Reflections on Brave New World XI: Selling Your Soul

Trey Smith

This will be my last reflection on this great book before I move on to The Sleeper Awakes by H. G. Wells.

In many ways, the most diabolical character in Huxley's Brave New World is Mustapha Mond, one of the ten controllers of the world. Here is how the character is described by Barron's Notes:

Once a gifted scientist, the Controller made a conscious choice as a young man to become one of the rulers instead of a troublesome dissident. He is one of the few Utopians who can choose, who has free will, and this makes him more rounded and more attractive than most of the characters you'll meet in the book. It also makes him concerned with morality, but he uses his moral force and his sanity for the immoral and insane goals of the Utopia.

You see, at one time, Mond saw the evil intent of the elites and sought to challenge them. He was caught and was faced with one of two options: exile or become one of them. He chose the latter and, in a manner of speaking, sold his soul to the devil. Now he uses his great intellectual ability and passions to subjugate others.

We see this dynamic in our world today. From time to time, progressive reformers are elected to Congress and state legislatures. They go charging off to represent the needs of the people. Upon arrival at the seat of power, they come face-to-face with the entrenched corruption that dominates government. In no time at all, they find themselves faced with a hard choice: stick to their ideals or fall in line to benefit from the corruption they originally sought to overthrow.

If they stick to their principles, they know there is a good chance their time in office will be one-and-done. They will receive the most unappealing committee assignments possible. They will be excluded from important negotiations and, in many ways, their elected colleagues will treat them like something of a pariah.

So, what do most of them do? They give in to the allure and perks of power. They increase their populist rhetoric while, at the same time, tamping down on their commitment to work for progressive change. In essence, they choose to become part of the establishment that they campaigned against. They only worsen the problem of corruption, instead of working to defeat it.

And why do most of them cave in? Because standing alone is frightening. It takes a certain kind of indomitable character to speak truth to power and our society no longer celebrates the muckraker or whistleblower. So, most populist candidates these days opt to take the easier road.

This is one of the reasons the people are so turned off to politics. For years, we've supported one champion after another and almost every one of them has turned their backs on us once they've kissed the brass ring. They talk the talk, but, when push comes to shove, the don't walk the walk.

The character Mustapha Mond is so chilling because he, and many like him, occupy the White House and US Congress today!

Reflections on Brave New World X: Blissful Death

Trey Smith

As with many other aspects of life in Huxley's futuristic world, death is treated far differently than it is today. No one physically grows old nor suffers any falloff in their mental or physical capacities. Around age 60, people check in to the Hospital for the Dying and are given enough soma (the mythic pleasure drug) that they blissfully slide into death.

Not only is death painless, but their is no mourning from the living. From an early age, the people are conditioned to see death as no big deal and so no tears are shed when a friend or colleague disappears from the scene. The minions go about their daily lives, not skipping a beat.

I have very mixed feelings about this specific aspect of Huxley's Brave New World. On the one hand, a society without love and reverence seems ghastly. Grief, while painful, is one of those human emotions that has the potential to bring about great insight. While most of us do not like sorrow and misery, without them, pleasure and happiness would be devoid of any real meaning.

On the other hand, the removal of the fear of death as a natural part of life wouldn't be so bad. If we didn't spend so much time dreading the deaths of our loved ones and ourselves, we might find that we could lead more vibrant lives!

In considering this particular aspect, I am hearkened back to the story in the Zhuangzi of how he reacted to his wife's death. A dismayed friend found him outside his house merrily banging on a drum. Zhuangzi explained that he initially grieved for his wife like anyone else, but came to realize that life and death go hand-in-hand. So, he was celebrating her transition of the cycle of the cosmos from one season to another.

Needless to say, I think Huxley's vision, in this regard, goes too far. A world without any modicum of mourning would be lifeless. That said, a world that doesn't wallow in mourning would be more life-full. I suppose it would be nice if we could arrive at a place somewhere between these two extremes.

Reflections on Brave New World IX: Out on the Res

Trey Smith

There is one aspect of Huxley's futuristic society that turns out not to be futuristic at all. Various indigenous groups are shuttled away from the "easy life" of the World State to live on less desirable land where they must struggle to survive. These special areas are called -- a term very familiar to Americans -- reservations.

If we look at the history of Indian Reservations in the US, we see the blueprint Huxley utilized in Brave New World. Whites would claim all the desirable land and then they would stick the various tribes on the lands nobody else wanted. Sometimes, later on, the land the tribes were imprisoned on became valuable and so they would be tossed off it and be forced onto other lands the Whites didn't want.

What made this process all the more painful is that the Great White Father (the government) demanded that the Indians farm their land, but this typically was a difficult task because a good deal of the land wasn't hospitable to farming! So, the people struggled to get by and legions of them were unable to survive the harsh conditions.

