Here is a draft of my most recent Huxley paper. There are some flaws, but it was a good exercise.
In the final years of his life Aldous Huxley spent nearly five years toying with his final novel Island before its publication in 1962. It is, in the Huxley tradition, a novel of ideas, yet unlike his earlier work it seems to recommend more than it rebukes. This change has set Island into disfavor among some critics who tend to be most content with focusing on Huxleys earlier works, namely Brave New World and Point Counter Point. Indeed, Island lacks the kind of plot and themes that make Brave New World so popular and it does not seem to be an ironic antithesis as Point Counter Point is. Still, perhaps Islands importance is misplaced and belied in regard to Huxleys work and the history of ideas because of its inherent characteristics as a utopian novel which make Huxleys already typically thin plots and lack of traditional character development all the more sparse. As Huxley himself said, The story has too much weight, in the way of ideas and reflections, to carry. Island then does not lend itself well to plot or character analysis, but even choosing to focus solely on the practical suggestions for which the characters serve as mouthpieces leads to a neglect of an underlying method and purpose. For what Huxley really wants to do in Island is to combine the, best features of East and West.
Despite the acknowledged lack of character development Will Farnaby, the skeptical journalist who comes to Pala (Huxleys utopian Island) as a man burdened with the troubles which a western life and education have brought upon him, is worth examining at the beginning of this investigation. It is Wills skepticism which allows for his own reeducation and that invokes the insights Huxley wishes to share in a fairly typical utopian manner. Will early on describes himself as The man who wont take yes for an answer (15). This skeptical inclination and an insatiable curiosity evokes a long explanation of how the society of the Pala works. The inquisiton is not undertaken by someone ready to praise the accomplishments of the Palanese, but by a reluctant and intelligent man. In some ways this skepticism is reminiscent of Huxleys own character, especially during the early part of his life in which his skepticism made him famous, and before his interest in eastern philosophies. It seems proper and important to make the correlation. Will is the man who, wont take yes for an answer, but perhaps only because he has not found answers that satisfy him. The changes in Wills character come about after a process of considerable deliberation over the ways the Palanese have chosen for their society. To understand this process, and avoid the type over-generalization Huxley so despised, an examination of how several aspects of the society function is needed.
However, the topics and types of education and methods of dissemination of knowledge and understanding on any aspect of society are so multifarious and interconnected in Island that treating any of them in isolation is an extraordinary task, and this, it can be suspected, would be agreeable to its author. As Huxley wrote in an essay about the time he had begun work on Island:
We sin by attributing concrete significance to meaningless pseudeo-knowledge; we sin in being too lazy to think in terms of multiple causation and indulging instead in over-simplification, over-generalization, and over-abstraction; and we sin by cherishing the false but agreeable notion that conceptual knowledge and, above all, conceptual pseudo-knowledge are the same as understanding.
It is not surprising then to find the philosophy of the people of Pala free of these vices and instead assessing and commenting on any subject not only on a variety levels, such as personal, communal, and societal, but also with an expressed awareness of not only the philosophical arguments surrounding their responses, but often a knowledge that might normally be considered reserved for specialist. There is an eagerness on behalf of the Palanese to impart into Will that nothing occurs in isolation, but has more reaching effects than he might imagine. As Will reads in Notes on Whats What, a sort of summary of Palas philosophy:
Patriotism is not enough. But neither is anything else. Science is not enough, religion is not enough, art is not enough, nor is love, nor is duty, nor is action however disinterested, nor, however sublime, is contemplation. Nothing short of everything will really do. (134)
The people of Pala are told to hold nothing as the simple solution and to take into account the importance of everything which is, obviously, impossible. The emphasis is on being aware of this deficiency so that the people of Pala can do their best to think and act on all fronts. The inability to deal with everything is not so much an inadequacy of some sort of an imaginary and ideal requirement as it is the declaration of a fundamental truth about human experience and the human mind. That declaration being said and acknowledged, the limit of human capacity does not become an infinite burden impossible to remove, but a reality. The people of Pala must still deal with this reality, but because they are conscious of it they are able to at least able to conscientiously act on as many fronts as possible, bettering their situation far more than if they chose to ignore the immensity of the situation by focusing their efforts in one direction or becoming paralyzed by the innumerable choices. .
Wills experience on Pala, and his first steps at coming to a new understanding, begins soon after he awakens from the disastrous events which bring him to the shores of Pala. After the birds call him to attention he is found by two children, the young Mary McPhail and Tom Krishna, who quickly assess what they need to do. While Tom goes for help Mary begins helping Will recover from his injuries, but not by any standard practice of first aid. Instead, Mary practices psychological first aid which means that she gets Will to let go of the anxiety and fear that are causing him both physical and mental stress. The interaction between Will and Mary serves to set the stage not only for further lessons taught to Will by the young child, but also to establish a precedent for the next few chapters as Will is treated for his physical and mental pains. It is no coincidence that he is physically, emotionally, and mentally injured before his arrival, and that the solutions the people of Pala apply to make him better are those of holistic medicine and a coherent and applicable philosophy. The use of holistic medicine though, as it had just been defined in 1960 does not mean that Huxley wants to deal with the world in a holistic manner, or that he even believes it to be possible . It seems instead that he desires what he has for a long time, I find the desire for lucidity grows in me. Not simplification, but clean dissection and clear exposition of as much of the immeasurable complexity of things as one can dig into. In the same way the Palanese do not attempt to conceive the whole or to deal with it as a whole, but try to do what they can about what they can grasp in every manner of life, making an effort to do as much as possible.
A fundamental aspect of life is the means by which needs and demands are met both for the individual and society at large, and the economics of Pala seek to satisfy. The ability to adequately meet these demands comes from numerous decisions about how they act in every day life, about who works, how much they work, and what and how much they consume. The people of Pala have not chosen to divide their workforce in quite the same ways as other systems, which seem to hold productivity as the highest goal, but instead try to adapt both their work and technology to human beings. What this results in is a society in which, even a professor, even a government official, generally puts in two hours of digging and delving each day (145). There are several reasons the Palanese find this kind of physical labor important, in addition to the fact that it produces goods or food, such work gives these people who in other societies remain overly idle some physical exercise, the full benefit of which is not easily measurable. Will, in regards to how the industry seems to operate, asks, Does that kind of part time system work well? Dr. McPhail responds by asking what well really means, a question perhaps too often neglected. The people of Pala are not concerned with producing as much as possible because they have not been conditioned to consume as much as possible. Their economic system is thus properly suited to perpetuating a sense of wellness beyond those brought about by merely material goods while at the same time not rejecting the need for them. What all of this indicates is that they can achieve a balance by the application of the knowledge and understanding that they do have. Part of what makes this effective is that their situation is not overly complicated as their material needs do not extend far beyond what is practical and necessary. Beyond the application of conceptual knowledge to their economic situation the Palanese acknowledge the experience behind these actions. That is, the larger effect upon their minds and bodies and the sensations they derive from the various kinds of work, and these effects, as mysterious or as scientifically proven as they may or may not be are also an important factor when considering their economic life. Palas inhabitants then show an attentiveness and consideration to the economic system which ask how well it works in regard to a variety of factors, with an understanding that while they can never fully understand all of the effects of their choices, they can do their best and that their best might be better than what is found elsewhere.
