(This post has been a partial outcome from my research on mescaline, in an attempt to make sense of my own recent experience; my previous post on the topic of "literature on mescaline" can be found here: Reading: Walter Benjamin on hashish (and mescaline) - Generic - Welcome to the DMT-Nexus)
Henri Michaux (1899-1984) was a Belgian/French author and artist whose writings have been generally perceived as "esoteric" and rather difficult to understand (Henri Michaux - Wikipedia), and I have to agree with this description.
For me, Michaux´s writings have gained a new dimension and depth after I learned that he has been experimenting with mescaline since 1956, once also severely "overdosing" after making a serious mathematical mistake in calculating his dosage. I found that at least four of his books have been directly influenced by (or written under the influence of?) mescaline:
- Miserable miracle (1956)
- Turbulent infinity (1957)
- Knowledge through the abyss (1961)
- The great ordeals of the mind and the countless small ones (1966)
David Ball (the translator/editor of "Michaux, Henri. 1984. Darkness Moves: An Henri Michaux Anthology, 1927-1984. Berkeley: University of California Press" ) wrote for example that "we can learn more about what madness feels like from the account in Miserable Miracle than from any psychiatrist. Moreover, madness, as we are constantly reminded, is an extension, a wild acceleration and condensation of forces already present in the self. Mescaline ´unmasks´, Michaux says—with terror, but with exaltation too" (p. 193)
I personally like the idea of mescaline being the "un-masking" agent, and as a tool for experiencing "madness", as it kind of reflects my own experience with mescaline (on 500mg of very pure HCl, I had no OEV/CEV, but my mind was so clear and "wrapped" at the same time that I thought I could never come out of that experience "sane" again). Michaux was a little less affirmative and ´100% positive´ of his mescaline experiences than A.Huxley was. Michaux talks about his high doses experiences as the experience of "artificial hell" where one´s self completely loses to dominate the situation. (Although Huxley wrote about "Heaven and Hell" as possible forms of psychedelic experience, in his books he never looks at the "Hell side" ). The book "Miserable Miracle" opens with "Should one speak of pleasure? It was unpleasant"...
In "Knowledge through the abyss" (1961), Michaux wrote that "Drugs bore us with their paradises. Let them give us a little knowledge instead. This is not a century for paradise." I kind of liked that description of high doses of entheogens...
I posted these scattered remarks for those Nexians who might find Michaux´s writings as interesting... or intriguing.
(Some of his writings can be ´googled out´, the other could be found in the library.)
Peace & Light
Henri Michaux (1899-1984) was a Belgian/French author and artist whose writings have been generally perceived as "esoteric" and rather difficult to understand (Henri Michaux - Wikipedia), and I have to agree with this description.
For me, Michaux´s writings have gained a new dimension and depth after I learned that he has been experimenting with mescaline since 1956, once also severely "overdosing" after making a serious mathematical mistake in calculating his dosage. I found that at least four of his books have been directly influenced by (or written under the influence of?) mescaline:
- Miserable miracle (1956)
- Turbulent infinity (1957)
- Knowledge through the abyss (1961)
- The great ordeals of the mind and the countless small ones (1966)
David Ball (the translator/editor of "Michaux, Henri. 1984. Darkness Moves: An Henri Michaux Anthology, 1927-1984. Berkeley: University of California Press" ) wrote for example that "we can learn more about what madness feels like from the account in Miserable Miracle than from any psychiatrist. Moreover, madness, as we are constantly reminded, is an extension, a wild acceleration and condensation of forces already present in the self. Mescaline ´unmasks´, Michaux says—with terror, but with exaltation too" (p. 193)
I personally like the idea of mescaline being the "un-masking" agent, and as a tool for experiencing "madness", as it kind of reflects my own experience with mescaline (on 500mg of very pure HCl, I had no OEV/CEV, but my mind was so clear and "wrapped" at the same time that I thought I could never come out of that experience "sane" again). Michaux was a little less affirmative and ´100% positive´ of his mescaline experiences than A.Huxley was. Michaux talks about his high doses experiences as the experience of "artificial hell" where one´s self completely loses to dominate the situation. (Although Huxley wrote about "Heaven and Hell" as possible forms of psychedelic experience, in his books he never looks at the "Hell side" ). The book "Miserable Miracle" opens with "Should one speak of pleasure? It was unpleasant"...
In "Knowledge through the abyss" (1961), Michaux wrote that "Drugs bore us with their paradises. Let them give us a little knowledge instead. This is not a century for paradise." I kind of liked that description of high doses of entheogens...
I posted these scattered remarks for those Nexians who might find Michaux´s writings as interesting... or intriguing.
(Some of his writings can be ´googled out´, the other could be found in the library.)
Peace & Light
