Island is a wonderful book by Aldous Huxley. The story takes place on a Polynesian island called Pala whose inhabitants have figured out how to live peacefully, happily, and effectively. The book starts when Will Farnaby, an English journalist, wrecks his boat on the shores of Pala. After being severely injured and nearly dying, he is saved by several inhabitants who begin to teach him (and, by extension, those reading the book) about their society.
People in Pala are taught about mindfulness, presence, and managing their emotions from a young age. They learn a lot of this in school, where they play games that teach them these concepts in a fun way that also shows them how to apply these lessons to their lives. However, their education isn’t limited to the classroom as they have plenty of opportunities to learn and grow through interacting with their friends, family members, and neighbors. They have even trained myna birds to say “Attention”, “Karuṇā” (meaning compassion), and “Here and now, boys” as constant reminders for them to stay present. All of this helps them navigate life and handle the deaths of their loved ones as well as their own death much better than they could without it. Additionally, they have things called Mutual Adoption Clubs (which they often call “MACs”) that consist of 15-22 healthy, stable adults who serve as caregivers for neighboring children whenever necessary. This gives every child a safe place to go at any time and prevents many of the problems that originate from more traditional family arrangements.
Due to their upbringing, the Palanese people almost never turn to violence, emotional manipulation, or any other sort of destructive behavior. Everything they learn about managing their emotions is supplemented by the fact that children with emotional difficulties are given extra opportunities to work through negative emotions in a positive way. They also make use of a psychedelic called moksha-medicine that reveals more to them than they could learn through traditional means and makes them feel at one with everything. As a result, hardly anyone ends up on a path to violence, and, when that does happen, it’s usually resolved in a peaceful way without involving the courts.
Despite their heavy focus on spirituality and peaceful living, the Palanese people still have modern technology. They make use of electricity, cars, hospitals, phones, freezers, and other things they find useful. If they can’t produce something they need on the island, they import it, but they always prioritize what is practical and beneficial over what is amusing or distracting. As such, they avoid the heavy industry, commercialism, and consumerism that plague most other societies; this means they also avoid the many problems caused by each of those things. This is part of the balance they’ve found between nature and science, East and West, and progress and simple living. Since they’ve been working on this for so long, they can do it better than any other society, although some of them hope that they can inspire people in other societies to follow a similar path.
I learned about Island when Eckhart Tolle mentioned it and piqued my interest while I was listening to The Power of Now. I happened to see the book one day at the bookstore and decided to get it. About a year later, I’ve finally read it and I loved it. It has so much good stuff in it that makes sense to me because of my journey over the last few years and the experiences that I’ve had, the most notable of which have been meditation and floating. It was also wonderful to read about a possible way to organize society that benefits everyone while still allowing everyone to retain their individuality and pursue self-actualization. Most of the book is dedicated to explaining how the Palanese people approach life rather than focusing on a strong story. Since I love exploring and thinking about interesting concepts, I enjoyed every minute I spent reading this book.
This is the second of Aldous Huxley’s books that I’ve read. The other one is Brave New World, which I read in 2014. As many other people have pointed out, these two books are essentially polar opposites. Brave New World describes a dystopian society where nobody is interested in anything meaningful and Island is all about a utopian society where everybody pursues meaning in all areas of life. I think most modern societies are pretty close to Brave New World, but I also think that there is always the potential to move toward a more Island-like society. One of my big life goals is to do what I can to make that happen and I’ve already seen some promising steps in that direction. If any of this sounds interesting to you or you’d like to learn more about my vision for the future of society, then I highly recommend you give Island a read. And if you do, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.