“Humans have an infinite capacity to take things for granted” – Weekend
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60 years ago, on November 22, 1963, the English writer Aldous Huxley died. Five years before his death, the author of the famous dystopia “Brave New World” wrote a book of essays “Return to the Brave New World”, in which he stated: the events of the mid-20th century showed that the world he imagined could turn out to be quite real. We re-read this and his other works about why everything repeats itself.
1
In the future, dictators will understand what the old saying says: you can do anything with bayonets, but you can’t sit on them. If you want to maintain power, you need to get consent. As I predicted in Brave New World, this will be done through drugs and new propaganda techniques. It will bypass the rational side of a person and appeal to his subconscious, deepest emotions and physiology and will make him truly love slavery.
Interview with Mike Wallace, 1958
2
Facts are like ventriloquist’s puppets. Sitting on the lap of a sage, they will say smart things, but move them, and they will become silent or will talk complete nonsense, or even devilry.
“Time Must Stop”, 1944
3
There is only one inevitable battle left that will lead to the destruction of the capitalists, or the communists, or the fascists – and we will have it: the Golden Age of the Future. But is it necessary to say, knowing the true nature of things, that the future simply cannot be golden? Massacres also always had to be paid for, and the price was such that the situation that prevailed after the massacre completely excluded the achievement of the goal for which the massacre was conceived.
“Time Must Stop”, 1944
4
Technological progress is rapid. But without progress in mercy it is useless. In fact, it’s worse than useless. In this case, technological progress becomes an effective means of moving in the opposite direction.
“Ends and Means”, 1938
5
Most people have an almost limitless capacity to take things for granted. Thanks to the very fact of its appearance, the most amazing novelty after a few months or even a few days becomes a familiar and, as it were, taken for granted part of the environment.
“Themes and Variations”, 1950
6
Wherever there are people, the question of morality arises. Rulers of nations and leaders of parties consider morality to be indecent. That is why they try so hard to depersonalize their opponents. Propaganda directed against an opponent has only one goal: to replace specific people with diabolical abstractions.
“Olive Tree”, 1932
7
That people learn little from history is the most important lesson history can teach.
“A Case of Voluntary Ignorance”, 1956
8
The people who declared: “If you want peace, prepare for war” are the same people who solemnly declared that experience teaches. But the historical fact is harsh – experience does not teach. We continue to do what in our own experience and in the experience of our fathers has already shown itself to be inappropriate or destructive, and each time we hope that something completely different from everything we already know will happen. Of course, nothing like that happens. Old mistakes have the same consequences as before, and we remain in the same mess.
“A Case of Voluntary Ignorance”, 1956
9
Almost all of us long for peace and freedom, but few of us actively pursue the thoughts, feelings, and actions that produce peace and freedom. Conversely, almost no one wants war and tyranny, but many people find intense pleasure in the thoughts, feelings and actions that give rise to these phenomena.
“Return to Brave New World”, 1958
10
The dictators of the past fell because they never managed to give their people enough bread, circuses, secrets and miracles. They also did not have a truly effective system of mind control. <...> But under a scientifically savvy dictator <...> many people will learn to love their slave position and will not even dream of change. It seems impossible to find a reason why a sophisticated, scientifically determined dictatorship could be overthrown.
“Return to Brave New World”, 1958
eleven
Intelligence most often makes a person behave more stupidly than animals. A person is forced to come up with different theories to explain to himself what is happening in the world. Unfortunately, most often he is too stupid to find the correct explanation, and, acting according to his theories, he becomes like a madman.
“Texts and Occasions”, 1932
12
The current state of affairs in economics, social and international relations largely stems from organized “lovelessness.” We began with the loss of love for Nature; We waste minerals, destroy the soil, dump waste in rivers and pollute the air with toxic fumes. From a lack of love for Nature we have moved to a “lovelessness” in art – so complete that we have completely killed all fundamental and useful forms of art, replacing them with mass production created with the help of machines. Lack of love for art also means lack of love for human beings.
“Eternal Philosophy”, 1948
13
A vain attitude towards events that we are not able to influence represents an infection with an expected or distant evil, which becomes a matter of concern. Listening to radio news and commentary four or five times a day, reading daily newspapers and all weekly and monthly magazines is now recognized as “reasonable interest in politics.”
“Eternal Philosophy”, 1948
14
Freedom cannot flourish in a country that is constantly at or on the verge of martial law. A crisis gives the government the right to control everything and everyone.
“Return to Brave New World”, 1958
15
Our world is heading down a bad path, and it seems that only deliberate planning can save and improve it. Meanwhile, it is also quite obvious that in the process of trying to save our world from modern confusion, we risk ending up in absolute hell and even complete destruction. Sometimes the medicine is worse than the disease itself.
“Ends and Means”, 1938
16
Ruthlessness breeds discontent; discontent must be suppressed by force. As usual, the main result of violence is the need to use more violence. This is what Soviet planning looks like, implying good intentions, but carried out by bad methods that give a completely different result than the revolutionaries expected.
“Ends and Means”, 1938
17
The so-called defense of democracy from fascism inevitably leads to the transformation of democracy into fascism.
“Ends and Means”, 1938
18
The power of truth is great, but even more powerful, from a practical point of view, is the suppression of the truth. By simply silencing certain topics, by isolating the masses with an “iron curtain” (as Mr. Churchill put it) from those facts or arguments that are considered undesirable by local political bosses, totalitarian propagandists influence opinions much more effectively than with the help of the most eloquent denunciations, the most convincing logical refutations.
Preface to the reissue of the novel “Brave New World”, 1946
19
Ironically, the only people who can withstand the stress of modern war indefinitely are psychotics. Individual madness is immune to the effects of collective madness.
“Return to Brave New World”, 1958
20
It’s a little awkward to spend your whole life dealing with the problems of humanity and at the end discovering that you have nothing to offer it except one piece of advice: “Try to be kinder.”
“Moksha: Writings on Psychedelic and Mystical Experiences”, 1963
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