One of the problems not only with economic systems, but with social and political systems, is the existence of criminals and bullies. These are individuals who have a desire to not only break rules, but if necessary to harm others for their own benefit. In Pala, however, through scientific knowledge and application they are able to identify the individuals who are most likely to fall into these types. Acting on this knowledge, they are able to raise these children into adults who do not act in these destructive ways and instead channel these energies and impulses in ways which are beneficial to the economy, the individual, and the society as a whole.
The first step Huxley describes that makes this process a reality is controversial still today because it involves the people of Pala examining their children for what is ultimately the result of genetics. As Vijaya says, We start everywhere at once [] But since one cant say more than one thing at a time, lets begin by talking about the anatomy and physiology of power. (153) What is described is various physical characteristics (the expression of certain genetic alleles) that at least in Huxleys narrative are linked to other genes or alleles that correspond to characteristics that are likely to be expressed in acts of violence or domination. While it is unlikely Huxley understood the full extent that DNA and genetics plays in behavior (especially as this is still being worked on today) the recent discovery by Watson and Crick in 1953 of DNA and the already widespread findings of Mendel surely influenced his ideas. Still, the people of Pala do not despair when a child, belong[s] to one or other of two distinct and dissimilar species-the Muscle People and the Peter Pans (153). While these children may have genetic dispositions towards violence and domineering their awareness of this fact and their upbringing are largely responsible as to how these characteristics are ultimately expressed. Thus the people of Pala position themselves somewhere in the middle of the nature versus nurture argument, not believing that an individuals actions are a result of solely one or the other. With that in mind it is not surprising to find that the Palanese place great emphasis on designing educative programs that correspond to creating the proper kinds of nurture for the various types of individuals, and that, in doing so they eliminate the majority of the problems. Muscle men, the physically domineering individuals, have their energies channeled to do beneficial acts:
We give them all kinds of difficult task to performstrenuous and violent tasks that exercise their muscles and satisfy their craving for dominationbut satisfy it at nobodys expense and in ways that are either harmless or positively useful.
So these splendid creatures fell trees instead of felling peopleis that it? (157)
The people of Pala then, with the correct knowledge and understanding, are able to avoid creating the types of individual who murder, steal, and cause many other common social problems. It is also in this way that the Palanese insure that their society does not spawn individuals like Hitler or Stalin. So, once again, the proper application of knowledge contributes to the stability and happiness of Pala.
The formal education of the Palanese is perhaps further removed from contemporary education then might be imagined. From the beginning the Palanese seek to instill into students that nothing occurs in isolation and rarely is anything simple. By starting the educative process with lessons in such subjects such as ecology Huxley shows that his utopia is a place in which the complexities of the world are not simplified to human understanding, but human beings are made to understand the inherent complexities. The educative process does of course disseminate certain types of knowledge, that of mathematics, biology, or grammar, but additionally does something much more by problematizing the ways in which they are learned. The most important of which is questioning the very language by which knowledge is shared.
It is not surprising to find Wittgenstein and Buddhists philosophy, which today is typically reserved for collegiate endeavors, being taught to, Philosophers only a year away from childhood. This is accomplished not by teaching the two in isolation, but by an interesting combination which draws from the strengths of both. The teacher begins with a basic explanation of words, symbols, events, and privacy. After demonstrating the difference between private sensations and common language, e.g. pinch, he does not proceed with the thirty or so instructions from Philosophical Investigations, but tells the story of Mahakasyapa and Buddha . This eastern story not only helps to illustrate some of the principles that have just been explained, but aids to bring about a deeper understanding.
Completely private? he questioned. But perhaps that isnt quite true. Perhaps, after all, there is some kind of communication between the circlesnot in the way Im talking to you now, through words, but directly. And maybe that was what the Buddha was talking about when his wordless flower-sermon was over. (222)
The children no doubt learn a great deal from this kind of instruction, but the emphasis is on showing them that no matter how articulate they or their peers might be, all language is inherently limited. Language is not the experiences it is associated with, nor is it the concepts which it sometimes serves to represent. It is just a means to communicate knowledge as well as possible with the hope that it can be understood. The implications of this are important as the Palanese do not desire to waste time by merely playing with symbols. It is for this same reason that Huxley cries out against such investigations into eastern thought that seek to look at how the language operates instead of understanding the concepts the words represent.
If the European student wishes to remain shut up in the prison created by his private cravings and the thought patterns inherited from his predecessors, then by all means let him plunge through Sanskrit, or Pali, or Chinese, or Tibetan, into the verbal study of a way of thought, the difficulties of which become more formidable the more diligently he applies himself to it. If, on the other hand, he wishes to transcend himself by actually understanding the primordial fact [] then he must ignore the problems of language and speculative philosophy, or at least relegate them to a secondary position, and concentrate his attention on the practical means whereby the advance from knowledge to understanding may best be made.
It is therefore no surprise that the Palanese are more concerned with concepts than they are with language. Understanding is more than simply concepts, it is direct experience, and direct experience, a sense of the primordial fact, is perhaps what the Palanese are most concerned with. Removing the tendency to fall into simply, manipulating symbols becomes increasingly more difficult as the individuals ability to do so increases. Thus, the most intelligent Palanese, the scientist, writers, and top government officials, are more susceptible to symbol manipulation than the more average individuals, but do their best to avoid such a pitfall by reminding themselves of its presence as their education has prepared them to do.
