Pala Island - utopia.

For some reason, this island of Huxley's, makes me think of Bass Rock, where the covenanters where sent. Also, there is an extinct people in the pacific, blue eyed and ginger haired - this story has me imagining it is spoken through a remnant of these long lost people.

This is so profoundly relevant to my life that I cannot possibly review it without bias. Genuinely and possibly the most important book I have ever read thus far.

Absolutely inspired, stunning, and magical. I really enjoyed this book for weaving together ideas from Buddhism, Psychotherapy, Self-Actualization, and Psychedelics. I feel like I've been primed to read this since taking a deep dive into my own journey into who I am.

I really like the idea of dropping who I am and becoming the my real self. I'm fascinated but the protections I put up to guard my real self. The primary journey of Will throughout this book is dropping this notion of himself that he made up - that he can't say "yes."

I really enjoyed how Huxley put the ideas of Buddhism into a narrative. The idea of non-dualism and the idea that consciousness is a place you're aware from and not separate from was really well handled. In therapy I've been employing the idea of feeling into an experience. And I think Huxley really captured that idea in the section on how they teach kids. There's so much more to experience when you listen to the non-logical sides of yourself that accept the world.

The trip at the end of the book was pretty funny, in some ways similar to the experiences I've had. In general, I would say that psychedelics alone don't really get you to understand the idea of Self in the way Huxley is describing. But a lot of the ideas around the Self and Non-Self and Who We Are are coming from Buddhism.

Dzogcheng Buddhism has an interesting lesson about looking back at the source of awareness that seems to be parlayed through the idea of seeing the light as yourself from a third-person point of view, both for Lakshmi and Will.

Sam Harris's book Waking Up was a good primer for this book. It talks a lot about the idea of consciousness, and the possibility that consciousness is a permeating life force that isn't just us.

Island is incredible. It hit me because I was well primed. It weaved together a lot of things I've been learning about into a nice story.

The story is really a vehicle for relating all the concepts, but that's okay with me. It's not a novel in the traditional sense, but that makes it all the more remarkable.

I actually really liked the ending. It felt true to what should happen. Life is messy and full of suffering, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to live the best we know how. Every moment is precious and you must enjoy in spite of the suffering.

“Island” is a book of great value. After reading it, I feel like I’ve just had a long conversation with the author. It’s full of Huxley’s remarks and inner thoughts that sometimes take over the plot which doesn’t bother me. Despite not having much knowledge in the area of religion or spiritualism I was still very interested in the story. The only thing I am on the fence about is the backstories of certain characters that do not bring much into the story and are a bit effortful to read. Overall, I liked the book a lot and want to re-read it in the future to see whether being older changes my perception of it.