Fully Human Being
Aldous Huxley’s Island, Tantra, and Human Potential
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21872735 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jake Poller (0000-0002-6597-5752, Queen Mary University of London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2020-02-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal for the Study of New Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2041-9511 • E-ISSN: 2041-952X |
| Publisher | Equinox Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1558/ijsnr.38893 |
| OpenAlex | W3007502032 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 5 |
In Island (1962), Aldous Huxley presents a utopian community in which theinhabitants aim to become "fully human beings" by realizing their "potentialities."I demonstrate how Huxley's notion of the "human potentialities" havebeen misrepresented, both by scholars and by the founders of the Esalen Institute.Huxley's focus on human potentialities arose from a shift in his thinkingfrom the other-worldly mysticism of The Perennial Philosophy (1945) to thelife-affirming traditions of Tantra, Zen and Mahayana Buddhism. In Island,the population attempt to realize their human potentialities and engage in anexperiential spirituality that celebrates the body and nature as sacred throughthe use of the moksha-medicine and the practice of maithuna. I argue thatwhereas Tantric adepts practised maithuna as a means to acquire supernormalpowers (siddhis), in Island the Palanese version of maithuna is quite differentand is used to valorize samsara and the acquisition of human potentialities
Biology · Buddhism · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Human being · Human body · Humanity · Mysticism · Sociology · Spirituality · Tantra · Theology · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |