Wilson vs. Wilson
When Robert Anton Wilson interviewed Colin Wilson
In 1984, Robert Anton Wilson traveled from Dublin Ireland to Cornwall, England to meet and interview Colin Wilson for the American magazine, New Age Journal. RAW had been living in Ireland for the past two years, soaking up the language of birthplace of Joyce, when he landed the New Age Journal gig where he was paid to fly to London and interview extraordinary writers and thinkers like, David Bohm, Dorris Lessing, Rupert Sheldrake, P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins, and Colin. While these are all interesting people, it seems, judging from RAW’s correspondence with Kurt Smith, Colin most impressed him. As I write in Chapel Perilous: The Life & Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson, Bob described Colin as, “charming, intelligent, generous, a fan of my work, conceited, arrogant, humorous; all in all, I like him.” (RAW to Kurt Smith. November 9, 1985) Colin Wilson, the English existentialist philosopher and novelist, whose work spans the spectrum of human existence from the highest heights to the lowliest low, published over a 100 books in genres that included true crime, the occult, the paranormal, and the nature of human consciousness. From the start of his career, which took off like a rocket blast with the publication of The Outsider (1956), Colin forwarded his philosophy of “new existentialism” or “phenomenological existentialism.” Over the course of his career, Colin would repeat that his goal as a philosopher was to “create a new and optimistic existentialism.” Colin also dedicated ink to analyzing the phenomenon of Synchronicity in his works. Is it a synchronicity that these two Wilsons were writing about related topics form the opposite end of the Atlantic and later Irish Sea, or is it an uncanny, and hilarious, result of the Zeitgeist? Regardless, both Wilson’s played a significant role to generations of intrepid travelers along the rocky road of the existential path in the late 20th Century, and it is quite cinematic to envision these two kicking back in Cornwall waxing philosophic about Nietzsche, Meditation, Concentration, and some other badass ninja shit. For those who read the two Wilsons knew that suffering is in no short supply, it’s the power of our own minds that need constant exercise.
In RAW’s non-fiction work from the 1980s, Bob increasingly focuses on the nitty gritty aspects of “phenomenological existentialism.” For Bob, Colin’s “new existentialism” reminded him of what he and Leary spoke so about in their 8 Circuit Model of Intelligence. However, Bob also drew specific influences from Colin’s work in his own books. As I mentioned in a previous post, Colin Wilson’s book A Criminal History of Mankind is referenced often in RAW’s book The New Inquisition and pamphlet Natural Law. These mentions referenced Colin’s discussion of hypnosis being a low-grade diminished use of consciousness, similar to how Gurdjieff described the situation through his metaphor of sleepwalking. However, Colin Wilson’s reference to Edmund Husserl may have also galvanized Bob to delve deeper into his phenomenological studies. Wilson, a master at diggin in the crates, went to a source code for phenomenology, Nietzsche, who began his career as a philologist, (trans. Lover of words) and the power of the metaphor. The result of Wilson smashing, or rehashing, or reflecting another aspect of his grand multi-dimensional philosophy of life, was found in The New Inquisition and most especially in is his 1991 book, Quantum Psychology, where RAW reached peak synthesis of a wide range of profound scientific and philosophical movements.
Perhaps hanging out with Colin and reading from the pile of books he gave him before departing to Dublin reminded RAW of Husserl’s main argument that consciousness is intentional. Or as Colin wrote, “That is to say, consciousness is not simply a mirror that reflects reality; it is more like a hand that has to reach out and grasp the things it apprehends.” (Wilson 658) Furthering, “But if consciousness is a kind of hand, then it could be trained and developed for as many subtle uses as the hand.” (658) While RAW never quite used that metaphor to describe the potential to train one’s brain into accessing happier, healthier states of awareness, the message is the same. The pursuit of happiness takes work and part of the work is realizing how much we are actually working to experience what we are experiencing right now. When we realize the power and potential, we possess to change fundamental perspectives through doing exercises that elicit “peak experiences,” we are training our brain to be relatively happier. Or as a popular phrase and book title from the 1980s expressed it, “Chop wood, Carry Water!”
Here’s Bob’s interview of Colin!
