claims of passion and reason, l i f e and work. Shearwater pedals his bicycle i n a hot box to determine the percentage of sweat produced, while his neglected wife, Rosie, gives a poor performance of Emma Bovary. Huxley could see the need for scientific experimentation, but he could also see, with a f r i g h t e n i n g c l a r i t y , the f u t i l i t y of experiment that was not balanced. As the would-be mystic and s c i e n t i s t found l i t t l e i n contemporary science to support h i s b e l i e f i n mysticism, he found equally l i t t l e i n current r e l i g i o u s p r a c t i c e s . The o l d Nineteenth Century orthodox view of immortality was becoming a thing of the past. Old T i l l o t s o n says to Spode, ' " L i f e to come 1, .... 'No, I don't believe i n any of that s t u f f — not since 18£9. The O r i g i n of Species changed my views.' Conceivably, The O r i g i n of Species, so p u b l i c i z e d by Thomas Henry Huxley, had a con siderable influence on the n a t u r a l l y s c i e n t i f i c mind of the young Aldous. However, i f an i d e n t i f i c a t i o n can be made between Huxley and Guy Lambourne, i t seems that Huxley d i d not abandon the o l d ideas o f God and e t e r n i t y without a c e r t a i n regret. Guy accepts h i s f a t e as he musesJ Born i n another age, he would, he supposed, have been r e l i g i o u s . He had got over r e l i g i o n e a r l y , l i k e the measles — at nine a Low Churchman, and at fourteen an Agnostic — but he s t i l l retained the temperament of a r e l i g i o u s man.1? Huxley, l i k e Guy, seems to have found himself a r e l i g i o u s man d e s i r i n g a r e l i g i o n when r e l i g i o n i s out of f a s h i o n . While The O r i g i n of Species had caused a great deal of scepticism, atheism and agnosticism among the Nineteenth Century i n t e l l e c t u a l s , a somewhat formal or t e p i d orthodoxy was s t i l l general. Huxley, however, seems to see only a pervasive hypocrisy i n the p r a c t i c e of r e l g i o n . Jacobsen i n "Happily Ever A f t e r " goes to church merely to amuse himself 18 Huxley, Mortal C o i l s , p. 8 3 . 19 Huxley, "Happily Ever A f t e r " , Limbo, p. 172. by contrasting the powers of the institution with the feeble-mindedness of the clergy. Huxley's concern with religious hypocrisy i s apparent i n both Crome Yellow and Those Barren Leaves. He sees i t as rampant within and without the church walls. In the person of Mr. Bodiham, the Rector at Crome, Huxley c r i t i c i s e s the presumption and the mundane interests of the.Church of England. Bodiham fancies himself as "the Man i n the Iron Mask". He preaches with great passion on the nature of God, and "what a fearful thing i t i s to f a l l into His hands". God i s "a white f i r e of righteous ness, an angry f i r e . . . . " A l l his o f f i c i a l cant about the God of Wrath, the imrninence of Armageddon, as Huxley shows, f a i l s to impress the well- fed citizens of Crome. They go on with their sins. And Bodiham himself i s equally casual; after musing over an old sermon concerned with God as a God of Wrath, he turns to his mail. It contains a pamphlet, larger than his own printed sermon and more elegant i n appearance. "The House of Sheeny, Clerical Outfitters, Birmingham". The style catalogue f o r Anglican rectors had l i t t l e red crosses i n place of f u l l stops, and adver tised "Clerical frock-coats. From nine guineas. A dressy garment tailored by our own experienced ecclesiastical cutters." ^0 Cardan, i n Those Barren Leaves, i s made to f i n d a considerable dis parity between the ideal and the actual i n his experience with the Catholic Church. While i n Rome, Mrs. Chelifer, always a devoted Protestant, found that one could not r e a l l y ignore the portentousness of the place. God had i n some uinque way marked i t out from other c i t i e s . The spiritual meaning could not be missed. Cardan does not agree, and points out';that "a great many tourists and a l l the inhabitants contrive to do so with complete . 20 Huxley, Crome Yellow, p. J?0. B6 success". 21 He also experiences d i f f i c u l t y i n feeling "the sp i r i t u a l i t y " within or without the Church when i t f a l l s to his lot to bury Miss Elver. Even the r i t u a l leaves much to be desired. Cardan describes the funeral. The bearers f i l e d i n , bringing with them from the f i e l d s a healthy smell of sweat. They were dressed for the occasion i n garments that ought, no doubt, to have been surplices } but which were, i n point of fact, rather dirty and crumpled white dust-coats... The priest reeled off his Latin formulas as though for a wager; the bearers, i n ragged and timeless unison bawled back at him incompre hensible responses. During the long prayers they talked to ore another about the vintage. The boy scratched f i r s t his head, then his posterior, f i n a l l y picked his nose. The priest prayed so fast that a l l the words fused together and.became one word. Mr. Cardan wondered why the Catholic Church did not authorize prayer wheels. A simple l i t t l e electric motor doing six or eight revolu tions a minute would get through a quite astonishing amount of pious work i n a day and cost much less than a priest.22 • Huxley's representation of the church i s most unsympathetic i n Antic Hay. Gumbril has to rule out orthodox religion, finding i t impossible to reconcile his mother's horrid death by cancer with the goodness of God. Coleman, too, goes about shouting atrocious jokes about Christ and the Fathers of the Church as a sort of revenge for not being able to believe i n God. Chelifer, i n Those Barren Leaves, although somewhat subtler than Coleman, feels a similar resentment. He writes ironic verses about the Holy Ghost sliding down to Golders Green. Chelifer also resents the late Nineteenth Century tendency to substitute pantheism for the out-moded Christianity. Chelifer's father "considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of.church-going", and quoted Wordsworth's Prelude as i f i t were divine revelation: "A sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused". Chelifer b i t t e r l y reflects that such phrases are "as meaning less as so many hiccoughs."23 Chelifer repudiates Nineteenth Century 21 Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves, London, Penguin Books, 1951 (Fi r s t edition 1925), p. 255. ' 22 Ibid., p. 283. 23 Jfcid., p. 108. 87 pantheism, but pantheism was not the only substitute for the outmoded orthodox beliefs. A rash of new cults such as spiritualism, theosophy, and astrology, broke out i n the fasionable world of the 1920's. In Crome Yellow, Mrs. Wimbush dabbles i n New Thought, the occult, Christian Science and telepathy. n I have", she says, "the Infinite to keep i n tune with.... And then there's the next world and a l l the sp i r i t s , and one's Aura, and Mrs. Eddy and saying;you're not i l l , and the Christian Mysteries and Mrs. Besant."2k At this stage of his development, Huxley represents religion i n such forms as being the ultimate in hypocrisy and charlatanism. Mr. Barbecue-Smith writes i n his best-seller, Pipelines to the Infinite, that Inspiration i s the answer to the problems of man. A simple matter of getting i n touch with the Subconscious by hypnotizing oneself. Of himself Barbecue-Smith admits that he can at w i l l have a trance which allows the "Niagara of the Infinite", the inspiration of his muse, to cascade "uplifting aphorisms to him from the divine Source". He reminds Denis of the advertisement of Nestle's milk — "the two cats on the wall, under the moon, one black and thin, the other white, sleek, and fat. Before Inspiration and after". 25 Mr. Wenham i n The World of Light, regards spiritualism as the highest form of contemporary religion because i t i s s c i e n t i f i c . He also finds that i t i s remunerative. His book on spiritualism sold sixteen thousand copies at a guinea a piece. It was going into a fourth edition when Hugo turned up alive and exploded the medium's message from hijn on the other side. 2h Huxley, Crome Yellow, p. 11. 2$ Ibid., p. | 2 . 26 Aldous Huxley, The World of Light, London, Chatto and Windus, 1931,p«5>5. 88' Huxley had l i t t l e time for spiritualism, but his fiercest diatribes are reserved for sham or excessive s p i r i t u a l i t y . His f i r s t attack i s on the Lapith Sisters i n Crome Yellow. They thought the;; process of eating so degrading that they could only satisfy their quite normal appetites i n a secret room of the paternal mansipn. Huxley satirizes the Claxtons who also found that, "Eating was gross; high l i v i n g was incompatible with high-thinking...."27 The Claxtons lived very spir i t u a l l y indeed — even the cat was a vegetarian. They found, during an enforced stay i n Switzerland, that i t was really too healthy a climate i n which to be sp i r i t u a l . Back i n England, Martha's lumbago, Herbert's chronic consti pation, l i t t l e Paul's adenoids, a l l helped to make them very spiritual again. Martha's example of s p i r i t u a l i t y to her family was i n direct pro portion to the number of chocolates she secretly ate during the day. In purging himself of any forms of religious hypocrisy* Huxley mercilessly attacks the spiritual lovers. He makes Hubert, the medium i n The World of Light, f i n d very l i t t l e d i f f i c u l t y i n seducing Enid after the seance. Feeling lik e a t i r e d child he goes to sleep on her breast — the rest i s "child's play". Similarly, Huxley pokes fun at the false s p i r i t u a l i t y of Chawdron's relationships with the Fairy. He describes them as being lik e "the loves of the angels — so angelic that, when i t was a l l over, one wouldn't be quite sure whether there had been any inter ruption i n the mystical conversation or not." 28 he accounts for the "Spiritual" qualities of the Fairy i n very physical ways. She was a vegetarian and an ascetic who suffered from headaches and chronic 27 Aldous Huxley, "The Claxtons", Brief Candles, London, Chatto and Windus, 19U8 ( f i r s t ed. 1930), p. 131. . . . 28 Ibid., p. 31. constipation as a result of lack of food. The spiritual look i n her eyes was caused by uncorrected myopia. She was given to mystic and transcendental experiences. Chawdron found her pseudo-religious utter ances balm to his Presbyterian conscience which was occasionally troubled by his "legal swindling". Love that was excessively s p i r i t u a l , sham spi r i t u a l i t y , and s p i r i t u a l ism, along with the other fashionable religious cults, were no better than old orthodox religious practices. Huxley saw i n a decaying Twentieth Century c i v i l i z a t i o n only the ultimate i n hypocrisy and pretense displayed i n the practices of those who were supposedly religious. He, the young intellectual newly awakened to the needs of his soul and s p i r i t , could find nowhere a satisfactory creed on which to f i x . Mingling as he was i n the early Twenties with an extremely sophisticated social set, i t was natural that he:should evaluate their substitutes for rel i g i o n — art and sex. As he had purged himself of science and religion, he had also to r i d himself of the notion that art or sex alone could give l i f e some over a l l meaning. Huxley thinks that art as a substitute for religion i s no better than orthodoxy or the popular cults. Scogan, i n Crome Yellow, sums art up as "the last and s i l l i e s t of the idols, the sweetest of the inebriants". ^one of the a r t i s t s i n the early f i c t i o n are sympathetically portrayed. Gombould i n Crome Yellow uses his painting as a means of escaping from the other quests at Crome. Ultimately his art represents a withdrawal from l i f e i t s e l f . Lypiatt, i n Antic Hay fancies himself as a muscular Christian a r t i s t and proposes to mate painting sp i r i t u a l l y significant; but the world rejects his art. Lypiatt passionately desires to paint 90 l i f e , y e t h i s f a i l u r e t o do so p o i n t s t o a deadness i n h i m . The s e n t i m e n t a l C h r i s t i a n i d e a l s w h i c h L y p i a t t h o p e s t o e x p r e s s have become r i d i c u l o u s — t h e t r a d i t i o n o f t h e p a s t t o •which he c l i n g s i s shown a s h o l l o w a n d m e a n i n g l e s s . L y p i a t t i s t o t a l l y u n r e a l i s t i c a b o u t h i s a r t a n d h i s l i f e ; he d e l u d e s h i m s e l f i n t o a k i n d o f t r a n c e a n d f i n d s h i s o n l y a n s w e r i n s u i c i d e . Rodney i n Two o r Three Graces i s p r e s e n t e d a s h a v i n g mo-ved w i t h t h e t i m e s . Rodney p a i n t s g r e e n nudes i n d i s t o r t e d s e t t i n g s a n d makes s i g n i f i c a n t t a l k a b o u t " f o r m s " t o p r o v e h i s f r e e d o m f r o m t h e t r a d i t i o n o f t h e p a s t . He a n d h i s a r t i s t i c f r i e n d s r e p r e s e n t t h e modern w o r l d . P r o u d l y , a y o u n g g u e s t b a w l s , "We a r e a b s o l u t e l y m o d e r n , we a r e . Anybody c a n have my w i f e so f a r a s I 'm c o n c e r n e d . I d o n ' t c a r e . S h e ' s f r e e . And I ' m f r e e . T h a t ' s what I c a l l m o d e r n . " 29 F r e e l o v e was a s g r e a t a s n a r e a n d a d e l u s i o n a s s c i e n c e , p s e u d o - r e l i g i o u s p o s e s o r a r t . H u x l e y sees a l l a r o u n d h i m o n l y a n " i n f i n i t u d e o f p o s e s " . Peop le i n a v a r i e t y o f o c c u p a t i o n s t r y i n g t o g i v e t h e i r e m p t y l i v e s m e a n i n g , a n d , f i n d i n g t h a t t h e i r c h o i c e s t i l l l e a v e s them e m p t y , c o n t i n u e t o c l i n g t o a n ou tmoded i d e a l o r s u b s t i t u t e a new s o p h i s t i c a t e d o n e . S h e a r w a t e r c h o s e s s c i e n c e ; B o d i h a m , A n g l i c a n i s m ; t h e C l a x t o n s and Chawdrcn , s p i r i t u a l i t y ; L y p i a t t a n d Rodney, a r t . Mos t o f t h e f e m a l e c h a r a c t e r s chose s e x . H u x l e y ' s modern y o u n g women, Anne a n d M a r y i n Crome Y e l l o w , Myra V i v e a s h i n A n t i c H a y , Mary T h r i p l o w a n d I r e n e i n Those B a r r e n L e a v e s , a l l a r e d e v o t e d t o t h e t h e o r i e s o f F r e u d o r H a v e l o c k E l l i s , and. a l l become i n c r e a s i n g l y i n c a p a b l e o f l o v e . G r a c e , i n Two o r Th ree G r a c e s , i s q u i c k l y c o n v e r t e d t o t h e modern v i e w a n d l e a r n s t o p l a y t h e r o l e o f femme f a t a l e . 29 A l d o u s H u x l e y , Two o r Th ree G r a c e s , L o n d o n , C h a t t o a n d W i n d u s , 19k9, p. 79. 91 She adjusts to the demands of each new lover xri.th a remarkable v e r s a t i l i t y . At the opposite end of the scale from the calculating sirens are the self- absorbed women who have been frightened by physical love — Emily, Marjorie Carling, Beatrice, The Fairy. Huxley can attach no real value to the types of love represented by his characters. Love i s either freely dis torted into sexual licence, or confused with some sham sp i r i t u a l i t y . No where does he seem able to fi n d a mature, lasting human love relationship. Huxley finds modern p o l i t i c s as disillusioning a spectacle as hedonism, religion, art or science. Falx i s Huxley's representative of the p o l i t i c a l crusader devoted to a noble public cause but, as Cardan points out, his zeal for the welfare of the working classes i s just another of the inebri- ants, another means of k i l l i n g time. Huxley, i n search of values which would unify and exalt his being, had f i r s t to take a f u l l look at the world as he knew i t . Purgation, contrary to a general misconception regarding the mystic's progress, does not involve "withdrawing wi l f u l l y from the business of l i f e " , ^° but, rather, a'.ralful involvement i n the world at large. Huxley's Awakening and Purgation made him see a l l aspects of• modem l i f e with a frightening c l a r i t y j yet out of the two early periods of his search for meaning i n l i f e came some moments of assurance of the existence of the ultimate Reality which he sought. Spotted through a l l the f i c t i o n , poetry and essays written by Huxley prior to 1 9 3 6 , when xri.th Eyeless i n Gaza, mysticism became more obviously 30 Inge, Christian Mysticism, •' p. 11. 92 the -working philosophy he sought, are incidents and experiences which indicate that i n spite of the despair and'--.the sense of f u t i l i t y which so characterized the early stages of his search, Huxley did show an awareness of a number of moments which resemble Illumination — stage three of the normal mystic 1 s journey. He reveals his insights through the attitude he gives to some of his characters. Denis, who could find no way out of a l l his intellectual dilemma, was able to affirm, i n moments of quietness, the existence of goodness, and to transcend, at least momentarily, the outer world. Riding his bicycle to Crome he experiences what might be considered a moment of Illumination. The world, he found, was good. The far-away blue h i l l s , the harvests whitening on the slopes of the ridge along which his road led him, the treeless sky-lines that changed as he moved — yesi, they were a l l good. He was overcome by the beauty of those deeply embayed combes, scooped i n the flanks of the ridge beneath him.... Becoming once more aware of the outer world, he found himself on the crest of the descent. 31 As the passage seems to indicate, Denis' moment of real self-transcendence i s the result of his response to nature. Miss Underhill claims that "...to attain a radiant consciousness of the 'otherness' of natural things, i s the simplest and commonest form of illumination". 32 That Denis' moment of "forgetting the outer world" should lack a fervent enthusiasm or emotional expression of the "otherness" that Miss Underhill mentions-, i s not surprising. As Huxley's period of Awakening was a very controlled and gradual experience lacking any demonstration of 'strong emotional 31 Huxley, Crome Yellow, p. 6. 32 Underhill, Mysticism, p. 23)4. 93 outbursts or the abrupt "conversions" that Miss Underhill describes, so his moments of Illumination are equally characterized by a gradualness and an emotional control. Such control, however, does not deny the depth of feeling involved. Huxley never actually describes his own personal feelings; he i s always excessively reticent about his own spiritual experiences, but his very reticence may be an indication that his own feelings are too private to expose. The only glimpses we have of the young Huxley's movement on the Mystic-Way are through his f i c t i o n a l characters. As Denis' moment of Illumination comes from his response to nature, so Gumbril's moment results from a response to a love relation ship. Gumbril expresses his conviction of the existence of something beyond the outer world, of something mysterious. He i s aware i n the night of a "crystal quiet", "inexpressibly lovely". Even i f for only a moment . Gurrbril experiences eternity i n his relationship with Emily. For them there were no more minutes. But time-passed, time passed flowing i n a dark stream, stanchlessly as though from some profound mysterious wound i n the world's side, bleeding, bleeding, for ever. One of the candles had burned, down to the socket and the long, smoky flame wavered unsteadily. The flickering light troubled their eyes; the shadows twitched and stirred uneasily.... The eternity had been renewed, the enchantment prolonged. There was no need to think of anything now but the moment. The past was forgotten, the future abolished. There was only this secret room and the candlelight and the unreal, impossible happiness of being two. 33 The illumination that Huxley has Calamy experience i s an advance on that of either Denis or Gumbril. Like Gumbril, Calamy sensed that the love experience could provide an "awareness", could at least "humble the mind to quiet". Calamy had been a mechanical amorist who came to realize 33 Huxley, Antic Hay, p. 13>U. 9h that unless made resplendent by some mystery or potter the love experience would never be more than momentary; that, i n fact, nothing i n his l i f e could have any real meaning unless f i r s t he penetrated "into the mental silence that l i e s beyond the body". As Huxley represents Calamy1s deter mination to become a mystic the periods of Awakening, Purgation and Illumination a l l seem to fuse together. Calamy i s convinced that he must consciously try to pierce the depths of a reality whose existence he senses. Calamy lay on his back, quite s t i l l , looking up into the darkness. Up there, he was thinking, so close that i t ' s only a question of reaching out a hand to draw back the curtaining darkness that conceals i t , up there, just above me, floats the great secret, the beauty and the mystery. To look into the depths of that mystery, to f i x the eyes of the s p i r i t on that bright and enigmatic beauty,to pore over the secret u n t i l i t s symbols cease to be opaque and the light f i l t e r s through from beyond — there i s nothing else i n l i f e , for me at any rate, that matters; there i s no rest or p o s s i b i l i t y of satisfaction i n doing anything else. 3h The language of this passage i s typical of the language usedf.by mystics to describe the moment of Illumination. Such expressions as the mystery, the great secret, brightness, beauty, the light from beyond, are a l l typical of mystical writing, but Huxley at this stage of his psycho logical development does not allow his oxin expression of mysticism, even through a f i c t i o n a l character, to be too definite. Huxley's natural reticence i n revealing his innermost thoughts doubtless kept him from elaborating Calamy's emotional experiences. Conceivably, Huxley may doubt the value of attempting to describe an experience considered to be Indescribable. Through.Scogan, the sceptic i n Crome Yellow, Huxley had indicated the incommunicability of the mystic's experience. Scogan says: 3U Huxley, Those Barren Leaves, p. 226. 95 I read the works of the mystics. They seemed to me nothing but the most deplorable claptrap — as indeed they always must to anyone who does not feel the same emotion as the authors f e l t when they were writing. For i t i s the emotion that matters. The written work i s simply an attempt to express emotion, which is i n i t s e l f inexpressible, i n terms of -intellect and logi&i. The mystic objectifies a rich feeling in the p i t of the stomach into a cosmology. For other mystics that cosmology i s a symbol of the rich feeling. For the unreligious i t i s a symbol of nothing, and so appears .merely grotesque. 