Minimum Working Hypothesis
The Minimum Working Hypothesis is Aldous Huxley's is the basic theoretical statement necessary for researching and understanding human "sense-experience." [1]
Huxley Ternms
Aldous Huxley > Applied Mysticism, Mind at Large, Minimum Working Hypothesis, Normal Self
Related LP Terms
Non-LP Related Terms
Notes
"No working hypothesis means no motive for research, no reason for making one experiment rather than another, no way of bringing sense or order into the observed fact"[2]
"Among other things religion is also research. Research into, leading to theories about and action in the light of, non-sensuous, non-psychic, purely spiritual experience. To motivate and guide this research what sort and how much of a working hypothesis do we need?"[3]
The Minimum Working Hypothesis
That there is a Godhead, Ground, Brahman, Clear Light of the Void, which is the unmanifested principle of all manifestations.
That the Ground is at once transcendent and immanent.
That it is possible for human beings to love, know and, from virtually, to become actually identical with the divine Ground.
That to achieve this unitive knowledge of the Godhead is the final end and purpose of human existence.
That there is a Law or Dharma which must be obeyed, a Tao or Way which must be followed, if men are to achieve their final end.
That the more there is of self, the less there is of the God-head; and that the Tao is therefore a way of humility and love, the Dharma a living Law of mortification and self-transcending awareness.[5]
Footnotes
- ↑ Aldous Huxley, “The Minimum Working Hypothesis,” in Vedanta for the Western World, ed. Christopher Isherwood (London: Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1949), 33–36
- ↑ Aldous Huxley, “The Minimum Working Hypothesis,” in Vedanta for the Western World, ed. Christopher Isherwood (London: Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1949), 33–36. p. 33.
- ↑ Aldous Huxley, “The Minimum Working Hypothesis,” in Vedanta for the Western World, ed. Christopher Isherwood (London: Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1949), 33–36. p. 33.
- ↑ Aldous Huxley, “The Minimum Working Hypothesis,” in Vedanta for the Western World, ed. Christopher Isherwood (London: Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1949), 33–36. p. 33.
- ↑ Aldous Huxley, “The Minimum Working Hypothesis,” in Vedanta for the Western World, ed. Christopher Isherwood (London: Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1949), 33–36. p. 34.
