The Day Robert Anton Wilson Told Me To Fight The Power
Way back in late 1991 I think it was, I attended the Phenomicon Alternative Sci-Fi Convention in Atlanta. I had a part time job at Oxford Books in Buckhead at the time and a coworker there was helping the convention organizers with volunteers. As I had plenty of security/law enforcement experience I was given a pass in exchange for doing some minor security work. This work consisted of chaperoning a dance and standing around looking mean, sober, and responsible. I was relatively new to the sober and responsible aspects of the job but it turns out I didnât have to do any bouncing as everyone was exceedingly well behaved. Paranoia does that to people and some of these folks believed that they had been abducted by aliens and/or were being spied upon by our government. For you youngsters, being spied upon by our government wasnât a given back then.
I had the pleasure of meeting and mingling with several of the speakers and featured guests. Immediately after being introduced, a very senior member of a âsatirical postmodern religionâ hit me up for some weed before being gently informed by an organizer of a book signing that I was in fact a state parole officer and that his request should be handled in a more discrete manner. He seemed relieved that I didnât attempt to arrest him and he giggled madly at his faux pas.
Anyway, I met Robert Anton Wilson who was one of the most popular speakers at the event and I asked him to sign a relatively obscure work called âNatural Law or Donât Put a Rubber on Your Willyâ. He signed it with a line from a popular song of the day â which is now an anthem for some and a mantra for others:
Fight The Power
On January 11th of this year he passed away. He had been in ill health lately and remarked in his blog a week before he died: "Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd."
He had another recent blog post about death which contained this anecdote:
Wavy Gravy once asked a Zen Roshi, "What happens after death?"
The Roshi replied, "I don't know."
Wavy protested, "But you're a Zen Master!"
"Yes," the Roshi admitted, "but I'm not a dead Zen Master."
Hereâs to Robert Anton Wilson - writer, philosopher, and dead Zen master.
R.I.P. R.A.W.
I had the pleasure of meeting and mingling with several of the speakers and featured guests. Immediately after being introduced, a very senior member of a âsatirical postmodern religionâ hit me up for some weed before being gently informed by an organizer of a book signing that I was in fact a state parole officer and that his request should be handled in a more discrete manner. He seemed relieved that I didnât attempt to arrest him and he giggled madly at his faux pas.
Anyway, I met Robert Anton Wilson who was one of the most popular speakers at the event and I asked him to sign a relatively obscure work called âNatural Law or Donât Put a Rubber on Your Willyâ. He signed it with a line from a popular song of the day â which is now an anthem for some and a mantra for others:
Fight The Power
On January 11th of this year he passed away. He had been in ill health lately and remarked in his blog a week before he died: "Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd."
He had another recent blog post about death which contained this anecdote:
Wavy Gravy once asked a Zen Roshi, "What happens after death?"
The Roshi replied, "I don't know."
Wavy protested, "But you're a Zen Master!"
"Yes," the Roshi admitted, "but I'm not a dead Zen Master."
Hereâs to Robert Anton Wilson - writer, philosopher, and dead Zen master.
R.I.P. R.A.W.
1 Comments:
I am that other Oxford employee that drew poor BSOTD into the den of the PhenomiCon. I do indeed remember that time well. And, see, the government WAS watching. A man like Robert Anton Wilson is rare and we shall miss him. Thanks for the memories!
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