The Antipodes of the Mind

In 1956, in a letter to Aldous Huxley, the British psychiatrist Humphry Osmond coined the term “psychedelic.” This chapter provides an analysis of the events that led up to Huxley’s psychedelic epiphany under the influence of mescaline, including Albert Hofmann’s discovery of LSD and subsequent psychedelic research. Particular attention is given to Huxley’s interpretation of the psychedelic state. This is important because Huxley was a catalytic figure at an important moment in the postwar Western world and his ideas had a formative influence on the culture of the 1960s. There is also analysis of R. C. Zaehner’s strident critique of Huxley’s thesis.