July 31, 2003
Robert Anton Wilson Day
Mayor declares a special day to honor local author/philosopher
by Laurel Chesky
The date of July 23 has special significance
for Robert Anton Wilson. It was on July 23, 1973 that Wilson received a message
from an extraterrestrial from the planet Sirius. Or maybe, he says, it was
a 6-foot-tall white rabbit in County Kerry, Ireland. Or maybe he was just
tripping on acid. (Wilson also notes that on July 23, 1973, Monica Lewinsky
was born.)
Thirty years later, a giddy Mayor Emily Reilly officially declared July 23,
2003 as “Robert Anton Wilson Day” in the city of Santa Cruz.
The mayor read her proclamation before a packed house at the Rio Theatre on
Soquel Avenue. A crowd had gathered there to see the world premiere of the
documentary film, Maybe Logic - The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson.
The film, produced by deepleaf productions, is a retrospective of Wilson’s
career as an author, conspiracy theorist, quantum physics philosopher and
counterculture icon. Wilson lives in Capitola (or Live Oak or Santa Cruz,
depending on your “reality tunnel,” as Wilson would say.)
One of the more humorous passages of the mayor’s proclamation reads:
“Whereas Robert Anton Wilson employs wit and humor spanning five decades
to resist the imperial schemes of national politicos, through such actions
as daily e-mails to Attorney General John Ashcroft detailing his personal
activities, thereby sparing government expense and trouble of keeping him
under surveillance…”
After the mayor’s presentation, Wilson, in classic form, quipped: “I
don’t deserve this. Then again, I have post polio, and I don’t
deserve that either. So on with the show.”
Wilson suffers from post-polio syndrome, a disease that can strike polio survivors
decades after they’ve recovered from polio. After contracting polio
as a child, Wilson, 70, recovered from the disease and remained vibrant and
able-bodied throughout his adulthood. Post-polio syndrome hit him a few years
ago, and he is now mostly confined to a wheelchair.
Wilson eats pot brownies to relieve the pain in his legs. He was a client
of the Wo/Man’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), before the Drug
Enforcement Agency raided the collective’s farm near Davenport last
September.
At a WAMM demonstration in October, where medical marijuana was given out
on the steps of Santa Cruz City Hall, Wilson lambasted the feds for ignoring
the Bill of Rights.
“The 10th Amendment says all powers not relegated to the federal government
are reserved to the states or to the people,” he told the crowd gathered
at city hall. “Nowhere does it say that a goddamn tsar will be in charge
of my medical care and interfere between me and my doctor. If anybody in Philadelphia
in the 18th Century had suggested putting something like that in the Constitution,
they would have been considered a raving lunatic. This Constitution was not
created to establish a tsarist tyranny, it was established to create a free
society.”
Wilson, who holds a PhD in psychology, has scribed some 35 books, plays and
screenplays. He is perhaps best known for his books, including the cult-classic
trilogy Illuminatus!, Schrodinger’s Cat and Cosmic Trigger.
His philosophies revolve around his belief, steeped in quantum theory, that
there is no reality, only perception. He theorizes that because we each view
the world through our unique perspective, or reality tunnels, no single truth
exists.
Maybe Logic weaves together snippets from recent interviews with
Wilson and some of his prominent fans, with past public-speaking appearances
and TV interviews. The film travels the gamut of Wilson’s theories,
from his philosophies inspired by Eastern religions to his sinister political
conspiracy theories. While the film covers deep and often bizarre intellectual
territory, Wilson’s humor and inclination to never take himself too
seriously shine through.
©2003 Pacific Sierra Publishing