35 Scogan's comments on the ineffable quality of the mystic's emotion seem a f a i r representation of Huxley's own feelings. However, while he does not risk a great expression of mysticism through the mouth of Calamy, he does show sufficient conviction to allow Calamy to go off "to wait" i n quietness, emotionally and intellectually convinced that, "Salvation's not i n the next world; i t ' s i n this '." When taunted by the sceptics, Cardan and Chelifer, who say that mystics are "soft-heads", and "senti mental imbeciles", Calamy replies, On the contrary,., i n point of h i s t o r i c a l fact they've generally been men of the highest intelligence. Buddha, Jesus, Lao-Tse, Boehme.... And what about Sir Isaac Newton, x*.o .practically abandoned mathematics for mysticism after he was thirty? Not that he was a particularly good mystic; he wasn't. But he t r i e d to be and i t can't be said that he was remarkable for the softness of his head. - No, i t ' s not fools who turn to mystics. It takes a certain amount of intelligence and imagination to realize the extraordinaryqueerness and raysteriousness of the world i n which we l i v e . 36 Calamy\s defence of mysticism shows that i n 1925 Huxley was con versant, academically at least, with the great mystics of a l l ages. Calamy's f i r s t step towards the contemplative l i f e may be taken as an indication that Huxley himself has experienced something akin to 35 Huxley, Crome Yellow, p. Ik6. 36 Huxley, Those Barren Leaves, p. 312. 96 •Hlumination. That he i s s t i l l far from entering the Unitive Way, the f i f t h and f i n a l stage on the mystic-way, can be deduced from an examina tion of the character Chelifer. In many ways, Chelifer can be identified with Huxley as j u s t i f i a b l y as Calamy. Like Calamy, Chelifer sees the sham and superficiality of the Epicurean or hedonist way of l i f e . Chelifer, like Calamy and Gumbril, has his moment of Illumination i n the love relationship. He expresses his feeling of awareness i n a sonnet: There i s no future, there i s no more pastj No roots nor f r u i t s , but momentary flowers. Lie s t i l l , only l i e s t i l l and night w i l l last Silent and dark, not for: a space of hours, But everlastingly. Let me forget A l l but your perfume, - every night but this, The shame, the f r u i t l e s s weeping, the regret. Only l i e s t i l l : this faint and quiet b l i s s Shall flower upon the brink of sleep and spread T i l l there i s nothing else but you and I Clasped i n a timeless silence. But lik e one Who, doomed to die, at morning w i l l be dead, I know, though night seem dateless, that the sky Must brighten soon before to-morrow's sun. 37 The vibrant verbal music i n this sonnet suggests that Chelifer has f e l t some mysterious power. Chelifer, like Spode and Gumbril, knew that "he ought to do something different", but asked himself, "wasn't i t a l i t t l e absurd to risk a conversion?" He i s not so b r i t t l e as he seems, but he i s afraid of making a fool of himself, of becoming a "soft-head". Huxley, like Chelifer, seems to be so f a r gone i n his orni i n t e l l e c t u a l i t y that he dare not trust the promptings of his heart. Instead of pursuing directly, i n keeping with his personality and desire, the contemplative's 37 Huxley, Those Barren Leaves, p. 312. 97 way of l i f e , Huxley apparently l e f t Calamy on the mountaintop and returned with Chelifer to the society he knew to be false. This return to society seems to mark another distinct stage i n Huxley's development. If Huxley's development followed that of a traditional mystic, he should now enter the fourth stage ~ the "Dark Night of the Soul". It i s at this stage, however, that Huxley's search for Reality begins to vary most from the traditional mystic's progress along the Mystic Way. According to Miss Underhill, the "Dark Night of the Soul" i s stage four or the f i n a l purification stage of the five-fold Mystic Way. Stage four i s mainly characterized by the mystic's sense of being abandoned. Having glimpsed the transcendental Reality i n the period of Illumination, the mystic has now to suffer a period of no illumination. He knows only despair, frustration and f u t i l i t y i n a l l his mystical activity. According to Miss Underhill, the mystic experiences a "...most intense period of that great swing-back into darkness which usually divides the ' f i r s t mystic l i f e ' or Illuminative Way, from the 'second mystic l i f e ' , or Unitive Way, ....a period of utter blankness and stagnation, so far as mystical ac t i v i t y i s concerned. ..38 Miss Underhill deals mainly with the phenomena of mysticism as related to the Roman Catholic Church where the stress i s on union with a personal God. Therefore, she attributes the great despair of the mystic i n this fourth stage to his sense of rejection by his personal God, to his loss of a sense of companionship with" the personal God. With the "intimate-personal" type of mystic, the personal God i s regained i n the f i n a l stage — the Unitive l i f e . For the transcendent-metaphysical type of mystic, the type Huxley most nearly represents, there i s no sense of loss of a personal God. Rather Miss Underhill 38 Underhill, Mysticism, p. 381. 98 attributes the great despair of the "Dark Night of the Soul" i n this type of mystic to his need to negate himself, his w i l l to happiness and a l l his personal satisfaction derived from his earlier mystical experiences. Dean Inge, who deals with mysticism as i t developed through the Anglican Church, does not consider i t inevitable that a developing mystic should pass through the period of the "Dark Night of the Soul". Inge includes this stage as part of Awakening and Purgation and sees only three major stages i n the mystic's journey — Purgation, Illumination and the Unitive Way. Conceivably, Huxley's growth could better be traced through the stages set out by Dean Inge. Certainly, i n Huxley's case, his period of bitterness was not characterized by a sense of loss of a personal God. Huxley, very early i n l i f e , seems to have given up the idea of a personal or anthropo morphic God. At this fourth stage, the significant difference i n Huxley's development from that described by Miss Underhill seems to be not so much a continuation of purification, but a stage of almost t o t a l abandonment of mystical a c t i v i t i e s . Having l e f t Calamy on the mountain top i n Those Barren Leaves (1925), Huxley seems to have denied.his own interest i n mysticism u n t i l i n Eyeless i n Gaza (1936), he 'again, through the chacter- ization of Anthony Beavis, shows his intention of seeking ultimate Reality through a theory of non-violence, the basis.of mysticism. This total abandonment of mystical a c t i v i t i e s Miss Underhill does take into account i n her fourth stage — the "Dark Night of the Soul". She says that the mystic has to suffer a period of no illumination, and knows only despair, frustration and f u t i l i t y i n a l l his mystical a c t i v i t i e s , but the mystic's despair i s over his own personal i n a b i l i t y to achieve lasting union with 99 the Absolute. 39 Huxley's development at the time of writing Point Counter Point (1928), then, deviates markedly from that of the normal mystic. The sense of despair apparent i n the novel i s not Huxley's personal despair over his failure to unite permanently with the Absolute, but rather i t i s despair over his fellow man's i n a b i l i t y to l i v e rationally and wholly i n society. The second major deviation seems to be that Huxley, instead of continuing the process of purification, seems almost to abandon a l l his mystical a c t i v i t i e s and interests. He affirms instead his fa i t h i n the "integral l i v i n g " Idea, the life-worshipper's creed. In spite of the apparent abandonment of mysticism for "integral l i v i n g " i n Point Counter Point, hoxfever, the life-worshipper' s creed does retain something of the self-transcendence of mysticism i n the sense of transcending the ordinary "lop-sided" self. The "integral l i v i n g " idea also emphasizes the importance of s p i r i t and the existence of the various "not-selves" with which we are associated. The examination of the novel which follows, then, i s done with the deliberate intention of pointing up not only the negative elements of despair over society i n the novel, but also the seeds of ideas which later flowered into an open discussion of the elements of mysticism. A.C. Ward claims that Huxley's Point Counter Point makes Bunyan's City of Destruction look l i k e a health resort. ^° John Atkins considers Point Counter Point as Huxley's "descent into Hell" and compares i t to 39 Underhill, Mysticism, p. 38I. kO A.C. Ward, The Nineteen-Twenties, London, Methuen and Company Ltd. , 1930, p. 116. 100 Van Gogh's landscapes,Gericault's paintings, Browning's Ghilde Roland. According to Atkins, D.H. Lawrence claimed that had Huxley continued, concentrating on stupidity and e v i l i n l i f e as he did i n Point Counter Point, he would have had a mental breakdown and ended i n a lunatic asylum. Lawrence believed that Huxley carried "too great a load of cerebration for any one man to bear", and that unless Huxley balanced his l i v i n g , he could like Edgar Allan Poe be driven mad not by drink but by an over-active analytical capacity.^ 2 Certainly Lawrence's comments on Point Counter Point reveal his estimate of the blackness of Huxley's view of ordinary l i f e i n 1927 when he was writing this novel. In a l e t t e r to Huxley, Lawrence wrote: I have read Point Counter Point with a heart sinking through ray boot-soles and a rising admiration. I do think you've shown the truth, perhaps the l a s t truth, about you and your generation, with really fine courage. It seems to me i t would take ten times the courage to write P. Counter P. that i t took to write Lady C.: and i f the public knew what i t was reading, i t would throw a hundred stones at you, to one at me. I do think that art has to reveal the palpitating moment or the.state of man as i t i s . And I do think you do that, t e r r i b l y . But what a moment1 and what a state! i f you can only palpitate to murder, suicide, and rape, i n their various degrees — and you state plainly that i t i s so — caro, however are we going to l i v e through the days? Preparing s t i l l another murder, suicide, and rape? But i t becomes of a phantasmal boredom and produces ultimately in e r t i a , inertia, i n e r t i a and f i n a l atrophy of the feelings.... If I don't find some solid spot to climb out of, in the bog, I'm done. I can't stand murder, suicide, rape — especially rape: and especially being raped.... A l l I want to do to your Lucy i s smack her across the mouth, your Rampion i s the most boring character i n the book — a gas-bag. Your attempt at intellectual sympathy 1 Lawrence, i n pointing out that Huxley, at this stage of his development, k l Atkins, Aldous Huxley, p. 88. k2 Ibid., p. I k 2 . k3 Lawrence, The Letters of D.H. Lawrence, pp. 765-766. 101 could t h r i l l only to murder, suicide and rape, emphasizes the very black ness of Huxley's view i n 1928. Lawrence i n another l e t t e r also pointed out, however, that only half a man wrote Point Counter Point: that "there i s surely much more of a man i n the real Aldous".^ The real Aldous does not seem to emerge u n t i l Huxley reaches a stage, as he apparently does i n 1936, of being able to affirm openly a belief i n mysticism. In the mean time, he sees contemporary society substituting murder, suicide and rape for a state of grace. Kenneth Burke points out that one of man's basic motivations i s that of self-transcendence, the need to rise above his ego, ( i . e . , to rise above a self-regarding state), or to escape from i t . ^ As pointed out i n Chapter II, i n The Devils of Loudun (1952), Huxley emphasizes this basic desire of man to rise above his ego and i n some way to try to improve himself. He sums up, i n an orderly manner, the nature of the five most common "grace- substitutes" used by man i n place of a genuine means of transcending himself. Briefly, they are: drugs, sexuality,' herd-intoxication, religion, and self- torture. Most of the characters i n Point Counter Point are to a greater or lesser degree engaged i n some variation of one of these "grace-substitutes i n a determined effort to escape themselves. A l l of the choices made, led and could lead only to, what Huxley later c a l l s , "downward self-transcendence to debauchery, to f u t i l i t y , to meaninglessness, to "murder, suicide and rape" Lord Tantamount drugs himself with his scientific experiments. He kk Lawrence, The-Letters of D.H. Lawrence, p. 791. k5 Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives, p. 333. 102. represents the survival of Victorian biology — the sci e n t i f i c hope of the Nineteenth Century. Lord Edward, although he i s inspired by the idea that nature or the universe i s one great harmony, limits h i s a c t i v i t i e s to the narrow confines of experimental biology. He allows his pre occupation with his experiments to prevent his developing the other sides of his nature. Because he finds i t d i f f i c u l t to associate freely with other members of society, he uses his experiments as an excuse for with drawal. "What a r e l i e f 1" said Lord Edward, as he opened -the door of his laboratory. Voluptuously, he sniffed the faint smell of the absolute alcohol i n -which the specimens were pickled. "These partiesI One's thankful to get back to science. St i l l . t h e music was really...." k€> Lord Edward i s not i n any sense a despicable figure. In spite of his apparent withdrawal, he i s through Beethoven's music aware of a harmony of l i f e . Illidge, Lord Edward's assistant, although able to see the flaw i n his employer's withdrawal, f a i l e d to recognize a similar flaw i n himself. Embittered and class-conscious, Illidge allowed his jealousy to act lik e a poisonous drug. He i s forced to deride his own i d o l , "pure science", i n order to indulge his hatred of capitalist philosophy and bourgeois religion. "Asymmetrical tadpoles!" he repeated. "Asymmetrical tadpolesi What a refinementi Almost as good as playing Bach on the flute or having a palate for wine." He thought of his brother Tom, who had weak lungs and worked a broaching machine in a motor U6 Huxley, Point Counter Point, p. 7°* 103 factory at Manchester. He remembered washing days and the pink crinkled skin of his mother's water-sodden hands. ^7 ILlidge has turned to communism, but his hatred of established society has so dragged and warped his mind that he cannot be constructive. His belief i n s c i e n t i f i c detachment and impersonal action traps him. He talks admir ingly of p o l i t i c a l murder committed i n a t o t a l l y detached s p i r i t , but when Spandrell provides the opportunity actually to k i l l a p o l i t i c a l opponent, IUidge i s caught. His "downward self-transcendence" i s complete with Webley's murder. Webley's "grace-substitute" i s a desire for power closely associated with "herd-intoxication". Webley manipulates the mob instinct i n the masses to inflate his own ego. Webley, a Fascist, i s at the opposite end of the p o l i t i c a l scale from Illidge. Webley derives great satisfaction from dressing himself i n his green British Freeman's uniform complete with sword and i n making speeches inciting his "fellow outlaws" to violence. Riding his horse into innocent by-standers i s a manifestation of his ego t i s t i c arrogance. As well as being a Fascist leader with a power complex, Webley i s also a man i n love. His uncontrolled passion for Elinor i r o n i c a l l y contributes to his o>jn death. Sexuality, i n many cases coupled with some other "grace-substitute", . i s the most common cause of "downward self-transcendence". Elinor finds her relationship with Quarles too abstract, too intellectual. He loves U7 Huxley, Point Counter Point, p. 72. 10k her but, as she says, " i t was by wireless...and across an Atlantic that feels because of Philip's i n a b i l i t y to give her a warm burning love, forces herself to take a lover against her own better judgment. Lucy Tantamount, however, i s the real Twentieth Century libertine, of love. Lucy experiments with love as her father experiments with tadpoles. She succeeds only i n becoming so sophisticated that she i s incapable of love on a normal human basis. She drives both herself and Walter Bidlake to a level of sub-humanity i n their sexual relationships tahen only a rape situation provides her with a sense of escape or release from the boredom of her own ego. The opposite of Lucy i s Beatrice who i s incapable of any mature sexual feelings. She had never recovered from the psycho logical affect of her uncle's sexual advances made to her when she was a l i t t l e g i r l . Burlap, however, himself sexually perverted to the state of an incestuous child, plays on her maternal instincts and by introducing a. strain of pseudo-spirituality into their relationship manages not only to get her into bed with him but to indulge his own sexual infantilism as well. That night he and Beatrice pretended to be two l i t t l e children and had their bath together. Two l i t t l e children s i t t i n g at opposite ends of the big old-fashioned bath. And what a romp they hadl The bathroom was drenched with their splashings. Of such i s the Burlap's "grace-substitute" i s more than just sexuality; he couples i t with a perverted s p i r i t u a l i t y . A shrewd businessman, he salves his k8 Huxley, Point Counter Point, p. 90. U9 Ibid., p. £Lk. he communicated with her." 1$ Elinor, to counteract the emptiness she 105 conscience for money made on the stock market or through slick deals, by writing a biography of St. Francis. Although morally guilty of the death of Miss Corbett, he sloughs off her suicide with a hypocritical "but that was something he could not foresee". Marjorie Carling i s dominated by sentimentality, sex and religion. She j u s t i f i e s her running off with Walter Bidlake on the grounds that Carling i s a drunkard. When Walter leaves her i n an advanced state of pregnancy for the more tantalizing siren, Lucy, Marjorie i s forced to seek consolation i n religion; she turns her situation into a quiet Christian martyrdom. Carling, whose Roman Catholic vows have been outraged by the broken marriage, seeks escape on his part by, as Spandrell puts i t , "staggering from the bar to the alt a r r a i l s . And from the confessional to the bawdy house". ^ Like Marjorie, Mrs. Quarles Sr., accepts Old Quarles 1 philandering with a somewhat sickening excess of Christian charity. Old John Bidlake's illn e s s forces him i n his later l i f e , to be a l i t t l e more discreet than Quarles Senior. Bidlake, confined to his back garden, allows his lecherous desires vicarious satisfaction i n seeing the landscape as " . . . . a l l curves and bulges and round recessions, like a body...cherubic backsides...glaucous belly...enormous navel...multitudinous breasts of a green Diana...anatomy i n leaves and vapour and swelling earth." £l Bidlake's l u s t f u l outlet i s less expensive than Quarles', who has the tiresome business of paying off 50 Huxley, Point Counter Point, p. 265. 51 Ibid., p. U9U-106 the irate secretary whom he was so careless as to make pregnant. Sexuality and s p i r i t u a l i t y are the most common surrogates of grace, and provide a means for only "downward self-transcendence". Self- torture i s a more subtle substitute for true self-transcendence. Spandrell, modelled on Baudelaire, never allows himself to outgrow the shock he received as an adolescent when his mother remarried. Spandrell i s the victim of a romantic i l l u s i o n about both l i f e and lore, and rather than give up the illusion,.he sinks downward u n t i l he i s f i n a l l y capable of p i t i l e s s murder. Spandrell's d r i f t to aggressively e v i l conduct i r o n i c a l l y results from a frustrated desire to do something good. Balked of pursuing good through good, he pursues i t through e v i l . Like Coleman, Spandrell goes about "howling the black mass". He postulates God, original sin, denial of flesh, instincts, love and honour, i n order to damn himself. His monstrous murder of Mebley i s a desperate attempt to discover God by offending Him. The murder of Webley comes off as some thing of an atrocious, sadistic joke. Spandrell i s the ultimate example of "downward self-transcendence". Paradoxically, the very blackness of his act allows him to become strangely aware of the existence of God. Spandrell i s a clear i l l u s t r a t i o n of the type of being >Aio "makes use of the descending road as a way to spiritual self-transcendence". Huxley makes clear i n The Devils of Loudun that, ...when the shell of the ego has been cracked and there begins to be a consciousness of the subliminal and physiological othernesses underlying' personality, i t sometimes happens that we catch a glimpse, fleeting but apocalyptic, of that other Otherness, which i s the Ground of a l l being. So long as we are confined within our insulated selfhood, we remain unaware of the various not-selves with 107 which we are associated — the organic not-self, the subconscious not-self, the collective not-self of the psychic medium i n which a l l our thinking and feeling have their existence, and the immanent and transcendent not-self of the S p i r i t . Any escape, even by a descending road, out of insulated selfhood makes possible at least a momentary awareness of the not-self on every level, including the highest. 