from a Letter Henrietta Heathorn, September, 1851

"Of one thing I am more and more convinced---that however painful for oneself this destruction of things that have been holy may be---it is the only hope for a new state of belief . . . That a new belief---through which the faith and practice of men shall once more work---is possible and will exist---I cannot doubt. At any rate, what am I, that I should not be content even by negation to help in the 'Forderung der Tag'* as the great poet has it?

". . . Fear no shadows---least of all that great spectre of personal unhappiness which binds half the world to orthodoxy. They say 'how shocking, how miserable to be without this or that belief!' Surely that is little better than cowardice and a form of selfishness. The Intellectual perception of truth and the acting up to it---is so far as I know the only meaning of the phrase 'one-ness with God.' So long as we attain to that end does it matter whether our small selves are happy or miserable?"

T. H. Huxley

*  Was aber ist deine Pflicht? Die Forderung des Tages.   But what is your duty? What the day demands.         Goethe—Sprüche in Prosa. III. 151.

from "Evolution and Ethics" (1894)

"It strikes me that men who are accustomed to contemplate the active or passive extirpation of the weak, the unfortunate, and the superfluous; who justify that conduct on the ground that it has the sanction of the cosmic process, and is the only way of ensuring the progress of the race; who, if they are consistent, must rank medicine among the black arts and count the physician as a mischievous preserver of the unfit; on whose matrimonial undertakings the principles of the stud have the chief influence; whose whole lives, therefore, are an education in the noble art of suppressing natural affection and sympathy, are not likely to have any large stock of these commodities left. But without them, there is no conscience, nor any restraint on the conduct of men, except the calculation of self interest, the balancing of certain present gratifications against doubtful future pains; and experience shows us how much that is worth. Every day, we see believers in the hell of the theologians commit commit acts by which, as they believe when cool, they risk eternal punishment; while they hold back from those which are opposed by the sympathies of their associates."


T. H. Huxley

from a letter to Julian Huxley, December, 1946

". . . [I]t is perfectly obvious that atomic energy, being generated from uranium, which is a natural monopoly, is a power-source no less politically unsatisfactory than petroleum. Like petroleum, uranium may occur within the territories of powerful nations---in which case it increases their power and their tendency to bully others; or it may be found within the borders of weak nations---in which case it invites aggression and international chicanery, as is now the case with the oil of the Middle east. If they chose, technologists could bypass the whole difficulty by concentrating on the development of a source of power which is not a natural monopoly---and which, also, is not a wasting asset, like uranium, or petroleum, or even coal. The most obvious power source hitherto inadequately exploited is wind. I gather that the experimental wind turbine which has been producing fifteen hundred kilowatts in Maine has proved entirely satisfactory. If scientists genuinely want to contribute to peace and well being, they can collectively and intensively consider the yet more efficient development of such wind turbines and thereby end natural monopolies and remove one of the standing temptations to aggression, war and foreign burrowing from within. But they prefer to concentrate on atomic power, which creates unparalleled temptations in the political sphere."

Aldous Huxley

from a letter to Naomi Mitchison, December, 1939

"The philosophy of Buddhism, which is the most thoroughgoing and consistent of all religious philosophies is merely an extended utilitarianism. It points out that, if you want something appreciably superior to the human activities of past and present, Bondage must be given up for Freedom. It further points out that, where Freedom has been attained by an appropriate exercise of the personality (just as skill in piano playing can be attained by appropriate exercise of the muscles and aesthetic sensibilities) the Free person will be, to a large extent, master of his circumstances and independent of his environment. (It is worth remarking that the term 'Progress' in evolution is applied to the gradual achievement of increasing independence from the environment). Having said this, the Buddhist philosophy goes on to state that, as a matter a matter of fact, very few people care for Freedom enough to take the trouble to attain it. (Christianity asserts the same.) Therefore, it says, there seems little likelihood of the world at large becoming appreciably better than it has been. It has, of course, nothing to say against socialism (whatever that abstraction may mean)."

Aldous Huxley

from "Population and Human Fulfillment" (1957)

"Most foreign residents prophesy that Bali's vital culture is doomed, and will wither and die within ten or fifteen years. This may be over-gloomy, but certainly Balinese culture is in danger, and will die out or be debased by bastardized westernization unless something is done to check its decline. The question is what, and how? I can only hope that the Indonesian government will realize the value, to its own country and to the world, of this rich product of the centuries, and that Unesco will justify the 'C' in its name---C for Culture---and do all in its power to help. No one wants to keep the Balinese in a state of ill-health and ignorance: but instead of being pushed by well-meaning but ill-considered efforts of overzealous missionaries and administrators and 'scientific' experts to believe that their traditional culture is a symbol of backwardness, to be sacrificed on the twin altars of Christian doctrine and technological advance, they could be encouraged in the truer and profounder belief in the essential validity of their indigenous arts and ceremonials, and helped in the task of adapting them to modern standards. A traditional culture, like a wild species of animal or plant, is a living thing. If it is destroyed, the world is the poorer; nor can it be artificially re-created. But being alive, it can evolve to meet new conditions. It is an urgent but sadly neglected task of the present age to discover the means whereby the flowerings of culture shall not be extinguished by the advances of science and technique, but shall cooperate with them in the general enrichment of life. And in coping with this task we must not forget that population increase can make it more difficult, by forcing people to think of how merely to stay alive, less of how to live."

