Robert Anton Wilson RIP

Robert Anton Wilson died yesterday. He wrote, among other things, The Illuminatus Trilogy, which I would say has had a huge influence on me in my life. I read it in high school and was really into it at the time. Basically it is a very entertaining story about an ancient conspiracy, psychedelic drugs, the future of the human race, etc. RAW was one of a group of pop psychologists and philosophers who were highly supportive of the use of psychedelic drugs as tools to explore one’s consciousness. I used to read a lot of RAW and his associates like Timothy Leary, Terrence McKenna, John Lilly.

After a few years of readings these folks I started to become more skeptical of RAW and friends’ philosophy that I saw as essentially based on hedonistic self-interest. I started to realize that the vast majority of people on this planet that don’t have the privilege of being able to do the exercises in RAW’s Quantum Psychology. Many people are struggling against colonialism and violence is so many different ways. I think that it’s not responsible to talk about eight-fold consciousness without struggling against oppression and exploitation on the economic and structural levels as well.

I don’t think that a dry, boring, political approach to the world’s problems is sufficient. But I also don’t think that RAW’s ideas had enough substantive political analysis. Some of the most inspiring work out there has a mix of both.

None of this is to say that I regret readings Illuminatus or any other of RAW’s work. Go out and get a copy of the Illumanitus Trilogy. Hopefully you will appreciate its absurd, intelligent humor, and maybe it will make you a little more open to life’s mysteries.