In this episode we unpack British novelist and public intellectual Aldous Huxley's 1954 essay "The Doors of Perception."
This essay explores...
Links to Reading & Articles mentioned
The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
General Resonance Theory (paper)
Entropic Brain Hypothesis (paper)
Nested Observer Windows (paper)
The Bhagavad Gita translation by Eknath Easwaran
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
*note* reading is not required to enjoy this episode!
Host: Zach Stehura UnpackingIdeas.com
Guest: Nikki Johnson linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-johnson-free-thinker/
Theme Music: Polyenso
Timestamps
00:00:00 introduction
00:03:05 background about Huxley’s trip
00:05:58 the challenge of trying to communicate direct experience
00:11:30 Nikki's multi-sphere model of consciousness
00:14:28 the various terms for “God”
00:16:36 the reducing-valve theory of consciousness
00:27:52 types of people who filter out less primary consciousness
00:28:09 The Artist
00:31:26 The Schizophrenic
00:35:40 The Genius
00:36:33 the terror of witnessing God directly
00:43:06 the morality of the contemplative life
00:46:32 Huxley’s conception of enlightenment
00:48:46 the desire for self-transcendence
00:50:45 the war on psychedelics
00:54:27 integrating lessons from past lives
00:56:15 how a psychedelic experience changes a person’s character
00:57:23 wrapping up/outro