One aspect of Island that neither Huxley nor the Palanese seem to give much consideration to is the status of women, or at least that is an argument that has been made. The citizens of Pala however show a better understanding of sex and gender and account for both genetic and societal influences than most of the world around them. Vijaya, the muscle man and scientist, is an apt example. The educational process of Pala has made him and his wife aware that he is a muscle man, that is, that physically he is, three yards high, two yards wide. That is the perception at least to Tom Krishna who as a young adolescent looks to Vijaya as a male role model and believes Vijaya to be, two hundred per cent male. This perception Shanta, Vijayas wife, explains is in error, as Vijaya is, almost fifty per cent sensitive-feminine. This false perception however is exploited for Tom Krishnas benefit, as Vijaya is capable as a role model to instruct Tom with a degree of success that neither Toms mother nor Shanta could. A further awareness of gender and sex in relation to Vijaya and Shanta is shown in how they provide for their family at lunch time. Shanta bears the burden of feeding the newborn as only she can, by breastfeeding. Meanwhile, Vijaya sees to preparing lunch for Will, Shanta, his sons Arjuna and Tara, and Mary and Tom Sarojini, which for a man in that time is strikingly uncharacteristic. Thus, there seems to be a realistic balance of responsibility between the two, each providing as he or she can.
Huxley may seem to fall into gender stereotypes in the relationship between Dr. Robert MacPhail and his dying wife, Lakshmi, but that reading is entirely in error. While it is true that Dr. Robert is both intellectually and professionally his wifes superior this is not an attempt to reinforce male and female stereotypes as the basis for the relationship is largely, if not entirely, biographical. Huxley hardly even has to use his imagination. For, besides the names of the characters and the place, most everything in the relationship reflects his own relationship with his first wife Maria. It is not an accident that both the Huxleys and MacPhails have been married thirty seven years, or that both women have had mastectomies and ultimately die of cancer. With this understanding it seems unfair to judge Huxley for the inclusion of material which is largely biographical as a basis for perpetuating gender stereotypes and roles.
Still it is safe to say that Huxley does not show any real concern for female rights, one might say he sins more by omission than intention. Yes, and perhaps he is entirely conscious of the disparity as he writes, Youre perfectly right, said Will. Being a man, I hadnt thought of the princess. (250) If it is granted that Huxley is conscious of this failure why does he seem to make little effort to repair it? Perhaps he neglects to make this effort in favor of making a much larger statement about types in western culture. If he neglects gender roles or female rights it is possible that he does so not by an inability to think differently or by indifference, but by a desire to place emphasis on this larger point and leave the discussion of female rights to someone else, thereby avoiding the relegation of this topic to a secondary status as the timely topic of womens rights might significantly shift the focus. As Huxley states much earlier in his career:
For feminism has wearingly insisted on the importance for women of that Higher Plane [] High ideals, wide culture, deep thoughts are not so popular among your young vampires as they were twenty years ago. Among the extremely young there seems to be a diminishing interest in any of the Higher things that are at least objective, that exist apart from the individual soul. [] The youngest vampires are almost exclusively interested in personalities, in the problems of their private psychologies.
Huxleys suggestion is that the actual sin is not his disinterest with questions of identity, but the general disinterest that the public has for the further reaching questions of metaphysics and philosophy. As John Derbyshire writes, Living as we do in such an un-metaphysical age, we are in a poor frame of mind to approach the writer (Huxley). Accepting all this, it should not be expected that Huxley would stop to bother with what he essentially sees as something of lesser importance.
What Huxley does do when he deals with identity is very different from his contemporaries, because he wants the people of Pala to think about how people become who they are in a much bigger way than most of western culture. To do so he first seeks to identify how and from where these types originate, and then shows the inherent problems with them. It seems that he might have had little trouble picking his examples, as he picked the very seed of western culture, the Greeks.
Huxleys connection and response with the Greek is made clear in his retelling of Oedipus, or as he aptly renames it, Oedipus in Pala. The play is essentially unchanged until late in its retelling, specifically at the point of discovery which causes Oedipus to gouge his eyes out and drives his mother to suicide. This tragic scene from the original play is replaced with, as Mary McPail recounts, The boy and girl from Pala tell them not to be silly. After all, it was an accident. (251) Reason applied, the tragedy is averted, and life continues on without needless injury or loss. In addition to a small jab at Freuds Oedipus Complex, the very inclusion of which shows the transcendence of Greek thought in the western world, what Huxley accomplishes here by simple inclusion is to turn the western concept of tragedy on its head and to illustrate the transcendence of types in western culture. In regards to tragedy, the ends are no longer inevitable but completely avoidable, even though the past is irreversible. Palanese drama shows that while tragedy is possible, it is avoidable and this raises an important question about the role of art within society, a great concern of Huxleys throughout his career. Huxley makes a bold statement about the qualitative difference between the educative value of the original play and its Palanese adaptation, and that is exemplified in the distress of Will Farnaby as contrasted with the calm and seemingly simple ways of Mary McPhail. Will, a product of contemporary British society, or perhaps more descriptive non-Palanese society, is representative of the art he has grown up in. Is art imitating life, or is life imitating art? The answer, it seems, is both, but at different times and for various reasons. What Huxley and the people of Pala identify is that the Greeks, quite unintentionally, created a rut from which western culture has yet to escape, and which perhaps more frightening, has even alerted itself to. While the specific markers used in creation of in and out groups varies greatly in terms of race, sex, religion, or gender, the need and desire to form these groups has, since the time of the Greeks, changed very little. Palanese art is good art, because it is crafted by good artists. Huxleys concept of a good artist being:
The good artist is, so to speak, a special case of the good citizen [] he is self controlled, scrupulous, conscientioushe practices in a word, the virtues which, practiced in all circumstances make the ideally good citizen.
The Palanese certainly meet all these qualities, especially conscientious. Their art acts in the same way as any kind of art can, to perpetuate the ideas, types, methods, systems, and norms of which they are a product.
While there is no real possibility that Huxley or his readers can find themselves on Pala as Will Farnaby does, Huxley works hard to show that his utopia is not something impossible to obtain. The first words of the novel, a quote from Aristotle, attest to this, In framing an ideal we may assume what we wish, but should avoid impossibilities. Pala is not a perfect place, and the Palanese never claim to have all the answers, but they do believe that life can be qualitatively better than it is, and as Will finds, it is difficult to disagree with them. Even when their means are similar in methodology to western society the ends are entirely different. For example, their use of Pavlov is for, trust and compassion, whereas western society uses it for, selling cigarettes and vodka and patriotism [] for the benefit of dictators, generals, and tycoons. Will knows first hand that this is true, as he is not only a product of such conditioning, but has seen the far reaching effects throughout the world such as famine, war, and disease. The Palanese have rid themselves of these problems by means that Huxley considers to be entirely possible granted the knowledge and tools available to society today, and as his Pavlovian example shows it is sometimes only the misuse of knowledge that brings about unfavorable consequences. Subsequently, he does not have to rely upon conjuring up technological miracles or dramatic conceptual breakthroughs to perpetuate his utopia, but by the selective use and application of what already exists can craft a realistic utopia. To a large extent what really allows for the betterment of society is the inclusion of eastern knowledge and practices to the existing body of western knowledge, although in Pala the reverse is true, as it is the Western knowledge that is absorbed by an eastern society. There is no replacing one for the other or even an attempt to say which is better. Instead, the Palanese use what they think is best after consideration based on the combined philosophies of the east and west. By beginning with a quote from Aristotle Huxley is signaling that it is not his intention or desire to simply abandon his western heritage. What might be expected is something eastern; Buddhist, Chinese, or Hindu, something that firmly establishes him as a writer interested in Eastern philosophy, but Huxleys synthesis of the two and his famous skeptical nature require that he take a look at these new ideas without forgetting where he has come from.
