The Bergsonian Metaphysics Behind Huxley’s Doors

The author attempts to rectify and fortify the Bergsonian metaphysics that Aldous Huxley used in *The Doors of Perception* to explain his mescaline experience. Two key concepts are examined: the 'reducing valve,' which filters perception of the external world and the past for practical purposes, and 'Mind-at-Large,' which denotes the entirety of the external world beyond what one perceives. The paper argues that these ideas, drawn from Henri Bergson, can help deepen understanding of psychedelic experience.

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Abstract

AbstractPeter Sjöstedt-Hughes attempts to help us understand psychedelic experience via the ideas of Aldous Huxley and Henri Bergson. More specifically, he attempts ‘to rectify and fortify’ Bergson’s metaphysics as it is represented in Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, a book about the use and experience of mescaline. In it, Huxley employs two Bergsonian concepts: that of the ‘reducing valve’ and that of ‘Mind-at-Large’. According to the former concept, one’s perception of both the external world and one’s past is greatly filtered for practical purposes. According to the latter concept, the whole of the external world (not just that part of it that one perceives, but all of it, i. e.