Do you think that people like Aldous Huxley—who thought a lot about philosophy, tried out lots of different things, and also experimented with drugs—could find their own way to enlightenment?

Lama Ole’s answer:

Aldous Huxley actually had two sides. He was extremely gifted, but on several levels he was quite immature. The whole Huxley family was brilliant. It is too bad that their genes died out because, like so many other intelligent people, they forgot to reproduce.
On the one hand, Aldous Huxley was a humanist and on the other hand he had an understanding of perception. There is a lot of wisdom in his books. Also what his wife, Laura Huxley, said about his death is very good: as he lay dying, she sensed his voice echoing further out into space. At least he came to a very high level of consciousness. But if there was no hook for the ring, it is unsure whether he went to a pure land. It is more likely that he went to a god realm.

It is very difficult to enter a pure land out of one’s own power. One needs refuge and a connection to a buddha.