Huxleys criticism of the Greeks is found largely in areas where their ideas seem to interfere with direct experience or lead to merely theoretical conclusions. It is of little surprise then to find the people of Pala interested in the Greeks, but exhibiting a fairly critical attitude towards them. As Lakshmi, Dr. McPhails wife, lays on her death bed Susilia ask what she is thinking about:
Socrates.
Socrates?
Gibber, gibber, gibbereven when hed actually swallowed the stuff. Dont let me talk, Susila. Help me to get out of my own light.
Lakshmis distress is due to the fact that she wants to experience death, or at least the moments leading to it. Socrates then is seen as almost being a habitual symbol, manipulator who even in death could not stop talking. This almost seems a contradiction as Socrates is the father of western philosophy, but upon examination it is easy to see that Socratic Method is ultimately talking. It would be completely out of character for Socrates to give a flower sermon like the Buddhas, but the Socratic Method accomplishes something entirely different. It is Socratic Method which sets the basis for, or perhaps more correctly reflects, the scientific endeavor in western culture. Thus, the constant search for truth, whether it is in astrology, biology, chemistry, or back to philosophy itself, it exists because of the desire to find out what is true. The benefits that come about in the form of applied science, both social and natural, give humankind enumerable resources and abilities, what it chooses to do with them is another question. This kind of investigative spirit is easy to contrast with that of eastern philosophies, as Huxley quotes in The Perennial Philosophy:
Learning consists in adding to ones stock day by day. The practice of Tao consists in subtracting day by day: subtracting and yet again subtracting until on has reached inactivity. Lao Tzu
Yet, the Palanese choose to continue the search for knowledge without abandoning experiencing reality. As it is explained to Will, Why shouldn't one to choose to listen to both parties and harmonize their views? The analyzing tradition-bound concept maker and the alertly passive insight receiver-neither is infallible; but together can do a reasonably good job (225). The balance between these two is important to the Palanese because they understand the value of each. The balance between the concept maker, the man of science, and the receiver, a person focused on the actual sensations and experiences, is a persistent struggle for Huxley throughout his career. Perhaps it is most easily identified in his relationship with D.H. Lawrence, as Huxley wrote:
His dislike for science was passionate and expressed itself in the most fantastically unreasonable terms. [] Evidence doesnt mean anything to me. I dont feel it here. And he pressed his two hands on his solar plexus.
Huxley could never understand Lawrences rejection of science, but perhaps his respect for Lawrence and his work is due to an understanding of the reason for that rejection. That is, that while science and concept analysis is very good for certain applications, indulging to deeply in that world leaves no room for another kind of experience, the art of living, or simply the art of eating, as the Palanese are quick to point out.
Beyond Huxleys overt references to Socrates, Aristotle, or the concepts of Wittgenstein is his seeming reliance on and with Greek thought. In Island Huxley seems to argue the Socratic concept that knowledge is virtue, and perhapsto some extentrejects Ovids notion that people (or characters), see and approve better things, but follow worse. It might seem easy to conclude that Will Farnaby fits Ovids criteria perfectly, but to do so is wholly in error. Will Farnaby is aware of the bad things he does, and has done, but as Huxley shows this is only because he has not been aware of the proper ways of remedying his problems and, furthermore, that the society he lives within is sick. Will Farnaby is far different from the paralyzed Denis of Crome Yellow (1921) or the reminiscent and depressed characters of Anthony Beavis (Eyeless in Gaza, 1936) and Sebastian Barnack (Time Must Have a Stop, 1944). While Will has behaved badly in the past and is guilty for it, the people of Pala are able to show him the mechanisms by which he can both dispel and understand his guilt, even if Huxley does not take much time to show as such. The people of Pala do not seem concerned whether they are simply revealing something that has remained undiscovered as Socrates believed, or if they instead are teaching by proper methods as Plato advocated. This is because regardless of the method, the results are the same; the people of Pala are able after some process to act in certain ways that are better than rest of the real world. All this because its inhabitants have a better understanding of how to achieve the ends they desire by identifying their actual needs.
Huxleys own encyclopedic knowledge and interest create in Island many suggestions on a diverse range of issues such as education, medicine, and economics. His suggestions may seem plausible or preferable, or to the contrary may seem to have lost their newness or even their very validity since Islands publication just over forty years ago. Whatever the case is now or will be later, the extended viability of Island does not rest here, even if flaws or better solutions to the specific issues discussed exist, Huxleys suggestion are likely still worth some consideration, if only for the examination of the method by which they were reached.
Island is neither a detailed investigation of philosophy in the same way as the The Perennial Philosophy , nor is it as amusing as Brave New World, or as radical as Point Counter Point. Island, for all its demerits, is still worthy of consideration. The small breaths of life its characters do grant to the many ideas of the book make it more palatable than a book of essays and grant the ideas an element which somehow facilitates understanding.
The viability and importance of Island arises because of its comments on how people perceive the world and the subsequent actions they take based upon those perceptions. Island acts to call to attention to both the benefits and the shortcomings of the Western method. The Western method seeks to uncover and describe the world in truths and maxims presents to the people of Pala and Huxley an indispensable and fascinating endeavor, but also a danger. The danger exist in falling to deeply into the language and symbols that make that endeavor possible and consequently drowning out the direct experiences that the world has to offer. Direct experience is not simply a luxury to be indulged in, but is important to consider as choices are made about the application of knowledge brought about by the analyzing tradition. The further benefits and importance of direct experience are perhaps impossible to enumerate and illustrate, but therein is the importance of recognizing what Buddha taught. The dichotomy between the Western method for uncovering truth and the Eastern method for subtracting until direct experience does not relate the completeness of the peoples they represent, but does serve to represent the dominant contribution that each makes. Huxleys resulting combination should not really be expressed in Hegelian terms, for the eastern and western are not opposites, but perhaps more accurately and telling called a hybrid, or a mutually acceptable syncretism. This, more than anything else, is where Huxley wants his readers, Attention!
