The 11 best phrases by Aldous Huxley to reflect on life

Aldous Huxley’s phrases are an invitation to deeper reflection to question not only the lifestyle we lead but also the direction and values ​​of the society in which we are participants. These are sentences with an ingenious, critical and sometimes cynical style that, in some way, connect with those who read them, regardless of the time in which they are located, providing them with clues that question their vision of the world.

Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) was a British writer and philosopher. Belonging to a family of intellectuals. In his youth he suffered an illness that left him practically blind, which is why he delayed his university education at Oxford. However, once he had graduated, he finished his studies in English literature and dedicated himself to traveling around Europe as an art and literature critic.

When he turned twenty-two he published his first work, The Burning Wheel (1916), a collection of poems. But It was in 1932 when he published one of his most famous works: A happy world. It is a futuristic and visionary fiction of a pessimistic nature about a society organized in a caste system in which a drug called soma plays a relevant role.

Over the years, Huxley became interested in mysticism and spirituality. and in 1945 he published The perennial philosophy, a work resulting from a process of documenting writings of spiritual masters from different traditions such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism. Its objective was to present this work to make known the common substrate that all religious and spiritual traditions have that have emerged throughout history.

Huxley has not only been considered by many as the originator of psychedelia but also as the spokesperson of the intellectuals of the first half of the 20th century.

In this article we leave you a small selection of the best phrases by Aldous Huxley to reflect about life, society and the power of knowing ourselves.

The fear trap

This is one of the most interesting Aldous Huxley quotes due to the content of its message about fear and that we should keep in mind in our daily lives. Yes ok Love is the most powerful feeling we can experience. and, in turn, the one that can fulfill us the most, protect us and make us evolve, fear is the other side of the coin.

Fear limits us and tells us lies while hindering our path of personal growth. Under different guises, it is capable of distancing us from everything that does us good and placing us in the prison of doubt and despair. For this reason, it is essential to protect ourselves from their tricks.

A life full of fear is a life boycotted by insecurity and, in some way, self-hatred. Because fear is that monster that appears to remind us that we are not valid or good, but small and insignificant. Hence, the best weapon to banish it is love, that feeling that teaches us to value ourselves.

The importance of knowing what we want

We often think lightly about what we want to achieve, and forget to be careful about what we want. Dreaming on tiptoe does not assure us that in the future we will have our feet on the ground but neither does it assure us that we will achieve flight. Hence It is so important to know where we are and where we are goingotherwise we will just walk lost without a fixed direction.

The danger of technologies

This reflection by Huxley has much more value today than when he stated it in 1930.

Despite achieving advances in different areas, technology also entails a series of risks, both on a personal and social level. And in relation to the latter, Huxley defended that to avoid lack of control, rebellion and individual reflection, that is, to continue exercising authority and domination, large organizations had to establish mechanisms to exercise control. In fact, one of his great concerns was the arrival of a technological dictatorship to sedate individuals.

The relationship between intelligence and loneliness

A perceptive mind, moved by curiosity and passionate about reflection, needs to be nourished by doses of solitude. The silence of being alone to connect with oneself, discover oneself, decipher and observe the world from the inside is a fundamental condition of the most awake minds. Hence, the practice of meditation is one of the hobbies most enjoyed by this type of people.

The pain of knowing each other

This is one of Aldous Huxley’s phrases that stands out for its lucidity on the topic of self-knowledge. Knowing ourselves involves not only observing and being aware of what comforts us and what we are good at, but also coming into contact with our shadows. And this requires a great deal of courage.not everyone has enough courage to come face to face with themselves. Hence many opt for the strategy of distraction through illusions.

However, Avoiding contact with ourselves implicitly entails stagnation, immobility and the impossibility of continuing to grow. How to improve if we don’t know each other? How can we help society evolve if we avoid turning our eyes inward by all means? The problem is that as long as we maintain this attitude we will not only remain trapped in self-deception but also in continuous complaining and the tendency to blame others for all the problems and difficulties that occur.

The threat of change

Change is a threat because it involves facing the abyss of the unknown, at the precipice of uncertainty. When we change, we abandon old habits to embrace the opportunity to incorporate new ones. The problem is that we are reluctant to welcome novelty because we consider it an enemy that comes to destabilize us. Hence, so many purposes, objectives and goals remain half-finished if we do not use willpower, effort and persistence.

Now, there are also changes and changes. These are those that are almost imperceptible because they follow the dynamics in which we were immersed and those others that represent a revolution in our lives. The latter are the most valuable and are directly related to a transformative change that comes from within us.

The significance of attitude

This is one of Aldous Huxley’s phrases to keep in mind every time the forces falter and threaten to abandon the ring of life. The important thing is not what happens, it is not what, but how we face it, what attitude we choose to face it, that is, how we react.

The difficulty of practice

Another of Aldous Huxley’s phrases not to forget in our daily lives. Knowing about certain topics, knowing the different theories and even some studies carried out does not imply that we know how to act according to them. Often, There is a great chasm between theory and practice that we barely perceive, but that does not mean that it ceases to have its value.

How many times have we believed that we knew how to react to a certain situation and then when it happened to us we were left lost and immobilized! The power of circumstances is amazing. For this reason, If we want to put into practice everything we have learned, it is not enough to just read or reflect, the key is to execute, in reacting, in taking all knowledge to a higher plane.

The limits of words

Without a doubt, this is one of Aldous Huxley’s phrases that most invites us to reflect. Language is a powerful tool that serves to communicate, however it has its limitations. Sometimes words cannot contain the uncontainable, that which is the result of the purest and most direct experience of our senses and feelings. In fact, they also lead us to misunderstandings and conflicts because concepts have their subjective nuances. Who assures us that our partner conceives the experience of love as we do? Does forgiveness, betrayal or commitment have the same meaning for each of us?

As we see, Aldous Huxley’s phrases are a valuable legacy to reflect on how we live and where we are going. These are pills full of wisdom that challenge our intellect with the aim of making us more awake. A collection of sentences to turn to every time we want to expand our visual and mental spectrum.

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