New books: Oberon Zell, Neal Stephenson

Oberon Zell (friend of RAW, founder of the Church of All Worlds, interesting Hilaritas podcast guest) has a new book out, Hystory's Mysteries: Turning Points That Changed Our World.

From the publisher's blurb:

"Atlantis, Lemuria, the Garden of Eden, are these merely myths and fantasies of paradise lost, or actual places that have somehow disappeared from the face of the Earth?

And what of the famous legends of a great and universal Deluge that are found in so many ancient cultures? Could there really have been a vast global inundation that drowned entire populations and submerged settlements throughout the world, to be enshrined in legend by the few survivors whose descendants repopulated the world?

What's the connection between King Arthur and the Amazons of Wonder Woman? What happened in 56 BCE that changed all of Western history to follow, including the rise of Christianity?"

Also, a new novel has been announced from my favorite living author, Neal Stephenson. Polostan is the first volume of a new series.  It's out on Oct. 15.

"The first installment in Neal Stephenson’s Bomb Light cycle, Polostan follows the early life of the enigmatic Dawn Rae Bjornberg. Born in the American West to a clan of cowboy anarchists, Dawn is raised in Leningrad after the Russian Revolution by her Russian father, a party line Leninist who re-christens her Aurora. She spends her early years in Russia but then grows up as a teenager in Montana, before being drawn into gunrunning and revolution in the streets of Washington, D.C., during the depths of the Great Depression. When a surprising revelation about her past puts her in the crosshairs of U.S. authorities, Dawn returns to Russia, where she is groomed as a spy by the organization that later becomes the KGB."

Jesse Walker on music conspiracy theories

 

Singer Taylor Swift. Even if you don't follow pop music closely, perhaps you have heard of her. Creative Commons photo by Ronald Woan, details here. 

As I noted recently, the recent death of MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer was a reminder of the amusing conspiracy theories about music that are a feature of Illuminatus!, including the claim that the popularity of the Beatles was a Communist plot. 

Jesse Walker, no stranger to conspiracy theories or to pop music, has a new piece out, "Taylor Swift Is Just the Latest Subject in a Long History of Pop Conspiracy Theories." I don't want to spoil Jesse's best lines by quoting from it, just read it.  Illuminatus! fans may particularly enjoy it. 

A 'Magic Flute' explainer

Scene from a production of The Magic Flute, I can't remember which one. 

As I've written earlier, Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute, has elements from Freemasonry. Some productions depict an eye in the pyramid. I know that Robert Anton Wilson loved opera, but as far as I know, he did not write about the opera. But here is what Robert Shea wrote in a fanzine after going to see a production:

Last September, Yvonne and I saw the Lyric Opera’s production of The Magic Flute. I’m becoming more and more of a lover of Mozart’s music, and this has certainly done much to hasten the process. Of the libretto of Die Zauberfloete, no less an illuminated being than Goethe declared its “high meaning will not elude the initiated.” Besides the music, I was entertained by the sets, which were, of course, full of pyramids. One pyramid had the word “WEISHEIT” over its entrance, which I at first misread as “WEISHAUPT.” At the end, an orange sun arose and appeared centered in a gigantic triangle. The evening would have been complete if the sun had opened a bright red eye and winked at me. Highly recommended, in whatever form you might have access to it. Die Zauberfloete was first presented in Vienna on Friday, Sept. 30, 1791, fifteen years after the founding of the Bavarian Illuminati and six years after its suppression by edict of the King of Bavaria. 

Gramophone magazine has an article discussing the opera and rating various recordings of it. 

Too bad RAW did not get to see this

Robert Anton Wilson would feel vindicated:

"We’re thrilled that Lykos Therapeutics has announced the FDA has accepted – and granted Priority Review to – the first New Drug Application for a psychedelic-assisted therapy. Congratulations to the Lykos team and collaborators who made this possible!"

It's a treatment for people with PTSD, surely more proposed treatments will follow. 

