We have touched upon the topic of religion and their rituals being able to introduce altered states, but Huxley really expands on this point within “Heaven and Hell.”
After inserting an account from Weir Mitchell, Huxley says, “Reading these accounts, we are immediately struck by the close similarity between induced or spontaneous visionary experience and the heavens and fairylands of folklore and religion.” As vague as that quote is at the point it will make more sense in another couple of paragraphs.
Huxley goes on to say, “Uttarakuru, we see, resembles the landscapes of the mescalin experience in being rich with precious stones. And this characteristic is common to virtually all the Other Worlds of religious tradition.”
In many ways Huxley is trying to say that depictions of after life realms follow a similar archetype. Within his proposed archetype gold and precious stones seem to always appear. After introducing his hypothesis that precious stones are indeed precious because they are so closely related to those seen in the after-life, he finally stumbles on stained-glass windows and their impact on worship.
I immediately though about a Christian Orthodox service I photographed last semester for a religion class.
During my project I was focusing on the ritual and how it enhances worship. The priest seen in the photograph is Dr. Anthony Ugolnick. He told me the aim of his service is to appeal to all five senses. During the service the congregation is receiving the morning light through stain-glass and surrounded by ornamentation—Sight. Singing is included throughout the service to enhance the meaning of the works—Sound. Incense is burned and spread throughout the church periodically throughout the service—Smell. Followers touch and kiss relics at points in the service—Touch. And of course the blood and body of Christ is symbolically consumed during the Eucharist—Taste.
Going back to Huxley, he even proposed that even looking at beautiful colors, stones and other objects people could enter an altered state. I don’t think it is a coincidence that the same objects Huxley referred to are used in a ceremony intended put people in an altered states.
(I tried to insert pictures, but I ran into error messages. I guess we can look at them in class.
After inserting an account from Weir Mitchell, Huxley says, “Reading these accounts, we are immediately struck by the close similarity between induced or spontaneous visionary experience and the heavens and fairylands of folklore and religion.” As vague as that quote is at the point it will make more sense in another couple of paragraphs.
Huxley goes on to say, “Uttarakuru, we see, resembles the landscapes of the mescalin experience in being rich with precious stones. And this characteristic is common to virtually all the Other Worlds of religious tradition.”
In many ways Huxley is trying to say that depictions of after life realms follow a similar archetype. Within his proposed archetype gold and precious stones seem to always appear. After introducing his hypothesis that precious stones are indeed precious because they are so closely related to those seen in the after-life, he finally stumbles on stained-glass windows and their impact on worship.
I immediately though about a Christian Orthodox service I photographed last semester for a religion class.
During my project I was focusing on the ritual and how it enhances worship. The priest seen in the photograph is Dr. Anthony Ugolnick. He told me the aim of his service is to appeal to all five senses. During the service the congregation is receiving the morning light through stain-glass and surrounded by ornamentation—Sight. Singing is included throughout the service to enhance the meaning of the works—Sound. Incense is burned and spread throughout the church periodically throughout the service—Smell. Followers touch and kiss relics at points in the service—Touch. And of course the blood and body of Christ is symbolically consumed during the Eucharist—Taste.
Going back to Huxley, he even proposed that even looking at beautiful colors, stones and other objects people could enter an altered state. I don’t think it is a coincidence that the same objects Huxley referred to are used in a ceremony intended put people in an altered states.
(I tried to insert pictures, but I ran into error messages. I guess we can look at them in class.
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