52 The passage seems to be a mature statement of what Huxley was groping his way towards with the creation of the two characters, Spandrell and Rampion. Spandrell has a sense of an absolute God early i n the novel, but with the murder of Webley he returns to play the Beethoven Quartet i n A-Kinor, and seems clearly to have caught "a glimpse, fleeting but apocalyptic, of that other Otherness, which i s the Ground of a l l being". Spandrell apparently had become aware of "the various 'not-selves' with which we are associated". His awareness came too late, however, for him to engage i n any active self- transformation which could lead to "upward self-transcencence". He seems to be l e f t no choice but to commit suicide. Huxley's psychological development at the time of writing Point Counter Point seems to correspond to that of both Spandrell and Rarapion. As Lawrence pointed out, Huxley, at least as a writer, i n this period of his l i f e , could only "palpitate to murder, suicide and rape". Like Spandrell, however, Huxley does seem to become gradually aware of "that other Other ness, which i s the Ground of a l l our being". Unlike Spandrell, Huxley goes on l i v i n g and, ir o n i c a l l y , the book which most depicts Huxley's despair for society also expresses his hope for i t through the "integral l i v i n g " theme. And, contained i n the theme are seeds of ideas which flower into an open 52 Huxley, The Devils of Loudun, pp. 323-32L. 108 conviction that mysticism i s a satisfactory way of life# From Huxley's representation of the character of Spandrell, i t may be inferred that Huxley had some sense, intu i t i v e l y and emotionally, of the "Otherness", the "ground of a l l being". But Huxley at this stage of his development was essentially the controlled man of i n t e l l e c t . If he resembles one of his characters i n Point Counter Point more than another that one i s doubtless Quarles — the detached observer i n l i f e . This very detachment i s one of the qualities which distinguishes Huxley from the true mystics i n the fourth stage — the "Dark Night of the Soul". Miss Underhill describes such mystics as already very far advanced i n mysticism and as individuals who have attained this stage only by great and strenuous seeking after God. Huxley's intellectual detachment seems to indicate a distinct difference-between Huxley's experiences and those of the mystics described by Miss Underhill. Huxley's emotional control seems to set him apart from the normal mystic. Yet Huxley's detachment i s not impregnable. Emotionally Huxley may lack the conviction necessary to make any very definite statement of the concept of "Otherness", but he does through the character of Ramplon, become involved with the concept of a wholeness i n l i v i n g which ultimately leads to a firm belief i n mysticism. RaMpion i s the most complete example of a character who i s not engaged i n "downward self-transcendence", who i s not guilty of employing "grace- substitutes" as a means of escaping the tormenting consciousness of being merely himself. Rampion i s consciously trying to be "himself" i n the .fullest sense. He seems to have pierced through his own "insulated self hood" and to know that to pursue one phase of l i f e to the exclusion of others i s to pervert oneself "away from the central norm". He knew that 109 Burlap was a "pure l i t t l e Jesus pervert"; Quarles an "intellectual- aesthetic pervert"; Spandrell a "morality-philosophy pervert". 53 When a person i s perverted or lop-sided or, as Rampion says, a barbarian of the soul, or of the i n t e l l e c t , or of the flesh, he actually insulates the selfhood to such a degree that the ego never experiences any "conscious ness of the subliminal and physiological othernesses underlying personality". Without this:sense of the "othernesses" there can be no real harmony i n l i f e . Rampion's philosophy i s one of "wholeness", attained through "balance". He names Blake as the last c i v i l i z e d man and goes on to say that, C i v i l i z a t i o n i s harmony and completeness. Reason, feeling, instinct, the l i f e of the body — Blake managed to include and harmonize every thing. Barbarism i s being lop-sided. You can be a barbarian of the intellect as well as of the body. A barbarian of the soul and the feelings as well as of sensuality. Christianity made us barbarians of the soul and now science i s making us barbarians of the intellect.5k In seeing the need to harmonize "reason, feeling, instinct, the l i f e of the body", Rampion seems to be groping towards the idea of the ...not-selves with which we are associated — the organic not-self, the subconscious not-self, the collective not-self of the psychic medium i n which a l l our thinking and feeling have their existence, and the immanent and transcendent not-self of the S p i r i t . Rampion gropes towards the idea of the "not-selves" but f a l l s short of the mark because he thinks that the harmony comes from without; he does not move to a complete acceptance of the fact that the "balance" comes from "the psychic medium i n which a l l our thinking and feeling have their existence"; he doesn't really go beyond the organic not-self and the subconscious not-self. Rampion seems to be the victim of the age-old 53 Huxley, Point Counter Point, p. k8l. 5h Ibid., p. 123. 110 concept that man consists of opposites. In his terms, the "sub-conscious not-self" becomes the 'mind and consciousness and s p i r i t " . Opposing the "sub-conscious not-self" i s the "organic not-self" or, i n Rampion's terms, " a l l that's unconscious and earthy and mysterious". Man's function as Rampion sees i t i s to balance himself bet-ween these two apparent opposites. As he says, A man's a creature on a tight rope, walking delicately, equilibrated, with mind and consciousness and s p i r i t at one end of his balancing pole and body and instinct and a l l that's unconscious and earthy and mysterious at the other. Balanced. Which i s damnably d i f f i c u l t . And the only absolute he can ever really know i s the absolute of perfect balance. The absoluteness of perfect r e l a t i v i t y . Which i s a paradox and nonsense intellectually. 55 The absoluteness that Rampion i s talking about i s not such a paradox or intellectual nonsense as he thinks. Had he gone one step beyond recognizing the "not-selves" to recognizing the "psychic medium i n which a l l our thinking and feeling have their existence" he would have resolved the paradox. But Rampion could not go beyond his creator's stage of development. Huxley himself at this stage of his career could only intellectually accept the need for a "wholeness" i n l i f e . Naturally he could not i n 1928 write the novel from a viewpoint that i t took u n t i l 1952, with the writing of The Devils of Loudun, to c l a r i f y . In "After the Fireworks", written two years after Point Counter Point, however, Huxley seems to have resolved the problem that plagued Rampion, the problem of opposites i n l i f e . Huxley comes gradually to recognize that l i f e contains no opposites, an idea that Rampion had groped towards when he spoke of the "sane, harmonious, Greek man" x-jhom he admired because 5 5 Huxley, Point Counter Point, ;,p. 1*78. I l l he thought the Greek knew how to strike the balance, or reconcile the i n t r i n s i c a l l y hostile forces.^ 6 The character of Miles Fanning seems to represent an advance in Huxley's thinking because Fanning no longer recognizes the existence of "hostile forces". There i s only the one supreme force. Miles Fanning, i n "After the Fireworks", recognizes that Homer's characters are whole. They have the completeness that Rampion so desired. Homer, Fanning points out, lived before the "great s p l i t " which broke l i f e "...into s p i r i t and matter, heroics and diabolics, virtue and sin and a l l the other accursed antitheses". Fanning believed that "Plato was the arch-seducer. It was he who f i r s t sent us whoring after s p i r i t u a l i t y and heroics, whoring after the complementary demons of disgust and sin". Fanning learns from the Etruscan sculpture un earthed i n 1916 "like a new apocalypse from the Sixteenth Century B.C." What Fanning learns he cannot yet integrate, "you can't write a thing before i t i s ripe"j but Fanning who has t r i e d opium to obtain a private world, to discover what may be the real "self", who has believed i n Apollo, Bacchus, Buddha, Venus, the Devil, and the Categorical Imperative, begins to recognize the sanity expressed i n the "archaic Greek sculpture". Fanning finds himself admiring the God who, as he says, ..doesn't admit the separate existence of either heroics or diabolics but somehow includes them i n his own nature and turns them Into sane thing else — like two gases combining to make a l i q u i d . . . . i t ' s equally obvious that he knows a l l about both, that he includes them, that he combines them into a third essence. 58 Fanning's admiration for the Etruscan God's a b i l i t y to combine the opposites into a "third essence" seems to suggest his own desire for a similar a b i l i t y . 56 Huxley, Point Counter Point, p. I k l . 57 Aldous Huxley, Brief Candles, London, Chatto and Windus, 19k8, pp. 2k0 f f . 58 Ibid., pp. 2k0-2kl. 1 1 2 I f Huxley can be identified with his character Miles Fanning, then, Huxley too seems to be desirous of fusing the diversities of l i f e into a total whole. He seems to have recognized the fact that the integration of s p i r i t and matter i n one individual whole can only be achieved by negating the concept that l i f e consists of opposites, by negating the concept of a sp l i t between s p i r i t and matter* With the creation of the character Fanning, Huxley was s t i l l not ready to create the character -who would consciously attempt to combine the opposites of l i f e into the "third essence", but he was not far from creating a character, Anthony Beavis, who, through his study of mysticism, does attempt such a combination. The novel, Eyeless i n Gaza ( 1 9 3 6 ) , makes apparent Huxley's belief i n mysticism as a religion that could lead to man's f i n a l awareness of an ultimate Reality. The n3v@l seems to mark a further stage i n Huxley's development. If one were to maintain that Huxley's search for some ultimate meaning i n l i f e ran pa r a l l e l to Miss Underbill's description of the mystic's progress along the Mystic-Way, Eyeless i n Gaza should mark Huxley's entry into the f i f t h and f i n a l stage of the mystic journey. However, as i n the comparison of the previous stages along the Mystic-Way, Huxley's progress has deviated widely from the orthodox pattern set out by Miss Underhill, so i n the f i f t h and f i n a l stage Huxley's deviation becomes even more pronounced. In the "Dark Might of the Soul" period, Huxley's development differed i n that he did not suffer the loss of a personal God, and that while Point Counter Point gives evidence of a considerable quality of despair, i t i s not that intense personal experience that Miss Underhill describes, but Huxley's despair seems to be that of a humanist for the fate of the world rather than that of a mystic for his own fate. On the whole the period from 1 9 2 5 to 1 9 3 6 , except i n terms of ?parification and sub-conscious groping, 113 seems to be a period of abandonment of mystical a c t i v i t y on Huxley's partj rather he affirms the life-worshipper's creed. Such an affirm ation, while doubtless part of Huxley's continued search for Reality, does not seemr to be part of the traditional experience of the "Dark Wight of the Soul". Similarly Huxley's experiences i n the f i f t h stage — the "Unitive Lif e " do not approximate Miss Underbill's description sufficiently to warrant the claim that Huxley, at least as yet, has personally attained the f i n a l union with Reality. If the t i t l e mystic can be claimed for Huxley i t i s only i n the sense of the individual who "aims at and believes i n such attainment". Huxley's publications from 1936 on give ample evidence of his belief i n mysticism, but nowhere does Huxley indulge i n an emotional outpouring which could be seen as the equivalent of the mystic's expression of an experienced union. The t o t a l lack of enthus i a s t i c outbursts of ecstasy and exaltation i n Huxley's accounts of mysticism seems to indicate that he has not experienced anything more than just the moment of Illumination. At the same time, Huxley's continued search for an experience that might approximate the "Unitive Life" achieved by the true mystic and his increased affirmation of mysticism as a philosophy which can give some lasting meaning to l i f e , indicates that Huxley does move beyond Miss Underbill's t h i r d stage — Illumination. Huxley's development seems best described as a prolonged growth of a deeply-rooted intellectual, spiritual and emotional belief that an ultimate Reality does exist. His gradually reached conviction of the existence of such an ultimate Reality stems from an intense intellectual awareness that l i f e as lived i n the Twentieth Century i s meaningless. ILL As Chapter II attempted to show, Huxley tends to accept elements of Oriental mysticism because of his beliefs i n pacifism and an impersonal God. So inhhis growth as a mystic Huxley seems to represent the Vedanta belief that there i s never any f i n a l stage of "Being" for man, but rather a state of "Becoming". Huxley's search to f i n d meaning i n l i f e does not seem to have stopped with any weak f i n a l i t y . Each publication from 1936 on seems to indicate some increased understanding of mysticism i n general and a more>heightened awareness of the "divine Ground of a l l our Being" by Huxley. Huxley makes Philip Quarles a spedtator i n l i f e . By the time he creates the character of Anthony Beavis i n Eyeless i n Gaza, Huxley seems to have recognized that i t i s not enough to remain uncommitted to l i f e , free, t o t a l l y detached. In Anthony Beavis, he creates a character who i n his early years also cultivates the role of detached observer. Anthony comes to realize, however, that his imagined lib e r t y has been bondage, hi s philosophical detachment mere escape and his moral indifference self- deception. Anthony embraces unity i n diversity and determines to re educate himself i n the "right use of self". At the end of the novel, he i s motivated by a combination of heart and i n t e l l e c t ; he i s prepared to risk his l i f e i n the Pacifist cause of active non-violence. Anthony's conviction i s intellectual; and, intellectually, he knows Ithat he has also to involve his heart amd his emotions. Huxley had stated i n Jesting Pilate that "...there i s a l l the difference between believing academically, with the i n t e l l e c t , and believing personally, intimately, and with the whole livi n g s e l f " . ^ Huxley represents Anthony as struggling desperately 59 Huxley, Jesting Pilate, p. 289. to believe with the "whole l i v i n g self", but knowing t i a t *ewen for the best of us, the consummation i s s t i l l immeasurably remote". 60 Eyeless i n Gaza, while i t cannot, i n the s t r i c t sense of Miss Underbill's c r i t e r i a , be said to represent Huxley's entry into the "Unitive Life", does mark an advance on any previous expression of Huxley's belief i n mysticism. Certainly the novel refutes the claim of the c r i t i c s that i t marks the beginning of Huxley's belief i n mysticism, that Huxley must have undergone some sadden conversion during the t h i r t i e s i n order to write Eyeless i n Gaza. Seeing the novel against the background of the early f i c t i o n , i t becomes apparent that Eyeless i n Gaza i s the culmination of a foregoing intensive search for meaning i n l i f e j and that the author, like his character Anthony, i s prepared to re-educate himself i n the "right use of self" i n the hope of sometime attaining an ultimate consummation with the Absolute. Anthony's situation at the end of the novel may not be significantly different from Calamy's i n Those Barren Leaves (1925), but the more open expression of a belief i n mysticism i n Eyeless in Gaza seems to be some just i f i c a t i o n for the contention that Huxley i s moving now i n the f u l l light of an intellectual conviction even i f the emotional conviction, the experience of union i t s e l f i s s t i l l lacking. The novel, After Many a Summer (1939), written three years later, seems to contain some evidence that Huxley, again lik e his character Anthony Beavis, s t i l l found "the consummation" of the mystic state "immeasurably remote" and perhaps even doubted that he x^ rould ever know the mystid state i n i t s f u l l e s t sense. If an identification of Huxley with both Propter and Pete can be made, then, Propter makes i t appear that Huxley believes i n mysticism 60 Aldous Huxley, Eyeless i n Gaza, London, Penguin Books, 1955, P» 38l. 116 as a way of l i f e "academically, with the i n t e l l e c t " . But Pete Boone's character suggests that his creator too i s having d i f f i c u l t y i n "believing personally, intimately, with the whole liv i n g self". Huxley presents Propter as a practising mystic. Propter's discourse f i l l s some eighty pages of the novel and through a l l this talk with Pete, or through Pete's thoughts as he reflects on what Propter has said, Huxley expounds a f a i r l y clear interpretation of mysticism. In brief, Propter 1s thesis, as George Catlin sums i t up i n a review of the novel, postulates that: There i s a structure of the nature of things, spiritual as also physical, superbly independent of our lusts and wishes, as un concerned as Spinoza's God about how we feel about I t . But i n the comprehension of It l i e s a l l our peace...the secret of that serene disinterestendess — that sole pure well — una sola sanata — from which flows not murders, dictators and wrath, but equity and social justice.6l Propter*s thesis seems particularly sane and reasonable, and his l i f e i s witness to the value of his beliefs. He lives unpretentiously and quietly. While he acts as something of a conscience for Stoyte and attempts to alleviate some of the suffering of the Kansas transients whom Stoyte exploits mercilessly, Propter's main purpose i n the novel i s to contera- plate the divine Ground of a l l being. He i s aware that on the " s t r i c t l y human basis of time, and craving, nothing can be achieved or expected but e v i l " . Time i s essentially e v i l and the only true good i s the quest for eternity. Nothing can be accomplished on the level of time and craving because of the spiritual element i n the nature of things, the element that i n fact makes s p i r i t and matter one, which i s superbly i n dependent of a l l our lusts and wishes or how we feel about " I t " . 61 George Catlin. "Time and Aldous Huxley", The Saturday Review, vol. 21 (January 27, 19kO),.p.5. 117 I n our comprehension of the s p i r i t u a l element, however, l i e s our o n l y hope f o r peace. Consummation w i t h the d i v i n e Ground w i l l provide a w e l l - s p r i n g o r source of strength from which f l o w s good, not e v i l . Man's f i r s t duty then i s t o transcend time and c r a v i n g or e v i l , and seek good, e t e r n i t y , the d i v i n e Ground. From Huxley's sympathetic p o r t r a y a l of the c h a r a c t e r of Propter, i t would appear t h a t Huxley h i m s e l f accepts, at l e a s t a cademically, the p r i n c i p l e s of mysticism which Propter expounds, but Huxley's doubts t h a t i t can ever work i n modern s o c i e t y o r t h a t he h i m s e l f can ever b e l i e v e i n i t $ ' " i n t i m a t e l y and p e r s o n a l l y w i t h h i s whole l i v i n g s e l f " are apparent from h i s h a n d l i n g of the c h a r a c t e r , Pete Boone. Pete reminds us of Denis and Gumbril and Guy and Spode. and Anthony Beavis and a l l the other t r o u b l e d young i d e a l i s t s of Huxley's f i c t i o n . Pete i s i n search of the u l t i m a t e Truth. He has already taken p o s i t i v e a c t i o n . Pete served i n the demo c r a t i c cause i n Spain, but Propter t e l l s him t h a t v i o l e n c e i s a p a r t o f human a c t i v i t y t h a t e x i s t s o n l y on_.the swarm l e v e l . The i n d i v i d u a l i s not condemned t o t h i s swarm l e v e l , and i f he i s t o f r e e h i m s e l f from i t and f i n d h i s " s o u l " , he must v o l u n t a r i l y renounce the f r e n z y of human a c t i v i t i e s . "God i s completely present o n l y i n the complete absence of what we c a l l our humanity. No i r o n n e c e s s i t y condemns the i n d i v i d u a l t o the f u t i l e torment of being merely human". Pete i s convinced, but as he r e t u r n s t o the c a s t l e i n an almost m y s t i c a l t r a n c e , he sees V i r g i n i a and immediately f a l l s v i c t i m to a l l h i s o l d p h y s i c a l d e s i r e s and passions. Pete had gone t o the;top of the c a s t l e i n the hope of gaining a t l e a s t a moment of I l l u m i n a t i o n . A l l too human, Pete completely f o r g e t s Propter's teachings under the pressure of V i r g i n i a ' s nakedness. S t o y t e ! s m i s t a k i n g 118 Pete f o r Obispo and shooting him suggests one of the g r e a t e s t i r o n i e s i n the book. Apart from the dramatic n e c e s s i t i e s of the n o v e l , two con c l u s i o n s seem r e l e v a n t . F i r s t , Huxley appears aware t h a t the chances of an o r d i n a r y i n d i v i d u a l ' s becoming a mystic i n the f u l l e s t sense are p r a c t i c a l l y n i l , and i n h i s own case, i f one should i d e n t i f y Pete w i t h Huxley, he too has l i t t l e hope of e x p e r i e n c i n g the f i n a l mystic s t a t e , e m o t i o n a l l y , i n t i m a t e l y , and p e r s o n a l l y . He seems condemned t o b e l i e v e o n l y i n t e l l e c t u a l l y . Second, however, Huxley may be making a comment on s o c i e t y i n g e n e r a l . Pete i s as much a v i c t i m o f circumstances as he i s of h i s own p a s s i o n s . Huxley does present Pete as a sincere i n d i v i d u a l anxious t o transcend the p r i s o n o f h i s own ego. Pete's death would seem to i n d i c a t e t h a t the w o r l d i n general i s s t i l l not ready t o r e c e i v e i t s s a i n t s . The Petes cannot l i v e i n a m a t e r i a l i s t i c s o c i e t y even i f prepared t o accept the mystic way. Huxley's o l d h a b i t of s c e p t i c i s m seems t o prevent him from being able to accept mysticism i n more than an academic f a s h i o n . Not u n t i l Time Must Have A Stop (1°UU), i s there any h i n t t h a t he may have experienced, e m o t i o n a l l y as w e l l as i n t e l l e c t u a l l y , anything more than the mystic s t a t e o r trance c h a r a c t e r i s t i d of stages one and three of the mystic way, t h a t he i s beyond j u s t " b e l i e v i n g a cademically, w i t h the i n t e l l e c t " , and i s f i n a l l y " b e l i e v i n g p e r s o n a l l y , i n t i m a t e l y , w i t h the whole l i v i n g s e l f " . Time Must Have A Stop c o u l d be considered Huxley's attempt to conimunl- cate the experiencd of the mystic s t a t e . We are reminded of W i l l i a m James' "marks" by which the mystic s t a t e can be known. The f i r s t , p a r a d o x i c a l l y , i s i t s e s s e n t i a l " i n e f f a b i l i t y " ~ "no adequate r e p o r t of (the mystic s t a t e ) can be g i v e n i n words". E s s e n t i a l l y i t i s an incommunicable experience. 