The Life, Times and Legacy of Robert Anton Wilson | Gabriel Kennedy
Rune Soup
Gordon White
4.7 • 861 Ratings
🗓️ 7 December 2024
⏱️ 80 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gabriel Kennedy joins the show to discuss Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson, the first-ever book-length biography of ol' RAW.
We explore Wilson's life, philosophy, and literary contributions. Kennedy shares his personal journey of discovering Wilson's work, the process of writing the biography, and the significance of concepts like Chapel Perilous and general semantics. The discussion also touches on the relevance of Wilson's ideas in today's world and the lasting impact of his writings on counterculture and conspiracy theories.
We're back, baby!
00:00 Introduction to Robert Anton Wilson
02:45 First Encounters with Wilson's Work
05:59 Navigating Wilson's Bibliography
08:55 The Journey to Writing a Biography
12:00 Researching Robert Anton Wilson
14:43 The Influence of General Semantics
17:48 Personal Connections and Discoveries
21:01 The Process of Biographical Writing
24:01 Understanding Wilson's Legacy
27:03 Final Thoughts on Robert Anton Wilson
44:20 The 23 Enigma and Synchronicities
49:27 Writing and Synchronicities in Biography
56:22 The Impact of Robert Anton Wilson's Work
01:02:00 Conspiracy Theories and Critical Thinking
01:10:33 Chapel Perilous: A Journey of Discovery
NOTE: You can alternatively watch this discussion on YouTube.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week, we welcome to the show, author, artist and musician Gabriel Kennedy, to talk to us about the one and only Robert Anton Wilson, his life, his times, his philosophy. |
| 0:28.4 | So, Gabriel, welcome aboard. |
| 0:30.6 | Thank you, Gorman. Thanks for having me here, man. |
| 0:33.2 | Yeah, yeah, yeah. Congratulations on the book, on Chapel Perilus. I believe it is the, is it the first biography or just like the biggest biographical project? |
| 0:42.4 | Yeah, this is, I'm happy to say that this is the first biography of Robert Anton Wilson. |
| 0:48.3 | You know, he passed away in 2007. |
| 0:51.6 | So, you know, it's been 17 years. |
| 0:59.1 | And that tends to happen with writers sometimes. |
| 1:05.5 | They, about 10, 15 years, they might be forgotten. And then someone will come along and help remind people how great they were. See, that's a good place to start, actually, because I would like to know, it's a lot of |
| 1:14.6 | effort, it's a lot of energy and thought and input and like a chunk of your life that goes into |
| 1:19.5 | this. So tell me about the first time you encountered the work of Robert Anton Wilson. Do you have a |
| 1:26.3 | memory of it imprinting on you? |
| 1:28.3 | For sure, yeah. It was math class, senior year of high school. |
| 1:34.3 | A classmate handed me the book, Luminatus Trilogy. I'll show this book right here. |
| 1:42.3 | I had that exact same, that exact same one, carry on. |
| 1:46.7 | Yes, yes. |
| 1:47.2 | And it looks about the same. |
| 1:48.3 | It's all beat up. |
| 1:49.7 | Yeah, a little dog-eared, you know. |
| 1:52.3 | Well worth it. |
| 1:54.2 | Yeah, so he handed me that. |
| 1:56.1 | I was intrigued by the cover, you know, the pyramid and the dolphins and whatnot. |
... |
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