Island (ISBN 0-06-008549-5) is a novel by Aldous Huxley that was first published in 1962. It is the account of Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist who is shipwrecked on the fictional island of Pala. Island is Huxley's utopian counterpart to his famous Brave New World. The ideas that would become Island can be seen in a foreword written twenty years after the original publication of Brave New World: Image File history File links Islandfhjkm. ... Image File history File links Islandfhjkm. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Journalist (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Brave New World (disambiguation). ...

If I were now to rewrite the book, I would offer the Savage a third alternative. Between the Utopian and primitive horns of his dilemma would lie the possibility of sanity... In this community economics would be decentralist and Henry-Georgian, politics Kropotkinesque co-operative. Science and technology would be used as though, like the Sabbath, they had been made for man, not, (as at present and still more so in 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 immanent Tao or Logos, the transcendent Godhead or Brahman. And the prevailing philosophy of life would be a kind of Higher Utilitarianism, in which the Greatest Happiness principle would be secondary to the Final End principle–the first question to be asked and answered in every contingency of life being: "How will this thought or action contribute to, or interfere with, the achievement, by me and the greatest possible number of other individuals, of man's Final End?"

John the Savage is a fictional character from Brave New World. ... For other uses, see Utopia (disambiguation). ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... Henry George Georgism, named after Henry George (1839-1897), is a philosophy and economic ideology that follows from the belief that everyone owns what they create, but everything supplied by nature, most importantly land, belongs equally to all humanity. ... For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ... Prince Peter (Pyotr) Alexeyevich Kropotkin (Russian: ) (December 9, 1842–February 8, 1921) was one of Russias foremost anarchists and one of the first advocates of anarchist communism: the model of society he advocated for most of his life was that of a communalist society free from central government. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the surface of the Earth for the first time and explore space. ... For other uses, see Sabbath. ... Immanence is a religious and philosophical concept. ... This article is about the Chinese character and the philosophy it represents. ... This article is about logos (logoi) in ancient Greek philosophy, mathematics, rhetoric, Theophilosophy, and Christianity. ... In religion, transcendence is a condition or state of being that surpasses, and is independent of, physical existence. ... In Christianity, the Godhead is a unit consisting of God the Father, Jesus Christ (the Son), and the Holy Spirit. ... This page deals with the Hindu concept of The Supreme Reality. ... This article discusses utilitarian ethical theory. ...

Major themes

Island explores many of the themes and ideas that interested Huxley in the Post World War II decades, and were the subject of many of his nonfiction books of essays, Including Brave New World Revisited, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, The Doors of Perception, and The Perennial Philosophy. Some of these themes and ideas include overpopulation, ecology, modernity, democracy, mysticism, entheogens, and somatotypes. This is the article about the novel by Aldous Huxley. ... Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is the opening line of one of the most famous soliloquys from Shakespears Macbeth. ... The Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences when taking mescaline. ... Perennial Philosophy is a term that is often used as a synonym for Sanatana Dharma (Sanskrit for Eternal or Perennial Truth). It was used by Leibniz to designate the common, eternal philosophy that underlies all religious movements, in particular the mystical streams within religions. ... Map of countries by population density (See List of countries by population density. ... For the journal, see Ecology (journal). ... Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being modern. Since the term modern is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be understood in its context. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This entry covers entheogens in the strict sense of the word (i. ... The three somatotypes—endomorphic, mesomorphic, and ectomorphic—are basic classifications of animal body types according to the prominence of different basic tissues types, roughly: digestive, muscular, and nervous tissues. ...

Common background elements occur in both Island and Brave New World, used for good in the former and for ill in the latter. Such elements include:

Theme comparison
Island	Brave New World
Drug use for enlightenment, and self-knowledge	Drug use for pacification
Group living (in the form of Mutual Adoption Clubs) so that children would not have unalloyed exposure to their parents' neuroses	Group living for the elimination of individuality.
Trance states for super learning	Trance states for indoctrination
Assisted reproduction (low-tech artificial insemination)	Assisted reproduction (high-tech test-tube babies)
Natural methods of contraception, expressive sex	Universal forced sterilization, meaningless sex
Dangerous climb to a temple, as spiritual preparation	Violent Passion Surrogate
Parrots trained to utter uplifting slogans	Ubiquitous loud speakers

The culture of Pala is the offspring of a Scottish secular humanist medical doctor, shipwrecked on the island in the 19th century, who partners with the Pala's Raja, who embodies the island's Mahayana Buddhist tradition, to create a society that merges the best, in Huxley's view, of East and West. The Old Raja's philosophical treatise Notes on What's What is a book within the book that explain's Pala's philosophical foundations. Secular humanism is a humanist philosophy that upholds reason, ethics, and justice, and specifically rejects the supernatural and the spiritual as warrants of moral reflection and decision-making. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Raja (disambiguation). ... Relief image of the bodhisattva Kuan Yin from Mt. ...