119 Yet f o r a l l o f t h i s , mystics and a r t i s t s as w e l l , a l l through the ages, have attempted to.communicate the experience i n words. Huxley i s no exception. Chapters X I I I , XV and XXV of Time Must Have A Stop, w i t h t h e i r accounts of Eustace's experiences a f t e r death, compare adequately w i t h the numerous excerpts from true m y s t i c s ' accounts of the mystic s t a t e t h a t James i n c l u d e s i n h i s l e c t u r e s on mysticism. One of the few t e s t s of the rajs t i c ' s experience, James p o i n t s out, i s the extent t o which an account of such experience compares t o accounts given by other reputable m y s t i c s . C e r t a i n expressions such as "a mighty f a s c i n a t i o n " , " i n d e s c r i b able awe", "oneness w i t h t h i s I n f i n i t e Power and the S p i r i t of I n f i n i t e Peace", " l i m i t l e s s as the blue firmament", "super-lucent, super-splendent", "grasped and h e l d by a s u p e r i o r power", 62 c o n s t a n t l y r e c u r and seem p a r t of the mystic's language. Huxley's account of Eustace's stages of t r a n s i t i o n from one plane of e x i s t e n c e t o another has a l l the b r i g h t n e s s and l i g h t and radiance a t t r i buted t o e t e r n i t y ; the account c o n t a i n s language s i m i l a r t o t h a t used by other mystics to describe the mystic s t a t e . Huxley's d e s c r i p t i o n of the h u m i l i t y of the Absolute I n o f f e r i n g "Grace" t o Eustace gives a reasonable impression of an a c t u a l e x a l t e d experience: ...here was the l i g h t a g ain, here was t h a t c r y s t a l of luminous s i l e n c e — s t i l l and s h i n i n g . . . . Not a t a l l f o rmidable... but s o f t l y , t e n d e r l y b l u e . . . . A blue c a r e s s i n g s i l e n c e , u b i q u i t o u s l y present... but present x-jithout urgency; b e a u t i f u l , not with t h a t a u s t e r e , unbearable i n t e n s i t y , but i m p l o r i n g l y , as though i t xrere humbly begging t o be taken n o t i c e of. 6 3 The d e s c r i p t i o n of Eustace's experience i s o l a t e d from the novel as 6 2 James, The V a r i e t i e s of R e l i g i o u s Experience, pp. 2 9 U - 3 2 3 . 63 Aldous Huxley } Time Must Have A Stop, New York and London, Harper Brothers P u b l i s h e r s , ±ykk, p. 'dj>L* • 120 a whole i s a not inadequate statement o f the mystic's union w i t h the Absolute. A number of c o n s i d e r a t i o n s , however, deny the p r o b a b i l i t y t h a t the author had p e r s o n a l l y experienced any s i m i l a r union. In the f i r s t p l a c e a r t i s t s as w e l l as mystics have t r i e d t o communicate t he incommunicable s t a t e , and the c r e a t i v e a r t i s t i n Huxley may be re s p o n s i b l e f o r much, or even most, o f the account of Eustace's experience. F u r t h e r , Eustace appears both t o be a mystic and not t o be a mystic — t o have the m y s t i c a l experience and t o be incapable of i t . Eustace i s o f f e r e d "Grace", but he re f u s e s t o accept i t . H i s r e f u s a l would seem t o i n d i c a t e t h a t man must prepare i n t h i s l i f e i n order t o merge w i t h the Div i n e a f t e r death; Eustace, having made no p r e p a r a t i o n , has to be born back i n t o humanity. The f u t i l i t y of h i s s i t u a t i o n becomes apparent; as e t e r n i t y cannot be denied, Eustace must continue through a s e r i e s o f p h y s i c a l e x i s t e n c e s u n t i l such time as he has made proper p r e p a r a t i o n f o r the acceptance of the g l o r y of. death. The O r i e n t a l i d e a s of r e - i n c a r n a t i o n seem t o i n f l u e n c e Huxley's p o r t r a y a l of Eustace's death. Time Must Have A Stop, while i t may not mark Huxley's union w i t h R e a l i t y , at l e a s t marks the end of Huxley's s c e p t i c i s m . Bruno, who i s the teacher, the p r a c t i c i n g m y s t i c , i s p e r f e c t l y b e l i e v a b l e and seems genuinely t o have the necessary q u a l i t i e s of h u m i l i t y , love and compassion. Bruno does not compromise h i s f a i t h i n any way; he l i v e s i t w h o l l y . Bruno s a c r i f i c e s h i s own l i f e i n order t h a t Sebastian might know from example as w e l l as precept t h a t the way of the mystic i s . s i n c e r e and honest. Bruno does not teach by precept alone. The love and compassion, the consummation Anthony Beavis so a r d e n t l y d e s i r e d , Sebastian comes t o know, but Sebastian's 1 2 1 conversion i s not spontaneous nor easy. Even with Bruno's example o f e x a l t e d s a i n t l i n e s s , Sebastian f i n d s t h a t the way t o s a l v a t i o n i s an arduous one. He must escape from the c i r c l e of time, from the ephemeral, a p p e t i t i v e l i f e which i s the plane of a l l e v i l . Huxley knows, as he shows through the c h a r a c t e r o f Sebastian, t h a t those who are not r a i s e d i n a r e l i g i o u s f a i t h have even greater d i f f i c u l t y i n f i n d i n g s a l v a t i o n than those c o n g e n i t a l l y r e l i g i o u s . For those of us who are not c o n g e n i t a l l y the members of an organized church, who have found t h a t humanism and blue-domeism are not enough, who are n o t content t o remain i n the darkness of s p i r i t u a l ignorance, the squalor of v i c e or t h a t other squalor of mere r e s p e c t a b i l i t y , the minimum working-hypothesis would seem to be about as f o l l o w s : That there i s a Godhead or Ground, which i s the unmanifested p r i n c i p l e of a l l m a n i f e s t a t i o n . That the Ground i s transcendent and immanent. That i t i s p o s s i b l e f o r human beings t o l o v e , know and from v i r t u a l l y , t o become a c t u a l l y i d e n t i f i e d w i t h the Ground. That t o achieve t h i s u n i t i v e knowledge, to r e a l i z e t h i s supreme i d e n t i t y , i s the f i n a l and and purpose of human e x i s t e n c e . Jhat there i s a law o r Dharma, which must be obeyed, a Tao or Way, vdiich must be f o l l o w e d , i f men are t o achieve t h e i r f i n a l end. That the more there i s of I , me, mine, the l e s s there i s of the Groundj and t h a t consequently the Tao i s a Way of h u m i l i t y and compassion, the Dharma a Law of m o r t i f i c a t i o n and s e l f - t r a n s c e n d i n g a w a r e n e s s . . ^ . Sebastian puts the hypothesis to thex.test. H i s doubts and stumblings along the mystic-way he records i n h i s notebook. But "the t r e e s h a l l be known by i t s f r u i t s " : at the end of the novel we see Sebastian t r e a t i n g h i s o l d f a t h e r , John Barnack, w i t h a love and compassion, a depth of s i n c e r i t y i n human r e l a t i o n s h i t h e r t o unexpressed i n a Huxley n o v e l . Huxley may not y e t have achieved the " U n i t i v e L i f e " , but h i s b e l i e f i n 6ii Huxley, Time Must Have A Stop, p. 29li 122 the p o s s i b i l i t y of such achievement seems apparent. I n Ape and Essence and The Genius and the Goddess, which w i l l be d i s c u s s e d more f u l l y i n the next chapter, we see t h a t Huxley has evolved a whole new conception of l o v e . Hi s b e l i e f i n mysticism has e n r i c h e d h i s l i f e i n every phase. Through h i s b e l i e f i n the u n i t i v e knowledge of the d i v i n e Ground, Huxley has "harmonized a l l the d i v e r s i t i e s " ; he has found t h a t the l i f e can have meaning. The balance o r wholeness t h a t Huxley sought w i t h the c r e a t i o n of Rampion he seems f i n a l l y to have achieved. Huxley i s t o t a l l y aware of the v a r i o u s n o t - s e l v e s w i t h which we are a s s o c i a t e d — "...the organic n o t - s e l f , the subconscious n o t - s e l f , the c o l l e c t i v e n o t - s e l f of the p s y c h i c medium i n which a l l our t h i n k i n g and f e e l i n g have t h e i r e x i s t e n c e , and the immanent and transcendent n o t - s e l f of the S p i r i t " . Huxley can, i n the l i g h t of such awareness, harmonize the reason, f e e l i n g , i n s t i n c t and l i f e of the body as Rampion wished to do. Huxley can now l i v e c o n t e m p l a t i v e l y without danger of being l o p - s i d e d or a b a r b a r i a n of the s o u l . A f t e r a l l , as Anthony Beavis phrased i t , "To l i v e c o n t e m p l a t i v e l y i s not to l i v e i n some d e l i c i o u s - l y voluptuous or f l a t t e r i n g Poona; i t i s t o l i v e i n London, but to l i v e there i n a non-cockney s t y l e . " Huxley w i t h Time Must Have A Stop (19U1|), has reached no " f i n a l g o a l " ; h i s search f o r u l t i m a t e R e a l i t y i s not over. However, i n c o n t i n u i n g the search Huxley does so i n the f i r m e s t c o n v i c t i o n t h a t a consummation w i t h the d i v i n e Ground of a l l our Being can be experienced. Huxley's journey along the Mystic-Way o n l y approximates the stages des c r i b e d by Miss U n d e r h i l l . The evidence of h i s b e l i e f i n mysticism contained i n h i s f i c t i o n does not seem strong enough t o c l a i m t h a t Huxley ever emotionally 6$ Huxley, Eyeless i n Gaza, p. 312. 123 experienced the f u l l e s t union w i t h R e a l i t y , o r I n a c t u a l f a c t ever got beyond stage three — I l l u m i n a t i o n . Huxley admits i n The Doors of Pe r c e p t i o n (1956), t h a t he had never known contemplation a t I t s h e i g h t u n t i l he took mescalin. For u n t i l t h i s morning I had known contemplation o n l y i n i t s humbler, i t s more o r d i n a r y forms — as d i s c u r s i v e t h i n k i n g ; as a r a p t absorp t i o n i n po e t r y o r p a i n t i n g o r music; as a p a t i e n t w a i t i n g upon those i n s p i r a t i o n s without which even the p r o s i e s t w r i t e r cannot hope to accomplish anything; as o c c a s i o n a l glimpses, i n nature, of Wordsworth's 'something f a r more deeply i n t e r f u s e d ' ; as systematic s i l e n c e l e a d i n g , sometimes:^, t o h i n t s of an-'obscure knowledge'." But now I knew'contemplation a t i t s h e i g h t . At i t s h e i g h t , but.not y et i n i t s f u l l n e s s . 65 Even the mescalin experience Huxley q u a l i f i e s . The q u a l i f i c a t i o n seems to p o i n t up Huxley's major c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s -- a tendency t o understatement, and to a n a t u r a l shyness o r r e t i c e n c e when d i s c u s s i n g h i s own emotional experiences. These c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s d i s t i n g u i s h Huxley from the mystics Miss U n d e r h i l l d e s c r i b e s who are more given t o extravagant outpourings of emotional e c s t a c i e s . Because of a t o t a l l a c k of any personal statement from Huxley t h a t he has experienced the " U n i t i v e L i f e " , he can o n l y be c l a s s i f i e d as t h a t type of mystic who aims at and b e l i e v e s i n the a t t a i n ment of union w i t h R e a l i t y . Even i n h i s b e l i e f i n mysticism Huxley seems f u r t h e r t o deviate from the type of mystic described by Miss U n d e r h i l l because h i s b e l i e f i s so o b v i o u s l y an i n t e l l e c t u a l one. As a r e s u l t of h i s i n t e l l e c t u a l b e l i e f , however, Huxley seems to f u l f i l one of Miss U n d e r b i l l ' s requirements f o r the mystic who has achieved the u n i t i v e l i f e — t h a t he bedome "the agent of a f r e s h o u t b i r t h of s p i r i t u a l v i t a l i t y i n t o 66 Huxley,"'-The Doors' of • P e r c e p t i o n , p. 31. 12li the w o r l d " . ' The l a t e s t phase of Huxley's development seems t o be c h a r a c t e r i z e d by h i s a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h the Vedanta S o c i e t y of C a l i f o r n i a and by h i s determined e f f o r t t o e x p l a i n the phenomena of mysticism, and t o teach mysticism as a way of l i f e . 67 U n d e r h i l l , M y s t i c i s m , p. ii31. 125 CHAPTER FOUR THE LATEST PHASE With Time Must Have A Stop, 19kU, Huxley clearly had accepted mysticism as a way of l i f e . To a certain extent, The Perennial Philosophy, 19li5, i s an elaboration of Sebastian's "minimum working hypothesis", but more precisely, as Huxley says i n the introduction, This book....is an anthology of the Perennial Philosophy.../jhlchj i s primarily concerned with the one, divine Reality substantial to the manifold world of things and lives and minds. But the nature of this one Reality i s such that i t cannot be directly and immediate l y apprehended except by those who have chosen to f u l f i l certain conditions, making themselves loving, pure i n heart, and poor i n s p i r i t . 1 Huxley himself seems to have t r i e d to f u l f i l the conditions necessary to apprehend the divine Reality; whether he has apprehended i t i n the f u l l e s t sense seems doubtful; nevertheless, like William Blake, who, as Miss Underhill points out, "...conceived that i t was his vocation to bring this mystical illumination, this heightened vision of reality, within the range of ordinary men: to 'cleanse the doors of perception' of the race",^ Huxley too feels i t incumbent upon him to present his belief that mysticism i s central to the art of l i v i n g . According to Miss Underhill, once the mystic achieves 1 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. v i i i . 2 Underhill, Mysticism, p« 235« the "Unitive Life" his spirit is then ready to return "to fertilize those levels of existence from which i t sprang",3 Huxley may not have achieved the "Unitive Life" but his spirit is none the less ready "to fertilize those levels of existence from which i t sprang". As has been pointed out before, the background from which Huxley sprang had two dominant influences — a concern for developing the moral consciousness, and a concern for establishing a scientific basis for one's metaphysical beliefs. Huxley has since 19k5 devoted his l i f e to the "fertilization" of these two levels of existence. In most of Huxley's writing in this latest phase of development these two main focuses can be detected, mysticism and morality, and mysticism and science; he seems anxious to present to his fellow man the conditions necessary to apprehend divine Reality. As a moralist, Huxley is concerned to show man how, as Professor King says, "men are to live with love and compassion in time and s t i l l be devoted to timeless good".^ Huxley is anxious to make men morally responsible for their acts and to make them realize that right ends can never justify.wrong acts. As an empiricist, Huxley id anxious to show that mysticism is based on empirical facts and that i t i s no longer totally antithetical even to science. Huxley i s concerned with bringing morals, science and mysticism into balance in the hope of perfecting "the art of living" in contemporary civilization. In Texts and Pretexts, Huxley shows that many people must have a religion or philosophy by which to live. They will rationalize almost any theology not because they believe in its doc trines and i t s rules but, 3 Underhill, Mysticism, p. hlk. Carlyle A, King, "Aldous Huxley's Way to God", Queen's Quarterly, vol. 6l Spring 195U), p. 98. 1 2 7 ...because they have discovered experimentally that to l i v e ^ i n a certain r i t u a l rhythm under certain ethical restraints, and as i f certain metaphysical doctrines were true, i s to l i v e nobly, with style. Every art has i t s conventions which every a r t i s t must accept. The greatest, the most important of the arts i s l i v i n g . 5 Huxley's major concern, l i k e that of Matthew Arnold, was to discover the art of l i v i n g , and to delineate those modes of thought and of feeling which would enable one to engage i n this "art". In Ends and Means, Huxley discovered that science alone was unsatisfactoiy. Some aesthetic or religious experiences are necessary i f man i s to find meaning in the world. Works of art, of music, or of literature can throw light on the "something f a r more deeply interfused", "the peace of God that passeth a l l understanding"; but moments of illumination are insufficient. Meditation i s needed to establish a communion between the soulcand the integrating principle of the universe. As Huxley sums i t up, Meditation...is the technique of mysticism. Properly practised, with due preparation, physical, mental and moral, meditation may result i n a state of what has been called "transcendental con sciousness" — the direct i n t u i t i o n of, and union with, an ultimate spiritual r e a l i t y that i s perceived as simultaneously beyond the self and i n some way within it.° As the passage implies, meditation, which i s the technique of mysticism, can be engaged i n only i f man i s i n a proper moral as well as mental and physical state. Huxley, then, l i k e Thomas Arnold before him, begins to stress the importance of the moral element i n the art of l i v i n g . Huxley accepts the spiritual explanation of the foundation of morality whereas 5 Aldous Huxley, Texts and Pretexts,, London, Chat to and Windus, 19k9 ( f i r s t ed. 1932) , p. 309. 6 Huxley, Ends and Means, p. 286. 128/ Thomas Arnold propounded an unquestioning acceptance of dogmatic ethical morality. Both, however, are basically concerned that man should develop his power of distinguishing between right and wrong. Huxley goes beyond the s t r i c t l y ethical interpretation of morality to see that unless leavened with the sp i r i t u a l , a moral code can have no real meaning. In spite of the apparent differences i n the great-grandfather's and great-grandson's view of morality, the progression i s consistent. The grand-uncle, Matthew Arnold, provides the transition. Matthew Arnold, who experienced the decay of traditional religious beliefs and values induced by the theory of evolution, broke with his father's dogmatic religious doctrines. Like his great-nephew, Arnold was by nature inclined to be a contemplative, but he lived i n an era not congenial to the acceptance of mysticism. Intensely aware of a great s p i r i t u a l need within himself, Arnold sought some fai t h or theory by which he could direct his l i f e . Science, which had destroyed the anthropomorphic God, did not accept the mystics' idea of an Absolute Reality, a divine Ground. The only thing Arnold could accept as v a l i d was the experience of "yearning", i t s e l f , the pain of "distracted" l i v i n g , i n place of, to use Huxley's term, "one-pointedness". "One-pointedness", according to Huxley, i s of two kinds: the one-pointedness of exclusion or that of inclusion. Man seeks f i r s t the one-pointedness of exclusion, which i s simply one-pointed contemplation of God, excluding a l l other a c t i v i t i e s ; and, having achieved union with the divine Reality, man then turns back to the one-pointedness of inclusion i n which he harmonizes a l l the. diversities of l i v i n g . Arnold never knew the one-pointedness of exclusion 7 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. 299. 129 and hence f a i l e d i n the one-pointedness of inclusion. According to John Atkins, a basic difference exists between Matthew Arnold and Huxley: Arnold sought no practical remedy to the world's misery and even denied, as a matter of theory, the possibility.of such a remedy existing; Huxley, on the other hand, believes i n the cultivation of the mystical approach to God. For people who do not believe i n i t s existence such a remedy cannot exist. Arnold f e l l short of i t . Modern c r i t i c s reject it.° Huxley i s himself aware that his own "cultivation of the mystical approach to God" as a "practical remedy to the world's misery", while representing an increased awareness on his part, yet implies no criticism of his great- uncle's insight. Rather, Huxley realizes that Arnold was a victim of the mental climate of the times. In Grey Eminence, Huxley explains Arnold's failure to believe that ...the good cannot be achieved without one-pointedness. That Arnold should have f a i l e d to draw the unavoidable conclusion from.the premises of his own thoughts and feelings seems puzzling only when we consider him apart from his environment. The mental climate i n which he l i v e d was utterly unpropitious to the flowering of genuine mysticism. The Nineteenth. Century could tolerate only false, ersatz mysticism — the nature mysticism of Wordsworth; the sublimated sexual mysticism of Whitman; the nationality mysticisms of a l l the patriotic poets and philosophers of every race and culture, from Fichte at the beginning of the period to Kipling and Barres at the end. Once more, Arnold's sad l u c i d i t y did not permit him to embrace any of these manifestly unsatisfactory substitutes f o r the genuine ar t i c l e . 9 Dean Inge supports Huxley's contention that "...the mental climate of the Nineteenth Century was utterly unpropitious to the flowering of genuine mysticism". Dean Inge claims that "the word mysticism had been almost 8 Atkins, Aldous Huxley, p. 5l« 9 Huxley, Grey Eminence, p. 73* 13.0 always used i n a slightly contemptuous sense i n the Nineteenth Century". 1 0 NOT* however, new studies i n psychology and parapsychology begin to give some support to the religious experience. An unquestioning acceptance of mysticism even i n the Twentieth Century, however, i s not advocated by Huxley. In his opinion the intellectual caution he applied i n his search for truth needs to be applied by a l l men. The sincerity of Huxley's interest i n mysticism i s often i n question. How, i t i s asked, does he reconcile material well-being and, i n particular his material well-being with mysticism? Huxley deals with this question i n The Perennial Philosophy; . . . i t i s possible for men and women to achieve that "perfection", •which i s deliverance into the unitive knoxfledge of God, without, abandoning the married state and without selling a l l they have and giving the price to the poor. Effective poverty (possessing no money) i s by no means always affective poverty (being indifferent to money). One man may be poor, but desperately concerned with what money can buy, f u l l of cravings, envy and bi t t e r self-pity. Another may have money, but no attachment to mcney or the things, powers and privileges that money can buy. "Evangelical poverty" i s a combination of effective with affective,poverty; but a genuine poverty of s p i r i t i s possible even i n those who are not effectively poor...the problems of right livelihood, i n so far as they l i e outside the jurisdiction of the common moral code, are steadily personal....Jesus...merely utters a general warning against covetousness. 1 1 Huxley seems relatively satisfied that material well-being i s not incom patible with mysticism; i n so far as his own material well-being i s con cerned, he, i n a conversation with Atkins, i s reported to have said: I do not fee l impelled — nor am I financially able — to give up writing; nor do I think that i-jriting i s i n any way incompatible with understanding. "Knowledge", says Lao-Tsu, " i s adding to 10 Inge, Christian Mysticism, p. v. 11 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, pp. 119-120. 3X3-1 your stock day by dayj the practice of the Tao (the Mystic Way) i s subtracting". The secret of l i f e i s to do both — add and substract — to the limit.12 In studying the problem "How to l i v e " , Huxley, throughout Grey Eminence, shows that a power complex i s a far greater hindrance to the attainment of the mystic state than i s material wealth. Human egotism can corrupt anything — spiritual no less than p o l i t i c a l power. Father Joseph made the mistake of thinking that power p o l i t i c s could be used to force humanity into the synonymous kingdoms of God and France. He succumbed to "the noblest of a l l temptations: patriotic duty and self- sacrifice". 