I was a bit skeptical after reading Aldous Huxley’s “The Doors of Perception”, but this one turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable read. It’s a fascinating mix of education and entertainment, where Huxley imagines a better society with its own unique use of politics, economy, technology, religion, and social norms. Although I did find myself getting a bit lost when he starts describing life under LSD drugs, the way he constructs this utopia is very engaging.

გრძელ-გრძელი განხილვის დაწერას ვაპირებდი,იმაზე თუ რამდენად მიმზიდველია ჩემთვის კუნძული პალა, ბუდისმის ფილოსოფიითა და ამ ფილოსოფიის განცდითი გამოცდილების გზით მიღებით. მაგრამ მერე გადავიფიქრე, რადგან არის საკითხები რომლებსაც უბრალოდ გრძნობ, ჰარმონიაში გამყოფებს და სულაც არაა საჭირო ამ ყველაფრის სიტყვებით გამოთქმა . მთავარია არა ის რა იცი, არამედ რამდენად გაქვს გაცნობიერებული. უბრალოდ გირჩევთ რომ ამ წიგნის კითხვით მოგვრილი სიამოვნების გამოცდილებაში გადატანაზე უარი არ თქვათ :)

In ciuda rating-ului imperfect, Insula ramane unul din romanele mele preferate, unul din romanele pe care imi e ciuda ca nu l-am citit inca din timpul liceului, insa mi-a fost tare drag sa il recitesc acum dupa multi ani.
In Insula, Huxley a trecut de la distopie la utopie si nu pot sa nu ma gandesc ca in momentul de fata noi insine traim in distopiile imaginate in secolul trecut dar ca am putea la fel de bine sa traim si intr-o utopie. Multi ar zice ca e prea tarziu, ca e imposibil, ca pana si Pala lui Huxley era amenintata de realitatile inconjuratoare, dar eu prefer sa fac uneori acest exercitiu de imaginatie si sa ma gandesc cum ar fi; si da, pare imposibil pentru ca ar depinde de prea multi factori, ar depinde de comunicarea si intelegerea intre oameni, ceea ce...in fine. Defapt voiam sa spun ca as vrea ca mai multi sa ne imaginam lumea in care ne-ar placea sa traim si sa incercam sa construim cate putin din acea lume.

Dar sa revenim la carte. Huxley a incercat sa ne arate un model de societate care nu e perfecta, dar pare sa aiba ingredientele potrivite. Este drept si ca povestea este tesuta cu foarte mult misticism si multe lucruri pot parea ireale, insa exercitiul asta de imaginatie este bun si in a contempla posibilitatile descrise de alte culturi care nu au aceasi relatie materiala si spirituala cu lumea ca noi cei care discreditam aceste experiente. Exista intregi culturi care difera profund de cea familiara noua, exista un alt fel de a intelege spiritualitatea si un alt fel de a trai si eu una as fi curioasa sa cunosc cat mai multe detalii despre astfel de realitati.

Pe insula lui Huxley Vestul si Estul se intalnesc spiritual si intelectual pentru a forma o societate rationala, libera, o societate in care oamenii nu se simt pierduti si fara scop in viata pentru ca ei si-o petrec descoperindu-se pe sine si lumea din jurul lor. Este o societate conectata la mediul in care traieste, plina de oameni care fac tot ce le sta in putinta pentru a armoniza timpul pe care il petrec in aceasta forma corporala. O societate in care doctorii incearca sa previna boala, in care tehnologia este pusa in folosul oamenilor, neacaparandu-le viata, in care familiile nu sunt limitate la acea unitate predestinata de genetica, ci o familie extinsa in care copii au mai mult sprijin, au mai multa libertate dar si responsabilitati pe masura. M-am gandit si ca uneori seamana cu un cult, societatea lui Huxley, ca folosesc substante halucinogenice pentru a atinge acea stare de eliberare totala si auto-cunoastere. Spre deosebire de Huxley nu am cunostinte din vaste domenii pentru a ma pronunta in privinta eticii unora din practicile palanezilor, insa prefer sa raman cu mintea deschisa.
Mai presus decat ideile recurgitate pe aceste pagini de catre autor, cel mai mult m-a entuziasmat o dezbatere pe seama lui sau pornind de la imaginea Palei, un exercitiu in descoperirea unei realitati mai bune in care am vrea sa traim.

Cartea e departe de a fi perfecta - nici ideile prezentate nu pretind ca ar fi si nici modul in care Huxley a ales sa le prezinte. Lipsa actiunii se resimte cand debitul de informatii devine prea greoi, iar personajele sunt prea putin conturate pentru a le putea distinge usor intre ele. Poate ca autorul a simtit ca nu mai are destul timp sa isi prezinte ideea intr-un plot inchegat, el suferind de cancer la momentul scrierii, sau poate nici nu a incercat vreodata. Poate ca tot ce si-a dorit a fost sa ne lanseze aceasta provocare si un avertisment de care noi nu am vrut sa tinem cont.