A central element of Palanese society is restrained industrialization, undertaken with the goal of providing fulfilling work and time for leisure and contemplation. For the Palanese, progress means a selective attitude towards technology, which Huxley contrasts to the underdeveloped poverty of the neighboring island of Rendang, and with the alienating overdevelopment of the industrialized West, chiefly through Will Farnaby's recollections of London. The Palanese embrace modern science and technology to improve medicine and nutrition, but have rejected widespread industrialization. For example, hydroelectricity is made available for refrigeration, so that surplus fresh food can be stored, improving nutrition and protecting against food shortages. Huxley viewed this selective modernization as essential for his "sane" society, even if it means that such a society is unable to militarily defend itself from its "insane" neighbors who wish to steal its natural resources. The Palanese also circumspectly incorporated the use of "moksha medicine", a fictional entheogenic mushroom taken ceremonially in rites of passage for mystical and cosmological insight. The moksha mushroom is described as "yellow" and not "those lovely red toadstools", e.g. the Amanita muscaria; this description of the moksha medicine is suggestive of Psilocybe mushrooms, a psychoactive that captivated Huxley during the latter half of his life. The recommended dosage of 400 mg, however, is in the dosage range of mescaline as opposed to psilocybin. Huxley had also been fascinated towards the end of his life by the potential benefit to humanity of substances such as mescaline and LSD. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Hydroelectricity is electricity produced by hydropower. ... Moksha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... This entry covers entheogens in the strict sense of the word (i. ... For other uses, see Mushroom (disambiguation). ... Binomial name (L.:Fr. ... Type species Psilocybe montana Species List of Psilocybe species Psilocybe is a genus of small mushrooms growing worldwide. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Psilocybin (also known as psilocybine) is a psychedelic alkaloid of the tryptamine family, found in psilocybin mushrooms. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called LSD, LSD-25, or acid. ...

Aldous Huxley made philosophical observations about the nature of death while two mantids (Gongylus gongyloides) mated in the sight of two characters. In another memorable scene, Will Farnaby watches a Palanese version of Oedipus Rex with a little girl. Will points out that in his version Oedipus pokes his eyes out. The girl replies that that is silly, since all the king had to do was stop being married to his mother. Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... A praying mantis, or praying mantid, is the common name for an insect of the order Mantodea. ... Oedipus the King (also known as Oedipus Rex and Oedipus Tyrannos) is a Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles around 427 BC. The play was the second of Sophocles three Theban plays to be produced, but its events occur before those of Oedipus at Colonus or Antigone. ...

In seeking to reconcile western science and eastern mysticism, Island can be considered a more intelligent and circumspect manifestation of the New Age Movement. This novel has served as the inspiration for the Island Foundation, a non-profit corporation "dedicated to the creation of a psychedelic culture." New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ...

Quotes

"And always, everywhere, there would be the yelling or quietly authoritative hypnotists; and in the train of the ruling suggestion givers, always everywhere, the tribes of buffoons and hucksters, the professional liars, the purveyors of entertaining irrelevances. Conditioned from the cradle, unceasingly distracted, mesmerized systematically, their uniformed victims would go on obediently marching and countermarching, go on, always and everywhere, killing and dying with the perfect docility of trained poodles. And yet in spite of the entirely justified refusal to take yes for an answer, the fact remained and would remain always, remain everywhere -- the fact that there was this capacity even in a paranoiac for intelligence, even in a devil worshipper for love; the fact that the ground of all being could be totally manifest in a flowering shrub, a human face; the fact that there was a light and that this light was also compassion"

"History is the record of what human beings have been impelled to do by their ignorance and the enormous bumptiousness that makes them canonize their ignorance as a political or religious dogma."

From the Notes on What's What:

Nobody needs to go anywhere else. We are all, if we only knew it, already there. If I only knew who in fact I am, I should cease to behave as what I think I am; and if I stopped behaving as what I think I am, I should know who I am. What in fact I am, if only the Manichee I think I am would allow me to know it, is the reconciliation of yes and no lived out in total acceptance and the blessed experience of Not-Two. In religion all words are dirty words. Anybody who gets eloquent about Buddha, or God, or Christ, ought to have his mouth washed out with carbolic soap.

Good Being is knowing who in fact we are; and in order to know who in fact we are, we must first know, moment by moment, who we think we are and what this bad habit of thought compels us to feel and do. A moment of clear and complete knowledge of what we think we are, but in fact are not, puts a stop, for the moment, to the Manichean charade. If we renew, until they become a continuity, these moments of the knowledge of what we are not, we may find ourselves all of a sudden, knowing who in fact we are.

Faith is something very different from belief. Belief is the systematic taking of unanalysed words much too seriously. Paul's words, Mohammed's words, Marx's words, Hitler's words - people take them too seriously, and what happens?
What happens is the senseless ambivalence of history - sadism versus duty, or (incomparably worse) sadism as duty; devotion counterbalanced by organized paranoia; sisters of charity selflessly tending to the victims of their own church's inquisitors and crusaders. Faith, on the contrary, can never be taken too seriously. For faith is the empirically justified confidence in our capacity to know who in fact we are, to forget the belief-intoxicated Manichee in Good Being. Give us this day our daily Faith, but deliver us, dear God, from Belief.

External links

• Island ( 1962 ) by Aldous Huxley
• Thoughts on Aldous Huxley's "Island"