The treatment of the native peoples by the white invaders is a stain that still persists in this country even today. While American Indians have won many legal rights, many continue to be treated like second-class citizens. Unemployment on several reservations is chronically high, abject poverty is rampant and alcoholism/drug abuse is off the charts.

If Huxley's view of future society is even somewhat on target, all this means is that populations who now live their lives behind the eight ball will continue to be in the same position for generations to come.

Reflections on Brave New World VIII: All By Myself

Trey Smith

Returning to one of themes I touched on in the first installment of this miniseries, almost everyone in Huxley's futuristic society is conditioned to loathe being alone. This is what sets Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson and particularly John the Savage apart from everyone else. They each take the chance of being ostracized for not following in lockstep with everyone else.

It's a good thing that I won't be dropped into such a society any time soon because I like my own company, thank you! By choice, I spend the majority of each day alone. It provides me with the time to think and ponder about a lot of the subjects I write about here.

In many ways, current society doesn't have that far to go to match Huxley's World State. I know scores of people today who fear being alone. So, they surround themselves with all sorts of characters -- many who lead them in bad directions -- because the very idea of being alone in their own thoughts terrifies them to no end.

While I'm okay in my own skin, I do think I understand where this fear comes from. We humans are social creatures and none of us would survive for any length of time if we were left absolutely alone. It would be like living a life in solitary confinement! Studies have shown that prisoners with next to no human contact have a great propensity for going mad.

Consequently, I think this fear is part of our evolved DNA. We know that we need others and so the thought of being physically or emotionally stranded in isolation is tantamount to a death sentence. Since most of us want to live, we fear anything that might take that away.

Reflections on Brave New World VII: Thinking Is Such a Headache!

Trey Smith

The previous post in this miniseries dealt with a futuristic aspect of society -- casual sexual relations -- that would horrify today's fundamentalist Christians. This post deals with an aspect that this same group would embrace wholeheartedly: anti-intellectualism.

This part of the plot is brought out through the character Helmholtz Watson. Helmholtz turns out to be too intelligent for his own good. Though he was conditioned like everyone else, Watson still searches for meaning in this rather meaningless futuristic society. In fact, he wants to engage in a very subversive activity: He wants to write poetry!

I think most of us can agree that a non-thinking society would be easy to control. If people are conditioned to do what they are told and never see a need to question it, what could cause conflict and strife?

In my estimation, this forms the basis of fundamentalist religion. The folks on top of the pyramid are the only ones allowed to think deeply and their deep thoughts predominantly pertain to the best ways to manipulate the masses into transferring to them as much earthly riches, power and status as possible. By convincing the masses that critical thinking is evil, you create a sea of mindless adherents who would never consider challenging this myopic worldview.

So, you cast religious dogma as incontrovertible fact and you malign science and philosophy as apostasy! You convince people that anything that might broaden their minds is the work of the devil/evil spirits. In time, if this strategy works, you can mold the faithful to punish and self-censure themselves if an unorthodox thought happens to leak into their heads.

Reflections on Brave New World VI: Everyone Belongs To Everyone Else

Trey Smith

Much of Huxley's book was framed as his vision of what a communist/socialist society -- the World State -- would look like in the future. As such, he took many of the communitarian ideas of Marx and others to turn them on their heads. One of these ideas involved the act of sexual intercourse. He fashioned a society that would make current day religious right-wing zealots heads explode: Sex as pure recreation and NOT for procreation.

In Huxley's view, sexual activities would be encouraged from an early age. Monogamy was taboo and the concepts of marriage and family were blasphemy. Sexual intercourse was a fun pursuit that allowed members of society to release tension without passion. The more partners the better because "everyone belongs to everyone else."

I've been thinking a lot lately about passion. It leads a double life. On the one hand, it can be the spur to the betterment of society. Passion can be the fuel to fight for noble causes, produce great insights and further our technological advancement. On the other hand, passion gets us in trouble time and time again. It too often gets tied to our ego and those ego-based desires. We lose all sense of perspective and, following our passions, it's not uncommon at all to spin wildly out of control.

In my readings of the Taoist texts, particularly the Zhuangzi, I would contend that the Taoist sages viewed passion as a dangerous commodity for the very reasons mentioned above. In a manner of speaking, I think Chuang Tzu believed that a sage lived a life of dispassionate passion.

Sounds like a real contradiction in terms, doesn't it?

The dispassionate portion has to do with our ego. By eschewing ego-based expectations or, as Lao Tzu stated, doing the work that needs to be done and then walking away, we don't allow passion to skew our perceptions of the world. And yet, we still possess a passion for the beauty and interconnection of all things.