3,87: Kitabın ortalama puanı. Düşük bir puan olmamakla birlikte, kesinlikle yüksek de değil. Hele ki bu kitap için...

Bu kitap bana uzun zamandır yaşamadığım bir durumu yaşattı. Maksimum 30'ar sayfalık periyotlarla okuyabildim çünkü kitabın özündeki fikirler öyle yoğun ve düşündürücüydü ki daha fazlası yoruyordu. Her okuyuşumda kafamı allak bullak etmeyi başarıyordu zira. Öyle bölümler oldu ki defalarca kez yeniden okudum, her defasında da bana inanılmaz bir haz verdi.

Huxley kesinlikle toplumu okumada çok üstün bir isim. Toplumların dününü, bugününü ve yarınını yıllar öncesinde görmüş gibi yansıtmış. Evet, bu kitap ütopya olarak nitelenebilecek bir dünyayı anlatıyor ancak bunu toplumların neden bu kadar bozulduğu ve yozlaştığı üzerinden ele aldığı için gerçek üstü olabilecek hiçbir unsur barındırmıyor. Toplumları yönetmek Huxley gibi düşünürlere bırakılsa gerçekten yaşamın her saniyesi bir zevk olur diye düşündüm. Okumanızı ve okutmanızı tavsiye ederim.

This book is like Plato’s Republic if Plato was a devout Buddhist. Consequently, I thoroughly enjoyed it. In this work, Huxley celebrates and endorses many aspects of Buddhism but also psychedelic drugs. He envisions a utopian society centered on these two things, where people are truly happy. I’m left feeling convinced and I look forward to reading more Huxley

n  "We don't despair, because we know that things don't necessarily have to be as bad as in fact they've always been."n

As a novel, Island fails. From an aesthetic point of view, it simply isn't very good: the scenario, setting, and characters created by Huxley are contrived and the endless religious-philosophical dialogue is scholastic and polished enough to befit a journal. In short, Huxley asks much from his reader, without always rewarding this trust by way of story-telling. At the same time, Island is probably the best literary depiction of utopia out there—it certainly is the greatest that I have ever read. Given that utopias are much more difficult to portray than dystopias (there is a reason that there are so many more of the latter out there), Huxley is to be commended. Many of the ideas in Island are worth carefully considering, and they are surely as relevant today as they were in the early '60s (even if one is not quite as willing as Huxley to go the way of mushrooms).

The good

- Whereas Brave New World shows us a dystopian society, this book focuses on what a utopian society could look like. The juxtaposition between the two novels is fascinating: e.g., group living in the former to eliminate individuality vs group living in the latter to prevent children being overly exposed to the neuroses of a single set of parents.

- Some interesting ideas and concepts: e.g., the focus on all aspects of being a human (mental, physical, spirtual, sexual, etc) as the key to being a healthy and whole human, focusing on the here & now, living in the moment, meditation, mutual adoption clubs, directly confronting suffering/death rather than avoiding it, embracing nature rather than avoiding it, and so on. There were also a few interesting tidbits about dealing with problematic members of society early on to prevent them from turning into monsters (e.g., think of Adolf Hitler), and also how a certain percentage of society are easily "hypnotized" by such monsters, obediently following these leaders, and totally blind to reality (this part made me shudder as I looked around to see 70M+ people vote for Donald Trump).

The not so good

- In elementary school, my English teacher taught me, "show, don't tell." This book is, in every way, the opposite: at times, it feels like an endless monologue that tells you about the utopian society, rather than letting you live in it and see it play out. Even though I personally find some of the themes of the book deeply interesting, I often found myself bored and irritated, as it felt like I was being lectured, with some character droning on and on and on about how wonderful this utopian society was, how much more clever and enlightened they were than everyone else, about how stupid and primitive and childish Western society was, and so on. It was borderline intolerable at times, and I really struggled to force myself to finish reading.

- Many of the ideas seem naive or impractical or to go entirely against human nature. I think Huxley is a little too enamored with Buddhism, psychedelic drugs, communes, and doesn't give nearly enough credit to the power of families, genetics, and tragedy of the commons. I was rolling my eyes often during this book, even when reading about parts I agreed with, as it just felt, well, a bit too utopian: or more specifically, impractical, beyond the tiny scale of a single village or commune, and therefore, unrealistic and not useful in the real world.

You can read my review here: http://embracingmybooks.blogspot.be/2...

