Robert Anton Wilson, o-author of "new">The Illuminatus! Trilogy, former editor for Playboy, lecturer, philosopher, maybe-mystic, model advocate, Korzybski-quoter…

Maybe Logic brought a bit of a tear to my eye. I’ve been fond of Robert Anton Wilson for many years; I haven’t seen much material from him in the last few years. His “Historical Illuminatus! Chronicles” seems to have put several publishers out of business, and I despair of ever seeing the final book. I’ve wondered what’s been up with him… he’s getting older (he’s 74 years old now); his wife Arlen passed away in 1999. I’ve often lovingly and respectfully referred to him as a “dumpy old crackpot”. He’s looking older, crackpot-ier, but less dumpy. He’s also spending most of his time in a wheelchair.

Wilson is suffering from post-polio syndrome. He contracted polio as a child but recovered. Sixty years later, he was afflicted with weakness and pain and lost the ability to walk.

I’ve learned an awful lot about thinking about thinking from Wilson. “Bullshit,” you may say, and I would respond “Exactly”.

One of the themes you’ll find Wilson repeating is to take things as models, not as gospel. It’s so easy to confuse theory for fact, map for territory. Especially when it’s a good theory. Use it a few times and you may easily forget that it is, in fact, a theory… a possible description of how things work. Trust no one? Trust no theory. Which isn’t to say shun theories… in fact, no, just be conscious of how you’re working with them.

Words have power. Words hypnotize us. People say things - we respond. We believe them. We do things because of things people say. Wilson’s writings introduced me to Alfred Korzybski and his theories on semantics, particularly “E Prime”, English without the verb “to be”.

Think about all the times you use “is”. “He is hungry”. “The house is green”. “The dog is bad”. Much of the time we state opinion as fact. “He feels hungry”. “That house looks green to me”. “I don’t like the way that dog behaves”. “Is” provides a powerful shortcut, but a misleading one as well. Imagine all the conflict caused by statements of fact, and how much less conflict there might be if we only involved ourselves more in our own statements: “I don’t like” rather than “is bad”.

Yes, if you think I’m playing word games, I’d have to agree, but games have power. Words have power.

If you’re looking for a good introduction to Robert Anton Wilson, a refresher or reminder, or just to check in and see what’s up with him - “Maybe Logic” is a good chance, maybe your last chance, to do so… a visit with a not-so-dumpy old crackpot with a New York accent and a lot of ideas.

|  Print This Post