I'm not explaining this dichotomy as well as I would like, but it's one of those things I seem to understand intuitively, but have trouble finding the right words to express it. I suppose the best I can do is say that I have no problem with the dictum "everyone belongs to everyone else." I simply disagree with the implications that Huxley attaches to it.

Reflections on Brave New World V: You W-i-l-l Be Happy!

Trey Smith

One of the aspects of Huxley's World State that I found the most amusing was the idea that happiness is the end-all, be-all design of this futuristic society. Not meaning to tell a pun here, but unhappiness was frowned upon! Anytime anyone got the least bit down, they were encouraged to pop a soma, a drug that induced a feeling of immediate euphoria.

The book's main protagonist, John the Savage, rebelled against perpetual happiness by, among other things, whipping himself with a knotted cord. While I certainly wouldn't encourage folks to take such extreme measures, I think that John had the right idea.

For one thing, as Lao Tzu likes to point out, happiness holds no substantive meaning without unhappiness. This represents one of the reasons that the Christian version of heaven makes no sense to me. How could a person experience genuine happiness or love without real unhappiness or hate to judge it against?

For another thing, unhappiness and discontent are great motivators to spur us to improve our lives and/or our attitudes. While I believe there is no question that we can learn valuable lessons from our successes in life, the same is just as true, if not more, from our many mistakes and missteps. When we screw up royally -- which often causes unhappiness -- the sagacious individual learns not to replicate the screw up again.

Besides, I think happiness is overrated. It tends to be ephemeral and, like a drug, many people will try anything to get back the happiness high and many of the things they try lead them (or others around them) in the opposite direction!

I'd much rather be content than happy.

Reflections on Brave New World IV: Shop Till Ya Drop

Trey Smith

Another aspect of Huxley's World State can be summed up by a catchy little phrase drummed into people as they developed in their test tubes: Ending is better than mending. Members of all the varying castes are programmed to be all-out consumers in order to keep the economy humming along. So, instead of fixing or mending consumer items, the people are expected to buy, buy, buy.

Such a system would prove very profitable for the producers of consumer goods, but it would drive the people and companies who service our vehicles, appliances and what nots right out of business! In addition, I don't know how in the world a futuristic system like this could be sustainable. After a while, you would run out of the needed resources to make things.

But, as with most themes in this book, we already come very close to being a throwaway society! Our landfills are full of serviceable equipment, wearable clothing and enough good food, I would think, to feed the hungry several times over.

I am often flabbergasted at the stuff people throw (or give) away. My house is filled with furniture, clothing, electronics and housewares that Della and I have purchased from thrift stores or at garage sales. I'm not talking about trashy items either. Most of the items we buy are in good shape and last us for years upon years.

When I worked for a peace and environmental organization in Oregon, one of the annual "events" for our staff was to descend on the town of Corvallis around the middle of May. Why did we go there? To go dumpster diving at Oregon State University! As the college year came to a close and students headed back to their home towns, it would amaze you the kind of stuff they threw out.

Not only did we collect truckloads of useful items each year for the offices of our organization, many of us ended up with new clothing, appliances and/or furniture for ourselves. One year we scored big time by returning to Salem with 3 working computers, including one laptop!

The more I think of it, the more I realize that far too many people have already adopted the mantra, Ending is better than mending.

Reflections on Brave New World III: Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Trey Smith

In my last post in this miniseries, I pointed out the importance of the caste system in Huxley's new World State. One part of the equation that I left out -- I wanted to address it in a separate post -- is the mechanism the ruling elite utilizes to insure that those in the lower castes don't revolt. As the new humans develop in their bottles and beyond, they are subjected to a "hypnopaedic process." Put in the common vernacular, they are brainwashed as they sleep!

In a manner of speaking, what we're talking about here is a form of subliminal messaging. You hammer home a particular message below the threshold of conscious perception and your subjects come to believe that, whatever you've stuffed into their brains, they came up with it of their own volition.

It's quite maniacal, if you think about it. You produce a mass of humans to do all the dirty work that society requires and you brainwash them to accept their shitty lot in life as if it is a self-evident truth!

Boy, it's a good thing that our current society is nothing like Huxley's vision...except that, in many ways, it is.

While we don't necessarily preprogram individuals to think a certain way BEFORE birth, we do a damn good job of it once the baby pops out of the womb!

The socialization process of infants, toddlers and young children could be described as a form of brainwashing. In both overt and subliminal ways, parents and other relatives pass on their beliefs and mores to their young who are just beginning to formulate their own ideas of the world around them. Before most of us have half a chance to develop our own notions, we are provided with a sometimes rigid framework that shapes what we think and experience to a significant degree.