More here. 

More here, too. 

New book about psychedelic history

R. Michael Johnson sent me a note about a new book that may interest sombunall of you, so I am passing this on:

"FYI: Benjamin Breen, History prof, who is really good on drugs in history, has a book out sombunall RAW fans would be interested in. I've exchanged a few emails with this guy; he's really interesting. His new book is Tripping On Utopia, and perhaps the main thesis is Gregory Bateson, Margaret Mead, Lilly and not Boomers - were interested in psychedelics in the 1930s and 40s. I mean, it looks like Margaret Mead was an earlier "psychedelics expert" way before Leary. What if Mead had gone public about how transcendent psychedelics could be? She wanted to, but decided not to. Why?

"I'm still waiting in the HOLDS line at the library to read it. He said he read a lot about RAW via the Leary stuff and I'm not sure how much RAW content is in it until I get hold of it. 

"My guess is this is twice-removed deeper than all the CIA-LSD-hippies/academics/infiltration narrative. Like, Lee and Shlain's Acid Dreams is quaint research to this guy." 

I also have the book on hold at my local library in the Cleveland area, so perhaps I may know more soon.

Here is the publisher's page for Tripping On Utopia.  Note that the "Lilly" is Michael's note is John Lilly, and Cary Grant also is mentioned.

Benjamin Breen is an associate professor of history at the University of  California at Santa Cruz. Here is Professor Breen's Substack newsletter.  It looks very interesting. And you can also look at his website.  The book was reviewed in the New York Times a few weeks ago. 

Social media update

The logo for Mastodon. It's a social network I like, but I wish a few more people would go over there. 

Social media is connected to running a blog; I (and other bloggers, of course) use social media to promote my blog posts, and social media in turn generates news and story ideas for me.

If anyone is interested, I am currently active on Facebook, on X (@jacksontom), on Bluesky (@jacksontom.bsky.social) and on Mastodon (@jacksontom@liberdon.com).

I never "got" Instagram and I hated Threads when I tried it. 

I like Mastodon, but it doesn't seem to be catching on. I like its friendly vibe and decentralized structure, so I am sticking it out hoping for the best. It could be great, it just doesn't have enough people (or active RAW fans). Bluesky seems to be picking up momentum and has come out of beta, i.e. anyone can join, an invitation from a current member is not needed anymore.

I am less enthusiastic about Facebook and X, but that's where the people are, and I don't think I can give them up. Facebook has many fan groups devoted to Robert Anton Wilson. X has many people I am interested in who haven't migrated to Mastodon or Bluesky. If you want to try X, and if you read this blog, you may want to consider following @RAWilson23, @RAWSemantics, @TheRAWTrust and @RAWarchives, and maybe me, too. If you do try X (or you want to improve your experience), I suggest using curated lists of accounts and following those lists, rather than relying on X to tell  you what to read.

John Scalzi has a recent post on social media that is worth reading, although I do still find X more useful than he does. Mike Masnick has an article out on why he is excited about recent developments at Bluesky, i.e. users can choose options on content moderation and can choose from various algorithms. 

As as I do like Mastodon, here is a useful guide for beginners. And also, here is the official website. 

Keep it flying

 

From Rasa, "Generated by Bing's A.I. from inputs by @rasadevaof Hilaritas Press."

Some context. 

Hidden ancient texts are coming to light

 

There's been a big breakthrough in the efforts to decipher and read the library of charred scrolls that were left after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. 

Nat Friedman, the Silicon Valley person who funded efforts to use AI to finally decipher the previously unreadable scrolls, posted about the latest breakthrough on X/Twitter, here is some of his post referring to the above image:

"This image was produced by @Youssef_M_Nader, @LukeFarritor, and @JuliSchillij, who have now won the Vesuvius Challenge Grand Prize of $700,000. Congratulations!!