In the final years of his life Aldous Huxley spent nearly five years toying with his final novel Island before its publication in 1962. It is, in the Huxley tradition, a novel of ideas, yet unlike his earlier work it seems to recommend more than it rebukes. This change has set Island into disfavor among some critics who tend to be most content with focusing on Huxleys earlier works, namely Brave New World and Point Counter Point. Indeed, Island lacks the kind of plot and themes that make Brave New World so popular and it does not seem to be an ironic antithesis as Point Counter Point is. Still, perhaps Islands importance is misplaced and belied in regard to Huxleys work and the history of ideas because of its inherent characteristics as a utopian novel which make Huxleys already typically thin plots and lack of traditional character development all the more sparse. As Huxley himself said, The story has too much weight, in the way of ideas and reflections, to carry. Island then does not lend itself well to plot or character analysis, but even choosing to focus solely on the practical suggestions for which the characters serve as mouthpieces leads to a neglect of an underlying method and purpose. For what Huxley really wants to do in Island is to combine the, best features of East and West.
Despite the acknowledged lack of character development Will Farnaby, the skeptical journalist who comes to Pala (Huxleys utopian Island) as a man burdened with the troubles which a western life and education have brought upon him, is worth examining at the beginning of this investigation. It is Wills skepticism which allows for his own reeducation and that invokes the insights Huxley wishes to share in a fairly typical utopian manner. Will early on describes himself as The man who wont take yes for an answer (15). This skeptical inclination and an insatiable curiosity evokes a long explanation of how the society of the Pala works. The inquisiton is not undertaken by someone ready to praise the accomplishments of the Palanese, but by a reluctant and intelligent man. In some ways this skepticism is reminiscent of Huxleys own character, especially during the early part of his life in which his skepticism made him famous, and before his interest in eastern philosophies. It seems proper and important to make the correlation. Will is the man who, wont take yes for an answer, but perhaps only because he has not found answers that satisfy him. The changes in Wills character come about after a process of considerable deliberation over the ways the Palanese have chosen for their society. To understand this process, and avoid the type over-generalization Huxley so despised, an examination of how several aspects of the society function is needed.
However, the topics and types of education and methods of dissemination of knowledge and understanding on any aspect of society are so multifarious and interconnected in Island that treating any of them in isolation is an extraordinary task, and this, it can be suspected, would be agreeable to its author. As Huxley wrote in an essay about the time he had begun work on Island:
We sin by attributing concrete significance to meaningless pseudeo-knowledge; we sin in being too lazy to think in terms of multiple causation and indulging instead in over-simplification, over-generalization, and over-abstraction; and we sin by cherishing the false but agreeable notion that conceptual knowledge and, above all, conceptual pseudo-knowledge are the same as understanding.
It is not surprising then to find the philosophy of the people of Pala free of these vices and instead assessing and commenting on any subject not only on a variety levels, such as personal, communal, and societal, but also with an expressed awareness of not only the philosophical arguments surrounding their responses, but often a knowledge that might normally be considered reserved for specialist. There is an eagerness on behalf of the Palanese to impart into Will that nothing occurs in isolation, but has more reaching effects than he might imagine. As Will reads in Notes on Whats What, a sort of summary of Palas philosophy:
Patriotism is not enough. But neither is anything else. Science is not enough, religion is not enough, art is not enough, nor is love, nor is duty, nor is action however disinterested, nor, however sublime, is contemplation. Nothing short of everything will really do. (134)
The people of Pala are told to hold nothing as the simple solution and to take into account the importance of everything which is, obviously, impossible. The emphasis is on being aware of this deficiency so that the people of Pala can do their best to think and act on all fronts. The inability to deal with everything is not so much an inadequacy of some sort of an imaginary and ideal requirement as it is the declaration of a fundamental truth about human experience and the human mind. That declaration being said and acknowledged, the limit of human capacity does not become an infinite burden impossible to remove, but a reality. The people of Pala must still deal with this reality, but because they are conscious of it they are able to at least able to conscientiously act on as many fronts as possible, bettering their situation far more than if they chose to ignore the immensity of the situation by focusing their efforts in one direction or becoming paralyzed by the innumerable choices. .
Wills experience on Pala, and his first steps at coming to a new understanding, begins soon after he awakens from the disastrous events which bring him to the shores of Pala. After the birds call him to attention he is found by two children, the young Mary McPhail and Tom Krishna, who quickly assess what they need to do. While Tom goes for help Mary begins helping Will recover from his injuries, but not by any standard practice of first aid. Instead, Mary practices psychological first aid which means that she gets Will to let go of the anxiety and fear that are causing him both physical and mental stress. The interaction between Will and Mary serves to set the stage not only for further lessons taught to Will by the young child, but also to establish a precedent for the next few chapters as Will is treated for his physical and mental pains. It is no coincidence that he is physically, emotionally, and mentally injured before his arrival, and that the solutions the people of Pala apply to make him better are those of holistic medicine and a coherent and applicable philosophy. The use of holistic medicine though, as it had just been defined in 1960 does not mean that Huxley wants to deal with the world in a holistic manner, or that he even believes it to be possible . It seems instead that he desires what he has for a long time, I find the desire for lucidity grows in me. Not simplification, but clean dissection and clear exposition of as much of the immeasurable complexity of things as one can dig into. In the same way the Palanese do not attempt to conceive the whole or to deal with it as a whole, but try to do what they can about what they can grasp in every manner of life, making an effort to do as much as possible.
A fundamental aspect of life is the means by which needs and demands are met both for the individual and society at large, and the economics of Pala seek to satisfy. The ability to adequately meet these demands comes from numerous decisions about how they act in every day life, about who works, how much they work, and what and how much they consume. The people of Pala have not chosen to divide their workforce in quite the same ways as other systems, which seem to hold productivity as the highest goal, but instead try to adapt both their work and technology to human beings. What this results in is a society in which, even a professor, even a government official, generally puts in two hours of digging and delving each day (145). There are several reasons the Palanese find this kind of physical labor important, in addition to the fact that it produces goods or food, such work gives these people who in other societies remain overly idle some physical exercise, the full benefit of which is not easily measurable. Will, in regards to how the industry seems to operate, asks, Does that kind of part time system work well? Dr. McPhail responds by asking what well really means, a question perhaps too often neglected. The people of Pala are not concerned with producing as much as possible because they have not been conditioned to consume as much as possible. Their economic system is thus properly suited to perpetuating a sense of wellness beyond those brought about by merely material goods while at the same time not rejecting the need for them. What all of this indicates is that they can achieve a balance by the application of the knowledge and understanding that they do have. Part of what makes this effective is that their situation is not overly complicated as their material needs do not extend far beyond what is practical and necessary. Beyond the application of conceptual knowledge to their economic situation the Palanese acknowledge the experience behind these actions. That is, the larger effect upon their minds and bodies and the sensations they derive from the various kinds of work, and these effects, as mysterious or as scientifically proven as they may or may not be are also an important factor when considering their economic life. Palas inhabitants then show an attentiveness and consideration to the economic system which ask how well it works in regard to a variety of factors, with an understanding that while they can never fully understand all of the effects of their choices, they can do their best and that their best might be better than what is found elsewhere.
