''The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise'' is a 1967 book by the Scottish psychiatrist
R. D. Laing
Ronald David Laing (7 October 1927 – 23 August 1989), usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illnessin particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing's views on the causes and treatment o ...
. The book comprises two parts - the first a collection of seven articles previously published between 1962 and 1965; the second a free-flowing quasi-autobiographical piece of poetry and prose.
Background
''The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise'' was inspired in part by Laing’s extensive experimentation with
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
;
[Tom Burns (2006). ''Psychiatry: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, pp. 96-98.] but also owes a debt to authors such as the anthropologist
Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician, and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. His writings include '' Steps to an ...
and the philosopher
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...
.
Summary
Laing examines the nature of human experience from a
phenomenological point of view, as well as the possibilities for psychotherapy in an existentially distorted world. He challenges the idea of normality in modern society, and argues that it is not merely people who are mad, but the world as well.
He presents psychosis as "a psychedelic voyage of discovery in which the boundaries of perception were widened, and consciousness expanded".
While accepting in principle that “There is no need to idealize someone just because he is labelled 'out of formation'” (or mad), Laing tended to confirm a view of the mad as explorers of the inner world.
Influence
''The Politics of Experience'' is Laing's best-known book,
[ its literary influence being especially apparent in ]Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...
's novel, '' Briefing for a Descent into Hell'' (1971).[Harold Bloom, ''Doris Lessing'' (2003) p. 230]
See also
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Politics of Experience
1967 non-fiction books
Anti-psychiatry books
Books by R. D. Laing
English-language books
English non-fiction books
Penguin Books books