Travel by Aldous Huxley

So the journey is over and I am back again where I started, richer by much experience
and poorer by many exploded convictions, many perished certainties. For convictions
and certainties are too often the concomitants of ignorance. Of knowledge and
experience the fruit is generally doubt. It is a doubt that grows profounder as knowledge
more deeply burrows into the underlying mystery, that spreads in exact proportion as
experience is widened and the perceptions of the experience individual are refined. A
fish’s convictions, we may be sure, are unshakable. A dog is as full of certainty as the
veteran liberal who was held the same opinions for 40 Years. You might implore a cat to
bethink It that it might be mistaken; The beast would never doubt but that it was right.

I set out on my travels knowing, or thinking that I knew, how men should live, how be
governed, how educated, what they should believe. I knew which was the best form of
social organization and to what end societies Had been created. I had my views on
every activity of human life. Now, on my return, I find myself without any of this pleasing
certainties. Before I started, you could have asked me almost any question about the
human species and I should glibly Have returned an answer. Ask a profoundly ignorant
man how the electric light works; he finds the question absurdly simple. “You just press
the button,” He explains. The working electrician would give you a rather more technical
account of the matter in terms of currents, resistance, conductivity. But the philosophical
physicist would modestly confess his ignorance. Electrical phenomena, he would say
karma can be described and classified. But as for saying what electricity may be… And
he would throw up his hands. The better you understand the significance of any
questions, the more difficult it becomes to answer it.

My own losses, as I have said, were numerous. But in compensation for what I lost, I
acquired 2 important new convictions: it takes all sorts to make a world and that the
Spiritual values are fundamentally correct and should be maintained. I call this opinions
“new,” though both are at least as old as civilization and though I was fully convinced of
their truth before I started. But truths the most ancient, the most habitually believed,
may be endowed for us as the result of new experience with ah appearance of
apocalyptic novelty. There is all the difference in the world between believing
academically, With the intellect, and believing personally, intimately, with the whole living
self. A deaf man who had read a book about music might be convinced, theoretically,
that Mozart what’s a good composer. But cure his deafness, take him to listen to the G
Minor Symphony; his conviction of Mozart’s greatness would become something
altogether new.

Of the fact that it takes all sorts to make a world I have been aware ever since I could
read. But proverbs are always platitudes until you have personally experienced The
truth of them. The newly arrested thief Knows that honesty is the best policy which an
intensity of conviction which the rest of us can never experience. And to realize that it
takes all sorts to make a world one must have seen a certain number of the sorts with
one’s eyes. Having seen them and having in this way acquiring an intimate realization of
the truth of the proverb, one finds it hard to go on complacent Believing that one’s own
opinions, one’s own way of life are alone rational and right. This conviction of man’s
diversity must find its moral expression in the practice of the complete test possible
tolerance. But if travel brings a conviction of human diversity, it brings an equally strong
conviction of human unity. It inculcates tolerance, but it also shows what are the limits of
possible toleration. Religions and moral codes, forms of government and of society are
almost endlessly varied, and each has you right to eat separate existence. But oneness
underlies This diversity. All men, whatever their beliefs, their habits, their way of life,
have a sense of values. And the values are everywhere and in all kinds of society
broadly the same. Goodness, beauty, wisdom, and knowledge, with human possessors
of these qualities, the human creators of things and thoughts and done with them, have
always and everywhere been honored.

