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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the author say about vision-inducing devices and effects at the beginning of Appendix 3?

2. What is the art form which is most likely to transport those who experience it?

3. What is Heaven, according to the author?

4. Why is the first technique in Appendix 1 even less understood than mescalin use?

5. What is known about the substance being tested as of the year the experiment is performed?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the author eager to participate in the study of peyote and mescalin?

2. How was pageantry used as a political tool?

3. What does the author begin to ponder after seeing a book of Sandro Botticelli's paintings in the World's Biggest Drug Store?

4. How is the practice of pageantry related to theatrical spectacle, according to the author in Appendix 3?

5. What effects did our ancestors experience as a result of their diets, according to the information presented in Appendix 2?

6. What metaphor does the author use at the beginning of "Heaven and Hell" to describe the unexplored regions of the human psyche?

7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the second vision-inducing method discussed in Appendix 1?

8. What is different about the two forms of visionary art discussed in Appendix 3?

9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the first vision-inducing method discussed in Appendix 1?

10. What personal story is related by the author concerning the second vision-inducing method in Appendix 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Peyote and its active ingredient mescalin have been used for centuries by Native Americans and other groups for their vision-inducing powers. What was known about mescalin when Huxley began his experiment? What was the purpose of the experiment? What was discovered during the course of the experiment? Were there any unexpected effects of the drug? If so, what were they?

Essay Topic 2

Huxley is very interested in the mental state of schizophrenics and other neurotics. Why is this study so important to Huxley? What does he say about the state in which schizophrenics and other psychotics live their lives, and why does he feel that way? What can be done to help them? What can be done to simulate these disorders in a normal person, and why might that be done?

Essay Topic 3

Color and light are both crucial aspects of a visionary experience, according to Huxley. Why? In what natural objects are color and light often seen in an intense concentration? How are these objects part of religion and spirituality? In Huxley's opinion, why are color and light so important to visionary experiences?

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