In Memorium: Robert Anton Wilson
Novelist, philosopher, psychologist, anarchist/libertarian, Subgenius saint, and eternal optimist, Robert Anton Wilson died about three weeks ago on January 11. Several well-written tributes appeared on the internet in the week after Wilson's death and I'm sure I can't improve on them. However, Dr. Wilson's work had a profound influence on my perception of reality and thus, my life so I feel a need to acknowledge the importance of his life and his writing in the world today.
I read a review of Illuminatus! in Creem Magazine around 1976. The novel sounded like nothing I had ever encountered before and I knew I had to read it.
I quickly devoured the three books that make up Illuminatus! and became a Robert Anton Wilson fan for life. In the 30 years since then, I've been fortunate enough to have aquired and read almost every book of Wilson's that was published. After Illuminatus!, I read Cosmic Trigger, a semi-autobiographical work that covers a lot of the basic themes that Wilson explored throughout his life. Consciousness, human evolution, the occult, drugs, conspiracy and human/higher intelligence contact are all treated in Cosmic Trigger. By the time I finished it, I had decided that Robert Anton Wilson was one of the most brilliant minds on the planet.
Wilson introduced me to several ideas and themes that have shaped my thinking and approach to belief systems. Perhaps the most central one is Alfred Korbyzky's general semantics. Very briefly, general semantics states that "human beings are limited in what they know by (1) the structure of their nervous systems, and (2) the structure of their languages. Human beings cannot experience the world directly, but only through their "abstractions" (nonverbal impressions or "gleanings" derived from the nervous system, and verbal indicators expressed and derived from language). Sometimes our perceptions and our languages actually mislead us as to the "facts" with which we must deal."
Really grasping that concept leads to a less dogmatic view of what we know to be "true"; perhaps even an understanding that we can never make completely "objective" statements, because all our perceptions are necessarily subjective. Wilson held that, if more people would embrace those ideas, conflict in the world would lessen, and the art of compromise would become the preferred method for settling conflict.
If you've never read any of Robert Anton Wilson's work, may I suggest starting with the Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, consisting of The Earth Will Shake, The Widow's Son and Nature's God as a good introduction to him.
A list of Robert Anton Wilson's books that I've read (many of them, more than once):
Illuminatus! --
Schrodinger's Cat --
Sex and Drugs: A Journey Beyond Limits
Ishtar Rising (originally published as The Book of the Breast)
Masks of the Illuminati
Right Where You Are Sitting Now
The Historical Illuminati Chronicle --
The New Inquisition
Wilhem Reich in Hell
Natural Law or Don't Put a Rubber on Your Willie
Coincidence
Quantum Psychology
Cosmic Trigger II
Cosmic Trigger III
Reality is What You Can Get Away With
Everything is Under Control
The Walls Came Tumbling Down
I read a review of Illuminatus! in Creem Magazine around 1976. The novel sounded like nothing I had ever encountered before and I knew I had to read it.
I quickly devoured the three books that make up Illuminatus! and became a Robert Anton Wilson fan for life. In the 30 years since then, I've been fortunate enough to have aquired and read almost every book of Wilson's that was published. After Illuminatus!, I read Cosmic Trigger, a semi-autobiographical work that covers a lot of the basic themes that Wilson explored throughout his life. Consciousness, human evolution, the occult, drugs, conspiracy and human/higher intelligence contact are all treated in Cosmic Trigger. By the time I finished it, I had decided that Robert Anton Wilson was one of the most brilliant minds on the planet.
Wilson introduced me to several ideas and themes that have shaped my thinking and approach to belief systems. Perhaps the most central one is Alfred Korbyzky's general semantics. Very briefly, general semantics states that "human beings are limited in what they know by (1) the structure of their nervous systems, and (2) the structure of their languages. Human beings cannot experience the world directly, but only through their "abstractions" (nonverbal impressions or "gleanings" derived from the nervous system, and verbal indicators expressed and derived from language). Sometimes our perceptions and our languages actually mislead us as to the "facts" with which we must deal."
Really grasping that concept leads to a less dogmatic view of what we know to be "true"; perhaps even an understanding that we can never make completely "objective" statements, because all our perceptions are necessarily subjective. Wilson held that, if more people would embrace those ideas, conflict in the world would lessen, and the art of compromise would become the preferred method for settling conflict.
If you've never read any of Robert Anton Wilson's work, may I suggest starting with the Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, consisting of The Earth Will Shake, The Widow's Son and Nature's God as a good introduction to him.
A list of Robert Anton Wilson's books that I've read (many of them, more than once):
Illuminatus! --
- The Eye in the Pyramid
- The Golden Apple
- Leviathan
Schrodinger's Cat --
- The Universe Next Door
- The Trick Top Hat
- The Homing Pigeons
Sex and Drugs: A Journey Beyond Limits
Ishtar Rising (originally published as The Book of the Breast)
Masks of the Illuminati
Right Where You Are Sitting Now
The Historical Illuminati Chronicle --
- The Earth Will Shake
- The Widow's Son
- Nature's God
The New Inquisition
Wilhem Reich in Hell
Natural Law or Don't Put a Rubber on Your Willie
Coincidence
Quantum Psychology
Cosmic Trigger II
Cosmic Trigger III
Reality is What You Can Get Away With
Everything is Under Control
The Walls Came Tumbling Down
posted by RocketJam at 10:23 AM
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