вЂњAnother thing weвЂ™re just beginning to understand,вЂќ said Vijaya, вЂњis the neurological correlate of these experiences. That means that, for about fifteen percent of the population, we have to find other approaches to liberation.вЂќ Robert, вЂњweвЂ™ve found that the people whose EEG doesnвЂ™t show any alpha-wave activity when theyвЂ™re relaxed arenвЂ™t likely to respond significantly to the moksha-medicine. вЂњAnd weвЂ™re trying all the time to find out more,вЂќ Vijaya added. вЂњ Do you know what goes on inside your skull, when youвЂ™ve taken a dose of the mushroom?вЂќ вЂњAn experience can be real in relation to something going on inside your skull but completely irrelevant to anything outside.вЂќ вЂњYouвЂ™re begging the question,вЂќ Will objected. вЂњYou might as well say that the experience of feeling well isnвЂ™t real.вЂќ HeвЂ™s outraged by the fact that, with four hundred milligrams of moksha-medicine in their bloodstreams, even beginners-yes, and even boys and girls who make love together-can catch a glimpse of the world as it looks to someone who has been liberated from his bondage to the ego.вЂќ вЂњMurugan,вЂќ Vijaya explained to Will, вЂњis one of the Puritans. experience that you get with the moksha-medicine, or through prayer and fasting and spiritual exercises.В Even if it doesnвЂ™t refer to anything outside itself, itвЂ™s still the most important thing that ever happened to you. вЂњBecause the real thing only comes to people after years and years of meditation and tapas and. вЂњAll I mean is that I donвЂ™t want any of your false samadhi.вЂќ вЂњSeeing that, in your normal condition, you alone of the human race are never made a fool of and never have illusions about anything!вЂќ вЂњWhy indeed?вЂќ said Vijaya with good-humored irony. вЂњWhy should I go out of my way to be made a fool of?вЂќ вЂњAll it gives you is a lot of illusions,вЂќ he muttered. вЂњWhat does His Highness say to that?вЂќ Will asked. For him, itвЂ™s dope and dope is something that, by definition, no decent person ever indulges in.вЂќ Whereas our young friend here has no firsthand knowledge of the stuff and canвЂ™t be persuaded even to give it a try. And we know, by direct experience, that the good names are deserved. We, on the contrary, give the stuff good names-the moksha-medicine, the reality revealer, the truth-and-beauty pill. Having had the misfortune to be brought up in Europe, Murugan calls it dope and feels about it all the disapproval that, by conditioned reflex, the dirty word evokes. The Western visitors, unable to consider the medicine as anything but an intoxicant, refer to the psychedelic mushrooms as вЂњdope.вЂќ The doctor is ready with a reply (page 165): Robert is trying to get the foreigners to understand the value of the local вЂњ moksha-medicineвЂќ - psilocybin mushrooms - and the mystical experience it produces. In this scene, two Westerners, Murugan and Will, are interacting with two natives of the Island utopia, Dr Robert and Vijaya. If I mentioned every noteworthy line, IвЂ™d end up reprinting the whole book, so IвЂ™ll limit myself to a couple highlights. I want to share a couple excerpts of this remarkable book with you. This bookвЂ™s main strength is in elaborating a great thinkerвЂ™s vision of a truly civilized society. Some have criticized the bookвЂ™s characterization and plot, but in IslandВ theseВ are secondary. In Island, Huxley lays out the structure for an ideal society while making piercing criticisms of modern Western culture.ДЄs the title indicates, HuxleyвЂ™s utopia is set on a small island, far removed from modern technology and divisive global politics. One of my favorite books is Islandby Aldous Huxley, a book often prized by psychonauts and others who enjoy looking at society from the outside in.

The island huxley