Last week, after a smear campaign began in an attempt to discredit Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who worked with Edward Snowden to break the news about NSA spying, Greenwald's supporters counterattacked on Twitter with #ggscandals, a mock list of other possible blights to Greenwald's reputation. (The political context is an ongoing feud on Twitter between civil liberties supporters and Obama loyalists who despise Greenwald. It's one front of the larger war on Twitter over the NSA scandal and its meaning. Almost all my Twitter friends are battling the National Security State Axis.) My son Richard, who teaches English in South Korea, called my attention to the hashtag and we both contributed Tweets to it. Aside from the pushback to the attacks on Greenwald, it was fun to try to come up with a funny Tweet.
YES! magazine sorted through the hundreds of Tweets using the hashtag and did an article on the top 10 Tweets. My son and I both made the cut. You can see the article here.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Various links
Edward Snowden: Which side are you on? asks the New Yorker's John Cassidy.
Chase Madar on 7 myths about Snowden.
New Statesmen's Alex Hern argues that automation makes the argument for a basic income guarantee even stronger (echoing what Robert Anton Wilson said 40 years ago in The Illuminati Papers, etc.) Via Arthur Hlavaty, see his remarks in the comments.
Holy Blood, Holy Grail author Michael Baigent dies; I comment.
Chase Madar on 7 myths about Snowden.
New Statesmen's Alex Hern argues that automation makes the argument for a basic income guarantee even stronger (echoing what Robert Anton Wilson said 40 years ago in The Illuminati Papers, etc.) Via Arthur Hlavaty, see his remarks in the comments.
Holy Blood, Holy Grail author Michael Baigent dies; I comment.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Green Egg: The most important intellectual event of the 20th Century
[Latest in a series of letters from Robert Anton Wilson to Green Egg. I've included the reply from Tim Zell, Green Egg honcho and the founder of the Church of All Worlds -- Tom]
Green Egg Forum, (1974 or so)
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Genea Steinberg's article on Wil Peigh (GE63) was damn good. Western science went down the wrong trail in ignoring Giordano Bruno's dialectical vision and settling for Newtonian mechanism. The return to Bruno's erotic cosmology in Reich and Timothy Leary is the most important intellectual event of the 20th Century, even if it was so shocking to orthodoxy that both Dr. Reich and Dr. Leary landed in prison.
I don't like Lance Christie's schemata of "revealed," "Taoistic" and "Pagan" religions. (This does not mean that I dislike Mr. Christie and Mr. Zell, and I hope it doesn't mean that they will begin disliking me.) I think the problem is that virtually all the major religions -- I mean the religions with millions of followers, i.e. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism -- have gone through so many evolutionary changes that they now evade categorization. Islam, for instance, has its authoritarian factions and dogmatists, its philosophical and liberal wing, its ecstatic and "pagan" (magick) division, and various blends and combinations of these. Christianity has been the most murderously psychotic of all religions, but Francis of Assisi was a Christian (and a Sufi). The people who excommunicated Spinoza for thinking and the people who brought Sufic sex-magick, science and tolerance to the Occidental world were all Jews. Most Buddhists are atheists but some Buddhists have more gods than the Hindus. In short, we can categorize individuals (although that, too, is fraught with peril) but we cannot categorize religions that include millions of individuals over thousands of years of history.
Lao-Tse, Meister Eckhart, Rumi, al-Ghazali, Dogen Zengi, William Blake and Aleister Crowley all belonged to the same religion, although they are usually classified as a Taoist, a Christian, two Moslems, a Zen Buddhist and two unclassifiable visionaries.
I vote for continuing the interminable letter (or column, or whatever it is) of Steve Erdmann, for a variety of reasons. One, terminating him has an aspect, possibly, of fear, and "fear is failure and the forerunner of failure." Two, cutting him off in mid-stream or mid-diatribe seems somehow spiteful, vengeful, or otherwise angry-embittered-sulky, and it is good training to resist all compulsive emotions and see what the nervous system produces next when simple robotic patterns are rejected. Three, I personally find him entertaining: I keep wondering what new assaults on logic he will produce next. Four, the skilled dialecticians among our readership can practice their debating skills on him better than on one another, since he represents a real, rather than a superficial, difference with most of us. Five, a spectrum is more amusing than a monochrome.
In this connection, I note that Mr. Erdmann's exercise in logic takes the form (reduced to basics), "Communists and Nazis commit atrocities," "Communists and Nazis are pagans," "Therefore, pagans commit atrocities." This syllogism has the same defect (I forget its technical name) as "X and Y are red-heads," "X and Y commit sodomy every Thursday," "Therefore, red-heads commit sodomy every Thursday." Translated into Boolean algebra, Mr. Erdmann's fallacy would be even more glaringly obvious. Even on a vulgar level, he got his effect by simply ignoring the fact that "Pagan" in GE terminology includes various groups and excludes others; especially, it excludes Communists and Nazis. By using a different meaning of "pagan" -- one more or less invented by himself -- he made the word include Communists and Nazis. Any freshman debating team can get the same results by taking one of Mr. Erdmann's terms, re-defining it to suit themselves, and then holding him to blame for the result. For instance, he "justifies" his odd use of pagan by quoting one philosopher, Berdyaeu. He also calls himself "a member of the human race." Quoting one philosopher, Clarence Darrow, who described "the human race" as "the worst sons-of-bitches in the galaxy," I can now "prove" that Mr. Erdmann is a son-of-a-bitch. But this is children's games; anybody can score such points by taking the words of the opponent and changing their meaning. Philosophical debate begins when one eschews such tricks and argues with what the opponent is actually saying. It is more taxing intellectual work than word-games are, but it leads to light instead of heat.
As for the debate between Mr. Erdmann and various others as to whether the Gnostics were Christian or Pagan, any reading of Gnostic literature should clarify that. Some Gnostics were Christian and some Gnostics were Pagan, just as some alchemists were Christian and some were Pagan.
Incidentally, Mr. Erdmann's citation of Communism and Nazism does make a valid point: namely, that Christianity is not today the most murderous cult in the world. Up until 50 years ago, this was not true, and any believer in humanism, tolerance and liberty was justified in regarding Christianity as the main enemy of progress. Now we know that Christianity is only one of several forms that militant intolerance can take, and this is an important lesson. In the final analysis, my opposition to banning Mr. Erdmann from GE is that such a gesture, at least symbolically, suggests the manifestation of such intolerance in our own ranks.
Love is the law, love under will.