One of the problems not only with economic systems, but with social and political systems, is the existence of criminals and bullies. These are individuals who have a desire to not only break rules, but if necessary to harm others for their own benefit. In Pala, however, through scientific knowledge and application they are able to identify the individuals who are most likely to fall into these types. Acting on this knowledge, they are able to raise these children into adults who do not act in these destructive ways and instead channel these energies and impulses in ways which are beneficial to the economy, the individual, and the society as a whole.
The first step Huxley describes that makes this process a reality is controversial still today because it involves the people of Pala examining their children for what is ultimately the result of genetics. As Vijaya says, We start everywhere at once [] But since one cant say more than one thing at a time, lets begin by talking about the anatomy and physiology of power. (153) What is described is various physical characteristics (the expression of certain genetic alleles) that at least in Huxleys narrative are linked to other genes or alleles that correspond to characteristics that are likely to be expressed in acts of violence or domination. While it is unlikely Huxley understood the full extent that DNA and genetics plays in behavior (especially as this is still being worked on today) the recent discovery by Watson and Crick in 1953 of DNA and the already widespread findings of Mendel surely influenced his ideas. Still, the people of Pala do not despair when a child, belong[s] to one or other of two distinct and dissimilar species-the Muscle People and the Peter Pans (153). While these children may have genetic dispositions towards violence and domineering their awareness of this fact and their upbringing are largely responsible as to how these characteristics are ultimately expressed. Thus the people of Pala position themselves somewhere in the middle of the nature versus nurture argument, not believing that an individuals actions are a result of solely one or the other. With that in mind it is not surprising to find that the Palanese place great emphasis on designing educative programs that correspond to creating the proper kinds of nurture for the various types of individuals, and that, in doing so they eliminate the majority of the problems. Muscle men, the physically domineering individuals, have their energies channeled to do beneficial acts:
We give them all kinds of difficult task to performstrenuous and violent tasks that exercise their muscles and satisfy their craving for dominationbut satisfy it at nobodys expense and in ways that are either harmless or positively useful.
So these splendid creatures fell trees instead of felling peopleis that it? (157)
The people of Pala then, with the correct knowledge and understanding, are able to avoid creating the types of individual who murder, steal, and cause many other common social problems. It is also in this way that the Palanese insure that their society does not spawn individuals like Hitler or Stalin. So, once again, the proper application of knowledge contributes to the stability and happiness of Pala.
The formal education of the Palanese is perhaps further removed from contemporary education then might be imagined. From the beginning the Palanese seek to instill into students that nothing occurs in isolation and rarely is anything simple. By starting the educative process with lessons in such subjects such as ecology Huxley shows that his utopia is a place in which the complexities of the world are not simplified to human understanding, but human beings are made to understand the inherent complexities. The educative process does of course disseminate certain types of knowledge, that of mathematics, biology, or grammar, but additionally does something much more by problematizing the ways in which they are learned. The most important of which is questioning the very language by which knowledge is shared.
It is not surprising to find Wittgenstein and Buddhists philosophy, which today is typically reserved for collegiate endeavors, being taught to, Philosophers only a year away from childhood. This is accomplished not by teaching the two in isolation, but by an interesting combination which draws from the strengths of both. The teacher begins with a basic explanation of words, symbols, events, and privacy. After demonstrating the difference between private sensations and common language, e.g. pinch, he does not proceed with the thirty or so instructions from Philosophical Investigations, but tells the story of Mahakasyapa and Buddha . This eastern story not only helps to illustrate some of the principles that have just been explained, but aids to bring about a deeper understanding.
Completely private? he questioned. But perhaps that isnt quite true. Perhaps, after all, there is some kind of communication between the circlesnot in the way Im talking to you now, through words, but directly. And maybe that was what the Buddha was talking about when his wordless flower-sermon was over. (222)
The children no doubt learn a great deal from this kind of instruction, but the emphasis is on showing them that no matter how articulate they or their peers might be, all language is inherently limited. Language is not the experiences it is associated with, nor is it the concepts which it sometimes serves to represent. It is just a means to communicate knowledge as well as possible with the hope that it can be understood. The implications of this are important as the Palanese do not desire to waste time by merely playing with symbols. It is for this same reason that Huxley cries out against such investigations into eastern thought that seek to look at how the language operates instead of understanding the concepts the words represent.
If the European student wishes to remain shut up in the prison created by his private cravings and the thought patterns inherited from his predecessors, then by all means let him plunge through Sanskrit, or Pali, or Chinese, or Tibetan, into the verbal study of a way of thought, the difficulties of which become more formidable the more diligently he applies himself to it. If, on the other hand, he wishes to transcend himself by actually understanding the primordial fact [] then he must ignore the problems of language and speculative philosophy, or at least relegate them to a secondary position, and concentrate his attention on the practical means whereby the advance from knowledge to understanding may best be made.
It is therefore no surprise that the Palanese are more concerned with concepts than they are with language. Understanding is more than simply concepts, it is direct experience, and direct experience, a sense of the primordial fact, is perhaps what the Palanese are most concerned with. Removing the tendency to fall into simply, manipulating symbols becomes increasingly more difficult as the individuals ability to do so increases. Thus, the most intelligent Palanese, the scientist, writers, and top government officials, are more susceptible to symbol manipulation than the more average individuals, but do their best to avoid such a pitfall by reminding themselves of its presence as their education has prepared them to do.