"These fifteen columns come from the very end of the first scroll we have been able to read and contain new text from the ancient world that has never been seen before. The author – probably Epicurean philosopher Philodemus – writes here about music, food, and how to enjoy life's pleasures. In the closing section, he throws shade at unnamed ideological adversaries – perhaps the stoics? – who "have nothing to say about pleasure, either in general or in particular."

"This year, the Vesuvius Challenge continues. The text that we revealed so far represents just 5% of one scroll.

"In 2024, our goal is to from reading a few passages of text to entire scrolls, and we're announcing a new $100,000 grand prize for the first team that is able to read at least 90% of all four scrolls that we have scanned.

"The scrolls stored in Naples that remain to be read represent more than 16 megabytes of ancient text. But the villa where the scrolls were found was only partially excavated, and scholars tell us that there may be thousands more scrolls underground. Our hope is that the success of the Vesuvius Challenge catalyzes the excavation of the villa, that the main library is discovered, and that whatever we find there rewrites history and inspires all of us."

More here.

I have become very interested in Epicureanism. Much of the ancient writings about the philosophy have been lost, but as Friedman writes, his efforts are recovering some of it; as he notes, there is speculation that much lost ancient literature can be recovered. See this article, "Can AI Unlock the Secrets of the Ancient World?", written by Ashlee Vance and Ellen Huet.

The above image is copyrighted, and I am normally very cautious about using copyrighted images. However, I have linked  to Mr. Friedman's posting, which included the image and which has been reposted about 17,000 times and which has had more than 21 million views.  So I hope my use is acceptable. 

Bill Maher, and RAW on his old show

Reason magazine has a new interview up with Bill Maher, billed as "the last liberal." The topics include marijuana and cancel culture. 

This gives me an excuse to once again post Robert Anton Wilson's only appearance on national TV (that I know of), a May 23, 1996, appearance on a half hour segment of Maher's old show, Politically Incorrect. Wilson is funny and in good form. He was only invited as a last-minute substitute for the ailing Timothy Leary (who died a few days later). The other guests were Michelle Phillips (of the Mamas and the Papas), David Cross and Bob Guccione Jr. 

Sunday links

The "Chasing Shadows" newsletter on Substack discusses Joseph Matheny's Ong's Hat. 

Standard Ebooks has released At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. 

William Burroughs on cats. 

Finnegans Wake group in Venice, California, plans reunion event. 

Libertarian Party presidential debate.

My piece recommending Russian composer Nikolai Sidelnikov. 

Wayne Kramer, who helped 'Kick Out the Jams,' has died

 

Wayne Kramer in 2018. Creative Commons photo by Frank Schwichtenberg, details here. 

Wayne Kramer of the band the MC5 have died. The New York Times article notes:

"Its debut, 'Kick Out the Jams,' a live set recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in 1968, is considered one of the most influential albums of its era, and inspired generations of musicians, including the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and Queens of the Stone Age.

"Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine said on Instagram on Friday that Mr. Kramer and the MC5 'basically invented punk rock music'.”

The band had various connections to rock history. Fred "Sonic" Smith, the other guitarist, was married to Patti Smith, the writer and singer. John Sinclair served as the band's manager. 

But of course none of that is why I mention Mr. Kramer here. 

As the title of my post notes, "Kick out the Jams" is referenced in Illuminatus! That occurs in the first novel, when Joe Malik meets John Dillinger, and Dillinger explains that rock music is another way the Illuminati exert power:

Dillinger laughed. "Yes," he said. "I'm the president of Laughing Buddha Jesus Phallus Inc. You've seen them— 'If it's not an LBJP it's NOT an L.P.'?

"Laughing Buddha Jesus Phallus?" Joe exclaimed. "My God, you put out the best rock in the country! The only rock a man my age can listen to without wincing."