Robert Anton Wilson
Discordian Society
2035 Channing Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
(Bob -- the reasons you gave for keeping Erdmann around are precisely the reasons we HAVE kept him around as long as we have -- his dissenting articles and opinions have appeared in virtually every issue of GE since #50 -- and, 14 issues later, are just as irrelevant and off-track as when he first began. After 2 years, we have all grown tired of his inane diatribes, and have decided, belatedly, many feel, to consign him to the oblivion they so richly deserve. "Enough IS enough!" -- TZ)
Green Egg Forum, (1974 or so)
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Genea Steinberg's article on Wil Peigh (GE63) was damn good. Western science went down the wrong trail in ignoring Giordano Bruno's dialectical vision and settling for Newtonian mechanism. The return to Bruno's erotic cosmology in Reich and Timothy Leary is the most important intellectual event of the 20th Century, even if it was so shocking to orthodoxy that both Dr. Reich and Dr. Leary landed in prison.
I don't like Lance Christie's schemata of "revealed," "Taoistic" and "Pagan" religions. (This does not mean that I dislike Mr. Christie and Mr. Zell, and I hope it doesn't mean that they will begin disliking me.) I think the problem is that virtually all the major religions -- I mean the religions with millions of followers, i.e. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism -- have gone through so many evolutionary changes that they now evade categorization. Islam, for instance, has its authoritarian factions and dogmatists, its philosophical and liberal wing, its ecstatic and "pagan" (magick) division, and various blends and combinations of these. Christianity has been the most murderously psychotic of all religions, but Francis of Assisi was a Christian (and a Sufi). The people who excommunicated Spinoza for thinking and the people who brought Sufic sex-magick, science and tolerance to the Occidental world were all Jews. Most Buddhists are atheists but some Buddhists have more gods than the Hindus. In short, we can categorize individuals (although that, too, is fraught with peril) but we cannot categorize religions that include millions of individuals over thousands of years of history.
Lao-Tse, Meister Eckhart, Rumi, al-Ghazali, Dogen Zengi, William Blake and Aleister Crowley all belonged to the same religion, although they are usually classified as a Taoist, a Christian, two Moslems, a Zen Buddhist and two unclassifiable visionaries.
I vote for continuing the interminable letter (or column, or whatever it is) of Steve Erdmann, for a variety of reasons. One, terminating him has an aspect, possibly, of fear, and "fear is failure and the forerunner of failure." Two, cutting him off in mid-stream or mid-diatribe seems somehow spiteful, vengeful, or otherwise angry-embittered-sulky, and it is good training to resist all compulsive emotions and see what the nervous system produces next when simple robotic patterns are rejected. Three, I personally find him entertaining: I keep wondering what new assaults on logic he will produce next. Four, the skilled dialecticians among our readership can practice their debating skills on him better than on one another, since he represents a real, rather than a superficial, difference with most of us. Five, a spectrum is more amusing than a monochrome.
In this connection, I note that Mr. Erdmann's exercise in logic takes the form (reduced to basics), "Communists and Nazis commit atrocities," "Communists and Nazis are pagans," "Therefore, pagans commit atrocities." This syllogism has the same defect (I forget its technical name) as "X and Y are red-heads," "X and Y commit sodomy every Thursday," "Therefore, red-heads commit sodomy every Thursday." Translated into Boolean algebra, Mr. Erdmann's fallacy would be even more glaringly obvious. Even on a vulgar level, he got his effect by simply ignoring the fact that "Pagan" in GE terminology includes various groups and excludes others; especially, it excludes Communists and Nazis. By using a different meaning of "pagan" -- one more or less invented by himself -- he made the word include Communists and Nazis. Any freshman debating team can get the same results by taking one of Mr. Erdmann's terms, re-defining it to suit themselves, and then holding him to blame for the result. For instance, he "justifies" his odd use of pagan by quoting one philosopher, Berdyaeu. He also calls himself "a member of the human race." Quoting one philosopher, Clarence Darrow, who described "the human race" as "the worst sons-of-bitches in the galaxy," I can now "prove" that Mr. Erdmann is a son-of-a-bitch. But this is children's games; anybody can score such points by taking the words of the opponent and changing their meaning. Philosophical debate begins when one eschews such tricks and argues with what the opponent is actually saying. It is more taxing intellectual work than word-games are, but it leads to light instead of heat.
As for the debate between Mr. Erdmann and various others as to whether the Gnostics were Christian or Pagan, any reading of Gnostic literature should clarify that. Some Gnostics were Christian and some Gnostics were Pagan, just as some alchemists were Christian and some were Pagan.
Incidentally, Mr. Erdmann's citation of Communism and Nazism does make a valid point: namely, that Christianity is not today the most murderous cult in the world. Up until 50 years ago, this was not true, and any believer in humanism, tolerance and liberty was justified in regarding Christianity as the main enemy of progress. Now we know that Christianity is only one of several forms that militant intolerance can take, and this is an important lesson. In the final analysis, my opposition to banning Mr. Erdmann from GE is that such a gesture, at least symbolically, suggests the manifestation of such intolerance in our own ranks.
Love is the law, love under will.
Robert Anton Wilson
Discordian Society
2035 Channing Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
(Bob -- the reasons you gave for keeping Erdmann around are precisely the reasons we HAVE kept him around as long as we have -- his dissenting articles and opinions have appeared in virtually every issue of GE since #50 -- and, 14 issues later, are just as irrelevant and off-track as when he first began. After 2 years, we have all grown tired of his inane diatribes, and have decided, belatedly, many feel, to consign him to the oblivion they so richly deserve. "Enough IS enough!" -- TZ)
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Green Egg letter: "the emotional-glandular circuits are appropriate only for emergencies"
Green Egg, No. 63
Forum
Dear Green Eggers,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
As usual, the Forum in GE 62 seems to consist about half-and-half of (a) people who want to bicker, slander and call names among themselves and (b) people who think Crafters shouldn't bicker and slander and call names. Thus the Hodge and the Podge remain in permanent unbalance, which is good.
I was moved by Margot Adler's letter recounting how the Lady spoke to her and said that all this bickering is good because it keeps the Craft decentralized. This confirms the vision of Malaclypse the Younger, who invoked the Lady in Her Erisian aspect (156=Chaos=Babalon) in 1958 and was told, "We Discordians must stick apart."
Following this logic, all Discordians are Popes and we have all mutually excommunicated one another. Furthermore, we have incorporated the Opposition by recognizing them as Accordians and thus part of the eternal unbalance with us. (In more technical theological language, they are aneristic and we are eristic, whereby it can clearly be seen that neither side would have a reason to exist unless the other existed to be resisted.)
