island

lightly child, lightly 
learn to do everything lightly  
yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply  
just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them
I was so preposterously serious in those days, such a humorless little prig  
lightly, lightly – it’s the best advice ever given me  
when it comes to dying even 
nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic  
no rhetoric, no tremolos,  no self conscious persona 
putting on its celebrated imitation of Christ or Little Nell  
and of course, no theology, no metaphysics 
just the fact of dying and the fact of the clear light 
so throw away your baggage and go forward  
there are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, 
trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair 
that’s why you must walk so lightly  
lightly my darling, on tiptoes and no luggage, not even a sponge bag, 
completely unencumbered

- Aldous Huxley 

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) là một nhà văn người Anh, nổi tiếng nhất có lẽ với cuốn tiểu thuyết Brave New World (1932). Ông được Hội Văn học Hoàng gia Anh (RSL) trao tặng danh hiệu cao quý Companion of Literature.

Ngoài văn chương, Aldous Huxley còn quan tâm đến trải nghiệm tâm linh và nghiên cứu các lĩnh vực như cận tâm lý học (parapsychology), thuyết phổ biến (universalism), và bộ môn huyền học (mysticism).