Robert Anton Wilson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Anton Wilson
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Robert Anton Wilson in 1991
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Robert Edward Wilson
January 18, 1932 Brooklyn, New York, US
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| Died | January 11, 2007 (aged 74) |
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Notable work
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Arlen Riley Wilson
(m. 1958; died 1999) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy 21st-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
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Main interests
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Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American writer, thinker, and futurist. A futurist is someone who studies and predicts what might happen in the future. He described himself as an agnostic mystic. An agnostic believes it's impossible to know if God exists, and a mystic explores spiritual experiences.
Wilson was known in a group called Discordianism, which is a religion that celebrates chaos and humor. He helped make Discordianism famous through his books and interviews. In 1999, he said his work was about "breaking down old ways of thinking." He wanted people to "look at the world in a new way." His goal was to help people be "agnostic about everything," meaning to question all beliefs, not just about God.
Besides writing science-fiction novels, Wilson also wrote non-fiction books. These books explored topics like extrasensory perception (ESP), mental telepathy, and paranormal experiences. He also wrote about conspiracy theories and what he called "quantum psychology."
After working as a journalist and editor, Wilson became a big name in the counterculture movement of the 1970s. He was often compared to other influential thinkers like Timothy Leary.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Robert Edward Wilson was born in Brooklyn, New York. He lived in different neighborhoods in Brooklyn as he grew up. As a child, he had polio, a disease that affects the muscles. He found a helpful treatment, but the effects of polio stayed with him throughout his life. Sometimes, he needed to use a cane.
He went to Catholic schools before attending Brooklyn Technical High School. There, he became very interested in modern literature, philosophy, and science fiction. He also liked general semantics, a way of understanding how language affects our thoughts.
After high school in 1950, Wilson worked many different jobs. He was an ambulance driver, a salesman, and a medical helper. In his free time, he read about many philosophers and ideas. He studied electrical engineering and mathematics, and later English education, but he did not finish a degree at these universities.
In the late 1950s, Wilson started working as a freelance journalist. He began using "Anton" from his mother's side of the family as his middle name for his writing. He later earned a PhD in psychology in 1981. His dissertation was later published as the book Prometheus Rising.
Wilson married Arlen Riley in 1958, and they had four children. Sadly, one of their daughters, Luna, died in 1976 at age 15. Arlen Riley Wilson passed away in 1999.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
One of Wilson's most famous works is The Illuminatus! Trilogy (1975). He wrote this series with Robert Shea. The books were called "a fairy tale for paranoids," meaning they explored strange ideas in a fun way.
The trilogy combines humor with serious topics like occult symbols, secret societies, and conspiracy theories. It also touches on the counterculture of the 1960s. The books aimed to make fun of people who believe in every conspiracy.
Illuminatus! helped make Discordianism popular. It also introduced the word "fnord" into common language. The books used unique writing styles, inspired by authors like James Joyce.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy won an award for Best Classic Fiction in 1986. It was also turned into a ten-hour play and inspired card games.
Other Popular Books
Wilson wrote two more popular fiction series. The first was Schrödinger's Cat, published as three books and later as one. These books explore different alternative universes. Most characters are similar but have different lives. The series looks at ideas from quantum mechanics, which is a part of physics that studies very small particles.
His second series was The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, also three books. These books follow characters through different time periods and countries. They explore the history and secrets of the Illuminati, a mysterious group.
In between these series, Wilson wrote Masks of the Illuminati (1981). This novel features real historical figures in a fictional story. It includes many ideas about the occult, which is the study of hidden knowledge.
Plays and Screenplays
Wilson's play, Wilhelm Reich in Hell, was published as a book in 1987. It was performed in several cities and features both real and fictional characters.
He also wrote two screenplays that were published as books but not made into movies: Reality Is What You Can Get Away With (1992) and The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1997).
His non-fiction book Cosmic Trigger I: The Final Secret of the Illuminati was adapted into a play in 2014.
The Cosmic Trigger Series and Other Non-Fiction
In his non-fiction and partly autobiographical Cosmic Trigger I: The Final Secret of the Illuminati (1977) and its two follow-up books, Wilson explored many interesting topics. These included Freemasons, Discordianism, Sufism, the Illuminati, Futurology, and Zen Buddhism. He also wrote about various esoteric (hidden or mysterious) philosophies and people.
Wilson supported Timothy Leary's 8-Circuit Model of Consciousness, a theory about different levels of human awareness. He wrote about this in books like Prometheus Rising (1983) and Quantum Psychology (1990). These books offer ways to help readers break free from their "reality tunnels," which are the ways we each see the world based on our beliefs. With Leary, he promoted ideas like space migration, intelligence increase, and life extension, using the symbol SMI²LE.
Wilson's 1986 book, The New Inquisition, argued that reality is much stranger than we usually think. He suggested that mainstream science sometimes has a strong bias towards materialism (the idea that only matter exists). He believed that modern physics might even show that materialism is not entirely true.
Wilson also admired the ideas of Buckminster Fuller, who designed innovative structures, and Charles Fort, who collected strange and unexplained phenomena. He was friends with media expert Marshall McLuhan.
