2. Background
Published in 1956.
Title adopted from Blake’s book “The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell”.
A philosophical essay based on a drug
experiment on himself.
Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences
when taking mescaline. “The Doors of
Perception” takes the form of Huxley’s
recollection of a mescaline.
A highly aphoristic work.
3. Maybe this world is
another planet's Hell.
Ideas for Our Time (1979) p. 239
To talk about religion
except in terms of human
psychology is an
irrelevance.
“One and Many,” p. 3
4. Aphorism
Aphorism - a brief, pithy, usually concise
statement or observation of a doctrine,
principle, truth, or sentiment. Aphorisms are
usually not anonymous.
The word comes from the Greek aphorize in,
which means “to mark off by boundaries” and
was formed by combining apo, meaning
“from,” and horos, meaning “a limit.” The
term was first used by Hippocrates.
5. General Characteristics of
Aphoristic Statement
Aphorism indicates debate.
It makes a profound statement.
It is universally true.
States a complex philosophical
idea.
Ease of recall increases impact.
6. W.H. Auden
"The aphorist does not argue or explain,
he asserts; and implicit in his assertion is a
conviction that he is wiser or more
intelligent than his readers."
(W.H. Auden, quoted by Arthur Krystal in Except When I Write:
Reflections of a Recovering Critic, Oxford Univ. Press, 2011)
1. “Something analogous happens to the
myopic artist and the happy lover.”
2. “Bright pure colours are of the essence,
not of beauty in general, but only of a
special kind of beauty, visionary
experience.”
7. Marie Freifrau
An aphorism is the last link in a
long chain of thought.
Marie Freifrau von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916), Austrian
writer. Aphorisms (1890), p. 19
1. “Bright pure colours are characteristics of
the Other World.”
2. “Precious stones are precious because
they bear a faint resemble to the glowing
marvel seen with the inner eye of the
visionary.”
8. W.H. Auden and Louis Kronenberger
“it must be universally true.”
1. “Familiarity breads indifference.”
2. “There is heaven as well as hell”
9. John Gross in “The Oxford
Book of Aphorisms”
GeneralizationBrevity idiosyncrasy
Unconnect-
edness
