LIGHTLY, CHILD, LIGHTLY

“It’s dark because you are trying too hard. 
Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. 
Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. 
Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them. 

I was so preposterously serious in those days, such a humorless little prig. 
Lightly, lightly – it’s the best advice ever given me. 
When it comes to dying even. Nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic. 
No rhetoric, no tremolos, 
no self conscious persona putting on its celebrated imitation of Christ or Little Nell. 
And of course, no theology, no metaphysics. 
Just the fact of dying and the fact of the clear light. 

So throw away your baggage and go forward. 
There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, 
trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. 
That’s why you must walk so lightly. 
Lightly my darling, 
on tiptoes and no luggage, 
not even a sponge bag, 
completely unencumbered.” 
― Aldous Huxley , Island

“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” 
― Aldous Huxley

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.” 
― Aldous Huxley

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” 
― Aldous HuxleY

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” 
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.” 
― Aldous Huxley

“THERE IS ONLY ONE CORNER OF THE UNIVERSE YOU CAN BE CERTAIN OF IMPROVING, AND THAT’S YOUR OWN SELF.” 
― ALDOUS HUXLEY

“TO TRAVEL IS TO DISCOVER THAT EVERYONE IS WRONG ABOUT OTHER COUNTRIES.” 
― ALDOUS HUXLEY

“EVERY MAN WITH A LITTLE LEISURE AND ENOUGH MONEY FOR RAILWAY TICKETS, EVERY MAN, INDEED, WHO KNOWS HOW TO READ, HAS IT IN HIS POWER TO MAGNIFY HIMSELF, TO MULTIPLY THE WAYS IN WHICH HE EXISTS, TO MAKE HIS LIFE FULL, SIGNIFICANT AND INTERESTING.” 
― ALDOUS HUXLEY

“EXPERIENCE IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO A MAN; IT IS WHAT A MAN DOES WITH WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM.” 
― ALDOUS HUXLEY

Featured image by Ava Sol