Prickle-Prickle, Confusion 58, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3174
Robert Anton Wilson Day
July 31, 2003
Robert Anton Wilson Day
Mayor declares a special day to honor local author/philosopher
by Laurel Chesky
The date of July 23 has special significance for Robert Anton Wilson. It was on July 23, 1973 that Wilson received a message from an extraterrestrial from the planet Sirius. Or maybe, he says, it was a 6-foot-tall white rabbit in County Kerry, Ireland. Or maybe he was just tripping on acid. (Wilson also notes that on July 23, 1973, Monica Lewinsky was born.)
Thirty years later, a giddy Mayor Emily Reilly officially declared July 23, 2003 as “Robert Anton Wilson Day” in the city of Santa Cruz.
The mayor read her proclamation before a packed house at the Rio Theatre on Soquel Avenue. A crowd had gathered there to see the world premiere of the documentary film, Maybe Logic - The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson. The film, produced by deepleaf productions, is a retrospective of Wilson’s career as an author, conspiracy theorist, quantum physics philosopher and counterculture icon. Wilson lives in Capitola (or Live Oak or Santa Cruz, depending on your “reality tunnel,” as Wilson would say.)
One of the more humorous passages of the mayor’s proclamation reads: “Whereas Robert Anton Wilson employs wit and humor spanning five decades to resist the imperial schemes of national politicos, through such actions as daily e-mails to Attorney General John Ashcroft detailing his personal activities, thereby sparing government expense and trouble of keeping him under surveillance…”
After the mayor’s presentation, Wilson, in classic form, quipped: “I don’t deserve this. Then again, I have post polio, and I don’t deserve that either. So on with the show.”
Wilson suffers from post-polio syndrome, a disease that can strike polio survivors decades after they’ve recovered from polio. After contracting polio as a child, Wilson, 70, recovered from the disease and remained vibrant and able-bodied throughout his adulthood. Post-polio syndrome hit him a few years ago, and he is now mostly confined to a wheelchair.
Wilson eats pot brownies to relieve the pain in his legs. He was a client of the Wo/Man’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), before the Drug Enforcement Agency raided the collective’s farm near Davenport last September.
At a WAMM demonstration in October, where medical marijuana was given out on the steps of Santa Cruz City Hall, Wilson lambasted the feds for ignoring the Bill of Rights.
“The 10th Amendment says all powers not relegated to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people,” he told the crowd gathered at city hall. “Nowhere does it say that a goddamn tsar will be in charge of my medical care and interfere between me and my doctor. If anybody in Philadelphia in the 18th Century had suggested putting something like that in the Constitution, they would have been considered a raving lunatic. This Constitution was not created to establish a tsarist tyranny, it was established to create a free society.”
Wilson, who holds a PhD in psychology, has scribed some 35 books, plays and screenplays. He is perhaps best known for his books, including the cult-classic trilogy Illuminatus!, Schrodinger’s Cat and Cosmic Trigger.
His philosophies revolve around his belief, steeped in quantum theory, that there is no reality, only perception. He theorizes that because we each view the world through our unique perspective, or reality tunnels, no single truth exists.
Maybe Logic weaves together snippets from recent interviews with Wilson and some of his prominent fans, with past public-speaking appearances and TV interviews. The film travels the gamut of Wilson’s theories, from his philosophies inspired by Eastern religions to his sinister political conspiracy theories. While the film covers deep and often bizarre intellectual territory, Wilson’s humor and inclination to never take himself too seriously shine through.
©2003 Pacific Sierra Publishing
Dear Friends of RAW
It has taken me some time to come to ground and ask for your help in keeping Bob's work alive, green and growing (ummm, WHO makes it green?). My name is Christina, and I am one of Bob's daughters and executor of his estate. My brother Graham, my sister Alexandra, and I have been getting used to EWOB; Earth WithOut Bob.
July 23, 2007
This website will remain the official RAW site and online center of RAW's work. Over the next few months I hope you check back here, as we hope to get a whole lot of RAW activity generated!
The end of our Dad's life was fantastical and filled with profound love and much joy. Yes, there was also sorrow, frustration, stress, and grieving, but it was far outweighed by the lovingness. It was truly an extraordinary time. This was made possible in great part because of you, his beloved friends and fans (and boy did he love you!).
I hope at some point to share with you some of the experiences we all had over the last eight months of being with him, but right now want to let you know that I will be working to keep all his writings in print, and may even be able to print some bits and pieces he never published. There's still a lot of mucky-muck to take care of, as when our mom died, he stopped paying taxes and left a fair debt. Good ole' Bob! True to himself til the day he died...
Robert Anton Wilson Home Page
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