ISLAND – futuristic novel by Aldous Huxley, ’62

Witty, daring & wise M.Sunanda rev

This is the deepest realistic troubled utopian novel of 20^th century before hippies sprouted & Ecotopia emerged in mid ‘70s. Its imaginary south Pacific island Pala in mid 20^th Ct. is AH story revealing his awareness of human nature after he woke-up on psychedelics in 50s. He died on LSD the day Kennedy was shot. It’s a deeply troubling & dazzling visions of a spy crashing on tropical Pala island shore to promote industrial invasion of the semi-paradise culture, a mix of Fiji, Bali, Hawaii, Sri Lanka, etc.

The Palanese people are sweaty, bold & extremely varied in values, skills & needs, exposed by many chats, debates & teasing they do daily. The welcome Will with a weird mix of gentle healing, Tibetan Buddhism & Moksha medicine to realize initiation into eternal now, while their parrots squawk “attention, attention – be here now”! Culture clash encounters in every scene between Will the cynical white agent man of oil barons on nearby island, & very open & bold Palanese tour guiding him around. They start by healing up his broken ship-wrecked body by magnetic healing Reiki like massage & flowery hypnotic suggestion to relax & let his body heal up naturally.

Huxley is master word painter of detailed scenery, funny encounters & daily life in hot tropics. He gives us a tour of relationships, deeper than politics & site-seeing. There a big fat proud Pala auntie ‘Theosophical’ style momma wanting to save everyone, & her son aiming to rule Pala. Conversely some sensitive souls open-up telling Will secrets of MAC – ‘Mutual Adoption Club’ a network of neighbors who are open to kids coming & staying over anytime they need variety, peace, friends or to escape their parents. The kids have free sexualove options with respect, touching & openess, not sexy seduction, fears & secret lust. They talk openly about sex & emotions, needs & fears. Their kids are touched by family so much its common.

Most of Pala is more open & cooperative than we can imagine, unless you’ve lived in a honest natural commune of sharing love. But there’s many crusaders in Pala determined to steer the native Buddhists into Christianity, industry, etc. Gotta save those lost pagan souls for god & business. In fact most their kids are trained in mind awareness & spiritual quest when their ready.

The threats of modernizing Pala seem old to us now, but still surging in many ‘poor’ nations where brown folks have native traditions & primal faith, &or fear of invasion? Is Pala sustainable, natural, healthy or self-reliant? It seems conflicted & challenged by rich outer controllers wanting to get inside the ‘chaotic’ paradise. The scenes of tropics are beautiful & lush green growing everywhere outdoors with birds sounds all day long. Island is very edgy, seeking, serving & smelly like most tropical islands. There’s lots of Buddhist like statues, painting & colorful clothes. There’s 3 languages: Palanese, English & Buddhist, all mixed together, with symbols anywhere.

Their teens do a tuff big climbing adventure trained to face death if they fall form their ropes, beyond our ‘outward bound’ wilderness program. Huxley describes some ways we began to seek, feel & use in ‘70s & ‘80s of deep spiritual seeking, learning & sharing together. Palanese are unique & respected for that, except by missionaries out to convert. Its seems AH traveled to south sea islands or read lots of Mead, Boas, or “Love in the South Seas’ an anthro expose of free love cults in Polynesia

Island ends with many challenges to native Palanese, as Will is gently opening his heart to their native ways, but he fears the invasion he was paid to spy & promote. Polynesians are facing the empires like 1000 places now on earth over last 500 years since Columbus visionary empire explorer if islands.