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The people of Pala live nearly perfect lives. Children have multiple families that they can turn to if they are upset with their biological family, or even if they just need a change. They are taught more than just math and science in school; they are taught about different types of personalities and how to deal with each, destiny control, and ways to hypnotize themselves out of feeling pain. There are no corruptions, like TV. Everyone is at peace, and death is accepted by all. It may seem, upon reading Aldous Huxley's Island, that Huxley is simply showing what life would be like in a utopian society. With further examination, however, one can see that he is actually showing that such a society could never really exist. Pala could never be real. A transformation from today's society to one similar to that of Pala would be, without a doubt, impossible. All the residents of Pala believe in things like "suchness" and the idea that "Good Being is in the knowledge of who in fact one is in relation to all experiences" (42, ch.5). Rather than believing in God or gods, the people of Pala follow the example set by their first leader, the Old Raja. Everyone is taught the ancient scriptures written by him, and knows and follows them. They believe that the idea of God has been taking too seriously (1, 200). In today's society, however, many people who are strong in their faith would be offended that such a statement could even be made. The Palanese follow practices such as yoga, Zen, and maithuna (put simply, contemplation) (1, 189). These ideas are quite complicated and take a lot of education and willingness to learn to pick them up. Each generation of the world today is lazier than the previous, and each, in turn, is lacking the motivation and capability to understand these concepts more than the previous. Another idea the Palanese are fond of is that of separating one's life from the clock, getting away from the bounds of time. People today, however, base so many things on time that it is not even plausible for them to go without time; almost everyone wears a watch, and one can hardly go five minutes without taking a glance at it, wanting to be one time, or know when a favorite show comes on television.
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