Obituary for Laura Archera Huxley
Laura Archera Huxley was a visionary who touched the lives of thousands of people and will continue to do so with her legacy for many years to come.
Born in Turin, Italy, in 1911, Mrs. Huxley embraced the study of the violin very early in her life. It soon became evident that she was a child prodigy. At fourteen she performed in front of the Queen of Italy.
Later, in 1948, Mrs. Huxley sailed to the United States where she made her debut in Carnegie Hall, playing Mozart’s violin concerto n.5. During World War II, because the Nazis were bombing civilian ships, she decided to remain in the United States as an “enemy alien”, but was cared for by many friends and stated she felt that she had “never been treated so well” in her life.
The illness of her close friend, Virginia Pfeiffer, prompted Mrs. Huxley to conclude her musical career and to eventually donate her Guarneri violin to Yehudi Menuhin and pursue her interests in Psychotherapy and Health.
In 1948 Laura met Aldous Huxley and then wife, Maria and a wonderful friendship blossomed. In 1956, a year after Maria’s death, Aldous and Laura were married. During that time Aldous wrote Islandand Laura wrote You Are Not The Target, which became national bestsellers and huge successes. The “recipes for living and loving” contained in Laura’s fabulous self-help book ask you to imagine attending your own funeral, visualize your favorite flower, jump in another person’s position, dance naked with music. In later years she also wrote Let’s Die Healthy, available online for free.
The Huxleys became prominent representatives of the Psychedelic Movement, always advocating the use of psychedelics in a controlled environment and for personal enrichment and always warning against the dangers of the mindless and indiscriminate use of drugs.
Aldous Huxley died on November 22, 1963. Laura wrote about their life together, and Aldous’s death, in her touching book, This Timeless Moment. A favorite quote of Aldous’ words is: “One never loves enough”.
Because of her career as a lay therapist and interest in the realization of human potentialities, and, even more because of her passionate love for children, Laura Huxley devoted herself in later years to childhood, in her view, the most vulnerable and fertile time of our life. In 1978 she started OUI (Our Ultimate Investment), later to become COUI – Children: Our Ultimate Investment. This Foundation is dedicated to the best development of the “possible human” from before conception to the first years of life, with particular attention given to unwanted teenage pregnancy - “Love Before the Beginning”. Its central project, Teens and Toddlers, joins teenagers with toddlers as part of the school curriculum, and is presently carried out both in California and in the UK, effectively preventing unwanted teenage pregnancy and so much more, transforming the lives of many young people. In her “Prayer of the Unconceived” Laura wrote:
If you are ready to love and to be loved,
Invite us to this Earth
Of the thousand wonders,
And we will be born
To love and to be loved.
Below are the links to Laura Huxely's Obituaries
http://books.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2228580,00.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article3258041.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3059512.ece
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121401997.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-huxley15dec15,0,6797519.story?page=1&coll=la-home-obituaries
Click here to read messages to Laura Huxley from the staff of COUI UK