The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson
I don’t think anyone would have suspected it back in the ’60s and ’70s, but the author Robert Anton Wilson may have emerged as the most influential counterculture figure of those times. Who else has massive followings of fans fighting over the implications of his politics and philosophy? I can’t think of anyone.
Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American author, novelist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized as an Episkopos, Pope, and saint of Discordianism, Wilson helped publicize the group through his writings and interviews.
Wilson described his work as an "attempt to break down conditioned associations, to look at the world in a new way, with many models recognized as models or maps, and no one model elevated to the truth". His goal being "to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone but agnosticism about everything."
"The Western World has been brainwashed by Aristotle for the last 2,500 years. The unconscious, not quite articulate, belief of most Occidentals is that there is one map which adequately represents reality. By sheer good luck, every Occidental thinks he or she has the map that fits. Guerrilla ontology, to me, involves shaking up that certainty. I use what in modern physics is called the "multi-model" approach, which is the idea that there is more than one model to cover a given set of facts. As I've said, novel writing involves learning to think like other people. My novels are written so as to force the reader to see things through different reality grids rather than through a single grid. It's important to abolish the unconscious dogmatism that makes people think their way of looking at reality is the only sane way of viewing the world. My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything. If one can only see things according to one's own belief system, one is destined to become virtually deaf, dumb, and blind. It's only possible to see people when one is able to see the world as others see it. That's what guerrilla ontology is — breaking down this one-model view and giving people a multi-model perspective."
Robert Anton Wilson: Searching For Cosmic Intelligence - interview with Jeffrey Elliot (1980)
R.U.S: Robert Shea — coauthor of Illuminatus Triology — sort of ended up being “the quiet one”. What can you tell us about Shea and he and Bob’s relationship?
PA:Wilson and Shea became fast friends at Playboy. They would hang out together at the bar on payday. They, and their wives, would all hang out, smoke weed, watch TV or listen to records and think of funny sketches that made each other laugh. They had a lot in common: Both raised Irish Catholic, both left the Church young, both seeking to become full time free-lance writers. They both really dug into the Anarchist perspective. After Illuminatus!, Shea went on to start an Anarchist newsletter called No Governor, which Wilson contributed to. Wilson had a talent for collaborating with like-minded artists and thinkers; his and Shea’s collaboration resulted in Illuminatus! and that was itself a further collaboration out of their involvement with The Discordian Society. The two continually spoke of writing their sequel, Bride of Illuminatus, which they barely started before Shea was diagnosed with cancer. Shea’s death left Bob deeply distraught. Michael Shea, described seeing Bob at his father’s funeral looking shook by the whole event. Bob’s eulogy, Chimes at Midnight, published in Cosmic Trigger vol. III, written shortly after Shea provides a glimpse into Bob’s thoughts about his dead friend.
Interview excerpts with Prop Anon by R.U. Sirius (Read more http://www.mondo2000.com/2017/11/13/chapel-perilous-life-thought-crimes-robert-anton-wilson-interview-prop-anon/)
PROP ANON is the author of the upcoming Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson, the first official biography of the late counterculture philosopher. He started his career as a Hip-Hop artist whose 2010 album Squat the Condos presaged the Occupy movement. In 2014, Prop switched musical gears and released a Stoner Rock album called HAIL ERIS! with his band, HAIL ERIS!
R.U.S: Reading his essays and his collaborations with Timothy Leary I imagined them as hangout buddies. But there lives were pretty separate and their temperaments were pretty different. Any thoughts in this regard?
PA: Going into the research phase of Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson, I was also under the impression that Bob and Tim were “hang out buddies.” It is clear to me that the two had a tremendous amount of respect for each other, and both believed deeply in the others work. They were intellectual comrades, much like Shea and Gregory Hill were his artist comrades. Wilson and Leary inspired each other as they enthusiastically crafted and refined the 8-Circuit Model of Intelligence together. I got a chance to view the successive drafts of their book The Game of Life, during visits to the Timothy Leary Archive at the New York Public Library, and it really shows how much of a collaboration that book and the 8-Circuit Model of Intelligence really was.
Personally, Bob and Tim really liked each other. I think Wilson enjoyed Leary’s freewheeling ways. Tim was extremely outgoing and charming, while Bob could come across as aloof at times. Bob, when not on the microphone, was often was quiet and polite. Leary was more gregarious. Tim believed that Wilson was an extremely important philosopher. Another layer of companionship exists between the two as both had children who were schizophrenic. Tim’s daughter, Susan, suffered greatly from schizophrenia-she ultimately took her own life after she was arrested for the attempted murder of her live-in boyfriend. Bob’s son, Graham, had a schizophrenic break when his sister, Luna was murdered in 1976. Bob was reticent in speaking about his son’s illness, and he never once mentioned Graham’s battle with the disease in any of his books. However, he was able to speak openly with Tim Leary about his son because he knew Leary was going through something similar. This could have strengthened their bond as friends.
As far as hanging out goes, I think Wilson and Leary probably hung out most when Bob and Arlen were living in West Hollywood from 1988 to the early 90s. Leary was living in Beverly Hills at the time, and the two were often on speaking panels together.
During the 90s, when Bob and Arlen moved to Santa Cruz, he and Leary saw less of each other. Arlen’s health issues with her heart began shortly after arriving in Santa Cruz and Bob’s attention increasingly turned towards taking care of his wife, while maintaining a very disciplined writing practice of typing for hours a day. Though they hung out less and less in the 90s, their friendship remained strong. When Tim was nearing his death, Bill Maher invited him in his television show Politically Incorrect. Maher wanted to provide Leary a proper media toast, as opposed to the litany of media roasts he endured over the years. When Leary was unable to attend, he sent Bob to take his place. Leary had more famous friends than Bob, and it’s clear from viewing the episode that Bill Maher never heard of Bob before, but he chose to send Bob because he knew that Bob could best relate Leary’s perspectives. It was also a cool thing to do for Bob, as mainstream media attention eluded him in America throughout his career, appearing on the show may have given him a boost in book sales that month.
Robert Anton Wilson Lives! (video)
This is a video I made of an R.U. Sirius interview with Lance Bauscher, director of the great film Maybe Logic and Eric Wagner, author of An insider’s guide to Robert Anton Wilson shortly before his passing. Enjoy!
I sampled from rusirius revolting 1 by evibrain & I Hope You Didn’t Dose The Pudding extended remix by Pizza T for R.U. Sirius & Phriendz