13 gut a man cannot serve two masters. Father Joseph deluded himself that he served only one on the grounds that the mass slaughter which he condoned as a p o l i t i c i a n was done "not of my w i l l but Thine, Oh Lord"* Father Joseph thought he acted i n a state of "holy indifference". Huxley points out that Krishna, i n the Bhagavad-Gita, explains to Arjuna that k i l l i n g his enemies i s not wrong provided he maintains a s p i r i t of "non-attac^merrbE*', The same theory of "holy indifference" was applied by Illumines of Picardy to ju s t i f y sexual promiscuity. Father Joseph and his holy men were shocked. As Huxley shows, i t i s not wrong to have a God of Battles, but a desperate outcry i s heard i f one sets up a God of Brothels! ^ Krishna's theory i s wrong, Huxley claims, because non-attachment can be practised only i n regard to actions themselves 12 Aldous Huxley, quoted i n John Atkins, Aldous Huxley,jp« 68. 13 Huxley, Grey Eminence, p. 221. Ill Ibid., p. 222. 132 i n t r i n s i c a l l y good or ethically neutral. Wrong means invariably destroy right ends. Bad actions damage the doer permanently because they enhance his separate, personal ego. The brute psychological fact remains that "any act x^hich enhances the separate, personal ego, automatically diminishes the actor's chance of establishing contact with reality. As John Tauler puts i t , 'the more of the creature, the less of God'."1^ Grey Eminence serves as a great warning to the socially-minded, to the "do-gooders", the S a l v a t i o n i s t s of the world* Those who undertake action without being far advanced along the way of perfection inevitably do harm. The great moral lesson Huxley presents i n the history of Father Joseph i s very similar to Christ's warning about the dangers of removing the mote from one's brother's eye before taking the beam out of one's own. At the same time, Grey Eminence must be seen as primarily a study of the misuses of the Jesuit-Spiritual Exercises as a means to gain the Mystic Way. Father Joseph distorted the Mystic Way to achieve secular power rather than to achieve union with Reality. He becomes a powerful example of what misapplication of the mystic discipline can produce. Father Joseph t o t a l l y lost sight of the moral and ethical implications of his acts, so lop-sided and mis-directed had his religious practices grown. Huxley shows that Father Joseph tried desperately to become a true mystic, but that he allowed too many images, trances and psychic phenomena to get i n his way. He never really united with the imageless, eternal godhead and he ended not with true mysticism but with the same image of the cross which had inspired him to seek the Mystic Way. Conversely, Huxley shows that 15> Huxley, Grey Eminence, p. 223* 133 0 many people who are not devotees of mysticism to begin with, can, through signs, occultism, nature, or the arts, become interested i n the knowledge of the divine Ground and go on to achieve the mystic state. ^ Those like Father Joseph who consciously struggle toward perfection but never achieve i t , show us only sorrow. Father Joseph, i n mistaking an image for the timeless r e a l i t y of the divine Ground, turned his l i f e and a l l his efforts to further the "Kingdom of God" into a most "pointless and diabolic foolery". The man who desired to establish God's "peace on earth" was responsible for war, and the suffering and death of hundreds of innocent people. Father Joseph's l i f e became a "tale t o l d by an i d i o t " . In Time Must Have A Stop, Huxley stresses that l i f e i n general i s a "tale t o l d by an i d i o t " unless man primarily concerns himself with the fact of eternity. Kuxley has Sebastian write i n his note-book that, .. . i t i s only by deliberately paying our attention and our primary allegiance to eternity that we can prevent time from turning our li v e s into a pointless or diabolic foolery. The divine Ground i s a timeless r e a l i t y . Seek i t f i r s t , and a l l the rest — everything from an adequate interpretation of l i f e to a release from compulsory self-destruction — w i l l be added. Or, transposing the theme out of the evangelical into a Shakespearean key, you can say: "Cease being ignorant of what you are most assured, your glassy essence, and you w i l l cease to be an angry ape, playing such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make angels weep.17 The quotation, based on lines from the second act of Measure for Measure, i s a favorite one with Huxley. In Grey Eminence, Huxley portrays Father Joseph i n the pursuit of his "glassy essence" but because Father Joseph was mistaken i n his idea of the eternal godhead from which his essence sprang, 16 Huxley, Grey Eminence, p. 261. 17 Huxleyj-"Time Must Have A Stop, p. 298. 1 3 & he was to spend his l i f e i n the performance of nothing but "fantastic t r i c k s " . Huxley quotes the Buddha as saying, "I show you sorrow and the ending of sorrow". Many great writers, a r t i s t s , and composers have, i n their l i f e , unconsciously stumbled upon the transcendental r e a l i t y and, therefore, through their art have shown us both "sorrow, and the ending of sorrow". Huxley cites Beethoven i n h i s A-minor quartet, and Shakespeare i n his The Tempest, as cases i n point. But, though art can be one expression of the mystic experience, i t cannot be the exper ience i t s e l f . Huxley i s constantly warning us not to mistake the Fact for the experience. Many poets, he says, have had ideas helpful to man, but rarely have these ideas been sufficiently complete to guarantee man's peace. Wordsworth and Dante both need to be supplemented, and the necessary supplement, according to Huxley, i s the philosophy and d i s c i pline of mysticism. In Crome Tellow, Huxley has one of his characters dispose of art as "the last and s i l l i e s t of the idols, the sweetest of the inebriants". In "Those Barren Leaves, he registers his suspicion of poetry and pantheism by finding Wordsworth's "something f a r more deeply interfused" as being as "meaningless as so many hiccoughs". From 19hh on, Huxley's attitude to many of the "inebriants" of l i f e which he discarded while i n the purga tive stage mellows considerably. He comes to consider what he had formerly classed as "inebriants" as possible manifestations of Reality, but he 18 Aldous Huxley, "Variations on Goya", Themes and Variations, London, Chatto and Windus, 195>U, p. 211. constantly warns against accepting the manifestation f o r Reality i t s e l f . In Themes and Variations and, i n particular, i n the essay "Variations on a Philosopher\ i n which Huxley discusses the Nineteenth Century French philosopher Maine de Biran's failure to become a true mystic, we see the mystic, moralist and empiricist i n Huxley come to terms with each other. The moralist recommends mysticism as an answer to the problem "How to l i v e " ; the empiricist attempts to show that the moralist i s not recommending some absurd theoretical religion but a way of l i f e based on empirical facts. Nature, Huxley asserts, i s a v a l i d manifestation of the divine mystery with which the mystic desires to unite, and this i s a fact, he goes on, that can be tested empirically. "'Nature mysticism'", says Huxley, " i s p r i mordial and permanent, as unconditionally 'built-in' and non-historical as any other unchanging datum of our psychophysical experience". Regrett ably, modern l i f e compels us to close our "doors of perception". Modem man has so corrupted and defiled nature that, unlike Wordsworth or Biran, he actually does not even see "the divine mystery that manifests i t s e l f i n Nature".19 But even seeing the divine mystery i n a single, timeless moment of conscious experience i s only Illumination, not the Unitive Way. Biran, i n spite of Illumination, f a i l e d as a mystic because he refused to apply any tests to his mysticism. He did accept "...the r e a l i t y of the principal phenomena of the mesmeric trance — healing, clairvoyance, and thought transference — " ; yet, though "animal magnetism" was a respectable science i n his day, and though attempts to explain the phenomena of trance, hypnotic 19 Huxley, "Variations on a Philosopher", Themes and Variations, p. 76. 136' healing and extra-sensory perception were well advanced, Biran refused to submit to any mesmeric experiments on his own person. He thereby shut himself off from even this exploration of the mystic state, and, according to Huxley, not only condemned himself to being the v i c t i n of a psycho-somatic illn e s s but also f a i l e d as a mystic. Much the same excuse that i s made for Matthew Arnold could be made for Biran*s failure to become a true mystic. The mental climate of the Nineteenth Century was not conducive-to experiments i n the new, specialized f i e l d s of psychiatry, psychology, or parapsychology. In the Twentieth Century, Huxley willingly participated i n physical and psychological experi ments as a means of attaining the mystic state j and this acceptance could p a r t i a l l y be accounted for by hi s own experience with the Bates method of visual re-education which recognized the psycho-somatic, as well as the physical reasons for his eye disease. Having improved his physical vision, Huxley seems to believe that one should also be able to improve one's mental or spiritual vision. In laying the blame for Biran's failure upon the French mystic's reluctance to cleanse his doors of perception by means of investigating mesmerism and psycho-kinesis, Huxley seems to admit his own personal willing ness, to test empirically the contentions of such men as Dr. Broad and Professor P r i c e . 2 0 Huxley, as early as 1937, had shown interest i n new experiments i n telepathy by v i s i t i n g Dr. Rhine i n North Carolina. However, Huxley i s never caught up i n any sudden excess of enthusiasm for a new 20 Huxley, "Variatiais on a Philosopher", Themes and Variations, p. 130 f f . 137 theory. He applies always his intellectual caution and scie n t i f i c habit of mind to the new studies of parapsychology and psychology. Huxley seems to accept the new studies as valuable adjuncts to the study of mysticism and, hence, as being v i t a l to man's whole problem of "how to l i v e " . In the purgative stage, he had been extremely sceptical of pure science, but at this time he appears to endorse any science devoted to experiments which might ultimately enable man to l i v e a f u l l e r , richer l i f e . Just as the early Huxley had doubted the value of sc i e n t i f i c experi mentation, so too did he question the value of art and nature. Huxley begins to see that they can both be more than mere sources- of pleasure, that they can be used to redeem the squalid chaos of l i f e , that the aesthetic experience can be an analogue of the mystical experience.n Moreover, now he seems also to realize that drugs, sc i e n t i f i c experiments, occultism, r i t u a l , symbol and sacrament, are a l l valuable adjuncts to the attainment of the mystic state. People of different psycho-physical constitutions w i l l respond to different stimuli: ...so long as the human aggregate persists, one cause j/for the mystic state/ can never be exclusive of the others; the beatitude which follows self-abandonment, and even the act of self-abandonment i t s e l f , must be related to and conditioned by, certain dispositions of the organs; and i n most"supernatural states" there i s bound to be a physical element — which means that there must be appropriate psycho physical methods for creating the conditions most favorable to such states. 21 While Huxley opens his mind to the p l a u s i b i l i t y of a variety of roads leading to mysticism, he continues to warn, as he did i n Grey Eminence, against mistaking the means of achieving the mystical state for the accomplish ment of i t . He thinks that the fewer the crutches or symbols used to 21 T W i o y j " V a r i a t i o n s on a Philosopher". Themes and Variations, p. 137. 138 move toward the mystic state, the better. In The Perennial Philosophy, he reminds us that "...the consequences of worshipping God as anything but S p i r i t and i n any way except i n s p i r i t and i n truth are necessarily undesirable...(as) they lead only to p a r t i a l salvation and delay the soul's ultimate reunion with the eternal Ground".^ In The Devils of Loudun, Huxley the moralist warns us again of the dangers of mysticism and shows how easily one can f a l l into a pseudo, or false, mysticism. Huxley contrasts the careers of Pierre Grandier and Father Surin, both men trained i n Jesuit Holy Orders. Grandier i s the average sensual man, arrogant, ruthless, lascivious, quarrelsome, but he manages to transcend himself under the fierce tortures and horrible agonies of an atrocious execution because he has always had a basic belief. Father Surin, lik e Father Joseph, lacks the balance of a natural l i f e j he had spent his years i n a pathological struggle to achieve Christian perfection -- so pathological a struggle that i t ended i n his becoming a demoniac. As Biran apparently cut himself off from true mysticism by refusing to acquire direct empirical knowledge, Surin denies hijnself the donum of grace by hating nature and opposing God to nature. Surin i s addicted to word-theology and he conceives of union with the Sonjof God as a systematic denial of the essential divinity of nature. Surin was trapped by a too-narrow religion. Huxley makes clear that man must embrace a l l of God's manifestations — art and nature as well as what goes on i n the laboratory, the church, the parliament and council chamber. 22 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. 268. According to Huxley, The fundamental human problem i s ecological: men must learn how to l i v e with the cosmos on a l l i t s levels, from the material to the s p i r i t u a l . As a race, we have to discover how a huge and rapidly increasing population can go on existing satisfactorily on a planet of limited size and possessed of resources, many of which are wasting assets that can never be renewed. As individuals, we have to fi n d out how to establish a satisfactory relationship with that i n f i n i t e Mind, from which we habitually imagine ourselves to be isolated. By concentrating on the datum and the Donum we shall develop, as a kind of by-product, satis factory methods of getting on with one another.. Seek ye f i r s t the Kingdom, and a l l the rest shall be added. 23 Huxley as a moralist, an empiricist and a mystic, i s prepared to make •what contribution he can toward teaching man "how to l i v e " . As he sees i t , the place to begin i s i n working out a satisfactory relationship with the i n f i n i t e Mind — a l l the rest, morals, ethics, material well-being, shall be added. Huxley, although he does not advocate the achieving of visions through drugs, submits to and records the personal experiments with them i n order to test the v a l i d i t y and accessibility of the mystic's trance. Blake's contention was that " . . . i f the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as i t i s , i n f i n i t e " . 2U Since many aspects of man have been subjected to sci e n t i f i c investigation and since man has been measured i n terms of genetics, psychology, physiology, economics, medicine, and, since the results of such scie n t i f i c investigation help us to order our lives more intelligently, i t seems completely reasonable 23 Huxley, The Devils of Loudun, p. 302. 2k William Blake, quoted by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, London, Chstto and Windus, 1956, t i t l e page.. Hid that the spiritual aspect of man should also be subject to similar s c i e n t i f i c investigation. In The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, Huxley records his experiments with mescalin. He admits that, while he willingly participated i n the experiment with Dr. Osmond for sci e n t i f i c reasons, he also hoped that he would experience some profound change i n consciousness which might be the equivalent of the mystic's experience with the Absolute* His desire to experience this changed consciousness indicates that he had not previously known any thing more intense than moments of Illumination — a fact he admits later i n The Doors of Perception. The evidence i n his account of the mescalin experiment would seem to indicate that Huxley's heightened perceptiveness and awareness while under the influence >of this drug was very similar to the true mystic's trance. At any rate, his account of his state does contain a l l the familiar phrases and ideas which William James set out as characteristics of the mystic state. Huxley thus attempts to communicate what he has already asserted i s an incommunicable exper ience. His report, written up after the experiment, resembles closely the statements made by accepted mystics who have been quoted i n an e a r l i e r chapter. Take, for example, this account of one of Huxley's experiments with mescalin. He has been looking at a bouquet of flowers and writes of . the experience, ...that what rose and i r i s and carnation so intensely signified was nothing more, and nothing less, than what they were — a transience 11$ that was not yet eternal l i f e , a perpetual perishing that was at the same time pure Being, a bundle of minute, unique particulars i n which, by some unspeakable and yet self-evident paradox, was to be seen the divine source of a l l existence... The Beatific Vision, Sat Chit Ananda, Being-Awareness-Bliss — for the f i r s t time I understood, not on the verbal level,not by inchoate hints or at a distance, but precisely and completely what these prodigious syllables referred to. And then I remembered a passage I had read i n one of Suzuki's essays. 'What i s the Dharma-Body of the Buddha?' /a Zen novice asks./ (The Dharma-Body of the Buddha i s another way of saying Mind, Suchness, the Void, the Godhead.)....'The hedge at the bottom of the garden /the Master replies./' ...I was looking at the flowers — back i n a world where everything shone with the Inner Light, and was i n f i n i t e i n i t s significance.... 25 As the experiment continued, Huxley gazed transf ixedly at the bamboo legs of a chair and realized that they too had the same i n f i n i t e significance as the flowers and, as he reports the experience, he realizes he was not merely himself but was the chair legs as well or, i n his words, he was his "Hot-self i n the Not-self which was the chair". From Huxley's account of this experiment, i t would appear that he may have achieved union with the Absolute, but he makes no such specific claim for himself. Further, Huxley distinguishes between the visionary experience and the mystical experience. The experience described under mescalin could be merely the "heaven of b l i s s f u l visionary experience, not that experience, beyond time, of union with the divine Ground." 26 That an ordinary person taking mescalin would experience union with the divine Ground of a l l our being i s extremely unlikely. It i s probable that Huxley was able to describe the effects of the drug as he did because 25 Huxley, The Doors of Perception, pp. 12-15. 26 Huxley, Heaven and Hell; London, Chatto and Windus, 1956, p. 53* Ik2 of his psycho-physical constitution, and his life-time preparation for the experience of the mystic. Like Ophelia, Huxley could legitimately exclaim, "To have seen what I have seen". But he freely admits that the use of mescalin i s no guarantee that a person w i l l experience the Absolute. He admits that while under mescalin he knew contemplation "at i t s height", he s t i l l did not know i t "at i t s f u l l e s t " . The f u l l e s t experience con ceivably i s that which cannot be induced by a r t i f i c i a l means. The danger of using mescalin to induce the mystic state i s that one may become a quietist. Mescalin, says Huxley, ...gives access to contemplation — but to a contemplation that i s incompatible with action and even with the w i l l to action, to the very thought of action.... Over against the quietist stands the active-contemplative, the saint, the man who, i n Eckhart's phrase, i s ready to come down from the seventh heaven i n order to bring a cup of water to his sick brother.^ Huxley's participation i n the mescalin experiment and his continuous efforts to explain the phenomenon of mysticism and to present i t as a v a l i d answer to the question "How to liv e ? " seem to confirm the fact that Huxley belongs with Miss Underbill's practical mystics whose contemplation i s compatible with action. In Heaven and Hell, written two years after his experiments with mescalin, Huxley again discusses the effects of this drug and illustrates the ways i n which a v i s i t to the antipodes of the mind could be, as the t i t l e suggests, a t r i p to either Heaven or Hell. He does not claim that mescalin i s , as Amis phrased i t , "a cheap day-return ticket to the Absolute". 27 Huxley, The Doors of Perception, p. 32. 28 Kingsley Amis, "Dreams of a Spirit Seer", Spectator, vol. 196 (March 16, 1956), p. 339. I2i3. The taker of mescalin, Huxley suggests, unless i n a conditioned frame of mind s i m i l a r to h i s own, may end up i n H e l l . Diseased l i v e r s , f e a r , anger, an inappropriate psycho-physical make-up, lack of f a i t h , are a l l f a c t o r s which are l i k e l y to work against the success of the experiment. Mescalin, when the experience i s b l i s s f u l , induces an abdication of the w i l l , a l o s s of i n t e r e s t i n ordinary l i f e , a descent into quietism. The q u i e t i s t ' s negative v i r t u e s are immense; the only p o s i t i v e one i s that of preaching quietism to others. However, negative emotions, at the onset of the experiment, can turn the v i s i o n a r y experiences into a p p a l l i n g experiences with no e t h i c a l value. I t i s i r o n i c that Mr. Sutherland, i n an a r t i c l e w r i t t e n to disparage Huxley's mescalin experiments, a c t u a l l y lends support to Huxley's conten t i o n that the r e s u l t s of the use of the drug can be e i t h e r heaven or h e l l depending on the f a c t o r s previously described. Mr. Sutherland writes: The nearest I came to the mystical r e v e l a t i o n s experienced by the more fortunate, though so often and so regr e t t a b l y fading " i n the l i g h t of common day", was when I had a phantasy i n which I.saw and heard and f e l t the cosmic rhythm moving and sounding and pul s a t i n g , the v i s u a l images being o f l i g h t and colour whose rhythm was contained within a c i r c u l a r form and the whole suggest ing to me that " t h i s i s the. p r i n c i p l e i n the universe, t h i s i s what makes everything t i c k I" I have no doubt that the b a s i s of the phantasy was sexual. -Also.I might add, I was at the time taken up with the i d e a l of rhythm being expressed i n every type of form and a c t i v i t y , with the idea of the dance o f l i f e . 