If you take the Illuminatus Trilogy seriously, I highly recommend reading other works by Robert Anton Wilson because clearly you are missing the entire point of his work. Its like thinking "A Modest Proposal" would fix hunger in the US.

Actually...everybody should just read more of his stuff. It would mellow out the world considerably.

It's interesting to consider that the main sources of inspiration for the Illuminatus Trilogy were all the mail from conspiracy theorists received by Wilson and O'Shea while they worked at Playboy in the '70.

At a certain point they thought "What if EVERY theory was true?". And the books were written. Fnord.

In the book "Secrets of Angels and Demons the unauthorized guide to the best selling novel" He is interviewed (I guess because of the Illuminati talk and inspiration to the Angels and Demons story narrative)..He said he set off on a research mission into all the conspiracies. And he noticed how they all seem to work together as one in the big picture. So he resurrected the Illuminati name from forgotten history just to give the hidden hand a name. And that the Illuminati Trilogy is why the old Illuminate name is used today.

Like many great works of literature, science fiction has inspired science fact.

Just because these books are written in a tongue and cheek manner does not mean there are not important idea or slivers of truth contained inside.

"tongue IN cheek"

Thanks. Early morning comments. Brain not functioning at full capacity.

Of course not. But its not meant to be taken any more serious than the "23 Conspiracy" and I am not referring to the god awful movie.

Nobody is taking RAW's fiction literally. He was a conspiracy theorist who desperately didn't want to be connected to any beliefs at all, so he concocted his own conspiracy stories drawing from his vast esoteric knowledge.

Illuminatus is just an amalgamation of conspiracy theories and mythos. He had a solid understanding of how power structures work and applied that to his literature.

One of the keys to conspiracy, that the detractors don't understand, is that I can conspire with you without us shaking hands or physically giving the old wink and nod. If my agenda is not worm on the my sleeve, you may easily be an accomplice in it.

Allen Watts discusses the Russia/US idea in a lecture on opposition and unity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd-6Ry_yFUk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd-6Ry_yFUk

Wilson described his work as an "attempt to break down conditioned associations, to look at the world in a new way, with many models recognized as models or maps, and no one model elevated to the truth".[2] His goal being "to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone but agnosticism about everything."[3]

EDIT: The Principia Discordia is further suggested reading, if you can get your hands on it. I cheated and shopped Amazon, which should rightfully earn me negative points with the Goddess. I tried to atone by leaving my copy in a college library when I was done.

I feel like hanging out in this conspiracy world while simultaneously hanging out with science minded and skeptical people has gotten me in that agnostic frame of mind.

I encounter so many people in all areas who are all so certain of their facts and beliefs. I fall into that assuredness trap while arguing as well, but I'm almost always questioning my own beliefs.

I've been attacked as a socialist, gun nut, naive, anti-semite, Zionist and even had people think I was a woman for standing up for women's rights. I take some pride in that but I also know how little I really know.

I think if we keep an open mind and fight for human dignity it doesn't matter what reality we accept as de facto.

Tl;Dr I think I'll check out his stuff.

There is a torrent with several versions floating around

I had a copy of it, but ended up forgetting it in a hotel in Brisbane. Hopefully it is continuing the good fight....

I'm okay / you're okay.

I'll agree to that.

Or Korzybsky directly.

"The Illuminatus! Trilogy" The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan >PDF Download E-Book >Audio http://12160.info/photo/pdf-download-ebook-the-illuminatus-trilogy-the-eye-in-the-pyramid

Robert Anton Wilson should be required reading for EVERYONE in this subreddit (if not everyone in general). There is so much of value to be learned from this man through his wonderful sense of humor and vast wealth of knowledge.

I was once reading a book of his that had a little quiz with some multiple choice answers. I made mental notes of my answers as I took the quiz and then went to look to see how much I got right. I looked at the bottom of the page and couldn't find the answer key. So I put my finger on the page and went to the rear index. Then it finally hit me - there is no answer key because he doesn't believe in them. I involuntarily laughed in a room full of otherwise silent people.

Old Bob is still trolling from the grave.

Praise Bob!

Praise Bob!

everyone in general

Agreed. His writings are like an exercise manual for the mind and contain more than a few prophetic passages. They are full of irreverent brilliance, shifting perspective, and esoteric knowledge. They're more than extremely well-written science fiction stories, they go beyond forecasting, they also teach you how to think. Each forces you to question both your craziest and also your most basic beliefs, and laugh at them.

The trilogy quoted by OP above explores the Illuminati, the Mother-of-All-Conspiracy-Theories, as a true conspiracy, but amazingly, does it in a way that leaves you laughing or aroused more often than depressed and angry.