This is in keeping with Crowley's great equation 0=2, which defines the universe as the non-existent resultant (0) of the imaginary conflict of two (2) unreal forces. If this Holy Wisdom were more generally understood all the amusing quarrels could continue merrily without people getting themselves all tired out by it. After all, as Leary shows so brilliantly in Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality and Neurologic, the emotional-glandular circuits are appropriate only for emergencies, like being bitten by a bear. Running on the emotional circuits chronically is living in full-time neurological-glandular emergency imprints and wears down the gut and other important organs something awful. This is why neurotics are always tired and the happiest people are those who have forgotten most (and own least).
Crafters might find much profit in those Sufi exercises based on alternating concentrations of impassioned emotional identification and meditative detachment. This quickly gives some idea of what Crowley means by that 0=2 hype. Everything that exists (for you) is that which you have passionately identified into existence: the Void always underlies it all. Below all the emotional and intellectual and emotional imprints, the mind remains unblemished and pristine as those Zen jokers say.
There is no need to drop out entirely into Buddhist bliss and just wallow in the void, of course. Rather, the Discordian unbalance suggests the advisability of including both attachment and detachment, thereby unbalancing the last possible threat of balance and stagnation.
In re: Lady Persephone's musings about "white" and "black" magick (and curse this racist terminology) -- normal consciousness is the most statistically prevalent form of magick. Other forms of black magick merely heighten one or more of the basic perversities of this normal consciousness (dualism). Similarly, the normal ego, based on infantile-to-adolescent imprinting of emotional-glandular and muscular-spatial circuits, is the most prevalent form of demonic possession. (The great demon Choronzon always begins his appearance with the typical ego-centered cry, "I am I!" His nastiness is based on the terror underlying any ego: the recognition that I am only I temporarily and accidentally.) A close and unsentimental examination of Jesus Freaks, Krishna Freaks, Scientologists and ordinary people during the 8 hours a day of working for wages (doing the Will of others) shows the mechanisms of black magic and demonic possession to be quite simple and dreadfully ubiquitous. Or just examine any of the quarrels in Wiccadom or elsewhere to see this process advance from germ to monstrosity.
The art of quarreling without delusion (identification) is explained in the Bhagavad Gita in symbolic-allegorical terms and in Korzybski's Science and Sanity in precise neurological terms. In general, any conflict in which it seems to you important that you win is a temporary bout of insanity and obsession. Discordians know that whatever happens is all part of Her great plan, or Her great lack of plan (play) and merely say when Chaos manifests again, "Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia! Kallisti!"
Love is the law, love under will.
Theophobia the Elder
House of Apostles of Eris
c/o Wilson, 535 Taylor #104
San Francisco CA 94102
Forum
Dear Green Eggers,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
As usual, the Forum in GE 62 seems to consist about half-and-half of (a) people who want to bicker, slander and call names among themselves and (b) people who think Crafters shouldn't bicker and slander and call names. Thus the Hodge and the Podge remain in permanent unbalance, which is good.
I was moved by Margot Adler's letter recounting how the Lady spoke to her and said that all this bickering is good because it keeps the Craft decentralized. This confirms the vision of Malaclypse the Younger, who invoked the Lady in Her Erisian aspect (156=Chaos=Babalon) in 1958 and was told, "We Discordians must stick apart."
Following this logic, all Discordians are Popes and we have all mutually excommunicated one another. Furthermore, we have incorporated the Opposition by recognizing them as Accordians and thus part of the eternal unbalance with us. (In more technical theological language, they are aneristic and we are eristic, whereby it can clearly be seen that neither side would have a reason to exist unless the other existed to be resisted.)
This is in keeping with Crowley's great equation 0=2, which defines the universe as the non-existent resultant (0) of the imaginary conflict of two (2) unreal forces. If this Holy Wisdom were more generally understood all the amusing quarrels could continue merrily without people getting themselves all tired out by it. After all, as Leary shows so brilliantly in Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality and Neurologic, the emotional-glandular circuits are appropriate only for emergencies, like being bitten by a bear. Running on the emotional circuits chronically is living in full-time neurological-glandular emergency imprints and wears down the gut and other important organs something awful. This is why neurotics are always tired and the happiest people are those who have forgotten most (and own least).
Crafters might find much profit in those Sufi exercises based on alternating concentrations of impassioned emotional identification and meditative detachment. This quickly gives some idea of what Crowley means by that 0=2 hype. Everything that exists (for you) is that which you have passionately identified into existence: the Void always underlies it all. Below all the emotional and intellectual and emotional imprints, the mind remains unblemished and pristine as those Zen jokers say.
There is no need to drop out entirely into Buddhist bliss and just wallow in the void, of course. Rather, the Discordian unbalance suggests the advisability of including both attachment and detachment, thereby unbalancing the last possible threat of balance and stagnation.
In re: Lady Persephone's musings about "white" and "black" magick (and curse this racist terminology) -- normal consciousness is the most statistically prevalent form of magick. Other forms of black magick merely heighten one or more of the basic perversities of this normal consciousness (dualism). Similarly, the normal ego, based on infantile-to-adolescent imprinting of emotional-glandular and muscular-spatial circuits, is the most prevalent form of demonic possession. (The great demon Choronzon always begins his appearance with the typical ego-centered cry, "I am I!" His nastiness is based on the terror underlying any ego: the recognition that I am only I temporarily and accidentally.) A close and unsentimental examination of Jesus Freaks, Krishna Freaks, Scientologists and ordinary people during the 8 hours a day of working for wages (doing the Will of others) shows the mechanisms of black magic and demonic possession to be quite simple and dreadfully ubiquitous. Or just examine any of the quarrels in Wiccadom or elsewhere to see this process advance from germ to monstrosity.
The art of quarreling without delusion (identification) is explained in the Bhagavad Gita in symbolic-allegorical terms and in Korzybski's Science and Sanity in precise neurological terms. In general, any conflict in which it seems to you important that you win is a temporary bout of insanity and obsession. Discordians know that whatever happens is all part of Her great plan, or Her great lack of plan (play) and merely say when Chaos manifests again, "Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia! Kallisti!"
Love is the law, love under will.