9 Mr. Sutherland's experience was the r e s u l t of using marijuana and h i s account shows t h a t one's response to the use of drugs depends on one's i n d i v i d u a l p e r s o n a l i t y , one's i n t e l l e c t u a l and emotional make-up, and what i s i n the experimenter's mind. Mr. Sutherland, as he states, was concerned with the dance of l i f e a t the time; h i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of h i s experience involves 29 A. Sutherland, "Aldous Huxley's Mind at Large",'Twentieth Century, v o l . 155 (May 195U), p. UU8. - . . . . rhythms. He inclineslto slough off the experience as a sexual phantasy rather than to admit having had any access to an aspect of reality, but Sutherland does not negate the v a l i d i t y of Huxley's experience by this aedount; as Sutherland says, "Huxley had spent the past forty years moving towards the mystical experience; he was already semi i n tune with the 'Mind at Large'." 30 Mescalin may have helped Huxley to attain a mystical experience,but Sutherland doubts that i t would aid those not prepared as Huxley was. Dr. Osmond, who called Sutherland to task for his rather flippant comments about Huxley's mescalin experiments, i s himself engaged i n drug research at Weyburn, Saskatchewan and was with Huxley at the time of the experiment. He claims that i f science i s the rational correlation of experience, i t s job, as Huxley suggests, i s to find for common man the method of cleansing the doors of perception. Dr. Osmond points out that as modern vitamin diets make spontaneous experiences of the transcendental less frequent than they used to be, man i s j u s t i f i e d i n seeking some other method of inducing the mystical state, of cleansing the doors of perception. But investigation of this subject has not yet advanced very f a r : The neurologists have got no further than Mr. Sutherland's phantasy; many philosophers are too busy with semantic conundrums;, many theo logians avoid commenting on things which orthodox science i s unsure about; only a few philosophically-minded parapsychologists,... have begun to tackle this enormous problem. 31 Huxley, Dr. Osmond claims, points the way for future s c i e n t i f i c , philo sophic and religious experimentation and thought* "Huxley does not 30 A. Sutherland, "Aldous Huxley's Mind at Large", Twentieth Century, p« hk9> 31 H. Osmond, "Peeping Tom, and Doubting Thomas", Twentieth Century, v o l . 155 (June 195E7, p. 52U. / " advocate frequent mescalin jags, he simply hopes that one day science and society w i l l combine to make these lonely, awesome, t e r r i b l e . . . j o l l y and queer experiences available to those who might benefit from them." 32 As Robertson Davies points out i n his essay, "Spiritual Travel", while Huxley's experiments with mescalin are the subject of much jeering comment33 any person who has taken the trouble to look closely at Huxley's works can see that his experiments with drugs were not undertaken l i g h t l y . Huxley i s aware that the aspiring mystic must seek the help of specialists i n pharmacology, biochemistry, physiology, psychology, psychiatry, parapsychology. A variety of roads lead to God. Huxley sums up his position i n Heaven and Hell. My own guess i s that there i s a posthumous heaven of b l i s s f u l visionary experience; there i s also a h e l l of the same kind of appalling visionary experience as i s suffered here by schizo phrenics and some of those who take mescalinj and there i s also an experience, beyond time, of union with the divine Ground. 31* Huxley thus distinguishes between the visionary experience and the mystical. Visionary experience i s within the realm of opposites ~ i t can be heaven or h e l l — but the mystical experience i s beyond opposites. Heaven i s lik e a vantage point, a moment of Illumination from which one surveys the divine Ground. Death, as he attempted to demonstrate i n Time Must Have A Stop, does not guarantee union with the divine Ground any more than i t implies h e l l . 32 H. Osmond, "Peeping Tom and Doubting Thomas", Twentieth Century, p. $2h» 33 Robertson Davies, "Spiritual Travel", Saturday' Night, v o l . 70 (May 12, 1956), p. 19. 3l* Aldous Huxley, Heaven and Hell, p. 53* 1U6 The tendency people have to seek a t l e a s t the v i s i o n a r y i f not the mystical experience only proves Huxley's point that the desire f o r s e l f - transcendence i s one of man's greatest d r i v e s . Huxley l i s t s i n Heaven and H e l l the most common a r t i f i c i a l methods f o r gaining self-transcendence. CJhemicals, such as mescalin or l y s e r g i c a c i d , are most commonly used; hypnosis i s a second method; i l l n e s s , f a t i g u e , f a s t i n g or periods of confinement i n darkness and sile n c e w i l l produce t r a n c e - l i k e states; a four t h method involves i n h a l i n g a weak concentration of carbon dioxide i n oxygen; f i n a l l y , he mentions the stroboscopic lamp. The use of any a r t i f i c i a l means of inducing a state of self-transcendence can be danger ous, and Huxley p a r t i c u l a r l y warns against the use of drugs: They may i n c i t e i t s r e c i p i e n t to an e f f o r t of self-transcendence and upward self-transcendence. But the f a c t that such a thing sometimes happens can never j u s t i f y the employment of chemical methods of self-transcendence-. This i s a descending road and most of those who take i t w i l l come to a state of degradation, where periods of sub-human ecstasy alternate with periods of conscious self-hood so wretched that any escape, even i f i t be into the slow suicide of drug addiction, w i l l seem preferable to being a person. 35 In warning against drug a d d i c t i o n , Huxley i s aware that the great mass of humanity i s on a plane that seeks to escape from the horrors of in s u l a t e d self-hood neither through the "downward self-transcendence" of the drug addict, nor the upward movement of the mystic. Bather, they seek "hor i z o n t a l self-transcendence" by i d e n t i f y i n g themselves "with some cause wider than t h e i r own immediate i n t e r e s t s , but not degradingly loxrer and, i f higher, only w i t h i n the range of current s o c i a l value"; hence, they 3$ Huxley, The De v i l s of Loudun, p. 32k. l i t f identify themselves with such things as hobbies, marital love, business, p o l i t i c s , science, art, or scholarship. As Huxley puts i t , Without horizontal self-transcendence there would he no art, no science,no law, no philosophy, indeed no c i v i l i z a t i o n . And there would also be no war, no odium theologicum or ideologicum, no systematic intolerance, no persecution. These great goods and these enormous ev i l s are the f r u i t s of man's capacity for total and continuous self-identification with an idea, a feeling, a cause. 36 The great problem that arises, as Huxley sees i t , i s how to have good without evil? As long as man's self-transcendence remains on a merely horizontal plane, we w i l l only have patriotism, p o l i t i c s , the given r e l i gions, churches, art, and sciencej none of which are t o t a l l y satisfying. We must, Huxley contends, devote ourselves to the highest of human causes — "upward self-transcendence into theuuniversal l i f e of the Spirit. " 3 ? In Ape and Essence and The Genius and the Goddess, Huxley shows very clearly that real human love i s one of the easiest and safest forms of self-transcendence. Without love, and without an awareness of our "glassy essence", l i f e i s meaningless. In 1932, when Huxley wrote Brave New World, he accepted mysticism only academically without believing "intimately, personally with the whole l i v i n g self". Lacking a:.really overwhelming conviction or belief i n mysticism, Huxley, at that stage of development, could show us only the sorrow, not "the ending of sorrow". The Savage was allowed only one alternative: savagery and suicide or the s t e r i l i t y of modern c i v i l i z a t i o n . In the 19f?0 edition of Brave New 36 Huxley, The Devils of Loudun, p. 327* 37 Ibid. 1L8 World, Huxley wrote i n the "Foreword" that Ms he were writing the book now he would offer the Savage a th i r d choice: Between the Utopian and the primitive horns of his dilemma would l i e the p o s s i b i l i t y of sanity ~ a p o s s i b i l i t y already actualized, to some extent, i n a community of exiles and refugees from The Brave New World, l i v i n g within the borders of the Reservation. In this community economics would be decentralist and Henry-Georgian, p o l i t i c s Kroptkineseuxe and co-operative. Science and technology would be used as though, like the Sabbath, they had been made for man, not (as at present and s t i l l more so i n the Brave New World) as though man were to be adapted and enslaved to them. Religion would be the conscious and intelligent pursuit of man's Final End, the unitive knowledge of the immortal Godhead or Brahman.. And the prevailing philosophy of l i f e would be a kind of higher U t i l i tarianism, i n which the greatest happiness principle would be secondary to the Final End principle — the f i r s t question to be asked and answered i n every contingency of l i f e being: "How w i l l this thought or action contribute to, or interfere with, the achievement, by me and the greatest possible number of other individ uals, of man's Final End?" 38 This t h i r d choice which Huxley would have offered the Savage, seems to be a possi b i l i t y that i s offered to Alfred and Loola i n Ape and Essence. Man,continuing to act l i k e an "angry ape", succeeds i n destroying c i v i l i z a tion with the atom bomb. What remains i s a society of demented, deranged and deformed characters, total l y ignorant of their "glassy essence". Through the experience of real love, Loola and Alfred become aware that their essence consists of Love, Joy, Peace — ihese are the f r u i t s of their s p i r i t s , their essence, and the essence of the Order of Things. Their escape to the colony of refugees and exiles seems to affirm Huxley's belief that man, through the redeeming power of love, might yet form a society which may allow for the achievement of man's Final End. In The Genius and the Goddess, Huxley again affirms the power of love and i t s efficacy as a means of attaining the mystic union — the supreme 38 Aldous Huxley, Foreword to Brave New World, New York| Harper and Brothers' Modern Classics, 19!?0, p. U» lk9 salvation. As i n Ape and Essence, he makes us simultaneously aware of man's capacity for "downward self-transcendence" leading to self- degradation, and of man's capacity f or 'upward self-transcendence" to "the universal l i f e of the S p i r i t " , Maartens chooses the downward path. He i s the intellectual who allows his intellectual power to insulate and exalt his ego to the point of t o t a l l y destroying his soul. Huxley describes Maartens as "foetus, genius, half-wit and hungry lover." 39 Maartens i s unaware of his glassy essencej he i s "empty of God" and, consequently, i n destroying both himself and Katy, mates l i f e a "tale told by an i d i o t " . Katy herself has an excess of animal grace — Huxley describes her as a "super-human animal". U O sh e lacks spiritual grace. Like the young Sebastian, she had not learned to draw up "the genealogy of an offense" with a l l i t s "ramifying antecedents and accompaniments and consequences". The moral law would seem to be implacable: Katy and her daughter must die i n a motor accident. But Katy's capacity for love has done i t s work. John Rivers who t e l l s the story says that her love was a source of inspiration and food. Rivers i s awakened, i f not to the power of the mystic, then, at least, to the mystery of that Otherness, which i s . the ground of a l l being. As Rivers describes i t . The Unknown Quantity..... At one end of the spectrum i t ' s pure spirit*-, i t ' s the Clear Light of the Void; and at the other end i t ' s instinct, i t ' s health, i t ' s therperfect functioning of an organism that's i n f a l l i b l e so long as we don't interfere with i t ; and somewhere between the two extremes i s what St. Paul called "Christ" — the divine made human. Spiritual grace, animal grace, human grace — three aspects of the same underlying mystery; ideally, a l l of us should be open to a l l of them. Ul 39 Aldous Huxley, The Genius and the Goddess, London, Chatto and Windus, 1955, p. U l . kO Ibid., p. 99. k l Ibid., p.99. Like John Rivers, Huxley recognizes the three aspects of the underlying mystery. His -whole l i f e has been a consistent effort to harmonize the animal grace, the human grace, and the spiritual grace which are a l l parts of every man's make-up. Huxley's task has not been an easy one for, as Miss Brooke points out, Huxley i s a strangely para doxical figure: "... an intellectual who profoundly distrusts the i n t e l l e c t , a sensualist with an innate loathing for the body, a naturally religious man who remains an impenitent r a t i o n a l i s t " . ^ Huxley's unremitting search for truth served as a focus which f i n a l l y brought a l l aspects of his being into harmony. As a confirmed believer i n mysticism, Huxley brought his ectomorphy-cerebrotonic (or Hamlet-like) tendencies into balance with the conditions of his environment. The scientist i n him was reconciled with the moralist; the religious tendency was recon c i l e d with the sensualist and intellectual element. Huxley seems f i n a l l y to have attained "a more ordered l i f e i n every state". Huxley's latest books give evidence of his overwhelming belief i n mysticism but contain no evidence to show that Huxley ever attained the f i n a l stage on the mystic way — the Unitive L i f e . Huxley does not, apparently, walk i n and out of sp i r i t u a l trances at w i l l . His belief seems characterized by intellectual acceptance rather than emotional experience. The type of mysticism Huxley subscribes to seems to be an extremely practical mysticism implying moral, ethical, and social results. As Anthony Beavis phrased i t , "To l i v e contemplatively i s not to l i v e i n k2 Jocelyn Brooke, Aldous Huxley, Writers and Their Work: No. 55, London Longmans, Green, for the British Council, 195U, p. 2b. 151 some deliciously voluptuous or flat t e r i n g Poona; i t i s to l i v e i n London, but to l i v e there i n a non-cockney style".^3 Miss Underhill i n her book, Practical Mysticism, lends support to the contention that, f o r the average individual, becoming a mystic does not mean going off into a world of spiritualism t o t a l l y removed from the practicalities of everyday l i v i n g . As she phrases i t , "Perpetual absorption i n the Transcendent i s a human impossibility, and the effort to achieve i t i s both unsocial and s i l l y . " She goes on to point out that different individuals experience "absorption i n the Transcendent" to a "greater or lesser degree", but regardless of the degree of intensity of the emotional experience, the man who i s firmly convinced of the value of attaining union with Reality can achieve a heightened awareness and perceptiveness which shows i n his daily l i v i n g . As she sums the matter up: You w i l l hardly deny that this i s a practical gain; that this widening and deepening of the range over which your powers of perception work mates you more of a man than you were before, and thus adds to rather than substracts from your total practical efficiency. It i s indeed only when he reaches these levels, and feels within himself this creative freedom — this f u l l actualisation of himself — on the one hand: on the other hand the sense of a world-order, a love and energy on which he depends and with whose interests he i s now at one, that man becomes f u l l y human, capable of l i v i n g the real l i f e of Eternity i n the midst of the world of time, In so far, then, as the practical aspects of mysticism are concerned, Huxley seems to be no very great exception. Not only does he appear to be the type of man who i s "bapable of l i v i n g the r e a l l i f e of Eternity U3 Huxley, Eyeless i n Gaza, p. 312. Wx Underhill, Practical Mysticism, p. 121 . U5 Ibid., pp. 1U8-1U9. 152 i n the midst of the world of time", but he has become the teacher anxious to direct his fellowman along a course similar to his own, a course which he believes w i l l ultimately make man aware of his relationship to the divine Ground of a l l our Being. Huxley's latest volumes of essays, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Brave Hew World Re-Visited, concern themselves with the problems of contemporary mankind. His criticism of society i s constructive; his every effort i s to show man how he can create the more desirable society which he described as the third choice that he should have given to the Savage. Huxley's contention that the Good i s achievable only i n the timeless realm of the Godhead does not prevent his seeking the means whereby the relative good, i n time, may be achieved. Huxley has never turned his back on humanity. As a young man, he wrote i n L i t t l e Mexican, ''I was pretending that people didn't interest me — only books, only ideas. What a fool one can make of*, oneself at that age I " 6^ Huxley's pretense did not l a s t long. The very vehemence of his attack on society i n his early novels i s evidence of his concern. Huxley could not bear to see man wasting himself i n the squalor of a material and sterile society. No more can the contemporary Huxley bear to see c i v i l i z a t i o n d r i f t i n g toward annihilation without suggesting some concrete methods by which he believes i t can save i t s e l f . Huxley sees a l l too clearly the danger of man's gaining control of Hature without f i r s t learning how to understand and to control himself. He sees man's development as being comprised of three stages. The f i r s t stage i s the purely evolutionary one of physical change and development U6 Aldous Huxley, "Uncle Spencer", L i t t l e Mexican, p. 163. 1*3 which culminates i n the basic human organism as we know i t . The second i s the stage of scientifically-induced control over man's environment* Now, according to Huxley, to save ourselves from annihilation, i t i s imperative that man move to a third, new psychical stage which w i l l lead to the emergence of a f u l l y integrated human being, whose knowledge of himself and of his, psychological situation i n the world w i l l balance his present physical knowlege. Ln Grey Emicience and The Perennial Philosophy, Huxley did not think that any large-scale reforms or mass movements, however xrell-intentioned, could help redress the imbalance that exists between man's knowledge of the physical world and his psychological knowledge of himself. The only hope, according to Huxley at that time, lay i n individ ual regeneration. The mystic's method of contemplation and meditation was the only answer. Now, Huxley seems to suggest that, as we are not a l l congenital mystics, i t i s most unlikely that the world can be saved by individual regeneration. Huxley does not deviate from his original contention that goodness of more-than-average quantity and quality can be realized only on a small scale, i n terms of the world, by self-dedicated and specially- trained individuals. Individual regeneration i s s t i l l important, but he does see large-scale legislation as a means of starting people i n the right direction of a moral, rational and spiritual l i f e . However, Huxley admits that any vali d change must come from within, not from without. Koestler, i n The Yogi and the Commissar, supports Huxley's contention. The real issue i n humanity, Koestler says, l i e s between the two extremes. The Commissar insists on change from Without; the Yogi on change from Within. What i s needed i s a synthesis, a balance between the Saint and l$k the Revolutionary. Grey Eminence3 says Kbestler, i s a masterly ex position of what happens when the Mystic acts as an inverted Commissar.hi Huxley, i n Brave New World Re-Visited, attempts to show how a synthesis between the Saint and the Revolutionary may be worked out. Concerned, as he i s , with problems arising from world communism, the growing of t o t a l i tarianism i n the democracies, the relentless thrust of over-population and subliminal persuasions. Advertising, particularly that aimed at youth, ought to be banned. Advertising i s an organized effort to extend and intensify cravings which become obstacles to the uniting of the human soul with i t s divine Ground. Children should be protected u n t i l they reach an age when they can be taught to discern propaganda; however, i n this matter, care must also be taken not to make children overly cynical. In The Perennial Philosophy, Huxley made some suggestions regarding education. Students of English Literature, he noted, are forced to read Addison and Steele whom he considers t r i f l i n g , but they never hear of William Law, whom he feels i s a sage and a saint. Huxley complains that, Our current neglect of William Law i s yet another of the many indications that the Twentieth Century educators have ceased to be concerned with questions of ultimate truth or meaning and (apart from mere vocational training) are interested solely i n the dissemination of a rootless and irrelevant culture, and the fostering of the solemn foolery of scholarship for scholarship's sake. U8 Huxley i s also soberly..aware of the great need to teach certain accepted values based on facts: kl Arthur Kbestler, The Yogi and, the Commissar, New York, Macmillan Company, 19 U6, p. 2U£. L8 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. 177. 155 The value, f i r s t of a l l , of individual freedom, based upon the facts of human diversity and genetic uniqueness; the value of charity and compassion, based upon the old familiar fact, lately rediscovered by modern psychiatry — the fact that, whatever their mental and physical diversity, love i s as necessary to human beings as food and shelter; and f i n a l l y the value of intelligence, without which love i s impotent and freedom unattainable. Legislation and education caa be used to reassert the value of the individual i n an age of "accelerating over-population, of accelerating over-organization and ever more efficient means of mass communication11 • Once measures have been taken to preserve the integrity of the human personality, then i t becomes the responsibility of the individual to seek his own Final End, the unitive knowledge of the immanent Tao or Logos, the transcendent Godhead or Brahman. Huxley has never ceased to assume an active role i n society as a writer with a strongly didactic tendency. As the moral reformer, Huxley does not teach by precept alone. His l i f e and a c t i v i t i e s i n California are witness to his personal belief that man must l i v e f u l l y aware of "...the organic not-self, the subconscious not-self, the collective not- self of the psychic medium i n which a l l our thinking and feeling have their existence, and the immanent and transcendent not-self of the S p i r i t " . 