Robert Anton Wilson was an American author, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson helped publicize Discordianism through his writings and interviews. In 1999 he described his work as an "attempt to break down conditioned associations, to look at the world in a new way, with many models recognized as models or maps, and no one model elevated to the truth". Wilson's goal was "to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone but agnosticism about everything."
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". According to poet Allen Ginsberg, he was "a hero of American consciousness", and writer Tom Robbins called him a "brave neuronaut". President Richard Nixon called him "the most dangerous man in America". During the 1960s and 1970s, at the height of the counterculture movement, Leary was arrested 36 times.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels by American writers Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction–influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex-, and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, related to the authors' version of the Illuminati. The narrative often switches between third- and first-person perspectives in a nonlinear narrative. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology, and Discordianism.
Francis Israel Regardie was an English and American occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer who spent much of his life in the United States. He wrote fifteen books on the subject of occultism.
The eight-circuit model of consciousness is a holistic model originally presented as psychological philosophy by Timothy Leary in books including Neurologic (1973) and Exo-Psychology (1977), later expanded on by Robert Anton Wilson in his books Cosmic Trigger (1977) and Prometheus Rising (1983), and by Antero Alli in his books Angel Tech (1985) and The Eight-Circuit Brain (2009), that suggests "eight periods [circuits]" within the model. The eight circuits, or eight systems or "brains", as referred by other authors, operate within the human nervous system. Each corresponds to its own imprint and subjective experience of reality. Leary and Alli include three stages for each circuit, detailing developmental points for each level of consciousness.
Ecstasy is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject with an object of their awareness. In classical Greek literature, it refers to removal of the mind or body "from its normal place of function."
Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World is a book written by science-fiction writer Robert Anton Wilson, originally published in 1990. It deals with what Wilson himself calls "quantum psychology," which is not a field within academic psychology.
Reality tunnel is a theory that, with a subconscious set of mental filters formed from beliefs and experiences, every individual interprets the same world differently, hence "Truth is in the eye of the beholder". It is similar to the idea of representative realism, and was coined by Timothy Leary (1920–1996). It was further expanded on by Robert Anton Wilson (1932–2007), who wrote about the idea extensively in his 1983 book Prometheus Rising.
Flower child originated as a synonym for Hippie, especially among the idealistic young people who gathered in San Francisco and the surrounding area during the Summer of Love in 1967. It was the custom of "flower children" to wear and distribute flowers or floral-themed decorations to symbolize ideals of universal belonging, peace, and love. The mass media picked up on the term and used it to refer in a broad sense to any Hippie. Flower children were also associated with the flower power political movement, which originated in ideas written by Allen Ginsberg in 1965.
The Cosmic Trigger trilogy is a three-volume autobiographical and philosophical work by Robert Anton Wilson. The first volume of the series was published in 1977, initially published without numbering, as the second volume did not appear for nearly 15 years. The third and final volume was published in 1995. Wilson is perhaps best known as the co-author of the award-winning science fiction work The Illuminatus! Trilogy. Cosmic Trigger revisits many of the themes from that earlier work in a more autobiographical fashion.
Christopher Hyatt, born Alan Ronald Miller, was an American psychologist, occultist, and writer. He was founder and president of New Falcon Publications, an independent publisher specializing in psychedelic and occult literature; Hyatt's press published work by several well-known champions of consciousness expansion, including Israel Regardie, Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson, and Antero Alli.
Quantum mysticism, sometimes referred pejoratively to as quantum quackery or quantum woo, is a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to relate spirituality or mystical worldviews to the ideas of quantum mechanics and its interpretations. Quantum mysticism is considered pseudoscience and quackery by quantum mechanics experts.
The Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC (ACE) is an American organization based in Northeastern Ohio which produces events, books, and recorded media in the fields of "magic, mind-sciences, alternative lifestyles, comparative religion/spirituality, entertainment, holistic healing, and related subjects."
Arto Antero Alexander Alli was a Finnish astrologer, filmmaker, theatre director, and writer. He wrote esoteric books on experimental theatre, astrology and Timothy Leary's 8-circuit model of consciousness. He lived in Portland, Oregon, where he conducted workshops and staged paratheatrical productions, some of which have been released as video documents.
"Turn on, tune in, drop out" is a counterculture-era phrase popularized by Timothy Leary in 1966. In 1967, Leary spoke at the Human Be-In, a gathering of 30,000 hippies in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and phrased the famous words, "Turn on, tune in, drop out". It was also the title of his spoken word album recorded in 1966. On this lengthy album, Leary can be heard speaking in a monotone soft voice on his views about the world and humanity, describing nature, Indian symbols, "the meaning of inner life", the LSD experience, peace, and many other issues.
The following is a list of works by Timothy Leary. The majority of Leary's works were put into the public domain by his estate in 2009.
The term chapel perilous first appeared in Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485) as the setting for an adventure in which sorceress Hellawes unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Sir Lancelot. T. S. Eliot used it symbolically in The Waste Land (1922). Dorothy Hewett took The Chapel Perilous as the title for her autobiographical play, in which she uses "the framework of the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot, to create a theatrical quest of romantic and epic proportions."
The Sekhmet Hypothesis was first published in book form in 1995 by Iain Spence. It suggested that pop trends of an atavistic nature could be analysed in relation to Dr. Timothy Leary's interpersonal circumplex model. It also suggested that major youth trends could be correlated to peaks in the 11 year solar cycle; this idea was later rejected by the author in 1999.
Models of consciousness are used to illustrate and aid in understanding and explaining distinctive aspects of consciousness. Sometimes the models are labeled theories of consciousness. Anil Seth defines such models as those that relate brain phenomena such as fast irregular electrical activity and widespread brain activation to properties of consciousness such as qualia. Seth allows for different types of models including mathematical, logical, verbal and conceptual models.
Neurologic is a 1973 book by Timothy Leary and Joanna Harcourt-Smith. The work was written by Leary during his re-incarceration at the California Men's Colony (CMC) in San Luis Obispo, California, from February to April 1973. A portion of the book was also entered into testimony as an exhibit in his trial for his original prison escape from CMC facilitated by the Weather Underground on September 13, 1970. Leary was initially arrested in 1970 for possession of one tenth of a gram of cannabis, and after escaping CMC he faced a lengthy prison term. The book was published after his extradition in 1973 and eventual conviction.
