Scorpio Edition - ♏︎

Intro

Chapter 1: Beliefs About Death

I found myself pondering the topic of death recently, and it led me to this question; "What might I say if I were with a loved one in their final hours? How might I help, in that situation?"

It depends on many things of course, but here’s one idea;

“You know, I’ve done quite a bit of exploration in my life. Of spiritual practices, esoteric philosophies, of the capacities and mysteries of human consciousness. And I believe the human soul survives death. I think you’re at the beginning of an entirely new kind of adventure, and that after death, our consciousness unfurls like a flower into higher dimensions than this. That once untethered from the material world, mind expands like a fractal, like a mandala, and travels in realms of incredible beauty.”

I don’t think that I know what happens after death, of course. I agree with Robert Anton Wilson (and others) when he says that dogma is the death of intelligence.

And yet, I think the above belief holds some merit, and deserves consideration.

Beliefs ought to be held lightly I think. They should change as we learn and grow, (not clung to against all reason), but also, not dismissed as irrelevant. They have a profound influence on what we experience, and therefore, what you believe is a crucial variable in any personal experiment. When I’m nearing my own death someday, I hope I’m able to approach that event with curiosity. To consider it an experiment.

Which brings me to another thought,

Chapter 2: Considering The End

Many years ago during an ayahuasca journey, I was given a message that has stayed in my mind all this time, and it occurs to me now. This message presented itself as words, clearly spoken to me from some unseen entity.

I was coming through a period of the journey which had been characterized as; intense, fractal and colourful, beautiful and expansive - and also - deeply challenging, nauseating, uncomfortable, and physically oppressive. I had experienced what felt like a high-definition preview of my own death and simultaneously, the death of the entire universe. An apocalypse of some ultimate proportions - for those that haven’t been there, this likely doesn’t make much sense… how to explain.

I don't remember why this experience felt so convincingly like a "preview of the end," to be honest. I wasn't keeping such good notes in those days.

But the quality of ego dissolution, and the principle of “As Above, So Below” were in full effect and so, the thing I was experiencing personally (inside my bag of skin, so to speak) - was also happening to the whole universe. Resonances of scale had become so intimately linked, and time had in some way collapsed so that All was Everything, and all time was NOW.
This is not a very good description of such an experience, but I just wanted to give some context into which this message arrived:

“Considering the end; Consciousness is sharp and hard, but beautiful. The other choice is comfort.”

This sentence has lived in my mind for more than 15 years now, and I believe it was an insight about the moment of death. It wasn't a command, or a judgement, but it was presented as a fact. I have wondered about it in connection with The Tibetan Book of the Dead and other Buddhist traditions that consider the moment of death a tremendous opportunity, which requires your participation. It's not a given what will happen, and it's an important thing to train for. Psychedelics too, can be preparation, I think. Have you heard the theory that our brains release large amounts of DMT at the moment of death?

Chapter 3: The Death of Aldous Huxley

This brings me to the topic of Aldous Huxley.

Did you know that Aldous Huxley, the brilliant author of Brave New World, The Doors of Perception, & Island, passed away under the influence of LSD?
If you've been subjected to enough Nixon-era anti-drug propaganda in your life, perhaps you're thinking this is a "dangers of acid" story. Let me explain.

Huxley died of cancer in 1963, and in his final hours he asked his wife Laura to inject him with a substantial dose of LSD, which she did. He knew he was approaching the end, and he chose to face it in a consciousness expanded state, on LSD. How different this is from a heavily sedated style of passing away, in which consciousness is reduced as much as possible. And again I have this question; "What if it's not a given, what happens to us when we die? What if it's an opportunity that is dependent upon our participation?" It's not just Tibetan Buddhism that proposes this. Many ancient Wisdom Traditions have a similar view, and emphasize the importance of some kind of training for that moment.

"Consciousness is sharp and hard, but beautiful. The other choice is comfort."

I'd like to be clear that I'm not implying a judgement here - I know most people don't have the opportunity to make such a choice about the conditions of their departure. It's a very rare thing, in our society to have this chance at all - (but not in the utopia Huxley described in Island, where he used the term moksha-medicine for psychedelics). I also don't think the choice of comfort is wrong, exactly. But I do find myself fascinated by the concept of this choice between Consciousness and Comfort (not just "Considering the End" - perhaps it is always a most fundamental choice in our lives, in every situation...) And how many have made it as bravely as Aldous did that day? I wonder what he experienced...