One aspect of Island that neither Huxley nor the Palanese seem to give much consideration to is the status of women, or at least that is an argument that has been made. The citizens of Pala however show a better understanding of sex and gender and account for both genetic and societal influences than most of the world around them. Vijaya, the muscle man and scientist, is an apt example. The educational process of Pala has made him and his wife aware that he is a muscle man, that is, that physically he is, three yards high, two yards wide. That is the perception at least to Tom Krishna who as a young adolescent looks to Vijaya as a male role model and believes Vijaya to be, two hundred per cent male. This perception Shanta, Vijayas wife, explains is in error, as Vijaya is, almost fifty per cent sensitive-feminine. This false perception however is exploited for Tom Krishnas benefit, as Vijaya is capable as a role model to instruct Tom with a degree of success that neither Toms mother nor Shanta could. A further awareness of gender and sex in relation to Vijaya and Shanta is shown in how they provide for their family at lunch time. Shanta bears the burden of feeding the newborn as only she can, by breastfeeding. Meanwhile, Vijaya sees to preparing lunch for Will, Shanta, his sons Arjuna and Tara, and Mary and Tom Sarojini, which for a man in that time is strikingly uncharacteristic. Thus, there seems to be a realistic balance of responsibility between the two, each providing as he or she can.
Huxley may seem to fall into gender stereotypes in the relationship between Dr. Robert MacPhail and his dying wife, Lakshmi, but that reading is entirely in error. While it is true that Dr. Robert is both intellectually and professionally his wifes superior this is not an attempt to reinforce male and female stereotypes as the basis for the relationship is largely, if not entirely, biographical. Huxley hardly even has to use his imagination. For, besides the names of the characters and the place, most everything in the relationship reflects his own relationship with his first wife Maria. It is not an accident that both the Huxleys and MacPhails have been married thirty seven years, or that both women have had mastectomies and ultimately die of cancer. With this understanding it seems unfair to judge Huxley for the inclusion of material which is largely biographical as a basis for perpetuating gender stereotypes and roles.
Still it is safe to say that Huxley does not show any real concern for female rights, one might say he sins more by omission than intention. Yes, and perhaps he is entirely conscious of the disparity as he writes, Youre perfectly right, said Will. Being a man, I hadnt thought of the princess. (250) If it is granted that Huxley is conscious of this failure why does he seem to make little effort to repair it? Perhaps he neglects to make this effort in favor of making a much larger statement about types in western culture. If he neglects gender roles or female rights it is possible that he does so not by an inability to think differently or by indifference, but by a desire to place emphasis on this larger point and leave the discussion of female rights to someone else, thereby avoiding the relegation of this topic to a secondary status as the timely topic of womens rights might significantly shift the focus. As Huxley states much earlier in his career:
For feminism has wearingly insisted on the importance for women of that Higher Plane [] High ideals, wide culture, deep thoughts are not so popular among your young vampires as they were twenty years ago. Among the extremely young there seems to be a diminishing interest in any of the Higher things that are at least objective, that exist apart from the individual soul. [] The youngest vampires are almost exclusively interested in personalities, in the problems of their private psychologies.
Huxleys suggestion is that the actual sin is not his disinterest with questions of identity, but the general disinterest that the public has for the further reaching questions of metaphysics and philosophy. As John Derbyshire writes, Living as we do in such an un-metaphysical age, we are in a poor frame of mind to approach the writer (Huxley). Accepting all this, it should not be expected that Huxley would stop to bother with what he essentially sees as something of lesser importance.
What Huxley does do when he deals with identity is very different from his contemporaries, because he wants the people of Pala to think about how people become who they are in a much bigger way than most of western culture. To do so he first seeks to identify how and from where these types originate, and then shows the inherent problems with them. It seems that he might have had little trouble picking his examples, as he picked the very seed of western culture, the Greeks.
Huxleys connection and response with the Greek is made clear in his retelling of Oedipus, or as he aptly renames it, Oedipus in Pala. The play is essentially unchanged until late in its retelling, specifically at the point of discovery which causes Oedipus to gouge his eyes out and drives his mother to suicide. This tragic scene from the original play is replaced with, as Mary McPail recounts, The boy and girl from Pala tell them not to be silly. After all, it was an accident. (251) Reason applied, the tragedy is averted, and life continues on without needless injury or loss. In addition to a small jab at Freuds Oedipus Complex, the very inclusion of which shows the transcendence of Greek thought in the western world, what Huxley accomplishes here by simple inclusion is to turn the western concept of tragedy on its head and to illustrate the transcendence of types in western culture. In regards to tragedy, the ends are no longer inevitable but completely avoidable, even though the past is irreversible. Palanese drama shows that while tragedy is possible, it is avoidable and this raises an important question about the role of art within society, a great concern of Huxleys throughout his career. Huxley makes a bold statement about the qualitative difference between the educative value of the original play and its Palanese adaptation, and that is exemplified in the distress of Will Farnaby as contrasted with the calm and seemingly simple ways of Mary McPhail. Will, a product of contemporary British society, or perhaps more descriptive non-Palanese society, is representative of the art he has grown up in. Is art imitating life, or is life imitating art? The answer, it seems, is both, but at different times and for various reasons. What Huxley and the people of Pala identify is that the Greeks, quite unintentionally, created a rut from which western culture has yet to escape, and which perhaps more frightening, has even alerted itself to. While the specific markers used in creation of in and out groups varies greatly in terms of race, sex, religion, or gender, the need and desire to form these groups has, since the time of the Greeks, changed very little. Palanese art is good art, because it is crafted by good artists. Huxleys concept of a good artist being:
The good artist is, so to speak, a special case of the good citizen [] he is self controlled, scrupulous, conscientioushe practices in a word, the virtues which, practiced in all circumstances make the ideally good citizen.
The Palanese certainly meet all these qualities, especially conscientious. Their art acts in the same way as any kind of art can, to perpetuate the ideas, types, methods, systems, and norms of which they are a product.
While there is no real possibility that Huxley or his readers can find themselves on Pala as Will Farnaby does, Huxley works hard to show that his utopia is not something impossible to obtain. The first words of the novel, a quote from Aristotle, attest to this, In framing an ideal we may assume what we wish, but should avoid impossibilities. Pala is not a perfect place, and the Palanese never claim to have all the answers, but they do believe that life can be qualitatively better than it is, and as Will finds, it is difficult to disagree with them. Even when their means are similar in methodology to western society the ends are entirely different. For example, their use of Pavlov is for, trust and compassion, whereas western society uses it for, selling cigarettes and vodka and patriotism [] for the benefit of dictators, generals, and tycoons. Will knows first hand that this is true, as he is not only a product of such conditioning, but has seen the far reaching effects throughout the world such as famine, war, and disease. The Palanese have rid themselves of these problems by means that Huxley considers to be entirely possible granted the knowledge and tools available to society today, and as his Pavlovian example shows it is sometimes only the misuse of knowledge that brings about unfavorable consequences. Subsequently, he does not have to rely upon conjuring up technological miracles or dramatic conceptual breakthroughs to perpetuate his utopia, but by the selective use and application of what already exists can craft a realistic utopia. To a large extent what really allows for the betterment of society is the inclusion of eastern knowledge and practices to the existing body of western knowledge, although in Pala the reverse is true, as it is the Western knowledge that is absorbed by an eastern society. There is no replacing one for the other or even an attempt to say which is better. Instead, the Palanese use what they think is best after consideration based on the combined philosophies of the east and west. By beginning with a quote from Aristotle Huxley is signaling that it is not his intention or desire to simply abandon his western heritage. What might be expected is something eastern; Buddhist, Chinese, or Hindu, something that firmly establishes him as a writer interested in Eastern philosophy, but Huxleys synthesis of the two and his famous skeptical nature require that he take a look at these new ideas without forgetting where he has come from.
