ALDOUS HUXLEY’S IDEA OF “HUMAN DEVELOPMENT” IN THE CONTEXT OF THE FORMATION OF NEW AGE SPIRITUALITY
Annotation
The article examines the role of the idea of “human potential” in Aldous Huxley’s
spiritual worldview and its influence on the formation of the New Age movement. Drawing
on Huxley’s works (The Perennial Philosophy, The Doors of Perception, Island) as well as
studies by Jake Poller, Jeffrey Kripal, and Wouter Hanegraaff, it reconstructs the genealogy of
the concept of human potential in the context of Western esotericism, parapsychology, and
alternative spirituality in the mid-twentieth century. The article argues that the uniqueness
of Huxley’s model lies in his secularized reinterpretation of mystical and scientific techniques
as instruments for actualizing inner human resources rather than appealing to supernatural
powers. Particular attention is paid to the Esalen Institute and the Human Potential Movement
as key mediators transmitting Huxley’s ideas into the counterculture of the 1960s and early
New Age. An analysis of Marilyn Ferguson’s The Aquarian Conspiracy shows that Huxley
is regarded within New Age as one of the movement’s key forerunners, providing it with
foundational concepts, a repertoire of practices, and intellectual legitimation. The article
concludes that the New Age movement relied to a significant extent on ideas formulated by
Huxley within the framework of his project of the “perennial philosophy” and the concept
of human potential.
Keywords
Aldous Huxley, New Age, human potential, perennial philosophy,
parapsychology, Western esotericism.
Literature
1. Campbell, C. The Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularization. In: A Sociological Yearbook
of Religion in Britain. 1972, no. 5, р. 122.
12. Ferguson, M. The Aquarian Conspiracy. Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher / Penguin Publishing
Group, 1980, pр. 460.
13. Hanegraaff, W. J. New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of
Secular Thought. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1996, pр. 580.
14. Huxley, A. Island. London, Chatto & Windus, 1962, pр. 286.
15. Huxley, A. The Doors of Perception. London, Chatto & Windus, 1954, pр. 64.
16. Huxley, A. The Perennial Philosophy. London, Chatto & Windus, 1945, pр. 312.
17. Kripal, J. J. Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion. Chicago, University of
Chicago Press, 2007, pр. 499.
18. Poller, J. Aldous Huxley and Alternative Spirituality. Leiden; Boston, Brill, 2019, pр.
245