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The Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences when taking mescaline. This short book is considered to be one of the more profound studies of the effects of mind-expanding drugs and what they teach about how the mind works.

The title comes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell:

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through' narrow chinks of his cavern."

Psychedelic drugs are thought to disable filters which block or suppress signals related to mundane functions from reaching the conscious mind. In this book, Huxley explores the idea that the human mind filters reality, partly because handling the details of all of the impressions and images coming in would be unbearable, partly because it has been taught to do so. He believes that psychotropic drugs can partly remove this filter, or "open these doors of perception." Huxley was administered mescaline, and had an interviewer prompt him to comment on various stimuli around him, such as books and flowers. The conversation was recorded and the book mainly concerns Huxley's thoughts on what he says in the recordings. He observed that everyday objects lose their functionality and suddenly exist "as such." Space and dimension become irrelevant, and perceptions seem to be enlarged and at times even overwhelming.

Contents 1 Quotations from "Doors" 2 Cultural references 3 See also 4 Publication data 5 External links

• To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large— this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone and especially to the intellectual.

• I strongly suspect that most of the great knowers of Suchness paid very little attention to art.... (To a person whose transfigured and transfiguring mind can see the All in every this, the first-rateness or tenth-rateness of even a religious painting will be a matter of the most sovereign indifference.) Art, I suppose, is only for beginners, or else for those resolute dead-enders, who have made up their minds to be content with the ersatz of Suchness, with symbols rather than with what they signify, with the elegantly composed recipe in lieu of actual dinner.

• The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less sure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend.

• Huxley's book inspired the young Jim Morrison to name his rock and roll band The Doors.[1] Morrison himself would quote Huxley at length.

• In the Simpsons episode, D'oh-in in the Wind, Homer says "Hey, square, expand your mind! The Doors of Perception are open for business."

• Bill Bailey made a reference to the book in his first stage show Cosmic Jam.

• Psy-Trance group Shpongle references the title of the book in their song Dorset Perception.

• Humphry Osmond
• The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
• Tom Wolfe
• Psychedelic drug
• Freedom of thought

The Doors of Perception is usually published in a combined volume with Huxley's essay, Heaven and Hell

• The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, 1954, 1956, Harper & Brothers
  • 1977 Harpercollins (UK), mass market paperback: ISBN 0-586-04437-X
  • 1990 Harper Perennial edition: ISBN 0-06-090007-5
  • 2004 Harper Modern Classics edition: ISBN 0-06-059518-3
  • 2004 Sagebrush library binding: ISBN 1-4176-2859-6
• The Doors of Perception, unabridged audio cassette, Audio Partners 1998, ISBN 1-57270-065-3

• Huxley, Aldous, "The Doors of Perception". (HTML file format).
  • Note: "The Doors of Perception" appears under the "Fair Use" rulings regarding the 1976 Copyright Act for NON-profit academic, research, and general information purposes. Readers requiring a permanent copy of "The Doors of Perception" for their library are advised to purchase it from their book supplier.

v • d • e Works by Aldous Huxley
Novels	Crome Yellow • Antic Hay • Those Barren Leaves • Point Counter Point • Brave New World • Eyeless in Gaza • After Many a Summer • Time Must Have a Stop • Ape and Essence • The Genius and the Goddess • Island • The Crows of Pearblossom
Short Stories	Limbo • Mortal Coils • Little Mexican • Two or Three Graces • Brief Candles • The Young Arquimedes • Jacob's Hands; A Fable • Collected Short Stories
Poetry	The Burning Wheel • Jonah • The Defeat of Youth • Leda • Arabia Infelix • The Cicadias and Other Poems • First Philosopher's Song
Travel writing	Along The Road • Jesting Pilate • Beyond the Mexique Bay
Essays	On the Margin • Along the Road • Essays New and Old • Proper Studies • Do What You Will • Vulgarity in Literature • Music at Night • Texts and Pretexts • The Olive Tree • Ends and Means • Words and their Meanings • The Art of Seeing • Science, Liberty and Peace • Themes and Variations • Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow • The Doors of Perception • Heaven and Hell • Adonis and the Alphabet • Collected Essays • Brave New World Revisited • Literature and Science
Philosophy	Ends and Means • The Perennial Philosophy
Biography	Grey Eminence • The Devils of Loudun
Collections	Text and Pretext • Moksha: Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience • Collected Short Stories