Although Wilson often made fun of some New Age beliefs, his books were popular in those circles. He used Aleister Crowley, a famous occultist, as a character in his novel Masks of the Illuminati. He also included elements from the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft in his stories.
Wilson also criticized scientists who had very strict belief systems. He compared them to religious fundamentalists because they were unwilling to consider new ideas. In an interview, he said:
I wrote this book because I got tired satirizing fundamentalist Christianity ... I decided to satirize fundamentalist materialism for a change, because the two are equally comical ... They're never skeptical about anything except the things they have a prejudice against. None of them ever says anything skeptical about the AMA, or about anything in establishment science or any entrenched dogma. They're only skeptical about new ideas that frighten them. They're actually dogmatically committed to what they were taught when they were in college. ...
Economic Ideas
Wilson supported a form of basic income guarantee, which means everyone would receive a regular payment to cover basic needs. He called his ideas the "RICH Economy."
He described himself as a "libertarian socialist." This means he believed in individual freedom (libertarian) but also in shared resources and equality (socialist). He wanted an alternative to both traditional capitalism and totalitarian socialism. He also admired the ideas of economists like Silvio Gesell and Henry George.
Wilson also identified as an anarchist, someone who believes in organizing society without a government. He combined ideas from many thinkers, including Benjamin Tucker and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.
Other Activities
In 1975, Robert Anton Wilson and his wife Arlen Riley Wilson started the Institute for the Study of the Human Future.
Wilson also worked with the Association for Consciousness Exploration. He dedicated his book The New Inquisition to its leaders.
He was a member of the Church of the SubGenius, a humorous parody religion, and was known as Pope Bob. He contributed to their writings and appeared with their founder.
Wilson was also on the Board of Advisors for the Fully Informed Jury Association. This group works to teach people about jury nullification, which is the right of jurors to decide not to apply a law they think is unfair.
He also supported and wrote about E-Prime, a way of speaking English that avoids all forms of the verb "to be" (like "is," "are," "was"). He believed this could help people think more clearly.
"Is", "is." "is"—the idiocy of the word haunts me. If it were abolished, human thought might begin to make sense. I don't know what anything "is"; I only know how it seems to me at this moment.
Later Life and Death
In 2006, it was reported that Wilson was receiving hospice care at home. He was also facing financial difficulties. Many people donated money to help him, which touched him deeply. He wrote a message on his website thanking everyone for their kindness.
Robert Anton Wilson passed away peacefully on January 11, 2007, just a week before his 75th birthday. After his cremation, his family held a memorial service. Most of his ashes were scattered in the same place as his wife's, off the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, California.
Discography
- A Meeting with Robert Anton Wilson (ACE) cassette
- Religion for the Hell of It (ACE) cassette
- H.O.M.E.s on LaGrange (ACE) cassette
- The New Inquisition (ACE) cassette
- The H.E.A.D. Revolution (ACE) cassette and CD
- Prometheus Rising (ACE) cassette
- The Inner Frontier (with Timothy Leary) (ACE) cassette
- The Magickal Movement: Present & Future (with Margot Adler, Isaac Bonewits & Selena Fox) (ACE) Panel Discussion – cassette
- Magick Changing the World, the World Changing Magick (ACE) Panel Discussion – cassette
- The Self in Transformation (ACE) Panel Discussion – cassette
- The Once & Future Legend (with Ivan Stang, Robert Shea and others) (ACE) Panel Discussion – cassette
- What IS the Conspiracy, Anyway? (ACE) Panel Discussion – cassette
- The Chocolate-Biscuit Conspiracy album with The Golden Horde (1984)
- Twelve Eggs in a Basket CD
- Robert Anton Wilson On Finnegans Wake and Joseph Campbell (interview by Faustin Bray and Brian Wallace) (1988) 2-CD Set Sound Photosynthesis
- Acceleration of Knowledge (1991) cassette
- Secrets of Power comedy cassette
- Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything: or Old Bob Exposes His Ignorance (2001) Sounds True ISBN: 978-1591793755
Filmography
Actor
Robert Anton Wilson appeared in the 1998 German film 23 Nichts ist so wie es scheint. He played himself in the movie, meeting a hacker named Karl Koch at a convention in 1985. The film is about German computer hackers, and the meeting between Wilson and Koch really happened.
Writer
- Wilhelm Reich in Hell (2005) (Video) Deepleaf Productions
Himself
- Children of the Revolution: Tune Back In (2005) Revolutionary Child Productions
- The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick (2001) TKO Productions
- 23 (1998) (23 – Nichts ist so wie es scheint) Claussen & Wöbke Filmproduktion GmbH (Germany)
- Arise! The SubGenius Video (1992) (Recruitment Film #16) The SubGenius Foundation (USA)
- Borders (1989) Co-Directions Inc. (TV documentary)
- Twelve Eggs in a Box: Myth, Ritual and the Jury System (1994) Video – Trajectories
- Everything Is Under Control: Robert Anton Wilson in Interview (1998) Video – Trajectories
Documentary
- Maybe Logic: The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson, a documentary with footage of Wilson over 25 years, was released in 2006.
Images for kids
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Wilson at the National Theatre, London, for the 10-hour stage version of Illuminatus! in 1977
See also
In Spanish: Robert Anton Wilson para niños