Edit: Articles like this make me think of Wilson today. He thought we'd have drugs like this available by the 1990s.

they also teach you how to think

This is the key to his brilliance, for me. RAW never tells you what to think, but helps provide you with the tools/exercises you need to learn how to think. Like Krishnamurti, he's one of those teachers that tells you NOT to just blindly follow them looking for answers, but rather to deconstruct and experience everything for yourself in order to find your own way...your own answers. I credit Bob for introducing me to general semantics and a fresh new way of experiencing/observing/interpreting the world around me (both externally and internally).

Highly recommend reading Cosmic Trigger: The Final Secret of the Illuminati. Wilson writes a narrative about his experiences while writing Illuminatus. It will turn your mind inside out even though it was written forty years ago...

Easier to read:

Excerpt from "Illuminatus! Trilogy" published 1975. (self.conspiracy)

submitted 8 hours ago by hungryowl

"Well, you sound like a gang of right-wingers. Up until the last minute, all I've heard from you and your people was that the Illuminati were commies, or were behind the commies. Now you say they're behind fascism and behind the current government in Washington, too."

Hagbard laughed. "We came on like right-wing paranoids, at first, to see how you'd react. It was a test."

"And?"

"You passed. You didn't believe us— that was obvious— but you kept your eyes and ears open and were willing to listen. If you were a right-winger, we would have done our pro- communist rap. The idea is to find out if a new man or woman will listen, really listen, or just shut their minds at the first really shocking idea."

"I'm listening, but not uncritically. For instance, if the Illuminati control America already, what's the purpose of the assassinations?"

"Their grip on Washington is still pretty precarious. They've been able to socialize the economy. But if they showed their hand now and went totalitarian all the way, there would be a revolution. Middle- readers would rise up with right-wingers, and left- libertarians, and the Illuminati aren't powerful enough to withstand that kind of massive revolution. But they can rule by fraud, and by fraud eventually acquire access to the tools they need to finish the job of killing off the Constitution."

"What sort of tools?"

"More stringent security measures. Universal electronic surveillance. No -knock laws. Stop and frisk laws. Government inspection of first-class mail. Automatic fingerprinting, photographing, blood tests, and urinalysis of any person arrested before he is charged with a crime. A law making it unlawful to resist even unlawful arrest. Laws establishing detention camps for potential subversives. Gun control laws. Restrictions on travel. The assassinations, you see, establish the need for such laws in the public mind. Instead of realizing that there is a conspiracy, conducted by a handful of men, the people reason— or are manipulated into reasoning— that the entire populace must have its freedom restricted in order to protect the leaders. The people agree that they themselves can't be trusted. Targets for assassination will be mavericks of left or right who are either not part of the Illuminati conspiracy or have been marked as unreliable. The Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, for example, were capable of mobilizing a somewhat libertarian left-right-black-white populist movement. But the assassinations that have occurred so far are nothing compared to what will take place. The next wave will be carried out by the Mafia, who will be paid in Illuminati gold."

"Not Moscow gold," said George with a smile. "The puppets in the Kremlin have no idea that they and the puppets in the White House are working for the same people. The Illuminati control all sorts of organizations and national governments without any of them being aware that others are also controlled. Each group thinks it is competing with the others, while actually each is playing its part in the Illuminati plan. Even the Morituri— the six-person affinity groups which splintered from the SDS Weathermen, because the Weathermen seemed too cautious— are under the control of the Illuminati. They think they're working to bring down the government, but actually they are strengthening its hand. The Black Panthers are also infiltrated. Everything is infiltrated. At present rate, within the next few years the Illuminati will have the American people under tighter surveillance than Hitler had the Germans. And the beauty of it is, the majority of the Americans will have been so frightened by Illuminati-backed terrorist incidents that they will beg to be controlled as a masochist begs for the whip."

Damn that's pretty scary. That guy was spot on.

A law making it unlawful to resist even unlawful arrest.

This though, it's already illegal. They didn't need a law for that one.

No, they still need a reason to get you for resisting arrest. Despite how many of them try and use resisting arrest as the reason for arrest.

Yeah I guess you wouldn't end up being charged with anything, but realistically if you are being arrested, wrongfully or not, and you resist you are going to jail.

Yes, in most cases, but that doesn't make it legal.

Yeah I was wrong. Bad choice of words.

All good. Just sayin'.

I would also recommend that people who dig on Robert Anton Wilson check out "Prometheus Rising" and "Quantum Psychology". It will definitely change how one observes reality. ;-)

Prophetic.

Have read this book several times, will read again.

All good. Just sayin'.