Huxleys criticism of the Greeks is found largely in areas where their ideas seem to interfere with direct experience or lead to merely theoretical conclusions. It is of little surprise then to find the people of Pala interested in the Greeks, but exhibiting a fairly critical attitude towards them. As Lakshmi, Dr. McPhails wife, lays on her death bed Susilia ask what she is thinking about:
Socrates.
Socrates?
Gibber, gibber, gibbereven when hed actually swallowed the stuff. Dont let me talk, Susila. Help me to get out of my own light.
Lakshmis distress is due to the fact that she wants to experience death, or at least the moments leading to it. Socrates then is seen as almost being a habitual symbol, manipulator who even in death could not stop talking. This almost seems a contradiction as Socrates is the father of western philosophy, but upon examination it is easy to see that Socratic Method is ultimately talking. It would be completely out of character for Socrates to give a flower sermon like the Buddhas, but the Socratic Method accomplishes something entirely different. It is Socratic Method which sets the basis for, or perhaps more correctly reflects, the scientific endeavor in western culture. Thus, the constant search for truth, whether it is in astrology, biology, chemistry, or back to philosophy itself, it exists because of the desire to find out what is true. The benefits that come about in the form of applied science, both social and natural, give humankind enumerable resources and abilities, what it chooses to do with them is another question. This kind of investigative spirit is easy to contrast with that of eastern philosophies, as Huxley quotes in The Perennial Philosophy:
Learning consists in adding to ones stock day by day. The practice of Tao consists in subtracting day by day: subtracting and yet again subtracting until on has reached inactivity. Lao Tzu
Yet, the Palanese choose to continue the search for knowledge without abandoning experiencing reality. As it is explained to Will, Why shouldn't one to choose to listen to both parties and harmonize their views? The analyzing tradition-bound concept maker and the alertly passive insight receiver-neither is infallible; but together can do a reasonably good job (225). The balance between these two is important to the Palanese because they understand the value of each. The balance between the concept maker, the man of science, and the receiver, a person focused on the actual sensations and experiences, is a persistent struggle for Huxley throughout his career. Perhaps it is most easily identified in his relationship with D.H. Lawrence, as Huxley wrote:
His dislike for science was passionate and expressed itself in the most fantastically unreasonable terms. [] Evidence doesnt mean anything to me. I dont feel it here. And he pressed his two hands on his solar plexus.
Huxley could never understand Lawrences rejection of science, but perhaps his respect for Lawrence and his work is due to an understanding of the reason for that rejection. That is, that while science and concept analysis is very good for certain applications, indulging to deeply in that world leaves no room for another kind of experience, the art of living, or simply the art of eating, as the Palanese are quick to point out.
Beyond Huxleys overt references to Socrates, Aristotle, or the concepts of Wittgenstein is his seeming reliance on and with Greek thought. In Island Huxley seems to argue the Socratic concept that knowledge is virtue, and perhapsto some extentrejects Ovids notion that people (or characters), see and approve better things, but follow worse. It might seem easy to conclude that Will Farnaby fits Ovids criteria perfectly, but to do so is wholly in error. Will Farnaby is aware of the bad things he does, and has done, but as Huxley shows this is only because he has not been aware of the proper ways of remedying his problems and, furthermore, that the society he lives within is sick. Will Farnaby is far different from the paralyzed Denis of Crome Yellow (1921) or the reminiscent and depressed characters of Anthony Beavis (Eyeless in Gaza, 1936) and Sebastian Barnack (Time Must Have a Stop, 1944). While Will has behaved badly in the past and is guilty for it, the people of Pala are able to show him the mechanisms by which he can both dispel and understand his guilt, even if Huxley does not take much time to show as such. The people of Pala do not seem concerned whether they are simply revealing something that has remained undiscovered as Socrates believed, or if they instead are teaching by proper methods as Plato advocated. This is because regardless of the method, the results are the same; the people of Pala are able after some process to act in certain ways that are better than rest of the real world. All this because its inhabitants have a better understanding of how to achieve the ends they desire by identifying their actual needs.
Huxleys own encyclopedic knowledge and interest create in Island many suggestions on a diverse range of issues such as education, medicine, and economics. His suggestions may seem plausible or preferable, or to the contrary may seem to have lost their newness or even their very validity since Islands publication just over forty years ago. Whatever the case is now or will be later, the extended viability of Island does not rest here, even if flaws or better solutions to the specific issues discussed exist, Huxleys suggestion are likely still worth some consideration, if only for the examination of the method by which they were reached.
Island is neither a detailed investigation of philosophy in the same way as the The Perennial Philosophy , nor is it as amusing as Brave New World, or as radical as Point Counter Point. Island, for all its demerits, is still worthy of consideration. The small breaths of life its characters do grant to the many ideas of the book make it more palatable than a book of essays and grant the ideas an element which somehow facilitates understanding.
The viability and importance of Island arises because of its comments on how people perceive the world and the subsequent actions they take based upon those perceptions. Island acts to call to attention to both the benefits and the shortcomings of the Western method. The Western method seeks to uncover and describe the world in truths and maxims presents to the people of Pala and Huxley an indispensable and fascinating endeavor, but also a danger. The danger exist in falling to deeply into the language and symbols that make that endeavor possible and consequently drowning out the direct experiences that the world has to offer. Direct experience is not simply a luxury to be indulged in, but is important to consider as choices are made about the application of knowledge brought about by the analyzing tradition. The further benefits and importance of direct experience are perhaps impossible to enumerate and illustrate, but therein is the importance of recognizing what Buddha taught. The dichotomy between the Western method for uncovering truth and the Eastern method for subtracting until direct experience does not relate the completeness of the peoples they represent, but does serve to represent the dominant contribution that each makes. Huxleys resulting combination should not really be expressed in Hegelian terms, for the eastern and western are not opposites, but perhaps more accurately and telling called a hybrid, or a mutually acceptable syncretism. This, more than anything else, is where Huxley wants his readers, Attention!