50 k9 Aldous Huxley, "Education for Freedom", Brave Hew World Re-Visited, New York, Harper and Brothers, 1958, p. 133. 50 Huxley, The Devils of Loudun, p. 321;. 156 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION From the disc u s s i o n i n the foregoing chapters, i t becomes apparent tha t Huxley's development has been consistent with h i s psycho-physical make-up. According to h i s own opinion, man develops i n a manner con s i s t e n t with h i s p e r s o n a l i t y type. In Ends and Means he s a i d , "...what we think determines what we are and do, and conversely, what we are and do determines what we t h i n k " . H u x l e y ' s thinking constantly involves the problems of self-knowledge and how to l i v e — "Who am I and what, i f anything, can I do about i t ? " Most of the d e t a i l s of Huxley's heredity, environment and psycho-physical c o n s t i t u t i o n i n d i c a t e that h i s primary concern would be with the s p i r i t of man. Huxley, more fortunate than the contemplative-minded Matthew Arnold, l i v e s i n an era p r o p i t i o u s to the flowering of mysticism. New studies such as psychology and parapsychology seem to be giving c e r t a i n empirical support to mysticism, while new t r a n s l a t i o n s and studies i n O r i e n t a l philosophies have contributed to making the p r a c t i c e of mysticism as a way of l i f e l e s s suspect. Norman Thomas points out that one of the most s i g n i f i c a n t phenomena of our confused and troubled times i s an awareness of, or search a f t e r , God by the i n t e l l e c t u a l s . T.S. E l i o t and W.H. Auden 1 Huxley, Ends and Means, p. 329* 157 turn to Anglicanism; Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene become Roman Catholic; Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood take up Oriental mysticisms. Other widely divergent views showing a basic search for truth are expressed by A. Toynbee, Pierre Lecomte du Nouy, CS. Lewis and Jack Kerouac. The return to religion, Mr. Thomas claims, i s man's reaction to his failure to solve his problems by reason alone. Science with the atomic bomb reveals man's potential f o r complete self-destruction. 2 If man i s to save himself, he must seek some value or meaning to l i f e beyond that discovered by his rational self. In turning to mysticism, Huxley i s only realizing his innate potential i t i e s as a contemplative. In The Perennial Philosophy, he reaffirms values that are universal, values "which experience has shown empirically to be va l i d " . The Perennial Philosophy, as Huxley says " . . . i s primarily concerned with the one divine Reality substantial to the manifold world of things and lives and minds." 3 If l i f e i s to have meaning man must, according to Huxley, become aware of the divine Reality. Until such time as an i n d i vidual has contemplated and made union with God, l i f e on any plane of ac t i v i t y i s meaningless. "Seek ye the Kingdom of God; and a l l these things shall be added unto you." In seeking the divine Reality, Huxley himself has shaken off the old Western habit of mind of recognizing a division between s p i r i t and matter. The Western mind i s s t i l l addicted to a concept of absolute good and absolute e v i l , the beautiful and the ugly, God and the devil. Huxley uses his tremendous erudition to show that there i s only one Reality. The duality which Bacon established, Huxley 2 Norman Thomas, "Religion and Ci v i l i z a t i o n " , The Atlantic Monthly, v o l . 180 (August 19U7), pp.-33-36. 3 Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. v i i i . , • l £ 8 negates. Because he accepts the idea of -wholeness, Huxley has turned to Oriental mysticisms which make no distinction between higher and lower r e a l i t i e s . The Western mystic, as William Barrett shows, s t i l l accepts the " s p l i t " ; he s t i l l has the feeling that there i s a consciousness of piercing the v e i l of the natural or sensuous world i n order to experience direct union with the higher reality.** Huxley believes that there i s no such thing as a higher or lower reali t y * In The Doors of Perception, he attempts to show that Reality i s , i n Suzuki's words, "the hedge at the bottom of the garden", or that i n the Sufi's phrase,- "Thou art THAT", that the higher and lower worlds are one* In Indian thought, Brahmanic and Buddhistic belief and other Oriental religions, there i s no duality. Huxley i s not alone i n his attempts to disprove the duality which has for so long plagued the Western Mind. Mr. Barrett shows that one of Huxley's f i r s t teachers, D.H. Lawrence, was certainly groping toward the goal Huxley f i n a l l y reached. D.H. Lawrence (preached) against the bloodless rationalism of his culture. Lawrence urged the necessity of something he called "mindlessness", of becoming "mindless", i f the meddlesome and self-conscious int e l l e c t were not i n the end to cut off Western man irreparably from nature and even the po s s i b i l i t y of real sexual union. Oddly enough, th i s "mindlessness" of Lawrence i s a groping intuition after the doctrine.of "no-mind" which Zen Buddhism had elaborated a thousand years before... Unlike Lawrence, however, without f a l l i n g into primitivism and the worship of the blood. In Lawrence's behalf i t must be remembered that his culture gave him no help-at a l l on these matters and he had to grope i n the dark pretty much on his own..... 5 k William Barrett, "Zen for the West", i n Zen Buddhism, ed. William Barrett, New York, Doubleday Anchor Books, 1°!?6, p. x v i i . 5 Ibid., p. x i i i . 159 I f Mr. B a r r e t t i s c o r r e c t i n h i s comments on D.H. Lawrence, then, i t would seem t h a t Huxley has c a r r i e d on from where Lawrence l e f t o f f . Huxley, b e i n g a man of science as much as a man of l i t e r a t u r e , has attempted t o produce e m p i r i c a l evidence t o i n v a l i d a t e the i d e a of d u a l i t y i n Western c i v i l i z a t i o n . Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism has been, and continues to be, a s t u d i e d and c o n s i s t e n t growth and development i n harmony w i t h both h i s temperament and h i s times. As Charles Eolo has p o i n t e d out, the l i t e r a r y c r i t i c s have done Huxley a great i n j u s t i c e i n r e p r e s e n t i n g him as a "sophis t i c a t e d debunker" vfoo, a f t e r plumbing "the depths of n i h i l i s m made a j e t - p r o p e l l e d t a k e - o f f i n t o the m y s t i c a l s t r a t o s p h e r e " . ^ C r i t i c s , c l a i m s Rolo, have disparaged Huxley because of what they c a l l e d h i s "unshakable sophis t i c a t i o n " ; they have c a l l e d him an "amateur i n garbage", "cynic i n r a g time", " f a s t i d i o u s s e n s u a l i s t " . The reviewers have been s u p e r f i c i a l . They have never seen beyond the " . . . w i t and g l i t t e r o f Huxley's adventures i n negation t o see t h a t he was not garbage c o l l e c t i n g o r content to be a smasher of i d o l s , but r a t h e r he was engaged i n the p u r s u i t of the Absolute i n strange r e g i o n s " . 7 Many c r i t i c s complain t h a t Huxley's c r e a t i v e power has diminished as h i s i n t e r e s t i n mysticism has i n c r e a s e d . I f one t h i n k s of Huxley o n l y as a n o v e l i s t , t h ere may be some j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r the c r i t i c i s m . However, i f one considers t h a t an e s s a y i s t i s a l s o a c r e a t i v e a r t i s t , the c r i t i c i s m 6 Charles Rolo, The World of Aldous Huxley, New York, Harper B r o t h e r s , 19V7, p. x x i v . 7 I b i d . , pp. i - x x i v . 160 does not seem q u i t e f a i r . C e r t a i n l y , Huxley's subject o f mysticism lends i t s e l f more to essays than to novels. Huxley had, i n "Uncle Spencer", (192k), w r i t t e n t h a t , "Someday, i t may be, the s u c c e s s f u l n o v e l i s t w i l l w r i t e about man's r e l a t i o n t o God, t o nature, t o h i s own thoughts and the obscure r e a l i t y on which they work...." C e r t a i n l y Huxley has attempted i n h i s l a t e s t novels t o show man's r e l a t i o n t o God, but the f a c t t h a t he has w r i t t e n more essays than novels i n h i s l a t e r years may i n d i c a t e t h a t he h i m s e l f has r e a l i z e d t h a t h i s subject does not l e n d i t s e l f t o the n o v e l form. H.M. Champness sees Point Counter P o i n t as the end of Huxley's r e a l l y c r e a t i v e phase and he r e g r e t s the l o s s of the b r i l l i a n t young i n t e l l e c t o f the 'twenties. Mr. Champness does not represent Huxley as a "Hollywood swami" as so many of the c r i t i c s d e r o g a t i v e l y describe him, but he does f i n d t h a t "Huxley's mysticism has a c h i l l i n g e f f e c t on h i s c r e a t i v e n e s s " . ^ P e t e r Quennell t h i n k s Huxley's t r e n d t o mysticism i s d e t r i m e n t a l t o h i s c r e a t i v e t a l e n t s . He describes Huxley as once a s c e p t i c , now an . implacable man of f a i t h . Writing- of Time Must Have A Stop, Mr. Quennell says t h a t i t i s "a courageous and o r i g i n a l book, but one t h a t , considered as a work of a r t , I b e l i e v e t o be a f a l l u r e " . 9 A.S. C o l l i n s claims t h a t Huxley's l a t e r novels show "...a f a l l i n g o f f i n scope, i n l e n g t h , i n s p a r k l e , i n the t o t a l e f f e c t of meaning and 8 H.M. Champness, "Aldous Huxley At S i x t y " , Spectator, v o l . 193, ( J u l y 23, 195k), p.4 0 9 . - 9 P e t e r Quennell, "Aldous Huxley", L i v i n g W r i t e r s , London, Sylvan Press, 19k7, p. 136. , . . . . . . 161 a r t i s t r y . Huxley had narrowed h i s v i s i o n a g a i n " . 1 0 The f o r e g o i n g c r i t i c s seem t o i d e n t i f y Huxley's c r e a t i v e n e s s o n l y with h i s n o v e l s , but as G r a n v i l l e H i c k s sums i t up, "Huxley has become a more and more t h o u g h t f u l n o v e l i s t , and i f we have l o s t something i n the way of entertainment, what we have gained i s more i m p o r t a n t " . 1 1 l i k e Matthew A r n o l d , Huxley i s more i n t e r e s t e d i n what i s s a i d than i n how i t i s s a i d , but as John A t k i n s p o i n t s out, Huxley has "the a d d i t i o n a l advan tage of saying i t w e l l " . 1 2 On the whole, the c r i t i c s tend t o o b j e c t more t o what Huxley says than how he says i t . Ben Ray Redman claims t h a t men of a c t i o n resent Huxley's "Quietism" which they see as a Nirvana of no thought, no hope, no present, no p a s t , no f u t u r e . Huxley's f i n a l triumph of devoted contemplation, h i s u t t e r r e s i g n a t i o n o f s e l f l eads to the e t e r n a l present w i t h God, t o an u n i n t e r r u p t e d union w i t h the Godhead. According t o Mr. Redman, t o those who are u n i n i t i a t e d i n t o mysticism, Huxley's "Quietism" seems cowardly. C r i t i c s accuse him of i n t e l l e c t u a l s u i c i d e , o f running away from l i f e , of supreme s e l f i s h n e s s i n h i s attempts t o achieve s e l f l e s s ness i n God. Huxley, Mr. Redman c l a i m s , appears t o take the u l t i m a t e step of c y n i c i s m i n denying the value of human a c t i o n on any l e v e l of humanity. 13 Mr. Redman does see some v a l i d i t y i n Huxley's a s s e r t i o n t h a t a man's a c t i o n i s worth nothing u n t i l he has f i r s t achieved sainthood. Norman Nicholson 10 A.S. C o l l i n s , E n g l i s h l i t e r a t u r e of the Twentieth Century, London, U n i v e r s i t y T u t o r i a l Press L t d . , p. 2 k l . ' . 11 G r a n v i l l e H i c k s , "Huxley R e v i s i t e d " , Saturday Review, November 1J>, 1953, p. 12. 12 A t k i n s , Aldous Huxley, p. L8. 13 Ben Ray Redman, "From Time To E t e r n i t y " , Saturday Review of L i t e r a t u r e , v o l . . 27 (September 2,.19UU), p. 7.. -162 c l a i m s t h a t Huxley chooses the negative way not because i t i n v o l v e s any s a c r i f i c e f o r him but merely from a s e l f i s h i n c l i n a t i o n to indulge h i s own temperament.Ik Mr. Nicholson i s r i g h t i n suggesting t h a t Huxley i s i n d u l g i n g h i s own temperament i n becoming a mystic. But i t i s not an indulgence i n the p e j o r a t i v e sense. Derek Savage a l s o c o n s i d e r s Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism as a c o n s i s t e n t development from " . . . f u t i l i t y . . . t o a p o s i t i v e a ccentuation of f u t i l i t y accompanied by a p o s i t i v e d o c t r i n e o f non-attachment and imperson a l i t y " . 1 ^ Both Mr. Nicholson and Mr. Savage seem t o have missed the f a c t t h a t , i n Huxley's terms, before a man can preserve the "one-pointedness of i n c l u s i o n " , he must f i r s t seek the "one-pointedness of e x c l u s i o n " . Huxley has not stopped w i t h " e x c l u s i v e one-pointedness"; he has used i t merely as p r e p a r a t i o n f o r "x-Jholeness". From a p e r i o d of negativism he has moved t o a s o c i a l l y p o s i t i v e p o s i t i o n . Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism i s an attempt to master the Here and Now, not t o escape i t , but a paradox i s i n v o l v e d : he must f i r s t escape from the Here and Now before he can come back t o master i t . The l a s t c o l l e c t i o n o f Huxley's essays shows v e r y c l e a r l y t h a t as a m o r a l i s t , e m p i r i c i s t and m y s t i c , he i s a c t i v e l y engaged i n l i f e and human a f f a i r s and t h a t he i s not negating l i f e . l k Norman Nicholson, "Aldous Huxley and the M y s t i c s " , F o r t n i g h t l y , v o l . 1 6 1 (February 1 9 k 7 ) , p. 1 3 k . 1 5 Savage, The Withered Branch, p. 1 5 3 . 16 Huxley, The P e r e n n i a l Philosophy, p. 299. 163 The most common misconception t h a t the c r i t i c s seem to share regarding Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism is'..'that'.'"the mystic s t a t e means the end of l i f e and of human a c t i v i t i e s . Ln a c t u a l f a c t a great p a r t of Huxley's argument i s t h a t a mystic engages i n l i f e w i t h renewed v i t a l i t y because he i s i n a s t a t e of peace and harmony with God or the d i v i n e Ground. H i s l i f e i s "more ordered i n every s t a t e " . He i s b e t t e r able to be a c t i v e . Charles G l i c k s b e r g makes the e r r o r of assuming t h a t e n t r y i n t o the mystic s t a t e means the end of p h y s i c a l l i f e and of human a c t i v i t y f o r Huxley. Mr. G l i c k s b e r g does, however, attempt to show t h a t Huxley's p i l g r i m age has been a c o n s i s t e n t development without any sudden conversions. He t r a c e s Huxley's progress through l i t e r a t u r e , a r t , s c i e n c e , eugenics, p o l i t i c s , p a c i f i s m , Marxism, r e v o l u t i o n , war. Mr. G l i c k s b e r g shows t h a t a l l of modern man's problems have been subjected to Huxley's cerebrated s c e p t i c i s m . He says t h a t Huxley moves from s o c i a l f a i t h t o i n d i v i d u a l mysticism; that he shows h i m s e l f courageous enough t o c a s t o f f the modern fads of r e l a t i v i s m i n morals and philosophy and of a t o t a l r e l i a n c e on s c i e n t i f i c method. Mr. G l i c k s b e r g sees Huxley's m o t i v a t i o n as the d e s i r e f o r s e l f - u n d e r s t a n d i n g ; Huxley s t r u g g l e s t o achieve an i d e a l of complete ness: "...the organic f u s i o n of i n t e l l i g e n c e and i n s t i n c t , mind and matter, 17 i n d i v i d u a l i s m and s o c i a l p a r t i c i p a t i o n , reason and f a i t h " . Mr. G l i c k s b e r g a s s e r t s the a u t h e n t i c i t y and consistency of Huxley's i n t e l l e c t u a l p i l g r i m a g e . I n a l a t e r a r t i c l e , however, he suggests t h a t Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism has i n t e r f e r e d w i t h h i s a b i l i t y as a n o v e l i s t , t h a t i t has, i n f a c t , made a c t i o n on any l e v e l of l i f e unnecessary. 17 Charles I . G l i c k s b e r g , "The I n t e l l e c t u a l Pilgrimage of Aldous Huxley", Dalhousie Review, v o l . 19 (1939) , p. 178. 16U For i f l i f e as we know i t and l i v e i t has no i n t r i n s i c v a l u e , i f the goal l i e s i n e t e r n i t y , i f time i s an i l l u s i o n t h a t must be c a s t o f f , there i s no f u r t h e r need f o r b o t h e r i n g w i t h the impedimenta of f i c t i o n , there i s no p o i n t i n e i t h e r reading or w r i t i n g n o v e l s . 1 " Mr. G l i c k s b e r g b e l i e v e s t h a t i f one reaches the s p i r i t u a l Nirvana, "The r e s t i s s i l e n c e " . Mr. G l i c k s b e r g , Mr. Redman and other c r i t i c s who t h i n k t h a t Huxley reached h i s " s p i r i t u a l Nirvana" with Time Must Have A Stop are probably r i g h t i f by reaching h i s " s p i r i t u a l Nirvana" they mean t h a t Huxley had f i n a l l y gained h i s h i g h - p o i n t of the m y s t i c a l experience i n terras of academic, emotional, s p i r i t u a l , i n t i m a t e b e l i e f . To suggest, however, t h a t "the r e s t i s s i l e n c e " , t h a t Huxley has stopped w r i t i n g , seems to me to be i g n o r i n g the f a c t s . In the f i r s t p l a c e , the term "Nirvana" seems to be e s s e n t i a l l y a Buddhist term and Huxley i s not a Buddhist any more than he i s a C h r i s t i a n . Huxley embraces the P e r e n n i a l Philosophy, the u n i v e r s a l q u a l i t y i n a l l great r e l i g i o n s , the Highest Common Fac t o r . The p a r t i c u l a r advantage of mysticism, so f a r as Huxley i s concerned, i s t h a t i t i s not t i e d t o any s p e c i f i c r e l i g i o n , dogma or creed. The u l t i m a t e R e a l i t y t h a t Huxley seeks i s not to be found e x c l u s i v e l y i n any l o c a l d i v i n i t y — be i t Buddha o r the C h r i s t i a n God, nor i n the d o c t r i n e s proclaimed by any p a r t i c u l a r r e l i g i o n . "What Huxley i s con cerned about i s the impersonal s p i r i t u a l r e a l i t y which u n d e r l i e s a l l t h i n g s i n a manner p a r a l l e l t o t h a t of the m o n i s t i c i d e n t i t y of p h y s i c a l substance which 18 Charles I . G l i c k s b e r g , "Huxley, The Experimental N o v e l i s t " , South A t l a n t i c Q u a r t e r l y , v o l . $2-(1953), p. 110. 165 science has shown to u n d e r l i e the d i v e r s i t y of the world. Huxley's i n t e r e s t i n mysticism seems t o be most c h a r a c t e r i z e d by a search f o r "wholeness", and "wholeness" does not seem compatible w i t h negation. The " s p i r i t u a l Nirvana" suggested by the c r i t i c s seems t o imply a complete end of p o s i t i v e a c t i v i t y of any k i n d i n t h i s p h y s i c a l l i f e . Contrary t o the c r i t i c s ' n o t i o n , Huxley i s not dead to t h i s world. A mystic need not d i v e s t h i m s e l f of a c t i v i t y i n the p h y s i c a l world; on the c o n t r a r y , he becomes more a c t i v e knowing t h a t death i t s e l f i s o n l y a greater awareness and a f u r t h e r step i n the s p i r a l of becoming, A number of the a u t h o r i t i e s on mysticism support the contention t h a t the mystic's l i f e becomes more a c t i v e and p o s i t i v e , not negative. Evelyn U n d e r h i l l s t a t e s t h a t mystics have always been taunted w i t h the suggestion t h a t t h e i r way of l i f e i s a d e n i a l of the world. M y s t i c i s m does not wrap i t s i n i t i a t e s i n a s e l f i s h and o t h e r - w o r l d l y calm; i t does not i s o l a t e them from the p a i n and e f f o r t o f common l i f e . Rather, i t gives them renewed v i t a l i t y ^ " . . . a d m i n i s t e r i n g to the human s p i r i t not — as some suppose — a soothing draught, but the most powerful of stimulants".-'-? The o n l y d e n i a l of l i f e , M i s s - U n d e r h i l l e x p l a i n s , i s the d e n i a l o f the narrow and a r t i f i c i a l w o r l d of s e l f : " . . . i n exchange (the mystic) f i n d s the s e c r e t s of t h a t mighty universe which are shared w i t h nature and God". 2 0 Miss U n d e r h i l l shows t h a t the i n t e n s e l y p r a c t i c a l energies of Joan of Arc and Florence N i g h t i n g a l e came from t h e i r deep s p i r i t u a l consciousness. They act e d under m y s t i c a l compulsion. Dean Inge a l s o contends t h a t mystics 19 U n d e r h i l l , P r a c t i c a l M y s t i c i s m , p. i x . 20 U n d e r h i l l , M y s t i c i s m , p. 260. 166 are men of a c t i o n . As a matter of f a c t , a l l the great mystics have been e n e r g e t i c and i n f l u e n t i a l , and t h e i r business c a p a c i t y i s s p e c i a l l y noted i n a c u r i o u s l y l a r g e number of cases.... P l o t i n u s was o f t e n i n request as a guardian and t r u s t e e ; S t . Bernard showed great g i f t s as an o r g a n i s e r ; S t . Teresa, as a founder of convents and admini s t r a t o r , gave evidence of e x t r a - o r d i n a r y p r a c t i c a l a b i l i t y ; even St . Juan of the Cross d i s p l a y e d the same q u a l i t i e s 21 I n the matter of mystics b e i n g e n e r g e t i c and i n f l u e n t i a l , Huxley i s no exception. Since 19kk, with Time Must Have A Stop, "the r e s t " has not been " s i l e n c e " . Huxley has continued t o p u b l i s h a t a r a t e equal t o t h a t of any other p e r i o d o f h i s l i f e . When one considers the amount of work and study needed t o produce an anthology l i k e The P e r e n n i a l Philosophy, the amount of t r a n s l a t i n g and h i s t o r i c a l background needed f o r The D e v i l s of Loudon, the amount of research i n science and s o c i o l o g y needed f o r Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Brave New World R e - V i s i t e d , Huxley's achievement becomes phenomenal. I n a d d i t i o n t o h i s p r o l i f i c output of book-length p u b l i c a t i o n s — which i n c l u d e s two novels as w e l l as r e p o r t s of s c i e n t i f i c experiments w i t h mescalin and the c o l l e c t i o n of s e v e r a l volumes of h i s own essays d e a l i n g w i t h contemporary man's problems — Huxley i s a l s o an a c t i v e member of the e d i t o r i a l board o f the bi-monthly magazine, Vedanta and the West and f r e q u e n t l y w r i t e s a r t i c l e s f o r i t . F u r t h e r , Huxley has w r i t t e n a number of i n t r o d u c t i o n s and forewords f o r p u b l i c a t i o n s on O r i e n t a l thought and f o r new t r a n s l a t i o n s of Hindu l i t e r a t u r e . I n the l i g h t of such a c t i v i t y , a charge of negation of and w i t h drawal from l i f e seems r i d i c u l o u s . Huxley, as Mr. Rolo says, "...belongs t o a species t h a t i s almost e x t i n c t : the gia n t p r o f e s s i o n a l who remains 21 Inge, C h r i s t i a n M y s t i c i s m , p. x v i i . 