Theophobia the Elder
House of Apostles of Eris
c/o Wilson, 535 Taylor #104
San Francisco CA 94102
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Letter to Green Egg: 'Christianity is only degenerate Eleusiniasm'
Green Egg Forum, Vol. VII, No. 62, Beltrane AA14
Dear Forum:
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Jefferson Clitlick is not quite precise in writing that "the step from materialism to pantheism is wholly emotional." In my own case (and judging by the literature, in the case of most pantheists) the step was intuitive, in the Jungian (and Sufi) sense of "intuition," or as in mathematical discovery. (Creating a new Gestalt, while not a rational process, is not "emotional," either.)
Rev. Clitlick is more persuasive in challenging Tim Zell's dichotomy of "Pagan religions" and "philosophical religions." Every dichotomy of that sort creates more confusion than light, which is why the Cabalists warn us against "the accursed dyad." Any classification schemata which finds itself compelled to lump Buddhism and Confucianism together with Christianity on one side of a fence and Eleusinian and Hopi systems on the other side is Choronzonian. Christianity is only degenerate Eleusianism: on the occasion when it has come alive it was, briefly, revived Eleusiniasm, e.g. France 1100-1300. As for Tantra, which ends up on the "Pagan" side of Tim's fence, this may very likely be a Buddhism invention and could just as well go on the other side. (I am aware of the evidence that Tantra may also possibly be a Hindu, Gnostic or Egyptian invention.)
If one must build such schemata, it is wise to have at least three categories — four, or more, is better. Such systems might not be more true than dualisms, but they are always less false...
Frankly, I tend toward "philosophical" religions for the same reason I tend toward philosophy in general. We could all use the light of philosophical debate more and the smokey fumes of feud and name-calling less. On the other hand, logic is only one circuit of the human nervous system, as Dr. Leary has shown with such brilliance in his Neurologic, and we need to use the other (lower and higher) circuits also, which is why I am also a Pagan. Buddha, Lao-Tse, Catullus, Rabelais and Adam Weishaupt are among the Pagan philosophers invoked in Crowley's Gnostic Mass and nobody who studies them can fail to become both more Pagan and more philosophical.
I am currently teaching a class on "Scientific and Experimental Magick" for Orpheus Free University. I suppose the miscegenation of those adjectives with that noun will disturb even more people than Clitlick's amalgamation of philosophy and Paganism ... But Paracelsus, Vaughan, Bruno and Crowley (among others) were scientific magicians, just as more recently Carl Jung, Tim Leary and John Lilly are magical scientists. We lose nothing by our inclusions; we lose much by our exclusions.
In fact, the expressions of Christian piety in the writings of Thomas Vaughan are so frequent and eloquent that I find it hard to believe they are just inserted to mislead the Inquisition or the Star Chamber. Vaughan, evidently, was a Pagan (magician-alchemist), a scientist, a philosopher, and a Christian all at once. I see no reason to despite the Christian element in this soup; obviously, if there had been more Christians like Vaughan, there would have been no burning ...
The only trouble with the Self-centered philosophy of Ayn Rand and her disciples is that they haven't taken the trouble to find out what and where the true Self is.
Love is the law, love under will.
Wrong Rev. Mordecai Malignatus
High Priest, head temple
Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria
c/o Wilson, 535 Taylor, Apt. 104
San Francisco CA 94102
Dear Forum:
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Jefferson Clitlick is not quite precise in writing that "the step from materialism to pantheism is wholly emotional." In my own case (and judging by the literature, in the case of most pantheists) the step was intuitive, in the Jungian (and Sufi) sense of "intuition," or as in mathematical discovery. (Creating a new Gestalt, while not a rational process, is not "emotional," either.)
Rev. Clitlick is more persuasive in challenging Tim Zell's dichotomy of "Pagan religions" and "philosophical religions." Every dichotomy of that sort creates more confusion than light, which is why the Cabalists warn us against "the accursed dyad." Any classification schemata which finds itself compelled to lump Buddhism and Confucianism together with Christianity on one side of a fence and Eleusinian and Hopi systems on the other side is Choronzonian. Christianity is only degenerate Eleusianism: on the occasion when it has come alive it was, briefly, revived Eleusiniasm, e.g. France 1100-1300. As for Tantra, which ends up on the "Pagan" side of Tim's fence, this may very likely be a Buddhism invention and could just as well go on the other side. (I am aware of the evidence that Tantra may also possibly be a Hindu, Gnostic or Egyptian invention.)
If one must build such schemata, it is wise to have at least three categories — four, or more, is better. Such systems might not be more true than dualisms, but they are always less false...
Frankly, I tend toward "philosophical" religions for the same reason I tend toward philosophy in general. We could all use the light of philosophical debate more and the smokey fumes of feud and name-calling less. On the other hand, logic is only one circuit of the human nervous system, as Dr. Leary has shown with such brilliance in his Neurologic, and we need to use the other (lower and higher) circuits also, which is why I am also a Pagan. Buddha, Lao-Tse, Catullus, Rabelais and Adam Weishaupt are among the Pagan philosophers invoked in Crowley's Gnostic Mass and nobody who studies them can fail to become both more Pagan and more philosophical.
I am currently teaching a class on "Scientific and Experimental Magick" for Orpheus Free University. I suppose the miscegenation of those adjectives with that noun will disturb even more people than Clitlick's amalgamation of philosophy and Paganism ... But Paracelsus, Vaughan, Bruno and Crowley (among others) were scientific magicians, just as more recently Carl Jung, Tim Leary and John Lilly are magical scientists. We lose nothing by our inclusions; we lose much by our exclusions.
In fact, the expressions of Christian piety in the writings of Thomas Vaughan are so frequent and eloquent that I find it hard to believe they are just inserted to mislead the Inquisition or the Star Chamber. Vaughan, evidently, was a Pagan (magician-alchemist), a scientist, a philosopher, and a Christian all at once. I see no reason to despite the Christian element in this soup; obviously, if there had been more Christians like Vaughan, there would have been no burning ...
The only trouble with the Self-centered philosophy of Ayn Rand and her disciples is that they haven't taken the trouble to find out what and where the true Self is.
Love is the law, love under will.
Wrong Rev. Mordecai Malignatus
High Priest, head temple
Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria
c/o Wilson, 535 Taylor, Apt. 104
San Francisco CA 94102
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Letter to Green Egg: 'It is a serious business to be conscious in this universe'
[Continuing a series of RAW letters to Green Egg, shared with me by Mike Gathers -- Tom.]