Julian Huxley

from "What Dare I Think?" (1931)

". . . [T]he explorations of pharmacology are discovering many remarkable effects of chemical substances. Out of coal the pharmacologist can prepare acetanilide which will bring down the temperature; with other substances he can send the temperature up. Out of raw liver he gets a substance that will build blood; out of a Mexican cactus he can extract a drug which will promote the strength of visual imagery in thinking and will make some people hallucinate; he can manufacture out of ordinary materials in his laboratory the thyroxin with which the thyroid gland stimulates the body to new activity; he can reduce or increase the blood pressure at will. But again, the results have solely been applied to set right something which has gone wrong, not to open new doors."

Julian Huxley

from "The Evolution of Theology: An Anthropological Study" (1886)

"I suppose that, as long as the human mind exists, it will not escape its deep-seated instinct to personify its intellectual conceptions. The science of the present day is as full of this particular form of shadow-worship as the nescience of ignorant ages.  The difference is that the philosopher who is worthy of the name knows that his personified hypotheses, such as law, and force, and ether, and the like, are merely useful symbols, while the ignorant and careless take them for adequate expressions of reality.  So, it may be, that the majority of mankind may find the practice of morality made easier by the use of theological symbols.  And unless these are converted from symbols into idols, I do not see that science has anything to say to the practice, except to give an occasional warning of its dangers. But, when such symbols are dealt with as real existences, I think the highest duty is laid upon men of science to show that these dogmatic idols have no greater value than the fabrications of men's hands, the stocks and the stones, which they have replaced."

T. H. Huxley

from a Letter to Julian and Juliette Huxley, August 9th, 1962

"I have been ruminating the possibility of writing a kind of contrapuntal phantasy. On one level there would be a kind of science fiction vision of what might be, if we used our resources with intelligence and good will.On another level it would be an account of what is actually happening at the present time. On a third level it would be another science fiction vision of what may be expected to happen if we don't behave with intelligence and good will. I can't yet envisage the form of such a book; but if I find a satisfactory form and can work it out in an interesting way, the result might be significant and important. In the mean time I must wait around like Mr. Micawber, for something to turn up---or, romantically, like the scholar gipsy, for the spark from heaven to fall."

Aldous Huxley

from "The ABC of Reading" (1934)

"The most useful living member of the Huxley family has emphasized the fact that the telescope wasn't merely an idea, but that it was very definitely a technical achievement."

Ezra Pound

from a Letter to Philip Whalen, March, 1954

". . . Rexroth has stomach trouble and his wife Marthe is pregnant again. But he still happily holds forth on KPFA & has managed to insult virtually everyone in the Bay Area now; he has the university here positively frothing. & a recent flaying of Huxley's Vedanta business and of southern California orientalists has won him a pack of enemies. He said, roughly, 'The only living member of the Huxley family who can think with even moderate clarity is Julian.'"

Gary Snyder

from " On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge" (1866)

"The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such.  For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.  And, it cannot be otherwise, for every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority, the cherishing of the keenest skepticism, the annhilation of the spirit of blind faith; and the most ardent votary of science holds his firmest convictions, not because the men he most venerates hold them; not because their verity is testified by portents and wonders; but because his experience teaches him that whenever he chooses to bring these convictions into contact with their primary source, Nature---whenever he thinks fit to test them by appealing to experiment and to observation---Nature will confirm them."

T. H. Huxley

from a letter to Martha Voegeli, May 3rd, 1961

"The only kind of religion, so far as I can see, that is compatible with scientific thought is a religion of mystical experience---not a Nirvana outside the world but within it . . . The ethical corollary of mystical experience (which involves a sense of solidarity with all beings) is compassion and ultimately ahimsa, with the paradoxical combination of working for the cause of goodness and at the same time obeying the injunction of Jesus (and all mystics) 'Judge not that ye be not judged.' Mystical experience is no more incompatible with science than aesthetic experience. Incompatibility arises when metaphysical interpretations are made."

Aldous Huxley

Aphorisms and Reflections, clxvii (1908, Henrietta Huxley, ed.)

"Of all the most dangerous mental habits, that which schoolboys call 'cocksureness' is probably the most perilous; and the inestimable value of metaphysical discipline is that it furnishes an effectual counterpoise to this evil proclivity. Whoso has mastered the elements of philosophy knows that the attribute of unquestionable certainty appertains only to a state of consciousness so long as it exists; all other beliefs are merely probabilities of a higher or lower order. Sound metaphysic is an amulet which renders its possessor proof alike against the poison of superstition and the counterpoison of shallow negation; by showing the affirmations of the former and the denials of the latter alike deal with matters which, for lack of evidence, nothing can be either affirmed or denied."


T. H. Huxley