For example, children who grow up in racist homes are very likely to -- surprise, surprise! -- harbor racist sentiments themselves. This is just as true for home environments that are overtly racists as it is in those homes in which racist beliefs are rarely spoken of explicitly, but are implicitly present in the overall attitudes of the parents.

The mass media also is a purveyor of direct and subliminal messaging. We constantly are bombarded with definitions of what the good life "truly" entails. We are told which automotive vehicle makes us more powerful and popular or which toothpaste will attract the best potential mate. It is not uncommon at all for pr firms to manufacture a desire for a particular product when, without their manipulative ad campaigns, no such desire would exist.

Government leaders get in on the act too. When they incessantly tell us that our nation is the "good guy," we automatically come to see any nation or group that doesn't go along with our policies and strategies as the "bad guys." This is where American Exceptionalism is derived from! Since most Americans unwittingly have gulped down the Kool-Aid, they too readily accept the notion that America doesn't have to play by the rules because we're better and more righteous than everyone else!

Reflections on Brave New World II: Ensemble Caste

Trey Smith

One of the central features of Huxley's imagined future world is a very fixed caste system. In fact, world population has been set at 2 billion people and most of these people are "decanted" (created in a bottle) to be members of the lower castes. The thinking here is that, in order for society to hum right along, there needs to be sufficient workers to take care of the manual and menial jobs. We can't have world leaders digging ditches or plowing fields!

While Huxley presents this caste system as being futuristic, we can find similar examples in our present day. If we westerners are at all honest, most of the world's population has been forced by us into the lowest positions. We need oodles of people to struggle to eke out a life so that we can hoard the amount of resources we claim. We need "third world" workers to toil for pennies per day to meet the demand for our insatiable desires.

Just like in a fixed caste system, most of these people have no realistic hope of ever climbing above their current situation. There is no one at hand who can right the injustices heaped on them daily. If they try to resist the machinations of imperial capitalism, they are squashed like bugs. If they try to protest their horrific living conditions or 14-hour work days, their complaints fall on deaf ears.

All most of them can do is try somehow to survive until tomorrow. That's pretty much what their lives are all about. This is not to suggest that these folks don't laugh, smile and sing like the rest of us. I'm sure many of them do the best with what they have. But a realistic hope of rising about their sorry situation is not in the cards...and they know it!

That's most likely the worst part of all.

Reflections on Brave New World I

Trey Smith

I just completed reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932). I'm guessing that, over the next few days, I will discuss some of the themes from this dystopian novel that speak to me. If you are unfamiliar with the book, you might wish to a) Skip these posts and read the book for yourself or b) If you're not interested in reading the book, then I would suggest you utilize the link above to read the summary of the plot.

I think it will surprise no one who has read the book that I strongly identify with the main protagonist, John the Savage. John was alienated by the society he grew up in (white boy in an Indian community) and he felt alienated from the brave new world of a futuristic London. In the end, his alienation was so overwhelming that he hanged himself.

While I don't plan to follow that course, I certainly understand the feelings of alienation. As an autistic individual, I felt alienated in childhood and I still feel the same way in adulthood. As has been expressed by many autistic people, I feel as if I was dropped on this planet by mistake!

This feeling of alienation caused me tremendous angst in my youth and young adult years. I was imprisoned by a loneliness and isolation that I wholly was unable to escape from. What made it all the worse was that I was cognizant of the fact there was no escape and this only made the loneliness and isolation almost too much to bear.

I find it most ironic that we live in a society that values rugged individualism and yet pushes us to conform, all at the same time. What this means is that we are encouraged to be unique, but only unique enough within prescribed parameters. If an individual defies convention to express his/her uniqueness outside of these narrow parameters, then pressure is applied to move back within the bounds and, if this fails, the person is ostracized.

By our very nature -- some believe it is due to the physical wiring in the brain itself -- autistic individuals do not recognize these parameters and so it is very likely that we will defy convention as we go about our routine lives. Society then pressures us to get back in line, but this is near too impossible to accomplish when you can't see the lines in the first place!

And so, suffering from alienation is part of our makeup. Try as we might, we always seem out-of-step and off balance. Even when we make conscious efforts to try to get with the program, it seems that we come at it from -- what others would consider -- an odd angle.

My outlook has changed greatly from my younger years. My alienation and isolation no longer cause me angst. I now accept them for what they are. I have learned to embrace them both. I suppose it's a good thing that I don't live in Huxley's Brave New World (though, in many ways, I actually think we do -- a teaser for a subsequent post?). In Huxley's World State, wanting or accepting of the notion of being alone is frowned upon. It is considered to be the epitome of abnormal.

Since I spend most of each day alone (even worse, in contemplation!), I would prove to be about as abnormal as a person could be!!