The Earth Will Shake reading group, Week 12

Monument to La Barre in Abbeville, France. (Creative Commons photo). 

This week, please read Page 229 (Tomorrow we take the coach southward, back toward Napoli") to Page 245 ("The lights of the city came closer.")

This is an interesting section. One reads about the worst of humanity in the horrible execution of the French nobleman, and the best, in the selfless efforts to rescue the young man who threw himself into the Bay of Naples.

I had assumed the execution of François-Jean Lefebvre de la Barre was something Wilson had just made up to dramatize the cruelty of the old regime, but in fact the account is based on a real execution of a nobleman of that name on July 1, 1766. Wilson's account apparently is largely correct although the real la Barre was only 20 when he died. According to the Wikipedia article, the prosecution was secular (albeit for impiety) and the church hierarchy tried to obtain a pardon for la Barre.

Saudi Arabia recently carried out a mass execution of 37 by beheading. Nearly all were members of the Shia religious minority and the "evidence" was largely obtained by torture.

Sunday links

The book Jesse likes. 

Jesse Walker reviews a new book on conspiracy theories and doesn't like it much. 

But here is a new book on conspiracies he does like.  And here is one I can recommend, just $9.23 for a new paperback. 

Noam Chomsky on free speech.

Tyler Cowen on UFOs.

Nick Herbert poem: "Heisenberg, Buddha and the Mind-Body Connection."  

Oz Fritz on 'Gravity's Rainbow, Timothy Leary and the Occult'

Oz Fritz has began a new series at his blog, with Part One posted as "Gravity's Rainbow, Timothy Leary and the Occult."

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon has been called the premier book of postmodern literature.  It communicates multiple visions on multiple levels not the least of which coincides with Dr. Timothy Leary's vision for the next step for humanity - space colonies; expanding terrestrial life into outer space.  On another, not mutually exclusive level, GR presents a manual and course of study for the aspirant, the initiate, the bardo explorer and the working mystic.  We present a preliminary exploration into the occult side of this novel as well as Timothy Leary's role in it.

Oz points out references to Leary in the text and also possible references to Aleister Crowley. Quite an interesting essay, and Oz mentions the ongoing The Earth Will Shake reading group.

Here is an intriguing sentence:

There is another aspect related to the 1960s that probably caught Leary's attention which recurs frequently throughout the book and will remain occult in this essay.

Guess I have to read the book and see if I can spot it!

Peace news

Robert Anton Wilson used different political labels for himself over his life (sometimes, but not always, "libertarian,") but he always stood up for civil liberties and peace. In honor of that, a couple of brief news items:

1. Antiwar.com, a consistent voice against war, is having a fund drive and as I write this is able to match donations dollar to dollar. I've just made a donation.

2. Christopher Preble of the Cato Institute has been a consistent voice for sanity in American foreign policy. His new book, Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy, is available as a free ebook.

Denver decriminalizes 'magic mushrooms'

In a rather startling libertarian victory, Denver has voted to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms. I admit that I had assumed it would fail, but last minute ballot counting pushed it over the top.

On Twitter, Michael Tracey comments, "Wow, this is genuinely amazing. Great for humanity. I'm not kidding in the slightest.

"I really think so many psychological maladies could be mitigated (or cured) if more people consumed psilocybin mushrooms -- ideally in a controlled environment with proper supervision if necessary. It's always been a disgrace that the Govt. criminalizes the use of this substance.

"Some journalist should ask Colorado presidential candidates John Hickenlooper (former mayor of Denver) and Michael Bennet how they feel about this groundbreaking referendum, including whether they voted for it. Also ask if they themselves would be willing to consume mushrooms!

"The scientific evidence demonstrating the multifold benefits of psilocybin mushrooms is now indisputable, and thankfully the citizenry is finally acting through the political process. I actually did a great interview with Rick Doblin about this in 2017."

(N.B. In case the point is unclear, I think the freedom to control what you put in your body cuts both ways; I think the folks who pressure other people to drink are assholes. Late last year I transitioned from "light drinker" to "teetotaler.")

Sounding like RAW?

A couple of things I read on the Internet reminded me of some of Robert Anton Wilson's writings, so I thought I would pass them on.

Via last week's issue of Recomendo, an email newsletter I subscribe to that features Boing Boing founder (and RAW fan) Mark Frauenfelder, I read the article "88 Important Truths I’ve Learned About Life" at Raptitude, a "blog about getting better at being human" written by David Cain. I liked the piece and agreed with most of his observations, but some of them also reminded me of Wilson, e.g.

13. If you never doubt your beliefs, then you’re wrong a lot.

15. Nobody has it all figured out.

17. Every passing face on the street represents a story every bit as compelling and complicated as yours.

85. When you’re sick of your own life, that’s a good time to pick up a book.

The "Experiments" at the site look interesting.

Meanwhile, here is a quotation from Tyler Cowen:

My most absurd belief, perhaps, is the extent to which I think people should be truly uncertain about almost all of their beliefs. And it doesn't sound absurd when you say it, but I don't on the other hand know anyone who agrees with it. Take whatever your political beliefs happen to be; obviously, the view you hold you think is most likely to be true, but I think you should give that something like 60:40. Whereas in reality most people will give it 95:5, or 99:1, in terms of probability that it's correct.

The context. 

