Robert Anton Wilson
I learned from Blogickal this morning that Robert Anton Wilson’s body has died. (I am in no position to say anything difinitive about his spirit.) He lived his life as an iconoclast — which is not a necessarily unusual thing in this age, but it is rare for someone to do it with such wit, skill, and deep, deep intelligence. In the last fifteen years or so, he’s become a sort of “old sage” to the community (no doubt, he said, because his hair finally turned white). Those of you who read me with any regularity know that he’s been a major influence on my own thinking. More than that: in some of my darkest times, he has been a light when all other lights failed.
Bob, thank you! You were always the morning star. If your light has dimmed, it can only be because the sun is rising at last.
January 12th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
hail Eris!
January 12th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
All Hail Discordia!
Ellen Hopman showed me the various cards she has in her wallet, cards indicating that she is an ordained Unitarian minister, master herbalist, etc. One of the cards was a POPE card.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
I’m sorry to hear that RAW has passed on. The only direct influence he has had on me was The Illuminatus! Trilogy, but boy was it a huge influence.
Now, I’m not sure whether I should ride a bicycle or a tricycle…
January 13th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
It’s amazing how many entries I’ve read about RAW in the last 2 days, and I even posted one myself. I thought he was an amazing writer and thinker. I didn’t know he had so many fans in the pagan community.
January 15th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Anne, I didn’t know that, either, but thinking back on his work, it makes sense, doesn’t it? A lot of his work is about breaking out of the Judeo-Christian mindset. He was good friends with Israel Regardie, a luminary in the magical community. Heck, in Illuminatus!, one of the characters actually invokes a pagan Goddess.