The Doors of Perception

I am amazed at the clarity and insight with which Huxley is able to recall his mescaline experience. It takes a disciplined mind and skilled hand to be able to relate the side affects of mescaline with such clarity. I was intrigued by Huxley's comments about the importance of being able to "see ourselves as others see us". It appears that the loss of self brought about by the hallucinogenic experience could go a long way towards developing the individual's senses of sympathy and empathy. Through depersonalization it would appear that human beings are provided the rare opportunity to separate ourselves from our overt and covert prejudices. In addition to being able to see ourselves as others see us the hallucinogenic experience may allow us to better identify those limiting factors in our own lives which force us to unknowingly experience the world with bias.