Heaven and Hell

Maybe I just wasn't understanding what he was saying, but I didn't agree with Huxley on some things.
I agree with Huxley that art does possess some “mystical” ability to transport our thinking to “other worlds,” worlds, which we do not concern ourselves with during our day to day activities. It is in this other area of our psyche that our imagination runs wilds and allows us to be creative.
“To be busy is the law of our being. The law of theirs is to do nothing” (Huxley 120). I found this to be an interesting idea, that the “creations,” or “Cherubim” as William Blake calls them, of our “other world” don’t really do anything, and “a heroic figure at rest is has a greater transporting power than one which is shown in action” (Huxley 121). I am not sure I agree, but there is something intriguing about seeing a statue of a Greek hero at leisure.
“Shiny objects may remind our unconscious of what it enjoys at the mind’s antipodes, and these obscure intimations of life in the Other World are so fascinating that we pay less attention to this world and so become capable of experiencing consciously something of that which, unconsciously, is always with us” (Huxley 106). It seems to me that he is really reaching here. Could it not be that we are simply focusing/meditating and that allows us to feel more clear and lost (go inside ourselves). I don’t agree that are interest and the “transporting” power of artwork, focusing on objects, or color remind us of another world. It seems more likely we either focus till enter anther state of conscious or are imagination/thinking begins to run wild.
Huxley states that most people dream in black & white; I wonder if most people today still dream in black & white; I myself, never remember my dreams, and when I use my imagination I don’t even think about color, one way or the other. If anyone does remember which their dreams are, I‘d be interested to know.
I also, disagree with the idea vision-inducing art is at its best when it comes from artists who have had a visionary experience. It seems to me that many people are “transported” by things other than these artists, be it the world around them, seeing the Virgin Mary in a taco, or by a bunch of splotches on the wall.
I felt as though he were reaching on many points, sort of like our Altered States book, without providing very much support for his ideas. He tries to relate everything we do, are, or see to these “alien other worlds.” While some of his points are interesting, I didn’t really feel like Huxley explained himself well or provided enough proof.