Postscript fact:
The day that Aldous Huxley died was the same day in 1963 that JFK was assassinated. And so, I think this interesting story of his death did not receive much attention in the American psyche, at least.

Chapter 4: The Survival of Aldous Huxley

The final story I want to leave you with might be the most interesting one of all.
In this talk, (I'll link it below) Huxley discusses the question of "Survival" - meaning, the survival of the human personality after death. It was a topic he gave careful thought to. I won't cover all of his thoughts on the matter (I recommend you listen to the lecture, it's very interesting) - but one of his main points is this: What would constitute reasonable evidence of survival? He discusses the phenomenon of "mediums" communicating information that they couldn't possibly have known about to people from "departed spirits."

The talk I’m referring to begins at 30:45 in this podcast;

• Huxley Lecture; webpage link

• Spotify link

Since, in virtually all of these cases, the information that the medium imparted, did exist somewhere in the mind of the querent (either consciously or unconsciously) - and since (Aldous believed) telepathy has been shown to exist under some circumstances - telepathy then, is a simpler, and more likely explanation of the phenomenon than spirits of the dead. What then would constitute good evidence of survival, he asks?

A few thoughts about skepticism might help to orient us here, since this topic has so much "woo-woo" potential:

• What is being claimed above is not - "No mediums work by illusions or fraud, ever." but, "The hypothesis of illusion or fraud cannot explain all cases of mediumship."

• Huxley strikes me as a careful thinker and a skeptical but open-minded man. That is just my opinion, of course.

• There is an important distinction to be aware of between "True Skepticism" - which is an actively curious attitude that seeks out reasonable proofs, and "Dismissive Cynicism" - which tends to pass itself off as Skepticism, but is in fact highly dogmatic about the belief "That isn't possible!" - this attitude isn't curious at all, and will all too readily deny truths which don't agree with it's preconceptions.

But on with the story,

About 15 months after Aldous died, a man who was a medium was at Laura's home (he was there for reasons unrelated to his mediumship) - but over dinner he had greatly impressed Laura and a group of her friends with his ability (by accessing information he "couldn't possibly have known") - there were names written on sealed envelopes involved, and they were all very impressed. But Aldous was not among the names discussed.
The next evening he spoke with Laura and told her "Aldous would like to transmit classical evidence of survival." Laura was startled and didn't know what that could mean. Later, while the man was engaged with something else, he said "Please give me a pencil and paper - Aldous would like me to write this down." - she did, and he wrote:

"17th page
6th book from the left
3rd shelf
or
6th shelf
3rd book from the left
23rd line"

Laura went to the library in what had been Aldous' office, which had 2 full walls filled with many books. She makes clear that she had not read either of these books herself. And although Aldous may have read them, the entire library had been rearranged since his death - he certainly didn't know where they were located. Also, that the medium had not been in that room for more than 15 minutes, and never without another person - he certainly didn't have a chance to do any extensive reading in this library.
She located the books and,
The passage located from the first of the instructions was:

17th Page, Line 23;

"Aldous Huxley does not surprise us in this admirable communication in which paradox and erudition in the poetic sense and the sense of humor are interlaced in such an efficacious form. Perhaps the majority of the listeners to this conversation will not have a complete idea of the spiritual richness of this communication..."

and from the second:

17th Page, Line 23;

"Parapsychology is still struggling in the first stage. These phenomena are not generally accepted by science although many workers are firmly convinced of their existence. For this reason the major effort of parapsychological research has been to demonstrate and to prove that they are working with real phenomena."

Find the full story in This Timeless Moment here; it's in the final chapter, titled - Sit Down Before Fact Like a Little Child - which comes from the following quote by T.H. Huxley (Aldous' grandfather);

"Sit down before fact like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses Nature leads or you shall learn nothing."

Well, I think I'll leave you with that for today. But I might ask, how do you feel about this story? What do you think?
Skeptical? (Truly?) Dismissive? (Cynical?) Gullible? (Naive?) Something else?
I'm just wondering. Laura Huxley strikes me as an honest person and careful observer, simply based on reading her book, and perhaps on my generally trusting disposition. I don't think she fabricated it. But that's just my opinion, of course.

Thanks for reading! Until next time,
Clark

What I’m Reading:

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
&
This Timeless Moment by Laura Huxley

What I’m Listening to:

Sheik Yerbouti by Frank Zappa

www.clarkmcmillanpainting.com