Forum, Green Egg, Volume 7, No. 61
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Somebody should write a new biography of Victoria Woodhull from a Wiccan (or at least occult) viewpoint. The first woman to address the U.S. Congress, the first female to run for president of the US, the first female stock-broker on Wall Street, the most radical of all the 19th Century feminists, the boldest of all free love advocates, etc. etc. Victoria Woodhull was also the first President of the National Association of Spiritualists. Spiritualism meant many things in the 19th Century -- more than it means today. Victoria practised "magnetic healing" in the manner of Mesmer. She based her metaphysics on the system of correspondences of the medieval hermeticists. She tried to popularize a form of Christian Tantrism, saying Genesis was an allegory, the human body was the Garden of Eden, and humanity could evolve to a higher level by directing the sex energies properly. In many ways, she anticipated not only Blavatski but Crowley. She was in constant communication with various disembodied Intelligences and it is even alleged that she raised a child from the dead on one occasion. She was also a clairvoyant. Radicals remember her for advocating socialism and accepting a black ex-slave as her running-mate in the 1872 election, women liberationists remember her as the forerunner of the pro-sex wing of feminism ("I have an inalienable constitutional and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as short a period as I can, to change that love every day if I please!" was her battle-cry) and it's time occultists realized she was one of our prophets, too. Radical historians generally apologize for her "superstitions."
Dr. Timothy Leary is the latest to report possible communication with extra-terrestrial intelligences. His new book, Terra II, explains in detail how, by using the methods of Dr. Dee and Edward Kelley, he received 21 transmissions from a Higher Intelligence which appears interstellar. Dr. Leary suggests that Dee also recognized the cosmic source of his own Enochian transmissions but called them "angelic" because Giordano Bruno had been burned at the stake a few years before for speculating too boldly about intelligent life in outer space.
I find Dr. Leary's transmissions especially interesting because Mr. Kenneth Grant, current Outer Head of the Ordo Templi Orientis, has lately been describing Crowley's guardian angel as "extra-mundane or extra-terrestrial." It is also noteworthy that Dr. John Lilly — neuroanatomist, cyberneticist, dolphinologist, psychoanalyst, etc. — describes several encounters with possible extra-terrestrial beings in his book, The Center of the Cyclone. Like Dr. Leary, Dr. Lilly carefully specifies that his contacts might be hallucinations: he also suggests that they could be superior humans living on earth in the present or the future.
Dr. Andrei Pujarish, whose work with clairvoyant Peter Hurkos and the psychedelic mushroom, amanita muscara, is described in his book, The Sacred Mushroom, recently was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle saying that ESP seems to have an extra-terrestrial basis. He didn't explain what he meant and the dumb reporter didn't ask him, alas.
The kind of work on the heart chakra used in Sufic or Tantric training seems especially needed by Occidental magicians and mystics. Paranoia, intolerance, hostility and milder forms of glandular fear-rage activation syndromes seem to afflict Occidentals in general, not just the Christians. Indeed, those who complain loudest of Christian chauvinism seem most inclined to replace it with Neo-Pagan chauvinism. It is a serious business to be conscious in this universe and those who fritter it away on bickering, backbiting and bellicosity are occluding their own Light.
Love is the law, love under will.
Mordecai the Foul
Bavarian Illuminati
c/o Robert Anton Wilson
535 Taylor, Apt. 104
San Francisco CA 94102
Forum, Green Egg, Volume 7, No. 61
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Somebody should write a new biography of Victoria Woodhull from a Wiccan (or at least occult) viewpoint. The first woman to address the U.S. Congress, the first female to run for president of the US, the first female stock-broker on Wall Street, the most radical of all the 19th Century feminists, the boldest of all free love advocates, etc. etc. Victoria Woodhull was also the first President of the National Association of Spiritualists. Spiritualism meant many things in the 19th Century -- more than it means today. Victoria practised "magnetic healing" in the manner of Mesmer. She based her metaphysics on the system of correspondences of the medieval hermeticists. She tried to popularize a form of Christian Tantrism, saying Genesis was an allegory, the human body was the Garden of Eden, and humanity could evolve to a higher level by directing the sex energies properly. In many ways, she anticipated not only Blavatski but Crowley. She was in constant communication with various disembodied Intelligences and it is even alleged that she raised a child from the dead on one occasion. She was also a clairvoyant. Radicals remember her for advocating socialism and accepting a black ex-slave as her running-mate in the 1872 election, women liberationists remember her as the forerunner of the pro-sex wing of feminism ("I have an inalienable constitutional and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as short a period as I can, to change that love every day if I please!" was her battle-cry) and it's time occultists realized she was one of our prophets, too. Radical historians generally apologize for her "superstitions."
Dr. Timothy Leary is the latest to report possible communication with extra-terrestrial intelligences. His new book, Terra II, explains in detail how, by using the methods of Dr. Dee and Edward Kelley, he received 21 transmissions from a Higher Intelligence which appears interstellar. Dr. Leary suggests that Dee also recognized the cosmic source of his own Enochian transmissions but called them "angelic" because Giordano Bruno had been burned at the stake a few years before for speculating too boldly about intelligent life in outer space.
I find Dr. Leary's transmissions especially interesting because Mr. Kenneth Grant, current Outer Head of the Ordo Templi Orientis, has lately been describing Crowley's guardian angel as "extra-mundane or extra-terrestrial." It is also noteworthy that Dr. John Lilly — neuroanatomist, cyberneticist, dolphinologist, psychoanalyst, etc. — describes several encounters with possible extra-terrestrial beings in his book, The Center of the Cyclone. Like Dr. Leary, Dr. Lilly carefully specifies that his contacts might be hallucinations: he also suggests that they could be superior humans living on earth in the present or the future.
Dr. Andrei Pujarish, whose work with clairvoyant Peter Hurkos and the psychedelic mushroom, amanita muscara, is described in his book, The Sacred Mushroom, recently was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle saying that ESP seems to have an extra-terrestrial basis. He didn't explain what he meant and the dumb reporter didn't ask him, alas.
The kind of work on the heart chakra used in Sufic or Tantric training seems especially needed by Occidental magicians and mystics. Paranoia, intolerance, hostility and milder forms of glandular fear-rage activation syndromes seem to afflict Occidentals in general, not just the Christians. Indeed, those who complain loudest of Christian chauvinism seem most inclined to replace it with Neo-Pagan chauvinism. It is a serious business to be conscious in this universe and those who fritter it away on bickering, backbiting and bellicosity are occluding their own Light.
Love is the law, love under will.