167 steadily productive, whose chief concern i s the l i f e of the intellect and of the s p i r i t " . 2 2 In his introduction to his book The World of Aldous Huxley, Mr. Rolo makes what seems to me a very accurate summary df Huxley's l i f e and works. Sceptic, esthete, s a t i r i s t , s t y l i s t i c virtuoso, encyclopedia of scientific fact, columnist of the family gossip known as Culture, amateur of the fantastic and expert i n human f o l l y — Huxley has been a l l of these things. But his energizing impulse has always been, as i t i s now, preoccupation xd.th the s p i r i t of man... The two Huxley brothers stand — as did their eminent ancestors — at two extreme destinations which the intellectual can reach i n an age allergic to belief and uneasy i n doubt. For Julian, "Freud i n combination with Darwin suffices." For Aldous, without divine Reality, l i f e i s "a tale told by an i d i o t " . The tale his books t e l l i s a Twentieth-Century Pilgrim's Progress, i n which Darwin, Freud and their colleagues patrol.the frontier between the realm of ape-men and the free state of God-men. He describes i n richly comic arabesques, the antics of a generation which thought i t s e l f to be the ape's off spiring, a monkey on a string agitated by animal instinct. He echoes our frustrations, articulates our dilemmas, chronicles our struggles with the Janus-headed monster that has Time on one face and Ego on the other. He has come close to writing a biography of the ideas of modem man.23 As Mr. Rolo suggests, Huxley's search for truth has involved him completely with contemporary society. Perhaps, as Professor King points out,^ no lines describe Huxley more appropriately than the following from John Donne: On a huge h i l l Cragged and steep, Truth stands, and he that w i l l Reach her, about must and about must go; And what the h i l l ' s suddenness resists, win so. - (Satire I I I , Lines 79-82.) 22 Charles Rolo, Introduction to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, New York, Harper and Brothers, 19U6, p. i x . 23 Rolo, The World of Aldous Huxley, p. xxv. 2h King, Queen's Quarterly, p. 80. 168 Huxley has gone round about but h i s movement has always been a spiral taking him toward "wholeness". He has not negated l i f e , nor run away from a relative and imperfect world. Rather he has sought some way of adding to l i f e by attempting to discover what i t means. To suggest that Huxley has found a f i n a l answer by achieving the Unitive Life of the mystic would be to misrepresent the case. His search for truth has been con sistent, leading always i n the direction of such an achievement. Because of his tendency to accept the Vedanta metaphysics, however, i t would seem that i f Huxley ever does achieve the Unitive Life described by Miss Underhill, he w i l l even then not have completed his search but merely have moved through another stage of "Becoming". In the meantime, out of his search, Huxley continues "to f e r t i l i z e those levels of existence from which /he/ sprang". ^ V.S. Pritchett, i n what seems a most penetrating a r t i c l e written i n conjunction with Harper and Brothers' publication i n August, 1959, of a new volume of Huxley's Collected Essays, says that . . . i f the electronic brain could develop the temperament of the a r t i s t , i t would become Aldous Huxley. He i s the only important novelist and man of letters to have appropriated science and the scien t i f i c attitude to literature and the arts and to have embedded them i n the f e r t i l e s o i l of traditional Western culture. Mr. Pritchett goes on to point out that ...in his early work, /Huxley sought/ to open our culture to scientific questionj and, i n his later work, to put to science questions of c i v i l i z a t i o n . He i s an educator and, lik e a l l good educators, cultivates mannerisms and asks shock questions just above our heads.26 25 Underhill, Mysticism, p. Llk. 26 V.S. Pritchett, "Quizmaster Extraordinary", New York Times Book Review, August 23, 1959, p. 5. 169 From Mr. Pritchett's comments, and from a consideration of everything Huxley has written, i t seems to me that Huxley's role in society has been considerably more positive than negative. Huxley by nature has never been a joiner nor a man of action in the sense of leading crusades, or of championing causes. Huxley's line of thought, in keeping with his psycho-physical constitution, has led consistently in the direction of a contemplative l i f e . Out of his own search for mystical union with the divine Ground of a l l Being, he has been able to put to his fellow- man the questions which should serve to shock us out of our complacent acceptance of out-moded values and our naive belief in a civilization which may, in fact, be teetering on the brink of self-destruction. 170 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. PRIMARY SOURCES A. BOOKS Huxley, Aldous. Leda. London: Chatto and Windus, 1926 / i s t ed. 1920/. . Limbo. London: Chatto and Windus, 1928 / i s t ed. 19207. . Crome Yellow. London: Penguin Books, 1955 ^Lst ed. 192]/. . Mortal Coils. London: Penguin Books, 1955 / i s t ed. 1922/, . Antic Hay. London: Penguin Books, 1955 / i s t ed. 1923/, . On the Margin. London: Chatto and Windus, 19k8 /Tst ed. 1923/, • L i t t l e Mexican. London: Chatto and Windus, I9L8 / i s t ed. 192]^/» . Those Barren Leaves. London: Penguin Books, 1955 / i s t ed. 192$/, . Along the Road. London: Chatto and Windus, 19k8 / i s t ed. 192$/. ________» Two or Three Graces. London: Chatto and Windus, 19 k9 list ed. I92I7. . Selected Poems. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1926. . Jesting Pilate. London: Chatto and Windus, 19k8 /Tst ed. 192§J, . Proper Studies. London: Chatto and Windus, 1929 / i s t ed. 192"f/, Point Counter Point. New York: Random House, The Modern Library, 1928. . Do What You W i l l . London: Chatto and Windus, 19k9 / i s t ed. 192fJ, . Brief Candles* London: Chatto and Windus, 19k8 / i s t ed. 1930/. . Music at Nigfttt. London: Chatto and Windus, 19k9 / i s t ed. 193l/. . The World of Light. London: Chatto and Windus, 1931. . Texts and Pretexts. London: Chatto and Windus, 19k0 /Tst ed. 19327 171 Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1950 fat ed. 1932/. . Beyond the Mexique Bay. London: Penguin Books, 1955 / l s t ed. 193k7« . The Olive Tree. London: Chatto and Windus, 19it7 / l s t ed. 193§J, . Eyeless i n Gaza. London: Penguin Books, 1955 ^Lst ed. 1936/. . (ed.) An Encyclopaedia of Pacifism. London: Chatto and Windus, 1937. . Ends and Means. London: Chatto and Windus, 19k6 / l s t ed. 1937/. . After Many A Summer. London: Penguin Books, 1955 /Tst ed. 1939/. . Grey Eminence. London: Chatto and Windus, 1956 /1st ed. 19hl/* . The Art of Seeing. New York and London: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 19k2. . Time Must Have A Stop. New York and London: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 19kk. . . . . . . The Perennial Philosophy. New York and London: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 19U5« Aldous Huxley Verses and a Comedy. London: Chatto and Windus, 19U6. • . Science, Liberty and Peace. London: Chatto and Windus, 191*7. . Ape and Essence. London, Chatto and Windus, 1951 ^Tst ed. 19U9/. . Themes and Variations. London: Chatto and Windus, 195k ^ Lst ed. 195P7. . The Devils of Loudun. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1952. . Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1956 /Tsted. 1952/. • . . . - • The Doors of Perception. London: Chatto and Windus, 1956 / l s t ed. 19557. 172 Huxley, Aldous. The Genius and the Goddess. London: Chatto and Windus, 19$$. ~ . Heaven and Hell. London: Chatto and Windus, 1956. • Brave Hew World Revisited. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1958. B. INTRODUCTIONS, PERIODICALS AND PAMPHLETS Huxley, Aldous. "Introduction", The Discovery. A play by Mrs. Frances Sheridan adapted for the modern stage by Aldous Huxley. London: Chatto and Windus, 192k. . "Introduction", The Letters of D.H. Lawrence. New York: The Viking Press, 1936. . . . • • • . What Are You Going To Do About It? London: Chatto and Windus, 19357 . "Foreword to an Essay on the Indian Philosophy of Peace", Vedanta and the West, v o l . 13 (January - February, 1950), pp. l6-2k. . "Foreword", The Supreme Doctrine: Psychological Studies i n Zen Thought. Written by Hubert Benoit. New York: The Viking Press, TS%1. . "Introduction", Bhagavad-Gita. Translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood. New York: Mentor Religious Classics, The New American Library, 195U* 1?3 I I . SECONDARY SOURCES A. BOOKS A l d r i d g e , John ¥. ( e d . ) . C r i t i q u e s and Essays on Modern F i c t i o n . New York: Ronald Press and Company, 1952. A t k i n s , John A l f r e d . Aldous Huxley. London: J . Calder, 1956. Bhagavad - G i t a . T r a n s l a t e d by Swami Prabhavanarida and Christopher Isherwood w i t h an i n t r o d u c t i o n by Aldous Huxley. New York: Mentor R e l i g i o u s C l a s s i c s , The New American L i b r a r y , 195U» B e n o i t , Hubert. The Supreme D o c t r i n e : P s y c h o l o g i c a l Studies i n Zen Thought. I n t r o d u c t i o n by Aldous Huxley. New York: The V i k i n g P ress, 1951. Brewster, Dorothy. Modern F i c t i o n . New York: Columbia U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 193k. Burke, Kenneth. A R h e t o r i c o f Motives. New York: P r e n t i c e - H a l l Incorporated, 1952. B u r t t , E.A. (ed.) The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha. New York: Mentor R e l i g i o u s C l a s s i c s , The New American L i b r a r y , 1955* C o l l i n s , A.S. E n g l i s h L i t e r a t u r e of the Twentieth Century. London: U n i v e r s i t y T u t o r i a l Press L i m i t e d , 193k. Guenon, Rene'. Man and H i s Becoming According to the Vedanta. T r a n s l a t e d by R.C. Nicholson. New York: The* Noonday Press, 1958. Heard, G e r a l d . The Source of C i v i l i z a t i o n . London: Jonathan Cape, T h i r t y Bedford Square, 1935. Henderson, Alexander. Aldous Huxley. New York and London: Harper and Brothers P u b l i s h e r s , 1936. Humphreys, Christmas. Buddhism. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1951. Inge, W i l l i a m Ralph. C h r i s t i a n M y s t i cism . New York: L i v i n g Age Books, P u b l i s h e d by Meridian Books, 1956 / l s t ed. 18997* James, W i l l i a m . V a r i e t i e s of R e l i g i o u s Experience. ( G i f f o r d l e c t u r e s given a t Edinburgh 1901 - 1902). New York: Mentor Books, The New American L i b r a r y , 1958. Joad, C i E.M. Return t o Philosophy. London: Faber and Faber L i m i t e d , 1935. 17H, K o e s t l e r , A r t h u r . The Yogi and the Commissar. New York: Macmillan Company, 1914.6. . • The Age of Longing. S t . James P l a c e , London: C o l l i n s P u b l i s h e r s , 1951. K u n i t z , S.J., and H a y c r a f t , H. ( e d s . ) . Twentieth Century Authors. New York: H.W. Wilson,Company, 19k2. Lawrence, D.H. The L e t t e r s of D.H. Lawrence. Foreword by Aldous Huxley. New York: The V i k i n g P r e s s , 1 9 3 6 . Leuba, James H. The Psychology of R e l i g i o u s Mysticism. London: Kegan P a u l , Trench,.Trubner and Company, L i m i t e d , 1925. Quennell, P e t e r . "Aldous Huxley". L i v i n g W r i t e r s . E d i t e d by G i l b e r t Phelps. London: Sylvan Press, 19k7» Pecheron, Maurice. Buddha and Buddhism. T r a n s l a t e d by Edmund St a p l e t o n . New York: Harper and B r o t h e r s , 195U. Radhakrishnan, S. E a s t e r n R e l i g i o u s and Western Thought. London: Oxford U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1955 / I s t ed. 1939/. ' R u s s e l l , Bertrand. M y s t i c i s m and L o g i c . New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957 / i s t ed. 19177^ Savage, D.S. The Withered Branch. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1950. Sheridan, Mrs. Frances (Chamberlaine). The Discovery. A p l a y adapted f o r the modern stage by Aldous Huxley. London: Chatto and Windus, 1 9 2 k . Suzuki, D.T. Zen Buddhism. E d i t e d by W i l l i a m B a r r e t t . New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1956. The Upanishads. T r a n s l a t e d by Swami Prabhavananda and F r e d e r i c k Manchestor. New York: Mentor R e l i g i o u s C l a s s i c s , The New American L i b r a r y , 1957. The World of Aldous Huxley. E d i t e d and w i t h an i n t r o d u c t i o n by Charles Rolo. New York and London: Harper and Brothers P u b l i s h e r s , 19k7« T i n d a l l , W i l l i a m York. Forces i n Modern B r i t i s h L i t e r a t u r e , 1885-1956. New York: Vintage Books, 1956. U n d e r h i l l , Evelyn. P r a c t i c a l M ysticism. London: J.M. Dent and Sons L i m i t e d , 191k. . M y s t i c i s m . New York:Meridian Books, 1957. / F s * . ed. 1910/. 175 Ward, Alfred Charles. The Nineteen-Twenties. London: Methuen and Company, Limited, 1930. Watkin, Edward Ingram. The Philosophy of Mysticism. London: Grant Richards Limited, 1922. Zimraer, Heinrich. Philosophies of India. Edited by Joseph Campbell. New York: Meridian Books, 1956 /1st ed. 1951/r. B. ARTICLES AND PERIODICALS Adams, J. Donald. "A New Novel by Aldous Huxley", New York Times Book Review, Sunday, July 19, 1936, p . l . Amis, Kingsley, "Dreams of a Spirit Seer", Spectator, vol. 196 (March 16, 1956), pp. 338-310. Arvin, Newton. "Huxley's New Novel", New Republic, v o l . 88 (August 19, 1936), p. 51. Baldanza, Frank. "Point Counter Point: Aldous Huxley on 'The Human Fugue'," The South Atlantic Quarterly, Spring, 1959. Baker, Carlos. "The Necessity of Love", The Nation, v o l . 181 (August 27, 1955), P. 178. Barzun, Jacques. "The Anti - Modem Essays of Aldous Huxley", The London Magazine, v o l . k (August, 1957), pp. 5l-55« Burgura, E.B. "Aldous Huxley and His DyingcSwan", Antioch Review, vol. 2 (March, 191*2), pp. 62-75. Cass, Cashenden. " I r a s c i b i l i t y i n Love with Love", New Republic, vol. 133 (September 12, 1955), pp. 16-17. Catlin, George. "Time and Aldous Huxley", The Saturday Review, vol. 21 (January 27, 19kO), p. $. Champness. H.M. "Aldous Huxley at Sixty", Spectator, v o l . 193 (July 23, 1951*), p. 109. Chesterton, G.K. "The End of the Modems", London Mercury, v o l . 27 (January, 1933), pp. 228-233. Cooney, Thos. E. "The Intellect vs. the Sp i r i t " , Saturday Review, vol. 38, (August 20, 1955), PP. 9-11. "C r i t i c a l Symposium on Aldous Huxley", London Magazine, vol. 2 (August, 1955), p. 60. 176 Curie, Richard. "Mr. Huxley Looks at Life " , Saturday Review of Literature, vol. 5 (October 13, 1 9 2 8 ) , p. 211. Cushing, E. "Huxley i n Propria Persona", Saturday Review of Literature, vol. 8 (July 25, 1 9 3 1 ) , p. 3- Daiches, David. "The Novels of Aldous Huxley", New Republic, vol. 100 ( 1 9 3 9 ) , P P . 362-365. Davies, Robertson. "Spiritual Travel", Saturday Night, vol. 7 0 (May 12, 1956), p. 19. Edinborough, Arnold. "Truth and Fiction", Saturday Night, vol. 72 (August 31, 1937) , .pp._23-2U. Fremantle, Anne. "Feet of Clay", Commonweal, vol. 63 (December 30, 1955), p. 337. . "Huxley's Mysticism", Commonweal, vol. 1*0 (September 15, 19UU), 5 p T T l 9 - 5 2 0 . Glicksberg, C.I. "Aldous Huxley: Art and Mysticism", Prairie Schooner, vol. 27 (1953), pp. 3UU-353. . "Huxley, the Experimental Novelist", South Atlantic Quarterly, vol. 52 (1953), pp. 98-110. . "The Intellectual Pilgrimage of Aldous Huxley", Dalhousie Review, vol. 19 (1939), pp. 165-178. . . . "The Religious Revival i n Contemporary Literature", Western Humanities Review, vol. 11, (Winter, 1957), pp. 65-78. Grimsditch, H.B. "Aldous Huxley", Chambers Encyclopaedia, v o l . 7 (1950), p. 3 2 0 . Grube, G.M.A. "Philosophy of Balance", Canadian Forum, vol. 16 (September, . 1 9 3 6 , ) , p. 25-26. Hamilton, Robert. "Aldous Huxley", Nineteenth Century, v o l . 138 (October, 191*5), pp. 177-181*. Hazlitt, Henry. "Mr. Huxley Settles Down", Nation, v o l . 1 3 3 (August 1 9 , 1 9 3 1 ) , p. 1 8 6 . . . Hicks, Granville. "Huxley Revisited", Saturday Review, (November 15, 1958), p. 12. .. Hoffman, Frederick-J. "Aldous Huxley and the Novel of Ideas", College English, v o l . 8 (19U6), p. 130. 177 Jack, Peter Monro. "A New Novel by Aldous Huxley", The New York Times Book Review, January 28, 19 kO, p.2. Kirkwood, M.M. "The Thought of Aldous Huxley", University of Toronto Quarterly, v o l . 6 (January 1937), pp. l89-19o\ Kooestra, A. "Aldous Huxley", English Studies, vol. 13 (1931), pp. I6I-I67, King, Garlyle A. "Aldous Huxley's Way to God", Queens Quarterly, v o l . 61 (Spring, 195k), pp. 80-100. . Krutch, Joseph Wood, "Aldous Huxley Again", Nation, v o l . 127 (October 31, 1928, p. 1£6. _. "An Elegant F u t i l i t a r i a n " , Literary Review of the New York Herald Tribune, (March k, 1922), . p . T j S E . . "Antic Horror", Literary Review of the New York Herald Tribune,.(December 29, 1923), p. k03. . "Divine Philosophy", Nation, v o l . 120 (February 18, 1925), pp. 190-191. . "More Barren Leaves", Nation, v o l . 122 (June 2, 1926), p. 612. "Manual of Mysticism", Time, v o l . k6 (September 2k, 19k5), pp. 31-32. Martin, Kingsley. "Brave New World", New Statesman, (February 21, 1959) pp. 262-263. Matson, Floyd. "Aldous and Heaven Too", Antioch Review, vol. l k ( F a l l , 195k), pp. 293-309. Merton, Thomas J. "Huxley's Pantheon", Catholic World, vol. 152 (November, 19k0), pp..206-209. Nagarajan, S. "Religion i n Three Recent Novels of Aldous Huxley", Modern Fiction Studies, v o l . 5 (Summer, 1959), pp. 153-165•- Nicholson, Norman. "Aldous Huxley and the Mystics", Fortnightly, v o l . 161 (February, 19k7), pp. 131-135. "Mr. Huxley's Dark Vision", The Times Literary Supplement, (October l k , 1939), p. 591. 178 Osmond, H. "Peeping Tom and Doubting Thomas", Twentieth Century, v o l . 155 (June, 1 9 5 U ) , pp. 5 2 1 - 5 2 6 . Parmenter, Ross. "Huxley a t Forty-Three", Saturday Review of L i t e r a t u r e , v o l . 27 (March 1 9 , 1938), pp. 1 0 - 1 1 . Peterson, V i r g i l i a . "A New Huxley Novel t h a t Looks a t L i f e and Pas s i o n " , New York H e r a l d Tribune Book Review, v o l . 32 (August 28, 1 9 5 5 ) , pp. 1-8. P r i t c h e t t , V.S. "Quizmaster E x t r a o r d i n a r y " , New York Times Book Review, (August 2 3 , 1 9 5 9 ) , p. 5 . Redman, Ben Ray. "From Time to E t e r n i t y " , Saturday Review o f L i t e r a t u r e , v o l . 27 (September 2 , 19UU), p. 7. " R e l i g i o n and the I n t e l l e d t u a l s : A Symposium", P a r t i s a n Review, v o l . 27 (February, March, A p r i l , May, 1 9 5 0 ) , pp. 103-1L2, 215 -256 , 313 -339 , U 5 6 - U 8 3 . Rolo, Charles J . "Aldous Huxley", The A t l a n t i c Monthly, v o l . 180 (August, 1 9 U 7 ) , pp. 1 0 9 - 1 1 5 . ;. "Reader's Choice", A t l a n t i c Monthly, v o l . 202 ( J u l y , 1 9 5 8 ) , pp. 166-168. Sparrow, John. "Mr. Huxley Among the P h i l i s t i n e s " , Spectator, v o l . 166 (June 19, 1936), p.1138. Spencer, Theodore. "Aldous Huxley: The La t e s t Phase", A t l a n t i c Monthly, - v o l . 165 (March, . 1 9 U 0 ) , pp. U 0 7 - L 0 9 . S c h n e l l , Jonathan. "Books: A Causerie", Forum, v o l . 96 (September, 1936), p. i v - v i i . S o skin, W i l l i a m . "From Hollywood t o R e l i g i o n " , New York H e r a l d Tribune Books, v o l . 1 6 -(January, 1 9 U 0 ) , p. 2 ; Stevens, George. "Aldous Huxley's Man of Good W i l l " , Saturday Review of L i t e r a t u r e , v o l . l U ( J u l y 1 1 , 1 9 3 6 ) , pp. 3-U. Sutherland, A. "Aldous Huxley's Mind a t Large", Twentieth Century, v o l . 155 (May, 1 9 5 U ) , pp. U U 1 - U U 9 . • "The P e r e n n i a l Prophet", Times L i t e r a r y Supplement, (February 2 7 , 1 9 5 9 ) , pp. 1 0 5 - 1 0 6 . 179 Thomas, Norman, "Religion and C i v i l i z a t i o n " , The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 180 (August, 19U7), pp. 33-36. T r i l l i n g , Diana. "The Faith of Aldous Huxley", Nation, vol. 159, (September 2, 19kk), p. 270. Troy, William. "Huxley Agonistes", The Nation, vol. Ik3 (July 11, 1936), pp. U9-50. Tindall, William York. "The Trouble with Aldous Huxley", American Scholar, vol. 11 (Autumn, 19k2), pp. k52-k6k. Voorhees, R.J. "The Perennial Huxley", Prairie Schooner, v o l . 23 (I9k9), pp. 189-192. Webster, H.T. "Aldous Huxley: Notes on a Moral Evolution", South Atlantic Quarterly, v o l . 1*5 (191*6), pp. 372-383. West, Anthony. "New Novels", The New Statesman and Nation, v o l . 16, (October lk,.1939), p. 52U. Wilson, Edmund. "Aldous Huxley i n the World Beyond Time", New Yorker, vol. 22 (September 2, 19kk), p. 6k. Winfield, H. Rogers. "Aldous Huxley's Humanism", Sewanee Review, v o l . U3 (1935), pp. 262-269. Woodburn, John. "Depraved New World", Saturday Review of Literature, v o l . 31 (August 21, 19U8), p. 8.. Woodcock, George. "Mexico and the English Novelists", Western Review, vo l . 21 (Autumn, 1956), pp. 21-32. Watts, Harold H. "Aldous Huxley", Colliers Encyclopedia, v o l . 10 (1950), p. 295. C. PAMPHLETS Brooke, Jocelyn. Aldous Huxley, Writers and Their Work: No. 55» London and New York: published for Br i t i s h Council by Longmans, Green, 195U. Lewis, C. Day. We're not going to do NOTHING. London: The Left Review, 1936. . Savage, D.S. Mysticism and Aldous Huxley. New York: Yonkers, The Alicat Bookshop Press, 19k7« 186 D. UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL Bowersox, Hermann Clay. "Aldous Huxley: The Defeat of Youth". Doctoral dissertation, Graduate School, University of Chicago, Chicago, I l l i n o i s , June, 19li3« (Inter-library loan.) Dykstra, Emanuel David. "Aldous Huxley: The Development of a Mystic". Doctoral dissertation, Graduate College, State University of Iowa, August, 1957. ^Purchased on microfilm by the University of British Columbia Library, January, 19BftJ" t Wilson, McNeil Lowry. "Aldous Huxley: Humanist and Mystic". Doctoral dissertation, Graduate School, University of I l l i n o i s , Urbana, I l l i n o i s , 19U1. (Inter-library loan.)
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Aldous Huxley: the progressive interest in mysticism shown in his prose works Fulton, Ethel Margaret 1960-12-31
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