I have been co-reading some books with my godson nephew, Robert. Right now we are reading The Life of Pi, but last fall we read Island, by Aldous Huxley (his last book, published in 1962). It is a favorite book of my friend Evan, and a book about an ideal society, so I was interested.
Here is an email to Robert when I was on page 100 (November 2011):
It is some work to read, and I spent some time in Wikipedia deciphering some of the references! The author is very versed at eastern religions and european historic figures to draw complete pictures of characters and philosophies creating a lot of richness on each page. Wikipedia is helping me decipher.
He values Buddhist and Theosophic principles and practices and abhorrs self-indulgent, dualistic ,capitalistic machinations of modern western society. The irony is that while he (Huxley) sings praises of eastern philosophy and practice, his angle is presented with such a protestant/catholic mood, feeling and writing style. For example, that sarcasm in his writing when describing Rani in Will’s eyes is very English, not very eastern at all. Same with the plot of a newpaper writer trying to get in on the inside to exploit opportunities for gain for all in accessing oil rights; it feels like a very western-styled plot - interesting mix! And why not? He says (in the little green book written by the old Raja so long ago): "What in fact I am, if only the Manichee I think I am would allow me to know it, is the reconciliation of yes and no lived out in total acceptance and the blessed experience of the Not-Two."
I had to look up Manichee. So interesting! he terms "Manichaean" and "Manichaeism" are sometimes used figuratively as a synonym of the more general term "dualist" with respect to a philosophy or outlook.[37] They are often used to suggest with a somewhat disparaging undertone that the world view in question simplistically reduces the world to a struggle between Good and Evil.
The young beautiful nurse is named Radha. I learned in my research about the gopi cow-herders 2 weeks ago in a class I took that Radha is the most important gopi being Krishna's lover and incarnation of Lakshmi... and in the book, Lakshmi is the wife of McPhail's dead son. I will see how this plays out.
Wow so much going on in parallel with characters and historic/religious figures. Ranga (Radha's lover) mentions the Mahayana tantric philosophy of the people of Pala. (This is also the tradition of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition observed by the teacher I was with at meditation retreat last December in Colorado.) Ranga explains Mahayanic and of tantric philosphy: "you don’t renounce the world or deny its value; you don’t try to escape to Nirvana apart from life. You make use of the world, you make use of everything you do and of everything that happens to you, of all the things you see and hear and taste and touch, as so many means to your liberation from the prison of yourself." This feels very true and harmonious to my senses...
Now in May 2012: This is one of the truest-feeling statements in the book. All that we experience is medicine for us to become more realized beings, using our human form as a vehicle for awakening!
I am enjoying this book! Will Farnaby is still talking to everyone from his bed! It is strange though, this book is devoid of any emotions on the part of the characters except a few feelings from Will Farnaby of annoyance at the Rani etc... people are very intellectual, as is obviously, this author.
Now in May 2012: I wanted to say more about this last point.... that in Huxley's writing about the perfect society, people are 'doing' a lot of the right things for societal and environmental sustainability. But where is the consciousness of people's inner lives? If people are still living according to the externalities, without a shift in how they view themselves and the roles in each other's lives, such a happy, healthy society will not last. Intellectualizing about the perfect society is an interesting exercise, but our over-developed intellectual brains must take a little break... and we must start leading our lives and decisions connected to our hearts. When we truly connect to our hearts, we can heal past traumas (from childhood and previous lives) and stop acting to serve our egos which serve to protect our hearts and lead us to live in selfish agenda-driven situations. This is where we are today with our capitalistic, competitive, individualistic, lonely, anxious, consumptive society.
Despite this last statement, I am feeling encouraged, hopeful and excited by more and more people questioning the status quo and searching for new ways of using their minds, skills and words to create more awareness of their whole selves. I am constantly finding ways that people are helping each other discover deeper meaning for each others' lives through healing, breathing, and experiencing the essence of things.
What an exciting mysterious path of discovery to be in this temporary human form. We have a mission in that.