Mordecai the Foul
Bavarian Illuminati
c/o Robert Anton Wilson
535 Taylor, Apt. 104
San Francisco CA 94102
Monday, June 24, 2013
Letter to Green Egg: 'my forthcoming book on Crowley'
[Editor's note: I have always enjoyed reading Robert Anton Wilson's letters to various publications; they contain some of his most pungent sentences. Beginning today, I am running a series of letters to Green Egg, the pagan magazine, that were written in the 1970s. Photocopies of the letters were supplied to me by Mike Gathers, and so I am passing them on to you. This letter includes the startling fact that Wilson was working on a book about Aleister Crowley, Lion of Light. Does anyone else have more information? -- Tom]
Letter to the Forum of Green Egg
From Vol. 6, No. 60, Oimelc AA13 Feb 1, 1974
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
I see that debate still continues about how much of the Wicca tradition goes back to the Stone Age and how much was created by Gerald Gardner (with the help of Aleister Crowley). After researching that question for about seven years now, I am more confused and less certain than ever. To increase the confusion (and lessen the certainty) of others, let me call attention to Idries Shah's book, The Sufis (not to be confused with his other book, The Way of the Sufis, which does not contain the same information.)
Mr. Shah's evidence leaves no doubt that some at least of the Wicca tradition is neither of European neolithic origin nor of Gardner's personal invention but came into Europe via the Sufis in the late middle ages. Anyone who has remaining doubts can simply attend a Sufi dance and a Wicca festival in rapid succession, whereby it will appear obvious to the senses that the same basic rituals are being used for the same basic purposes.
I hope nobody thinks that I am asserting that Witchcraft is "only" a Europeanized offshoot of Sufism. It could equally well be argued (and has been argued) that Sufism is "only" an Arabized offshoot of Gnosticism.
Dr. Martello is textually correct in asserting that the Gardnerian "be seed and root and stem and bud" etc. can be found in Crowley before it appeared in Gardner; so can the phrase "nor do I demand aught in sacrifice." Of course, Crowley's sensitive psyche could have picked these expressions up by ESP from Witch covens active around him; or (see Francis King's Rites of Modern Occult Magic), he might have had contact decades before he met Gardner ...
A careful reading of the preface to From Ritual to Romance by Dr. Jesse Weston might indicate that she was in contact with a proto-Gardnerian coven circa 1900-1910. The same hints, however, can also be taken to refer to either the Golden Dawn or the Ordo Templi Orientis.
Attempts to be historically and scientifically accurate about the history of European Wiccadom (which have been rare, Goddess knows!) have mostly run aground by looking only at those events which were given the label of "Witchcraft" by those whose words were recorded. If we widen our lens and look at the subject of "Christian heresies" and "non-Christian heresies" and "Secret societies" etc., if we compare alchemical texts with Rosicrucian pamphlets and early Masonic charters, etc. a great deal begins to come into focus, as I hope to show in my forthcoming book on Crowley, Lion of Light. The fact that there are Masonic elements in Gardnerian covens does not mean that Gardner necessarily put them there.
Various "Pagan" elements, it appears, survived the official Christianization of the West and the Moslemization of the Near East. Sometimes, traditions were preserved within families or other groupings for many centuries. Sometimes, somebody discovered an "olde booke" and recreated what had been persecuted out of existence. Sometimes, somebody wandered as far as several thousand miles in search of wisdom, found it, and came home to establish as a new school something that had already existed there as a tradition only a few generations earlier. Many other permutations and combinations are possible, and probable, considering the ferocity of persecution and the need for secrecy.
In the 19th Century, after burnings at the stake were no longer legal, fearing only the more modern forms of persecution by slander and harassment, the black American adept, P.B. Randolph, very carefully hid the sexual side of his methods even from his own official disciples and passed them only sub rosa to the Ordo Templi Orientis. Many learned tomes arguing about whether the OTO traces back to the Templars or just to Karl Kellner's contact with an Arabic (Sufi?) magician are vitiated by neglecting the Voodoo tradition via Randolph. Similarly, attempts to understand, say, Elizabethan Witchcraft by looking only at what was called "witchcraft" a few centuries earlier might be equally vitiated by ignoring Giordano Bruno and the Rosicrucian lodges in England at the time.
In short, we will learn more by examining the practices of various groups than by centering on what they called themselves, or what their enemies called them.
Love is the law, law under will,
Mordecai the Foul
(Robert Anton Wilson)
Bavarian Illuminati
535 Taylor
San Francisco, CA 94102
Letter to the Forum of Green Egg
From Vol. 6, No. 60, Oimelc AA13 Feb 1, 1974
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
I see that debate still continues about how much of the Wicca tradition goes back to the Stone Age and how much was created by Gerald Gardner (with the help of Aleister Crowley). After researching that question for about seven years now, I am more confused and less certain than ever. To increase the confusion (and lessen the certainty) of others, let me call attention to Idries Shah's book, The Sufis (not to be confused with his other book, The Way of the Sufis, which does not contain the same information.)
Mr. Shah's evidence leaves no doubt that some at least of the Wicca tradition is neither of European neolithic origin nor of Gardner's personal invention but came into Europe via the Sufis in the late middle ages. Anyone who has remaining doubts can simply attend a Sufi dance and a Wicca festival in rapid succession, whereby it will appear obvious to the senses that the same basic rituals are being used for the same basic purposes.
I hope nobody thinks that I am asserting that Witchcraft is "only" a Europeanized offshoot of Sufism. It could equally well be argued (and has been argued) that Sufism is "only" an Arabized offshoot of Gnosticism.
Dr. Martello is textually correct in asserting that the Gardnerian "be seed and root and stem and bud" etc. can be found in Crowley before it appeared in Gardner; so can the phrase "nor do I demand aught in sacrifice." Of course, Crowley's sensitive psyche could have picked these expressions up by ESP from Witch covens active around him; or (see Francis King's Rites of Modern Occult Magic), he might have had contact decades before he met Gardner ...
A careful reading of the preface to From Ritual to Romance by Dr. Jesse Weston might indicate that she was in contact with a proto-Gardnerian coven circa 1900-1910. The same hints, however, can also be taken to refer to either the Golden Dawn or the Ordo Templi Orientis.
Attempts to be historically and scientifically accurate about the history of European Wiccadom (which have been rare, Goddess knows!) have mostly run aground by looking only at those events which were given the label of "Witchcraft" by those whose words were recorded. If we widen our lens and look at the subject of "Christian heresies" and "non-Christian heresies" and "Secret societies" etc., if we compare alchemical texts with Rosicrucian pamphlets and early Masonic charters, etc. a great deal begins to come into focus, as I hope to show in my forthcoming book on Crowley, Lion of Light. The fact that there are Masonic elements in Gardnerian covens does not mean that Gardner necessarily put them there.