Report on the pilgrimage

This is a picture of 67 Pilgrims. The 68th Pilgrim Cassandra Sutton took the photo. And the 69 Pilgrim - Peter & Heiko our two Bus Drivers - were asleep. It was taken at @Damanhur who were the most gracious and open-hearted of hosts. (Caption from Jonathan Harris, @jonone100)

On Twitter, Jonathan Harris offers an account of the pilgrimage to CERN led by Daisy Eris Campbell. "It really was something beyond special. All of us feel lucky to have participated in such a transformative event."

The Earth Will Shake reading group, Week 11

Mozart in 1763 as a small child. 

This week: Please read from page 209 ("One week later that letter was posted to Napoli ... ") to page 229 ("Their music isn't as good as ours, either.")

I loved all of the discussion of English political ideas in this section, and the Turk's Head Tavern was a real place. But my favorite bits were the discussion of classical composers such as Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Christian Bach.

The description of Mozart sounds rather as if RAW was influence by the movie Amadeus, although in fact the movie came after the book; did Wilson see a production of the play it was based on?

I have a big online library of Mozart's music. The depiction in The Earth Will Shake of Mozart's precociousness and talent is hardly an exaggeration. My favorite fact about Mozart is simply that he was only 35 when he died. His production in his brief life is astounding. Even allowing for the fact that many of his early works are little performed today, it's painful to think about what he could have written if he had lived another ten years; many of his most famous pieces were written in the last few years of his life. By comparison, Beethoven made it to 56, and J.S. Bach to 65.

Some of my favorite Mozart works: The Marriage of Figaro (I still haven't heard many of the operas, but then again he wrote 22!), symphonies 39, 40 and 41, piano concertos 20, 21 and 24, piano sonatas 11 and 14, the Rondo in A minor for piano, the piano quartet in G minor, K. 478. The latter is not famous, and in fact there is a large body of not famous Mozart pieces that are also very good. You can buy a huge amount of Mozart for almost nothing if you search for "Bach Guild" at Amazon's online music store.

Johann Christian Bach, the "English Bach," tutored Mozart and is buried in London. 

The news from table 23

Yesterday my wife and I were at an Associated Press news awards lunch in Columbus, Ohio, where I won a first place "best news writer" award, apparently for stories about the opioid crisis such as this one. 

I probably wouldn't have mentioned that here, except that I was quite amused when we showed up and I discovered that my newspaper (The Sandusky Register) was assigned to table number 23. (Ted Hand commented on Twitter, "Synchronicity is endless). Then again, Sandusky's original street design was laid out by a freemason to reproduce the masonic compass and square design, so perhaps it was appropriate I was assigned the Illuminatus! table.

RAW on Psychedelic Salon podcast

The Psychedelic Salon podcast features RAW in an episode here (and on the usual podcasting apps.)

The episode is named "RAW Theology" and it's a lecture that dates from 1987. The first part is a discussion of religion and collects many of Wilson's thoughts on the subject, on Discordianism, Catholicism, the Church of the Subgenius, and so on. It's very funny. The rest is a wide ranging question and answer session.

About one hour and 45 minutes.

Letter to Timothy Leary about Illuminatus!

Above is a letter from Robert Anton Wilson to Timothy Leary, dated May Day, 1974. (If you can't read it on your computer screen, downloading the image and blowing it up).

Included in the letter is the announcement that Dell is going to publish Illuminatus! next year. "The full title, by the way, is Illuminatus! or Laughing Buddha Jesus Phallus Productions Presents or Swift-Kick Inc. or Telemachus Sneezed or The Untidy Ape: A Head Test."

Via Martin Wagner.

Also from Martin: "How to Wage Nonviolent Revolution" (likely by RAW) and "Death Universe: A Review of Mondo Cane." 

Beyond Chaos and Beyond now in paperback [UPDATED]

Beyond Chaos and Beyond, the new RAW book edited by Scott Apel, is now out in paperback, for $19.95. You can still get the Kindle version for $4.95.

I recently reviewed and recommended it, and I notice that Rasa gave it five stars in an Amazon review. You can read my review by clicking on the link; Rasa wrote, "Scott Apel was an old friend of Robert Anton Wilson and the two of them worked together on his Trajectories magazine, offering a wonderful series of writings from this iconic author. Scott has assembled Volume Two of these gems, but the unexpected bonus in this book are the essays Scott wrote himself, describing the process of putting together the magazine but also his personal experiences with Bob. A wonderful read!"

UPDATE: Scott reports that if you buy the paperback, you can get the ebook for $1.99.

John Higgs about to release new book

One of my favorite writers, John Higgs, is about to publish his latest book, The Future Starts Here: Adventures in the Twenty-First Century. It's out May 16 in Britain; there are no plans yet to release it in the U.S., so I guess I have to buy it from Book Depository, like I did his last book. Details from John's latest newsletter:

I’m launching it with a special, one-off, not to missed night in the Brighton Fringe, along with a group of mighty guests perfectly curated to demonstrate the argument of the book. If you can make it, it will be well worth your time. 

Follow the link to buy tickets.

If you can't make it to Brighton, John is launching a book tour that takes him to London and Liverpool and elsewhere; details here.

John is also coming out other books this year; read the newsletter for details of his frantic life, but there's no actual information on the books available yet.