Our sense of values is intuitive. There is no proving the real existence of values in any
way that will satisfy the logical intellect. Our standards can be demolished by
argumentation; but we are none the less right to cling to them. Not blindly, of course,
not uncritically. Convinced by practical experience of man’s diversity, the traveler will not
be tempted to cling to his own inherited national standard, as though it was necessarily
the only true and unperverted one. He will compare standard; he will observe the ways
in which each standard is perverted, He will try to create a standard of his own that shall
be as far as possible free from distortion. In one country, he will perceive, the truth,
fundamental standard is distorted by an excessive emphasizing of hierarchy and
aristocratic principles; in another by an excess of democracy. Here, too much is made of
work and energy for their own sakes; there, too much of mere being. Inserting parts of
the world he will find spirituality run wild; in others a stupid materialism that would deny
the very existence of values. The traveler will observe these various distortions and will
create for himself a standard that shall be, as far as possible, free from them —a
standard of values that shall be as timeless, as uncontingent on circumstances, as
nearly absolute as he can make them.
Understanding diversity and allowing for it, he will tolerate, but not without limit. He will
distinguish between harmless perversions and those which tend actually to deny or
stultify the fundamental values. Towards the first he will be tolerant. There can be no
compromise with the second.
Author’s Background
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) was a renowned English writer, novelist, and philosopher.
He's best known for his dystopian novel "Brave New World," published in 1932,
depicting a future society where technology, conditioning, and social engineering control
every aspect of life. Huxley's works often explored philosophical and ethical themes,
touching on topics such as technology, conformity, individuality, and the human
condition.

Born into a prominent family (his grandfather was Thomas Huxley, a famous biologist),
Aldous Huxley was educated at Eton College and later studied English literature at
Balliol College, Oxford. His experiences and interests in literature, science, and
philosophy greatly influenced his writing style and the themes he explored throughout
his career.

Apart from "Brave New World," Huxley wrote numerous other novels, essays, and
works, exploring various facets of human existence. His writing style often combined
social commentary with a keen insight into human nature, making his works influential
and thought-provoking. Huxley's later years were marked by his interest in spirituality,
mysticism, and the exploration of altered states of consciousness, which led to his
famous book "The Doors of Perception," detailing his experiences with mescaline.

Overall, Aldous Huxley's legacy remains significant in the realms of literature,

philosophy, and social critique, continuing to captivate readers and provoke discussions
on complex societal issues.
Essay Analysis
Aldous Huxley's essay, titled "Travel," explores the transformative power of journeys
and the profound impact they can have on one's perspectives, beliefs, and values. The
author reflects on the personal and intellectual evolution that occurs as a result of travel,
shedding light on the limitations of certainty and the benefits of doubt.

The essay begins with a contemplation on the nature of convictions and certainties,
portraying them as often rooted in ignorance. Huxley argues that knowledge and
experience lead to doubt, and the more one delves into the mysteries of life, the deeper
the doubt becomes. Drawing parallels with the unshakable convictions of animals, he
highlights the contrast with human intellectual development.

The author candidly admits that before embarking on his travels, he held strong
opinions on how people should live, be governed, educated, and what their beliefs.
However, the journey has stripped him of these certainties, leaving him with a sense of
doubt and humility. This realization parallels the idea that the more one understands the
significance of a question, the more challenging it becomes to answer.

Huxley emphasizes the multitude of losses he experienced during his travels, yet he
gained two crucial convictions: the understanding that diversity is intrinsic to the world
and that spiritual values are fundamentally correct and should be maintained. While
these convictions may not be new, the author argues that personal experience lends
them a renewed and profound significance.

The essay distinguishes between academic or intellectual belief and personal, intimate
conviction. Huxley likens this to a deaf person theoretically understanding Mozart's
greatness versus experiencing the G Minor Symphony and truly grasping its beauty.
The distinction underscores the transformative power of firsthand experience in shaping
beliefs.

The acknowledgment that it takes all sorts to make a world is not merely theoretical for
Huxley. He suggests that proverbs are platitudes until personally experienced and that
tolerance, born from recognizing human diversity, must coexist with an understanding of
the limits of possible toleration.
The essay concludes by asserting the intuitive nature of our sense of values, which
cannot be proven logically. While acknowledging the potential for the demolition of
standards through argumentation, Huxley argues for the importance of holding onto
values despite intellectual challenges. The traveler, having witnessed the distortions of
various national standards, is urged to create a timeless and uncontingent standard of
values that incorporates understanding, tolerance, and discernment between harmless
perversions and those that threaten fundamental values.

In essence, Huxley's "Travel" encourages readers to embrace doubt, acknowledge the

richness of human diversity, and strive for a nuanced understanding of values that
transcends cultural and national biases.