RAW
Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Only the madman is absolutely sure.
– Robert Anton Wilson
Thirty-three years ago today, writer and philosopher Robert Anton Wilson said he possibly received a message from an extraterrestrial from the planet Sirius, or possibly he was just tripping on acid.
Either way, Wilson’s experiences have led to his numerous humor-tinged writings about synchronicities, government conspiracies, the number 23, reality tunnels, mind-expansion drugs, the Illuminati, and much more.
Wilson, now 70, suffers from post polio, and is currently under care at a hospice on what reportedly was his deathbed. But old Bob is still going strong, even doing auctions on eBay, like this one called “Dead Men Don’t Sign Books…” He might not be well, but he’s still got that dry sense of humor.
Truthfully, I’m not sure I’d even believe any reports of his death. And I’m sure he wants it that way.
Listen to this podcast
Isn’t that pretty close to the time when Scientology came on the scene. And it involved extraterrestrials and all that jazz? Hmmm…
Fnord.
I actually had the honor of seeing Robert Anton Wilson speak on two separate occasions. During the question and answer parts of one of the evenings, someone asked “how long has it been since you did acid?” and he replied “I’ve been clean and sober for 24 hours, god dammit!”
He also professes a sincere love for the work of Michelle Pfieffer, and claimed that no movie with her in it could ever be bad. I could not resist the temptation to step up to a mike and ask “Since you love Michelle Pfieffer, have you ever seen Grease 2?” (He hadn’t.)
Fnord.
Kevin: The difference is that Scientology truly believe the science fiction written by L. Ron Hubbard, while RAW is more about discovery combined with healthy scepticism and much more. No brainwashed celebrities in discordianism.
Dr. Geek: All Hail Discordia! Is it any wonder why we’re so close? That’s so cool that you got to meet RAW, and pretty funny that you hit him with the Grease 2 question (and hey, I liked Grease 2! — I want a cool rider, a cool, cool, cool, cool rider!).