Editing Aldous Huxley (section)

== Psychedelic drug use and mystical experiences==
{{See also|The Doors of Perception}}
In early 1953, Huxley had his first experience with the psychedelic drug [[mescaline]]. Huxley had initiated a correspondence with Doctor [[Humphry Osmond]], a British psychiatrist then employed in a Canadian institution, and eventually asked him to supply a dose of mescaline; Osmond obliged and supervised Huxley's session in southern California. After the publication of ''[[The Doors of Perception]]'', in which he recounted this experience, Huxley and Swami Prabhavananda disagreed about the meaning and importance of the psychedelic drug experience, which may have caused the relationship to cool, but Huxley continued to write articles for the society's journal, lecture at the temple, and attend social functions. Huxley later had an [[The Doors of Perception#Later experience|experience on mescaline]] that he considered more profound than those detailed in ''The Doors of Perception''.

Huxley wrote that "The mystical experience is doubly valuable; it is valuable because it gives the experiencer a better understanding of himself and the world and because it may help him to lead a less self-centered and more creative life."<ref>Huxley, "Moksha: Aldous Huxley's Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience"</ref>

Having tried LSD in the 1950s, he became an advisor to [[Timothy Leary]] and [[Richard Alpert]] in their early-1960s research work with psychedelic drugs at Harvard. Personality differences led Huxley to distance himself from Leary, when Huxley grew concerned that Leary had become too keen on indiscriminately promoting the drugs.<ref>Huxley, Aldous letter 26 December 1962 to Humphry Osmond, in Smith, Grover (1969) ''The Letters of Aldous Huxley''. Harper and Row: New York, p. 965.</ref><ref>McBride, Jason "The Untapped Promise of LSD," in March 2009, The Walrus:Toronto.</ref>