Huxley's long and prolific career comes to an end with Island, his utopian counter-point to his dystopian Brave New World. It's an awful lightweight affair, but is in keeping with the diminishing returns of his output over the second half of his career.

The people of fictional Pala live serene and fulfilling lives in accordance with eastern mystical principles, including use of psychedelic drugs to connect with nature/the universe/each other. Will Farnaby, our protagonist, is an outsider who shipwrecks on the island is taught all about their ways. If you're familiar with Plato's Republic or More's Utopia, you already the know the general structure of the story.

While Huxley can share some thoughtful zen koans, the sum of the various parts of his philosophy rarely are equal to a whole. While there are some nominal villains from the neighboring island threatening to end Pala's way of life, there's never any serious dramatic tension in the story. If you've read Huxley's non-fiction on his religious and spiritual beliefs, there's not much new under the sun of Pala. I'm honestly not sure why he felt this needed to be framed as fiction, rather than just pushing out another of his books of essays on these same topics.

It's a shame because many of Huxley's novels can be described as a "novel of ideas" (and not in a pejorative sense). They're books that have well-drawn characters but are quite obviously concerned with social issues, philosophies and ideologies, economics, etc. During the last part of Huxley's life, when his commitment to eastern spirituality, alternative scientific ideas, and psychedelics, became so strong that these override any other concern in the writing. Island is a "novel of ideas" but not in a good sense - it's just interested in the ideas and not in anything else.

With this book, my completest reading of Huxley comes to an end, though I may still read a biography or two to top things off. My take-away is that he is a great intellect and enormously skilled in wordplay, but also weirdly credulous and had his energy and attention diverted in ways that were not necessarily productive later in life.

I have nothing against magic mushrooms or LSD, and may have indulged a little in my youth if you want full disclosure. They can result in wonderful, eye opening experiences that change a person for the better. But building your entire view of the world around these experiences seems like a strange waste.

Like many other readers I was drawn to Aldous Huxley after reading Brave New World. Huxley wrote Island near the end of his life. After witnessing the horror that struck the world, particularly Europe and Asia, throughout his lifetime, Huxley decided to weave together his philosophy and life’s learnings into a utopia novel about the people of the island Pala.

The story follows Will Farnaby, a Brit, who shipwrecks on the Polynesian island somewhere near Tahiti. Farnaby is nursed back to health by the locals and schooled in the values of the local culture.

The novel touches on many interesting topics of that time period (1960s). The cause of evil men, western vs eastern philosophy, Buddhism and its many teachings, the shortcomings of western institutions, mysticism, maximizing human potential, pacifism vs colonialism, among others.

Pala represents a utopia steeped in realism… unlike the fantasy utopias of other novels, which may be little more than made up dreams, Huxley places Pala within the real world context of the early 1960s. What makes Pala so enticing is that it has carefully stayed out of the messiness of the rest of the world. Also the Pala culture elevates human individuals to become fully enlightened: mentally, spiritually, sexually, intellectually, and physically.

With all these positive things being said, unfortunately I found Island a bit hard to get through… maybe I was expecting something slightly more straightforward, but Huxley often cloaks his lessons inside subtle whit and cryptic writing styles. Not only is his vocabulary quite profound but this book also included French and Latin as well as a number of poems and songs. This made it difficult for me to get immersed in the story.

Another disappointment for me was the story itself… there wasn’t really one. Most of the novel is a dialog between eight or so main characters. Yes they move around the island a bit throughout the story but this book is very dialog/commentary heavy. This is the opposite of an adventure story.

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After visiting Huxley’s dystopia (Brave New World) I had to see his utopia. Although the writing was pedantic and the story somewhat lacking, I pushed to the end and am glad I read it. I did get some valuable learnings from the novel and will continue to ponder those lessons for quite sometime.

I only finished it because I was reading it for a challenge. If 100 pages were cut, it might have been better. It just dragged for me,

Wenn bedacht wird, dass gefühlt Alle "Schöne Neue Welt" gelesen haben, ist Island bzw. Eiland ein ziemlich unterschätztes Werk Huxleys. Lesenden wird gemeinsam mit dem recht zynischen, von einer gefühlskalten Gesellschaft geprägten Protagonisten Will Farnaby das Inselleben immer weiter vorgestellt. Während einem beim Lesen das Inselleben Palas immer angenehmer erscheint, spürt man zum anderen auch die die Mächte von außen sowie die dadurch ausgehende Bedrohung immer stärker. Jedenfalls lässt sich das Buch sowohl, wie von Huxley vorgesehen, als utopisches Gegenstück zu "Schöne Neue Welt", jedoch auch als unabhängigen, sehr gelungenen Roman lesen.