Various "Pagan" elements, it appears, survived the official Christianization of the West and the Moslemization of the Near East. Sometimes, traditions were preserved within families or other groupings for many centuries. Sometimes, somebody discovered an "olde booke" and recreated what had been persecuted out of existence. Sometimes, somebody wandered as far as several thousand miles in search of wisdom, found it, and came home to establish as a new school something that had already existed there as a tradition only a few generations earlier. Many other permutations and combinations are possible, and probable, considering the ferocity of persecution and the need for secrecy.
In the 19th Century, after burnings at the stake were no longer legal, fearing only the more modern forms of persecution by slander and harassment, the black American adept, P.B. Randolph, very carefully hid the sexual side of his methods even from his own official disciples and passed them only sub rosa to the Ordo Templi Orientis. Many learned tomes arguing about whether the OTO traces back to the Templars or just to Karl Kellner's contact with an Arabic (Sufi?) magician are vitiated by neglecting the Voodoo tradition via Randolph. Similarly, attempts to understand, say, Elizabethan Witchcraft by looking only at what was called "witchcraft" a few centuries earlier might be equally vitiated by ignoring Giordano Bruno and the Rosicrucian lodges in England at the time.
In short, we will learn more by examining the practices of various groups than by centering on what they called themselves, or what their enemies called them.
Love is the law, law under will,
Mordecai the Foul
(Robert Anton Wilson)
Bavarian Illuminati
535 Taylor
San Francisco, CA 94102
Sunday, June 23, 2013
New Falcon to reissue Shea's Shike
New Falcon Publications, the publisher that keeps the bulk of Robert Anton Wilson's books in print, has announced that it is re-releasing Robert Shea's two volume novel, Shike, apparently as a two volume set (if I'm reading the press release correctly.) New Falcon also is releasing new books by Ronald F. Murphy and Michael Peterson.
Shike was Shea's first novel after he lost his job as a Playboy magazine editor and began his new career as a writer of historical novels. The official Shea website, maintained his his son, Michael, is here. Shike also can be purchased as a Kindle edition.
In other New Falcon news, the hassle with its attempt to release several RAW titles as Kindle editions apparently continues; I still haven't obtained a readable edition of Wilhelm Reich in Hell. I will post an update when I have news.
Here's the text of the New Falcon announcement, issued June 21:
Shike was Shea's first novel after he lost his job as a Playboy magazine editor and began his new career as a writer of historical novels. The official Shea website, maintained his his son, Michael, is here. Shike also can be purchased as a Kindle edition.
In other New Falcon news, the hassle with its attempt to release several RAW titles as Kindle editions apparently continues; I still haven't obtained a readable edition of Wilhelm Reich in Hell. I will post an update when I have news.
Here's the text of the New Falcon announcement, issued June 21:
New Falcon is pleased to announce three new and exciting titles to our ever evolving library of cutting edge and controversial material.
“The Everyday Atheist”, by Ronald F. Murphy, is an honest look at a growing skepticism with a previously unquestioned religious upbringing. This book represents Mr. Murphy’s first work in a series that will attempt to discuss the stark realities of taboo subjects from the unbiased perspective of the everyday reader. In his initial book he provides a clear account of why he adopted, questioned, and ultimately rejected religious faith. No matter what your faith, his plainly spoken and readable narrative addresses the unspoken thoughts that linger in us all, as we seek to answer the age old question – is there a God?
“Shike” is a two-volume novel written by Robert Shea, originally published in 1981. New Falconis extremely pleased to be re-releasing each volume of this bestselling classic, by the co-author (with Robert Anton Wilson) of the legendary “Illuminatus!” trilogy. This novel takes a sweeping view of Japanese history, encompassing many centuries within a fictionalized account of the lives of two contemporary characters. This intriguing work by a very popular author is a testament to the true scope of the man’s talent.
“A Time Of War”, by prolific novelist and world-famous former Marine Michael Peterson, has both an authenticity and a flair for the dramatic which will thrill and engross readers of all kinds. Set during the Vietnam war and including a wide ranging cast of characters, the story spans the war in the jungle itself to the planning of its execution in Washington. Containing starkly written accounts of both combat, and sexuality, this novel deals with a difficult subject with a frankness that many will find refreshing.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Between apathy and paranoia
Michael Johnson, in the blog post I recommended yesterday, quotes Norman Mailer as writing, "we have been marooned in one of two equally intolerable spiritual states, apathy or paranoia."
Michael comments, "The key, as I see it, is to find a ground between Mailer's apathy and paranoia, to be creative, have a good time, get high, do good for someone else, get paid, and get home in time for dinner."
This relates closely, I think, to Bryan Caplan's advice to live in a bubble and to carefully choose the issues that you are going to campaign for.
It seems to me that everyone who pays attention to politics has to avoid paying too much attention, to the point where you get in a state of rage, and you waste time that could be spent on more useful pursuits. I spent quite a bit of time on Twitter last night, Tweeting about the NSA stuff and following the duels between the Obamabots and the civil libertarians, before I finally put my damn device down and resumed work on a new RAW series that will start Monday on this blog.
My wife has a younger sister in Pennsylvania who is married and has two boys; lovely folks. They don't follow politics and they don't vote. They just live their lives. My wife thinks they should be more engaged, but they seem pretty smart to me.
My way of trying to "find a ground" is to work for civil liberties and peace, focusing on the Internet, and let everything else kind of slide. Those issues seem pretty hot right now, so I'm called to politics more than I'd like. (Speaking of peace, here's an excellent Andrew Sullivan piece on Obama's stupid decision to jump into Syria's civil war.)
Michael comments, "The key, as I see it, is to find a ground between Mailer's apathy and paranoia, to be creative, have a good time, get high, do good for someone else, get paid, and get home in time for dinner."
This relates closely, I think, to Bryan Caplan's advice to live in a bubble and to carefully choose the issues that you are going to campaign for.
It seems to me that everyone who pays attention to politics has to avoid paying too much attention, to the point where you get in a state of rage, and you waste time that could be spent on more useful pursuits. I spent quite a bit of time on Twitter last night, Tweeting about the NSA stuff and following the duels between the Obamabots and the civil libertarians, before I finally put my damn device down and resumed work on a new RAW series that will start Monday on this blog.
My wife has a younger sister in Pennsylvania who is married and has two boys; lovely folks. They don't follow politics and they don't vote. They just live their lives. My wife thinks they should be more engaged, but they seem pretty smart to me.
