If you’ve heard me speak for more than five minutes you’ve probably caught me dropping a Robert Anton Wilson reference (or several). Wilson is one of the most interesting (and underappreciated) writers I’ve ever come across — a Nostradamus for modern times.

I was delighted to sit down with Gabriel Kennedy, author of the excellent biography Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson. I could talk about this stuff for days, and we had a blast discussing Wilson’s ideas, influence and impact. Consider it a beginner’s guide to avoiding cosmic schmuckery.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!”, check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson; by Gabriel Kennedy
The Thinker and the Prover; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Gabriel’s Substack

Show Notes:

The most interesting man of the last fifty years?
How can we escape chapel perilous?
The anti-determinist, rock & roll philosophy of Bob Wilson
Tune in: a 30 minute masterclass on the influences, ideas and impact of Robert Anton Wilson
How to avoid becoming a cosmic schmuck
Who influenced Wilson the most?
Why you should read Wilson
Gabriel as World Emperor
MORE!

Books & Articles Mentioned:

The Thinker and the Prover; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson; by Gabriel Kennedy
Prometheus Unbound by Robert Anton Wilson
Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You and Your World by Robert Anton Wilson
The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea
Cosmic Trigger Volume I: Final Secret of the Illuminati by Robert Anton Wilson
The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science by Robert Anton Wilson
Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson
Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You and Your World by Robert Anton Wilson
The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot
From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L. Weston
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics by Alfred Korzybski
On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox; by John S. Bell
How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser
Character Analysis by Wilhelm Reich
Man Meets Dog by Konrad Lorenz

Gabriel Kennedy — The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson (EP.258)

Infinite Loops