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There has been a welcome emphasis in the last decade on the importance of mysticism in the work of Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) from several scholars, including Dana Sawyer, Jeffrey Kripal and K.S. Gill. Less attention has been paid to Huxley’s interest in the paranormal and his contacts with the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). While Huxley did not join the SPR until 1956, he closely followed its Journal and Proceedings, and wrote a number of essays on the subject of psychical research. I examine his treatment of spiritualism in the play The World of Light (1931) and in the novel Time Must Have a Stop (1944). In his experiments with mescaline and LSD, Huxley also drew on key thinkers from psychical research, namely Henri Bergson, C.D. Broad and William James. In this article, I examine Huxley’s links with the SPR and the role of psychical research in his work.
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2
Ibid., 420.
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20
Heard, Ascent, 14. See also Falby, Between the Pigeonholes, 66.
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21
See Kripal, Authors of the Impossible, 62. For altered states of consciousness, see Graham St John, ‘Spiritual Technologies’, 204–208.
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25
See ibid., 118–119.
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32
Heard, p. 300.
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34
Huxley, ‘Mind Reading’, 165–166. On Rhine see Luckhurst, The Invention of Telepathy, 252–253 and Hess, Science in the New Age, 8.
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41
See Huxley, Perennial Philosophy, 209, 211. For a discussion of Myer’s use of the term ‘super-conscious’, see Kripal, Authors of the Impossible, 63.
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42
Ibid., 68.
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46
Ibid., 215.
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48
Ibid., 165.
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49
Ibid., 252.
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52
Huxley, Devils of Loudun, 103–104. For Huxley’s essay on Jungian types, see ‘Varieties of Intelligence’; for a discussion of Jung’s influence on Huxley, see Meckier, From Poet to Mystic, 263–266.
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55
See James, Human Immortality, 13–14. See also Marshall, Mystical Encounters, 237.
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56
Ibid., 21–22.
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60
Ibid., 155.
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62
Ferriss, Harry Stump, 76. I am indebted to the anonymous peer-reviewer for bringing my attention to this text.
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66
Ibid., 77.
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71
See ibid., 727–728.
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72
Huxley, Heaven and Hell, 78–79. The accepted spelling of the drug is now ‘mescaline’, whereas at the time Huxley was conducting his experiments it was spelt ‘mescalin’.
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73
See Ibid., 81–83.
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74
Ibid., 107.
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75
Ibid., 111.
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76
Ibid., 110–111.
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Search for other papers by Jake Poller in
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There has been a welcome emphasis in the last decade on the importance of mysticism in the work of Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) from several scholars, including Dana Sawyer, Jeffrey Kripal and K.S. Gill. Less attention has been paid to Huxley’s interest in the paranormal and his contacts with the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). While Huxley did not join the SPR until 1956, he closely followed its Journal and Proceedings, and wrote a number of essays on the subject of psychical research. I examine his treatment of spiritualism in the play The World of Light (1931) and in the novel Time Must Have a Stop (1944). In his experiments with mescaline and LSD, Huxley also drew on key thinkers from psychical research, namely Henri Bergson, C.D. Broad and William James. In this article, I examine Huxley’s links with the SPR and the role of psychical research in his work.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 855 | 166 | 4 |
| Full Text Views | 258 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 73 | 13 | 0 |