My way of trying to "find a ground" is to work for civil liberties and peace, focusing on the Internet, and let everything else kind of slide. Those issues seem pretty hot right now, so I'm called to politics more than I'd like. (Speaking of peace, here's an excellent Andrew Sullivan piece on Obama's stupid decision to jump into Syria's civil war.)
Friday, June 21, 2013
The sad, odd death of Michael Hastings
The journalist Michael Hastings, a strong critic of rogue behavior by the state, died in a car crash in LA on June 18.
Everyone agrees his car hit a tree, but from there opinions diverge. Some see it as a clear case of drunk driving and/or reckless driving. Others have noted how convenient Hastings' death was for people in power and suggested it was no accident. The Los Angeles Times reports that more information on the accident is coming soon: "The crash is under investigation and there will be an official accident report after a toxicology test is completed in the coming weeks."
The Rancid Honeytrap has a typically brilliant, and also fair-minded (not always his strong suit) examination here of conspiracy theories about Hasting's death. Excerpt:
Just for the record, I am not advancing a theory here. I noticed a lot of people who I don’t consider knee-jerk conspiracists were made particularly uncomfortable by Hastings death, especially when details of the accident emerged. Predictably, there was the customarily strong push to belittle these suspicions with talk of tinfoil hats and conspiracy theories and nutjobs.
Though I don’t generally embrace most conspiracy theories, I also don’t find knee-jerk anti-conspiracism any more thoughtful or satisfying if it isn’t predicated on something weightier than the assumed essential decency of the state and its agents, or presumed knowingness about how conspiracies work or don’t. This has always struck me as a form of exceptionalism that ignores both our own domestic history and this country’s foreign policy now and in the past.
I thought the post was evenhanded, but Gawker has tried to squash it. Borromeo, a commenter on the post, remarks, "Did the FBI not kill someone they were interrogating? Yes they did. Did the story not fall apart piece by piece? Yes. Did anyone in the news media actually follow up on the story to get to the bottom of it? No. Has anyone held the FBI accountable? No." (See this if you can't figure out what Borromeo is talking about.)
Somewhat related perhaps. (Hat tip, John Merritt.)
Michael Johnson weighs in with a typically fine post. (Worth a separate blog post that will go up soon.)
Everyone agrees his car hit a tree, but from there opinions diverge. Some see it as a clear case of drunk driving and/or reckless driving. Others have noted how convenient Hastings' death was for people in power and suggested it was no accident. The Los Angeles Times reports that more information on the accident is coming soon: "The crash is under investigation and there will be an official accident report after a toxicology test is completed in the coming weeks."
The Rancid Honeytrap has a typically brilliant, and also fair-minded (not always his strong suit) examination here of conspiracy theories about Hasting's death. Excerpt:
Just for the record, I am not advancing a theory here. I noticed a lot of people who I don’t consider knee-jerk conspiracists were made particularly uncomfortable by Hastings death, especially when details of the accident emerged. Predictably, there was the customarily strong push to belittle these suspicions with talk of tinfoil hats and conspiracy theories and nutjobs.
Though I don’t generally embrace most conspiracy theories, I also don’t find knee-jerk anti-conspiracism any more thoughtful or satisfying if it isn’t predicated on something weightier than the assumed essential decency of the state and its agents, or presumed knowingness about how conspiracies work or don’t. This has always struck me as a form of exceptionalism that ignores both our own domestic history and this country’s foreign policy now and in the past.
I thought the post was evenhanded, but Gawker has tried to squash it. Borromeo, a commenter on the post, remarks, "Did the FBI not kill someone they were interrogating? Yes they did. Did the story not fall apart piece by piece? Yes. Did anyone in the news media actually follow up on the story to get to the bottom of it? No. Has anyone held the FBI accountable? No." (See this if you can't figure out what Borromeo is talking about.)
Somewhat related perhaps. (Hat tip, John Merritt.)
Michael Johnson weighs in with a typically fine post. (Worth a separate blog post that will go up soon.)
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Oz Fritz on the Rosy Cross and The Treasure House of Images
Oz Fritz has a recent blog post which supplements all of the wonderful comments he posted during the Masks of the Illuminati discussion: Relating The Treasure House of Images to the Rosy Cross Symbol. As Oz notes, J.F.C. Fuller wrote The Treasure House of Images, and the chapter Oz quotes from is quoted in Masks of the Illuminati. Fuller is a character in Masks of the Illuminati. (Fuller is a prominent military historian. I had no idea he also wrote on "the occult" until I ran across him in Masks and looked up his biography.)
Oz has been on a hot streak lately, with other interesting subsequent posts — a follow up post on the Rosy Cross and "The Fifth Element," on an African music album that he remixed, even on John Milton and William Wordsworth.
Oz has been on a hot streak lately, with other interesting subsequent posts — a follow up post on the Rosy Cross and "The Fifth Element," on an African music album that he remixed, even on John Milton and William Wordsworth.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
NSA weirdness roundup
1. The NSA versus Finnegans Wake. Channels Orwell, too. (Via John Merritt).
2. I like this Sen. Biden guy debating Obama over the NSA. He sounds like a libertarian.
3. At work today, I was working on a story about a libertarian advocacy group's efforts to slow down a bill here in Ohio that make it easier for police to obtain cell phone records. I read in this press release that the bill passed 32-1 in the Senate. Naturally, I wondered who the weirdo was, so I tracked down the vote. The lone "No" vote was Sen. Michael Skindell, a Democrat from the Cleveland area. Senate District 23.
2. I like this Sen. Biden guy debating Obama over the NSA. He sounds like a libertarian.
3. At work today, I was working on a story about a libertarian advocacy group's efforts to slow down a bill here in Ohio that make it easier for police to obtain cell phone records. I read in this press release that the bill passed 32-1 in the Senate. Naturally, I wondered who the weirdo was, so I tracked down the vote. The lone "No" vote was Sen. Michael Skindell, a Democrat from the Cleveland area. Senate District 23.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Matheny's 'Ong's Hat' page
Joseph Matheny, who is the host and main webmaster for Robert Anton Wilson Fans and has released valuable RAW audio material and also is a filmmaker, also has the Ong's Hat: The Incunabula Papers Web site, a blog with lots of articles and postings on topics such as anarchism and Internet censorship. Subscribing to the mailing list, as I do, provides a long list of links in the form of an email every few days.
A free version of his Ong's Hat literary work may be downloaded here.
A free version of his Ong's Hat literary work may be downloaded here.
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