Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati
by Robert Anton Wilson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert Anton WilsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01-01
ISBN: 1561840033
Number of pages: 269
Publisher: New Falcon Publications
Book Reviews of Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati
Book Review: Brilliant stuff.
Summary: 5 Stars
In the 2003 documentary, 'Maybe Logic: the Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson', Paul Krassner (editor of The Realist) opines that Wilson and his works act as a kind of 'alarm clock' for people's psyches, waking them from their tunnel-realities in a culture that largely works to 'lull them to sleep'. I think this is a great description of the effect Wilson's books and lectures can often have on people (usually people who are at least already interested in philosophical thought and fairly open-minded, if not out-and-out neophiles), and in my opinion Cosmic Trigger seems the ideal starting place in this respect; the most powerful wake-up call, so to speak. Unless you are stubbornly dogmatic and rigid in your belief system -- in which case you'll likely either dismiss it as nonsense or else get completely freaked out -- this book could help open you up to a much broader view of the universe and yourself. Plus, aside from these possibly profound metaphysical insights, it's a fantastic, thrilling read.
Some of the more 'far out' metaphors and hypotheses employed (such as extraterrestrial ESP, of course) can sometimes prevent readers from understanding the deeper messages, but if you remember not to take them literally -- and actively understand Wilson's introduction to this edition, where he emphasizes that 'reality' is not best conceived of as a noun, nor as immutable -- you might well realize how everything else held to be 'objective' is similarly constructed, and therefore, for one thing, find Wilson's models for his experiences (in the final part of the book) absolutely fascinating.
Because the book details a process of what Wilson describes as 'self-induced brain change', and is apt to trigger similar inner voyages in the intelligent, curious reader, it should be stressed that a firm understanding of logic (and preferably at least one science) should probably be a prerequisite for personally exploring these areas. As the author himself warns, it's easy to take some of these ideas and go completely crazy with them, if you lack a firm grip on everyday, consensus reality. If you want a more 'down to earth', 'academic' read, then some of Wilson's other -- equally intelligent and absorbing -- books (such as Prometheus Rising and Quantum Psychology) are definitely worth checking out; although, as I've already said, I'm inclined to think that Cosmic Trigger is the ideal introduction to Wilson's thought; although this obviously depends on the extent of your knowledge on some of the key issues (such as relativity, quantum mechanics and Leary's eight-circuit model of consciousness). For novices in these fields, I suspect that reading cosmic Trigger can be a great way to shake yourself free of your pre-conceived notions and tunnel-realities, so that the author's later works will make a lot more sense to you.
The book is packed with so much insight, speculation, warmth and intrigue that it's impossible to attempt any meaningful synopsis: aside from what I've personally picked out above as being 'underlying themes' there's a galaxy of interrelated material spanning everything from Jung's archetypes of the collective unconscious, to Crowlyean magick, to sufism, to JFK's assassination, to Bell's theorem, to. . . Well, find out for yourself! As R. U. Sirius said in the above-mentioned documentary, 'Cosmic Trigger was the motherload!'
Summary of Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati
Cosmic Trigger deals with a process of deliberately induced brain change. This process is called 'initiation' or 'vision quest' in many traditional societies and can loosely be considered some dangerous variety of self-psychotherapy in modern terminology. I do not recommend it for everybody. The main thing I learned in my experiments is that 'reality' is always plural and mutable. -- From the PrefaceBiographies & Memoirs Books
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