Soma is a fictional, happiness-inducing drug in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World (1932). In the novel, soma is an 'opiate of the masses' that replaces religion and alcohol in a peaceful, but morally controversial, high-tech society far in the future. Soma, a narcotic tranquilizer in tablet form, is regularly taken by all members of society in order to produce feelings of euphoric happiness. The name satirically refers to the revived interest in ancient Aryan culture at the time. Huxley's society is caste based, like that of Brahminical India.
The name of the drug in the story is based on Soma, the stimulant drink used in ancient Aryan (Indo-Iranian) rituals, in particular those of Vedic India.
Huxley's soma was taken by the anti-psychiatry movement in the 1960s as a model for their claim that anti-depressants and other drugs functioned to emotionally control people whose distress and mental illness arose from the oppressive nature of modern society.
After experiencing...
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