"Thanks," Dillinger said modestly. "Actually, the Illuminati own the companies that put out most of the rock. We started Laughing Buddha Jesus Phallus to counterattack. We were ignoring that front until they got the MC-5 to cut a disc called 'Kick Out The Jams' just to taunt us with old, bitter memories. So we came back with our own releases, and the next thing I knew I was making bales of money from it. We've also fed information, through third parties, to Christian Crusade in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so they could expose some of what the Illuminati are doing in the rock field. You've seen the Christian Crusade publications—Rhythm, Riots and Revolution, and Communism, Hypnotism and the Beatles, and so forth?"

In Illuminatus!, the Justified Ancients of Mummu were the first anarchists, the group battling the Illuminati. And the Christian Crusade was a genuine right wing church in Tulsa, where I grew up, and the publications John Dillinger cites are real books. I visited the church once and knew a kid at school who went there. 

R. Michael Johnson's '23 Riffs' on RAW and Crowley

Over at the Jechidah blog, Oz Fritz has a blog post up on the first portion of R. Michael Johnson's long piece in Lion of Light, "Appendicitis: 23 Riffs on Robert Anton Wilson, Aleister Crowley, Psychedelics, Intuition, and Everyday Metaphysics."  

As the title suggests, the essay actually is 23 separate short pieces, although they are related and refer to each other. The piece takes up about a quarter of the book, and Oz remarks that Michael originally submitted a longer piece.

I particularly liked #21 and #22 of Michael's pieces, about alien contact, see also Nick Herbert's "Nick Meets the Galactic Telepaths." 

I thought this passage was striking (in item #8):

"How refreshing to just admit some of your favorite artists -- and here, we must consider, I postulate, Crowley as some sort of species of Religious Virtuoso -- were 'sick.' RAW was fantastic at separating a person's Work from their illnesses or fuck-ups. Other examples come easily to mind: Ezra Pound's antisemitism and support for Mussolini; Wilhelm Reich's extreme paranoia; Picasso's politics; Jung's unsavory assumptions about 'race'; D.W. Griffith's racism, etc. If RAW were alive today, he would have some exceedingly interesting things to say about 'cancel culture,' I hazard. No matter how screwed up some artist or thinker was, the Work remains. Let us take pleasure in the Work; all else is secondary. I humbly ask the Reader to ponder the merits of RAW's position here." 

  

John Higgs on being careful about what you write

John Higgs (photo by Isaac Higgs)

John Higgs has released another newsletter, and in one section of it, he has an essay, "Be Careful What You Write," that reminds me a little bit of RAW's "Cosmic Schmuck Principle." 

Here is the principle, articulated in the title essay of NATURAL LAW: Or Don’t Put A Rubber On Your Willy And Other Writings From A Natural Outlaw:

"The Cosmic Schmuck Principle holds that if you don't wake up, once a month at least, and realize you have recently been acting like a Cosmic Schmuck again, then you will probably go on acting like a Cosmic Schmuck forever; but if you do, occasionally, recognize your Cosmic Schmuckiness, you might begin to become a little less Schmucky than the general human average at this primitive stage of terrestrial evolution."

John's argument is that writers can trick themselves into thinking something is true, by the act of writing:

"I did learn something useful from writing that piece, though. While I saw it as a bit of a lark as I was writing it, I found that afterwards I stood by it and believed in its argument - regardless of whether anyone else did. It fitted my prejudices and baggage and I found it convincing. This taught me to be careful as a writer, because when you write something down, you trick yourself into thinking that it’s true.

"Normally you have a whole mess of differing thoughts and contradictory ideas sloshing around in your head, and the amount of credibility you grant them varies from day to day. The act of writing something down turns a fluid and changeable notion into something definite and fixed, and this seems to trick the mind into thinking that it’s true. You no longer have to worry about it anymore. You just stand by it.

"This effect can be positive. Practices like writing affirmations and journaling can be helpful for these reasons. But in the world of social media, it can send you very wrong indeed. Much is made of the impact of algorithms on people getting lost down increasingly extreme rabbit holes of belief, but I suspect that simply typing your opinions down is also a significant factor."

More here.